Love plants, but not sure if you can maintain them with ease.with space being a rarity these days, it is difficult to dream of a garden space — more so, if you are staying in a small apartment. But fear not! For terrace garden — big or small — is a wonderful way to add colour to your otherwise dull life. You can just sit there, listen to music, read books or simply pull up a couch to lie down and soak in the natural beauty. Low space in metros and big cities has also compelled plant lovers to grow vegetables on their balconies.
Know your plants
Before adding a plant to your potted collection, it is advisable to
ask an expert at a nursery about the conditions the plant needs. “It’s
usually much easier to grow plants that do well in your region,
temperature and soil. For instance, don’t try to grow a flower like a
rose — which requires six hours in the sun — on a porch that gets
sunlight only for an hour in the morning. While it’s important to
maintain a steady temperature for indoor plants, a terrace garden needs
adequate sunlight. Again, if you notice your plant becoming thin and
reaching out toward the light, it needs to be closer to sunshine,”
informs AB Karmakar, executive/ administrator for The Globe Nursery on
Lindsay Street.
Maintenance of indoor plants
- Most indoor plants do best in partial shade, which works out well
since indoor areas don’t usually get direct sunlight. Keep this in mind
before you decide to put a potted plant in a place where it will get
hours of direct sunlight; you may end up exposing it for too long.
- One must select the right size of the pots. For indoor plants, go
for pots either 4 inches or 6 inches in size. Allow enough space for the
roots to grow. Make sure the pots are light and strong, so as to hold
the plant for a long time.
- Place plastic saucers under the pots to avoid soil and water spillage.
- Ficus Elastica, Areca Palm, a variety of philodendron or dracaena
are best suited for indoors. These plants can do without sunlight for
7-10 days with minimum requirement of water.
Water the plants carefully
“Water the plants as and when required. Many first-time gardeners or
potted plant owners water plants more than necessary, believing that the
more water the plant gets, the better they grow. While it holds true
for certain plants, it can kill others,” suggests Dr SL Rahman,
consultant at Agri-Horticultural Society of India.
Kitchen garden in pots
- If you thought a kitchen garden only works in bigger houses, you
are highly mistaken. Get creative. Don’t throw away buckets, containers
etc. Use them along with hanging baskets for smaller plants. You can
even grow vegetables in the little balcony of your apartment.
- Do not use soil from the garden. It can be filled with weed seeds,
insects, and fungal diseases. It is better and easier to buy readymade
potting soil (a mixture comprising clay, bone dust, vermicompost, neem
cake and mustard cake) from the local nursery. You can also go for coco
peat, which are made from coconut husks and is a medium for growing
plants.
- Get various seedlings from the nursery. Remove the plants from its
nursery container. Never pull a plant out by its stem. If it is stuck,
tap the sides of the pot to loosen it. Gently tease the ends of the
roots free before planting it in the bigger pot.
- For the proper growth of vegetables in your balcony, the pot size should be between 8-10 inches.
- Make one or more drain holes in the pot. Place small chips right
over them so that they don’t clog and excess water can pass through.
- Do not pile soil on top of the plant; make sure the stem is
completely above the surface. Leave about an inch between the soil
surface and the rim of the pot.
- All vegetable plants need constant moisture. Some plants need water on a daily basis.
Veggies for beginners
Coriander: How many times did you get sad looking at half-dried
coriander leaves (dhania) in the market? Coriander is something that is
used in everyday cuisine to spice it up. And that makes it a must-grow
for every kitchen garden. The seed is technically a fruit containing two
seeds in it. When split, it increases the germination rate since it
scarifies the seed. Take a tray with potting mix filled up to half inch
from the top. Then make rows by drawing a line with your index finger or
a stick. Simply sow the split coriander seeds in each row. Once done,
water them and wait! It starts germinating between 5-7 days.
Potatoes:
Plant potatoes during late February and March. When the green shoots
begin to appear above the soil, cover them with more compost. You only
need remember to water them. After 10 to 20 weeks, dig around in the
soil to collect your home-grown potatoes!
