Zazu's Garden

New Changes

2011-02-03T01:55:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

Just to let you know, I have exported this blog to my other blog. Maintaining two blogs was getting to be too much. It's a bit easier if everything is in one place. You can now visit me here.

For those of you following this blog, I won't be posting here anymore, and I will be deleting it next month. I want to give everyone the time to change their bookmarks ( for those who do read it :D)

God Bless

Me.

Yikes!!

2010-10-29T07:36:00.000-07:00

Too long ,too long.
It's all the fault of my increasing workload. Although I am blessed to have so much to do, sometimes it can get really over whelming. The constant balancing and deadlines and orders and blah blah.
Things are going well though :D I realized today that I have achieved a big milestone. BIG milestone. You can read about my journey here.
In other garden related news....

There is colour in the house again, after the rains. what bliss. Love the light. I love seeing flowers first thing in the morning. What a lovely way to start your day~

My favorite time of the day. 8 am.

Radical bitter Gourd.
I didn't take any pictures of it after this stage... but it became deep orange and split open like a star fish... and the inside was ruby red. it was one of the most fascinating things Ive seen this year. :D

Lots of gardening supplies and lots of work.
There are more pictures after all this work. I think I might have transplanted and planted and sowed about 300 saplings/seeds that day. It was excruciating work. So far so good. The only major damage was the rat killing and eating my potato plants.

More tomorrow. Yes. thank god for Saturday~

Update

2010-10-06T11:44:00.000-07:00

Yes I'm still here.

Still recovering from the trip to Mexico. It's amazing how exhausted I have been since I got back. I don't remember feeling so drained. I sleep through the night and then take a 4 hour 'nap' at 6 pm again. I'm easily sleeping for 10-15 hours a day.
It rained a lot here while we were away. As a result... and much thanks to a crack in the roof... water entered my studio and destroyed a lot of stock and some art pieces as well.
I did manage to plant a handful of potatoes. It's still quite warm here in the 30's C... and quite sunny. I also sowed cabbage. Tomorrow , I need to get the rest of the beds ready and plant some more seeds.

No pictures just as yet.
Just thought I'd say hi.

xoxo

Chilli Update

2010-09-14T13:01:00.000-07:00

I sowed these Chillies in early August. Maybe even earlier. Although they have grown a bit... I think they should have grown a lot more.

I'm contributing their state to the lack of good sunlight... especially as it is the monsoons and even if it doesn't rain... it is overcast most of the time.

The monsoons have been a brilliant time for sweet peas!

It worries me . I wonder how they're doing, now that I am on the other side of the planet. :)

I do hope we don't have a heat wave and I come home to all withered and barely there plants. Sigh!
xoxo

A Bitter Gourd's tale

2010-09-12T12:39:00.000-07:00

So ...

If you have been following this blog for a while... you may know that this happened to me last year... In a bitter kind of way.

That was a fun year. I had more sunny space so things grew well.

This year... I was visited by a Bitter Gourd too... Only that this time, it planted itself next to the cucumber sapling. I couldn't tell which was which... until it was too late. the Bitter Gourd and killed its nice neighbour and established itself....

So , as in my post... it was this.

now it is this... threatening to grow all the way upstairs to my neighbours house...

But today... I saw this...

and this....

and it made me smile.

The Bitter Gourd had found me again... and I'm happy. It seems to be doing well.

Pictures from a trip

2010-09-10T12:28:00.000-07:00

I was away on vacation ( for a friend's wedding) and took some interesting pictures . Do any of you know what plant this is? I couldn't tell. I loved how it looked. I don't recall seeing anything like this before. Maybe it is native to only Udupi ( where I was) .

Isn't it utterly strange and beautiful?
I loved Udupi. Actually most of South India... especially, the places non-touristy.. have amazing vegetation. Ferns, flowers in bloom.. beauty.. sigh....

It was a bit ironic that while here, in North India... we try to sow flowering plants and plan a garden.... there they grow in abundance.. on road sides and brick walls... with moss and ferns...
If you haven't been, I suggest you make a trip there. There isn't much to see.. in a tourist kind of way... but oh my god... the greenery. Living in Delhi... you don't see it much. Or the sky for that matter. The sky is actually BLUE not Gray! :D But go in the Monsoons. It maybe wet and cold... but it's better than the heat and humidity that follow.

Recap

2010-09-08T11:32:00.000-07:00

It has been too long since I last posted. 12th August! That's too long. A whole month!! The garden changes everyday. Well ... mine does in any case.. thanks to rats, downpours and occasional storms... sigh!

