Red Ripe Tomatoes

New Beginnings

2012-02-06T09:14:00.000-08:00

January is a good time of year to start plants in Chennai. The weather is as pleasant as can be. The sun shines brightly, but doesn't scorch the plants. This year, the temperatures touched a ten-year low in Jan, for which I'm very happy as I'd planted some carrots for the first time. Carrots here, are among the exotic "hill vegetables", (since we get all our carrots from the surrounding, cooler hills.) While the seeds sprouted in less than a week and have been growing steadily since, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. It's too early to say whether my carrots will actually grow in Chennai's "cold" weather.

Carrot Seedlings: To be Thinned

Now in Feb, many of the seeds sown last month have transformed into sturdy little seedlings. Here are some photos. My earlier basil bush was overgrown, so I decided to start it from seed once more. Basil is so easy to grow here that starting from seed is much easier than re-potting and pruning an old bush.

Sweet Basil Starting Out

Last year's spinach went to seed after several wonderful harvests. So this year, I intend to invest in some more spinach. While I had nearly 100% germination success with the seeds, many of the seedlings have been trampled upon by squirrels and crows. The crows come to peck at pieces of egg shells that are part of the compost.

Spinach: A Year Old

Spinach: Less than a Month Old

The bell pepper plants look like strange chilly plants. The leaves don't seem too well. Perhaps it's because I've done something that is strongly discouraged. The capsicum seeds weren't bought, but saved from a capsicum that I got from the market. The capsicum was yellow-red and probably hybrid. Since it seems near impossible to get yellow and red bell pepper seeds from anywhere near my place, I was left with no better option. But seeds from hybrid plants yield poorly. I am just hoping that they will at least yield a couple of capsicums.

The curry leaf tree and the lemon tree (both in pots) are showing a lot of promise. Many tender green leaves have sprouted all over.

Curry Leaf Tree with Plenty of New Growth

Lots of suspense at the Tube Rose (Rajnigandha) plant. Buds have been growing a little bigger each day, for nearly two weeks now, but it is yet to flower.

Tube Rose Buds

While my other zinnias are beginning to fade and produce smaller flowers every time, the peach coloured zinnias have just begun to show off. These get lovelier as they age and in fact are in their best colour when they're nearly all dried up.

Zinnias Basking in the Sunlight

And just like my garden is making a fresh start, so am I. I've landed a new job after a longish gap. And while I am very happy about the job, it may also mean less blogging. (During the week, I have only just enough time to water my plants). So if you find fewer posts and comments from me, you know the reason.

Green Gram or Moong

2012-01-27T08:57:00.000-08:00

A while ago, I'd scattered some mung sprouts, which had gone slightly stale, into an empty container. I had expected the sprouts to quickly decay and nourish the soil. Instead, one of the sprouts chose to take root. Destined to bloom, it even survived the recent cyclone Thane, which had denuded some of my other sturdier plants.

Moong Pods on the Plant

Moong Bean Flower

While the couple of pods that have emerged aren't really worth a nibble, I'm still glad to see this unexpected shoot. It's always nice to know what our food looks like before it reaches the table.

Dried Green Gram in the Pod

Green gram or moong beans are extremely versatile. They can be had as fresh sprouts, as dal, as noodles and even as dessert. Moong dal is very easy to digest; in fact it was one of the first solid foods I fed my son. My favourite moong dal recipes include the Pesarattu (similar to a dosa) and Moong Dal Payasam (a lentil pudding). While Indian Payasams/Kheers are milk based, the moong dal payasam from Kerala is the only Indian vegan payasam that I know of. Here's my easy-to-make version of the dish.

Moong Dal Payasam / Parippu Pradhaman

Roasted Split Moong Dal

Ingredients:

Yellow Split Moong Dal - 1/2 cup

Jaggery - 1/2 cup

Coconut Milk - 100 ml or the milk from 1 coconut

Cardamom (Elaichi) - 3 pods

Water 2 1/3 cups

For the Garnish:

Halved Cashew nuts - a handful.

Raisins - a handful

Chopped coconut pieces - a handful

Enough ghee to fry the above. (Vegans can substitute the ghee with oil.)

My recipe is only mildly sweet, so those of you with a sweet tooth can increase the amount of jaggery.

Method:

1. Dry roast the dal in a heavy bottom pan. Once the dal gets a pink tinge and a lovely roasted aroma emanates, consider the roasting done. Wash the roasted dal. Add 2 cups of water and cook it until it is soft. (You could cook it in a pressure cooker for 2 minutes after the first whistle.) Once cooked, most of the lentils should hold their shape. Lightly mash the cooked dal with a spoon or masher.

2. In a separate vessel, melt the jaggery with 1/3 cup of water on a low flame. Be careful not to let the jaggery burn. Add the melted jaggery and crushed cardamom pods to the dal. (Only jaggery can lend the dish its characteristic flavour and dark colour, so try not to substitute jaggery with sugar.)

3. Slowly add the coconut milk to the dal mixture. The mixture should be gently heated over a low flame for 5 minutes, while stirring it all the time. The coconut milk can curdle if it is heated rapidly.

4. Fry the cashew nuts in ghee/oil till they are golden brown. In the same ghee, you could fry the raisins and coconut pieces. The raisins will plump up and the coconut pieces will dry out and turn brown. Add the cashew nuts, raisins and coconut pieces to the payasam.

The payasam will thicken within an hour, and can be had warm or chilled.

Moong Dal Payasam: Not great food photography, but it's both healthy and tasty.

Coco Peat and Other Garden Experiments for 2012

2012-01-03T22:15:00.000-08:00

My foray into vegetable gardening began only last year. And while I'm far from attaining any kind of self sufficiency in the garden, the experience has been very fruitful.

Prior to my little rooftop patch, I didn't know the taste of a tomato picked fresh off the vine. I didn't even know that at the end of their season, it would be harder to get red tomatoes. But that it was okay. Green tomatoes are perfectly edible. They just need to be used differently. It's not just the tomatoes that I understand better now. I know the taste of raw lady's fingers: they're sweet and crunchy when freshly picked and not all slimy like I expected them to be. I know that moolis don't have to be peeled when they're garden fresh, that growing fennel is as simple as growing weeds.... the list is long.

End-of-season Green Tomatoes and Other Garden Produce for a Chutney

Most of all, I'm glad to see that my son is learning about the food he eats. While most kids (including mine) can be picky about their vegetables, my son is very enthusiastic about the ones he's helped grow. Gardening (i.e. mucking around) is one of his favourite activities and what grows in the garden is treated with due reverence by him and indeed the whole family.

My Son Enjoys Messing Around in the Dirt

So this year, I've decided to expand my garden. My plans include growing plants I've not grown before: lemon, curry leaf, capsicum and onion. I also have ambitions of growing some cool-weather vegetables. Then there are the potting soil experiments I have to do. I've heard of so many formulas for the ideal potting soil that I've now come to believe I need to develop my own, for the kind of compost I use and the weather we have.

Curry Leaf Sapling

At a recent gardening workshop that I attended, the many benefits of coco peat were elucidated. But sourcing coco peat in Chennai is not that easy. It was only after some hunting that I found a supplier that sells the stuff at a reasonable price. In case you're from Chennai and interested, it's the Prarthana Inn Drive Nursery on East Coast Road. Though Chennai is not lacking in coconut trees, it's unfortunate that coco peat isn't easily available in the market. It appears that TN suppliers find it more profitable to export this wonder material than stock it for the local market. For those of you who cannot source coco peat, an alternative would be to tear away the little coconut husk that is left on the coconuts that one gets in shops. Don't try to separate them too much and use them as little chunks itself. On separating the fibre, it seems to retain less water. Since this form of husk is not an exact substitute, use it much more judiciously.

Coco Peat / Coir Fibre Pith / Coir

What's so great about Coco Peat?
Coco peat is a natural fibre derived from coconut husks. Since coconut trees grow in abundance in India, its use is environment friendly. It has tremendous water retention capacity and cannot be easily over-watered. It helps soil aeration and provides for a healthy root system. Because it is lightweight, it's a good option for rooftop gardens housed on roofs that haven't been treated to bear the extra weight. However, since coco peat doesn't provide any nutrients of its own -- it could in fact draw some of the nutrition away from the plant -- regular fertilizing is important.

Equipped with plenty of coco peat and compost this year, I've begun planting my seeds in my new potting soil. If my soil recipe works well, I shall post it. Here is my homemade seed starter tray - a discarded egg carton. The seeds were from a coloured capsicum that I dried at home. The >90% germination rate indicates that I'm on the right track. While I like to start all my plants from seed, the lemon and curry leaf trees are going to be exceptions. I've got saplings of the two as the right seeds are hard to find.

Capsicum Seedlings: 11/12 Sprouts in a Converted Egg Carton

More about them and other new plants in future posts. Till then, happy gardening!

A Sunny Zinnia

My Holiday in Vizag

2011-12-30T03:21:00.000-08:00

This month, I've missed out on the many happenings in Blogosphere. My blogging hiatus was because of my three-week long holiday to Vizag, where my parents live. Three weeks is a long time and Vizag is a beautiful place. And so there's plenty I'd like to share in this post.

Picturesque Vizag

Vizag is a scenic city on the east coast of India. Bounded by the Bay of Bengal on the east and dotted with many hills, this once fishing hamlet is now a major industrial hub. Although I've spent most of my growing-up years in Vizag, every year when I return, the city still throws surprises at me. And so it was this year too. This time, I happened to pay my first visit to INS Kurusura, India's only submarine museum. It was also the first time we visited Tenneti Park. This is a delightful park located high above sea level, but from where a couple of paths will lead you all the way to a quiet little beach. The spruced-up Jatara with its newly installed life-like statues had me dropping my jaw.

At Tenneti Park: My son had fun going down three long slides all the way to the sea.
(Only the steps are visible in this picture.)

These Bullocks Ain't Real

Here are more snapshots of our time in Vizag at the different parks and beaches.

Indian Christmas Tree at VUDA Park (The park I frequented as a child).

Father and Son at the Quiet Rishikonda Beach

Early Morning at the Ramakrishna Beach: My Mother with My Son

Vizagites take ample advantage of the city's many scenic spots, especially during Karthik Masam, which is after Diwali. Karthik Masam is the traditional picnic season, when hordes of families and groups can be seen to descend on every possible picnic spot.

One such picnic spot recently developed is Jatara, which attempts to showcase rural Andhra and promote folk arts.

Sculpture at Jatara: Village Belles at the Well

Sculpture at Jatara: Girls Playing Traditional Games on a Charpoy

Located amidst a reserve forest and flanked by tall green hills is the 625 acre Indira Gandhi Zoological Park. It is home to many exotic animals including lions, hippos and Himalayan bears.

Sirish, the White Tiger

Some Interesting Pictures of Vizag's Flora and Fauna

Fruits

Custard Apple-shaped Dustbin at a Park

Jumbo Lemon Sourced from the Farmers' Market. One of these = 6 limes.

