Who We Are
Farmer Bazaar Journal is written by a small, India-based team of home gardeners and organic-farming enthusiasts who got tired of gardening advice that reads well but doesn't survive contact with real soil, real monsoons, and real pests. We started this publication after years of swapping notes between our own balconies, terraces, and small backyard plots — comparing which soil mixes actually held moisture through a north Indian summer, which organic pest sprays held up after real aphid infestations, and which "foolproof" composting method fell apart the moment ants moved in.
Everything published here begins as a personal experiment before it becomes an article. If we write that a particular ratio of cocopeat to compost improves drainage, it's because we mixed batches at that ratio, potted identical cuttings, and tracked which pots thrived and which didn't over several weeks. If we recommend a specific neem oil dilution for mealybugs, it's because we sprayed it on an actual infested plant and watched what happened over the following days, not because it appeared on five other gardening blogs.
Our Background
Our core contributors include two agricultural science graduates with formal training in soil science and plant pathology, alongside several long-time hobby gardeners who have grown food and ornamentals in Indian climates for over a decade. We are not a large media company with a rotating cast of freelance writers; we are a small, consistent group who each specialize in different areas — soil health, pest management, seed starting, container gardening — and write primarily within our areas of hands-on experience.
When a topic falls outside any of our team's direct experience, we say so, and we lean more heavily on citing established horticultural and agricultural extension sources rather than presenting untested claims as fact. We would rather publish a shorter, honest article than a longer one padded with unverified advice.
Why We Started This
Searching for gardening advice online too often turns up either generic listicles recycled across dozens of near-identical websites, or advice written for climates and soil types nothing like India's. A watering schedule that works in a temperate European garden can rot roots in a humid Indian monsoon. A composting method built around autumn leaves doesn't translate cleanly to a tropical balcony with banana peels and rice water. We built Farmer Bazaar Journal to close that gap — practical, tested, India-specific advice for people growing in pots, small plots, and backyard gardens across the country's varied climate zones.
What We Cover
Our core coverage areas are:
Soil health and composting — building living soil from kitchen waste and locally available organic matter, understanding pH and drainage, and choosing organic amendments that actually move the needle for Indian growing conditions.
Balcony and terrace gardening — working within the real constraints of small urban spaces: limited light, container depth, wind exposure, and water retention in hot climates.
Organic pest and disease management — identifying common problems early and treating them with organic, low-toxicity methods before reaching for anything synthetic.
Honest reviews and comparisons — when we write about specific tools, soil amendments, or inputs, it is because a member of our team has actually used them over at least one full growing cycle.
How We Write and Fact-Check
Every article goes through the same basic process: a team member proposes a topic based on something they are actively growing or have recently grown, drafts the article from their own written notes and recorded observations, and then we cross-check any factual claims about plant biology, soil chemistry, or pest life cycles against recognized horticultural references before publishing. We update articles when our own understanding improves or a reader flags something that no longer holds up — see our Editorial Policy for the full detail on this process.
A Note on the Images We Use
Our written advice comes from our own hands-on growing experience. The illustrative header images accompanying our articles are digitally created visuals used to depict the scenario an article describes — they are not presented as documentary photographs of our specific plants or results. We think it is better to be upfront about this than to imply otherwise.
Our Commitment to Readers
We do not publish content purely to fill a content calendar, and we do not stretch thin, generic advice into long articles just to look comprehensive. If an article is short, it's because the topic doesn't need more; if it's long, it's because we have real depth of experience to share. We disclose any sponsored content clearly, and our recommendations are never influenced by payment. Above all, we try to write the article we ourselves wished existed the first time we faced a particular gardening problem.
Advertising on This Site
Farmer Bazaar Journal is supported in part by advertising, including Google AdSense, which helps us keep publishing free, in-depth content. Advertisements are always visually distinct from our editorial content and never influence what we choose to write about or what we recommend.
Get in Touch
Have a gardening question, a correction, or a topic you'd like us to test and write about? Visit our Contact page — we read and personally respond to every message we receive.