Aloe vera

One of the first medicinal plants that most of us start with is aloe vera. The fleshy leaves are packed with a gel that can be used externally to treat several skin ailments. For any kind of burn—from overexposure to sun to minor cooking burns—simply break off a leaf, run a knife up the middle of the leaf and open it out. Smear the gel on the affected area and leave it to dry. The opened out leaf can be wrapped in cling film and kept in the fridge, which makes it even more cooling.

How to grow: Aloe vera can be grown in a container. You can get a plant from the nursery or propagate it by rooting an offshoot that forms near the base of the plant. This medicinal plant likes a lot of sunshine but can also thrive in partial shade. Make sure the soil is fertile and well-drained.

Basil

There are two types of Basil—Sweet Basil and Holy Basil—and both do wonders for our health. But while most of us in India do have a tulsi or Holy Basil plant in our homes, not many of us grow or use Sweet Basil. You can use the leaves of Basil plant in cooking, especially in Italian dishes, and can flavour vinegars and oils with it. Basil leaves can also be made into infusions that help with digestion and reduce fevers. If you pop a handful of leaves in the bath, it acts as a stimulant.

How to grow: Basil needs well-drained, moist, nutrient-rich soil. You can grow this herb from seed by tucking the seeds 1.4 inch deep in the soil mix. Make sure you keep a gap of 10 – 12 inches between the seeds and keep the container in a place that gets a good amount of sun.

Calendula

You can identify this plant by its bright yellow flowers that bloom in the beginning of spring. This is a versatile herb that can be used for cooking and cure. The fresh petals of the flower can be sprinkled over stir-fries, while the dried petals can be used to colour cooked rice.

The petals can also be infused with oil and used to prepare salves and ointments at home. Creams made with calendula-infused oil help to heal burns, cuts and bruises. Calendula ointment is also good for diaper rashes. A salve made with calendula can bring relief to sore muscles, while a lip balm that contains calendula-infused oil can heal dry, chapped lips. You can also make calendula hydrosol or tincture with the petals that can further be used in a misting spray to bring relief to bee stings and bug bites, and as a facial toner.

“To make a tincture, take a glass jar and fill with Calendula flowerheads. Pour alcohol [standard strength alcohol is easiest to get for most people] on top and make sure the flowerheads are all covered. Leave the flowerheads in the alcohol for 2 – 3 weeks, stirring every other day. Strain the flowerheads off and keep the remaining tincture in a dark glass bottle,” shares herbalist and educator Pamela Spence.

How to grow: Calendula can be directly sown into the ground in the fall or can be planted indoors. Very easy to maintain, this plant needs a lot of sunshine and fertile, well-drained soil. Calendula doesn’t grow well in extreme weathers such as very hot summers and freezing winters.

Coriander

Also known as cilantro or dhania in India, this is a dynamic herb packed with vitamins C and K, and small amounts of carotene, niacin, thiamine, potassium, phosphorous and calcium. Coriander is known to lower bad cholesterol and increase good cholesterol, improve bowel movements and promote liver function, lower blood sugar levels in diabetics and improve the secretion of insulin. This herb works well against diseases like arthritis.

How to grow: You can grow coriander in a container or in the garden directly. Crush the seeds and tuck them into the soil in short, straight rows. Coriander grows well when it is sown in fertile soil and receives a lot of sunshine.

Celery

Here is a herb that we best associate with salads and soups, but it does more than just add flavour to food. Celery is known to reduce high blood pressure, lower high cholesterol, prevent ulcers and protect the liver. It also reduces bloating, improves digestion, and prevents urinary tract infections.

How to grow: This herb loves a lot of sun and water. Plant in an 8-inch deep container, and make sure that the potting mix is rich and fertile.

Mint

Known as pudina in India, this is an easy-to-grow herb that is soothing to the stomach. A herbal tea made with this herb can cure stomach ache and reduce irritated bowel syndrome. Crushed mint leaves can combat bad breath and mint leaves added to cool beverages help cool the body down. Mint is also known as a good blood-cleanser.

“Fresh mint leaves are best used as an infusion. Simply add to boiled water, cover and allow to steep for 5 – 10 minutes. One can drink it either hot or cold,” advises Spence, explaining that this infusion is an excellent remedy for nausea and indigestion.

