Feels good to be back...

Hi there! Feels good to be posting something after long...
Many reasons, I've been away. The unpacking and setting up of course took first priority. Then came settling down in the house and exploring the neighbourhood. Then came dealing with related-fatigue and a bad cold and throat infection. Then, my regularly busier-than-usual schedules in the month of January at both schools . To top all of this,I lost the USB cable of my camera during the shifting ! So, though the pictures a re happening, I can't transfer them. The memory card is too big for both, the existing card reader and the laptop. And the cable I ordered on flipkart, turned out to be the wron g one !! Now, waiting for the new card reader to arrive... 　

Ad d to that anoth er disappointing fact... The fabricator is taking his own sweet time t o come and fix the mesh for my gardening space.
But folks, it's a completely new experience in the new place. Mornings in the backyard are simply beautiful, with squirrels squeaking, dozens of varieties of birds chirping, an occasional pair of horn bills flying by, butterflies and the best of all, Disco running around...
And, we have Kelgeri and Sadankeri, two of Dharwad's most beautiful lakes nearby. Like they'd say in Kannada- "Yadavidra Sadhankeri, yerad hejji munda hogi yedavidra Kelgari...!!" It's beautiful to step out for a walk, especially around Sadankeri. So many old heritage bungalows and old old majestic trees... It's pure bliss for me ! Gulmohar avenue- 2, from my Gulmohar trails, is right in my neighbourhood...!
My dabbas and bottles and containers from my LGP are of course, still managing to regale me and are gifting me with regular harvests of greens. But, I am on pins and needles , wanting to start off on some full-fledged gardening... I guess , it's going to be a slow and steady start... And I more than guess, I'll have to exercise an extra portion of my patience...

A prayer meeting in Mum's garden

There's a colony of freshly hatched Praying mantises in Mum's garden...!! What you see in these pictures are just a select few. There are tens and hundreds more of them. They are congregated on two succulents that are on one corner of a balcony ledge... :D

I found this information from "Home guides" on the internet very interesting...

Finding a praying mantis lurking on one of your garden plants like a science-fiction movie escapee is nothing if not alarming. Before racing for the nearest can of bug spray, take a deep breath. Any harm mantises cause plants results indirectly from their voracious appetite for other insects.

Identification
Their triangular, swiveling five-eyed heads, long thoraxes, spindly bodies and folded, clawlike forelegs are camouflaged in shades of green, brown or pink. The 2- to 6-inch mantises are hard to spot.

Diet
Praying mantises only eat meat. These bugs see your plants only as dining venues and will not damage them. They strike passing insects with lightning speed. After impaling their prey on retractable foreleg spines, they dine at leisure.

How mantises help
After hatching, praying mantises eat soft-bodied pests, including aphids, leafhoppers and caterpillars. As they mature, they also eat grasshoppers and beetles. Adult mantises can also eat houseflies and mosquitoes.

How mantises hurt
The downside of having praying mantises in your garden is the adults also devour beneficial lacewings and ladybugs. Their other beneficial victims include bees, wasps, butterflies and moths. This indiscriminate hunting places praying mantises low on the list of garden beneficials.

And what are we going to do with so many of them. Well, Mum was alarmed at first ! And we were in two mind... But then, we decided, we couldn't take a risk with so many mantises. We had to do something about them. But, not before I'd finished admiring them to my heart's content. Folks, I'm sure you'll agree with me. Don't they look so cute...?? After I was done with my admiring and shooting, I carefully carried both the pots, one by one out of the balcony, down the stairs, out of the building and out... out... outside the compound to the colony park and shook them off onto a bush there... I'm sure a few were left behind. But I think we can contend with that many. :)  

A new year, a new start...

"It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy. Let's go exploring...! A new year, a fresh clean start. It's like having a big white sheet to draw on. A year full of possibilities..."

And there I go, quoting my all time-favourite, Bill Watterson. And why not ? For it's very true. A new year, a new house, a fresh clean start to my gardening, and a completely new perspective to life itself...

And yes, like most of my friends said, "All of this negativity will surely lead to something good." It sure has led to something brilliant ! The new place comes with a lot of hope and promise. Though it's not our own place and we are there just for a few years, it's very reassuring to know that the landlords here are very considerate and have no problems with my gardening. In fact, they are looking forward to it and hope that I will make the place look more beautiful with my green touches. The house has not had a family living there for some time and is in a bit of a run down condition. But, the landlords are taking care of every little detail and the cleaning, painting and repair work is going on very well. We hope to get the keys by the 10th and shift in completely by the 15th.

