Growing Vegetables In Sri Lanka – Planting Calendar

Growing Vegetables in Sri Lanka

Hello gardener, we are back with a new topic today, and the topic is all about growing vegetables in Sri Lanka and the vegetable planting calendar of Sri Lanka. Do you live in Sri Lanka and do you want to grow your own vegetable? Well, and then you will need to follow this complete article to grow vegetables in Sri Lanka. In this article, we will also cover all the requirements for growing vegetables in Sri Lanka.

Introduction to Growing Vegetables in Sri Lanka

It is a country blessed with a tropical climate condition and geography that suitable for a variety of plants, Sri Lanka has been producing a mixture of tropical vegetables and herbs to the world. On top of Sri Lanka’s climatic advantage for vegetables, the high-yielding soils, and the traditional insight handed down from generation to generation, the established gardening facilities, watering systems, and distributed rainfall patterns are completely conducive to the planting of such vegetable plants. Produced by self-gardeners assemble of gardeners, around eighty different varieties of vegetables are grown in Sri Lanka’s varied climatic conditions areas. They collectively produce more vegetables annually and export both fresh and processed varieties to many places in the world.

The cooler climatic condition of the central hill regions are very excellent for temperate vegetable plants includes as carrot, leek, cabbage, cauliflower, salad leaves, beet, bean, bell pepper, and salad cucumbers while the lower country with its dry and wet weather conditions are conducive to a variety of non-native tropical vegetables and herbs include as green chilli, red onion, pumpkin, bitter gourd, melon, sweet corn and so on.

A Step-by-Step Planting Guide for Growing Vegetables in Sri Lanka, and Planting Calendar

Sri Lankans also supply succulent tropical vegetables such as tomatoes, eggplants, carrots, cucumbers, etc., which are known far and large for their rich individual flavours, aromas with bright appetizing colours markets. Also, they are known to contain plenty of nutrients and entail substantial health benefits. With a producer base that is increasingly health-conscious, the global demand for Sri Lankan vegetable plants is clearly on the rise.

Vegetable gardening includes choosing a site, planning the vegetable garden ground, preparing the soil, selecting the seeds and plants, planting vegetables, and nurturing the plants until they are a good time to harvest. The result is a fresh supply to eat, share, and sell. Anyone prepared to invest some time every day or two in grown-up plants can grow a vegetable garden. It does not take a lot of money, time, and talent, although some of each would be helpful. With patience and practice, your skills will better every year. Don’t be discouraged if the first attempt isn’t an enormous success.

Growing vegetables takes some limited space, but not essential acres. A vegetable garden can be in the ground or a planting-raised bed, but it doesn’t have to be. Many vegetables can be grown in pots. For example, sufficient lettuce for a salad can be grown in a 12-inch container on the back deck. Add a few vegetables like radishes and carrots, also grown in 12-inch pots, for spice and sweetness, and you have a good beginning on a delicious salad. Success, however, takes rather than just a small place to grow the vegetables. They require sunlight, water, air, soil, nutrients, and care.

Things to Remember When You Growing Vegetables in Sri Lanka

• Space and Containers

Most of the vegetable gardens are not spacious, therefore; it is enough to grow plants in containers and garden ground. Wide plants will require larger containers while much smaller plants can be grown in small containers. Plastic containers will be very easy to handle while wooden and clay pots will be echo friendly and also will last longer than plastic containers. However, high-quality plastic containers will also last for a longer time. It will be economical to recycle old ice-cream containers, plastic buckets, and old plastic drink bottles, or any other used plastic and tin containers in the household. A hole should be drilled through in the bottom of the container and depending on the medium size it may also be more than one hole.

A vegetable garden can be very low-maintenance, but it’s also no-maintenance. Therefore, do yourself a favour and cling to a very small arrangement for the first year or two. A 4 by 8-foot ground is perfect for a starter vegetable garden and will give you sufficient space to grow a handful of plants if you wish to start even smaller, try planting container-friendly vegetables and herbs in containers and window boxes on a sunny deck. Ensure you select a limited space that is sunlight as most of the vegetable plants love the sun. Also, the hot weather is a natural way to retain away snails. Furthermore, vegetable plants such as tomato and eggplant, which help to attract friendly insects and bees, will survive well under the hot sun.

