KITCHEN GARDENING (PART-1)
Why should we go for the kitchen garden???
We all are enthusiastic when it comes to agriculture. Due to industrialization, the patterns of agriculture and food habits have changed. A simple agricultural commodity can never fulfill the demand of consumers. Consumers want highly nutritive, organic foods. Food can directly determine our health status. It’s always mentioned that “eat an apple daily to keep the doctor away”. Very recently we have faced the drastic effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Enlisting a few of the consequences of the current pandemic are-
Ø Lockdown/shut downØ Not obtaining good quality fresh vegetables and fruits
Ø Drastic rise in the product’s price
Ø Huge demand for vitamin-C, anti-oxidant, and fortified fruit and vegetables
Ø More consciousness with regards to health
These problems have
diverted the eating habits from fast foods to organically grown and/or enriched
foods. The ultimate consumer has transformed from “eating enough” to “eating
well” for achieving a “healthy lifestyle”. Here comes the role of the kitchen garden.
What is a Kitchen Garden???
In general, if I say, a Kitchen Garden is a plant-growing place on the side of your house from where you can get your own fresh vegetable, herbs, and fruits. Scientifically, the kitchen garden is the growing of fruits and vegetables in the backyard of the house by using kitchen wastewater. Otherwise, it is also called a Home Garden, Nutrition Garden or Vegetable Gardening.
(Garden Peas in a small area of the garden)
Advantages of Kitchen Garden:
Kitchen Garden can fulfill the following purposes;
Ø Providing seasonal fruit and vegetables
Ø Can provide enough of product for home consumption
Ø Can fulfill the nutritional requirement of our body (i.e., 120 g fruit per day, 300 g vegetables per day (125 g green leafy vegetables, 100 g of root and tubers, and 75 g of other vegetables).
Ø We can able to get the fruit and vegetable of our preferences.
Ø We can have an idea on how and what we are doing for our crops
Ø It is a cheap method to obtain our food daily
Ø You will become lot healthier
Ø Supply the herbs that are free from toxic chemicals
Ø A harmony between the environment, small animals, and humans can be established
Ø You can get attached to the environment and that will help you to reduce the daily stress
Ø It will help to reduce the mosquitoes problem in your surroundings
Ø Can obtain a healthy, nutritious, satisfying food bowel
After all the benefits
of a kitchen garden, you just wanted to know, what is a kitchen garden, how to
build one for yourself, what is the land requirement for a family-size kitchen
garden, what crops you can grow in it, and how to manage those crops, how to reduce
the disease and pest in those crops and how many crops you need to feed your
family and many more? Let’s go step by step to construct your kitchen garden. To plan your nutritional garden here we are providing kitchen garden design ideas in stepwise manner. Let us join our hands together to build a healthier food system...
Next- KITCHEN GARDENING (PART-2):Planning and site selection for your Kitchen Garden
