How to grow kitchen garden in apartments?

Alappuzha: Thanks to innovative coir-based 'grow bags', for dwellers of high-rise apartments kitchen gardens will no longer be a patch of greenery outside the house, but literally a garden inside the kitchen.

A few manufacturers have showcased plant-growing kits comprising light-fibre pots, nutrients-containing potting mixture, seeds and seedlings at the Coir Kerala 2015 trade expo being held here.

Sofine Decors, a company based at the industrial estate in Cherthala near here, has introduced garden pots that can be installed in the kitchen.

People can grow small to medium herbs like coriander, mint, green chillies as well as leafy vegetables in pots made of a mixture of fibre and latex, that can retain moisture for up to five days at a time.

"There is no fear of leakage of water and they are natural, eco-friendly products," said Sofine chairman Atish Mathew.

Another advantage of such pots is that they can be custom moulded into small or large containers according to the nature of the plants and the space available in homes.

Asiann Coir Products, a company based in Coimbatore, has developed a solution for urban gardeners struggling to get soil for plants.

Their organic growth mixture uses coir pith and is enriched with minerals and nutrients.

The 'grow bags' are UV-treated and come in various sizes and can be placed in any sunlit part of the home.

They can also be used to grow vegetables, lemon, guava and pomegranates on rooftops.