How to start Terrace Gardening at home
Many people living in urban areas and peri-urban areas are facing the problem of contaminated food in their daily diet. That may be due to the contamination of fruits and vegetables with high doses of pesticides such as insecticides and herbicides. However, the amount of fungicides is negligible than those said early. In order to overcome this problem, many people are planning to start gardening and growing vegetables on their home terrace or bungalow which is known as terrace gardening or Urban farming. In this post, we will let you know about how to start terrace gardening or Urban farming.
Everyone can go with setting up a Terrace garden at home. The minimum space requirement for commencing a Terrace garden is around 100 sq. yards or 1000 sq. feet. Most of the Urban and Peri-urban households are having this minimum area to be an Urban Farmer. The nuclear family can meet their regular vegetables from this minimum area of Terrace garden. The main aim and objective of Urban terrace garden is growing what we eat in a healthy or organic way.
One can start a Terrace garden irrespective of season and weather conditions. Their are various steps involved in starting a Terrace garden at home. However, one can also setup a Terrace garden at offices and gated communities too which we will explain in the later article. Let us check out the steps to start a Terrace garden at home.
Advantages and disadvantages of terrace gardening
Steps to start a Terrace gardening at home
- Preparation of shed
- Collection or purchasing pots/buckets.
- Preparation of potting mixture/soil.
- Collection of seeds and seedlings.
- Setting up a regular water source.
1. Shed preparation
In order to start a Terrace garden we have to construct a shed on the terrace in order to overcome the high wavelengths of the sunlight that protects the terrace garden plants from sun scald disorders. It is better and good to set up the shed with a 70% to 80% green shade net. It is also necessary to protect the whole garden with a diamond shaped fencing in order to protect the plants and food produce from monkeys and birds which are a major problem in urban and peri-urban areas.
How to control Thrips insect in terrace garden at home
2. Collection of Pots
It is good to use Plastic pots rather than earthen pots as the second one cause weight damage on the terrace. One can go for 10, 15 and 20 litre pots for a better urban garden. However, you can also use curd buckets, pain buckets and plastic bottles in order not to invest more on buying the gardening pots.
3. Preparation of Potting mixture
Potting mixture is nothing but the soil to be used for growing the plants on the terrace. It is prepared at a ratio of 40:30:30. It means the mixture should contain 40% red soil, 30% Vermicompost and 30% coco-pit or wood powder. Before placing this mixture in the pots, sun dry the mixture for 1 or 2 days. This type of urban garden potting mixture helps in light weight pots in urban garden.
4. Collection of saplings
The urban farmer may purchase the vegetable seeds from the local market which are available in small sachets or packets. However, in order to save money, one can also sow the seeds from our daily vegetables which we buy at the local markets. For example, cut the Tomato into two half, remove the tiny seeds with a forceps, then sundry for 1 hour followed by sowing in the pots. The seeds germinate within 2-3 days. It is better to go for starting the Urban Terrace garden with vegetables such as tomato, chilly, brinjal, coriander, mint, spinach, bitter gourd and bottle gourd. However, you can also go with other vegetables after getting hands on experience in growing these ones.
5. Setting up regular watering
Drip system is better to use for watering the plants. Eventhough watering twice a day, morning before 8 AM and evening between 4.30 to 5.30 PM is good for irrigating the plants. Although ypu can use Rpse water-cans for watering the Urban garden plants.
How to maintain the Urban Terrace garden
This all about brief information on how to setup urban terrace garden, if you have further queries, comment below.