Sowing Potatoes. Although none of them made it, due to 'drowning' in the monsoons... they did grow to be about 1-2 feet high. I will be trying again this October , when it gets a bit dry.

I have been so busy with work lately.. that I find my self gardening less often. I'm not happy about it. Gardening helps on so many levels!

Bitter Gourd.
There is a weird tradition about Bitter Gourd in my life. I NEVER plant it. I have never, till today.. sowed a bitter gourd seed... yet.. it has managed to grow often around me... in containers meant for cucumbers... and other more pleasant tasting plants. I let it grow, because I love it's flowers. They're one of the prettiest I know.

These days, the rains bring relief and also something else .. Mosquitoes. Yep... I'm around plants for less than a minute and end up with 4-5 bites... that itch and burn like mad.

For the 3rd year in a row, despite changing houses.... a random pumpkin plant.
I have plant ghosts follow me around... :D

It's already time for fall/ winter planting or sowing. But I don't dare plant anything else.

Okay, I did sow this... but it never flowered and it won't stop growing...
Can you guess what this is?

It has rained plenty this month.... which is great for the soil, earth and non container plants... I lost many of my container plants.

More random stuff.... Papaya. I have 3 small trees growing.
It seems all the gardening I have done in this house has been unintentional

That's it for now. I leave in 2 days for Mexico. I cannot wait!! Don't worry. I shall leave post dated posts.... I owe that to myself and this blog. I have enough pictures of the last couple of months.

Adios Amigos~

xoxo

Vacation

2010-08-12T12:23:00.000-07:00

This is been another long sabbatical.
Work keeps me busy .
I have been taking pictures every week of what's growing... but by the time it's time to post it... Ive eaten the poor thing. :D

I'm out for a week. and then a show. and then out for a month and another show. :)

I will post at the end of this month.

Please let me know if some of you are still having problems leaving comments. I had to change the template.I guess that is what was causing it.

Adios~

Updates...

2010-06-13T11:11:00.000-07:00

Its been a horrible last 2 weeks. Yesterday I saw my arch enemy.. the potato eater... a big fat RAT. I'm not kidding. This guy was huge. And scary. He's been eating all of the potatoes, sweet corn and now beans. I had only one bean plant left.... till yesterday.
out of 50 corn plants, 20 bean plants, 9 cucumber plants and lots and lots... literally 100's of other plants. I have nothing left.
He's managed to get through the chicken wire. He's managed to destroy everything I've worked hard for the last 2 -3 months.
Im going to buy a cage. Trap him and release him 20 kilometers from here.
I don't know what this is called in English....

Madhu malti

Today I planted about 10 potato spuds.

Here's my week in pictures.

I think we might be expecting the monsoons soon....

the dogs seem to think so.

Ramblings

2010-06-08T12:43:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick picture post.
The Corn is yet to respond to the coffee. Although I think some of the corn plants have grown an inch this week... maybe it's just wishful thinking. :(
We'll see.

The man /boy got me flowers

A visitor left this at my gate

It's mesmerizing....

Recent Rains and an experiment

2010-06-01T01:04:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely but far too brief shower a couple of days ago. It was the respite everyone and everything needed. Some areas , like mine, also got a bit of hail.

Now the temperatures are slowly edging towards the 40's again.

I'm a little hopeful for the cooler temperatures to remain as last night's news showed the beloved monsoons hitting South India... Kerela to be exact. Another couple of weeks and I hope we join the ranks.

Mint

Beans

In the meantime.. here are some after- shower pictures of my garden.

And a coffee fertilizer experiment for the corn.

I mixed coffee grounds in about 10 ltrs. of water. I let it sit for a day and then watered both corn beds with it. Coffee and tea have high nitrogen content. Corn needs 2 doses of extra fertilizer. Once when it is 6 inches high and the next when it is about 3 feet tall.

I have no idea if this is going to help or not. My corn had stopped growing at 6 inches.
I'll post in a couple of weeks about the results.

Surviving the heat

2010-05-27T01:19:00.000-07:00

Those of you in India, must know what I'm talking about. Especially if you're in the Northern, Western and Central states. This heat is ridiculous! Ive lost my Tomatoes.

But I plan to sow again in October.

There were some very pleasant surprises though..

Cucumbers...( at least I think they're cucumbers) are sprouting in the seed trays I placed in the washing machine shed a couple of weeks ago.

