TWIN PUMPKIN

Two yellow flowers were bloomed on the pumpkin creeper. We got two lovely pumpkins from these
flowers.

RAINY SEASON

Brinjal plants , which had started flowering in beginning of rainy season,  are now loaded with long variety of brinjals. We are harvesting 8-10 brinjals every 2-3 days. 
One plant is giving us round variety.This might be due to 
different seed.

The Yam (Suran)  has also been sown in a shallow tray, which was lying ideal for few months.

Kari patta and lemon also gave their fruits.

SOWING SEASON- SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER

If you want to grow your own vegetables, then this is the best time to get started now. If  you are  a beginner and  just thinking about planting your first vegetable , you can  start with spinch or tomato right now. 
Undernoted  vegetables can be sown in the month of September and October in northern India:-


Beet, Broccoli, Brinjal, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Carrot, Coriander, Lettuce, Methi, Potato, Peas, Radish, Spinach, Tomato, Turnip

BROCCOLI

BEET

BRINJAL

CAULIFLOWER

CABBAGE

CARROT

CORIANDER

POTATO

SPINACH

TOMATO

RADISH

LETTUCE

METHI

PEAS

TURNIP

MINIATURE VEGETABLE GARDEN

Have you ever think of plucking a basket  of fresh home grown  vegetables at walking distance? Nothing tastes as good as fresh picked vegetables besides vitamin enrichment. But the fact also remains that most of us has either very small space or a concrete slab.   Even if area  is not sufficient , you can grow miniature and dwarf  varieties of vegetables more economically with significant space savings  by growing them at home.   Most  varieties produce early  and take up little space. Though  these vegietables  may be smaller in size they have all flavour that full size their cousins do.   This works well for the gardeners limited to window boxes, hanging baskets and patio pots. 

Some advantage of growing vegies in containers and baskets in a small area are that you have to exhort less and  needs no worry about pulling weeds. You can arrange miniature  vegetables  pots with other pots containing flowers. But most important while growing in containers ,  you must play a part of mother nature and provide extra nutrients that plants will need to grow and produce fruits.


A small  window box can suply fresh lettuche and carrot everyday.  Assorted type of containers can be used to grow tomato ,cucumber. You can also use the area above plane surface viz walls , frames ,racks etc. Hanging baskets will provide good additional area where strawberries, peas and tomatoes can be grown easily. A wooden box filled with compost mix soil and a bit mulch can produce potatoes.

It is very difficult to select the right variety of  dwarf/ miniature vegetables. Most vegetables are really not miniature even though many are marketed and  sold as mini vegetables. In fact mostly  full sized vegetables   are planted close together in blocks instead of rows and this  way growth is restricted . The crop is harvested at appropriate time to maintain ideal size and sweetness.



The following vegetables can  be easily grown as miniature/ dwarf  vegetables:-
 Beans , Beat , Cauliflower, Cabbage, Carrots , Corn , Cucumber , Brinjal, Lettuche , Peas, Pepper , Potato, Squash , Tomato, Watermelon

HOT SUMMERS

Temperature has remained very hot during the month of May and this  is likely to continue upto 3rd week of June.  So this is worst time for  the plants on an open terrace. Preventive measures have been taken to save the plants from direct sun light.  I am anxiously waiting for the rains.

HARVESTED BRINJAL AND CAPSICUM: UPDATE

BRINJAL- A small plant of brijal was procured  from  a nursery in the month of Dec. 2011. Though growth of the plant remained good and several flowers bloomed, only one flower slowly changed its shape and came up with a brijal (weight. about 300 grams) during long one month time. Overall, it was a lovely experience.

CAPSICUM - Capsicum plants are on full bloom at this time. Four green  and one violet capsicum have been harvested. I am waiting for more during April.

BEETROOT- Two small beetroots were sown in a pot in the month of November.  Besides giving lush green look to my terrace garden, size of the roots was  substantially enlarged. These have been harvested to vacate the place for new variety of tomatoes, brinjal and ladyfinger plants, which are in the process of transplantation.

TOMATO- Tomato seeds were sown in last week of Feb.2012. Plants have grown very well and are on full bloom. Few plants have started giving fruits. I am not aware of the variety of the tomatoes.  

POTATO,TOMATO & MINT LEAVES PLUCKING--UPDATE

I saw few monkeys on the terrace of a nearby  house and so I decided to pluck all the tomatoes, which have turned red. 
At present, plucking of 10-15 cherry tomatoes is a regular feature.