Birds and Beasts

Rooster at Jatara

Emus at the Zoo

Sambar Deer Against the Backdrop of a Banyan Tree

Terracotta Pony

Giant Grasshoppers

A trip to Vizag is incomplete without visiting the Kailash Giri hill. As the name indicates, Kailash Giri is a hill-top park that has a massive Siva-Parvati statue. What sets it apart from other hills are its gardens, a rope-way, a circular train, a non-conventional energy park and plenty of kid attractions. Overlooking the Bay of Bengal, it offers several panoramic views of the city.

View from Kailash Giri

The Cable Car at Kailash Giri is Extremely Popular

The hills, the beaches and its affable inhabitants make Vizag an endearing place. Yet, behind the apparent beauty, the city harbours some ugly secrets. The air and water pollution in Vizag has been going from bad to worse over the years. During my visit this time, there were local newspaper reports of hundreds of fish dying near the Shipyard. To be precise, two tons of mackerel fish had died, presumably due to the unchecked release of industrial effluents into the sea.

Fog or Smog?

Most of the city's pollution can be attributed to the steel plant, the oil refinery, the port trust, and several other factories that border the city. People are finally waking up to the industrial damage and questioning unbridled growth. On the penultimate day of our holiday, the whole family had packed up for a trip to the Anantagiri hills, a two-hour drive from Vizag. Midway, we found ourselves stranded when a huge group of tribal farmers had blocked the road (the only one to the hills) as a mark of protest. They were protesting against the destructive mining activities in the region and were determined to send back a government delegation (and everyone else) who were visiting that day. While we were rather disappointed to turn back, I believe those farmers may in fact have been doing us a favour. Our trees, hills and beaches need to be protected and unfortunately road blocks and hartals seem to be an effective way.

My green wishlist for 2012: a greener rooftop garden and more importantly, a greener, cleaner planet.

Camouflage - II

2011-11-29T22:40:00.000-08:00

In one of my earlier posts, I'd described how I stumbled on a leaf insect. Well, it seems like leaf insects are dime a dozen. One just needs to look through their cunning camouflage.

The other day, I spotted this green leaf insect resting on my Sweet Basil plant. Its spindly legs were the exact hue and appearance of a thin woody basil stem, while other parts of its body bore the illusion of mottled basil leaves.

Spot Me If You Can

~~Green Leaf Insect~~ Wandering Violin Mantis
in Belly-up Position

The next morning I went to check on the insect, not quite expecting to still find it. I was in for a big surprise, when not only did I find my original green leaf insect, I also found two other brown leaf insects. All three insects were pressed against each other. My theory is that the two brown ones were males who were fighting for the lone green female. In the evening, I found one of the brown insects all by himself in a corner, while the other brown chap was sticking to the green one. Isn't that how it usually is in the animal kingdom.

There are 3 of Us Here: One Green and Two Brown

In a Tussle?

I now believe that I've probably brushed past many a leaf insect without a second glance, owing to its brilliant camouflage.

PS: I'm off on holiday, so you may not hear from me for a while.

Update: I had incorrectly identified the above insects as Leaf Insects. I believe the insect is actually the Wandering Violin Mantis.

A Splash of Colour

2011-11-28T20:48:00.000-08:00

The unrelenting rain has taken a toll on our garden. There are broken branches everywhere. The paths are slushy and slippery. The ground is waterlogged. And my potato experiment is most likely to fail, for the third time this year.

Garden in Disarray

Waterlogged Potato Plant

But in this post, I'm choosing to focus only on the beauty that's still around us. Granting a respite from the dark, grey skies are a few bright and colourful blooms in the garden. Here is my first Zinnia flower. I'm grateful that it obliged to bloom in such wet weather. While in most regions, gardeners strictly follow a sowing and harvest season, in Chennai we do get away without following the calendar. With the exception of the monsoon months, throughout the year, the weather in Chennai is much the same: hot and humid. If the plants aren't weak and immature when the monsoons strike, most plants can tide over.

Zinnia

Another plant that's just begun blooming is my Butter Bean. When a small batch of fresh butter beans were forgotten and too old to be eaten, instead of throwing them away in the compost bin, I carelessly scattered them in a spare container. While the squirrels destroyed every other seedling that sprouted, this vine seems to have made it.

Butter Bean Bloom

Drenched Yellow Bells

The Yellow Bells and Morning Glories are in full bloom. Yellow Bells, with their delicate fragrance, are terrific bee magnets. But their fragrance doesn't carry very far. For fragrance that spreads further, there is the Rangoon Creeper. This creeper has climbed up our bare, leafless Gulmohur tree. Both these are hardy plants, which require little care, but reward you with plenty.

Yellow Bells / Yellow Trumpet Flowers in Profusion

Morning Glory: One of the 1000 Species

Rangoon Creeper

All the flowers I've mentioned here are sun lovers. So unless the sun is out soon, the flowers will all be gone. The thought makes me want to sing my son's nursery rhyme: Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun, please shine down on me.

Sun-loving Scarlet Cordia Tree

Monsoon Skyscapes

2011-11-17T21:30:00.000-08:00

Right now, the Northeast or winter monsoons are sweeping through Tamil Nadu. While we felt the first few thundershowers around Diwali last month, more squally weather is anticipated till the end of this year. The sky often changes colours swiftly from dark grey to clear blue. Here are a few pictures of the sky, taken in the past few days.

Looming Dark Thunderclouds

Next Morning: Clear Skies and A Rainbow

The term "Monsoon" is derived from the Arabic "Mausam", meaning season. While there are monsoons experienced in other parts of the world, the Indian Monsoons are the most spectacular, providing the country with most of its rain. Here's a layman's perspective of the workings of the monsoon. We have two monsoon seasons: the Southwest monsoon or the summer monsoon and the Northeast monsoon or the winter monsoon.

In summer, while the Asian continent is steadily getting heated, the surrounding giant ocean does not get similarly heated. Reason: land heats up and cools down much faster than water. The difference in heat between the land and water bodies is huge, since on the one hand we have the large Asian continent and on the other, we have an equally vast Indian ocean. As the hot air above the land rises, a low pressure is created. The cooler air from above the ocean rushes in to fill the void. Laden with moisture from the oceans, winds (blowing from the south west to the north east) hit the Indian coast by the end of summer. The date of arrival is around June 1st. This is the summer or Southwest monsoons.

Later in the year when the sun retreats, the land cools rapidly, while the ocean still holds its heat. The result is a high pressure zone over the land, which causes the wind from the Himalayas to sweep down towards the Indian Ocean. These winds pick up moisture from the Bay of Bengal and bring rain to Tamil Nadu and other parts; these are known as the Northeast monsoon or the retreating monsoon.

Southern Sky at 11 a.m.: Cloudy Turmoil

Western Sky at 11 a.m.: Azure Blue Skies

Above are pictures from yesterday, taken at exactly the same time. While parts of the sky seemed to be in turmoil, when I turned around, the scene was much calmer.

Evening Sky at 6 p.m.: A Beautiful Sunset

By evening, the sky had cleared up a bit and was a brilliant crimson. There was little hint of the torrential rain that was to follow at night.

Soft Pink Glow

The monsoons are rather erratic and highly unpredictable. In fact, I read here, in this rather informative article, how the only predictability about the monsoon is its unpredictability. Indian farmers are hugely dependent on the monsoons. Yet, our meteorologists give us little and sometimes misleading information about this annual mega weather event. The monsoons are poorly understood and need to be studied more. With more research and better technology in the future, I hope India will have improved weather forecasts. Until then, many Indians may be more content relying on astrological predictions rather than predictions from the met department.

Linked to Skywatch

Drumstick and Other Edible Flowers

2011-10-22T18:14:00.000-07:00

View from the Roof: Drumstick Tree in Bloom

The Drumstick tree is an incredible tree. Nearly every part of the tree is edible: leaves, flowers, pods, seeds, roots and even bark. Right now, one of the five drumstick trees in our common garden is in bloom. The flowers I discovered only recently, are not just edible; they're delicious. If you're lucky to have a drumstick tree, it wont hurt to occasionally sample a bunch or two. But since the flowers go on to produce pods, it's inadvisable to amass all the flowers.

Drumstick (Moringa) Flowers

With input from my mother, here's a simple Drumstick Flower recipe that I devised.

Ingredients for My Drumstick Flower Recipe

Ingredients:
Drumstick flowers - 2 cups
Freshly grated coconut - 1 cup
Green chillies - 2
Cumin seeds - 2 tsps
Oil for frying
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp or as per taste
Salt - As per taste
Method:
Grind the coconut, chillies and cumin to a coarse paste. In a pan, fry the paste in oil for a few minutes. Pick and thoroughly wash the drumstick flowers. Add the flowers and a little water to the pan. Add salt and turmeric. Cover and cook till done. The dish should be ready in about 10 minutes.

Cooked Drumstick Flowers

The flowers taste a bit like mushrooms or banana flowers. Banana flowers are however quite laborious to prepare and can be astringent, if not cooked right.

Fennel Basking in the Sun

Another 100% edible plant, from flower to bulb is Fennel or Saunf. My Fennel plant on the rooftop is currently in full bloom. The flowers along with the seeds are delightfully sweet, which are food not just for humans but a variety of insects. Mid morning, when the sun is shining brightly, there's a swarm of insects hovering over the fennel flowers.

Insects

In India, fennel is most popular as an after-meal mouth freshener and digestive aid. It also features in several Kashmiri and Gujarati cuisines. Surprisingly, the spice doesn't figure very much in south Indian cooking, despite the fact that it grows very easily here. Just sprinkle a few store-bought seeds in the soil and you'll be rewarded with plenty of fragrant fennel. If you plan to grow them in containers on the rooftop like me, you may want to water them twice a day on very sunny days, lest they wilt. Otherwise, fennel appears to be hardy and well suited to Chennai's hot climate.

Golden Fennel Flowers

There are a few other flowers in our garden that fall into the edible category.

Aparajita or Butterfly Pea: I recently planted Aparajita in one of my containers. It's another easy-to-grow plant, which will add colour to a garden, perennially. The flowers are deep blue and have a unique shell shape. While I am attracted to the flowers, so are the neighbourhood squirrels. Every morning, there may be several aparajitas that have bloomed. But the squirrels tramp around and by evening they are reduced to shreds. These flowers are edible and are used to colour food. At Auroville, you may be able to buy yourself a bottle of Aparajita syrup, which has a refreshing, rather unique flavour.

Aparajita

Hibiscus: Another source of food colour and syrups are hibiscus flowers. They're also used to flavour tea. But I doubt the hibiscus flowers from our common garden have ever found their way into a kitchen. We mostly use it for worship.

Hibiscus rosa sinensis

Jasmine: The queen of fragrances, this flower is used to scent tea. Recently, I received a tin of Taiwanese Jasmine tea from my neighbour. The delicate fragrance and flavour of the tea was heavenly, almost intoxicating. Jasmine Tea is a specialty tea from China that is supposed to have health benefits. Having savored Jasmine tea, I wonder why we don't have other Jasmine flavoured food and drink.

Arabian Jasmine. Other Names: Moghra, Malli, Mallika, Mulla, Sambac,Yasmeen, Sampaguita

While there are over 200 species — both shrubs and vines — belonging to the Jasmine genus, our garden has just two varieties. We have two Arabian Jasmine bushes, which sadly rarely ever bloom. (Recorded just two blooms this year.)