The Eggplants and potatoes are also doing well. Taking a cue , I planted several more. I kept half out and half in the shed. Lets see which ones do better.

Everything is doing much better and growing well since I covered all the beds and pots with Chicken wire.

I do leave a couple of bowls of water out for the birds in the shade though. And they manage to eat all the naughty trouble causing insects. :)

Yesterday I transplanted 3 chili plants, but I dont think they're going to make it. they were okay for about the first 12-15 hours. This afternoon, the sun had beaten me to it . :(
So no chillies and tomatoes for me this season. I'm planting as soon as the monsoons are over.

I have more planned. But I'll post tomorrow now. It's just too hot. :(
Also, it's quite cloudy and humid. I'm hoping desperately for rain. :D

Happenings

2010-05-21T02:37:00.000-07:00

Too much has happened in the last couple of weeks. The birds have virtually destroyed everything.
I went into Obsessive seed planter mode . I spent all of yesterday covering all raised beds with chicken wire to prevent the resident moles and birds from destroying anything else.

The Tomatoes have tiny little flower buds. The heat is so bad. I'm pretty sure global warming is starting to really kick in now. 45 deg C. How is anything expected to grow?? A couple of weeks ago, newspapers and Television channels reported paint on the roads melting in the heat. sometimes, you get a mirage .

Chillies

Sooo. This is what I had to do. I brought in over 50 plants into the washing machine area. They immediately picked up.

Potato

I'll be posting more pictures later.

Sowing April 28th

2010-04-29T02:18:00.000-07:00

Today I planted 5 vegetables and a flowering plant.
Most of the planting space I have... which is not much .... is in a tiny sqaure ( 10 x 10 feet). I plant in small raised beds, containers and other wooden boxes. I am also starting to plant vertically as I seem to be running out of space already. Plants will have to be moved to higher ground so they can keep growing without crowding out each other. So far I have about 19 vegetables, 7 herbs, and 7 flowering varieties.
By September I will have next to no space . Plans are underway to take care of this space problem. The weekend will be spent arranging extra space.

The vegetables planted yesterday are:

* bitter gourd
* Indian cucumber - Kakri
* Indian Beans- Gavar
* Indian Beans - Lobia
* Very local bean variety That I do not know the name for. :( Im trying it anyways!

Also the cosmos flowers. One of my favorites.

More later

Sowing 25th april 2010

2010-04-25T03:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I planted mostly herbs. I plan to let them germinate outside in the heat, and move them indoors , on the window ledge so they don't burn to death in 43Deg C. Horrid weather. I have also placed a couple of pots on the kitchen window ledge- easy access.

These are what I sowed.

* Rosemary
*Oregano
*Sage
*Parsley

I also planted sunflowers and Zinnia (white), last evening

I had already planted a pot or two of rosemary and oregano , and am relieved to see them sprouting. I hadn't expected the herbs to do well at this time. Once indoors, the temperature is usually 22-25 Deg C, and with them on a sunny windowsill , i should have no problems. :D

I picked up some summer and monsoon flowers today.

Today I shall be planting:

* Zinnia dahlia
* Balsam Camilia
* Portulaca (single and double mix)
* Cockscomb (Jewel Dwarf Mix)
* Morning Glory (Ipomoea)

The instructions on the packages said the seeds will germinate and plant worthy within 20 days from the date of sowing. and another 70 days to flower. So I'm looking at a flower filled garden in about 3 months.

Here is a visual update on what was already in the soil.

The corn is doing really well. Im happy.

We Had our first pumpkin/ water melon seedling today. Welcome to the world!!

The tomatoes and chillies are also growing well and will need thining in another month of so.

I am still waiting for the Cilantro, Okra and Eggplant to show up.

What's in your garden?

2010-04-23T00:03:00.000-07:00

I lost a lot of seedlings and plants in the move to my new house. My greatest loss was my 2 year old celery, which has just started flowering. So wanted to collect the seeds for that.
I have been scrambling to sow whatever I can now, so late in the season. Below is what is finally starting to show its head above ground. That still leaves about 80% of the seeds in question. Sigh!!

I planted a lot of Tomatoes in plastic containers, maybe about 50 odd plants. Only 6 survived. I have recently sown another 40 odd seeds, lets see if they make it.

Rosemary or thyme seedlings. I forget which one I planted here. Should really get labels

spinach is finally sprouting.
Corn!! Lots and lots of corn. This is my first time ever with Corn and Im really excited to see how they grow.