This place has ample space and I can now have my workshop/studio in one of the rooms. And I can even think of starting off my pottery project in the backyard. And best of all, Disco is going to get a lot of space to run around happily...

The compound is large and already has some full grown trees. It's a blessing to have one huge mango tree, about four coconut trees, two chikoo trees, one custard apple tree, one pink guava tree, one young drumstick tree, two lime bushes, a couple of shoe flower bushes and a jasmine creeper too. Though there's a lot of space around, I can't have my vegetables growing all over the place. One of the main reason being a huge monkey menace there, because of the fruit trees. And then the trees themselves are spread out wide and most of the backyard is in full shade.

We've decided to make a small allowance with our budget and cover up one side of the compound with a metal grille for my vegetable gardening. Though the space ear-marked is a small portion of the compound, it's still much larger than my "little green patch". It's a long stretch of approximately 9'/40' in size. We would be fortunately getting some metal poles and portions of metal mesh from Mum's old school building and will have to add some new stuff to that. I can now grow most of the vegetables I was dreaming of growing. But, I'd have to plan very well with what and how much I can grow in the ground and how much I will need to grow in containers/pots. With the kind of space I have and availability of good sunlight too in some portions, I'd love to get back to growing ornamentals and flowering plants too alongside.

Hmmm... just thinking of all that gets me excited !! It's not going to be easy, and then a larger space comes with it's own set of problems. Plus, I also have to deal with a bandicoot menace ! But then I am determined and I'm going to go one step at a time... This time, I have my folks with me, as the new place seems to have motivated them too...! And then, I also my ever-faithful OTG group and all my lovely fellow-gardeners there to look up to.

I'm all ready to surrender myself to another beautiful green journey and let serendipity take over and surprise me with another string of magical moments...

The larger of the two lime bushes

The larger of the two lime bushes

The larger of the two lime bushes

The larger of the two lime bushes

The other smaller one reflected in a small cement water tank in the backyard

The chikoo tree that's in the backyard

The chikoo tree on the side. The guava tree is also here, caught between the chikoo and a shoe flower bush. This area is being cleaned up and I'll have to trim all the weeds and dried up vines. In fact all the trees need to have trenches dug around them and I have to begin adding manure regularly.

The pink guava...

A basale creeping over the larger lime bush

An older drumstick tree has bent completely over the wall, into the backyard neighbours' compound and this young one need to be attended to immediately.

Amaranthus growing wild...

Nela basale/Purslane growing wild. But I think the workers have pulled out out thinking it's a weed.

The fragrant jasmine that clambering over one corner of the house

The Tulasi katti...

And some pretty pretty mushrooms. I'm sure many beautiful mushrooms will pop up all over, in the monsoon...

The brilliant Hibiscus acetosella flower

“I believe the world is incomprehensibly beautiful, an endless prospect of magic and wonder.”
Ansel Adams
And so much of that wondrous beauty, that enchantment abounds in our gardens. Doesn't that make us gardeners an immensely lucky lot...?

My deep red/maroon Hibiscus acetosella/False Roselle flower glowing in the warm rays of the morning sun.
This is not the regular Pundi soppu/Gongura/Hibiscus sabdariffa. This is Hibiscus acetosella, commonly called false roselle, African rose mallow, cranberry hibiscus and many other colloquial names. Though this plant is grown more for it's stunningly coloured and decorative leaves and blooms, it is also grown for it's edible properties. Just like gongura, the leaves are sour too and used in salads and other cooked dishes. But, since the leaves have an acid content and are mucilaginous, they are eaten in small quantities. Unlike the regular Gongura/Roselle, the calyx/sepal of this plant are not fleshy and cannot be used for either jams or pickles.
I have quite a few plants growing in 8" plastic pots. And I use both, the tangy red leaves and the flowers in salads.

A charming little harvest on new year's day

 

And here's the charming little harvest, my little green patch gifted me on the first day of the new year.

The harvest included, palak from one of my danglers, lettuce from a one litre soft drink bottle, sprigs of aromatic basil, some lettuce leaves and a large head of Amaranthus for seeds.

A refreshing little new year's eve harvest

31 December

And what a refreshing little harvest my little green patch gifts me to wrap up the year...

The harvest features- Season 2, round 2 of my strawberries, pundi soppu/gongura seeds, coriander, spring onion, amaranthus and some lettuce.