10 December 2014

Beginners Guide to OTG - The 1st quarter.

Part 1 of 4 of the series of ‘A beginner’s guide to Organic Terrace Gardening (OTG)’.

I started my terrace garden towards the end of 2012. The two main factors that pushed me into it was the Facebook group "Organic Terrace Gardening" and availability of terrace space. Gardening is not something that was a hand-me-down. It was something that hit me when I came across the OTG page on FB and I was getting into a major landmark in my life – getting my house built. Since both coincided, I wanted to give it a shot. As time passed, I have been getting more and more into it. I do not have the greenest thumb, but I’m pretty happy with what I am doing. So, based on my experience over the past 2 years or so, here are my thoughts, inputs, suggestions and tips. This post is quite specific to terrace gardening and more or less to Bangalore.

General Recommendations

- Make a start and get your hands dirty! You will not learn everything on day one. It will take some time for experience to kick in and make the best out of the knowledge gained.

- Grow what you need ! Do not get excited and tempted to grow everything at one time. Start slow.

- Do use a pair of gloves when working, especially with soil.
- Most of us have made mistakes and so will you. Its a steady learning process, but not rocket science.

- Use Google, YouTube and the files section in the OTG FB group can be you best assistants. There’s tons of information out there, waiting to be seen and read.


What do you need to start
Space
Balcony? Ground space? Terrace ? Basically any location which gets at least 2-3 hours or more of direct sunlight. The more the better! A place where you can keep a few containers. The number 1 question asked by newbies – “Will my terrace/balcony be able to hold the weight of pot/plants/containers?” Yes, it will! The average RCC/concrete slab can take huge amounts of weight. Just ensure that adequate waterproofing has been done. If your terrace can bear the brunt of a heavy downpour, then you are good to go with an OTG too. For balconies, make sure, you have a water drainage outlet.

Containers

Think beyond the pot! For a first time gardener, a container is any object like a pot in any shape/size. And yes, it can be a pot too! Most importantly, it should be able to hold water and soil and other ingredients in the container. There will be a time when you will be scouting for any decent sized object. For example, an oil can, an unused helmet, a vegetable/milk crate, specific types of wood, a good thick UV treated plastic grow bag, 1/2/5/10 litre or water bottle/can, used paint buckets, PVC pipes. Rice/cement bags can be used, but not more than once. After about 3 months, it starts to disintegrate. And once that happens, the disintegrated pieces mix up in the soil, which makes it very difficult to remove. So try to avoid them.

Most of the pots available in the market are made out of good quality plastic Overall its OK to grow in plastic containers. If those plastic containers were used earlier for storing any chemical related items, like paint, then ensure that the container has been thoroughly cleaned. If you are really scared and have your own inhibitions, stay away from plastic pots. You have options like clay, mud, cement, terracotta. Plastic pots of size 10 / 12 or more are good enough for a single plant like tomato, chilly, brinjal, capsicum etc. These are some of my containers ...


a. wood fruit box from the local market.





b. kiddy bath tub for carrots.



c. Plastic veggie/fruit container.






d. Commercial PVC grow bag.





e. Packing wood converted into a 3 feet * 8 feet raised bed.






f. wood fruit box.





g. plastic water/oil can.



h. Milk carton for initial seed germination.





i. Egg carton for initial seed germination.





j. sofa backs.



k. nestle dahi cups for initial seed germination / sharing.




l. tempo traveler / vehicle tyres, for non edible plants.






Seeds

Happiness held is the seed; Happiness shared is the flower. - John Harrigan

There are a variety of seeds available in the market ... heirloom (naati), open pollinated (OP), hybrid and the new danger lurking around us, GMO. Heirloom and OP varieties are a bit difficult to come by. Hybrid seeds are the ones which you find in any decent gardening store and are the most commercially available ones. Let me not talk about GMO seeds !

Another common question from starters ... Where do we get seeds from ? Most common answer from an established gardener to a newbie ... Your kitchen !
For starters, the kitchen is the best source of sourcing seeds to get kick started. Tomatoes, brinjal, capsicum, methi, corriander, corn. Most of the market bought leafy vegetables (palak, mint, coriander) still have the roots attached. Use up the leaves and sow the roots back into the soil. And presto ! You got yourselves a new plant.

Sunlight

Different plants have different sunlight requirements. Some do well in semi shade, some need 3-4 hours of sunlight, some require more and some require less.

Seeds sown in a seed tray / pro tray for initial germination don’t need direct sunlight for the first 1-2 weeks. Place them in bright sunny spot, but away from direct sunlight. You have the option of installing a shade net to cut off the amount of sunlight hitting the plants. You also get protection from rains.