• Let there be sunlight

Most popular vegetables, essential those that bear vegetable such as tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and peppers, for example, and require sunlight, and a lot of it. Perfectly, you want a spot with at least six to eight hours of direct sunlight per day. In less light, you can still grow some edibles mainly leafy plants and herbs.

• Soil is everything

Healthy, rich well-drained soil is the key to a successful and productive vegetable garden, so a soil test will give you a perfect idea of your existing soil moisture and pH, and offer recommendations of what types of fertilizers or amendments will get your plot up to par. In your own vegetable garden, you need to rely on organic compost, organic well-composted, organic manures, and organic fertilizers like kelp meal and alfalfa meal. There are potting mixtures available in garden ground and also you can make sure your own potting mixture. However, it is much handy to buy them instead of making them at home. You can make your organic compost at home and this is a perfect idea to reuse kitchen food waste and dead leaves in the vegetable garden.

• Pick your plants

It is not advisable to plant more than vegetable plants as a beginner. Select the best low maintenance and quick-growing plants and then once you are successful you can go for more plants. Here are many of the best vegetables that can be grown in pots and will be satisfying for any new vegetable gardener. With your first vegetable garden, it’s very appealing to want to grow everything. But, for your own sake, choose four to five types of vegetables and grow them well. Trying to overfill too much in a compact space is asking for trouble and you will end up with a smaller, not larger harvest. However, you can boost yield by succession planting. When your initial plants have been harvested, then follow up with second sowing. For example, follow spring lettuce with summer beans. Succession planting tolerates you to stretch your harvest season for the longest possible period.

• Creating optimal drainage

Drainage is key to retain vegetable plants from drowning. Your container should let over water out of the bottom, so your vegetable plants won’t sit in overly soggy or moist soil and succumb to root rot. There should be one wide hole or several smaller holes located at the base of your container. You can usually drill holes if the drainage is enough, and you can cover a large hole before adding well-drained soil with a coffee filter or plastic screening to retain the dirt from coming out the bottom. If your container sits on a hard surface, the hole seems to plug up. Promote your container with pot feet or a pot cart will help your vegetable plants drain with ease.

• Water, weed, and feed

This might seem to be one of the most distinct vegetable gardening tips, but new vegetable gardeners may not know when or how much water is required. Newly vegetable seeded beds will require often watering, but most established plants can get by on one to two inches of water per week. To conserve water and to decrease the requirement of watering, and then mulch your well-drained soil with several inches of straw or cutup leaves. The side benefit is the mulch will also compress weeds. As for feeding, fast-growing plants such as radishes and lettuce won’t require supplemental fertilizers if grown in fertile well-drained soil. Long-term vegetables like tomatoes, winter squash, and eggplants, however, will appreciate a boost several times over the growing season. Give them a traditional dose of water-soluble organic vegetables to encourage growth and support the biggest harvest.

Weather Conditions for Growing Vegetable in Sri Lanka

In this environment, the average Temperature differ between 20 to 30℃ and Humidity conditions vary around 70% to 95%

During the Monsoon time, many types of greenery spring up especially in places having wetness and subdue sunlight. Existing greenery varieties thrive well during this time. The foliage of all partial shades of Green is a common sight then, and they hold well on to the inter-monsoon seasons also.

The Climate experienced during 12 months in Sri Lanka can be characterized into 4 climate condition seasons as follows. There are four types of seasons in Sri Lanka. They are:

• First Inter-monsoon Season in March to April
• Southwest -monsoon Season in May to September
• Second Inter-monsoon Season in October to November
• Northeast -monsoon season in December to February

When do Vegetable Plants grow?

Spring: Plant cool-season vegetables early and warm-season plants in late spring. Use a cold frame or frost cloth to start earlier in the season.

