Pre requisite for farming, getting ready the farm plot.

By urban farmer -

The first step in planting crops starts with getting the plot ready and preparing the planting medium and environment. Three possibilities for urban dwellers, open garden like landed/terrace/shop houses, HDB mini front yard, roof top garden or small balcony.

I attempt to largely classified them into 3 main groups

1) Open garden: garden or front/back yard of house, small plot of land with green house covering or HDB mini front yard

2) Balcony space; HDB or condominium balcony.

3) Roof top garden; penthouse or roof top of terrace houses.

You need 4 to 8 hrs of sunlight and a good mix of soil. The right seeds, water and fertilizer come next.

With many trial and errors for last 1.5 years, I have managed to gather some know-how and expertise in crops control and growing at small scale. I am proud to say that now the crops harvest is fully self sustained for the daily consumption of 2 families and at times with surplus to share among friends.

Each Thursday end of business day, I will publish an article on a new crop. I owned a small green house ( ~ 12m x 5m) and a HDB balcony ( actual planting size ~ 1.2m x 0.8m).

Some of the crops I have planted with success are asian leafy vegetables (eg. chai sim, kailan,lettuces, cabbages, califlower), beans ( long beans, edamame), herbs (eg. Thai basil, sweet basil, lemon grass), melons (eg. cucumber, mini-melon, bitter gourd).

Full cycle of crops planting including plot rotation, soil microorganisms, organic pests control for sustainable agriculture will be documented with photos and full description.

 

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