ORGANIC KITCHEN GARDEN

organic kitchen garden

“Man is a born Gardener”

In this fast moving world everyone would have come across the magic word “Organic food”.  However few would be wondering what does it mean actually to us?  And some would be curious to know all about Kitchen gardening! ....  Well answer for your questions are here…..

Nature is the most exploited poor of our times. In India green revolution took place in 20^th century. Our country experienced plentiful harvest by the usage of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Later it is found that the land was turning fallow, people are getting incurable diseases. Production and preservation techniques of today are more for profit making than health orientations. People who became aware of these reasons moved towards consuming natural products called the organic food. Organic is cultivation done with chemical free Natural Manure. The produce will be harmless and healthy as they don’t poison the land, insects, animals and human beings thereby assuring a safe life. So when we consume food cultivated using organic methods we can reduce the intake of toxin consumption to our body. Toxin is poisonous which is capable of causing health hazards.

The soaring price of vegetables has caused much heartburn, but people in the city may get their greens for free. However increased awareness on organic food, and people tendency to consume these allowed the business minds to market on overpriced organic veggies. Here comes the idea of Kitchen gardening where we have the freedom of producing our own food. We are what we ate. With Chennai’s space constraints idea of cultivating own vegetables and fruits may seem like a far-fetched idea. Today we have a lot of creative gardening ideas in practice as terrace gardening, bottle gardening, balcony gardening and tire gardening. And also we can easily get these gardening tips by a simple click due to increased technology in place. One of the biggest requirements to grow fruits and veggies is sunlight, something the city is amply blessed with. Organic veggies are tastier too.

Veggies like Brinjal (Egg plant), Tomatoes, Capsicum, Edible flowers, Spring onion, Greens, Spinach, Lady’s finger, Lemon grass, Chilly, Basil and more varieties could be cultivated in space. Kitchen waste can be used as manure for kitchen garden hence we could get our veggies at low cost.

“I started home gardening few months ago as a hobby, it gives me satisfaction as it is one of the fruitful hobbies to have” says Mrs. Flora Pushparani with smile. She changed her resident from Vandaloor to Chennai 10 months before. Pushparani grows her own veggies on a small space in front of her home in Kolathur. The resident has been growing large quantities of bitter gourd, cluster beans, pumpkin, bottle gourd, snake gourd, ladies finger, Spinach and Ridge Gourd. Banana tree, Papaya tree and rare herbs like Eclipta Alba commonly known as false daisy (“Vellai Karisalanganni” in Tamil) and Amaranths Spinosus (“Mullu Keerai” in Tamil) also found place in her garden.

“It all takes few simple steps create our cost free kitchen garden” Says Flora as she shared few of her gardening tips with us which are listed below

·         Old Containers, Plastic bottles, Bamboo or Clay Pot

·         Small backyard, balcony, terrace, or a small place in front of home

·         Recycle and reuse kitchen wastes

·         Water your vegetable garden consistently and make it as an habit

·         Regular harvesting

·         Fertilize frequently

·         Use natural pesticides like neem oil and cow dung (Natural pest control is less expensive than buying and applying pesticides, and it's safer for your garden, your family and the environment.)

·         Contact the experts if you have any doubts in gardening.

Nowadays State Government encourages people on terrace gardening which helps to tackle the increasing price of vegetables. ‘People interested can apply online and the government will supply them with 20 UV stabilized 200 micron thickness polythene bags, 15kg of coir pith and manure, seeds for vegetables and greens, besides instruments, organic fertilizer and a 20sqm polythene sheet. It will make 20 bags available for each person at a subsidized price. Indian Overseas Bank offers loans to individuals for rooftop gardening.’ reports a leading Newspaper of Chennai.