It’s a dream of many to build a blissful home on your own villa plot, at a stone’s throw from the buzzing city and bring in the balance of nature and luxury. There are multiple ways to plan out how your villa and surroundings would look. One such popular idea is to grow your own food in a beautiful kitchen garden.
Villa plots in Pune are large enough to accommodate backyard gardens along with luxurious villas. With some tips for vegetable gardening in small spaces, you can grow your own food for your daily needs. With some basic knowledge of gardening and seasonal vegetables, you can grow vegetables that will be enough for your family’s daily needs.
To create your own garden, the first step would be to understand the geography of your villa plot and plan your villa to leave some space for garden beds and also build spacious balconies and terraces to grow plants.
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Using space optimally at your villa
While planning your villa plots, speak to your architect about your desire for gardening. That way it would be easier for them to suggest designs that can accommodate a garden. Planning ahead is essential to understand how much space you would need and which space from the construction can be used for plants. Leaving a larger patch of land on either side of your house can be a good idea. You can start with planting long-term trees of fruits like mangoes, and guava on the borders. Larger spaces allow for garden beds. But worry not if you have a small villa space, it can accommodate containers and you will still be able to grow your food.
Making use of terrace space
The terrace space can also be used for growing plants. You can start with low-maintenance plants in small containers. These can include flowering plants and general kitchen herbs like chilies, curry leaves, etc. Once you are more comfortable, you can start planning your space on the terrace for various seasonal vegetables.
You can also set up a support stand for creepers like bottle gourd, pumpkin, etc. Vegetables like tomatoes, brinjals, and lady’s fingers can be grown in big planters. You can choose vegetables, considering the season and the weather in your area. Also, take into account the size of your family to decide the number of plants you want to grow. Eg. One chili plant can be enough for a family of 4-5 people but you would need 3 to 4 plants of lady’s fingers. Doing background research on the vegetables you are interested in growing will help you decide on this number.
Creating garden beds and raised beds
For vegetables with roots such as potatoes, beetroots, and carrots, containers may not be the best idea. Leafy vegetables would also grow better on land than in planters. For such purposes, garden beds can be created. It would be easy to set up your own garden bed with essential materials like soil and coco peat after you have marked boundaries. If you want to get the garden bed created by a professional, you can also opt for that.
In case there is less space for garden beds, there is an option to create raised beds on your terrace and in the balconies. Raised beds would be nothing but a large rectangular container that would be pre-built. Once you gain enough confidence, you can grow ginger and turmeric as well in your raised beds. Raised beds or garden beds allow the vegetables large space to grow comfortably. But what if you have really less space? No worries, the option for you could be vertical gardening.
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Setting up a vertical garden
It is less tricky than it sounds. When there is really less space available for gardening, plants can be set up in a vertical fashion on a wall. There are specific containers designed for this purpose that can be hung on walls and provide plants with enough space. Vertical gardens have been used for decorative purposes but it is a lesser-known fact that you can also grow vegetables like tomatoes, beans, and cucumbers through vertical gardening. Leafy and exotic vegetables like lettuce, and kale are also grown in vertical gardens with hydroponic technology.
You can use vertical gardens for flowering plants. Flowering plants will attract the bees for pollination. Apart from that, some plants like marigold will repel pests from your garden. Onion greens, garlic greens, and mint are also popular plants to be grown in a vertical garden.
Optimizing harvest in small spaces
When you are setting up a garden and terrace farm, you also need to understand the need for nutrients from the plants. Since the nutrients in farms and in planters can’t be matched, the fertilization of the soil has to be done diligently and at regular intervals. The use of organic fertilizers and pesticides will give an edge to your garden. Regular pruning, deadheading, regularly checking for any insect attacks and spraying organic insecticides, tilling of the soil to improve the aeration of the roots are some of the things that will help you maximize harvest from a small garden.
Spacious villa plots can provide you the luxury of growing your own food that life wouldn’t have permitted otherwise. If you are looking to build your home and grow your own food, you don’t need to look further, 46 Banyan Tree provides you with villa plots in Pune that are large enough to accommodate your plans and your dreams.