Kitchen garden knowledge 101:
Have you always dreamt of owing a farm, especially after playing Farmville on facebook? As pastas and other Italian dishes became main-stream in Indian kitchen, so has the demand for fresh herbs. Believe us oregano powder over fresh oregano can never give a dish the same character!
Here is how to set up your own kitchen garden:
Decide on the place where you want the garden. The small patch in the courtyard, the kitchen windowsill or even that spare balcony; all will work perfectly. To start a kitchen garden you need 3 basic things: sunlight, water, and healthy soil.
Take plastic tubs for planting your herbs and vegetables. Call over a gardener for the initial setup. Remember the best to place for your plants is in ample sunlight. Plant basic hassle free herbs and vegetables like chilies, tomatoes, oregano, basil, thyme initially. Later progress to veggies like bhindi, lauki, torai etc.
Make a compost pit, a plastic tub or earthen pot works fine for this. To make compost put all recyclable kitchen waste, egg shells, vegetable peels, dry leaves add some soil on top, and cover. As it starts decomposing the volume will go down. This is healthy and natural. Use your plants as soil and see the difference.
Add some dry hay on the top. This helps retain water, especially in scorching heat. Also, it keeps the plant alive if you forget to water them.
To buy the seeds always remember it is easy to buy an already started out plant though they will be more expensive. But there is a joy in planting a seedling and seeing it flourish into a plant. Just label all the seeds you buy or else you might end up mixing thyme with chillies.
Three gardening equipment you must buy: a watering can, shovel and gardening gloves.
Some veggies/herbs you must plant Salad Greens, such as leaf lettuce and cress, Broccoli, Thyme, Basil, Rosemary, Chives, Coriander, etc.
