**4. Vegetable crops suitable for cultivation under soilless culture**

The existence of a diverse climate in India ensures the availability of all types of fresh vegetables. India stands second in vegetable production in the world, after China. As per National Horticulture Database (Second Advance Estimates) published by National Horticulture Board, during 2019–2020, India produced 191.77 million metric tonnes of vegetables. The area under vegetable cultivation is 10.35 million hectares. The global area under soilless cultivation of vegetables is 95,000 ha only. This is a very meagre area at the world level when compared to an area under


**Table 1.**

*List of vegetable crops that can be grown successfully under soilless culture.*

soil-based cultivation of vegetables. There is a range of limitless options in soilless culture regarding the type of vegetable crops to be grown. The list of suitable vegetable crops under different groups for growing in both open-field and polyhouse soilless culture conditions is given in **Table 1**.

#### **5. Home garden structures**

Based on the space available in terrace or rooftop of home two types of gardens can be adopted *viz.,* 1. terrace garden and 2. vertical garden. If a terrace or back yard or front yard space is available the vegetables and medicinal herbs can be grown in the accessible area. In the recent past, urban areas have become thickly populated and society prefers to live in apartment-type living places owing to its many advantages. For apartment dwellers, space is the limiting factor to grow their vegetables and medicinal herbs. However, every apartment has a utility area, where vegetables and medicinal herbs can be grown by adopting the vertical garden structures. In both types of gardens, vegetable and medicinal herbs are grown in pots or grow bags or rectangular trays.

#### **6. Terrace garden structure**

Terrace garden can be two models i. open garden and ii. shade net garden. In an open garden, containers are placed on the terrace, and vegetables and medicinal herbs are grown. Hence, the investment is only on containers, growing media, seeds, crop production and protection chemicals, and home garden tools. In the case of a shade net garden, a shade net is installed and crops are grown inside the shade net. The investment is Rs 100/square feet in addition to the above-mentioned investment. However, the shade net garden protects the plants from pests and diseases to a greater extent, reduces the use of crop protection measures, and the crops and produce are much healthier as they are grown under protected conditions.
