Food is not tasty & healthy unless you have used fresh vegetables & spices. Is this not true? That is why people spend a lot of time & money to pick fresh vegetables from the market. But still, sometimes unknowingly you buy stale vegetables. But what if you have a small kitchen garden and grow a few seasonal vegetables for your family? You can get some fresh & safe vegetables every week from your own garden. If you do not have a backyard still you can easily develop a kitchen on your rooftop like me. Here is a 7 must grow summer vegetables for your kitchen garden.
If you are growing vegetables in containers then you need more compost fertilizer. You can add leaf compost, kitchen compost or vermicompost or cow dung compost. You can use whatever is available in your locality. Add simply half amount compost and half amount normal garden soil. After 1 month, you should apply mustard cake liquid fertilizer every week.
7 must grow summer vegetables
1. Brinjal/Eggplant (Baingan)
Brinjal is an easy-to-grow vegetable plant. You can get brinjal for two yars from a plant. So you must grow this vegetable. You just need to apply organic homemade pesticide every week to protect your plants. Root borer, stem borer & fruit borer are a very common problem for this plant where small insects lay eggs on the young leaf or flowers and then those eggs produce larvae and those larvae start eating its leaves, stem & fruit from inside. You can not notice it from outside. So regular application of organic pesticide it is needed. But in case, your plants are affected by such disease then you need to apply some chemical pesticide bought from the local nursery.
Brinjal/eggplant is a popular vegetable all over the country. It is used to make so many delicious dishes like baingan ka bharta, brrinjal masala curry, spicy baingan curry, Bengali style beguni, lamba begun bhaja
2. Okra/Lady’s fingers (Bhindi)
This is the best vegetable to grow in the summer season. You can easily grow this plant in a container. It produces plenty of vegetables throughout 4-5 months in the season. If you have 12 plants then it is enough for a family of 3-4 people. It has only one stem and that stem grows and produces fruits. That stem is very hard and as it has a single stem, so it can easily withstand local storm during the summer season. I never found my containers with okra plants fell due to heavy wind whereas sometimes containers with other vegetable plants fell due to heavy wind. These plants not even very prone to disease. Only sometimes millie bugs (white color visible insects) attack. But you can easily eliminate such problem by regular application of any organic pesticide. You can also spray shampoo/soap/detergent water on those plants to remove millie bugs.
I love this vegetable a lot. Achari bhindi, delicious masala bhindi (dry), Bengali style bhindi fry and many other delicious okra based dishes can be prepared. Apart from these I also enjoy simple boiled okra/lady’s fingers/bhindi.
3. Chillies (Mirch)
Chillies are all-season vegetable and you will need this vegetable to make almost every Indian dishes which is not sweet. It is also easy to grow vegetable but it is very prone to leaf curl disease. So you need to apply organic pesticide every week. If you find that leaves are already being curly then you should buy a chemical pesticide from the local nursery and apply atleast 3-4 times after every 3-4 days. Then you can continue normal organic pesticide like neem oil etc.
So now harvest fresh chillies and add those to various dishes. Indians even prefer to eat raw chillies along with their meal. So enjoy your meal too.
4. Bitter gourd (Karela)
Kids normally do not enjoy this vegetable. But it is very nutritious and many it is used to make various delicious dishes. It is a popular summer vegetable and very easily can be grown in containers. You do not need a big container, any medium-size pot (more than 10-inch size pot) is enough for this plant. One bitter gourd can produce 3-4 fruits every week. So 3 to 4 bitter gourd vines are enough for a family of 4 members.
So do you love karela based dishes? What all do you make with this vegetable? I love karela ka pakoda, achari karela fry, different types of bitter gourd fries. I also enjoy this vegetable in shukto. Do you?
5. Malabar spinach (Poi saag/pui shaak)
It is a popular leafy vegetable. Malabar spinach is a healthy & popular summer vegetable. It is used to make various traditional dishes. Anybody can grow this malabar spinach vine with a little effort. If you are growing this vine on the ground then you may just need two vines for your family because it is a rapid grower and within two months this plant spread all over your garden. It does not need any care if you are growing this plant under full sun. If you face any problem due to insects or pest then you may need to apply pesticide occasionally. Thee are two variety in this leafy vegetable. One is the red stem and another one is the green stem. If you grow this plant under the full sun then its leaves will be comparatively smaller but sweeter in taste. But in case you are growing this plant under semi-shade then its leaves will be bigger in size and comparatively bitter (or less sweet) in taste.
I love this vegetable. Its dishes are so delicious. I often harvest its leaves & stems to make malabar spinach curry, poi saag ka pakoda etc. Do you also want to experience the same?
6. Cucumber (Kheera)
You should definitely grow cucumber plants during the summer season. It only needs a small trellis, so that its vines can spread. But it needs rain three to four times in a month. Rain makes these vines happy, haha. It spreads so rapidly after the rain. So in case, there is no rain in your region during the summer season then it is better to spray water once or twice a week all over the cucumber vines & leaves. You should also apply fungicide once a month and apply organic pesticide twice a month. If you do take proper care of your plants then you can easily get 10-15 fruits from a single plant.
But what else will you prepare with these fruits? I mostly love to make cucumber salad to have as a snack or side dish along with my meal.
7. Yardlong beans (Borboti)
It is an excellent summer vegetable. A few years back, I grew two yardlong beans (snake beans) on the ground. So I got many vegetables. But this year, I grew 6 plants in containers. So here definitely I am getting not as much as I expected. But then I realized 6 plants are enough for 3 people if those are growing in containers. Otherwise, 3-4 plants growing on the ground would sufficient. It is an easy to grow plant. But it needs regular application pesticide otherwise leaves will be curly.
You can make various dishes with yardlong beans or snake beans. This vegetable can easily to be added to mix veg curry. I also love borboti aloo curry (simple yardlong bean & potato curry).
Leave a Reply