a ready reckoner guide to Home gardening and solution to common problems

1. Home Gardening
Best Management
Practices

2. Various areas of Home Garden
Backyard- Vegetable Patch
Lawn
Flower Beds
Hedges, Edges, Topiary
Pots
Terrace Gardens
Here we discuss on Vegetable Gardening in
Backyard, Pots and Terrace

3. Kitchen Garden- General Guidelines
It should be in a sunny location as most fruiting plants need ample
sunlight.
North or East Facing garden will get most Sun
Layout to be done in such a manner to avoid shade of taller plants/trees
on smaller plants
Irrigation source is a must, we can use the bathroom and kitchen waste
water
Provide for a compost pit for taking care of trash and for round the year
supply of manure
Soil to be Sandy loam with good drainage. Use lots of organic manure for
best fertility
Depending upon size of plot, we can choose
– Fruit trees- Mango, Papaya, Lime, Pomogranate etc ( choose dwarf varieties)
– Trees yielding vegetables- Drum sticks, Carrisa ( Karonda)
– Herbaceous Vegetables- Tomato, Brinjal,Chiiles
– Leafy Vegetables- Spinach, Fanugreek, Coriender
– Root Crops- Radish, Turnip, Carrot
– Climbers- Cucurbits- Can be trained on trellis, walls, trees etc

4. Layout Plan and Choosing what to
Grow
According to the space, the Plan should be made
to avoid too much crowding and also maximizing
the space- both Horizontal and vertical.
Perennials and tall crops to be planted towards
the North boundaries away from Sun so that
they may not interfere with vegetable crops.
Vines can be trained on these crops.
Longer duration crops to be intercropped with
smaller duration crop.

5. Suggested Plan
of a 50 Sq M
Vegetable
Garden
Crop Photos of
intercrops
Okra
Okra
Brinjal
Tomato
Tomato
Tomato
Compost
Pit
MaizeOkra
ChilliesBrinjal
Drumstick
Mango
Banana&Papaya
Bean/PeatrainedonTrellis
SpinachSpinach
Cucurbitstrainedonbuilding
CapsicumBrinjal
TomatoTomato
SpinachSpinach
MaizeOkra
c
WaterChannel

6. Land Preparation
Land to be thoroughly prepared to a fine tilth.
Organic Manure to be applied as much as
possible.
Depending upon the soil, we can lay out flat or
raised beds. Width of the beds should not
exceed 4 ft and a gap, Water channel or
walkway of 1-1.5 ft to be provided for easy
watering and access.

7. Fertiliser Application
Plants Need regular Fertiliser application in order to grow properly. As
much as possible Organic manures to be used in kitchen Garden.
Fertilisers can be used either as a Basal or Topdressed.
For most Vegetables, use a mixture of 10-15 gm DAP, 10 gm MOP, 1-2 gm
Kargill DF, 2 gm Root-o-Max Gold and 1-2 gm Zinc Super gold per sq M as
Basal fertiliser.
Urea @ 8-10 gm per sq m to be top-dressed as per the crop requirement.
Pradhan19:19:19 @ 2 gm per Lit, Picaso Gold 1 ml per lit and Bio Gold @
1 gm per lit tobe sprayed at 12- 15 days interval during the growth phase
of the vegetables.
During Flowering and Fruiting Stages, use Pradhan Plus ( 13:0:45) or SOP (
0:0:60) in place of Pradhan.
These are general Directions, this schedule can be changed according to
the crop:- Leafy and Grassy Crops need more N, Pod and grain crops
require more P and Root and Fruit bearing crops need more K

8. Complete Micronutrient
Food for Optimum Growth
and productivity
Pure Sea Weed Extract for
Nutrition and Stress free
Home Garden
Silicon based Super Spreader
for maximum effectiveness
of all Sprays and for effective
irrigation
Use- 1 ml per 3lit Spray
Solution / 15 ml for 50 sq m
area ( Mixed in sand and
applied before irrigation

9. Interculture and Weed Management
Kitchen garden should be planned and grown in such a
way that no inch of land may be wasted, however
unwanted plants or Weeds do come up and compete
with the main crop.
As much as Possible, Weeds to be managed by
Interculture and not Chemically. Bound U (Glyphosate
41% SL) and Fire (Paraquat 24 % SL) may be used for
cleaning pathways, Waterways and other general areas
and t be avoided on main crop.
Weeds can be controlled by mulching the open area
between crop