Star Jasmine Vine

And then we have a Star Jasmine vine, which has climbed all four stories of our building. These flowers aren't as fragrant as most jasmine, but they're always around, dangling like pretty white stars.

There are so many edible flowers around us. But how does one really go about using them in the kitchen? I'm on the look out for flower recipes. If you have a flower recipe to share, please drop your comments.

Mooli - The One Month Wonder

2011-10-20T03:06:00.000-07:00

Mooli

Having read Geekgardener's detailed post on how easy it is to grow Mooli (Daikon Radish), I thought I'd experiment. Just 38 days later, the result was three crunchy Moolis. Moolis are ready for harvest in just 30 to 40 days of sowing. A few of the seedlings didn't make it to being full-grown Moolis, but I've been duly compensated with plenty of Mooli leaves. Potatoes and Mooli leaves are a good combination. The tops can also be used to add extra bite to a soup, salad or raita.

From Garden to Table in 38 Days

The Moolis were grated (not peeled) and added to curd for Mooli Raita. You don't want to be peeling and wasting any part of a homegrown Mooli!

Radish Tops

This vegetable is a great way to introduce oneself to vegetable gardening. Now that I know how easy and quick it is to grow, I am planning my second batch.

Black Pepper, Bonsais and Fruit Trees

2011-10-01T05:25:00.000-07:00

The title of this post sums up the highlights of my mother-in-law's garden. Last weekend, my family and I visited my in-laws, who live in Bangalore. An avid gardener, my mother-in-law has created a charming garden over several decades. The garden is well-balanced, one that has fruit trees, vegetables, herbs, flowers and ornamental foliage plants adequately represented.

L to R: Fern, Begonia, Unknown, Lime, Rose, Succulent, Orchid Crown of Thorns, Ornamental Foliage and Anthurium

A Section of the Garden Downstairs

The narrow strips of land bordering the house are cluttered with plants and trees of various kinds. Many fruits and vegetables grow here, leaving just enough space to move around. On the other hand, the roof garden is well organised and more ornamental. Here, the family enjoys its evening tea sessions.

The Family Chai Adda: Part of the Roof Garden

Besides other plants, the roof garden has an an envious collection of succulents. And though I was given several specimens of these, I must admit, I haven't quite succeeded in growing them. Could I blame my failure on the humidity of Chennai or is it my habit of over-watering that did them in? Succulents and cacti, though hardy, need to be watered carefully and I haven't really figured it out.

A Succulent. Harvested Paddy Hanging Beside It

Rose Tinted Succulent

Another Fleshy Succulent

The roof garden also boasts of two dainty bonsai trees. They are both Ficus benjamina that have aged gracefully over nearly two decades. While I have been witness to their re-potting, there are many other tricks of the bonsai trade that I am yet to learn. Pruning, wiring and careful watering are few of the secrets.

Ficus Benjamina Bonsai

Ornamentals add beauty to a garden. But homegrown vegetables and fruits are what truly delight us. Currently, the list of fruits and vegetables include limes, bitter gourds, pumpkins, pomegranates, custard apples, chikoos and coconuts.

Bitter Gourd Creeper Climbing on the Water Well

Near the entrance of the house is the Chikoo or Sapota tree. This tree seems to be perpetually brimming with chikoos that are intensely sweet. While the outside of a ripe chikoo looks and feels like sandpaper, the inside is soft and almost creamy. No wonder sapotas are excellent in milk shakes. Picking sapotas at the right stage is very tricky. They can be picked before they ripen, but if picked prematurely, they remain stone hard and will not ripen. Yet, if one were to wait for the fruit to ripen on the tree, chances are that they will be eaten by bats. (Fruit bats are hugely fond of Chikoos.)

Sapota or Chikoo Tree

The two coconut trees, planted by my husband and his sister in their childhood are also extremely prolific. My mother-in-law has to constantly find ways of distributing the hundreds of coconuts that are harvested each season. While some are given away to the coconut tree climber, some make it to the neighbours' kitchens. Still others are carried all the way to Chennai, whenever they visit us. The remaining coconuts are dried and used as copra.

Under the Coconut Tree

At present, one of the coconut trees supports a Black Pepper vine. As you can see, the vine is laden with pepper corns. Yet, this was not always the case. Apparently, Black Pepper needs plenty of mulch at its roots as it likes moist soil. It was only after my mother-in-law added loads of coconut husk fibre at the base of the vine, that the pepper yield increased. I also learnt from her how peppercorns get their various colours. The green unripe peppercorns are picked and dried in the sun to get black pepper. To get white pepper, the same black pepper is boiled and its skin is removed. And if you want red pepper, wait for the green unripe peppercorns to ripen, just as you would tomatoes.

Unripe Pepper Corns on the Vine

Our trip to Bangalore was also marked by a visit to the famous Lalbagh gardens. For those who don't know, the Lalbagh Botanical Garden — initially a garden created for Mysore royalty in the late 18th century — is a sprawling garden and a botanical study centre of international repute. We had a delightful picnic lunch under the trees there. And after lunch, we did some garden shopping at the nursery. While I chose some seeds and bulbs, my mother-in-law bought large sacks of horse manure and vermicompost. No doubt her plants are well fed. But they thrive for another reason: Tender Loving Care (TLC). My mother-in-law regularly talks to her plants. A little love goes a long way.

At Lalbagh Gardens: Bottle Brush Tree in Bloom

Leafy Greens

2011-09-12T23:06:00.000-07:00

While veggies like tomatoes and ladies fingers provide the "wow" factor in a kitchen garden, it is leafy greens that are more reliable and easy to grow.

Spinach:
Of all my kitchen garden plants, the most faithful has been spinach. For over 9 months now, I've been getting a fresh crop of crisp spinach leaves every couple of weeks. At each harvest, I leave about 25% of the inner leaves to ensure another crop. While I've always been led to believe that spinach is a cool weather plant, which is quick to bolt in hot weather, the truth seems very different. Even in the height of summer, when temperatures soared to nearly 40 degrees C, my spinach never failed me. The variety I have, is well adapted to Chennai's heat and hasn't shown any signs of bolting or ageing. My homemade compost and regular watering have seen it through.

Crisp Spinach Leaves

Thriving Spinach

This vegetable is among the easiest to prepare and is very versatile. But if you're interested in deriving the most nutrition from it, it's best to combine it with vitamin C rich foods. Freshly squeezed lemon juice before serving will do the trick. A doctor explained to me, how the iron in spinach (and in fact all greens) is of the "non-heme" kind, which isn't easily made available to the body unless combined with enhancers, such as vitamin C.

Drumstick Tree (Moringa) Greens:
While the health benefits of spinach are well known, most of us do not fully appreciate the nutritional benefits of drumstick tree leaves. A few months ago, when the building gardener had vigorously cut back the drumstick trees, there were enough greens to fill several sacks, but very few takers. Even I was hesitant and took only one large bunch, though I was offered several. I sauteed the greens and sprinkled a little jaggery in the end, fearing that they would be bitter. But the leaves tasted very good and were not the least bit bitter. In fact now that I know, I'd simply prepare them the way I would spinach.

Treeful of Greens: Drumstick (Moringa) Tree

Super-nutritious Drumstick Greens

Internet sources declare that drumstick leaves are exceptionally nutritious. They all claim that they are such an excellent source of beta-carotene, vitamin C, protein and iron that in many parts of the world they are used to fight malnutrition. What I find spectacular though is how quickly the tree grows. Even after thorough pruning, the trees have grown back in about six months. So if you can't invest much time and energy in gardening, but still want your daily serving of greens homegrown, a drumstick tree can guarantee that.

Microgreens and Baby Greens.

Fenugreek (Methi) Baby Greens

Mustard Baby Greens

Micro/Baby Greens in My Raita

Microgreens are tender, young greens harvested when the first true leaves appear and they are just a few inches tall. Baby greens are slightly older and larger. Both these are great in salads and garnishes and only take a couple of weeks to harvest. An ideal option for the impatient gardener! So far, I've tasted success with mustard, fenugreek (methi) and fennel (saunf), all of which are spices found in any Indian kitchen.

Radish Seedlings: Intensely Flavourful

Green Beginnings: Fennel (Saunf) Greens are Great in Hummus

Another comforting fact about growing them is that they hardly require any space. Old tin cans, plastic trays and other small containers can be put to use for the cause. And all they need is a sunny spot on a windowsill or a balcony ledge.

Happy Onam!

2011-09-08T21:52:00.000-07:00

Today is Onam, the mother of all festivals in Kerala. It is the day when the legendary King Mahabali makes his annual visit to all Malayali homes. To welcome him, a pookalam (flower arrangement) is made in front of the house.

When I was young, I'd wake up early on Onam and go on a flower picking expedition. Flowers from the garden and the wayside were collected and arranged in rings. The flower gathering trek was as much a part of the festival as the final arrangement. Today, pookalams are often grander, but the flowers are usually always bought.

Pookalam - 2011; Tuberose, Rose, Chrysanthemum, Jasmine, Lotus, etc.

Here is our little pookalam made by my little boy (and me). My mother always insisted on a hibiscus flower in the centre. It symbolises the koda (umbrella), she said, ubiquitous in Kerala.

And this is last year's pookalam.

Pookalam: 2010; Jasmine, Rose, Chrysanthemum, Marigold, etc.

Onam is about flowers, Onasadyas (feasts), new clothes and revelry. Happy Onam!

Semmozhi Poonga: A Green Oasis

2011-09-06T17:34:00.000-07:00

On Ramzan last week, we finally made our long-due trip to Semmozhi Poonga, a botanical garden in the heart of the city. Located on Cathedral Road and surrounded by several multistorey buildings, this urban garden is a green haven amid all the city clamour. Aesthetically designed and well maintained, this is probably Chennai's best urban park.

Entrance of the Semmozhi Poonga

Vertical Garden

The entrance is singularly elegant. The archway has a vertical garden filled with numerous plant species and is a fantastic showstopper. Nearly 15 feet high it compels visitors to linger and survey the passage, before they pay the nominal entrance fee of five rupees. Semmozhi Poonga literally translates as "Classical Language Park" in Tamil. To the uninitiated, this might sound an odd name for a park. But it was named thus to immortalize the World Classical Tamil Meet, which was held around the same time as the park was built.

A Riot of Colour

As per Wiki, the 20 acre park has been built at a whopping cost of Rs.80 million. Evidently, plenty has been spent on procuring plants from other countries. The garden abounds with native species interspersed with several exotic ones. But what I found enchanting were the very old native trees that were there even before the park. In fact though the bonsai garden is pretty, I can't say I'm elated over all the foreign plants it houses. I have come to terms with consumer goods that are "Made in China", but when a park commemorating Classical Tamil, sources its plants from China, it seems a tad ironic. I am also led to believe that some plants have gone missing since the park's inception, going by early newspaper reports. Could it be that the missing plants were imports not suited to Chennai?

A Rockery

Geese in the Pond, Climbing Up and Down the Ladder

The Park Amidst the Concrete Jungle

Bonsai Garden: Made in China

Ficus with Shaped Tree Trunk

What is faultless though, is the maintenance of facilities. Here, there are no broken benches or litter. The toilets are spotless. The play equipment in the children's park is top class. The food counters are unobtrusive, yet largely successful. All in all, Semmozhi Poonga is a lovely hang-out. Wish Chennai many such parks in the future.