More Spinach. I sowed 3 window boxes full of them. Should have enough Spinach for the next few months. Pureed and Frozen for soup. or just baby spinach leaves frozen as is... unwashed.

More later.

Ciao

Pictures!!

2010-03-15T10:58:00.000-07:00

Finally, here are a few pics to show you what's happening in my garden.

The Celery is really doing well. I have a whole bed full of them.

Tomatoes have sprouted.

Fennel seems to be doing well

The spinach is flowering. I dont mind though. Im thinking of harvesting the seeds.

And after waiting for 2 months.... no thanks to the smog, my Nasty's are flowering.

I would write more... really I would. But 'Phantom of the Opera ' is showing and I do not want to miss it.

More tomorrow :D

Of tiny potatoes and finally flowering nastys

2010-03-13T01:45:00.000-08:00

Finally!!!

After months of growing and trailing all over my tiny veggie patch, the nasty's have flowered. I cannot wait to make a salad.
I have been without a camera for a while now, so I can only list what has happened in my dis organised veggie patch since the last post.

1. I finally have flowers in my veggie patch. The Nasty's Rule!!

2. 5 tiny tiny potatoes... the dogs ate the plants while they were still growing. So when I tipped over the tub.. there were lots of squishy potato-lets. Also I added way too much water. So at the bottom... I lost a good Kilo at least. Making notes for next year.

3. Harvested all the lettuce from my raised bed and also gave some to relatives. Really nice.

4. Spinach and growing and flowering

5. Fennel is growing

6. Transplanted about 50 tomato plants... but now Im worried as they haven't picked up and are still quite limp. I got the whole root.... so I dont know what gives.

7. Also transplanted brinjal. doing better than that tomatoes

8. Have way too much Celery and am in the process of distributing to relatives.

9. Shallots are doing great.

10. Rocket is doing okay too.

11. Cilantro is dying off. :(

12. Marjoram is picking up

13. Spearmint is picking up.

I am thinking of putting in some new tomato seeds and brinjal seeds just in case I loose it all... and then I'll miss the season. Its already quite warm here. 30 Deg C.

That's it for now. Hopefully... I'll have pics soon.

Ciao~~

What's in the soil...

2010-02-10T03:03:00.000-08:00

This post is about what's growing in the yard. I am really happy with the progress the veggies have been making. It's almost as if they were waiting for the winters to pass before they did any growing. Also, now I get about an hour of sunlight in the yard everyday. So it makes things better.

Bed 1 = 4 Radishes and about 30 spinach plants. I love this variety of Spinach called Kashmiri Spinach. It's leaves remind me of rocket. I'll post pictures later in the day. The Radishes are doing so well. I'm really proud. They maybe ready for harvest in a couple of weeks.

Bed 2 = 7 Chinese Cabbages , Calendula and about 50 Celery plants.
4 of the 7 cabbages were planted in December and are just starting to do well. I planted about 20 more seeds last week and with this lovely weather they have already sprouted. I'm sure more are along the way. My garden is a maternity ward of vegetables right now... :D

Bed 3 = Well, this is probably the single biggest mess I have ever created because of my impatience. I initially planted garlic, which I transplanted last month to another bed. Then ... wondering what to sow next, I hastily planted Fennel. After 2 weeks of no sprouting, I planted more radishes. Now the bed is full of tiny little sprouts and I have NO idea what they are. However, I cut a little leaf and I think I smelled Fennel!!!

Bed 4 : Garlic, that was transplanted from Bed 3 and 5 sets of Onions.

I also have Regular Spinach growing in Tubs.
5 containers of coriander.
5 containers of lettuce.
5 separate containers of Celery.
3 containers of Parsley.
2 containers of Cherry tomatoes, which need transplanting in a couple of weeks.

This is the last harvest from this house as we move in April.
Good times.

I have also put a list in the side bar as to what's in sprouting trays.

New find

2010-02-09T11:28:00.000-08:00

I don't know if many of you are aware of a website called Gardeners.Com

I have just spent a couple of hours there, having such a blast and getting so excited.
They have pre-made plans for raised beds and vegetable gardening . You can also edit them as you see fit, its interactive and so much fun. I have designed my raised bed gardens for April 2010.
I have included below a Current plan to last till march and the future plan to last till April.
The numbers you see under each plant are the number of plants that can be planted per square foot in the raised bed.

