Every time you make a palak dosa for breakfast or mint sandwich for lunch, you are loading yourself with carcinogenic chemicals.
Greens are essential foods, providing the much-needed micronutrients. Sadly, what are available in the market are doused with pesticides. They fall under the ‘Dirty Dozen’ classification, which separates chemically grown veggies from others. This means that they have a high amount of pesticide residue on their leaves. It is scary but studies show that each gramme of chemically grown greens has 1 microgram of pesticides.
We can easily master this situation by growing greens at home. They are easy to grow and need very little space. They can be grown in any small container and will need direct sunlight for fast growth.
Palak, dianthus, coriander, methi and chakotha are the short-duration greens that can be harvested in 30 days. Greens are shallow-rooted crops and can be grown in a container with half-foot depth. They can be grown in a regular soil mixture of red soil, sand, coir pith and compost at 1:1:1:1 ratio.
For the first time, get the seeds from a reliable organic store. Later, you can collect seeds from your garden. While harvesting, leave one or two plants for seed collection. Once the seeds mature, collect and dry them, and store in airtight containers for next season.
The plants need regular watering. Continuous mulching and application of any form of microbial cultures will take care of nutrient management. Generally, a healthy batch of greens won't be affected by pests and diseases. In the case of any pest incidence, apply any neem-based herbal pesticide or neem oil spray.
Once the first harvest is done, sow the seeds of some other variety of greens in the same container. Growing different types of greens on rotation will help keep the soil nutrient-rich at all the times. The perennial greens such as mint, drumstick, Agasae and basalae can also be grown in containers. They give us a continues supply of greens for years. They need a container with one-foot depth and width. All other cropping practices are the same.
Greens can be grown in shade as micro greens, they are common and grow in a short time. Palak, coriander, methi, lettuce and celery are a few such. Open space in the front yard, window sills or on the balcony could be converted into a green patch by growing microgreens.
Along with window sills, bottle towers can be created with the reusable pet bottles and you can grow mint, celery or lettuce. These may interest kids as well.
Microgreens can be grown and harvested within 15 to 20 days. Baby greens can be used to make salads and the mature plants can be juiced.
(To know more about urban farming and any other related queries contact the author at nalini@artyplantz.com )