Gardening is fun in the rains- everything seems to grow faster and healthier due to the humidity and distilled water courtesy of Mother Nature.

Many plants start growing vegetatively, instead of producing fruit/veg. However, here's a brilliant post on how to use other parts of a fruit and veg:
 
Global Underground eats-shoots-and-leaves!
To this, we'd like to add a few more ideas:

Pea Shoot stir fry! 

Drumstick leaves are rich in vitamins and iron...use them in soups, shak and add to chapati or paratha dough.

White part of watermelon (inside rind) can be used to make soups or vegetable stock

Leaves of Tindora (Ghiloda or Tondli) can be used in soup or a fresh juices and has great anti diabetic power.

For amazing videos and urban green living ideas, go to Global Underground
  This is an online magazine for sustainable living, and is run by Nicole Hays.

Simply pluck it, cook it, and relish it!

Grow your own organic vegetables

Simply pluck it, cook it, and relish it!

Imagine cooking a vegetable immediately after plucking it from the plant! It may sound like a dream. There are several easy ways to make your dream come true! There are many companies such as Sun Agrigenetics in Vadodara, that provide consultancy on how to go about it, and provide plants such as Parwal, Tindora, Chilly, Brinjal, Tomato, etc and even fruit trees such as Banana, Papaya, Lemon etc.

If you have a garden area, an open backyard or side space, that's perfect. If not, you can still grow vegetables in pots kept in the balcony or terrace. Says Dr. Prashant Bhatt, Managing Director of Sun Agrigenetics, "Any vegetable with shallow root system viz; onion, tomato, brinjal, potato, cabbage, chilly, cauliflower, garlic, coriander, etc. can be grown on a terrace with  even a minimal space of 10’ x 10’ x 0.5’. All you need to a raised bed and coco peat layering".
Emphasizing the advantages of organic kitchen gardening, Dr. Bhatt says, “You plant a good seed, provide organic manure and kitchen waste and water – that’s all. No fertilizer, no poisonous insecticide, fungicides, viricides, bactericides, or weed killer”. The kitchen garden can produce ample amount of fruits and vegetables to feed whole family.

            The company provided handy Easy Gardening Kits with free plants at the Horticulture Exhibition held at the Model Farm, Genda Circle on 12-13-14Feb in Vadodara. "The kits were a great success, and we hope people will try growing their own food" said a smiling Dr. Bhatt. We tend to agree with him. Watching your food grow makes you appreciate it even more. Anyone out there with a story to share? Just write in to us, and we'll feature your garden.