Greens are the main reason for me to start a balcony garden. Thoughts of cooking and eating fresh greens that I had harvested just then had me drooling and motivated me to start my balcony garden. We all know the benefits of consuming greens regularly and in addition to being nutrient-packed, the taste of fresh, tender greens that are just harvested has me hooked on to growing them regularly.
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| Amaranth / Arai keerai |
There are a number of points for growing Arai keerai (Harvey / arave soppu – Amaranthus tricolour) in your balcony:
- They are ideal for balcony gardening. They don’t take up much space and for most parts require low maintenance. They do well in sunny or even partly sunny location. They did well with about 4-5 hours of sunlight in my balcony.
- I usually grow them in a pot with a soil depth of about 4 inches.
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- Being a short term crop they can be harvested as early as 5-6 weeks from sowing. So , sowing every 3 weeks will ensure a regular supply for a small family. I harvest the top part a couple of times, for they grow more leaves again if the stem with a few leaves are left, instead of harvesting the whole plant.
- I generally harvest the entire plant after 2 harvests, for it may start bolting after about 10 weeks.
- The entire plant – leaves and stem can be used for cooking.
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- They tolerate being over crowded and I add a bit of compost to the potting mix before starting the seeds and no additional fertiliser after that. Just water them regularly making sure they don’t dry out in between watering.
- They are rarely affected by pests for we harvest them so quickly. Do watch out for caterpillars. once my entire pot was eaten by a caterpillar in a couple of days.
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| Amaranth Harvest |
1 thought on “Arai keerai / Harvey / arave soppu – Amaranthus Tricolour”
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