Entrance to the Children's Park

Old Trees; Part of the Amphitheatre is Visible on the Left

Creepy Crawlies: Friends and Foes of the Gardener

2011-09-02T00:54:00.000-07:00

For the past couple of weeks, I have been guilty of neglecting both my garden and blog. To some extent, my diminished interest can be blamed on the hornets, which have their now-mammoth nest near my roof garden. My lack of attention has cost me dearly. A host of mealy bugs, aphids and ants have made my brinjal plant their home. The basil has also been affected by a few black aphids.

This post is about few of the creepy crawlies that have come uninvited to my garden, at different times.

Ants

While ants in the garden can be useful -- they decompose organic matter -- occasionally they tend to eat the plant. Ants may also cultivate or "farm" other pests like aphids and mealybugs. There was a short period, when all my ladies fingers were being devoured by ants. Diatomaceous earth (microscopic fossils of algae like, water plants) is supposed to be the best all-natural ant killer. But I couldn't find this miracle powder and so settled for the traditional, cure-all Neem oil spray. When that didn't work, I tried a thick paste of turmeric and soap. This helped marginally, but the paste had to be applied twice a day. And I didn't want to be overdosing on either soap or turmeric. Finally, after a couple of weeks, the ants did get fed up, quite literally, with my ladies finger and their numbers began dwindling. I think the ants actually quit because their voracious appetites could no longer be satisfied.

Ants Feeding on Immature Lady's Finger Pods

Aphids and Mealybugs

Aphids are also called plant lice. Both aphids and mealybugs suck the plant sap and can carry a host of plant diseases. The aphids on my brinjal had been unnoticed, because they were feasting from the underside of the leaves. It was only when I detected ants on my plant, that I uncovered a huge colony of aphids. Ants act as guardians of both aphids and mealybugs as they benefit from the honeydew (sweet secretions) that they secrete.

Mealybugs

Pale Green Aphids and White Mealybugs on the Leaf Underside

Caterpillars

While a butterfly is welcome in gardens, their predecessor, the caterpillar isn't. Here's a hungry baby caterpillar. Yeah! Caterpillars are ALWAYS hungry.

A Banished Caterpillar

Leaf Miners

These look like threads fused into leaves. They are actually larvae of various insects like beetles, moths and even wasps. The larvae tunnel their way through the plant tissue and live within the leaf. So far, simply removing the affected leaves is all I've had to do to keep them in check.

Leafminer on a Tulsi Leaf

Ladybirds

Set a bug to catch a bug. Lady birds are natural predators of aphids and many other plant pests. I have spotted a couple of ladybirds on my brinjal plant. How they have sensed that my plant is in trouble I do not know. But I feel reassured to know that I'm not alone in my fight against the aphids.

Ladybird: Hunting Pests

Earthworms

Now here is a creepy crawly that clearly isn't a pest. An indicator of healthy soil, earthworms are farmers' friends. I love finding them in my garden soil. The fatter they are, the more delighted I am. Not only do these worms aerate the soil, their castings act as natural fertilizer.

A Glistening Earthworm

Since harsh chemical insecticides are a no-no in my garden, I rely on natural pest control. Most of these are painfully slow to act. The Penguin Book of Gardening in India by Meera Uberoi has plenty of "Indian recipes" for driving away pests. Usually they call for turmeric, neem oil, soap solution (not detergent) and tobacco leaves (cigarettes will suffice if you can't find the leaves). There are some offbeat recipes too, like the one for snails. Apparently snails enjoy beer as much as many humans. So snails are to be trapped in bottles that have beer in them! But having tried some of these home remedies, I believe the best remedy is Prevention. A healthy plant is less likely to fall prey to pests.

I'll end my post with a video link of a beautiful kitchen garden. I'd watched this a year ago; yet I vividly remember the entire presentation. Watch till the end, on how to confuse pests, the Permaculture way.

Welcome Showers

2011-08-12T01:17:00.000-07:00

While most of India has been hit by the South west Monsoons, Tamil Nadu as usual, has picked up only some of this rain. To get our fair share of downpour, we will have to wait till the end of the year, for the North east monsoons. Maximum temperatures are still in the 33 deg C - 36 deg C range. However, even the occasional light showers that we've been getting are a blessing. The layers of dust on the trees have been washed off, the smaller plants aren't wilting any more, the city seems greener and everyone is more cheerful.

Lush View from the Western Side of Our Roof

Rain has Goaded the Lantana to Bloom

With each brief spell of rain, there are a few new appearances in the garden.

A recent appearance is the Keezha Nelli or Phyllanthus niruri. In Tamil, "Keezha" means down/under and "nelli" means berry. Under the leaves of this plant, you will find tiny green mustard seed-sized fruits. It is this feature that helps me distinguish it from other similar looking weeds. Though in Ayurveda, it is regarded highly, it is in reality an unassuming weed that chooses to spring up anyplace. As a child, I remember my mother telling me about its anti-jaundice properties. It also has several other medical benefits, including kidney stone prevention. With several trials underway, allopaths are seriously looking at its potential.

Phyllanthus Niruri or Keezha Nelli (in Tamil)

Tiny fruit on the Leaf Underside

Mushrooms have also been sprouting in parts of our garden.

Pushing Through the Dirt

A Fine Umbrella for Some Bug?

Like most Indians, I haven't a clue about which mushrooms are edible and which aren't. It's hard enough for an expert. Traditionally labelled as "tamasic", since it springs out of rotting and decaying matter, mushrooms haven't enjoyed a favourable reputation in India. We are beginning to change that as we discover the joys of eating them. Yet, the more orthodox among us, still like to keep away from these fungi.

Mushroom with a Reed Fused into it.

While mushroom cultivation requires a tightly controlled environment, I like the way these wild mushrooms choose to sprout anywhere with gay abandon. If only I could eat them!

Nests in the Garden

2011-08-10T00:02:00.000-07:00

A crow nestling has emerged in the crow's nest that I'd written about in my earlier post. There were three eggs but only one baby crow made it into the world.

Crow Nestling: Nearly 20 Days Old

This is one spunky little chick that's always demanding food and attention from its parents. Actually it needn't bother. Both its parents are very indulgent and are forever fussing over their only baby. Tasty morsels are brought to it all day. Often, some of it is deposited on our bathroom windowsill. The other day, we had a large chicken foot placed on our windowsill. The hideous image of the severed foot completely freaked me out. But I imagine it was a treat for our baby crow.

Screaming for its Food: Like all Babies, Bird or Human

Another bird's nest that came to my notice is an exquisite tailorbird's nest. Abandoned by the birds, I was free to examine it from all angles. The nest is most impressive. Two large leaves have been delicately sewn together with plant fibre.

Abandoned Tailorbird's Nest

Underside: Sewn together with Plant Fibre

The inside is lined with soft material, specially beak-picked by the parents. The tailorbird is a tiny bird, with a high-pitched chwee chwee call. Always flitting from branch to branch, it hardly ever stays still. And though I spot it ever so often, I've never been able to capture this bird with my lens. At least now I have shots of its workmanship.

Inside the Nest: Warm and Cosy

There's one more nest in the garden, that deserves mention. A hornets' nest. Though beautiful, this nest mostly evokes dread in me. Here's a zoomed in picture of the nest, courtesy of my neighbour. The nest being on the top (fourth) floor of our building, my simple, point and shoot camera could not measure up to the task.

Hornets' Nest: Made of Chewed Plant Fibre and Wasps' Saliva

After a lot of research on the Internet, I've come to believe that this is the Greater Banded Hornet or the Vespa Tropica. Please correct me, if I am wrong.

Greater Banded Hornet / Vespa Tropic: A Dead One

The sting of this wasp is rather painful. We know this for a fact as we've recently had two victims. While a bee stings once, a wasp can sting repeatedly and without any apparent provocation. What is more worrying is that a small percentage of people are allergic to the stings and if stung, can go into anaphylactic shock, which is potentially fatal.

In cooler climes, most wasps die in winter. But the so called winter in Chennai may simply go unnoticed by the wasps. While I find the presence of the hornet's nest threatening, (especially on hot days), and am even contemplating its elimination, I'm also hoping I don't have to meddle with nature. Would the wasps do me a favour and relocate some place else. Or is this wishful thinking?

Today's Garden Visitor - The Rat Snake

2011-08-03T04:16:00.000-07:00

This morning, a snake was spotted in the building's common garden. While snakes have been spotted ever so often in our garden, this one seemed worthy of special attention. At over 3 feet, it seemed too long to ignore. Most city folk don't know much about snakes. In fact, many of us could easily mistake a worm for a snake. So for us urbanites, whether we can tell if a snake is venomous or not, is too much to ask for. Whenever a snake is causing inconvenience in Chennai, the Guindy Snake Park is contacted. The snake park employs a bunch of extremely professional snake catchers who are open to distress calls related to snakes.

Snake Catcher from the Guindy Snake Park

When the snake catcher arrived, he identified it as the rat snake. This snake is quite common and pretty harmless to humans. As its name suggests, it feeds on rats. However harmless they may be, snakes aren't welcome in urban dwellings. So it was bundled into a cloth bag and taken away to be released in the wild. With one less rat snake around, if the rat population rises, we have only ourselves to blame.

Holding the Snake Tight

My son and I were thoroughly impressed by the snake catcher. Without a hint of fear, our man held the struggling creature, strongly in his hands. These men are known to expertly handle even the deadliest of snakes, often with just a crowbar or even their bare hands. What they rely on is their excellent acumen, honed over generations. The snake catching Irula tribe are one of the best snake catchers in the world. Now I know who the hero of my next story for my son will be -- the Brave Snake Catcher from Guindy.

Brinjal or Eggplant or Aubergine - What's in a Name?

2011-07-18T23:50:00.000-07:00

Brinjal or Eggplant or Aubergine

This vegetable of the Nightshade family is known by different names in different parts of the world: Aubergine in France, Eggplant in North America, and here in India we know it as Brinjal. Brinjal is native to India and there are nearly 2500 varieties of Brinjal grown here. They can be white, green, purple, round, long, huge, tiny, striped, etc. So when I sourced my brinjal seeds from the local nursery without knowing the variety, there was much suspense about the kind of fruit I would get. Nearly three months later I found out that my brinjal is the small, round, purple variety.

Brinjal Bounty

Before cooking brinjal, one is advised to salt, rinse and drain it, to rid it of its slight bitterness. Raw Brinjal, in fact, can’t be eaten as they are somewhat bitter; the reason is that they contain minute amounts of nicotine. Here’s a fun fact sourced from Wikipedia: Nine Kgs of brinjal contain a cigaretteful of nicotine. But once brinjal is cooked, its flesh turns succulent, almost melting, with a rich, slightly meaty flavour. This vegetable is extremely versatile and there are a mind boggling number of recipes that one can choose from around the world. Very often, the brinjals in my kitchen find their way into sambhar, vangi bhaat (brinjal rice) or a tomato brinjal curry. Yet, Deep-fried Brinjal slices (Sicilian style) and Baba Ghanoush are my favourites.

