Breaking new ground...

I managed to plant a few seeds yesterday! It rained a little and was overcast - but I wanted to get started so I did. :-)

Maybe I didn't read the right things, but when I went to the garden, I had no idea where to begin. So with Santosh's help, I dug a few furrows, planted some seeds, covered them up with mud and left it at that. Seemed simple enough. We planted onions and brinjal. There's more where that came from. I'm going to do some proper reading. I'll post something about how to start I guess, for other beginners like me.

I found a booklet on kitchen gardening written by the Agriculture Officers' Association in Panaji, Goa. It is called "Kitchen Garden Manual". It was printed in 2003 bu the officer's assocation. If you are in Goa, you can contact the Agriculture Dpt at their new office in Tonca (phone nos. +91-832-2465443/2425910/2436851/2226445) to see if they have copies available.

This booklet describes (not in detail, but enough to give one a sense of things) how to plan the layout of your garden, how to prepare the land, water management, pesticides (unfortunately, organic agriculture is under the heading "New Concepts in Kitchen Garden"), diseases etc...