Mumbai Goes Green

Set up of organic kitchen gardens in Mumbai

Mumbai Goes Green (MGG) provides everything you need to set up an urban organic kitchen garden in Mumbai: containers, soil components, compost, seeds, tools, setup and training. All available at your doorstep. MGG promotes a method of container based urban farming called Square Foot Gardening (SFG) that is suitable for both beginners and experienced gardeners. It is practical for areas from 4 sq. ft. to 200 sq. ft. This method allows multiple vegetables to be grown in a single container in shared soil. The containers are rectangular boxes with grid markers to divide them into squares of 1 ft. x 1 ft. each. The method uses less resources like space, soil, water, seeds, effort, time and money. To grow vegetables, an area must receive three or more hours of direct sunlight every day.

Organic farming
The plants will be grown using organic farming techniques and use compost obtained from kitchen waste as a fertilizer and soil conditioner. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides will not be used.

The material
Containers
The SFG containers will be made of recycled marine plywood. They will have clamps to fix rods and netting that can be used support vines or protect the plants from birds and animals.

Compost
MGG can supply compost for the gardens. MGG can also provide complete solutions for composting of kitchen waste at your location. The solutions include containers, cultures, accessories, delivery, training and service visits. MGG provides solutions for a wide range of volumes of waste for single person homes, building societies, canteens and hotels.

Tools
The tools required will be very few: a shallow container like a gamela for preparing the soil; a shower can for watering (jhari); a hand trowel for mixing the soil, adding compost, etc.; and a small clipper for harvesting cutting leaves, stalks, etc.

Reusing the components

Vegetables can generally be harvested in one to three months from sowing. Hence the containers, soil and tools can be used four to six times every year to grow the seasonal vegetables you require.

Costs
The costs can be of two types: 1. Set up costs. This includes the cost of containers, soil components, seeds, delivery, tools, training and visits for planting. 2. Running costs This includes compost and seeds and labour (probably a part-time mali). These can be reduced by generating compost from your kitchen waste and planting the seeds and saplings yourself.

The plans
MGG offers two plans for set up of city organic kitchen gardens at your location: Introductory and Family. You will be able to grow seasonal vegetables and herbs to be used for cooking, salads, juices and flavours; the plants are grown as vines, bushes, grasses or underground roots and tubers.

Introductory Plan for beginners

This requires 16 to 25 square feet area. It is meant for (a) beginners in gardening or (b) experienced gardeners who want to start growing vegetables or learn the SFG method. Using less space, effort and cost, this plan will help you understand the growth of different types of plants from sowing to harvest. Though it will not provide enough for your family, it is the first step to setting up a kitchen garden that provides regular supply of your familys needs of seasonal vegetables. A sample list of vegetables is given below. It is suited for the summer. Different vegetables may be selected for other seasons. 1. Tomato 2. Cluster beans (gavar) 3. Kidney beans (chawli) 4. Bitter gourd (karela) 5. Cucumber 6. Basil 7. Corn 8. Red radish 9. Okra (bhindi) 10. Chilly 11. Capsicum 12. Cabbage 13. Cauliflower 14. Spinach 15. Fenugreek (methi) 16. Coriander (kothmir)

Regular work
The garden will require about one hour a week for one person, consisting of twenty minutes a day thrice a week. The work required will be watering, weeding and harvesting the produce.

Family Plan for regular supply of organic vegetables

This requires about 80 to 100 square feet area. It will provide a regular supply of organic vegetables for a family of 3 to 6 persons. Sufficient space for about 20 different types of plants will be allocated and the plants will be sown in stages so that regular and adequate harvest is obtained. It will require the following containers: 4 boxes of size 4 ft x 4 ft each of 6 inch depth for a total 64 sq. ft. Each container will be divided into 16 compartments of one sq. ft. each. 1 box of size 4 ft x 4 ft with 12 inch depth for a total 16 sq. ft. This will be used for growing underground vegetables like potato, ginger, garlic, turmeric and onion. Containers for growing invasive plants like mint and lemon grass. A sample list of vegetables for the various containers is given below It is suited for the summer. Different vegetables may be selected for other seasons.

Square Foot Gardens shallow

4 boxes: Total 64 sq. ft. and 64 compartments. The depth of the box will be 6 inches. 16 compartments will be reserved for vines, and 48 for other plants. The vines will be placed on the North so that their shadow does not fall on the other plants. Sr.No. Vegetable Compartments No. of Plants Vines 1 Tomato 4 8 2 Cherry tomato 2 4 3 Cucumber 2 4 4 Cluster beans (gavar) 2 4 5 Kidney beans (chawli) 2 4 6 Bitter Gourd (karela) 1 2 7 Bottle Gourd (doodhi) 2 2 8 Ridge Gourd (turai) 1 2 Other plants bushes, leafy, roots 1 Brinjal 2 4 2 Okra (bhindi) 4 8 3 Chilly 4 8 4 Capsicum 4 8 5 Basil 2 4 6 Curry patta 1 2 7 Corn 4 4 8 Cauliflower 4 4 9 Cabbage 4 4 10 Spinach 4 40 11 Fenugreek (methi) 2 30 12 Coriander (kothmir) 4 60 13 Amaranth (math) 2 10 14 Red radish 2 20 15 Beetroot 2 20 16 Turnip 2 20 17 Other plants 1 3

Square foot garden - deep

This will be used to grow underground vegetables. 1 box of 4 ft x 4 ft and 12 inches depth. Sr.No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Vegetable Potato Onion Ginger Garlic Turmeric Groundnut Compartments 4 4 2 2 2 2 No. of Plants 20 40 10 20 10 6

Invasive plants
These plants grow very quickly and overpower other plants in the same container; hence they cant be grown in the square foot garden boxes with other plants. The plants grown will be: 1. Mint: One box of 1 ft x 1 ft with depth 6 inches 2. Lemon Grass: One box of 1 ft x 1 ft with depth 6 inches

Changes in plan
The above is a general template for type and quantity of plants. You may change the types and quantities of plants to suit your requirement.

Regular work
The work required will be three hours for one person per week, or about one hour a day for three days of the week. The work required will be watering, weeding and harvesting the produce. You can either do the work yourself or hire a part-time mali for the purpose. Every season you will have to plant new seeds or saplings.

Contact Us
Contact Mumbai Goes Green for a wide range of organic solutions at your doorstep in Mumbai - grow organic vegetables and herbs and also generate compost from kitchen and garden waste. Tel: Web: Email: Address: Anil (+91-99308-00228) or Bharat (+91-98924-65173) www.mumbaigoesgreen.com mumbaigoesgreen@gmail.com Plot 39/44, Midco Compound, Scheme 6, Road 2, Sion East, Mumbai 400022. Landmarks off Sion Circle, near Punjabi Ghasitaram Halwai.