A Recent Harvest

Salted Brinjal Slices: To be Rinsed and Drained

Baba Ghanoush is a wonderful Middle Eastern dish, in which baked brinjal is mashed and combined with olive oil and seasoning. There are many more mouthwatering brinjal recipes. Like the Turkish Imam Bayildi (brinjals stuffed with tomato, garlic and onions and simmered in olive oil). Imam Bayildi literally means the “Imam (Muslim Priest) fainted”; he fainted after eating the dish as it was so good. Now, with an interesting name like that, one is strongly urged to try it out.

Let me sign off with the story of an unusal experiment. An Indian farmer from Chattisgarh has grafted Tomato and Brinjal into a single plant and is getting good results. Since both tomato and brinjal belong to the same family, such an experiment is possible. Here is the link to the video. Can we further this logic and grow all Solanaceae species in the same plant. Can we have a “potato, tomato, chilly, capsicum and brinjal all-in-one” plant? Somehow, I find the idea disagreeable, even if it is to bear fruit (pun intended).

Camouflage

2011-07-14T02:05:00.000-07:00

What do you see in the picture below? A dried Almond tree leaf, a fallen almond and some other dried leaves. Look harder.

Camouflage: Spot the Odd One

Can you spot the spindly legs of the brown Leaf Insect sitting on the almond leaf? I nearly missed it, but when I saw the leaves move in the absence of a breeze, I looked closer and was in for a surprise. Not only does this creature look like brown leaves, it also tries to mimic the movement of leaves being blown in the wind. The insect rocks back and forth as it moves.

Brown Leaf Insect

Here is a clear shot of the insect. If someone can help me identify it more accurately, please let me know.

Meet the Oldest Tree in Chennai

2011-07-11T00:58:00.000-07:00

The international headquarters of the Theosophical Society is located in Chennai, just a couple of miles from my home. Dedicated towards Theosophy, this unique society encourages the study of different religions and philosophies. According to Lonely Planet, its library houses a vast collection of religious books, including “thousand-year-old Buddhist scrolls and intricate, handmade 19th-century bibles”. Yet, more often visitors, including myself, are drawn here for another reason – its natural beauty. Of late, I’ve been making regular trips and I find I’m getting addicted to the fragrance and the loveliness of the place.

Burmese Pink Cassia

Tree Canopy

Vinka Lined Path leading to the Parsi Fire Temple

The entire campus is canopied by old, majestic trees. Paths leading to various bungalows and places of worship are lined with flowering shrubs that are often mobbed by swarms of butterflies and colourful dragonflies. Although nature hasn’t been allowed to grow completely wild, here you will not find well manicured gardens, save for a few patches. Instead you may often find yourself under eerie bat colonies, buzzing bee hives or monstrous hornet nests. But it is this wilderness, in the heart of bustling Chennai, which I find so alluring.

Flying Fox Colony

Bee Hive Near the Cannon Ball / Nagalingam Tree

Hornet's Nest

The star attraction of the Theosophical Society is the Great Banyan Tree, the oldest tree in Chennai. The tree is over 450 years old, and by the latest record, is spread over 65,000 square feet. It is not surprising then, that it can host a gathering of 3000 at a time. The tree’s central trunk was destroyed in a storm, years ago, but now its prop roots support the tree and it continues to encompass more ground each passing year. When one learns that the tree has been host to great souls like Gandhi, Maria Montessori, the Dalai Lama and J. Krishnamurti among others, one feels even more reverence for it.

Great Banyan Tree: Over 450 years Old and Spread Across 65,000 sq ft.

There is another tree that characterizes the campus: the Nagalinga tree or the Cannon Ball tree. Native to the Amazonian rain forests, this is a tall tree with beautiful fragrant flowers that one can smell from a mile off. The Nagalinga flower attracts hordes of bees and strangely it springs directly from the bark of the tree trunk. If that’s not enough oddness for one tree, there’s more. Its fruit is woody and resembles a cannon ball that can cause considerable harm if it were to fall on you. The flower is considered sacred in India as the petals resemble the hood of a Naga (snake) protecting a Shiva lingam (the stigma).

Nagalingam Tree/Cannon Ball Tree

Nagalingam Pushpa (Flower)

From Another Angle

Bordering the campus is the Adyar river, on the banks of which one can find many large water birds and Giant Ghost Crabs. And though I tried hard to get a picture of the Giant crab, they were just too quick for me. These crabs crawled into their holes, the moment they sensed my presence from afar.

Cactus

Cactus Flowers

Palm Flowers

Snail

Enclosed within 100 acres of land, the Theosophical Society campus is a treasure house of diverse plant and animal species. The campus can easily be mistaken for a botanical garden. For a pictorial reference of the flora and fauna that reside here, click on the links you will find here.

Tamarind Drying

Harvested Coconuts

Rofous Treepie

Good News From My Garden

2011-06-29T02:38:00.000-07:00

There’s some good news! A crow couple, which lives adjacent to my building, is expecting triplets. They have a nest atop a coconut tree, which I can peek into from the stair case landing of the third floor. The would-be parents are guarding the eggs round the clock. But on this rare occasion, the parents were away and I managed to take two good photos of the pale green eggs in their nest.

Three Crow's Eggs

Nearly Hidden From View

Despite the scorching heat in the afternoon, the evenings are often cool and pleasant. Occasionally we even have a spell of rain. Early in the week, when it was about to rain, this Kingfisher seemed rapturous. It went about shrieking “Kee Kee Kee Keeeee”, almost begging me to take a picture of it. So I obliged.

White Breasted Kingfisher

In my earlier post, Birds from My Window, I’d mentioned the rare sighting of the Lesser Golden-backed Woodpecker. Well, I recently spotted it for the second time. It was right above me, but I didn’t have my camera handy. By the time I went up and down three floors for my camera, the bird had moved away, thanks to the crows. But here is a zoomed in, long shot of the beauty.

Lesser Golden-Backed Woodpecker

Coming to the flora in my garden. The suspense with regard to my brinjal is over. And it is…. it is the small, round, purple variety. It was delicious, almost melting, as I had it in my sambar yesterday.

Purple Brinjal Drenched in the Rain

Let me sign off with pictures from the balcony garden and the garden downstairs.

Pomegranate Blooms

Bunches of Pink Ixora flowers

Spotted Leaves and Floor: Caladium Plant

Say "Chillieees"

2011-06-24T17:48:00.000-07:00

I was born and mostly raised in the land of Chillies – Andhra Pradesh. The typical Andhraite loves his food searingly hot and spicy. Often, after a traditional Andhra meal, my mouth and fingers would burn for long time. My gut would be on fire and I would have to douse it with a large cup of curd or butter milk. Yet in my own home, chillies were sparingly used. So I never quite honed my taste buds to savour these peppers. That was until I grew my own. Growing vegetables has made me deeply appreciative of the food I eat. I’ve become more aware of their freshness and taste. As for chillies, they’ve regained their rightful place in the kitchen.

Freshly Harvested Green Chillies

When my neighbour was growing chillies, she offered me a young seedling, which I readily accepted. The seedling has grown into a large bushy plant now and is quite prolific. When young, the chilly is light green, has a wrinkled appearance and is rather long, often with a twisted end. Later, it turns a beautiful bright red. It could very well be the Indian Jwala (volcano) variety but I’m not sure. I’m hoping that a reader will help me identify it correctly. Googling hasn’t quite helped; instead I’ve come across this great link on some chilly FAQs, which I’d like to share with you. It has some useful tips on how to preserve chillies for a longer time, how to reduce the burning sensation when handling them, etc.

Tiny, White Chilly Bloom

Chilli Plant with Chillies

For my small family, which consumes few chillies, this single plant is all we need. One advantage of having your own chilly plant is that you can harvest chillies as per your tolerance levels. Most chillies turn hotter as they mature. Having my own plant now makes it’s very easy for me to choose a tender young chilly that’s just the degree of hotness that will suit my three-year-old. If my green chillies are left longer on the plant, they turn a fiery red with a hotness that’s mind numbing. When I bit into a fresh red chilly from my plant, for a few minutes, I didn’t know what hit me. It seemed like a volcano had erupted in my mouth.

Tender, Young Chillies: Less Hot

Red Chilly on the Plant

Colour Contrasts: Red Chilly Drying and Yellow Spotted Insect

Though fresh red chillies can be ground and used in Thai red curry pastes and similarly spicy hot preparations, I prefer to use them whole, after drying. They seem a lot tamer that way. The standard South Indian seasoning I frequently use, calls for whole dry red chillies, mustard seeds and curry leaves fried for just a few seconds in hot oil. If done right, the aroma of this seasoning is heavenly. There are so many more exciting ways to use chillies: a hint of green chillies in jam or fruit juice, spicy hot chutneys, finger licking stuffed red chilly pickles, green chilly ice cream, chilly Bajjis on a rainy day, Mexican chocolate and chilly sauce and I’ve even heard of chilly beer.

Brinjal and Other Blooms

2011-06-15T22:02:00.000-07:00

My Brinjal plant has bloomed for the first time this season and I'm really excited. Not knowing what variety of brinjal I've planted, I've been waiting for the fruit for a while. I'll soon get my answer.

Brinjal Flower

Brinjal Bud

Here are my ladies finger blooms wishing me "Good Morning!". It's the second season. And though the earlier ant infestation has diminished on its own, the fruits are markedly smaller this time.

Ladies Finger Flowers

A Beetle on this Flower

The papaya tree in our shared garden is blooming.


Papaya flower

It's been planted too close to the wall and I was afraid that it wouldn't survive. Yet here it is, and it's fruiting.

Papaya Tree

I'll sign off with a picture of my purple heart flowers in the balcony garden.

Purple Heart

Tough Nut to Crack

2011-06-14T23:30:00.000-07:00

My recent trip to Auroville was very fruitful, quite literally. With summer fruits abounding, people freely offered us many fruits. Freebie fruits earned were: Jackfruit, Papaya and Cashew nuts. But this post is mostly about cashew nuts.

Cashew Nuts

Auroville, is dotted with many organic farms that grow cashew nuts, among other things. With the recent media attention on the deadly endosulphan usage on cashew nut trees, I believe Auroville's cashews are prized nuts. But in Auroville, they do not seem to think so; cashew nuts strewn on the road, probably never to be picked, were a common sight. With the realization that the fallen fruit would probably rot, I picked up a handful.

Cashew Fruit and Flowers

Now for some facts. There are two parts to the cashew fruit: the soft cashew apple and the hard cashew nut. The actual cashew kernel that we eat is the "seed " found inside a hard shell. In Goa, the cashew apple pulp is fermented to make a drink called "Feni". Though cashew nuts are relished all over the world, cashew apples are not so popular, in part because they aren't easily transportable. Vietnam, India and Brazil are the top cashew producers.

Red Ripe Cashew Apple

I've never cracked open cashew nuts before so I called my mother. Having grown up in a house full of cashew trees, she knows how to extract them. She explained to me the traditional method of roasting them. All the fallen cashew nuts are picked up, usually by kids and placed in a pile of palm leaves. The pile is then lit and an adult turns the cashews around constantly with a long stick, to avoid scorching them. Strict adult supervision is needed as an oil is released; this oil is rather toxic and can easily catch fire. Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL) is a highly allergenic oil that can cause severe, even life-threatening reactions.

