Kitchen Gardening - A Fast Growing Trend

           

Kitchen Garden - A garden where vegetables, fruits, herbs, shrubs etc., are grown for domestic use. This is the general meaning you could find in a dictionary. But it would be more interesting if you get deep inside this. The significance of Kitchen Gardening is that it ensures you an inexpensive, regular & fresh use of vegetables, fruits or herbs just few minutes before you serve which makes sure of your healthy lifestyle... 

Before discussing more about this, lets check out the history of Kitchen Garden... 
  

History Of Kitchen Gardening :

                      As I was browsing on history of Kitchen Gardening, I have found many results, of that some were matching each other & some were different. But the most common thing I found reading is that, Kitchen Garden have slowly evolved from school gardening in California,US & from people who found the arable land( a land suitable for growing crops). People who has to walk miles to get their basic needs for kitchen started using this concept in their backyards. Then later this concept was adopted during the First & Second world war when people were in demand for food. During those days it was called as "Victory Gardens".. 

For in-depth description on history of Kitchen Gardening have a look on the following links :

                                      
http://exhibits.mannlib.cornell.edu/kitchengardens/intro.htm

http://kgi.org/blogs/rose-hayden-smith/brief-history-school-gardens

Later this evergreen concept has started evolving across the globe. Despite being a successful movement, Kitchen Gardening has to be explored more in the younger generations to come, so that it helps them to maintain a healthy environment in this fast growing polluted mechanic world.

Necessity Of Kitchen Garden In Today's World :

                 Nothing can match our Mother Nature created by our Father. She is best at Her wrapping, preserving & providing food for us. Hence She is privileged as Mother Nature. We can experience this personally when we make an effort to create our own garden. 

                      As per the recommendations from nutrition specialist, a balanced diet for an adult must include 85g of fruits & 300g of vegetables per day. But present production in our country can permit a per capita consumption of only 120g of vegetables per day. In Today's worsening economic condition, high rate vegetables it brings us the need to think about Horticulture & Kitchen Garden. The greeny vegetables grown under our own supervision with utmost care can protect us against diseases which are mostly caused due to adulteration. Most of the times the vegetables are coated with wax, pesticides, dipped in harmful chemical solutions just to make it look fresh & attractive. So its better for us to start maintaining a small garden.

 Benefits of Kitchen Gardening :   

                     Gardening takes sometime. But even if you spare little time each day for a small garden, it gives you back more astonishing results.

               
                                  ~* First of all, it provides you a healthy & peaceful environment. You can get fresh vegetables & herbs just few minutes before cooking.

                                  ~* It ensures to be a delightful hobby that can be pursued at home, school or even in a Eco-friendly office.

                                  ~* Most importantly it prevents air pollution. i.e. it purifies the air through plants which are responsible in the process of inhaling carbon-di-oxide & exhaling oxygen which is vital for human life.

                                  ~* As you have your own garden at home, high rates of vegetables could not affect you.

                                  ~* Watching a seed that you have planted blooming & growing under your care, gratifies you which can ease of your stress or worries.

                                  ~* Leafy vegetables such as spinach, palak, agathi leaves, mint leaves, murungai leaves etc., which are rich in vitamins, iron could be grown in our own garden & served often to enrich the health of our people around.

                                  ~* If you have more resources & a plan of growing a large garden, you can also make it as your business or use it as an opportunity to serve people around who are in need of it.

Get, Set, Go :

                   Let us see the process of making a kitchen garden.. All you need is some plastic bottles, small or large pots based on the crop of your choice, red soil or any other that suits your location, water & some little space in your veranda, balcony or backyard.

Seed - Sowing

                    Starting with a small garden then to big gives you more experiences. So start small. First, collect seeds from a reliable source.Choose a location where you can get sunlight. Check for the quality of your soil, then start with easy growing vegetables. Water the plants everyday depending upon the climatic conditions. Maintain your plants by protecting it from insects.Use some fertilizers to improve the soil fertility. Kitchen waste such as tea waste & skin of onions can also be used as fertilizers. At last harvest of vegetables depends upon the crop type.

Fast Growing Vegetables & herbs :

              Experts say that September-October is the best time to plant winter vegetables such as peas, carrot, radish, turnip, cauliflower, cabbage, onion, garlic, potato & leafy vegetables.

Some of the fast growing vegetables & herbs are carrot, lettuce, tomatoes, green beans, mint leaves, coriander & curry leaves, cucumber, onion, peas and spinach.

Want to see how fresh your vegetables could be, if it is from your own garden.............?

Here are few pictures for you..........

Carrots

Carrots

Carrots

Brinjal(Eggplant)

                        

Cabbage

Lady's Finger

Tomatoes

Spinach

Capsicum

Onions

                                                                                                 

Rapid Growth of Kitchen Garden in Chennai :

                 Kitchen Gardens across the city are increasing rapidly. Most people with Kitchen Garden say that they are self-sufficient by growing vegetables of their need. It reduces the necessity to travel to the market often.Even training's are being conducted on how to have & maintain a Kitchen Garden.The Information and Training Center ( ITC ) of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in Anna Nagar are providing training for people on kitchen gardens. Experts from TNAU says that July is the ideal month to plant your seeds in your kitchen Garden.

Some of the Kitchen Garden pictures  

                                        

                                                                                                               

                                                                                     

                               

Images Courtesy : Internet

I would like to share some of the interesting articles that i have gone through while browsing on this topic.

Hope that the following links gives you few more ideas on this. Check this out :

*  http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/metroplus/article3436145.ece

*  http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/i-saw-a-roof-garden-amid-the-concrete-jungle/article4062505.ece       

*  http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/kids/article3417737.ece

*  http://chennaifocus.wordpress.com/2012/07/18/interested-in-creating-a-kitchen-garden/           

                                                                                           

Way to go ahead :

                  Kitchen Garden can be informally compared to somewhat like kindergarten. Kindergarten is what we call a preschool institution for children from where they are nourished with newer thoughts with utmost care & are given a change of atmosphere from home to school. Whereas in Kitchen Garden plants are nourished with utmost care. Both if handled carefully brings you out with unexpected & gratified results.

                  To move a step forward, this activity must be brought into practice right from schools from where our generation next emerges.  Hope this post would be worth sharing with your people around.                                                                                                                                                               

Thanks for spending your valuable time.