Jessica Dohtdong
Programme Assistant Home Science KVK Wokha
Vegetables occupy an important place in our daily life particularly for vegetarians. Vegetables are the only source to increase not only the nutritive values of foods but also its palatability. For a balanced diet, an adult should have an intake of 85 g of fruits and 300 g of vegetables per day as per the dietary recommendation of nutrition specialists. But the present level of production of vegetables in our country can permit a per capita consumption of only 120 g of vegetables per day.
Considering the above facts, we can plan to produce our own vegetable requirements in our backyards using the available fresh water as well as the kitchen and bathroom wastewater. This will not only facilitate prevention of stagnation unused water which will be hazardous to our health through environmental pollution, but can be useful for successful production of our own requirement of vegetables Cultivation in a small area facilitates the methods of controlling pests and diseases through the removal of affected parts and non-use of chemicals. This is a safe practice, which does not caused toxic residues of pesticides in the vegetables produced.
A kitchen garden has numerous definitions. Also called potagers, the more common French term, these gardens are meant to supply the household with some vegetables, fruits or herbs. They may be highly ornamental, featuring lots of other plants that can make the garden very pretty, or can be very simple, with just a few plots to grow food a family would enjoy eating.
Importance of a kitchen garden: The importance of a kitchen garden is great and manifold. A kitchen garden ensures an inexpensive, regular and handy supply of fresh vegetables which are basic to nutrition. Green vegetables contain vitamins and minerals which protect us against diseases. Lack of vegetables, particularly the green leafy vegetables, leads to malnutrition which causes diseases like anemia and night-blindness. Dark green leafy vegetables such as Palak and brown vegetables like carrots prevent blinding malnutrition.
Kitchen garden also helps us to solve our food problem. Apart from green and leafy vegetables, we can also grow several roots and tubers like potato, suran, goradu etc. which are similar to cereals and provide us heat and energy. These roots and tubers can be substituted to cereals.
Kitchen garden prevents pollution of air. It purifies the air through the plants. Plants breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen which is vital for our life. In order to preserve health and prevent malnutrition, we should develop a kitchen garden; grow fresh and clean vegetables and make them a part of our daily diet. Besides being a very delightful hobby, the green vegetables protect us from diseases and some of the vegetables in the forms of roots and tubers provide us heat and energy.
Those who don’t have lots of space may still be able to create a quite functional kitchen garden by using a couple of raised beds or by growing some food in oak barrels. Things like tomatoes, zucchini and peppers are easily grown in large barrels, and one barrel or more could be devoted to favorite herbs. Some small fruit trees can even be accommodated in barrels, such as many mandarin orange varieties and other citrus trees. This means that people who don’t have access to much yard space or soil might still able to produce a passable garden.
The following are the steps to be followed for planting a kitchen garden:-
- a) Site Selection:
There will be limited choice for the selection of sites for kitchen gardens. The final choice is usually the backyard of the house. This is convenient as the members of the family can give a constant care to the vegetables during leisure and the wastewater from the bathrooms and kitchen can easily be diverted to the vegetable beds. The size of a kitchen garden depends upon the availability of land and number of persons for whom vegetables are to be provided. There is no restriction in the shape of the kitchen garden but wherever possible rectangular garden is preferred to a square one. With succession cropping and intercropping, five cents of land would be adequate to supply vegetables for an average family of four to five persons.
- b) Land preparation
Firstly a through spade digging is made to a depth of 30-40 cm. Stones, bushes and perennial weeds are removed. 100 kg of well decomposed farmyard manure or vermicompost is applied and mixed with the soil. Ridges and furrows are formed at a spacing of 45 cm or 60 cm as per the requirement. Flat beds can also be formed instead of ridges and furrows.
- c) Sowing and planting
- Direct sown crops like bhendi or okra, cluster beans and cowpea can be sown on one side of the ridges at a spacing of 30 cm. Amaranthus (meant for whole plant pull out and clipping) can be sown after mixing 1 part of seeds with 20 parts of fine sand by broadcasting in the plots. Small onion, mint and coriander can be planted/sown along the bunds of plots.
- Seeds of transplanted crops like tomato, brinjal and chilli can be sown in nursery beds or pots one month in advance by drawing lines. After sowing and covering with top soil and then dusting with 250 grams neem cake so as to save the seeds from ants. About 30 days after sowing for tomato and 40-45 days for brinjal and chilli and big onion the seedlings are removed from nursery and transplanted along one side of the ridges at spacing of 30-45 cm for tomato, brinjal and chilli and 10 cm on both the sides of the ridges for big onion. The plants should be irrigated immediately after planting and again on 3rd day. The seedlings can be watered once in two days in the earlier stages and then once in 4 days later.
- Main objective of a kitchen garden is the maximum output and a continuous supply of vegetables for the table throughout the year. By following certain procedures, this objective can easily be achieved.
- Perennial plants should be located on one side of the garden, usually on the rear end of the garden so that they may not shade other crops, compete for nutrition with the other vegetable crops.
- Adjacent to the foot path all around the garden and the central foot path may be utilised for growing different short duration green vegetables like coriander, spinach, fenugreek, Alternanthera and mint
A cropping pattern, which may prove helpful for kitchen garden under Indian conditions (excepting hill stations) is suggested below.
- a) Perennial plot
- Drumstick, banana, papaya, tapioca, curry leaf and agathi.
- It may be observed from the above crop arrangements that throughout the year some crop is grown in each plot without break (Succession cropping) and where ever possible two crops (one long duration and the other a short duration one) are grown together in the same plot (companion cropping).
Economic benefits of a kitchen gardening
Gardeners feed their families first and then sell, barter or give away surplus garden foods. In certain contexts, however, income generation may become the primary objective of the home garden. In any case, it is counterproductive to impose the nutrition objective to the exclusion of the income generation objective, since in most contexts they are linked and compatible.
The potential economic benefits of home gardening, include the following:
- Gardening gives dual benefits of food and income generation;
- Gardens provide fodder for household animals and supplies for other household needs (handicrafts, fuel wood, furniture, baskets, etc.);
- Marketing of garden produce and animals is often the only source of independent income for women.