Current Bed number 1

Proposed Bed number 1

Current Bed Number 2

Proposed Bed Number 2

Current Bed Number 3

Proposed Bed Number 3

Current Bed Number 4

Proposed Bed Number 4

You guys really should check this site out. I tend to get either really carried away.. as you can see with the radishes... so I get too overwhelmed.
This is the perfect solution for me. :D

I am still playing around. More layouts tomorrow.

What's in your seed Box??

2010-02-08T07:01:00.000-08:00

Mine has too much. Too many seeds and too little space to plant them.
This spring, I am looking at container gardening. Today we had our first rain of the year. Spring showers. Ahhhh! The smell of wet earth! Yumm! :D

Snippets

2010-02-03T11:37:00.000-08:00

Getting over my cold. The weather here is really starting to get a lot of people ill now. The day temperatures are between 23-25 Deg C and the night time temperatures are down to 8 Deg C. So you can imagine us forever taking off and putting on sweaters/woolens /extra clothing.

And just this evening I got a call from my husband telling me he's feeling flu-ish. Must be me :(
Anyways, here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

Can you guess these sprouts?

Just a picture Post

2010-01-25T09:16:00.000-08:00

The mongoose's den. He's managed to burrow under the neighbor's fence as well. He's travelling all over

My plastic compost bins. The blue bin still needs holes drilled. I checked them today they are working rather well. I'm quite excited!!

My Nasty's. Can you spot the fairy?

Spinach in a tub.Rub- a dub-dub.

Holy basil plant. There were two of them. Neither survived this year's winters which were particularly harsh. India lost about 500 people to the cold. Most of them too poor to even afford food. It's a sad state of affairs...

And it drags on...

2010-01-24T07:52:00.000-08:00

Yup!
It does drag on.

I had to send 34 potted plants to my grandmothers as they were blocking what little sunlight there was. Today I saw a very thin ray of light on one of the potted palms... 20 minutes later...it was gone. However, the park outside was bathed in beautiful sunshine. Our house has really bad location:(
The good news is, the new house that we will be moving into in April, gets lots and lots of sunshine. About 3-4 solid hours a day during the winter months! I can't wait. Also, the house is so much better and has much more space. I finally get a proper studio room!!

Now for more pictures.

The marigold flower bed. A couple of plants died, thanks to the mongoose who seems to enjoy digging up the roots.

When I was planting Spinach in December, I tripped and fell onto the marigold bed. At least I think it was Spinach. Now these little plants are all over the place. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

The only Surviving Calendula that succumbed to the fog, smog , dark days and pollution :(

The first of the Cherry Tomatoes sprouted 2 weeks ago. They were sown in the 2nd week of December.

And Lettuce.

Off to have hot pizza on a nice springy night. The temperature in the day is now 21 deg C. Spring is here. Saw the first Robin of the season today!!!

The Month of Christmas Past

2010-01-21T10:04:00.000-08:00

I am finally back on track.

Christmas is over.
Guests have left, just have family over now.
I thought I would post some pics of what my Veggie garden has been looking like.

But first a glimpse of how cloudy and foggy it's been here.This was taken 2 days ago. We are starting to get some sunlight in the afternoon. But by 4 pm.. its dark again and then by 7 pm the fog starts rolling in. It's about 3 pm in this picture. I think it took about 2 weeks of this weather, 24x7 to ruin everything that was planted. Ah! well, there's always next year.

This is the Chinese Cabbage and Celery bed. After no signs of sprouting,the Celery is suddenly everywhere. The Chinese Cabbage however, has not grown much.

The Cilantro is stunted. It's been that way since December. Last year, everything was thriving.

My poor poor garlic. I pulled one up and noticed considerable spoilage in the roots. Also some fungus. Cleaned all 35 plants and re planted them in drier ground. I think the soil was too wet. It had moss growing on it.

The potatoes are really living it up. Yes, I am quite aware those are buckets.I needed some warmth retaining containers. Today, I re- potted them in huge buckets where they will stay until they grow some potatoes...hopefully.

Back in action

2010-01-16T21:01:00.001-08:00

This winter has been particularly bad for several reasons. Primarily because the smog has blocked the sun out for several days at a time. Yesterday we had sunshine after almost a week of dense fog and mist and of course pollution.

As a result of which , everything I have planted... except for the potatoes are wilting, browning, dying and rotting. It's horrible and emotionally draining.

So here is my update on what's still trying to survive out there...

Considering I planted in October....

