Micro Vegetable Farming Plan

This being the first attempt since my intention to extend my research from Organic Roof farming to organic micro farming. The challenge is to supply water at low cost effort and also the land identified for farming is away from where I stay, so visit to farm land would be possible once in a week.

To overcome above challenges , identified micro irrigation as an option, and may have to appoint one person to look after the continuous flow of water from tank to the farm beds.

After couple of research, I could find another option using cell phone to switch on and off motor while sending an SMS  (Text message). In this case I can set up one to control  from my cell phone from Trivandrum and the farm land being at Kannyakumari district in Tamil Nadu which is around 40 Kms of distance.

Planted few mango trees and other herbal plants in the

Filed. I believe that this would provide little shade to

vegetable plants once they are set in farm beds. 

This plant is a herbal one( Malyalam language: Pathimukham),

Drumstick plant, within 2 months it grew up to 1.5 meters in height.

Dry ships of the trunk coat is used while boiling water for drinking purpose.

Leaves looks like tamarind tree leaves.

Black Pepper Plantation (Kuru Mulaku)

Black Pepper (Piper Nigrum Linn) being prominent in northern Malabar stretch, a region in the western coast of South India. Plant can be grown in all types of soil, preferably suitable in geographical area where rainfall of  100 to 250 cm and also located above sea level.
One plant is grown on backyard of my house and also planted around 30 plants in my farm with 1000 sq.meter. In the same piece of land other planted with coconut tree, banana and others.





Image of the seelings.

This image shows the black pepper in its ripe form. Image was taken after six month of plantation.

It takes almost 6 months to produce fruit. fruit initially appears green in color. 

The final product - Black Pepper.

Cauliflower Seed Germination and Plantation

The cauliflower (Brassica oleracea L. var. botrytis) plant belongs to the family Cruciferae.Cauliflower grows best in full sun, any partial shade will reduce head size. Cauliflower requires a steady supply of moisture. Mulching helps preserve moisture and keep the soil cooler.

More than any other vegetable, cauliflower is very sensitive to weather conditions. Heat can cause browning of the curds or stem rot. The major cauliflower producing states in India are Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Assam, Haryana and Maharashtra. Advance technology for cauliflowers cultivation is use of Hybrid seeds and drip irrigation. In the plains, it is available from September to May. It is consumed as a vegetable in curries, soups and pickles.

Seeds of cauliflower looks similar to mustard, but a little bigger in size.

Seeds were germinated in germinating tray. Usage of husk and mud was ideal to germinate. Seedling was ready to transplant in a weeks time.

  
Transplanted to a clay pot and placed at backyard. Looking at the plant leaf size, the size of head may not grow in large size. Since this is an experiment, studies and findings will be considered while planting in farm land.

Ginger Plantation

Ginger plantation is quite easy which is the rhizome of the plant Zingiber officinale, and is one among  spices used in coffee and other dishes.  It is also called root ginger and the plantation is usually done with a small rhizome and once the plant matures, it give rise to large ginger in bunch.

Soil-mix  preferred for ginger plantation is organic material or prepared compost  to fill the container. 

Since the ginger tubers needs to grow in size so the soil chould be loosend with any heavy stones or other obstacles in the container.

Lady's Finger/Okra Seed Germination

Previous post on Okra plantation, described on different stages of the plant and its growth. Here in this blog will share more on Okra seed germination.

Also refer: Okra -Lifecycle, Okra Plantation


Okra seeds are green in color and very hard. There are multiple ways of germinating it.


1. Soak in water for 24 hours and can plant directly to a container.
2. A seedling tray can be used to germinate, which takes 2-3 days.

Seedling needs direct sunlight or artificial light using electric lamp.

Within 7 days, seedlings would be ready to transplant to container.
Closer view on  seedling roots will show how the roots getting curled.

Seedling getting transplanted to plastic container.

Seed, Germination and Transplantation II

1. Pumpkin 

View: Pumpkin /Mathan kaa Plantation

Plant Name	Seed	Transplantation	Growth	Maturity
Pumpkin	Grow seedlings in smaller cups filled with Compost. Provision of air circulation should be   provided. Small pores can be provided for the excess water to flow out.	Seed germination would take 7-15 days. Transplantation of the seedlings  can be done between 15-20days depending on how fast the seedling grow.	Plant's growth   is dependent on soil type. An ideal mix of compost and soil will help the plant grow faster. Buds starts coming in 30 - 35 days.	Plant will mature in 80-100 days. From a healthy plant ideally 5-6 pumpkins can be harvested.

