Thursday 29 October 2015
Wednesday 28 October 2015
Piper longun in Mum's patch...
Piper longum or long pepper, locally called Hippali or Pippali is a cousin of Piper nigrum, the regular keri menasu.
Long pepper has a similar, but spicier-with-a-sweet-dash taste to black pepper. It is dried and used as a spice and seasoning just like kari menasu. I love adding it to green chilli pickle, just like how we add fresh green peppers. Adds a punch to the already zingy pickle.
Long pepper is known to contain the chemical compound piperlongumine and is a powerful stimulant for both the digestive and the respiratory systems and has been shown to have a rejuvenating effect on the lungs. I can vouch for it's medicinal effects, especially in relieving cough and chest congestion.I used to use long pepper powder along with saunt/dry ginger powder, lime and honey for my daughter Joanna as a baby-toddler, when she used to be often troubled by chest congestion. Getting her to lick the sweet mixture thrice a day would work wonders and still does, even for me. I add it to my kashayya too.
Mum's Piper longum is growing in an 18" earthen pot, placed on her balcony parapet wall. It is clambering over the metal grille. She bought it as a little sapling from a local nursery. It began yielding after about eight months and is about a year and a half old. Mum has been trimming it to let it grow lateral shoots and now it is quite bushy. I'm sure it would have done much better if grown in the ground. Unfortunately, both the saplings I had perished in accidents and I am yet to get a sapling for myself. The nursery has promised to get one for me again. Dreaming of harvesting Piper longum fruit of my own one day soon...
Long pepper has a similar, but spicier-with-a-sweet-dash taste to black pepper. It is dried and used as a spice and seasoning just like kari menasu. I love adding it to green chilli pickle, just like how we add fresh green peppers. Adds a punch to the already zingy pickle.
Long pepper is known to contain the chemical compound piperlongumine and is a powerful stimulant for both the digestive and the respiratory systems and has been shown to have a rejuvenating effect on the lungs. I can vouch for it's medicinal effects, especially in relieving cough and chest congestion.I used to use long pepper powder along with saunt/dry ginger powder, lime and honey for my daughter Joanna as a baby-toddler, when she used to be often troubled by chest congestion. Getting her to lick the sweet mixture thrice a day would work wonders and still does, even for me. I add it to my kashayya too.
Mum's Piper longum is growing in an 18" earthen pot, placed on her balcony parapet wall. It is clambering over the metal grille. She bought it as a little sapling from a local nursery. It began yielding after about eight months and is about a year and a half old. Mum has been trimming it to let it grow lateral shoots and now it is quite bushy. I'm sure it would have done much better if grown in the ground. Unfortunately, both the saplings I had perished in accidents and I am yet to get a sapling for myself. The nursery has promised to get one for me again. Dreaming of harvesting Piper longum fruit of my own one day soon...
Tuesday 27 October 2015
Chillies doing great !
These are the local, thin and long hot variety.
My chilli plants are mostly growing in 12"- 6" earthen pots. The potting mix is equal parts of soil and vermi compost with some neem cake powder thrown in to arrest fungal infections. I have about eight plants planted in succession. Three of them are fruiting now and the rest are in various stages of flowering. A couple of them had started off with leaf curl at the tips. I just pinch off the tips. This helps both in arresting the leaf curl and promoting lateral shoots. Leaf curl is a common problem with chillies/peppers. It's caused by either pests, viral infections or even environmental stress. Spraying neem oil or other effective organic sprays, adding neem cake powder and egg shell powder to the potting mix to arrest infection and to provide calcium (A vital nutrient for peppers) also helps. Thankfully, I haven't had to deal with major leaf curl or pest problems with my chillies. Touch wood, pinching off the tips has been enough for me till now.
My chilli plants are mostly growing in 12"- 6" earthen pots. The potting mix is equal parts of soil and vermi compost with some neem cake powder thrown in to arrest fungal infections. I have about eight plants planted in succession. Three of them are fruiting now and the rest are in various stages of flowering. A couple of them had started off with leaf curl at the tips. I just pinch off the tips. This helps both in arresting the leaf curl and promoting lateral shoots. Leaf curl is a common problem with chillies/peppers. It's caused by either pests, viral infections or even environmental stress. Spraying neem oil or other effective organic sprays, adding neem cake powder and egg shell powder to the potting mix to arrest infection and to provide calcium (A vital nutrient for peppers) also helps. Thankfully, I haven't had to deal with major leaf curl or pest problems with my chillies. Touch wood, pinching off the tips has been enough for me till now.
The tender soft morning light, the fresh green of the chillies and the
even fresher green of the turmeric leaves in the background, tempted me
to spend some enchanting moments with my chilli plants. That sure
fuelled me for the day and also gifted me some lovely chillies...
Monday 26 October 2015
The last of the MAJJA with Rohan...
School reopens tomorrow and Rohan didn't want to miss this morning's majja in the patch. Unfortunately, Bhuvan couldn't join us today as he had to go out with his family.
We cleaned up old seedling trays and filled them up with fresh potting mix. From the precious seed treasure that Vani and her team have gifted me, we sowed Bhoot jholakia (From Nemai gardens), Tomato yellow mortgage lifter (From Jani Iyer), Rocket lettuce (From Jyotika), Parsley (From Lata Roddam), Tomato pineapple baker creek (Unknown source), Sword bean (From Ramesh Damodaran), Okra Louisiana (From Hariram Pagdala Sreenath), and some bush beans and jawari chavalikayi/cluster beans from my collection.
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