Peas:
It’s a trouble-free crop that enjoys cooler weather. Sow them in the
pots between March and June. Erect some sticks or posts for support.
You’ll be amazed at how good fresh peas taste and the more that you pick
them, the more they produce!
Tomato:
With a little water and a lot of sun, tomato plants are quick to
grow. Roots of a tomato plant grow deeper into the soil. So, choose a
bush variety like ‘Cherry Cascade’ that can be planted in hanging
baskets and window boxes. Just cut a tomato into four pieces and bury it
about 1/2 an inch into the soil. Wait for 3-4 weeks for the seeds to
start sprouting.
Cucumber:
These grow best when the soil is warm. Cucumber plants tend to sprawl
all over. Provide your plants with ample space to stretch their roots.
Again, since these are climbers, you must get a proper support. Go for
smaller varieties if there’s less space.
Green chilli:
These are good companion plants for tomatoes and coriander. Just take
two or three dried red chillies. Slit them open and sprinkle the seeds
in a pot filled with soil and a little manure, available in the
nurseries. Ensure the seeds don’t go too deep. Cover it with little soil
and water it. It takes about a week or so for the seeds to sprout. If
the pot is not large enough, you can replant the sprouts into a bigger
pot. You may need to tie up the chili plant to a pole to let it grow and
avoid bending.
Winter blossom
- According to Nirupom Sen, secretary-cum-CEO, Agri-Horticultural
Society of India, if you have a garden without flowers, you have got to
do something about it. So, before deciding where to plant your flowers,
you should know when the best time to grow flowers is. “During winter,
the best flowers to grow in Indian climate are Petunia, Cockscomb,
Antirrhinum, Cineraria, Zinnia, Calendula, Chrysanthemum, Marigold and
Dahlia,” he says.
- Flower plants need up to 5 inches deep soil. So take an earthen pot
of 6-8 inches in height. Dig a hole in the potted soil. Bury the seed
about 2 inches deep. Flowers do not need to be smothered with the soil.
Do not bury them too deep. After 6 weeks, you will see the seeds sprout
into saplings.
- The after-care is very essential. Sprinkle water as and when required.
Terrace talk
- As the main element of a terrace garden comprises watering of
plants and keeping the soil wet, it is important that the best quality
water-proofing material is selected.
- One has to bear in mind that the area selected to build a terrace
garden should have a slight slope, so that it can drain water easily and
has the capacity to bear the load.
- It is always advisable to pick plants which don’t grow big in size.
- You can install a separate tank to store water or have a mechanical
watering arrangement. But most often, people love to water their garden
themselves and see the plants grow.
Preparing the potting mixture & sowing seeds
‘These days, one can easily get exotic and hybrid seeds of capsicum,
chilly, cabbage, broccoli, coriander, tomatoes, brinjal, basil and
parsley. The potting mixture should have 20% of leaf mould, 40% sand and
40% soil. You can add mustard cake and cow dung cake as fertilizers.
After the seeds are sown, one should cover the soil with a layer of fine
sand. Sand makes the soil porous and helps the roots grow. Avoid direct
sunlight’
— Dr SL Rahman
Keeping insects away
‘Use neem-based organic pesticides. Or you can take 100 gram of
chillies, 4-5 cloves of garlic and a few bulbs of turmeric, paste it and
mix it in 1 litre of water. Pour the liquid in a container and simmer
it till it is reduced to half. Refrigerate it and use it
whenever necessary. All you need to do is take out about 20 ml or the
concentrated paste, mix it in a litre of water and sprinkle it on the
plants. However, if insects or diseases do strike your plants, go for
the safest botanical or microbial pesticides’
— Dr SL Rahman
- For the proper growth of vegetables/ flowers, the pot size should
be between 8-10 inches. Make one or more drain holes in the pot
- Place small chips right over them so that they don’t clog and excess water can pass through
- Do not pile soil on top of the plant
- Get various seedlings from the nursery
Source : Online Khobor
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