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...