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Advanced Gardener

Once you have gardening basics, you can do more! All this gets to be fun and you can see results with what you grow like magic.

Here is a great summary by Mathangi Sampath who is deep into Permaculture and organic farming besides kitchen gardening at home.

Prepare the Ground

Sheet Mulch: Layer Cardboard (Torn into small bits if you are doing this in a container). Layer with green garden waste. Top up with dried leaves. Thats it. This will take a while to breakdown – say 1.5 years. So what. Do this for as much of the garden as you possibly can. Especially great info for someone starting out brand new.

Now rotate amongst the options below to maintain it

Don’t stress over majorly scheduling it all. Just get a rhythm with doing something every week. Note that Jeevamrit, Leachate and Compost soup need to be added more regularly than the others. So consider a 2 week cycle for them. All the others can be added whenever you can.

  1. IMO: Jeevamrit – : Once in Two weeks. Say for 1 year: Get 1 kg cow dung mixed with 1 kg Urine. Add some jaggery and a handful of soil. Stir with a stick 12 times clockwise and 12 times anti clockwise. Twice a day. 48 hours and its ready. Dilute with 1:20 for young saplings and 1:20 for established trees. Pour into soil.
  2. IMO: Rice IMO: to capture beneficial fungi in the soil- Put a mixture of cooked rice into a scraped out coconut shell and tie a rubber band around it. Bury it and wait 5-7 days. Open it to a plethora of colors and a fruity smell to know its ready for the next step
    1. Add 5 litres of water and 250 grams of jaggery. stir and wait for 5-7 days
    2. Strain  and Dilute 1:10 Big Plants 1:20 for small ones
    3. This spray is also great for Orchids
  3. IMO: Lactic Acid Bacteria is an awesome one to use.
    1. Set aside about 1/2 cup of rice wash (The water rinsed off of rice).  Keep uncovered for 5-7 days
    2. Add 10 parts Milk and set aside 5-7 days.
    3. Strain  and Dilute 2 tbsp to a gallon (about 15 ml to a regular bucket)
    4. Spray. This can be stored in the refrigerator and keep a while. Just remove what you need and keep at room temperature for a couple of days before diluting and spraying.
  4. Banana Papaya Squash
    1. Take equal parts ripe banana, papaya and squash. Add a handful of powdered jiggery.  Mix and set aside for 5-7 days.
    2. Strain  and Dilute 2 tbsp to a gallon (about 15 ml to a regular bucket)
    3. Spray. This can be stored in the refrigerator and keep a while. Just remove what you need and keep at room temperature for a couple of days before diluting and spraying.
  5. Panchagavya
    1. Source this from anyone in the vicinity that knows how to make this. Here are some vendors.
    2. Strain  and Dilute 30ml to a litre. Spray
  6. Leachate: Whatever you extract from your compost bin. Dilute 1:15 and pour into soil.  If you don’t compost, I guess you will need to miss out on this wonderful growth promoter for your plants.  But think about starting now. It gets to be quite addicting.
  7. Compost Soup
    1. Gather weeds (yes weeds. Castor, Parthenium is especially good), flowers, leaves. Soak in water for 15 days. Stir everyday
    2. Strain  and Dilute 1:15. Spray
  8. Azola – this is a very interesting fern that can be grown in a pot or bucket that has a mix of soil, cowdung and water. This grows super fast! Harvest and simply add to the soil.
  9. Ginger Garlic Chilli Extract
    1. Chop equal quantities of the above and let stand in beer/wine or anything with 40% alcohol for 12 hours.
    2. Add jaggery and let brew for 5-7 days
    3. Strain  and Dilute 15ml to a bucket. Spray. Can also be added to soil.
  10. Crush Eggshells and mix with some Jaggery and Vinegar. Dilute and spray
  11. Mix equal proportions of Coconut vinegar, water and jaggery.
    1. Pour into an empty water bottle, add punctures to the bottle about a punch hole size on the top.
    2. Hang in the garden and let grab air organisms.