Don’t let the word ‘garden’ discourage you. A few plants on a sunny windowsill, a foot-wide bed of soil around your compound, or even a row of pots on a waterproofed terrace could suffice. The important thing is to start small with easy-to-grow plants.

THUMB RULES

Soil used to grow any vegetable should be well aerated, neither too loose nor too compact. And the depth of the soil needs to be more than one foot. The soil should retain moisture — for example, a mix of red soil, clay, small pebbles, vermicompost, and once the seed has germinated, dried leaves to cover the top layer, works well.

It is worthwhile to do a germination test before sowing — soak seeds in water for four hours, discard floating seeds (these won’t germinate) and sow the others. The best time to sow is when there is at least three hours of strong sunlight left; so around 9-10am in most places across India would be ideal.

You can start with either seed or sapling. For newbie gardeners, saplings cut down on the waiting time and the chances of the seed not germinating or getting affected by pests in the early stages. To avoid disappointment, you could buy a few saplings from a nursery first.

HERBS

I started my kitchen garden experiments with a few herbs in my tiny Mumbai apartment balcony. The joy of garnishing a dish of pasta with a freshly plucked leaf of Italian basil is unparalleled. Be it basil, rosemary, thyme or mint. And a little goes a long way, as they are most flavourful when they go straight from pot to plate. Also, unless you are making a pesto — in which case you’ll need lots of basil — most dishes call for just a few leaves, for which you don’t need to buy a big expensive bunch from the supermarket.

Don’t ignore the Indian favourite, tulsi or holy basil. It is excellent in teas to prevent or soothe a bad throat. Mint grows easily from sprigs that you have bought from the market. It covers the ground very quickly, so it is best grown in pots. Curry leaves, a south Indian favourite, is best planted in the soil as the roots run deep.

When you buy lemongrass from a supermarket, choose one with the root end intact. After you use up the leaves, keep the root immersed in a jar of water for a week. Once new rootlets develop, this can be sown in soil and soon lemongrass leaves will sprout. These can be used in Thai curries and also to flavour masala chai.

CHILLIES

While there are many different varieties of chillies, kandhari is one that grows well in winters. One of my plants produced nearly 3-4kg in season. Since they couldn’t all be used at once, I allowed them to ripen, dried them in the sun, and now I use them in daily cooking. Kandhari can be grown in pots, but the yield will be more when grown directly in soil.

OTHER GREENS

Sow garlic cloves in soil and in a few days you’ll find green garlic shoots, which can be snipped and used in chutneys and curries. Salad greens like lettuce and rocket also grow well in shallow trays. Seeds are available in most online gardening stores such annadana-india.org, florafields.com, kraftseeds.com and bigbasket.com/pc/household /gardening-needs.

ROOT VEGETABLES

Red radish is a delight to grow as it is ready to harvest in 30 days. Don’t sow too many at a time, as you can’t eat all of them together. Also, don’t sow the seed deeper than 1-2cm.

To grow turmeric and ginger, bury a piece in the compost pot, sprinkle water every day and after a few days bury it in soil along with some of the compost. This has a better success rate. Turmeric leaves lend a delicate aroma to foods wrapped and steamed in them. They are also tied around the neck of a pot of pongal, so the perfect time to plant them is before the onset of winter.

For inspiration, you can sign up with Facebook groups such as Grow Your Own Veggies and Organic Terrace Gardening, which have many enthusiastic kitchen gardeners with ready advice, suggestions and support.

And when you can, attend local farmers’ markets, events like Oota from your Thota in Bangalore, or seed- and sapling-sharing events, such as the one being held today at the Kotturpuram Tree Park, Chennai.

Start small and bask in the joy of cooking with homegrown herbs and vegetables.

Nandita Iyer is a Bangalore-based blogger (saffrontrail.com); with inputs from organic farmer Allalladi Mahadevan(theorganicfarm.in)

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