10. Plant Protection
We do not recommend Pesticides use on crops until
absolutely necessary. Insects, where ever possible may
be physically collected and disposed off. Neem Based
Formulations should be preferred as first line of
defense.
For Termites, ants etc, Srigent Gr ( Fipronil 0.3% Gr) @
2 gm per Sq m may be mixed in soil during soil
preparation.
For most Fungal and Bacterial diseases, Preventive
application of Acer @ 2 gm + Bacterogold 0.05 gm per
lit water may be used as spray or Soil Drench at every
15 days interval

11. Pot and Tarrace Garden
In Urban living, Space is a constraint and a Kitchen Garden is a luxury.
However, gardening can be done in Pots and Terrace.
Pots can be of various Shapes and Sizes. Crop selection should be done so
that the Roots of the plant do not crowd the Pot. Largest size of Pot available
should be preferred
Drainage and aeration is an important factor while choosing pot.
Duration and Amount of sunlight will decide the crop selected. Fruits and
leafy vegetables need at least 4 hours of high intensity sunshine. Potting
Mixture should be 1/3 clay, 1/3 Sand and 1/3 well decomposed organic
Manure. Coconut Husk or dry coconut powder may be added to increase soil
water retention
Fertiliser Application should be done very carefully and wherever possible
Foliar feeding should be done.
For a Pot, the Fertiliser dosage to be calculated as follows
– Assuming a 30 cm deep furrow depth in plot, we arrive at the volume at 300 lit
per sq m.
– The volume of soil in the pot can be taken from below mentioned table. Eg, for a
60 cm dia pot, the soil capacity is 100 L. Hence the Fertiliser application will be
1/3 of the land plot on per sq basis.

13. Pot and Terrace Garden
Terrace gardens can be made in any space, they may be either large
containers or a patch of Soil deposited on a Roof.
Waterproofing and Drainage are key to hassle free waterproofing.
Adequate Sunshine is vital to successful Terrace gardening especially for
growing fruit and leafy vegetables and Flowers
Depth of Soil will determine what you can grow. Hence small herbaceous
plants can be grown in 15 cm depth, while for larger root systems such as
sweet corn or Okra, minimum 50 cm of soil depth is a must.
If you are making a Terrace Garden on the Roof as a base ( Entire or a
corner- Your choice), Make sure that
– Small subplots to be made that are accessible.
– Some Constraining structure should be provided to contain the soil and it may
not overflow and fill the entire Roof or clog the drains.
Soil Mixture will be the same as explained earlier for filling Pots. Similarly
Fertiliser application to be according to the volume of Soil in the Garden.

14. Tips for successful Home Gardening

15. Composting
Most of the kitchen waste can be converted to valuable
compost.
If space is available, then dig a Pit of appox 50 cm and
as suitable dimensions. If not, then take two large sized
Barrels. When One Barrel is filled, keep it aside in a
shady place for about one month,fill the other barrel
while the first gets composted.
Add Earthworms for better composting and nutritive
value.
Compost should be well decomposed before adding to
soil.

16. Seed sowing and transplanting
Seed should be from reliable source.
Very small sized seeds should be grown in germination trays and
kept in partial sunlight for germination. Moisture level should be
maintained but no waterlogging to be allowed.Rooting mixture may
contain coconut powder mixed with Compost.
Once seeds grow sufficiently, they can be transplanted to the main
growing area. Before trasplanting, reeots should be treated with
Biogold slurry made with 10 gm Biogold in 1 lit water. It should be
soaked for 2-3 hours before tranplanting. If soaking is not feasible,
slurry may be applied in the root zone 24 hours before
transplanting.
Transplanting should be done in morning or evening hours to let
the plant come out of transplanting shock. Moisture to be adequate
for seedling to establish.

17. Common Insects
APHID
MEALY BUG LEAF MINER

18. Control of Pests
As much as Possible,
Physical control
should be preferred.
Phyto-sanitation to
be observed for
reducing the pest
infestation, if other
measures fail, Neem
Based Formulations
are recommended for
Pest Control
Predators such as
Lady Bird Beetle
should be preserved.

19. Chemical Control
If any other measure doesn’t work, we recommend Sitara @ 1 gm per lit water or Dawn
7000@ 1 gm per lit water for effective control of most of the pests.

20. Common Diseases
Damping Off Wilt Powdery Mildew
Downy Mildew Anthracnose Leaf Spot

21. Prevention of Diseases
Major Fungal Disease
control can be
achieved with
prophylactic Spray of
Acer @ 2 ml per lit
water. Hence during
every operation from
Land/pot preparation
to later stages, Soil and
Plant drenching with
Acer is recommended.

22. Happy Gardening!!