Trudging back to green normalcy...

August 27

Ah, what joy it is to see my little green patch trudging back to green normalcy .. .

Yesterday was a holiday and it was so much fun to have Bhuvan in my patch after long...


The best part is, Bhuvan has managed to convince his family to start composting ! And a p a rt from the regular methi and amaranthus that he grows, he has gotten his mother to plant a few vegetables like tomatoes, chillies and beans. It is more than a pleasure to see the excitement with which he comes to my gate early in the morning, to show off a harvested tomato or to take me to see a newly germinated seedling...

Bhuvan adding the wet waste (From the kitchen) to my composting pot...

 And then, adding the dry leaves of the rain tree that we collect in bags.

My composting corner on one side of the entrance to the meshed ground patch...

 And then, Bhuvan found a large wriggler that had sneaked into my pot...

 Helping me add a dose of freshly harvested compost to my cabbages...

 The mesh at the entrance is choc-a-bloc with greens... Moolangi/Radish for greens, dill and red and green hongone soppu/alternanthera.

 Loads of moolangis, sabbasgi/dill, haravi soppu/amaranthus, hunchikk soppu/chukka koora, kotambri/coriander, ajwain/carom greens... germinating in these pots...

 Loads of moolangis, sabbasgi/dill, haravi soppu/amaranthus, hunchikk soppu/chukka koora, kotambri/coriander, ajwain/carom greens... germinating in these pots...

Beans, cabbage and turmeric interspersed with basil and marigolds for pest control...

 I have sown loads and loads of moolangis/radishes all over... even if just 20% of them turn into moolangis, I will be the happiest !!

 Young moolangi/radish seedlings are such a beautiful sight...

 A beautiful chaotic melange of parsley, dill, bush beans, mint, turmeric, lemon balm, peas, marigold and some greens...

 Loads of greens, waiting to break out and grow lush...

 A merry mix of Moolangi/radish, kotambri/coriander, sabbasgi/dill and ajwain/carom...

 Chillies, old and new...

I have a couple of old chilli plants in pots, that are close to two years old. I keep giving them a full trim one in a while and they spring back with new shoots and give me chillies... 

In this pot, you see the old plant with the smaller leaves, from which I am now regularly harvesting chillies. And the larger leaves belong to the two new plants.

My sunshine marigolds that have always stood me in good stead and help control pests by either repelling or working as traps for pests...

Kamakasturi, also working as a pest repellant along with the other aromatic herbs...

 Sabbasgi soppu/Dill and lemon balm...

Clove basil... Love the strong clove.y fragrance that they spread even you as much as slightly brush against them while walking...
Grown in the ground, they can grown into huge bushes and spread a lovely fragrance with the breeze... Just waiting to plant them in choice spots in the ground.

 One of my pots of Ondelaga/Centella asiatica...
Again, waiting to grow this in the ground and see it spread lush and green all over...

 Peas hanging in a row...

 Peas in pots...

My choice spot for my kotambri/coriander ! They do very well here, in this spot of sun...

 Adding some compost to the chilli plants in the ground patch... This patch has chillies, cabbages and cauliflower, a couple of bhendis/okra and some doddpatre/Indian borage/coleus aromaticus and mustard as a ground cover... with marigolds and basil for pest control...

Right now, out of four beds (21/2'-6') only two are active. Waiting for some help to clear up the creepers on top of the mesh roof and start off on the other two beds too...

 A long view of the newly arranged portion of my patch... Walk up and to the right is the entrance to the meshed portion of my ground patch.

This place gets some more sunlight in comparison to the meshed portion.

A peek at the padwalkayi/snake gourd and sautikayi/cucumber (A new one. the old ones have been completely cut off)