Dear Ladies, I am new to gardening. I have some space in balcony where i can keep some potted plants. I want to start with some organic vegetable plants. Please suggest which plants i can start with and what care i should take while planting them. Also please suggest ways to prevent insects and pests from attacking the plants. I would love to see some nice healthy plants in my balcony. -Lakshmi
Tomatoes, capsicum, bhindi, eggplants are all easy to grow in containers. You can spray some neem oil on the plants to keep insects away. You can also plants herbs such as basil, mint and oregano etc in pots.
Orion Try something like chilli or mint, curry leaf, and other leafy stuff used in small quantities for cooking... reason...to actually grow tomatoes for a family of 2, you atleast need 4 plants of tomatoes and that too, they need more maintenance like sunlight, right temps and water and nutrients to give that right amount of yield... growing chillies, mint, curry leaf, dhaniya, methi etc...that way you get to use them every day in small quantities for cooking, and they dont need much of space too...and the fresh taste and smell actually gives great flavour to the dish you cook Also try growing some twiner leafy veggies...like spinach etc..where they can twine around the fence of the balcony and any time of the day/night you can just pluck couple of leaves and put it in daal etc... Last year my theme was veggie gardening...I had grown bitter gourd, tomatoes and several other veggies in pots in my patio/balcony..however the best thing I liked was bitter gourd and chillies..its waste of time to spend on tomato plants/others as temps are very imp to give good yield...and alsoveggie gardening needs lots of maintenance and attention...and to top it the more the family members, you need more plants i.e more area to grow more plants.. So this year I shifted to roses keeps my patio beautiful...and also gives me flowers for god
Lovely advice. Thanks Srividya and Happy soul. Srividya, Are the chillies, methi and spinach prone to insects/pests? Do we need to be very careful with these plants, like moving them into shade in the afternoon, etc? I will be in office during the week and it would not be possible to do such things. Can you also suggest some organic fertiliser? -Lakshmi
Lakshmi, Start with tulasi, mint, aloe vera, ajwain/karpoorvalli. these are herbs and can be used for their medicinal benefits. http://www.indusladies.com/forums/gardening/76931-the-mini-pharmacy-your-garden.html You can get neem cake that can be used as a fertiliser. I used to make my own compost. and i was told you get the composting pot in bangalore.
Lakshmi, you can grow almost any plant in a pot. I have a friend in bangalore who grew a watermelon in a pot. If you have the passion for it i guess its very easy to grow. You need some pots and a very good potting mix to start off. You need atleast 10lt containers to grow veggies. I also gathered a lot of info before starting to grow. Now I have 10 pots with okra/ladies fingers growing, then I have around a few spinach and methi leaves growing as well. Last but not the least I have a few knol khol growing. I am planning to grow zuchini and cherry tomatoes next. Let me know if you need any more info on anything you need. Happy to help..:thumbsup Yes here in bangalore, we do get composting pots. You can also get it online at dailydump.org
Thanks Shanthi. It is a very informative thread. Surprising to know that so many medicinal plants can be grown in our own home. -Lakshmi
Dear Unknown, Lot of useful tips. Thanks for sharing. Can you elaborate what you meant by a good potting mix? Does that vary from plant to plant? Can you suggest a good place to get the seeds in Bangalore? I stay near Indiranagar. After reading all the responses, i am planning to go for methi, spinach, aloevera and chilli plants. Does that sound ok? -Lakshmi
Lakshmi, there are two types of potting mixes available- soiless and with soil. By soil I mean red soil. Which one do you prefer to start off with? Based on that i can guide you further on. Chilly plants need large containers to grow (may be 20 lts) Spinach needs a little more of nitrogen supply to get dark green thick foliage. You get seeds at many places in bangalore. New tharugpet (near prakash cafe) is the best. You can also get some seeds in lalbagh. Let me know if you need more help on anything else.:thumbsup