Turmeric

Planted in March total of 4 bulbs (Not more than 30 grams).
Harvested in December a lot (At least 400 grams)
Needs hot temperature, and soil which should be at least a feet deep. Doesnt need much care, and can be grown without any application of manure or fertilizer. Being a rhizome, it fixes air nitrogen into soil, and is a good choice for crop rotation.

I grew mine in a tin trunk (2.5 feet* 1.5 feet* 1 feet), along with karela, beans and okra. I must confess I got more that what I expected, The dark brown rhizome that you see in the image is the original bulb that was planted in March. I have left around 4-5 rhizomes which had plant coming out from them in the trunk, so that I could get the turmeric again next year. Wish me luck for next year :)

Growing Garlic

I must confess I am trying my luck here, this is still an on going experiment, the outcome will be there for all to see in 2-3 more months.

Getting Started. Making your own Seeds.

Well, seeds are nothing but individual garlic taken out from garlic bulb. It would be good to use ones which have small green stem leaf coming out.

Planting Garlic

I planted mine in Feb, and they are doing fine while we are currently into April first week. They could be planted all the year round.

Time Period

Garlic plant can grow to a height of 1 feet max. They just have one leaf, so mixing it with coriander makes very good sense. They are ready to harvest in 4-5 months when the leaves begin to dry.

Space Requirements

They should be planted around 10 cm away from each other to avoid congestion.

Care

I water my garlic plants twice daily, and they dont seem to mind it.

Output

Each garlic plant would product a onion sized garlic bulb which could easily contain 15-20 individual garlic. Some of these could be replanted, and remaining used for kitchen use.

Results:

Will update once I harvest them(expecting this July-August)

Growing Brinjal (Eggplant)

Getting Started. Making your own Seeds.

Eggplant or Brinjals are not hard to grow. They could be easily grown from seeds one gets from the vegetable. It would be good if a fully mature vegetable is used to obtain the seeds, as then the probability of a seed to germinate increases.

Getting a good mature vegetable is first step. Take out the seeds, soak them in water and then let them dry for a day in bright sunlight. You now have seeds ready to be planted.

Planting Brinjal

There's no specific season to plant brinjal. It can be grown all the year round, as long as you water the plants regularly, and add manure on timely basis.

Time Period

Brinjal plants generally grow to a height of 1-2 feet. They start giving fruits in 4-5 months if well pollinated.

Space Requirements

Each Eggplant (Brinjal as we know it) should be given around 1 sq feet area. While growing it in containers or in flower pots, it would be wise to have one such plant per container.


Pollination

Since the Brinjal have both, male and female portion in each flower(same as in Tomato), there isn't much role of insects in pollination of tomato plants. This does not mean they are not needed, but its just that their role is reduced as compared to their work needed in say, Pumpkin pollen pollination. I did not get a single vegetable out of my brinjal plant for almost 6 months, but when I manually pollinated the flowers, in a fortnight, I had 4 small brinjals! Manual pollination is really easy, it simply requires you to shake the flowers and making sure that the center(female) part of the flower gets some pollens from the side(male) part of the flower. Believe me, doing manual pollination does give results fast.

Care

I water my brinjal plant once in the evening. Also, I added some 'ash' into soild, which is black material which one gets after burning wood. It responded to it well, and I didn't need any chemical fertilizer after that.

Little fertilizer can help if the plant is not growing well. However, I am a big fan of using non-industrial fertilizer, and try to refrain from using them, unless really necessary. My compost is getting prepared, and once ready, I would use it to grow brinjals. Would update the results then. Another thing, brinjal plants have a lifespan of almost 2-3 years.

Output

A brinjal plant can yield almost 4-5 brinjals in a season, or more.

Results

Let the images speak for themselves

Growing Tomato

Getting Started. Making your own Seeds.

If you want to ask me the easiest vegetable to start gardening with, I would say, start with tomato. Problem with some of the vegetables is that getting their seeds could be a concern. Not for tomato. If you get a big round tomato all juicy from inside, you can easily make seeds by yourself. You just have to take out the seeds, wash them with water, then dry them under sun for a day, and voila! You have tomato seeds at your disposal! It is all ready to be planted.

Planting Tomato.

Another reason why tomato is good vegetable for a beginner gardener is that it can be planted from July to December! Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? Well, I sowed my seeds in December, and they are all bearing fruits now(March 4th week).

Time Period

Tomato plants can grow to a height of 3-4 feet. They start giving fruits in 2.5-3 months, and if well pollinated, can give bumper yields.

Space Requirements

Each tomato plants should be given around 1/2 sq feet area. So effectively in a normal red brick pot of diameter 25 cm, you can easily grow 2 tomato plants. I had mine of height just 15 cm, still they grew well, so they can grow even in small pots. Just maintain a distance of around 15 cm between each.


Pollination

Since the tomato flowers have both, male and female portion in each flower(same in brinjal/eggplant), there isn't much role of insects in pollination of tomato plants. This does not mean they are not needed, but its just that their role is reduced as compared to their work needed in say, Pumpkin pollen pollination. Experiments have shown that shaking the tomato plants once their flowers emerge can result in upto 50% higher yields! The logic behind this is simple, the male pollens get to female part of the flower because of that, and the flower fertilizes, resulting in fruit. So a little shake is good.

Care

I made sure that tomato plants got direct sunlight, and watered them daily twice (Morning at 9 am, and evening 7 pm). They responded to it well, and I have no complains the way they have grown thus far.

Also, as plants start giving fruits, the plant may droop because of weight of the tomato fruits. A small stick/thread giving support to tomato plant is highly beneficial for further growth of the plant.

Little fertilizer can help if the plant is not growing well, I applied little urea once a month. I am in process of making compost, so may be next summer, I would update how well tomato fared under compost manure as compared to urea.

Output

A tomato plant can give upto 10-20 tomatos. That means if each tomato is 100 gms, you can get 1-2 kg of tomato per plant. That's obviously over a season per plant. Now if you have some expectation set, say you want around 10 kgs of Tomato in a season, it would be safe to have 20 tomato plants. That's an emperical formula of course, and depends on type of tomato, weight per tomato, so do the calculations before you begin!

Results

Let the images speak for themselves

Introduction

Well, I am more of a geek than a gardener. Gardening is my hobby, and through it, I have learnt that nature is lot more disciplined and delicate than I had thought. What started with buying a pair of flower pots has become my passion now. This is my first post. I just wanted to share my experience in gardening on terrace. Most of the flats in pune do have a little balcony or terrace. During last 10 months of my experience in terrace gardening, I have grown numerous ornamental plants and a few vegetables on my terrace. Through my blog, I would try to share a few of the experiences I had during these times and will keep updating you regarding my new ordeals as time passes by.. I hope this would help some of you in some way in gardening at your own balcony/terrace/lawns, and I would love to hear from you for any suggestions! I wish to create a gardening community here in Pune through this blog, and even if I don't succeed, I hope some of you would benefit in some way by reading my articles. I wish you the very best in gardening! So what are you waiting for? Take out your shovels and spades :)