The Bengali month of Bhadra began today, bringing the season of autumn (sharat). With water still standing all around, this is a time when bottle gourd and beans can be grown on slightly higher ground.

According to the Agricultural Information Service, bottle gourd and bean seeds can be sown in Bhadra. For this, pits (mada) 75 centimetres wide and 60 centimetres deep should be dug 4–5 metres apart.

Each pit should then receive 20 kg of cow dung, 200 grams of TSP and 75 grams of MoP fertiliser. Once the pits are ready, four or five seeds should be sown in each.

Two to three weeks after the seedlings emerge, 250 grams of urea and 75 grams of MoP should be top-dressed in two or three instalments.

To raise vegetable seedlings, choose a high spot that gets light and air. Make a seedbed 1 metre wide and as long as the land allows, then sow seeds of improved varieties in it.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.