Cashew Nuts

My Cashew Kernel Extraction Kit

Since I had only a handful of cashews I decided to crack them. Yet, even this exercise had to be performed outdoors with due care. With gloves and glasses I made sure I avoided any contact with the toxic CNSL. The fruits of my labour are crushed cashew nuts, which I will roast (to get rid of the toxic oil) and probably add to some Kheer. Perhaps, drying the nuts before I cracked them would have resulted in whole kernels. Still, I can console myself with the thought, that more experience doesn't necessarily yield whole cashews. The reason why we have different grades of cashews in our shops: full, half and broken, is that cashew kernels are not easy to extract, even by experts.

Tough Nuts to Crack: Crushed Cashew Nuts

There is another nut tree in our building complex: the Almond Tree. The almond, unlike cashew is safe to handle and far easier to extract. Here is a picture of a half-hearted attempt at cracking an almond. My little boy loves these nut extraction activities and wants to "grow big" to be able to do it himself.

Fresh Almonds

Here is another picture. Though it does look like a nut, it is the tangy Tamarind; another fruit I rescued from the ground.The tamarind shell breaks easily with just a little pressure. Even a kid can do this, which is nice because tart tamarind is a hit with children.

Tamarind from the Tree

Tamarind is derived from Arabic "Tamar-E-Hind" literally meaning Dates from India. Tamarind is used almost daily in South Indian cooking. In fact, India is both the largest producer and consumer of Tamarind in the world.

Tamarind: Fruit, Seed and Shell

Auroville: The City of Dawn

2011-06-11T12:07:00.000-07:00

We’ve just got back from a short vacation in Auroville. For a nature lover, this town provides plenty to see and experience. Auroville, the international township, is a two hour ride from Chennai. Formed in 1968, this experimental township was built with the support of people from 124 nations. Even today, it draws like-minded people from all over the world. The community aspires towards "human unity" and a utopia as envisioned by "The Mother".


Commonly Found Flowers in Auroville -- From L to R: Pink Hibiscus, White Hibiscus, Blood Lily, Crossandra, Unknown, Anthurium, Unknown, Water Lily, Winka

Commonly Found Fruit in Auroville.
From L to R: Cashew, Pineapple, Lime,
Papaya, Banana, Mango

For me, Auroville is where I reconnect with nature; a place where I can rejuvenate my mind, body and soul. It’s where I invariably meet interesting people from around the world. It’s where I can have scrumptious croissants and satisfying organic meals. It’s where I discover a new flower or leaf, every time I take a walk. It’s where my son and I could sing the Bare Necessities Song with true feeling.

My Son Calls These Red Cockroaches!

Pretty Leaves: Name Unknown

Though the guest house we lived in was basic and lacked modern comforts, it was enveloped in greenery and natural beauty. And despite the unhurried pace and rustic charm of the place, there are so many fresh ideas and innovations taking shape in Auroville. If ever, the best of the old world meets the best of the new, it will be here.

Outdoor Dining Area at the Guest House

Horseman at the Village Temple

Energising Water

Harnessing the Wind: One of the Many Wind Mills

Being used to living in an overcrowded city, even the everyday rural sights of Auroville, struck me as marvelous. Sights included: a goat casually giving birth by the roadside, a grown cow threatening to butt an annoying dog, a temple pond completely covered with several hundred pink lotuses and clusters of cashew nut trees tempting me with their low-hanging fruits. While I savoured these visuals, I wasn’t always prepared to capture them with my lens. However, here are a few good shots I did manage to take.

Golden Shower Tree

Modern Art: Wasp Nest

Low-hanging Fruit: Jackfruit Tree

Puppies at the Auroville Bakery

While we spent most of our time at Auroville, we also visited nearby Pichavaram, where the world’s second largest mangrove forests are located. Here’s a link of the virtual tour of the forest. (Click on the autorotate option for a 360 degree view.) Mangrove forest trees are unique in that they can tolerate the high salinity of the sea water that they are rooted in. Besides the captivating beauty of the forest, it has a protective role to play as well. The Pichavaram forest has earned the gratitude of locals as it protected their coast during the Killer Tsunami of 2004. It's hard to imagine the vastness and beauty of Pichavaram through these pictures, but here they are all the same.

Pichavaram Mangrove Forest

Rowing Through One of the Passages

Specially Adapted Root System

Note: I shall be happy if you can help me identify any of the unnamed flora and fauna or correct me if I've been wrong.

Beloved Basil

2011-06-04T22:59:00.000-07:00

I’ve always felt that many Hindu rituals are simply good eco-conservation practices. In the old days, Hindus regarded snakes, mice and monkeys as God’s incarnation. So even today, despite the menace these creatures can be, we’ve learnt to love them or at the very least, tolerate them. The early morning practice of rice flour kolams in front of our homes, which attracted sparrows and insects, was another such eco-sensitive tradition. Many of these traditions are fast going out of fashion. Yet, one of them is very much alive: the tradition of worshiping the Tulsi or Holy Basil plant. Though I am not a Tulsi worshiper myself, I still revere it for its amazing healing properties.

Basil Seedlings

Here is my Tulsi plant. It is the Krishna Tulsi variety with dark, purplish leaves.

Krishna Tulsi: In the Sun

Here is another picture of the same species. Owing to its bright green leaves, you might assume it is the Rama Tulsi.

Krishna Tulsi: In the Shade

Would you believe it, if I told you that in truth, both plants belong to exactly the same species and are exactly the same age. In fact, both plants are from the same batch of seeds that I germinated. The first plant sits in the sun. The second one, which I offered as a seedling to a neighbor, sits in the shade. This is a remarkable example of how the duration of sunshine can affect a plant’s appearance and growth so markedly. My neighbor, however, suspects that I’m treating my plant with some secret potion!

The Real "Rama Tulsi"

Ayurveda attributes so many curative properties to Tulsi. So I’m not surprised when Indians take it to ward off all kinds of ailments: colds, swine flu, stress, headaches, stomach aches, skin infections, etc, etc. But I was surprised to hear an Iranian restaurateur strongly recommending Tulsi seeds for health reasons. She revealed this as she offered us a most delightful drink of guava juice sprinkled with plenty of tulsi seeds soaked in barley water.

Tulsi Flowers and Seeds

Speaking of Basil, here is a picture of my Sweet Basil. Eight out of Ten omelets in my house are made with sweet basil, so you can imagine how much I love this herb. As for homemade pizzas and pasta, I can't imagine them without this herb.

Sweet Basil

Chennai's climate is absolutely ideal for Basil. Other than having to pinch off its flowers (to encourage branching), there’s nothing I really need to do to keep my Basil happy and growing.

Growing Garlic

2011-06-03T17:22:00.000-07:00

Having heard that growing garlic is very easy, I planted three garlic cloves in a pot. That was nearly four months ago. Last month, when their tops began to wither, I stopped watering them as recommended. Thereafter, they appeared ready for harvest. Apparently, something I did was not quite right. For when I dug up the soil, all I found were three teeny-weeny garlic pods. Each pod was merely a single fat clove.

Garlic Shoots

Withered Garlic Tops

There is, however, a bright side to my failed garlic experiment. Recently, I happened to come across a pile of tiny young garlic in an organic produce & specialty store. They seemed very similar to the ones I’d harvested. The owner claimed that these were in demand for their special medicinal benefits.

Baby Garlic

I like my garlic, fat, with numerous cloves, but now I can console myself with the thought that they are probably more “medicinal”.

Make Your Own Homemade Compost: The Pit-less, Hassle-free Way

2011-05-26T23:58:00.000-07:00

Three years ago, when I read about the Kambha in the newspaper, I got curious. Here was a solution that promised to get rid of most of our garbage without any hassle. It seemed too good to be true. But like the high-frequency mosquito repellent gadget, which doesn’t even work for a day, was the Kambha another fraudulent device? Luckily, curiosity got the better of me. My husband and I went to meet the Kambha distributor at her home in Nungambakkam. What really convinced us in favour of the device was the distributor’s own Kambha. She was kind enough to let us right into her kitchen balcony and show us how her Kambha worked. We were amazed to find that despite holding bucket loads of garbage, it didn’t stink or attract any pests.

Kambha: For Pit-less Composting

Today, with 3 years of composting experience, I can vouch for the magic of the Kambha. It's the easiest way to convert truck loads of kitchen and garden waste into precious compost. We could complain about all the piles of stinky garbage lying around in the city or we could choose to use the Kambha. I assure you I haven’t been paid to write this post. I am endorsing it only because in all earnestness, I find it the neatest composter around.

The traditional way to composting is the compost pit. But the pit could attract rodents and other pests. You also need enough space for a pit. The Kambha, on the other hand, requires very little space and is rodent-proof. The fact that it has been designed by a designer of the internationally acclaimed National Institute of Design, shows in many ways. Seemingly simple, the design is functional, sustainable, affordable and aesthetic, just as Poonam Bir Kasturi, the designer had envisaged.

The Kambha is a 3-tiered terracotta structure. You fill the top-most pot with wet kitchen waste and dry garden leaves and twigs. (If you don’t have a garden, just add shredded newspaper, sawdust or cardboard pieces.) Once 3/4^th full, it is swapped with the middle unit. After some time when the stuff in the middle unit has further reduced and partially composted, swap it with the bottom-most unit, where it will mature further. Continue this cycle of filling and swapping for a few months, before you can harvest fully done compost. Doesn’t it sound simple? IT IS SIMPLE. All you need to do is spend a couple of minutes each day putting your waste in the Kambha. On weekends, you could devote a little more time, to make sure that nothing’s amiss.

What's Inside the Kambha

There are many myths to composting.

Composting is believed to be:

1. Stinky and messy

2. Time consuming

3. Difficult

4. Needing Space

5. Attracting Rodents and Pests

I can assure you that with the Kambha, composting is easy as A,B,C. I’ll leave it to the Daily Dump guys to convince you why the myths are all false. They’ve also a very good section on how to troubleshoot. You could run into trouble, if you don’t have the right mix of wet and dry stuff. The only trouble we ever had was in the Kambha’s first year, when we hardly added any dry garden waste. With only wet kitchen waste, the composter had more moisture than necessary and attracted some maggots. But the maggot infestation wasn’t troublesome and was easily dealt with.

Final Sieved Compost: Fine as Tea dust

Armed with a little experience and plenty of fine compost, my husband recently convinced his colleagues to go in for a composter, the Manthan, to deal with all the canteen waste at his workplace.

Many of our urban garbage bins are such smelly eyesores. Composting is one easy, yet concrete way for each of us to actually contribute in cleaning up all the mess around us. I hope this post of mine will encourage you to begin composting.

Summer Blooms

2011-05-25T22:54:00.000-07:00

Chennai Summer is a mixed bag. It's when we have the humid heat sapping our energy and the power cuts that leave one grouchy. Yet in compensation, we have vacations, delicious summer fruits and summer blossoms.

The apartment complex where I live has a common garden that's teeming with shrubs and trees. Summer is when I get to see them all in bloom. Heralding the season is the Copper Pod Tree. This tree showers beautiful small golden flowers throughout the day, forming a lovely soft carpet for us to walk on. When this tree is done, the Gulmohur takes over. The flamboyant, flaming gulmohur flowers are a favourite with children. A dozen games -- which only a child's brain can conjure up -- can be played with this flower.

