Chennai Flat promoter

n our last post we saw that growing a kitchen garden does not need large space. We also saw methods of preparing the soil before we could set up the kitchen garden. Now let us see what kind of plants can be grown in a typical kitchen garden in any Chennai apartments.

Climatic conditions play a vital role in selecting the plants for our garden. Let us first plan the vegetable garden in our home. For cities like Chennai that is humid and sunny, plants that are succulent, adaptive in nature have to be selected. The types of vegetable plants that can be grown in Chennai climatic condition are given below.

Lady’s finger (Okra)

Brinjal (Egg plant)

Bitter guard

Snake guard

Ash guard

Cucumber

Water Melon

Drum Stick

Tomato

Pepper (Green Chilies)

Many varieties of green leafy vegetables like Amaranthus, Sesbania, Cilantro etc, can also be grown in a kitchen garden of any Chennai flat.

After the soil has been prepared, quality seeds have to be obtained for sowing. In Chennai, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University has its Urban Horticulture Center in Anna Nagar helping interested Chennai Flat owners and Chennai Home owners to grow their own vegetable garden. The Center conducts many interesting classes on the specifics. The center also sells quality seeds which are moderately priced. The center also distributes bio fertilizers like Azospirilum, Phosphobacteria, VAM enriched compost etc. Vermi-compost and neem cake are also sold in the center.

After sowing of seeds is over, regular watering of the plant has to be done. Depending on the season of the year and the weather conditions, one may choose to water the plant in the day or late evening. If it is a hot summer day, it is always better to water the plants in the morning and in the evening. Care should be taken not to water the plant in the peak noon time as the root of the plant is susceptible to burn.

Apartments in Chennai typically have an upper floor which normally has the generator / lift room. It is also used to dry the laundry of the inmates. But typically it is not used for any other purpose. The apartment association can come forward and meaningfully take up Kitchen garden on the roof of the apartments. The terrace of theapartments in Chennai typically is typically given a water outlet. This can be used as a facility from where the watering of the plants can be done. We will be surprised to hear that drip irrigation which is normally done in the fields can also be done on your kitchen garden at home or terrace. We shall see this aspect and more on watering the plants in details in our next post.