Regions: North India

Needs depth more than width — a 30 cm trough of loose soil beats a wide bed.

Roots below, usable leaves above, and it tolerates a container better than carrot.

Quick winter roots for the plains, and greens while you wait.

One good plant in a 40 cm pot out-yields four crowded ones. Stake it early.

One plant on a sill supplies a household, and crops for two years.

A prickly low solanum of wasteland, with violet flowers bumblebees buzz-pollinate.

The black nightshade of monsoon fields — a leafy green in the east, a weed elsewhere.

A tiny monsoon herb that appears in every wet pot, with fruit strung under the leaf.

Camphor basil — a big grey-green bush that fills a terrace with scent.

A slow, tough native tree for a hot courtyard, with fruit that makes the summer sherbet.