How to grow: If you know anyone who grows mint, ask them to give you a few plants. These can be pulled out from pot, and can be planted 12 inches apart and two inch deep. Water the plants well. Once these take root, they grow prolifically. They grow well in shade and sun, but seem to enjoy the latter more.

Lemongrass

A herbal tea made with lemongrass is known to relieve headaches, stomach aches, menstrual cramps and muscle pain. Essential oil made from this plant is known to ward off mosquitoes. Lemongrass is also a culinary herb and used prolifically in Asian cuisine.

How to grow: This herb can grow from two to four feet tall and can be grown in containers. It grows well in warm weather and is propagated from a section of the roots. This easy-to-grow herb just needs sunshine, fertile soil and lots of water.

Thyme

Add fresh thyme to salads, stews, soups and sauces, infuse your cooking oil with it to add another layer of flavour to your food, and use home-dried thyme to potpourri to repel insects. As a medicine, a thyme infusion is known to settle the stomach; the herb can also be added to bath water to soothe raw or rough skin.

How to grow: Thyme needs hot and dry weather to grow well. You can grow it from seed in a raised bed or in a pot. Sow the seeds in fall so that they sprout in summer. Water this herb every other day when the weather is not too hot and every day, when the sun is scorching.

Armed with containers and pots, a good soil mix and this know-how, you can start growing herbs at home, and use them to enhance your health.

The post 8 health-giving herbs that you can grow at home [and how to use them] appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

I started with growing simple herbs and slowly moved towards growing fruits and vegetables. I have learned to use whatever little harvest I get from my garden to make food. The flowers, fruits, vegetables and herbs from our window garden have cheered and comforted us. Kitchen gardening in small spaces may have its own challenges but the joy and thrill of plucking a part of your meal from your own garden and knowing that it has zero chemicals makes it worthwhile. If I can do it successfully from my apartment in Mumbai, I think anyone can.

Once the gardening bug catches you, there is no turning back. Suddenly, your weekend outings may revolve around trips to the local plant nursery to buy seeds for your kitchen garden and your vacations will involve asking the customs officers to allow you to carry a Meyer lemon tree back home.

What can you grow in a balcony garden?

Consider growing only those plants that you will use, take into account the space that you have, while making sure it adds aesthetic appeal to the place. Here are some examples.

Leafy vegetables: Palak, methi, amaranthus [green and red], Ceylon spinach, Malabar spinach, purslane, gongura, lettuce, kale, drumstick leaves, onion greens [excellent for omelettes], Colacassia [Patra].

Micro-greens: These are a balcony gardener’s delight. You can try mustard, saunf, radish or methi.

Spices: You can grow allspice [an aromatic plant which smells like a combination of spices—and use the leaves for an aromatic blend in stews], tej patta, peppercorns, turmeric, ginger.

Herbs: Mint, thyme, parsley, celery, garlic chives, cuban borage [commonly known as Ajwain patta] green chillies, basil.

Vegetables: Try growing the bush/dwarf varieties in small spaces. Tomatoes, broad beans, double beans, french beans, cluster beans, brinjals, capsicums and all gourds grow well.

Root Vegetables: Potatoes, sweet potatoes, radishes, turnips, carrots and taro roots [arbi] can be grown at home.

Fruits: Strawberries, mandarins, kumquats, star fruits, passion fruits and musk melons. The yield may not be large but again even a few home-grown fruits have a pleasure of their own. If you own a large terrace, you could even grow mangoes, bananas, papayas in drums!

Edible Flowers: Red gongura flowers, pansy, butterfly pea flower [shankapushpa], rose, nasturtiums and hibiscus [petal colours are water soluble—do use the five petal varieties only].

The yield of each plant varies, for example a chilly plant will grow for 2 – 4 years and yield plenty of chillies. You could let them ripen on the plant and dry the red chillies. These can be ground to give you home-made red chilli powder from your kitchen garden.

The joy and thrill of plucking a part of your meal from your own garden and knowing that it has zero chemicals is worth the trouble

What you will need

Balcony or kitchen gardening is about growing plants without the use of any chemicals either as pesticides or fertilisers.

For achieving the above we must focus on providing good growing conditions and pay attention to the nutrition of the plant. This naturally ensures that it is not prone to any plant diseases/pest attacks.