1. Leeks - ALL died
2. Garlic - browning, wilting and pretty sure dying.
3. Radish- 3 plants , which after 2 months of sprouting still haven't formed any veggies.
4. Spring Onion - All Died
5. Potato- happy, green and growing.
6. Ginger- Dead
7. Cilantro - Stunted
8. Cherry Tomato- one sapling
9. Parsley - One sapling.
10. Onions - static

This out of 40 containers, 4 box beds and sowing in the ground directly.

As I said... emotionally draining.

Hope you all had a better season!

Will be back later with the pictures.

Of Christmas and the flu

2009-12-28T03:23:00.000-08:00

One big party....

4 days of preparations

2 sick people hanging around me

house temperature @ 10 deg C

very lovely ( and soon to be missed house guests)

PLUS

Cleaning up after the party

smoking the water pipe when I have stopped smoking

drinking when I have given up alcohol

=

A very sick, flu-ey me.

Good news....

2009-12-19T02:17:00.000-08:00

There are two of them actually.

1. I had a meeting for retailing my jewelery at a mall... and it went well. I'm on the bandwagon people!!

2. I spent all that I earned today on more seeds and plants..( slightly embarassed).

It seems I MUST buy something every time I pass by the nurseries.. which are hard to ignore as I have a minimum of 15 within a .5 mile radius!!! I see them everywhere I go. Vendors go from door to door selling plants. So even if I decide to stay at home and not go.. they come to you!!

So I got seeds for : Ice berg lettuce, Kashmiri spinach, More celery, parsely, chillies,poppies,cherry tomatoes, regular tomatoes...and carrots. I also bought.... pansies, marigolds and 3 chilli plants. pics soon

Yesterday I prepared the bed for and transplanted about 20 leeks. I then prepared 41 containers or flower pots for various veggies/ salad greens and flowers.

Today I just finished transplanting about 20 nasty's. One pot with 5 plants for me granny. and one pot with 4 plants for my upstairs neighbor, Her balconies are always colorful. So I thought she might appreciate more. :D

I am a bit tired... but really do feel like sowing the seeds. BUT... its getting dark. More tomorrow.

Work Work WORK

2009-12-17T10:11:00.001-08:00

Today has been a productive day if there ever was one.

1>I finally emptied the fountain structure of at least 50 kilograms of Soil.

2>Had 50 kilos of vermi-compost brought in. The bed that was lying vacant.... it now full of soil. I'm thinking of mixing in the compost in the bed itself and then rationing out to the other 50 odd containers.

3>Trimmed the overgrown creeper plant. Dont know the name but will post the pictures.

4> Transplanted 25 flowering plants into the soil and the decorative urn pedestal.

5> Cleaned up all the plants with yellowing or dead leaves... counts to 184!!

6> Put in the tallest plants in the fountain so ground could be spared fr more veggi growing .

7> Re-arranged the sitting out area for a nice coffee table that will go there soon :)

8> Collected all leaves for compost.

Well.... I can't really remember what else. Just that I'm exhausted. Set up the Christmas tree. Baked 3 batches of Muffins... and now its time for a hot cup 'o Tea.

Now I shall lie in bed.. with a warm blanket, 2 dogs , hot tea and go through my gardening books. Could life get any better.

Good night to you all.
Stay warm

Finally!!

2009-12-15T08:55:00.000-08:00

I have time. But wait... its chilly. My fingers are frozen and can't really type.... I must have tea.

Back....

I promised you garden pics.. and I am happy to deliver! Cute baby plants.. also known as saplings/ seedlings........

Winters make me head go a bit fuzzy.

A lot of things have been happening simultaneously.... Its not even funny.
I had that show... which was nothing beyond amazing. I sold out.... Seriously. I feel so blessed. I dont think this has happened to me even though Ive done shows before. And I sold out in less than 3 hours after opening on the first day of a 3 day show..... Brilliant!!

I have also gotten an offer for retailing my jewelery at a shop in a mall.

I am so excited!!!

I have also finalized my Christmas party guest list.... and will now be thinking about Menus.
Onto to garden stuff now....

Leeks are just about coming up. Ive sowed the seeds in a shallow tray and will transplant them in a week or so. I cheated... I put the tray with the Leek seeds in the bathroom for a few days. the Humidity and indoor warmth really helped!