Copper Pod Tree

Gulmohur (Flame Tree)

Apart from all the usual summer flowers, this summer, our garden earned a bonus. The Galangal, a special kind of ginger, offered to bloom. This was the first time in four years that it has flowered. Even the regular ginger flowers are a rarity. Ginger only flowers if you let it grow for a couple of years. So when the galangal blossoms appeared, it was indeed a kodak moment.

Galangal Flower

Galangal Plant - From the Ginger Family

Coriander: From Seed To Seed

2011-05-10T02:32:00.000-07:00

Here’s a little riddle -- White lace on a girl’s frilly green dress. What is it?

Answer: A coriander plant in full bloom.

Coriander or Dhania is a pretty, aromatic herb that is quintessential to Indian cuisine. When I was told that the plant is low maintenance, I decided I had to grow it. But there was a catch. Many people I knew, who had tried growing Coriander, had met with failure. They simply couldn’t get to start the plant from seed or had done so with great difficulty. A friend even told me that she believed that the store-bought seeds are probably boiled and so couldn’t be used. In fact she had sourced some seeds all the way from a US nursery, which were in contrast very easy to start. But where was I to get American seeds?

Coriander

When I tried growing coriander, I also had my share of teething troubles. I tried different ways: soaking the seeds, crushing them a bit, but all to no avail. Where was I going wrong? The answer to starting them, I learnt from my maid – who came from a farming family – was to crush the seeds really well before broadcasting them in the soil. In fact, she told me to use the grinding stone to crush the seeds. The idea is not to powder them fine but to properly divide a seed (actually the fruit) into two parts to expose the true inner seed. Once you know this, growing coriander is a breeze.

You'll be able to have a fresh coriander garnish whenever you please. After you are done with harvesting its leaves, the plant will start blooming; you’ll find your plant’s changed into that green frill dress with white lace. Soon, you’ll have seeds that are ready to be harvested. Pluck them and store them in a paper bag. A little toasting before use will bring out its heady aroma.

In Full Bloom

Pretty Coriander Flowers

Young, Green Coriander Seeds

Ready to Pluck

To The Plate

A few tips for the Newbie:

1. Coriander loves the sun. Though delicate looking, the plant is rather hardy.

2. To start the plant, dip into your spice jar and take out a tablespoon of coriander seeds. Crush them really well and broadcast them in the final place you want the coriander to grow; it doesn’t take well to transplanting.

3. It takes a week or two for the seedlings to appear, so keep watering the seeds and you won’t be disheartened.

4. The plant tends to go to seed very quickly. If you are keen to have more leaves, keep plucking them.

5. Once the leaves become feathery, it’s a sign that the seeds are on its way.

6. The seeds mature at different times. You will need to watch out for browned seeds; pick them every day, lest they burst and scatter.

The coriander is so dainty and fragrant, yet so easy to grow. Try it out if you haven’t already done so.

Stirring Up A Hornet's Nest?

2011-05-02T23:33:00.000-07:00

When I spotted this winged creature recently in our balcony, it evoked mixed reactions at home. My own reaction was one of apprehension; my little son could get stung and so it ought to be removed. On the other hand, my husband seemed overjoyed. Having tasted fresh veggies from our roof garden, he was now hoping for some fresh honey from the balcony.

Kathandu Forming its Nest

Construction in Progress

The Finished Nest

With honey as the enticement, both of us agreed that we must let the nest grow. The finished nest, however, didn’t resemble anything like the honeycomb we usually see. We also weren’t sure when and how badly we may get stung. We asked around and then turned to the Internet. But on this occasion, Google failed me; it’s million results were absolutely baffling. I did learn many facts, like there are 100,000 wasp species and 20,000 bee species. But in the end, I still couldn’t determine who our visitor to the balcony was. So when we found the contact details of Mr. N. Swaminathan, a Chennai-based apiologist (one who studies bees), in The Hindu, I dashed off a mail to him. In The Hindu story featuring Mr. Swaminathan, he had claimed that bees can become very friendly and may even be domesticated like pets. So we were hopeful that he won’t tell us to bring down the nest. Yet when he replied, we were taken by surprise. The creature according to him was not a bee; it was a “Kathandu” in Tamil. He told me that its sting could be very “dangerous” and that I’d be wise to remove the nest. Now when an apiologist – one who can domesticate bees – tells you that the kathandu is something not to be messed with, you’d imagine that we would take his advice seriously.

But the nest still remains in our balcony. We no longer dream of fresh honey, but we are yet to gather our wits and figure out how to be rid of the hive. So far its been: live and let live. One day, we shall act. You'll hear about the Eliminate Wasp Mission in another post.

My Lady’s (Sweet) Finger

2011-05-02T02:21:00.000-07:00

For most gardeners, growing a solitary lady’s finger plant will not make much sense. Even if it’s prolific, a single plant cannot provide for a decent meal. Yet, if you’re like me, you’ll be happy just to see what it takes to grow lady’s fingers on a small scale. The plant is rather hardy and ideally suited for Chennai’s summer. At four feet, my plant is shorter than average, but it has yielded the sweetest lady’s fingers I’ve ever tasted. In fact they’re so sweet that they’re attracting ants. If it weren’t for the ants, I’d have had a couple of lady’s fingers every other day.

Lady's Finger Plant

Lady's Fingers: Two of Them

Ants on the Fruit Pods

The lady’s finger belongs to the Hibiscus family, which is why the flowers of both plants are very similar: large, showy with fused stamens in the centre. The flower bud of the lady’s finger is nearly indistinguishable from a young fruit pod. It’s only when a pod grows a little longer that I realize a fruit and not a flower is on its way.

Flower

Though I can’t make a meal of my produce, it still provides for a tasty snack, a snack that can be eaten fried or raw. I wouldn’t dare eat raw lady’s fingers bought at a shop. But when they’re freshly picked from home, they’re altogether different. After a blind taste test of a shop-bought one and a homegrown one, I discovered that the two were poles apart. For one, the homegrown one isn’t as slimy; it’s also markedly sweeter. I can’t blame the ants for wanting to devour the fruit.


My Finger and the Lady's Finger

For now, I need to figure out how to outsmart the ants and claim my rightful share.

Grow Your Own Rooftop Tomatoes: A Guide for the Novice

2011-04-27T22:52:00.000-07:00

Now that my tomato plant is withering and very near its end, the time seems ripe for a post on tomatoes. I started growing tomatoes with the hope of picking a couple of fresh tomatoes and at the very most, a dozen. But after my potted plant yielded nearly 50 tomatoes, I think I may have some valuable tips to share.

Freshly Harvested Tomatoes

So here’s a little "Guide for the First-time Tomato Grower", who doesn’t have the luxury of a patch of land.

Tomatoes are fairly easy to grow but they need plenty of sunshine, water, nutrients and TLC. You need to keep a hawk eye for pests and diseases too. If you’re more of a weekend gardener, not diligent about watering your plants, then growing tomatoes in containers may not quite work out for you. For the Rooftop Tomatoes project, you have to jump into it with both feet.

Soil Preparation: Tomatoes need plenty of nutrition from the soil. I can’t emphasize enough, how important this is. Providing rich fertile soil should be top priority. I was lucky to get rich garden soil from a nursery; the soil was loaded with earthworms and goat manure. On top of that, I used plenty of homemade compost every time I wanted to boost the soil’s fertility. Make sure you plant is in as large a pot as you can acquire. Remember, more soil means more nutrition. I used a 16 inch cement pot but I know a larger one would have worked better.

When to Sow: I am no expert on this, but here are some commonsense suggestions. Since tomatoes need abundant sunshine and water, avoid not only the winter and the rains, but also the peak of harsh summer during its life cycle, which is about 4 months. For more authoritative information on when and how to grow tomatoes visit the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University website. I planted my seeds in January and couldn’t have asked for a better harvest.

What to Sow: If like me, you live in Chennai or a city like it, you have little choice. You can only choose from the hybrid, the local naati or the cherry tomato varieties. Just dip into your grocery bag and get your seeds from a ripe tomato. I chose the hybrid one as it is the most versatile, but if you can pick up cherry tomatoes, do try them. They’re the best bet for a pot with limited resources. With a smaller fruit to make, it’s easier on the plant.

How to Sow: Start your seeds indoors. Scoop out a little tomato pulp with seeds. Soak the seeds in some water for a couple of hours. In the meanwhile, fill up 4 - 6 paper cups with good garden soil. Poke two holes in each cup and place a seed in each of the holes, lightly covering them with soil. Water them every day. Within a week, you will find tomato seedlings sprouting in all the cups. When your seedlings are about 4 inches tall, pick the healthiest one and transplant it carefully into a well prepared pot with good drainage. An easy way to transplant the seedling without disturbing its roots, is to tear out the paper cup as you plant the seeding along with the soil into a little depression in the pot. Please plant one plant per pot. (That’s a clever tongue twister I just made up!) Don’t ever be tempted to grow more than one tomato plant in a single pot. If you do, you’ll have lots of green foliage but no red tomatoes. Steel yourself and leave the remaining seedlings to die, if you can’t find them pots. Once transplanted, move your plant outdoors into a sunny spot where it can receive at least 7-8 hours of direct sunshine.

Tomato Seeds Soaking in Water

Staking: Once planted, stake the plant straight away. Without a stake, a tomato plant will bend over once it begins fruiting. The reason, why I recommend that you stake it right away is that very soon the roots will branch out all through the pot and you will be sure to damage them when you stake the plant later. I used a thick, foot long cane stick that was lying around. A stake can be metal, wooden, or even PVC. To stake, push in your stake 1-2 inches away from the main stem. Once the plant needs support, loosely tie the main stem to the stake with a shoelace or a soft thick cord that will not cut into the stem over time.

Tomato Stake (Click to Enlarge)

Watering: If you can’t water every day, your plant will probably fail. You have to religiously water every single day and on hot days, twice a day. If you’ve missed watering and your plant has suffered, you really can’t compensate by watering it later. And just as you shouldn’t underwater, don’t overwater. Excess water may drain out, but along with it, precious nutrients will be lost. Your tomatoes may also turn out to be more watery. Judge how damp your soil is by poking and feeling it before you water your plant.

Pruning: Again, don’t let your heart rule your head. Prevent your plant from spreading out by nipping the suckers. Suckers are shoots that rise between two preexisting main stems (leaders). If your plant is allowed to branch out extensively, it will be frittering away its energy in producing more foliage and less fruit. The plant’s energy must be conserved for producing maximum fruit. In fact after 2-3 months of rapid growth, when I noticed my plant was shooting up, I nipped off the main stem at its tip, as I knew the pot just couldn’t provide for a larger plant.

Pruning the Suckers (Click to Enlarge)

Mulching: A layer of mulch on your soil is highly recommended. With mulch, not only will the soil retain its moisture better, weeds will be deterred too. Mulch can be dry leaves, twigs, grass or even shredded newspaper.

Fertilize: When you notice that your plant is rapidly growing or flowering, add a little compost to the soil. As a general rule, you could add a little compost (rich in egg shells), every 2-3 weeks.

