Beginners Guide to OTG - The 4th quarter.

One of the biggest challenges for folks who wish to start off with an organic terrace garden is what to buy and where. Over the past 2+ years of gardening, I have a fairly good knowledge on the same. You may refer to my blog, Resources. 

Precautionary measures and feeding plants.

As your garden grows, you will be a bit overwhelmed with maintaining them. Here are some tips on precautionary measures, feeding plants and maintaining them:

Compost : Take 1-2 handfuls of compost and hand feed your plants. Dig out about 1 inch of the top soil. Put in the compost and cover with the same soil again. General recommendation is to do this once in 2 weeks.

Leachate : In case you have a composting setup at home, either the DIY or Bokashi or VermiComposting, there is a good chance that a dark brown coloured liquid is dripping out of the setup. This liquid is called leachate is rich in nutrients as this is the liquid part of the composting process. Collect the same by placing a cup/bowl below the drainage point of your bin. Use in 1:10 ratio with water. Can be used for directly watering your plants or for foliar spray.

Compost Tea (CT): Is a liquid organic fertilizer that you get by soaking compost into water along with other ingredients. Following are the steps to make the same ...

- Take an old sock and fill it up with compost; better if it’s vermi-compost and even better if it has earth worm castings (excreta) in it.
- Tie the open end of the sock and place it in a bucket of 10L of water.
- Add about 2 handfuls of jaggery into the water.
- Use a fish tank air pump set and place the open end of the air pipe into the bucket. You let the air bubbles aerate the water for 48 hours.
- Every 8-10 hours, take out of the sock, squeeze it hard to get the thick concentrate liquid and pour it back into the bucket.
- After approx 36 hrs, the liquid should bubble up nicely with some foam. If this does not happen, add more jaggery the next time.
- After 48 hours, you get compost tea.
- Dilute with 1:10 water and water your plants. Dilute 1:20 and use as a foliar spray.
- Use up the whole amount as soon as possible, else the live micro organisms in the CT will perish. Once you get an idea of how much you CT you need for your garden, adjust the amounts accordingly.

Panchgavya (PG) – PG is made out of 5 ingredients and hence its name – cow dung, cow urine, cow milk, ghee and curd. Bananas and jaggery are added too. Making PG is rather complicated process and takes roughly 45 days. Hence 
urban farmers prefer to buy these instead of making them on their own.

How to use PG :

- Dilute 30 ml (for the first time you can use 20ml) of PG into 1 liter of water. Different manufacturers/farmers use slightly different methods for preparing PG, so it is best to find from them about usage. 30/20 ml per liter of water is a standard combination.
- Once in 2 weeks, instead of watering the plants with plain water, you can water with diluted PG.
- Concentrated PG shelf life is about 6 months, but do check with the supplier. It is advised to keep it in a ventilated place, so that the aeration process keeps the microbes active in the PG. Keep it in a large bottle or a can type of container which is not closed. Cover the opening with a cloth, to promote aeration.

A word of caution: when opening an airtight PG bottle for the first time, make sure you direct the opening away from you and open slowly in a open place. Else it may fizz out like a cola drink! Also, for first timers, PG smells really bad. But the 2nd time, you will look forward to it.

Amrutjal (AJ): Is similar to PG, but with lesser ingredients. Pour 1/2 litre cow urine, 1/2 kg cow dung (preferably fresh) and 2 glasses of sugar cane juice into a can. Mix the same into 5 litres of water. Keep it partially covered for 3 days. Stir the mixture everyday, 2-3 times. And you are done.

Dilute 1 litre of this mix with 10 litres of water. Use it as a foliar spray or to water the plants. The undiluted AJ can stay active for a few months.

Neem spray keeps away most pests. 10ml of neem oil mixed into 1 L of water with a few pinches/drops of mild soap. Spray all over the plants, especially on the back of the leaves.

Cake Mix : Take 250 gms of Honge cake, neem cake and castor cake. Add to 10L of water. Keep aside for 1 day. Keep mixing often. Strain out the remnants of the cakes which will be in powder form. You can add this to your compost bin or mix along with compost and other solid nutrients and hand feed your plants. Dilute concentrated liquid mix in 1:10 ratio with water and water your plants.

Training Courses/Sessions/Events/Horticulture centers

There are a few organizations which conduct training sessions and courses. You will have to be on the lookout for these.

Oota From your Thota (OFYT): Refer link for FULL details.

VMSRF: They conduct one- day sessions, around once in 3 months. They charge around Rs 1,200.

DoH and GKVK: There is a wealth of information and resource at these government organizations. Its upto your capability on how to make the most of it out here.

Garden City Farmers is an organization run by Dr. Vishwanath Kadur, which conducts OTG workshops quite often. Next workshop is on 28/Mar/2015. Contact them via their website http://gardencityfarmers.org/activities/workshops for further details.

Organic Garten also conducts worskshops. Contact them via their website.

Make sure you join the Organic Terrace Gardening Facebook group. The folks out there are extremely helpful and I am sure you will get enough guidance to turn your thumb into a green one. It is a definite one stop place for starting your experiments with growing your own food.

Happy gardening!

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Beginners Guide to OTG - The 3rd quarter.

This is part 3 of 4 of the series of ‘A beginner’s guide to Organic Terrace Gardening (OTG)’.

Seeds

There are various types of seeds – heirloom, open pollinated (o/p), hybrid, GMO, etc. This link gives a good explanation about them. If you can, try to get hold of either heirloom or o/p seeds. I started off with buying seeds. However, now that I have a good network of gardening friends, we keep exchanging seeds and have gone to the level of sending it across through post too! There are quite a number of "green" events held, mostly in Bangalore, which do have stalls dedicated for seeds and saplings.

