How to grow coriander /cilantro in your kitchen garden

Almost all the Indian recipes use either coriander seed or its leaf to spice up the dish and hence growing coriander can be considered must thing in your kitchen garden. Growing coriander can be also considered a best pick for your vegetable garden because of the following

 a) It is very easy to grow

b) Grows very fast

c) You can get the yields at a very early stage and it keeps yielding.

It is better to germinate cilantro from its seeds as it does not transplant well. Choose a container that is big enough to grow many plants.

Coriander seed is technically a fruit containing two seeds in it. So the round thing that we see has two seeds in it. Each of them will grow into a coriander plant. The fruit can be sown whole or split and sown. When split, it increases the germination rate since it scarifies the seed.

 

Picture: how a split coriander seed looks like

 

Tips for splitting a whole coriander seed to a split one. Wear a slipper in hand and spread the seeds on the floor (consider a rough floor and not the tiles). Keep the slipper on the seeds and gently move the slipper while pressing them. Do not press hard!

One can sow the whole seed as well. It is easier when you split.

Steps:

Take a tray with potting mix filled all the way up to half inch from the top.

Make rows by drawing a line with your index finger or a stick.

Simply sow the split coriander seeds in that row and once it is done, cover the seeds with coco peat. Water them and wait patiently!

Coriander seeds start germinating between 5-7 days and will look like this picture below

Once they start germinating, keep them in a place that receives good amount of sunlight. They will start growing vigorously and will look like the pic below.

 
In another 10 days time, they should be ready for use.Enjoy fresh coriander grown in your own kitchen garden.

 All the best for my readers!!!

How To Grow Cheera (amaranthus) In Your Kitchen Garden

How to grow cheera (amaranthus) in your kitchen garden

Growing cheera can be the easiest crop to start with your kitchen garden for a beginner. Cheera grows in almost all the soil but loam soil is most suitable for its cultivation. You may either choose the seeds or the stem to cultivate. There are different varieties of cheera available; however the most common in kitchen garden are cheera in red and in green colours.see picture below.

Sowing of Cheera seed

cheera is suitable for growing in summer as well as rainy season. The seed is sown in December- January for summer crop and April – May for rainy season crop. Seeds of cheera are very small and hence there are chances for the ants to eat the seeds. Here you have to be smart to protect your cheera seed you sow in your garden bed. When sowing cheera seed, mix it up with some rava so that ants will eat rava and your cheera seed remain protected in your garden.

Sowing of Stem

For growing cheera, you can also consider planting its stem if you are not available with seeds to plant. When considering cheera stem to plant, choose the stem that is fresh and have roots on it. You can even consider the cheera you buy from the market for your recipe in the kitchen.

when you are planting cheera, try to plant red and green as mixed, so that both gets protected from some leaf dot diseases.

After care

Once you planted either cheera seed or its stem, don’t forget to water in order keep your soil bed moist, that is essential for the seed to germinate or the stem to propagate. Then consider manuring cheera. The best will be organic manures like compost or dried cow dung.

Harvesting

The crop become ready for harvesting about three to four weeks after sowing and subsequent cuttings may be done after 7 to 10 days. The plants are harvested by cutting them periodically. This crop revenate quickly after each cutting. Hence  growing cheera is a easily grown fresh veg for your kitchen.