My patch- a green oasis in the searing summer heat

"Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace."

I couldn't thank my little green patch enough for making such a valiant effort at staying gracefully green through this cruel searing summer sun.

Without much ado, let me share a few glimpses of my patch, shot this morning...

The pretty red verbena adding some colourful cheer to my patch...

Ornamental asparagus, verbena, turmeric and basale soppu/malabar spinach

The Turkey craw beans clambering all over the trellis... The leaves on the topmost rung of the trellis are bearing the brunt of the harsh sun and turning white and wilting, but the new shoots starting off from the base are nice and green and healthy. I am trying to train all of the new branches onto the lower portion of the trellis...

The Turkey craw beans...

Looking towards the front of the meshed portion, through malabar spinach, turmeric and Thai basil...

Looking towards the front of the meshed portion, through malabar spinach, turmeric, Thai basil, broccoli, pandanus (Basmati leaves), brinjal, coleus aromaticus/Indian borage/doddapatre, rosella and some others...
The vertical mesh at the entrance has loads of alternanthera/hongone soppu/ponnangani keerai, some palak and some spring onions growing in small plastic pots that hook on to the mesh.

Broccoli !

Looking towards the back of the meshed portion... The vertical mesh there has loads of coleus aromaticus/Indian borage/doddapatre in small plastic pots that hook onto the mesh. I have also made a small bed at the base and there's more doddapatre, bush beans, lemongrass and beetle leaf there...

My pink verbena...
There is another magenta shade.

The turkey craw beans looking pretty on the bamboo trellis...

Pundi soppu/Gongura/Rosella...
Small patches here and there, giving me a good enough yiled to make a chutney or add to daal once in a while.

My bhendikayi/okra patch
A patch of about 12-14 plants, yielding close to quarter kg at one harvest.
The okra seeds sown last week in the adjoining bed have germinated and they are now seedlings of about three inches. By the time this patch stop yielding, that one should hopefully begin...

Palak flowering...
I have some palak growing in between the bhendikayi/okra patch. I have had multiple (Clise to 6-8 harvests) a;ready from these palak plants. A week back they began to slowly stop growing new leaves and threw out stems from the centre. All of the plants are now flowering. I hope to collect some seeds from them.

Collocasia in one of the patches. This patch has two strawberry plants, one zucchini, some cabbage, three parsley, a few bush beans, a couple of capsicums and marigold plants at the front (To the right of the picture, but not in the frame) It also has mixed greens that are at the micro-greens stage. This is where I have started off the new bhendikayi/okra patch. They are three inch seedlings right now.

Pundi soppu/Gongura/Rosella, bhendikayi/okra, basale soppu/malabar spinach, broccoli, doddapatre/coleus aromaticus/Indian borage and others...

Heerikayi/Ridge gourd, getting ready to clamber onto the new trellis...
This is the latest trellis I added with the help of my neice and nephew who had come visiting from B'luru last week...

Sautikayi/Cucumber, already trailing happily up the trellis...

The Alasande/Yard-long beans spread out all over the rope trellis I made between two trees in the backyard. Well, as expected, the sharing between the monkeys and I has already begun...

Monkey attacks notwithstanding, the vines throw up many blooms within no time...

And loads of tender young beans. Just waiting to see who gets at them first, the monkeys or moushi...?

A couple of Lima beans sown in the backyard near the yard-long beans have germinated well. I am going to make another rope trellis for them between the existing tree and another one at the other end. And then begins another story of sharing...

The doddapatre/coleus aromaticus/Indian borage on the back trellis...

Sweet potato slips in the front bed that have settled well and sporting new shoots...

The last of the tomatoes...
Now I am just waiting for the rains and the volunteer tomatoes on the other side of the house will spring up.

The last of the sweet little cherry tomatoes...

Chillies galore in my two year old plants. I have about four of these and keep trimming them severely after each season of producing. They grow back and within a month-and-a-half, give me quite a few good harvests.

The bamboo trellis in front of the house, with three yard-long beans, one chayotee/seemey badnekayi and two red lab lab creepers that have just started growing...

One of the three small patches of potted vegetables in the front. This patch sports bush beans, some palak, a couple of lettuce plants, some chillies and a few mango ginger that have just begun to throw out shoots...

I have grown many bush beans in pots too, apart from in the ground beds. Right now I get about quarter kilo of beans in a week from these plants in the pots...

The lone coloured corn !
Wonder what's in store...
Have not been very lucky with corn this time around.