Saturday, 8 December 2012

Activity


You don’t need land. Making a small farm at home is quite simple and can be done so with things lying around the house and some waste material and water on a rooftop, terrace or balcony.
Step 1
You need a container to grow the plants. Earthen  pots are the best. Wooden crates lined on the inside with plastic, old tires, egg trays,any plastic containers can also be used.
Step 2
You need to put a substrate in the container. Rice hull, sawdust,sand, gravel, coconut fibre, peat, peanut husks etc. You will also require a nutrient solution which can be obtained from the fermentation of organic waste material.
Step 3
You need a suitable location. Basically, you need 1 to 10 square metres of free space, a minimum of six hours of daily sunlight and a clean water source. So the options could be your rooftop, balcony, backyard or any place else that meets the requirements.
Step 4
You have to select what you have to grow. Tomato, beans, onion, garlic, gourds, potato, celery, pepper, chilly, carrot, lettuce, basil, cucumber, radish, cabbage, red beet, spinach, eggplant, medicinal plants
Go organic: Be a chemical free farmer. Buy readymade, or compost your own organic kitchen, garden, left over food, household waste. You can create a vermicompost bin even on a balcony in a flat.
Be Waterwise: Wastewater from kitchen and bathrooms can be treated, recycled and used.
Be chemical free: make use of bio-pesticides using neem, turmeric, lemons, tobacco, garlic, onions. Soap solution helps. Plant 'plant traps' like marigold or chrysanthemums to mitigate bugs. Remember pests cannot be controlled, only managed.
Now you’re ready to be a City farmer!

4 comments:

  1. I read a article on organic farming . "Include organic farming in farm policy"said the vice-chancellor of agricultural sciences ,Dharwad
    link
    http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-01-07/hubli/28360767_1_organic-farming-soil-fertility-agricultural-policy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good Poorvajaa to know that you are reading articles on organic farming - and yes we do need policies on organic farming and then include that in the farm policy!!

      Delete
  2. ma'am can we use tea dust as a compost for mustard seed plant
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