What is cooking anew? Kitchen garden in July

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July is the right month to plant seeds in your kitchen garden, say experts in the state agriculture department.

The department has designed a training programme for homemakers and entrepreneurs to set up kitchen gardens in apartments, rooftops and empty spaces wherein they can learn in easy steps how to grow organic food without too much investments.

Sixty people have already registered for this one-day training which will be given Wednesday at the Information and Training Centre (ITC) premises of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Anna Nagar.

Ms P. Shanti, professor and head of ITC, said that a kitchen garden could cut down a middle class family’s expenses on vegetables by 70 per cent.

“The garden will give you fresh and organic greens and fruits throughout the year. Medicinal plants can also be grown. We have studied the infrastructure in Chennai houses and developed models for growing plants in flats, small houses and on terraces,” she said. ITC assists trainees to learn the art of maintaining plants, watering, adding manure and protecting them, she added.

Assistant professor of ITC M. Velmurugan said tomatoes, brinjal and onions could easily be grown in flats.

“We will teach you how to use broken sinks, washbasins, polythene bags to grow plants. With less maintenance and cost for compost, you can grow varieties of vegetables,” he said, adding that people from Velachery, who had attended training classes in ITC, have been reaping good benefits from their kitchen gardens. ITC offers various training programmes every month on agriculture at low cost.

To know more about kitchen gardens, contact: 044-26263484.