Plants Homegrown

I have developed a great hobby ..well worth it - Gardening in pots especially veggies..they taste so much better when grown at home. Google is a great place for knowledge when it comes to DIYs - Do It Yourself.

My technique of growing shallots is slightly weird ..i guess. I kept the market-bought-shallots in a polythene bag and then in the refrigerator. I a weeks time all of them developed tiny roots. i separated the buds/bulbs and planted an inch deep in a pot. They seem happy.Shallots definitely taste much better than onions.Carrots also can be grown in a similar manner. When you see roots develop just cut the top portion and plant.

Mint - a herb that never grew after many futile attempts is flourishing.I bought a bunch from my regular sabziwala/vegetable vendor and used all the leaves for various recipes. The naked stems showed signs of small tiny roots at the nodes.Just plant the nodes into the soil and voila ..new leaves...new life.

I have Aloe Vera, the wonder plant with kids in a pot. The gel can be removed by slicing the leaf lengthwise and scooping with a spoon or scraping with a knife.From my personal experience i feel if this gel is mixed with a little coconut oil it helps relieve us from insect bites, dry hair and scalp, chapped lips and cracked feet.

My curry leaf plant - all the way from Kasargod and Pallakad.The saplings are from both the places and all are doing fine in my old broken plastic discarded dustbin.

Not to forget my date plant that is about 3 yrs old now growing in my little plastic cup just behind the curry plant pot. :)

Gardening bitter gourd in a pot

Hi all ..i have a story to tell about hope ...i had just moved into my new home and had no plants in my balcony. My mom loves gardening but i never had the time.

Well the story goes like this ...i purchased few bitter gourds from my local vegetable vendor and forgot them in my refrigerator [i guess thats how the fruit is treated by most :)] . As destiny of my plant would have it during my routine cleaning round  i discovered a plastic bag with two yellow , drenched bitter gourds with the juices seeping through the bag. yuck!!

When i tried to throw the gourds along with the bag few seeds glared at me through the bag ..bright red real beauties ...i was so mesmerised that they went straight to the pot with a little soil and water. I really didn't expect frozen seeds to sprout anyway but didn't feel like throwing them away. So thats where they went ...into the pot with one last chance to life.

Few days and life burst into full view in the form of a small sapling - green , beautiful and happy. One seed was pushed out of the soil bed and the tiny leaves still had a seed crown protecting from all the harsh worldly elements. It brought with it hope and joy. I tied a string so that it could support the growth. Before i knew i had to use a tree branch to support and rush of life.This fellow was quite enthusiastic about knowing the world.

This sapling has a beautiful survival story of its own too ...it begins like this ..few weeks into the world my dear little plant made friends with the crows ..the pot which was mounted on the balcony ledge became the neighbouring crows chatting spot. I shouldn't forget to mention that the crows come to quench their thirst from a plastic icecream cup that is filled with water everyday in my balcony.These crows rule my life every morning if the water is not filled. They create a ruckus near the window of any room i may be working in till their demand is met. Trust me - crows are turning humans.

One fine windy day my pot of hope does a crash landing from 2 storeys high shattering the pot into pieces ending the plant in a state of coma ...the vines were broken .. roots in bits. With a heavy heart i transplanted whatever was left of the plant into a plastic bag and kept in the corner of the floor. For 5 full days my plant was in an emergency unit with me praying for its well being. The plant was in a coma - neither dying nor reviving - then slowly the rays of light ...new vines started growing and within 2 weeks time it was decorated with small buds and 1 large lovely yellow flower.
;0
The plant had a lot of yellow flowers but none resulted in fruits. They bloom one day and fall the next day. I would like share few tips that i dug out google [my best friend] ...if the plant is only flowering and not yielding any fruit it is because all those flowers are male flowers ..for a plant to bear fruit it needs to be shocked into thinking that it needs to procreate else this is the end of its kind [that is stunt growth] ..the best method that worked for me was [1] cut the alternate vines that grow [2] cut the main vine from the tip [3]  water alternate days [4] keep it in a little shade

I got 3 female flowers within a week. Another week there were lots of small saplings i the bag. All the other dormant seeds started rushing forth into my life. My joy knew no bounds and my heart has still not stopped leaping.

Now i know why gardening can heal. [ don't miss my pics :)]

Vegetable Gardening in pots

my very first tryst with vegetable gardening in pots . my first bitter gourd . so very satisfying.
i sowed my seeds in the month of may. i almost lost hope when there were so many male flowers but not one female to bear fruits. patience pays.

the second fruit is still tiny.

all my other plants .. i have mustard, tomato plants and indian chillies. Mustard does not give seeds once the rains start so i have planned to make use of the leaves to make a dish [in combo with spinach leaves to cut down the pungent taste of mustard]. my tomatoes need to be transplanted into a deep pot.

don't miss my potatoes growing in a small plastic cup. This is scrap gardening that i learnt from www.pinterest.com