Green leaves (சிறு கீரை) Plantation

Greens (சிறு கீரை) is the another plant can be grown in our home garden.

Benefits: Rich in Iron and calcium. Its good for our eyes.

Green leaf seeds are available with farmers and agriculture university. Select 1 x 2 feet tub for planting green leaves will be enough for two member family. (Just 50 gm seeds are enough to plant multiple times with the above mentioned specification).

Just shower the seeds densely above the soil. Use your fingers and plough the soil slightly not more than half centimeter deep so that the seeds are covered under the soil.

Sprinkle water daily. (Don't pour water upon the soil which will remove the top soil and the seeds will come out of the soil)

Two weeks after planting:

Planted two different type of leaves in the same tub.

After three weeks:

I have kept the seeds densely so that we can harvest in different stage. 

After four weeks:
Grown well.

After six weeks:
It's ready for harvesting. It has to be harvested before producing flowers.

  

 

Harvested after six weeks:

Selected the tallest plants which is yet to produce flowers and left the remaining plants which can be harvested in later days.

Maintenance:

No need to do any maintenance other than watering daily.

Tomato plantation in a pot - Organic

Vegetables can be grown in our home garden even in a small pots also.


Started planting few used in our kitchen for our day to day use. Tomato is the one we'll be in need for most of our recipes. 

1. Tomatoes (தக்காளி)

Tomatoes seeds can be collected from farmers or from agriculture university near by your place. Based on your need or taste you can buy native tomato seeds or hybrid one. Generally native tomato plants are more resistance towards insects and pests.


In the previous post we have seen how to make good soil for plantation. Next step after filling the soil in the pot, make a small hole for 1 cm depth (we can use our pen), put a seed inside and cover it with the soil. Leave some space and do the same for other seeds as well. Initially I kept around 10 seeds. Finally once the plant grown properly for an month, we can leave 1 or 2 plants maximum in the pot with 1 feet diameter. If we do so this plants will get proper quantity of water, sunlight and organic fertilizer from the soil.

Two weeks later:

Seedlings started emerging out.

After three weeks:
Growth around 5 cm height.

After an month:
Growth seen around 10 cm height. Plant is healthy too. Now we can keep 1 or 2 plants and remove the other plants to plant in different pot based on your need.

Maintenance:

Need enough sunlight at least an hour per day if you are keeping in the balcony.

Sprinkle water daily in the morning. Excess water will come out and stored in the base plate which can be cleared once in 2 to 3 days.

Vegetable waste, egg shells, tea powder after preparing tea can be buried inside the soil so that it these will get decompose and will get organic fertilizer with zero cost.

If any leaves found infected can be plucked out.


Fifth week:

It's grown around 15 cm and looks healthy.

For further update please watch this space.

Preparation for plantation in pots (Veettu thottam / வீட்டு தோட்டம்)

Plantation in pots:

Mainly we have to consider which soil we are using. If the soil is already fertile then we can use it directly. Now a days since we are using pesticides or insecticide our soil became harder and not suitable for cultivation.

To make soil fertile and good for cultivation, there are different natural ways.

1. First and far most way is growing earthworms in our soil.
2. Next will be growing good microorganisms which will make soil more fertile by decomposing agriculture waste like dry leaves, cow dung etc.,
3. Growing some green plants (Sanappai and Thakkai Poondu) which will help to increase nitrogen content in our soil.

If the above methods are followed then automatically our soil will became good for cultivation.

We'll discuss this topic later. Now our main goal is to prepare soil for plantation in pots.

Below are the necessary items based on the pot you selected.

1. Soil (Red soil preferred) - 40%
    - Much needed for any plant.

2. Vermi composite - 40%
    - Organic fertilizer for plants.

3. Sand - 20%
    - To keep soil loose, so that roots will easily penetrate through.

Mix the soil, vermi composite & sand as mentioned in the above composition and fill it in the pot by leaving 3 to 5 cm space at the top to pour water.

Now the soil is ready for plantation.