Resolve to reuse and recycle

I got back to growing vegetables after a long gap of 11 years. I have always grown vegetables along with ornamentals in all the balconies of the houses I lived in while in Bengalooru between 1994 and 2003. It was circumstance that made me leave growing vegetables. It's been 11 years since I shifted back to my hometown Dharwad. Last August was when circumstance once again led me to grow vegetables and thus began my green journey in a completely new avatar with my first set of five recycled soft drink bottles. This time I was more than determined to make it work and I had a new resolve up my sleeve. I decided I was going to follow a very simple and sustainable method of growing vegetables and composting.

The idea to use only recycled and old containers and bottles was planted, and my space constraint fuelled it further. What began as five bottles has now turned into a lovely jungle of more than 100 recycled containers. My motley collection of Soft drink bottles, paint pails, mineral water cans, cookie cartons, cardboard egg trays, ice cream tubs, cane baskets, cracked ceramic bowls and mugs is surely the pride of my garden, that I lovingly call, "My little green patch."

It's a joke with my students now and they say, "Innamunda Moushi maneega hogbekaadra, kaiyyaga onda yerad dabba baatli oyyodu maribyaadri.pa !"/"Now on, if you are visiting Moushi's house, don't forget to take along a couple of bottles and tins"

The fateful day on August 6, when I started off with five recycled soft drink bottles.

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 Methi in small Slice bottles and parsley in soft drink cans.

 Cardboard egg-trays for seedlings.

 My old cracked ceramic mugs house wheat and all varieties of micro-greens.

 Moolangis growing lush in my first pet, Ginger's old tub. This tub has housed loads of greens, a couple of rounds of turnips, beets and knol khols apart from moolangis.

 Sabbasgi soppu/Dill growing well in take-away containers.

 Moolangis/radishes again. I have grown and harvested loads of moolangis in such take-away containers. One moolangi grows perfectly well in 6" container like these.

 Turnips too graced these take-aways... :)

A monkey attack forced me to cover up this portion of the balcony with a metal mesh. I lost a lovely long ledge that was great to house my containers of greens. But, I managed to use the mesh and very soon it was studded with take-away containers full of greens, that I hung on the mesh with simple and cheap "S" hooks.

 And slowly my vertical gardening began taking on shape and a set of interesting danglers got made out of take-away containers and soft drink bottles.

Menthe soppu/methi/fenugreek

Two Moolangis/radishes happily growing in a two litre Sprite bottle.

 Moolangi/radishe in a small health-drink powder tin.

More moolangis/radishes

 Honagone soppu/Alternanthera greens oin a half litre Sprite bottle.

Moolangi/Radish baby-greens.

 More moolangi/radish baby-greens in a milk carton

 Sabbasgi soppu/Dill greens looking pretty.

Ajwain/Carom greens in a one litre Sprite bottle.

 Mixed greens growing lush in a small fridge tray.

 One tall Gongura/Sorrel and some rajgiri/amaranthus in a half litre ice cream tub.

 Sabbasgi soppu/Dill greens.

 Italian Basil in a one litre Sprite bottle.

 Gongura/Sorrel.

Moolangi/Radish baby-greens in an old three litre bucket. 

Gongura/Sorrel greens in a small basket sourced from my old activity centre.

Ajwain/Carom greens.

 

Rajgiri/Amaranthus in small ice cream tubs.

 

 Pencil beans doing great in a two litre Sprite bottle.

 

 Italian Basil doing well in a tall and narrow Tea tin.

Spring onion.

A freshly-trimmed Tulasi in a one litre bottle.

 My lettuce.

 

Oregano growing lush in a small portion of a broken PVC pipe.

Refreshing Mint tumbling out of a one litre Slice bottle.

 Moolangis/Radishes in a motley collection of soft drink bottles, take-away, tins and cans.

 Rosemary in a one litre Slice bottle.

 

 Palak in a half litre Sprite bottle.

 Harvesting the first batch of Menthe soppu/Fenugreek from my small soft drink bottles.

 Menthe soppu/Fenugreek

And there are my bottles, all dressed up in bits and pieces of hand made paper, left over from my art/craft projects. I added a dash of design to liven them up a bit more.
I cover the bottles so they don't get exposed to direct sunlight. Sunlight causes algae to form on the inside of the bottles. This algae competes with the roots for nutrition from the soil. Hence, it's safe to cover the bottles with some opaque material. You could alternately paint the bottle with oil paint or cover them with cloth, regular paper or even grocers brown rope. The options are limitless and you could stretch your imagination and creativity... as long the primary purpose of protecting the soil from direct sunlight is achieved.

 Potatoes in one half of an old cracked mineral water can.

 Mustard micro-greens in a teeny weeny ice cream tub.

Jeera/Cumin micro-greens in an old cracked ceramic bowl.