Germination

Invest in a seeding / potting / germination tray. A basic one costs about Rs. 30.

For the potting mix only for seeds germination, take 5 handfuls of coco peat + 2 handfuls of compost + 1 handful of neem powder. Mix them all up and fill up the individual slots. As mentioned earlier, coco peat has no nutritional value. So a little bit of compost gives them that extra punch. Note, that the basic requirement for seeds to germination is moisture. Germination time depends on various reasons like climate, source and health of the seeds, etc. On an average seeds of common greens/veggies like palak, tomato, brinjal etc take roughly 1-2 weeks. 

- Fill the slots with the above germinating potting mix.
- Moisten the whole tray.
- Make a small hole in the middle of each slot, with your finger/pencil, a fwe millimeters deep.
- Place the seed. Its a good idea to place 2-3 seeds. The reason being at least one will germinate. Also there are sometimes LOTs of seeds in a single seed packet, which eventually one does not end up using. Use your own judgement !
- Cover with the potting mix around the slot, then give a gentle press.
- Place the tray in a bright but shaded place, away from direct sunlight.

Once the seeds germinate, let them stabilize for a few days. The initial leaves that come out of the seed are not the real ones. They are called as cotyledons. After a few more days, you can see more sets of leaves growing, which distinctly look different from the cotyledons. These are the "true leaves". Once you get about 5-6 true leaves, its time to transplant. While the seeds are in the initial germinating stage and young saplings are growing, water very gently so as not to disturb the seeds or the delicate and tender roots that are still in a developing stage. I use a dahi cup with a small hole at the bottom and let the water trickle down around onto the soil. Avoid the water to fall directly on the young sapling. As an alternative, you can sprinkle around the plant. During the germination stage, place the container/tray in a bright sunny place and away from direct sunlight.

Excellent document by another OTGian ...
https://www.facebook.com/notes/organic-terrace-gardening/seed-starting-tips-what-to-keep-in-mind-when-you-sow-seeds/731325836930414

a. In the dahi cup on the right, I placed all the seeds from a green capsicum used in the kitchen. After a few weeks, they germinated. Transplanted a few good ones, like the one in the left dahi cup, so that it grows well and on its own.

b. Placed a over ripe corn hob directly into a potting mix in a tetra box and this is how it looks now. Notice the un-germinated corn kernels

c. New batch of seeds in a seedling / germinating tray.

d. Like the capsicum seeds in point a, I placed all seeds from a tomato into a dahi cup. After a few days they germinated and transplanted the healthy ones seperately in a tray. 

I personally do not prefer to sow seeds of under ground grown veggies, like carrot, radish, beet. Its better to direct-sow them, instead of transplant. Mainly because these veggies might have already established their root (veggie part) growth during the initial stages.

This also applies for greens like palak (spinach), mint, coriander, methi (fenugreek), amaranthus, etc. Mainly since they are quite delicate plants during initial stages.

Sapling / Transplanting

When you are transplanting from the seedling tray to the final destination container, make sure you are not doing it under direct sun. Do it around 6-7 AM or 5-6 PM. Once transplanted, keep the container in a shady place. This is so that the sapling is able to bear the transplant shock. Water the container carefully, so as not to harm the sapling, as mentioned in the tips above.

Refer section "Mixing it all up !" at the end of the previous post for details on how to prepare the potting mix. 

If you can cover the sapling with a plastic bottle, like this, then you may do so. If at the initial stage, you feel that your plant needs support, you can stake the plant for support. Staking is placing a thin but strong piece of wood or pipe or bamboo, a few cms wide and 1-2 foot high. Insert it into the pot near the seedling, but not too close to the roots. Use a thread and tie the sapling loosely to the stick.

new life

Insect/Pest management

What is a garden without insects ? Its like life without problems ! Like them or hate them, they will be a part of your garden and they are here to stay. The most common insects that can create havoc are mealybugs, aphids and spider mites.

a. Aphids on the back of a leaf.

b. Aphids on the stem of a beans plant.

c. Mealy bugs.

d. Mealy bugs.

e. Spider Mites

f. Spider Mites

Some common remedies :

- First use a jet spray of water and get rid of all the insects from your plant. Use your fingers or a cotton swab or a small cotton ball if needed. Usually the bottle spray is not useful here. Instead use the water hose directly. Give the plant a complete wash. Wait for a few days and see if they come back. Give a second wash if necessary. If this does not help, use the options given below.

- Neem oil: Add 20 ml of neem oil to 1 liter of water. To this, add about 5 drops of liquid handwash or 2-3 pinches of detergent. Mix it all well and give a generous spray to all the affected parts of the plant, especially the underside of the leaves. Easily available on online gardening stores and in nurseries.

- 3G formula : Take ginger, green chillies and garlic each 100 gms. Grind it to paste . Take 5 ml of this paste and mix with one liter water and spray. This spray can be continued once in 10 days regularly.

- Sprinkle wood ash on the plant, preferably from wood that has not been treated chemically.

Once you have an attack of aphids and if you are really lucky enough, you might have a very friendly visitor. Some call it “ladybug“,  others “ladybird”, some others “lady beetle”. And they feast on these aphids.

One indicator when there is an aphid infection is the presence of ants on the plant. Ants do not directly harm the plants, but they help spreading and protecting the mealybugs and the aphids. The mealybugs and aphids take off nutrition from the plants and the ants then feed on them. So once you see ants on your plants, you know for sure that there is something “buggy” going on. Most of these insects will be on the back of the leaves, so it is difficult to spot them. Another option is also to spray boric acid, turmeric powder or talcum powder on the outside of the pot, not inside.

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This is part 4.