Summer: Cool-season plants will bolt as the days lengthen and temperatures rise. Use partial shade cloth to prevent plants and enlarge the season. Warm-season plants are planted in late spring will grow until the first fall frosts. In late summer, plant cool-season vegetables for fall.

Fall: Cool-season plants developed in late summer will continue to grow through moderate to freezing temperatures.

Winter: Cold hardy vegetable plants include kale, collards, and turnip greens planted in fall may live around the winter season. In colder areas, use a cold frame or frost cloth to increase the season.

Organize when to vegetable plant and when to a good time to harvest can be done in several more effective ways. Writing the vegetable planting calendar dates and even projected harvest dates on a planting calendar is a method used by many vegetable gardeners. Another method is drawing a diagram of the garden area and writing projected vegetable planting and harvesting dates on the garden diagram. Knowing when an area will be harvested benefits from planning when to plant other vegetable plants in that space. Using this method of planning tolerates for a small space to be managed to its fullest potential.

Common Vegetables to Grow in Sri Lanka

#1 Salad Leaves

Crunchy fresh salad leaves with a fantastic extend of textures and flavors. Try sowing our very easy Salad Speedy mix around the summer months, and you will be cutting fresh salad leaves for your sandwiches just 3 weeks later improve still, they will continue growing vegetables so you can harvest them again and again.

#2 Broad Beans

What could be very simpler Sow Broad Beans in spring in small 7.3cm and 3 inches containers of organic compost, and within a few weeks, these fast-growing beans will make sure sturdy plants can be planted out in the garden ground. If that sounds like too much work then sow the seeds directly in the garden ground. Watch the bees pollinate their beautiful flowers and before you know it you will be good to harvesting bumper broad beans plants of freshly picked beans from June onwards, with a flavor that puts grocery store beans to shame.

#3 Tomatoes

Tomato plants grow so fast that you can almost near watch them grow, so they are the perfect and very easy vegetable for kids to plant. Select a bush variety like Romello that can be planted in hanging baskets and window boxes or containers. Bush varieties don’t need drill or side-shooting, so you only require feed and watering them before the fruit begins to pour from the tomato plant

#4 Brussels sprouts

The curse of many a childhood, Brussels sprouts get bad strikes mostly due to overcooking. This sweet and tender vegetable can be grown close to any home garden with suitable sunlight. They have a relatively long growing season, with some different varieties taking up to 130 days to reach grown-up. Their flavor better if they are subjected to frost, so in most climates conditions, they can be planted in early hot weather and harvested in late fall after the first cold snap. However, they only allow a few days of freezing weather, so make sure to harvest them promptly.

#5 Bell Peppers

You may also check this: How To Make Compost from Chicken Manure.

Peppers are an exotic vegetable that needs good planning and a long growing winter season but isn’t fussy once it’s in the garden ground. In colder environments, it’s best to be careful about cold exposure and extreme plant them well after the last frost of the year. Watch for aphids and flea beetles, two common insect pests that attack peppers. Both can be controlled with insecticidal soap, which is a common organic choice there are also effective home remedies. Peppers can be grown in containers and moved indoors to be kept as a houseplant over the winter season.

#6 Beets

With beets, gardeners get two for the price of one you can good to harvest the beetroots, of course, but you can also harvest and eat the greens. The roots are very best when they are harvested small between one and two inches across. At this medium size, they are sweet and tender. Wide beets disposed to be woody and less flavourful. If grown in a container, they require a pot at least 12 inches deep. Because each beet seed is a collection of seeds, be sure to make thin the seedlings to one per collection after they start to sprout.

#7 Carrots

In case if you miss this: Bitter Gourd Growing Tips.

Growing carrots is straightforward and very simple, as long as you are comfortable with a little guesswork when it comes to a good time to harvest. During planting, there are a few rules to live by loose well-drained soil, cool weather, and plenty of water. After the plants are developed, add organic matter on top of the soil can help conserve moisture. In general, it’s time to harvest when the roots start to rise and the tops of the carrots are visible, but this won’t always happen. Most varieties will be grown-up and ready to shove up between 60 and 80 days after planting.

Common Vegetable Planting Calendar in Sri Lanka

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