2. Green Chilly

View: Green Chilly/ Pacha Mulakku Plantation

Seed	Transplantation	Growth
Grow seedlings in smaller cups filled with Compost. Provision of air circulation should be   provided. Small pores can be provided for the excess water to flow out.	Seed germination would take 5-7 days. Transplantation of the seedlings  can be done between 12-15 days.	Plant's growth   is dependent on soil type. An ideal mix of compost and soil will help the plant grow faster. Buds starts coming in 30 - 40 days

3. Tomato



View: Tomato /Thakali Plantation

Seed	Transplantation	Growth
Grow seedlings in smaller cups filled with Compost. Provision of air circulation should be   provided. Small pores can be provided for the excess water to flow out.	Seed germination would take 5-7 days. Transplantation of the seedlings  can be done between 12-17 days.	Plant's growth   is dependent on soil type. An ideal mix of compost and soil will help the plant grow faster. Buds starts coming in 40 - 50

Growing Colocasia in grow bag on terrace

Colocasia plants are of multiple varieties. Usually plant is grown in shady gardens or found planted between Banana plants. Trying to grow the same under hot sun fetch me good result.

Planted one colocasia root in a sack, this sac was filled with more of compost and dry leaves.






Ideal time span would be 6-10 months to harvest. Since this was not of much excitement to me probably because I have farms on this at my native town.

The yellow flower in the image belongs to one variety of pumpkin plant but not of colocasia.




Uprooted the root , found bunch of colocasia root.
This could have grown in bigger size if left for at least 3 more months.







Washed the root part and plucked the root from the
plant. Roots still remain on  colocasia.

Seed Germination Indoor

Starting from month of May till September, either it rains heavily or too sunny which is not ideal for the seeds to germinate. Trying an alternative solution -" Seed Germination Indoor".

It is simple to setup one and this post will describe on germinating a bean seed in a tray inside store room under a table lamp.

Step 1: Fill smaller cups or seedling trays with fertile soil mixed with little compost. Seedling tray should have small pores for the excess water to flow out.

Step2: Place seeds inside the tray and sprinkle water gently or use a sprayer. 

Step 3: Arrange a lamp near to the tray and and leave one and half foot distance from the surface of the tray.

            Keep the lamp ON at least 6hrs a day.

Step4: Keep a check twice a day and ensure that the tray is sufficient with water for the seeds to germinate.

After 10 days seeds started sprouting with light green Epicotyl and primary leaves.

After 15 days the seedling is ready to get transplanted 

as it started growing towards the lamp light.

Step5:  Once the container is ready for transplantation, pull out the seedlings from the tray and plant it in the container.

Remembering the days of schools and chapters on 

Photosynthesis process. Plant leaves showed a behavior in changing the color of the leaves from lighter green to Dark green when transplanted to a container kept outdoor under sunlight. 

Pests and Insects III

It was a real struggle to grow a new variety of tomato plant. This tomato bigger in size and so gets attracted by either rodents, birds or insects. After loosing around 15 tomatos finally planned to cover each one with polythene  cover. But poor tomatos were ill-fated and was attacked by caterpillar.

Black caterpillar found inside the polythene cover.
Just one worm and spoiled all the tomatoes in a bunch.

Caterpillar created the maximum damage to the fruit,

while hiding inside teh cover unnoticed.

These are the outcomes.

Another worm found in green chilly leaves. they hide inside
 the folded leaves.

Related Links:

Organic home made pest control solutions

One among the most interesting worm found in snake gourd
4-5 worms hidden inside the stem. leaves getting dried soon
looked all through the stem and could find that the worm
pierced either from the bottom part of the stem or through
the roots. worms made tunnel kind of passage from the
bottom of the stem to halfway towards the top.

Long Purple Eggplant

Eggplants are of multiple varieties, one among this is purple long eggplant. It was a real surprise when the first fruit appeared. Since the seed of eggplant looks the same, I was expecting a green long eggplant. After a week when the leaves started growing in size I could find small thorns along midrib. I thought this would be some kind of wild plant but then felt to wait till the fruit appears.

Seeds where sown on a smaller cup filled
with compost. Seeds started germinating
 in 3-4 days.

Germinated seedlings were taken out from the cup and transplanted to bigger container. Container is already filled with mixture of compost and soil.

 This snap was taken 15 days after germination. Because of heavy rain it was quite challenging to keep the plant to stay straight.

Planted 7 purple long eggplants.

With in 20 days from germination it started flowering.

First Fruit appeared in 25 days from germination.

Fruit grew in size and length. In approx it took 30 days for the first fruit to get harvested. Thanks to Nature. This time (batch) there is a tremendous difference in the fruit quality. Compost is the real solution and there by the soil mixture with compost processed in the container.