Ours is known as a country of six seasons, and thanks to this variety many kinds of vegetables grow in its soil. Farmers therefore farm by season, and some farm work has to be done on every day of every month.

It is now Srabon, the second and last month of the monsoon. In Srabon (mid-July to mid-August), seedbeds can be prepared and seed sown for early rabi vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflower, bottle gourd, tomato and aubergine.

Radish, spinach, amaranth (note shak), okra and Malabar spinach (pui shak) can also be grown in Srabon, and bean seed and red amaranth (lal shak) seed should be sown.

Besides fields, you can grow various leafy greens on a rooftop garden by preparing the soil well in drums, tubs or beds and sowing seed directly. You can raise seedlings of red amaranth, spinach and Malabar spinach in packets, small tubs or seedling trays.

Care is needed too. Kharif-2 vegetables should be harvested and pests controlled. Looking after transplanted seedlings, staking them and putting up cages or fences is essential.

Planting seedlings too densely makes them compete for light, air, water and soil nutrients, so each seedling should be planted at the same set distance from the next.

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