Since we’ve been confined to our homes, we’re all looking for ways to be productive and creative with our time. This is a good time to pick up skills like reading, baking, painting, crocheting…and even gardening! If you’ve always wanted to grow some greens in your home, but just didn’t have the time to do so, here’s how you can get started right where you are.
Beginning the planting process…
Rowena D’souza’s first experience of gardening was at the age of 8 in Mangalore where her paternal family grew their veggies even though they had the option to purchase them at any local market. She shares some tips for beginners, “Pick a spot: This will help you understand the kind of plants you can grow given the availability of space, sunlight, access, etc. Pick your plants accordingly: Start with low maintenance plants, I started with money plants, indoor plants and succulents and now eventually moved to vegetables and fruit. It’s a process, you’ll learn through your journey.”
Diipti Jhangiani is an urban farmer who has been growing a variety of edible plants in her home balcony for over 5 years now. She especially enjoys brewing her soil via kitchen composting and tending to her worm hotel too. She says, “Beginners can try their hands at growing microgreens in their homes. Microgreens are little 5-6 inch tall seedlings that are rich in multivitamins and are ready to harvest within a week. You can grow microgreens in any 3-4 inch deep container (like a mushroom tray or a coconut bowl). Just make a few drainage holes in the container you choose. All you need is to fill the tray with soil or coco peat and then choose herb seeds from your kitchen cabinets like fenugreek, coriander, dill, sesame seeds, basil seeds, garden cress or mustard. Sow the seeds like stars in a sky – not too far away yet not too dense. And remember to gently water with half a glass daily. You need not even keep this in sunlight as microgreens do not require sunlight to grow.”
“In this season, you can grow a variety of edible plants. You can grow mint and coriander from your market veggies. Simply snip off all the leaves from the stem, leaving only the first two leaves and place the stem in a glass of water. Within three days you’ll start seeing new roots and leaves forming on the stem.” adds Diipti.
Bellpepper plant Curry Leaf plant Lemon plant Mint plant Pineapple plant
Pick your plant
Sudakshina Chacko has a lovely farmhouse about 85 kms from Bandra, in a small village called Mircholi. It houses more than 250 varieties of trees, plants, vegetable trees, small veggie patch, fruit trees etc. “It’s like growing our baby!” she exclaims! She says, “Indoor plants too need reflected sunlight like anthurium, coleus, varieties of creepers, money plants, chrysanthemums (seasonal). You can grow herbs in small pots too such as basil, thyme, rosemary, oregano, curry patta they are low on maintenance. These are the best to grow indoors as they are all-weather plants and require water only when the soil is dry… overwatering kills small plants.” Sudakshina too has been experimenting with microgreens for which one needs coco peat and a bit of soil. They can be used in salads as they are very healthy and packed with vitamins.
Keep in mind
A few things to keep in mind when you’ve begun gardening, by Diipti and Rowena.
- Avoid overwatering, a glass a day is more than enough for a 10-inch potted plant.
- Make sure to mulch well. Mulching is an important part of summer gardening where you ensure your plant soil is covered by leaves, cardboard, stones or shells. This regulates the moisture levels and protects all microbes living in the soil, thereby keeping the plant healthy.
- Feed your plants some compost, manure or organic matter from time to time. You can make a puree of banana peels, dilute it in water and then feed this mixture to your plants for a nice dose of potassium.
- Chip off dried leaves, those are damaged, they don’t need to be still hanging on the plant.
- Since you water them every day, they’re bound to grow slugs and snails, make sure you’re picking those regularly.
Best plants to grow at home and how to grow them, shared by Rowena:
Tomatoes: Grow them in your balcony, make sure they have at least 6 – 8 hours of strong sunlight every day. Make sure you pot this in a deep pot.
Mint Leaves: Pluck the leaves and use them as required, now let the stem sit in water for a couple of days. Once you see the stem grows roots plant them in soil. Place then in any low light to strong sunlight area and watch them bloom
Basil Leaves: Same as the mint leaves. You’ll be amazed how big one stem can grow up to. It’s a basil fest!
Green Chillies: Any area in the balcony where there is adequate sunlight through the day.
Pineapple: Save the top of the pineapple fruit, pluck few of the green leaves and soak it in water for 2 weeks, once it grows roots move to the soil. Pineapple can do wonders in the weather that Mumbai has. Place in any corner of the house that has adequate sunlight through the day.
Watermelon: Throw the seeds in the soil and watch them sprout in a week’s time.
Thank you for this interesting article. Can you grow curry leaves as well from a stem? I had curry leaves growing in my balcony, unfortunately the don’t survive when I go on vacation.