                                                                                           
A full bowl of  mint leaves have 
also been pinched for making
tasty chutney.




My intention to sow  waste potatoes with cotyledons was to make use of a big broken tray and to create some green area in winters. But when I took out the potato plants from the tray, I was surprised to see several 
potatoes of different sizes were hanging to the roots. Potatoes were plucked and  washed away. You would not believe that these were about  1 Kg.




Flowers as well 
as fruits both are visible on capsicum and brinjal plants. 


                         






Same is the case with a  strawberry              
plant, which I had purchased from a nursery.




Broccoli plant is now without leaves and is laden  with its seed pods.

                                                                   

 I have sown the seeds of  brinjal, french beans, tomato and  chili in a tray few days back .Seedlings are ready for transplantation.

FESTIVAL OF COLORS....HOLI

Holi is a festival of colours and is celebrated  through out the country. An idea of eco-friendly Holi came to my mind from  a newspaper article and that has pushed me to prepare  non -toxic herbal colours for this season .
Two pieces of beetroots were crushed and its paste was soaked in one litre of water overnight. Purple-pink coloured water was stained in the morning   and it was  filled  in a spray bottle. It was a wonderful  experience. On one hand, natural colors are safe for skin, hair, eyes and body, chemical colors are  harmful and can cause problems like skin rashes, eye's inflamation, respiratory troubles on other hand.
Natural colors can be prepared at  home with various ingredients that are available in our kitchen and on terrace garden. Some colors can be prepared as under:-


PURPLE-PINK  -     grate BEETROOT and soak the                                                                                                                                              
                             paste in water overnight.


YELLOW          -     soak PALASH (TESU) flowers in                                                                                                             
                             water and boil.
                       -     soak  dried petals of MARIGOLD
                              in water. Boil an stain.
                       -     add one spoon of  TURMERIC                                                                                           
                             powder  to 2 litre of water and
                             stir
                       -     soak few stalks of KESAR in two 
                             spoons of water.Leave overnight 
                             and make paste. Add paste to  
                             water to dilute & to get color
GREEN             -    mix 2 spoon of  HENNA(Mehandi)
                             powder  with 1 litre of water
                        -    mix SPINACH /MINT/CORIANDER 
                             leaves paste with water
RED                  -   soak BURANS flowers in water 
                             overnight
ORANGE-RED    -   make paste of  lime water with
                             turmeric powder and add water
BROWN             -   boil tea or coffe leaves with water
BLACK              -   boil dried Amla  in an  iron vessel
                             and leave overnight
SCENTED color  -   mix  smooth paste of  petals of 
                             the herbs/ flowers e.g. rose,   
                             Petals,mint leaves, lemon grass,
                             orange peels with water

HARVESTED CHERRY TOMATOES, RADISH, METHI AND GREEN ONION

It gives  me immense pleasue to write that  tomatoes, radish , methi (fenugreek) and green onion have grown successfully in the pots and these
vegies have been harvested in this month. The same have been consumed. Taste of  fresh vegetables was wonderful.


TRANSPLANTED MINT LEAVES
An experiment of transplanting  the mint cuttings  in a waste thermocol 
packaging material is also successful. Propagation of mint is very good.

FLOWERS, VEGETABLE ,MEDICINAL & DECORATIVE GREEN PLANTS ON MY TERRACE

Colorful flowers and different types of green plants viz vegetable, medicinal and decorative green plants are available in my terrace garden at present. Every corner is green and the centre is exotic colorful. The honey bees are roaming around the  flowers, birds are comming in search of their food and their chirping  can be heard in the morning. Cherry tomatoes  laden on the plants are on ripe. Chinese Orange is flowering.


FLOWERS :  
aster, calendula, chrysanthemum, dahlia, daisy, gazania, hibiscus,
holy-hock, marigold, nasturtium, nimulus,  pansy, petunia, poppy, verbena




FRUITS :   
strawberry, mulberry(black), chinese orange, lemon, guava









VEGETABLES :
broccoli, brinjal, beetroot, capsicum, fenugreek (methi), green onion, potato, radish, tomato., mint(pudina), lemon grass , curry leaves,  






MEDICINAL:  
tulsi. aloevera,  ashwagandha, giloya,  makoya, Harh Jorh, Sada Bahar, nagarmotha,

DECORATIVE:
cicus, money plants, ,sparagus, bamboo, cactus, lily etc.