• Sunlight – Choose a well lit balcony, for fruiting vegetables like tomatoes 4 – 6 hours of sun is good. Leafy greens do well in 3 – 4 hours of sunlight. If getting sufficient sun light is not easy then go for shade loving plants.
• Containers – You can choose from pots, ceramic containers, terracotta pots, clay pots, grow bags, recycled broken buckets or even 1 – 2 litre soft drink bottles.
  10 inch pots are ideal for vegetables, while a rectangular shallow pot can be used for leafy greens. For fruits like lemons and star fruits, you can use larger pots.
• Potting mix – This should be in the ratio of 1:1:1:1 red soil: vermi compost: coco peat: compost/cow dung manure. When growing vegetables you need to add about 1 tsp of neem cake and 2 tbsp of wood ash to the potting mix. This will give a kick start to our plants and also combat any pest problems.
• Nutrition – In addition to the potting mix/soil, which is the first step to healthy plants, some nutrition should be provided once a week or every 10 days. For this, add a handful of compost/ cow dung manure/ vermi compost once a week/ 10 days. Neem cake should be added once a month, while bone meal and peanut cake dissolved in water can be added once in 15 days. Liquid fertilisers can also be added; I make my own compost tea or use leachate from my compost bin. I also use Panchagavya, which can be made or bought from the store and used after diluting with water.
• Water – I cannot stress enough on how over-watering not only attracts pests but is also more detrimental to plant growth. Some plants love a lot of water but none of them like wet feet. Watering also depends on the season, during the heat in summer your plants may need to be watered twice a day but in monsoon they might not need watering.
• Seeds – If you are new to kitchen gardening, start with seeds from your kitchen cabinet. Some of the easy to start with plants are palak, methi, amaranthus, chillies and tomatoes. Growing as per the season gives maximum yield. For example, sowing watermelon seeds in late February gives you juicy watermelons in the summer months.
• Saplings – You can buy saplings from nurseries, especially for fruit trees like lemon, which are generally the grafted kinds, so fruiting starts faster. When buying saplings of vegetable plants from nurseries, avoid those which are loaded with vegetables… they may not do well in a new environment. When you buy saplings, make sure they are young so they grow under your care and mature to give ample vegetables.
• Tools – You will need to buy a shovel, a spade, a garden fork, a watering can and cutting tools or pruning shears.

 Process

1. Sow the seeds in small containers—even empty yoghurt containers will do. Large seeds like beans need to be buried an inch deep into the soil whereas tiny seeds like lettuce and amaranthus can be loosely scattered on top of the soil and an inch of potting mix/cocopeat can be added on top.
2. Once you sow, sprinkle gently with some water.
3. Keep these containers under indirect sun, preferably on a window sill. Some recommend covering the containers with a cardboard lid.
4. Within a 7 – 15 days you will see your seeds germinating.
5. Shift them out and expose them to a few hours of sunlight daily and then return them to the window sill. After a week you can leave them out for the day and night.  Water gently or only spray when you see the soil a bit dry.

Transfer plants like chillies, tomatoes and brinjals within a month to a larger pot.

Creepers like cucumbers, passion fruit vines and bottle gourds will need a trellis for support. Once you transplant them to a bigger pot, get creative with ropes or bamboo to give them support on the balcony walls and grill.

Lettuce and other leafy greens can be sown directly in big pots.

Ideally you should transplant the plant in the evening so that your plant settles into its new home in the gentle cooler temperature of night. Once transplanted, water quickly with nutrient-enriched water. Water with compost tea once in 10 days.

Over-watering not only attracts pests but is also more detrimental to plant growth

Pest management

If your plant is healthy, pest attacks are minimum. Planting ornamental plants in between edible plants helps curb pest attack. For example, marigold flowers will attract all the pests and your other edible plants will be spared. Planting mint/ basil/ garlic chives alongside tomatoes keeps most pests away. The flowers from your ornamental plants may also attract bees for pollination of your brinjal flowers. Should your plants get infested with pests, you can grind chillies and garlic to make a robust pest control spray. Strain the chilli garlic paste, dilute with water and spray onto plants. Another good organic pest control mix is neem oil mixed with water to which a few drops of liquid soap has been added. Spray it fortnightly.

Growing food is a glorious process. Your kitchen garden will not only enthral you, it will soothe, surprise and comfort you. Join your local community gardeners and meet fellow food growers.

If you live in Mumbai and would want to know more about balcony gardening, join BLOOMS on Facebook. It is a platform for enthusiastic home gardeners and you can be a part of fun-filled and interactive gardening meets.

The post Grow nutritious organic food in your very own kitchen garden appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.