The Onions are loving all the growing. I put in 3 more bulbs a few days ago. Lets see how this turns out. It's my first time with onions and garlic.
Out of 20 odd seeds I put in.. I have gotten ONE spring onion seedling. This will not do. Later this week i will have to sow more Radish and Spring Onions...

Chinese Cabbage

Radish. I think I will have to take them out and plant them deeper. Am not sure the red bit is supposed to grow out of the soil... even though I planted the seeds 1.5 inches deep. :(

New Celery.

Nasty's . That's what I like to call them. They are anything but! I have never met friendlier plants. I love themI'm an Indian married to a Mexican..... Trust me when I say... you can NEVER have enough Cilantro/ coriander around the house. :D

Ah! My Garlic. I'm so proud. They've done so well. Easy Peasy.

The Potatoes are sprouting....

The Spinach is out. ( I love my veggies)

That sort of wraps up my post for today. I hope I made up for the last couple of weeks.
no??

Well... okay one more.
That's a very lonely Asparagus fern climbing onto a piece of wood I found somewhere.
The sorry brick structure you see... is a BBQ... we made. Mixed the concrete and sand and water.. the bricks and everything. It doesn't look like much but it works like a charm.
Next to the BBQ is a water fall structure the previous tenants made.. which I filled with mud and grew Basil and Celery in.. :)
The mess you see..... I will explain in the next image.,

Ah! The terracotta flower pot is self explanatory. But what are all those plastic bottles cut in half? No , not cloches...I cut off the tops of all soft drink bottles.. punched a couple of holes in them and planted one seed of whatever each. That stays good for a month before you have to transplant. The only think its not good for are root veggies. But my radishes did wonders!! I planted one radish per container.

The wooden Frame itself is for the lettuces which I will plant... hopefully by this week. Ive kept them in the bathrooms to sprout. :D

Now it's late and cold. And I could use another cup o tea.

If you're interested in what I do.... go here.... or here...

Tada dum dum

2009-12-09T07:52:00.000-08:00

That's what's going on

Pretty sure you're wondering if I garden anymore.

In fact... I do.

All 45 of my Nasturtiums have sprouted

Leeks have sprouted

Onions are growing like no one's business
Garlic is making me prouder by the day....

And I have my first solo show coming up on the 11th of December.

What's that?
Show you say??

Oh! Didn't you know......

I am also an artist and a freelance jewelery designer....

God was feeling a bit indulgent when he made me I reckon!

Life is good.

Pictures after the 15th... I promise!

Happy days

2009-11-22T11:28:00.000-08:00

The last two days have been so so rushed. My guy left on short notice for a 2 week work trip to the states. Running around to buy things and pay last minute bills within 48 hours is not the best way to spend your weekend.I have been so busy with cramming to meet the deadline for my show in December.
But the best thing that happened to me was my taking up a Pranic healing course over the weekend. ( Yes, I just love to complicate my life!). For those of you who don't know what it is... It's an ancient healing technique. you can get more information here.

Also, I have more pictures from the yard. And some good news. I was getting really worried about the radishes and spring onions I had planted 2 weeks ago. I just saw 2 tiny adorable saplings. I'll probably be able to make out what it is in the day time. The pictures below are of general Yard stuff.

That is my 1 year old Celery. I have just been plucking off however much I need. And I haven't needed to uproot the plant at all. That's over a Kilo of Celery in this year. Pretty economical.

This is a random picture of the outside of the house, where the yard starts. I love masks. They're from Mexico and India.

The box on top is the one with the radish and spring onions.The lower box has Chinese cabbage and celery.

My Curry leaf trees died in the cold... both of them. :( So I harvested all the leaves, dried them and stored them.

This year I am trying to grow my first pineapple. I bought this from the store, cut off the top. Now its has to dry out for a week or so before I put it On the soil.

Pictures

2009-11-20T09:52:00.000-08:00

I have pictures for you... Finally.

This is the view from my yard looking west.

This is my Chili plant. It's just started flowering again. 3 weeks ago, I harvested 12 green chillies from it. Yes 12!

My baby Ginger plant. It's growing awfully slowly. It's been like that for a month now. Is that normal??

My nastertiums and curry leaf plant. There is a baby nasturtium growing there too. Can you spot it? I sowed about 100 seeds. Lets see how many will sprout.

Okay, this is how I am mixing my soil and compost. I mix 50% soil to 50% vermi compost. And that 50% of soil also has about 10% cow manure mixed in it. So far... the mix has done wonders for my plants. I do not fertilize or anything the rest of the growing season.

