Legumes as Companion Plants for Potted Plants: A Natural Boost for Plant Health

If you're looking to improve the health and productivity of your potted plants, consider using legumes as companion plants. This simple yet effective gardening practice can significantly enhance soil quality, leading to healthier and more robust plants.

Why Legumes?

Legumes, such as beans, peas, and lentils, are natural nitrogen fixers. They have a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria in their root systems, which convert nitrogen from the air into a form that plants can use. This added nitrogen enriches the soil, providing essential nutrients that help plants grow stronger and healthier.

My Personal Experience with Lemon Plants

A few months ago, my lemon plant was struggling. It wasn’t flowering properly, and when it did, the flowers would drop off prematurely, resulting in little to no fruit. I decided to experiment by sowing legumes in the same pot, hoping they could improve the overall health of the plant.

To my delight, after just a few months of introducing legumes into the soil, my lemon plant's condition improved significantly. Over the last nine months, it has been flowering every three months, and I’ve been able to harvest wholesome, thriving lemons! The change has been remarkable, and I attribute this success to the nitrogen-rich soil created by the legumes.

How to Incorporate Legumes

• Choose the Right Legumes: Beans, peas, and lentils are all excellent options. Choose varieties that will grow well in your climate and space.
• Sow Them Directly: Plant the legumes directly into the same pot as your main plant. They will help condition the soil without competing for nutrients.
• Care for Both Plants: Water and care for your legumes as you would your main plant. Once they finish their growth cycle, you can cut them back and leave their roots in the soil to further enrich it.

The Benefits

Sowing legumes in your pots offers several benefits:

• Nitrogen Fixation: Improves soil fertility, providing essential nutrients for other plants.
• Healthier Soil: Over time, legumes boost the overall health of the soil, making it more conducive to plant growth.
• Improved Plant Health: Companion planting with legumes can help plants like lemons thrive by promoting better flowering and fruit production.

If you're having issues with flowering or plant health in your potted plants, consider introducing legumes. It’s a natural, cost-effective way to enrich the soil and boost your plants’ productivity. Happy gardening!

Air lift pump for hydroponics

 Air lift pump is an age old system used to pump water to a higher place. This system is a non effective system, but for hydroponics where we need to push water drop by drop and not in bulk, works best.

Planter to hydroponics

Converted this basic planter to a hydroponics system. The base plate is cut to hold the net pots. The drain holes have to be closed with m-seal. Plants grow happily in this SIP.

Deep water culture. Just had to add the water plus nutrients once in the whole lifetime of the plant (seed to harvest). As the roots grow the water goes down with it. This creates an air pocket which helps in air circulation.

Hydroponics in PVC pipe

Wanted to grow in PVC pipes. Got a 3inch diameter pipe. Cut holes, added end caps. For the water intake added a smaller hole (you can see that on the left). Added a C ring cut from the same PVC pipe to cover the hole so that it can slide for easy access and also save from algae growth in the nutrient. This pipe has 7 grow ports. Also holds a little more than 1.5 L of nutrient. Single set of nutrient runs for an average of 7 days.

Sustainable agriculture / Eco farming

The concept of sustainable agriculture has come because yields from modern farming technique (modern commercial agriculture) reaching a plateau and the environmental problems due to excessive use of chemicals and fertilizers and pesticides residue in food chain.

Sustainable agriculture is that form of farming which produces sufficient food to meet the needs of the present generation without eroding ecological assets and productivity of life supporting systems of future generations. Natural farming is an excellent illustration of sustainable agriculture. It is also known as ecological farming / ecofarming or organic farming or Permaculture. It is called eco-farming because ecological balance is given importance and organic farming because organic matter is the main source of nutrient management. It is a system of cultivation with use of manures, crop rotation and minimal tilling. Sustainable agriculture also involves agroforestry and multilevel cultivation and integrating animal husbandry.