Women friendly Home Gardening : Made Fun and Mind refreshing – Cost effective

It was my long time dream that, i must eat freshly  grown vegetables from  the garden. Time has proved it. I got an opportunity to develop my own small garden at home. This garden has many new techniques implemented which are very cost effective and has both men and women friendly implementation methods.

It was thru self learning from internet, i built a small garden at Balcony and Terrace.  It took nearly six months to establish this self reliant  garden. Today, i have an established  compost bins and drip irrigation system to manage my garden.

Waste management : All my kitchen waste is  collected every day and processed for worm composting. I have two compost  bins( made at home)  for managing the organic manure for garden plants. These bins have the capacity to produce nearly 15-20 Kgs of organic compost every four months. Along with Kitchen waste(constitutes Nitrogen) , i use dry leaves, paper for Carbon requirement. Apart from using  the kitchen waste for  composting, i also regularly grind   the kitchen waste and make a  concoction to feed plants. This would help the plants with magnesium, manganese, Zinc, Sodium, potassium etc..required for the plant overall growth.

Water conservation : Watering is done thru drip irrigation system.  All the drip irrigation items are bought from internet online shops and assembled at home. More than 250 plants are watered  thru drip irrigation system and less than 10% of normal water is consumed.Same drip irrigation system is also used for watering plants during my vacation.

To add to it, i have implemented no soil or less sol strategy. Nearly 50% of Cocoo peat is used in place of normal soil for all the plants. Along with 50% cocoo peat( a fine particles made from coconut wastes), i have used 20% cow dung, 20% of home made worm compost, 10% of other organic manures as  a good soil mixture for all plants.

My garden has 4-5 varieties of leafy vegetables, 10-15 types of roses, 10-12 types of hibiscus, few medicinal plants( for controlling Diabetes, BP, Kidney stones, health drink) and  many indoor and outdoor show plants. Overall  250 plants in Balcony and Terrace garden. Our house is located in a dry area and water is a necessity for all the plants everyday.

This process has enabled air circulation for the soil and minimized the usage of soil for planting. Along with good soil mixture , drip irrigation system has minimized water consumption.

Waste water bottles  to grow plants  : Hydroponic system

Used water bottles are used to grow plants from the stems. When plants are grown fairly big, i cut the stems and use water bottles ( by cutting into two pieces as necessary) to grow roots before planting them on to different pots. Roots grow fast in water medium. This technique is widely used for plant propagation. Roses, Potato, onions, sweet potatoes, and garlic  have reciprocated very well for this method in my garden.

Organic Pesticides:

I use garlic, chilli, baking soda, ginger, vinegar, neem oil and  liquid detergent very often as plant pesticides. They are all sourced from my  kitchen and harmless.

Sun protection : 50% green shade net installation

As many plants do not require full bright sun light all day, i have created a Green corridor for few plants and kept some plants under shade net. These green shade nets provide 50% sun to the plants and  reduces  water consumption by 5-10% percentage. These cost effective shade nets are available online and one can easily build the shade net corridors based on their plants requirements.