A new life is always exciting!

And I'm talking about my garden of course :).. I honestly feel plants need more taking care of than babies.. as babies grow up and learn to do things like drinking water and milk themselves, but with plants you have to continue to do the watering and feeding for a long long time :P.

I had a lot of lows in the garden over the last few months, especially with leaf curl refusing to leave, and though I'm not completely sure if it has eased up yet, at least SOME things seem to be growing. Here are some snapshots which is always the easiest way to convey what's going on :)

Guava nearly ready to pluck, so what if I get only 4-5 every season I appreciate every one of them!

Sold to me as Israeli Oranges, finally deciphered to be Kumquats

No matter how many times you have seen beans germinate, it remains a fascinating sight!
The box contains Arka Suvidha, Pelandron and Winged beans - all seeds from Annadana

The photo might look like a repeat, but this is the number of chillies on the plant after I harvested the last lot!
Forcing me to add more "spice" to life ;)

Kale in the making

I thought I had killed this orchid off, but it decided to come back to life!

I do love my colours :).. though my need for brightness is mostly supplied by my veggie flowers I still love a few flowering plants and succulents on my terrace, here are some:

Here's to the monsoons and some "automatic" watering for my plants soon !!

That elusive Green Thumb?

Have sown a couple of radish varieties, they are always the first to sprout :)

People tell me sometimes "Oh you have such a green thumb!" and I always absolutely deny it. Only I know how many plants I have killed along the way, from reasons like bad watering, to not knowing how to take care of it in extreme seasons like a very hot summer. Of course, those failures do not make it to social media ;).

Rows of beetroot and carrot, the carrot is always a slow starter
but I'm hoping it will do better in the ground than it has in my containers :P

With a couple of years of container gardening under my belt, one thing I have been wanting to try in the last few months has been to try growing more on the ground. Easier said than done, as I cannot just "buy" a farm and hope it all goes well, not even talking about the process of actually finding something appropriate. I had been hearing of the concept of leasing small patches of land, and was thrilled to come across one such option that was at a reasonable distance from home.

Lots of greens - this one's Palak

They are called Green Thumbs Mini-Farms, located at Kodathi village off Sarjapur Road. The owner, Anand, is an enthusiastic gardener/agriculturist himself and has a banana plantation next door to the farm area. He has segregated patches of approx 10x10m, which is quite large believe me, especially for an amateur. Just that much area can provide a big percentage of a family's veggie needs if planned and nurtured properly. As of now, I am trying to plan a bit, but also want to experiment with how well different things grow in a space like this. Daily watering is part of the deal, but looking out for pests and so on is something we have to do diligently if we want this to work.

It has been a little more than 2 weeks since I sowed seeds, and this is what things look like right now. I am hoping these are going to serve as "before" pictures and in a few months I can update with some lovely harvest pics too.

Some bush beans - a local variety

Amaranthus

A few more I haven't yet clicked are okra just beginning to sprout, some tomato seedlings that had not yet established well, some climbers like beans, bitter gourd, cucumber that are still very small, as well as coriander that is always late to germinate. 

Wish me luck!!