Delays and chills

2009-11-19T12:52:00.000-08:00

Its been a while since the last post.
I'm not wholly to blame. Honest!

A few days ago , I went out back and took pictures of new plantings and new containers with seed. But the thing is. I am using a desktop that is exactly.... 9 years old! You heard me right!
Why do you ask.. am I still using this old piece of junk.

1. It works beautifully
2. Ive gotten to know it really well... and may have sentimental attachments to it.
3. I dont care about modern technology all that much.

Reasons I sometimes contemplate buying a laptop. ( we have 2 in the house.... but they're my guy's)....

1. Reducing my carbon foot print.
2. would be awesome to upload pictures instantly.. instead of uploading to laptop.. copying on pen drive and then uploading on desktop.
yes I do this every single time I take pictures :(

So its not that I don't take pictures.... I take them alll the time. Its the uploading and copying to pen drive bit that's annoying.

Anyways, the other thing that is bothering me and the neighbors is dog poo. My dog poo. Now the mud has started smelling and I am thinking of carting 100 kilos of dry sand to soak up their pee and poo faster. Does anyone have any experience with this? We do have a pooper scooper but the ground/ mud still smells. Really bad. :(

On the good side. I planted my first ever bulbs of onions and a few potatoes. Just a quick question.. does anyone have any experience transplanting potatoes?

Promised Snippets

2009-11-13T06:34:00.000-08:00

Here are pictures of the yard. I love my dogs , I really do.
But digging up all my hard work and then wagging the tails looking proud... doesn't exactly bring out the loving! So.. for my plants safety and my sanity, my husband and I made a make shift fence out of some bamboo stakes leftover.. and some chicken wire. So far.. it works like a charm.
I have also lined up some of the evergreens on the other side to make it look more 'real' to the dogs.

Here is a shot of the yard before....

A shot after the monsoons had finished. Pathetic isn't it? The yard was waterlogged for days and all the grass died. Ironically, we had the grass installed for the dogs.

And now...

Things happen for a reason I always say. The vegetable patch is taking shape slowly. Once my mother's 162 potted plants leave( as they finally fund a house they liked).. I will have so much more open space.

Can't believe I have over 200 plants in that small space!

A rainy day

2009-11-12T06:29:00.000-08:00

Ah! what bliss!!

It has been raining today since the afternoon. Its nice and cozy now, with the temperature staying at about 18 Deg C. It would've been the perfect if I had done any gardening at all. And there is lots to do before winter.
The dogs are so happy to be in this cool , calm weather. and it affects people too. Suddenly... India is less noisy, People look happier... calmer.... bargaining isn't the same though. Ah well! You can't have it all.

I wanted to show you the yard today.. but it'll have to wait till tomorrow. When it doesn't look like 7 pm all the time . For now, here is a garden craft from last year. This one was fun.

We had old wine bottles which were waiting to be sold for recycling. Some granite slabs left over from when my grandma got new kitchen counters and some old bricks left over from a construction site. Ta- daa. Got me some pretty clay figurines from the potter. added plants between the levels. If you're planning on doing this.. make sure you fill the wine bottles with wter to add weight and strength. The granite/ counter slabs are quite heavy.

Going's on

2009-11-11T08:19:00.000-08:00

I have been busy in the garden and in my studio. Winter can really increase workload... but I wouldn't have it any other way.
I have been reading some amazing and easy to follow gardening books. They have been a huge help in my 2009 garden plans. This year I am planning on raised beds. Last year was container year.

I will be uploading pictures of my yard under re-modeling tomorrow. Also, an interesting potato germination experiment. I have no idea if it will work. My second raised bed will arrive in the morning.

Till then.. Adios!

Staking up!

2009-11-10T10:10:00.000-08:00

It's time for a small confession.

You see, I already have an organic gardening blog, one that I have been using for my first year of gardening ( yes, this is only my second year). But the thing is... I have forgotten the email address associated with that blog. So I can no longer log in. This was more than a couple of months ago. So there's no going back.
These images are from my old and inaccessible blog.

Step 1: Get some organic jute twine

Step 2: get some Bamboo

Step 3: Stake up chili (left) and tomato(right)

Step 4: Admire Chillies

Hiya!

2009-11-10T06:06:00.000-08:00

and welcome to the blog of an experimental, sometimes lazy... but mostly motivated gardener Zazu.
This is my second year of gardening, and I think I've gotten better at it. Stay tuned for posts and journal entries. Here's raising a toast to green living!