Home or Kitchen Gardening
Home or Kitchen Gardening
The main purpose of the kitchen or home vegetable gardening is to provide the family daily with fresh vegetables rich in nutrients and energy. There is lo be a more or less continuous supply of vegetables throughout the year according to the season. !n kitchen gardening emphasis is usually placed on a great variety of crops according to season. Home gardening idea is spreading among more and more housewives due to the increasing awareness among them that just as good placement of shrubs and flowers adds to the beauty of the house-Kinds of Kitchen gardening:
1) A combined flower and vegetable garden.
2) Exclusive vegetable gardens But these are rather less common at least in houses in urban areas. They also vary according to the size of the residential plot, etc.
a) In large size plot almost every important vegetable can be grown in them due to enough space available in the back yard.
b) In medium size plots the area is not enough so that even an assorted collection of vegetables cannot be accommodated.
c) In very small houses – the area available for kitchen garden is also very small, so only a few small beds of vegetables, supplemented with narrow strips here and there are available along the boundary wall, and other locations.
d) Terrace gardening or growing vegetables in pots- In cities and towns where there is little garden space available one can grow vegetables in pots drums and other container; placed on terrace or roof.
Advantages of kitchen gardening:
1) Kitchen gardening is the best means of recreation and exercise. It is an excellent hobby and a healthy occupation in spare time for the young and the aged. According to Venkataratnum (1963) "An hour or two spent either in the morning or evening in kitchen garden provide good exercise to the body and a healthy recreation to the mind.
2) Kitchen gardening helps in lowering down the vegetable bill. There are no transport charges and middlemen’s share which greatly add to the price paid by the consumers in purchasing vegetables from the market.
3) According to Dr. Mehta (1959), "It is an ideal medium for training children, through gardens, in beauty and order".
4) Kitchen gardening secures enough vegetables within the means of all classes at a very cheap rate. It is often remarked that it is cheaper to buy vegetables than to raise them.
5) The cost of raising vegetables in the kitchen gardening through ones owns labour is far less than what a family spends on vegetables in the market.
6) Vegetables grown, in the kitchen gardens are fresh and are not liable to infection with germs occurring in unsanitary markets. Thus they can be used freely without any trouble.