krya sustainable urban living guides baby steps to growing your own food
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kryaSustainable urban living guides
This is a DIY guide for the novice urban farmer who has asmall balcony or terrace to work with.
This guide is inspired by the joy of growing your own food
which is slowly becoming a critical need.As your garden grows,please use the resources given here to
take you further.
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Finding the right spot
Find a spot on your balcony or terrace that receives a lot of sunlight (atleast 4hours a day)
Keep some space near the spot to store your gardening equipment somecompost, natural fertiliser / pesticide, a small trowel, some garden gloves, a spray
bottle to water your garden
Choose your pot wisely!
Choose the containers in which you would like to grow your plants. You can re-use old
plastic tubs, water bottles, and even trash bags or HDPE plastic bags. Try to re-use
what is available rather than buy something new.
Giving your plant good soil
Kalai (the urban gardener whose workshop I attended) recommends using a
mixture of coco peat (40%), fertile soil (20%) and vermicompost (40%) for abalcony garden.
Preeti of Urban leaves recommends using a mixture of red earth and compost in
the ratio of 1: 1.
Experts say that good soil should be damp, airy and alive with beneficial
earthworms, microbes and other insects that work well on the aoil.
Baby steps to growing your own food
Home-made compost from Aparna Georges
kitchen - packed with nutrition for your plants
and sustainable too!
When the soil is this good, the worms come to
play! - From the Urban Leaves community
garden in Maharashtra National Park
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Soil basics
Soil should be alive. Good soil
contains lots of earthworms,
beneficial ants, and other micro
organisms that work hard on it
to make it rich and fertile and full
of nutrients.
Using coco peat brings down the
weight of your soil container. This
makes it a great option for
balconies and terrace garden.
Coco peat also absorbs more
moisture than soil, which means
you will have to water your plants
less.
Some soil potting mixes
Coco peat - 40% , Fertile soil - 20% ,
Vermi compost - 40%
Red earth : Compost (1 : 1)
Fertile Soil : Compost (1: 1)
Make your own compost to be even more sustainable!
Fresh veggies and fruits from your garden are extremely
nutritious, and taste awesome !
Courtesy: Sangeetha Srirams urban garden
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Seeds and Saplings to plant
Many seeds can be planted as is. Some seeds need to be germinated and then transplanted
into its final container.
Preparing seeds for planting (with germination)
Examples of plants whose seeds require germination are aubergines, tomatoes and chillies.
The seeds of these plants have to be soaked (after they are dry) in nourishing water (EM /
Amrut Jal / Panchakavya in water in a ratio of 1:10) for an hour. After an hour, plant them in a
small container (the depth of an egg tray or a pudding snack pack) in good compost at a depth
of 4 cm. Poke 2 holes at the bottom of the container so that excess water leaves it (and does
not stay behind to rot the roots).
Sprinkle a tiny amount of water every day on the seed bed (just enough that the soil feels
damp).
Transplant the seedling once it has grown to about 10 cm tall.
Planting seeds that do not need germination:
Many plants can be sown directly into your container. Okra, greens, some herbs (like corian-
der, fenugreek), gourds (bitter gourd, ridge gourd), etc.
Urban leaves recommends starting with easy seeds and plants that can be found in any Indi-
an kitchen cupboard like coriander seeds, fenugreek, mustard, channa, etc.
Kalai recommends planting greens many of them are ready to harvest in a month, and a
large amount can be harvested, enough for a familys needs once they grow.
Planting time
The best to plant your seeds or saplings is between the new moon
and the full moon (closer to the new moon). As the full moon
approaches, the moisture content in the soil increases, as do insect
pests. Too much moisture in the soil kills the young plants roots as
do too many insect pests.
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Mulching is the practice of covering the soil with driedorganic matter like leaves to prevent the top soil fromlosing moisture from evaporation.
Mulching is a critical element in your urban garden.
Proper mulching of your plant pots will keep the topsoil moist, and prevent invasive weeds from growing inyour plant pots.
Mulch also conserves water in the top soil so you needto water less.
This is critical because over watering can also kill yourplants by making the roots soggy.
So mulch your plant pots well, and water themsparingly
Mulching
Companion planting in a medium sized pot:
Plant a single okra seed or a bitter gourd seed in the centre. You could get these seeds while
cooking with organic okras or bitter gourds at home - take the seed of a fully ripe and mature
okra / bitter gourd if possible, or buy it from a reliable supplier of traditional / heritage seeds.
As a companion to the okra / bitter gourd, plant greens around the circumference of the pot
you can plant between 10 - 15 seeds depending on the size of your pot.
The greens should be sown at a depth of half an inch from the top and the centre plant at a
depth of one inch.
Use a container of about 12 inches depth for this arrangement.
Some plants you can start your garden with :
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Soil basics
Small container plants
Coriander is a great plant to plant in a container. You can begin
harvesting fresh leaves within 3 weeks of planting. The growing
season is October - March
Lightly crush the seed until it breaks into 2 halves - each half gives
you one plant.
Soak the seeds in nourishing water for 4 - 5 hours. Dry the seeds
under a fan. Plant when dry in the evening into your soil container
at a depth of 3 cm in the soil. Choose a container thats 6 - 8 inches
deep.
Fenugreek is also an easy plant to grow.. Soak and dry the seeds
as described above, and plant in a small container alone or in a
larger pot as a companion to herbs like Basil. Fenugreek is an
excellent nitrogen fixer and is a great companion plant to other sun
loving herbs. You can harvest tender leaves from 15 days onwards.
