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