Sri Lanka is blessed with a tropical climate condition, weather patterns and topography that is suitable for a vast range of plants, Ceylon has been producing a combination of tropical vegetables, fruits and herbs. On top of Sri Lanka’s climatic advantage for vegetables, the high-yielding nutritious soils, and also the traditional insight handed down from generation to generation where the natural instincts of Sri Lankans playing a major role, the established gardening facilities, watering systems, and distributed rainfall patterns are completely conducive to the planting of such vegetable plants. 

Due to the prevailing current situation with the economic crisis in Sri Lanka, it is very much applicable to do the home gardening to survive in the hard times for all of us. 

The cooler climatic condition of the hill country areas are very excellent for temperate vegetable plants includes as carrot, leek, cabbage, cauliflower, salad leaves, beet, bean, bell pepper, and salad cucumbers while the lower country with its both dry and wet weather conditions are conducive to a variety of tropical vegetables and herbs include as green chili, red onion, pumpkin, bitter gourd, melon, sweet corn and so on.

We can introduce a range of colors into our gardens by cultivating tomatoes, eggplants, carrots, cucumbers, etc., which are known for their rich individual flavors, aromas with & appetizing colors.  Also, they are known to contain plenty of nutrients and micro elements which are essential for the body functions that entail substantial health benefits. A properly maintained self-home garden, an asset which is increasingly health-conscious, economically helps our household. .

Vegetable, fruits, green leaves and herbs gardening includes choosing a correct site, planning the ground, preparing the soil- cut & turn, selecting the seeds and plants, planting vegetables, and nurturing the plants until they are a good time to harvest. The result is a fresh supply to eat, share, and sell. Anyone prepared to invest some time every day or two in grown-up plants can grow a vegetable garden. It does not take a lot of money, time, and talent, although some of each would be helpful. With patience and practice, your skills will get better every year. Don’t be discouraged if the first attempt isn’t an enormous success. All you need is the knowledge, attitude and skill. 

Growing a home garden can be anywhere in your own space. Nowadays people are introduced and encouraged to do rooftop gardening, vertical gardening and container gardening for the urban and suburban population. 

Many vegetables can be grown in pots. For example, sufficient lettuce for a salad can be grown in an empty plastic water or soft drink bottle (popularly known as mega bottles- where a huge concern and a big environmental problem). Most of the vegetable gardens are not spacious, therefore; a very good option is to grow plants in containers. Wide and big plants require larger containers while much smaller plants can be grown in small containers. Plastic containers will be very easy to handle while wooden and clay pots will be eco-friendly and also will last longer than plastic containers. Plastic free environment is needed in the future for the safeguard of our next generation. Add a few vegetables like radishes and carrots, also grown in empty rice poly sacks. It is economical to use recycled- reused-reduced concept containers like old ice-cream containers, plastic buckets, and old plastic drink bottles, or any other used plastic and tin containers in the household. Drainage holes should be implanted to enhance the drainage.   Success, however, takes rather than just a small place to grow the vegetables. They require sunlight, water, air, soil, nutrients, care and love.

A vegetable garden can be zero-maintenance or in minimal-maintenance. Therefore, do yourself a favor and cling to a very small arrangement for your own taste. A 4 by 8-foot ground is perfect for a starter vegetable garden and will give you sufficient space to grow a handful of plants. If you wish to start even smaller, try planting container-friendly vegetables and herbs in containers and window boxes on a sunny deck. Ensure you select a limited space that is sunlight as most of the vegetable plants love the sun. 

It is needed to spot out morning sunlight daily to your garden and mostly there should be at least 6-8 hours good sunshine to grow the plants healthier. In low light, or in bit shady places you can grow leafy plants and herbs. Healthy, nutrient rich well-drained soil is the key to a successful and productive home garden. In your own home garden, better to rely on organic compost, organic manures. You can make your organic compost at home and this is a perfect idea to reuse kitchen food waste and dead leaves in the vegetable garden. Better to select the best low maintenance and quick-growing plants and then once you are successful you can go for more plants. With your first vegetable garden, it’s very appealing to want to grow everything. But, for your own sake, choose four to five types of vegetables and grow them well, if not much fuss will discourage you to keep on going. When your initial plants have been harvested, then follow up with a second term in sewing. Succession planting tolerates you to stretch your harvest season for the longest possible period with more big smiles. Drainage is key to retain vegetable plants from drowning and more fungal diseases that can be caused by soil. There should be one wide hole or several smaller holes located at the base of your container to facilitate drainage. You can usually drill holes if the drainage is not enough. If your container sits on a hard surface, the hole seems to plug up. Promote your container with meshed table top to drain with ease-especially in rainy weathers.

Irrigation is one of the most distinct vegetable gardening tips, but new vegetable gardeners may not know when or how much water is required. Newly vegetable seeded beds will require once or twice in dry periods on watering, but most established plants can get by on to some extent in height. It is recommended that watering should be practiced when it is required. To conserve water and to decrease the requirement of watering, mulching can be practiced. You can use paddy straw as a mulch to your well-drained soil. The side benefit is the mulch will also compress weeds.  In this environment, the average temperature differs between 20 ℃ to 30℃ and humidity conditions vary around 70% to 95%.

The best thing is if we can grow our own kitchen household in our same home garden it will benefit us in economically and self-pity on us dignity that what we eat is what we grow by our own hands. Let us start over the home gardening. We will come up with some specific gardening methods in the future.