Bag Gardening

Vegetable cultivation is a seasonal activity, but improved varieties of vegetables can be produced more or less throughout the year. Vegetable cultivation is entirely a family labor-dependent economic activity. This activity allows time to be utilized in between other household chores.

Malnutrition is a major problem. To address this problem and diversify the food menu, bag gardening can play an important role. Often, the price of vegetables in the market becomes unaffordable for ordinary people, resulting in poor and less affluent families adjusting their budgets by reducing their food menu. If they can produce nutritious leafy and other vegetables at home according to their preferences and needs, it is possible to save both money and time while also solving nutritional problems. Since the bags are portable, they are particularly useful in char (riverine islands) and coastal areas. For the general public, whose lives and livelihoods are unstable, this can help bring stability.

Objective:
— To ensure proper utilization of time and space by maximizing the production of leafy and other vegetables in bags within a limited area.

— To produce various types of vegetables with minimal expenses and ensure food security and family nutrition.
— To encourage safe vegetable production.

Benefits:
— Vegetables can be cultivated singly or in mixed forms in the bags.
— So long as the bag remains intact, multiple crops can be grown year-round.
— Vegetable cultivation is an economic activity where the main investment is the entrepreneur’s own effort. It requires neither significant capital nor any special skills or experience.
— Some leafy greens and vegetables have high market demand, grow quickly, and fetch good prices, such as spinach, Malabar spinach, pumpkin shoots, bottle gourd shoots, red amaranth, jute leaves, water spinach, and okra. Onion, garlic, chili, and coriander can also be profitably produced.
— People are now much more aware of the benefits of vegetables. Everyone, rich or poor, has included vegetables in their daily diets, resulting in increased market demand and prices.
— Ensuring timely availability of nutritious vegetables can help meet the nutritional needs of farming families in char and coastal areas.

Bag Materials:
1. Soil
2. Brick chips
3. Decomposed cow dung
4. Ash
5. Dry leaves

The mixture of these materials should be: 45 kg, 8 kg, 22.5 kg, 2.5 kg, 4 kg respectively, totaling 82 kg.

The soil and organic manure are mixed in a 2:1 ratio.

Cultivated Vegetables:

1. Red amaranth
2. Jute leaves
3. Water spinach
4. Bottle gourd

5. Sweet pumpkin
6. Ash gourd
7. Okra
8. Chili

Filling the Bag:

— First, place dry leaves or straw at the bottom of the bag to increase its water holding capacity.

— Add the mixture of organic manure and soil over the dry leaves/straw.

— Then, set a PVC pipe (6″) in the center of the bag and fill the pipe with brick chips. This helps increase percolation in the soil and prevents compaction.

— Next, fill the middle space of the bag with brick chips, and fill the entire bag with the manure-soil mixture.

— Stand the bag vertically on four bricks and tie both sides with two bamboo sticks each.
— Before sowing seeds or planting seedlings, moisten the entire bag with water. Water should be poured slowly over the brick chips using a sieve or mug to prevent soil from washing out.
— Once the bag has been soaked, transplant the leafy vegetable seedlings/seeds on the surface and carefully make 3 to 4 layers of holes around the bag for planting seedlings. Avoid making the holes too large, as soil may wash out during watering.
— It is better to transplant seedlings rather than sow seeds around the bag, though seeds can also be used.