Mustard is another excellent container plant. Sow the seeds (after
preparing them) between October - January. Sow each seed 6
inches apart (sow only as many as you want) . The plant needs
very little water and both leaves and seeds can be harvested.
Mustard seed harvesting tip from Urban leaves:
As the mustard flower grows and matures, it will form pods.
Watch for these pods to start to turn brown.
Another sign that you are nearing harvest time will be that the
leaves of the plant will start to yellow.
Be careful not to leave the pods on the mustard seed plant for too
long as they will burst open when fully ripe and the mustard seed
harvest will be lost.
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Thank you for downloading this eBook.
Through this eBook, we wanted to encourage and inspire you to begin
growing your own food.
This eBook as the title suggests is for basic level gardeners who have not yet
attempted to grow their own food. The resources at the end of this eBook
provide further contacts, blogs and groups to learn from.
As we progress in our gardening experiments we hope to write more
advanced guides on growing your own food.
In the meantime here are some photographs from urban gardens all over
India to further inspire you. Happy gardening!
From Aparna Georges urban garden in Bangalore :
purple and plump aubergines and tomatoes (below)
From Sangeetha Srirams urban garden in Chennai,
beautiful broad beans in the terrace
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Resources for further learning
Blogs / Facebook Group of experienced urban gardeners or gardening groups:
1. Urban Leaves City farmers Group:
http://www.urbanleavesofindia.blogspot.com
2. Geek Gardeners blog : http://geekgardener.in/
3. Organic Terrace gardening Facebook group (mostly based in Bangalore) -
https://www.facebook.com/groups/OrganicTerraceGardening/
Experienced urban gardeners and horticulturists or gardening groups you cancontact for queries:
1. The city farmers group : Request them to add you into their group :
cityfarmers@yahoogroups.com
2. Preeti Patil (of the Urban Leaves group) -urbanleaves@gmail.com
3. Dr.Vishwanath Narayan Urban Horticulturist and Urban gardener based in
Bangalore. Conducts urban gardening workshops in Bangalore
vishy_kadur@yahoo.co.in
4. Kalaivaani (who conducted the Urban gardening workshop I attended) has a
5 acre organic farm in the outskirts of Chennai and also has a vibrant terrace
garden. Email Kalai at: like_vani@yahoo.co.in
5. Siddhartha Sikdar (Based in Pune) Organic gardener and permaculture
practioner. Can be contacted through the city farmers group.
Enthusiastic gardeners (who I know) who have had excellent results1. Aparna George (based in Bangalore) : http://apster.blogspot.com/
2. Sujatha Ramni (Based in Hyderabad) -
https://www.facebook.com/goodseeds
3. Sangeetha Sriram (is an urban gardener based in Chennai; is a great resource
to grow greens) - http://sangeethasriram.blogspot.com/
4. Kavitha Ramakrishnan (Has a wonderful urban terrace garden in Chennai withan amazing variety of vegetables) Kavitha can be contacted via reStore at
restorechennai@gmail.com
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Wonderful Learning opportunities and books and blogs:
1. Jyothi Nagaraj of the Organic Terrace gardening group is organising Oota
from your Thota in Bangalore this Sunday , Nov 27th Register for the event
here: https://www.facebook.com/events/264861213560428/
2. Urban Leaves is conducting a National seminar on Organic Urban Gardening
in Mumbai between the 10 12thof December this year. You can register for
this event here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDdIeGh0TDdv
QmFJUk43SXo1cmk1dmc6MQ
3. Dr.Vishwanath Narayan has written a wonderful book called the Handbook of
Organic terrace gardening which you can buy for Rs.150 (plus postage
charges from Bangalore). Please write to leisaindia@yahoo.co.into order
your copy.
4. Masanobu Fukuoka (an inspiration to organic farming the world over) wrote a
seminal book called the One Straw Revolutiondetailing his natural farming
methods. Read this book to get inspired, learn more about natural farming and
to understand the importance of mulching.
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Credits:
1. Ms. Kalaivaani of Sadhana Kudil organic farm for the fantastic hands-onorganic farming workshop
2. Ms. Preeti Patil and Urban Leaves for the enthusiasm, knowledge and
happiness spread to hundreds of city farmers in India
3. ReStore volunteers and successful organic gardeners Sangeetha and Kavitha
for generously sharing their pictures and techniques and opening up their
homes for aspiring gardeners, and of course for organising the workshop.
4. Ms.Aparna George, blogger and environmental enthusiast who has an
enviable home garden and compost kambha going in her balcony in
Bangalore.
5. Photo credits
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoyachubby/with/464017688/
Dave Tuner - novalis@novalis.org
Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Morguefile - http://www.morguefile.com
Apologies if we have missed anyone. If we have missed you out or if you feel
we have inadvertantly violated your copyright, please write to us at
goodies@krya.in .
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About the Authors:
This eBook has been written by Preethi Sukumaran and Srinivas Krishnaswamyof Krya Consumer Products LLP (the copyright holder).
This guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial -
Non Derivs 3.0 Unported License.
Simply put , you can share this eBook with anyone you like, without charging
them for it.
Krya Consumer Products create environmentally sustainable, completely natural
and vegan alternatives to stuff folks use around their home.
We are proud to have launched the Krya detergent which is made by skilfully
powdering sun-ripened, hand-picked, de-seeded, certified organic soapberries.
Since the launch of the Krya detergent, it has been attracting rave reviews
from happy consumers.
The Krya detergent can be used in all washing machines and in hand wash as
well.
To find out more about us and what we do, please visit these sites:
www.krya.in
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