Kitchen garden:- The term kitchen garden refers to a small piece of land around the house where a family can grow their own vegetables with the combined effort of family members. Seasonal & unseasonal production of vegetables is based on geography,...
Kitchen garden:-
The term kitchen garden refers to a small piece of land around the house where a family can grow their own vegetables with the combined effort of family members. Seasonal & unseasonal production of vegetables is based on geography, structure of soil, climate & productivity. One can grow vegetables with the supply of kitchen wastes i.e remaining of fruits and vegetables as well as waste water for irrigation. One can increase the productivity of their garden with the aid of organic fertilizer as well as vermicompost. Thus, one can completely bycot the use of chemical fertilizers. Hence the product obtained from kitchen garden is totally free from harmful chemicals.
A family can grow different vegetables like spinach, tomatoes, onion, garlic, brinjal, okra, pumpkin, bitter gurd, bottle gurd, etc through out the year as per need. Beside vegetables,a family can also plants some fruits plants if there is sufficient space. It can be managed easily through ploughing & mixing compost manure.
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Needs of kitchen garden:-
Clean and fresh fruits and vegetables play very significant role in human health. It provides various nutrients like carbohydrate, proteins, vitamins, minerals and fibres. These all nutrients play various role in human body. Thus, we can say that fresh & clean fruits and vegetables are very important in our daily life.
But with the increase of rapid population & modernization of agriculture, there has been excessive use of chemical fertilizers with the view of increasing the productivity to feed the growing population. Thus, the consequence is that it has increased the productivity at the same time it has also degraded the quality of soil as well as the agricultural products. Chemicals from chemical fertilizers entered the food chain causing various problems in human beings. These chemicals acts as slow poison. For example blue baby syndrome is due to the excessive use of nitrogenous fertilizers in agricultural field. Thus, what we are eating today is not clean and fresh in sence that it contains some harmful chemicals. The best possible solution to get fruits and vegetables free from these harmful chemicals is to grow our own food own self through kitchen gardening.
Vegetables that can be grown according to seasons:-
There are three agricultural season. They are:- rabi season, kharif season and zaid season.
Rabi season:- During this season we can cultivate vegetables like carrot, cauliflower, capsicum, onion, garlic, green peas, spinach(palak), brinjal,potatoes, and so on.
Kharif season:- During this season we can grow vegetables like chillies, cucumber, bottle gurd, bitter guard, beans, luffa, long melon and so on.
Zaid season:- In this season you can grow vegetables like bitter gurd, pumpkin, moong dal, cucumber and so on.
Requirements for successful kitchen gardening:-
Land:- Selection of proper land with sufficient sunlight is the most important for successful gardening. Similarly land should not have water logging problem. Ploughing:- Ploughing of land can be done either with spade or traditional plough. After ploughing land, it should be layout as per requirements. Weeding:- Weeds are the unwanted plants so it must be removed on regular basis. Irrigation:- Watering of plants should be done regularly as per requirements of plants for better growth, development and yield. There are various methods of irrigation like surface irrigation, sub-surface irrigation, sprinkler irrigation and drift irrigation. You can choose any method as per requirement. Spacing:- Spacing plays vital role in the growth of crops. So, better rows to row and plants to plants spacing should be provided. Tools:- Various tools are required to manage the garden. So, one must have following tools like spade, pick axe, hoe, hand sprayer, rode can, rose, secature. Fence:- fencing most be done with available materials to protect from domestic animals. Fences on all side should be done to trained climbers vegetables.
Shape and size of kitchen garden:- Shape and size of kitchen garden depends on following things:-
Availability of landNumber of person in familyLeisure time for the care of garden
Kitchen gardening on raised bed:- It is better to grow vegetables on raised bed as it has various advantages over the plain field gardening. Some of the advantages are:-
There is minimum growth of weeds. Vegetables can be grown easily and efficiently during rainy season also as there is no water logging problem. Working and growing vegetables on raised bed is easy and convinent as work gets divided with the number of beds. It has some disadvantages too which are listed below:-
The major disadvantage of raised bed gardening over palin field gardening is that there is wastage of field. The proper and appropriate dimension of a bed is 3m length, 1m width and 15cm height.
Advantages of kitchen garden:-
There is proper utilisation of land around the house. Regular supply of clean, fresh and toxins free fruits and vegetables around the year. Better utilization of free time in garden. No expenditure in buying vegetables. Proper utilization and management of kitchen waste. Exercise to the body and mind.