Using this website http://www.suncalc.net, you can determine the sun movement over a period of time and use your judgement accordingly for placing your containers.
Water

Do not over water or under water. On an average, watering once a day is good enough. Do not water when the sun is at its peak. Do not water on the leaves, as this may lead to leaf burn and can also attract insects like mealy bugs and aphids. Either water the plants around 6/7 AM or around 6 PM. Evening is an ideal time, as the water evaporation rate is low. This allows the roots to absorb most of the water. If you over water, the water that drains out will take away the nutrients in the soil. And of course you are wasting water too and soiling your terrace floor.

There is an option of drip irrigation, in case you are a regular traveler or don't have backup watering options.

Soil and Nutrients
Last but the most important requirement for gardening, soil and nutrients. As this is quite a detailed topic, I will cover it in the next part.

You are currently on part 1.
This is part 2.
This is part 3.

This is part 4.

43 comments:

  1. Hi Srikant, This is very helpful for beginners like us. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. simply great and loads of thanks

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  3. very good information... thanks

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  4. Hi Srikant, thank you for sharing this. I have strawberry plant but the fruit is very sour. If yours is sweeter, will you let me know where I can get the plant.
    regards,
    Ved

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hi ved,
      i wouldnt say that my SBs are sweet. they r pretty much on the sour side.

      Delete
  5. Hi Srikant - I am Dhiviya, a beginner and I am planning to start with tomato. Is it a good choice as I live in an apartment (Bangalore) with not much sunshine in the balcony. Also I would like to know of the proportions to prepare a proper potting soil mix.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hi dhiviya,
      the general proportions for plants are given in this blog post. there are 4 parts. pls read all the parts.

      tomato requires quite a lot of sunlight. greens like methi and palak are good for beginners, since the returns are faster :)

      veggies like tomato/brinjal/chilly take atleast 3months.
      hth,
      srikant.

      Delete
  6. Hi Srikant - this is Lalitha.. thanks for the very informative blog.. i hv so far been growing in pots and bags.. trying the milk crates now.. what are the sheets you are using to cover the crates and fruit boxes? where can we get them? TIA

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. the sheets are called tarpaulin. usually blue in color. easily available in JC Road, KR Market, Avenue Road, Chikpete etc areas. Should also be easily available in your neighbourhood hardware stores. do NOT use cement/rice bags, as they will easily disintegrate and mix with potting mix.
      HTH,
      Srikant.

      Delete
  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. thanks for the information, will sure give it a try......

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  9. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  10. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  11. Has anybody tried using Myntra/Jabong courier covers as grow bags?

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    Replies
    1. i hv not tried them, but many folks do use the ID (or other brand) idly/dosa batter mix for growing greens like methi, coriander, palak etc.

      Delete
    2. Hi Srikant

      Thanks for this beautiful post. A great help to beginners like me.

      Speaking of covers, I have stock of few 5 kg bags of Ashirwad sharbati atta. Hope i can grow tomatoes and chillies in those covers ? Please advise. Thanks

      Delete
    3. TY Hema !

      tomato plants usually last for 4+ months. chillies can last for years if given proper care. so would suggest not to use these atta bags for them. invest in a proper pot or grow bags. in such atta bags you can grow radish/mint/coriander/methi/palak etc. which you can harvest in about 4-6 weeks.

      HTH !

      Delete
    4. Atta bags lasts for minimum 2 years if handled well. I have been using it for 2 to 3 years...

      Delete
  12. Good post mate, any suggestions on drip irrigation.

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    Replies
    1. TY. My friend and fellow gardener, Uma, has blogged about her drip irrigation setup ...

      http://umaonsoil.blogspot.in/2015/10/drip-irrigation-boon-for-urban-gardeners.html

      Delete
  13. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  14. That's a comprehensive article, really appreciate you sharing it here. Waterproofing can be a major problem and affect the entire structure if not taken care of properly. I read some really easy to follow terrace waterproofing methods on The Happy Homes Blog.

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  15. TY for sharing the info about waterproofing. yes, it is indeed a very important aspect of a terrace garden.

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  16. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  17. Thank you so much. It's very much useful for beginners like me.

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  18. This is good information. And this is well explained in simple words.

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    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TY for the info. however this article is more Bangalore, India specific.

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  27. Nice article about Organic Terrace Gardening. It's very useful to the beginners who wants to try gardening at their own. I can suggest you go with Trust Basket. It's an wonderful online gardening store where you can have a variety of plastic plants online and more.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TY for the appreciation. Most of the established/veteran gardeners I know, have their own preferred offline and trusted suppliers for gardening related things. i personally dont buy anything online, except for tools maybe.

      Delete
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