Diseases and Other Concerns:

Pests: Look out for insects and other unwanted bugs on your plant, especially the under surface of the leaves. Manually remove any harmful looking bugs. But leave the spiders, lady birds and wasps alone. These are the good bugs to have around.

Leaf Curl: Very often the leaves of a tomato plant may curl. This is usually a sign of plant stress. In spite of it, you may still get healthy tomatoes. If you can remove the cause of the stress, the leaf curl will disappear. However, if the plant gets further stressed, it could succumb and die. So when you see leaf curl, try and ascertain the cause. And if you can’t, just keep your fingers crossed. I got a bountiful harvest despite leaf curl.

Leaf Curl: A Sign of Plant Stress

Blossom End Rot: A few of my tomatoes began rotting at the bottom end. After a little googling, I learnt that there are many possible causes to this blossom end rot (BER): incorrect watering, calcium deficiency or some other nutrient inadequacy. I gathered that my plant may be calcium deficient. To fix it would mean to add some calcium in the soil that will immediately be available to it. Calcium from egg shells wouldn’t work as it would take a long time to reach the plant. Now when I began gardening, I had decided to go the organic route. Here, I was confronted with the issue of fixing my BER with a chemical or remaining organic and harvesting rotten tomatoes. With pangs of guilt, I chose the former, all the while consoling myself that a single calcium tablet, containing just 500 mg of calcium carbonate isn’t as evil as the regular chemical farming that we know of. So I went ahead and powdered a calcium tablet (Magnical) that I had with me, dissolved it in water and poured it into my pot. It seemed to have worked as there were no more tomatoes with BER thereafter.

Blossom End Rot: In an Unripe Tomato

Blossom End Rot: In a Ripe One

Ripening Tomatoes: Tomatoes appeared on my plant within 45 days of planting. It can take longer. Once a tomato is ready, it will colour from green to yellow to red, in a matter of a few days. Red ripe tomatoes on a green vine – a sight to feast on – will attract everyone, including predators like squirrels and crows. A few of my tomatoes were targeted by human predators. So if you find your tomatoes being stolen or damaged, you can pick them before they fully ripen. They may be plucked the moment they turn a slight yellow and ripened indoors, preferably near a sunny windowsill. They will ripen a tad slower, but the taste is indistinguishable from the vine ripened ones. Never refrigerate your tomatoes – green or red. They lose their flavor in the fridge.

Tomato Blossoms

Tomatoes Ripening on the Vine

Green Tomatoes: At the end of the season, you will be left with a few green tomatoes. That’s natural and don’t despair. There are plenty of recipes calling for green tomatoes. You could also try plucking the green tomatoes and leaving it to ripen. Some of my green tomatoes that showed no sign of ripening on the plant, actually ripened after they were plucked.

End of Season: Green Tomatoes and Brown Leaves

Bottom Line: A tomato seed will germinate with ease, but for the seedling to grow into a fine fruit bearing plant in a pot, a little care is needed. Yet, when you are blessed with red ripe tomatoes on your vine, it seems worth all the effort. A fully laden tomato plant will make many heads turn. Those who rarely notice a spectacular plant or flower, will still stop to stare at the red tomatoes. Finally, the intense flavor of a homegrown red ripe tomato is the sweetest reward.


Laden with Fruit

Various Hues: Tomatoes in Various Stages

A Meal to Remember

2011-04-19T01:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's dinner was rather special. It was the first time that I had cooked with so many ingredients freshly harvested from the garden. The star attraction of the meal was a delectable Palak Paneer.

Below are pictures of my garden’s contribution to the palak paneer.

Fresh, Crisp Spinach

Homegrown Tomatoes: Bursting with Flavor, they’re Hard to Beat

Aromatic Coriander Seeds: Way Better than the Shop-bought Ones

I devised a no-frills recipe that many might find bland. Yet it seems to me, the best way to taste both palak and paneer (cottage cheese). When the ingredients are the finest, you don’t need to mask or alter their taste with too many condiments.

Here’s my Absolutely Basic Palak Paneer Recipe for the Minimalist.

Ingredients:

Fresh Homemade Paneer cubed – approx. 750 gms. (I made paneer from 1 ½ litres of milk, curdled with the juice of one large lemon and a tbsp of cider vinegar. Shop-bought paneer will not be as soft and spongy.)
Spinach – a big bunch or 3 small bunches
Onion - 1
Tomatoes – 5-6
Turmeric (Haldi) – ¼ tsp
Coriander seeds (Dhania seeds) – 2 tsp
Cumin seeds (Jeera) – 1 tsp
Salt to taste and oil for frying

If you wish, you could complicate the recipe by using one or more of the following, as per taste: butter/ghee, green chillies, garam masala powder, cloves, bay leaf, pepper and cinnamon.

Method:

Chop the onion and sauté in a little oil.
Chop tomatoes. Add them to the onions and sauté them as well.
Separately, toast the coriander and cumin seeds gently. Dry grind them to a coarse powder and add it to the sautéed tomatoes and onion. Add the turmeric too. (I add the spices in at this stage as they get cooked, without getting burnt.)
Add in the shredded spinach. Fresh spinach will release very little water, so you can add the paneer almost immediately thereafter. (Most people would fry the paneer cubes, but I did away with this step.) Cook till the spinach is wilted.
Add salt to taste.

And lo, your palak paneer is ready.

Birds From My Window

2011-04-14T09:28:00.000-07:00

When I first quit my job, it seemed rather lonely at home. I began missing the coffee breaks and the inane status update meetings. The forced loneliness made me look for excitement in places that I had never looked before. Just outside my bedroom window, there was an entire community that I had ignored -- a community of mostly colourful and gregarious birds. Today, I find it hard to believe that I had closed my eyes to all of them for so many years. This post is dedicated to my new-found feathered friends.

I spotted this little hawk, the first time on the coconut palm across my bedroom window. It can easily be mistaken for the brainfever bird, but check out its powerful talons and beak with a pair of binoculars and you will be left with no doubts. It is the Shikra, hunter par excellence. The shikra is the strong silent type. Seldom will you find it fluttering and fidgeting like most birds. Very often, I find it perched majestically on a tree top, scanning the ground from above. And occasionally, when a cheeky crow tries to get close and even brushes past, it remains unruffled, often choosing to ignore the transgressor. Though roughly the size of a pigeon, it’s demeanor is that of an eagle. Long live the Shikra!

The Keen-eyed Shikra

The crows alerted me to this one. When I rushed to the balcony on hearing a cacophony by the crows, I saw a flash of gold in the air. Further investigation revealed the beautiful Lesser Golden-Backed Woodpecker. It has such splendid colours -- a golden back and a flaming orange-red crest. Whenever the crows are aroused, I always look out. There is usually some avian drama that I cannot afford to miss. On this occasion, the black birds didn’t approve of the intrusion by the woodpecker. I never saw it again.

Lesser Golden-backed Woodpecker on a Coconut Stump

Who can miss hearing the noisy calls of a Koel at dawn and dusk. I've heard them umpteen times. Appearance-wise, they resemble crows, or so I thought. In truth, only the male koel is black and can be confused with the crow. The elusive female is very different -- much lighter, brownish and heavily spotted. But both have light coloured beaks and attractive ruby-red eyes.

Ruby- eyed Male Koel

The Koel's Wings Spread Out

Its Hard to Spot the Female Koel

The first time I spotted this bird, I thought I had discovered a new species! It seemed such an exotic bird with its warm colours, rather long tail and distinct musical call. It’s actually a rather common bird and a member of the crow family. This is the Rufous Treepie. I’ve even spotted a Grey Treepie, a little further away from home.

The Crow’s Cousin – Rofous Treepie

Another Treepie

The White-breasted Kingfisher can be often observed near water bodies and in fields. Most of us can spot a kingfisher or two on our day-time train journeys. But I am now beginning to find these glamorous birds sitting at home, from my balcony. Dressed in blue, the kingfisher is one of the most eye catching birds in the neighbourhood. There are two of them posing, in the picture below.

A Pair of Kingfishers

This picture is of two Pigeon Nestlings (Squabs) and an egg, taken at my cousin’s home. Here the little hairless ones look like ugly ducklings. But I am sure they've grown up to be fine birds.

Pigeon Nestlings

Grown-up pigeons are shameless exhibitionists; they love to coo and court in public, mindless of everything around them. There are many pigeons that socialize on the terrace opposite my balcony. The drama they indulge in can inspire a successful TV soap. The male, all puffed up, will literally run towards a female, occasionally bowing to her. In typical filmi style, initially, the female will ignore the male and walk away. Eventually though, she is bowled over by the male’s persistence. And as part of the happy ending, the two become a couple, billing and cooing to each other. Ranjit Lal's “When Banshee Kissed Bimbo and Other Stories” has a delightful story about pigeons that I would recommend to readers both young and old.

Pigeons

All of us know what an intelligent bird the Crow is. But not everyone knows how affectionate it can be. When my son was about a year old, there was a house crow that would visit him in the balcony every day. It would call out to my son in a special tender voice. Not wishing to encourage the bird, I never offered it any food. Yet, the ritual continued for many months. Then, during the nesting season, our crow’s parental instincts grew even stronger and it would make more than a dozen daily visits. My son got a little tired of this constant show of corvid affection and gradually stopped responding to it. Eventually, both bird and baby moved on and the meetings completely ceased. However, I’ve been left with a permanent soft corner for them.

My Son's Crow

The Magpie Robin, Babbler, Egret, Drongo, Pied Crested Cuckoo, Red Vented Bulbul, Owl, Tailorbird, Swift, Pond Heron, Mynah and Parakeet are the other birds that have made it to my sightings list. Given that my apartment is near a main road and surrounded by concrete, I think it’s an impressive one. Nonetheless, I am always on the lookout for any newcomers.

Note: Apologize for the image quality of some of the pictures. With my basic point-and-shoot camera, focusing on distant birds is hard.

Greening the Roof

2011-04-04T02:53:00.000-07:00

It’s lucky that I live in an apartment building with many gardening enthusiasts as neighbours. It was indeed a neighbour’s exotic herb garden that drew me to the roof in the beginning. My own garden has now advanced from the balcony to the roof. Flowering and fruiting plants usually need full sunshine, for several hours a day. And though my balcony gets adequate sunshine, the roof is still where most plants can thrive.

Here’s a list of what I started out with, to create my roof garden:

A dozen pots
A composter for compost on demand
A spade and an old table fork for the more delicate operations
A watering can
Neem cake powder

But the most essential ingredients for a successful garden are:

Good garden soil
Sunshine (in abundant supply here in Chennai) and
Water

I could add “Expertise” and “Tender Loving Care (TLC)” to this list. I don’t have the former but I hope to make it up with plenty of the latter.

A Section of the Roof Garden

A home garden doesn’t need a large budget. Even the famous White House organic vegetable garden, Michelle Obama recently revealed, cost about $200. Apparently, the produce from this garden has already exceeded 2 tons. Of course, I doubt she included labour charges and experts' fees in the costs.

Returning to my garden; since the first seed germinated in January, I have tasted many luscious tomatoes, several batches of spinach, ladies fingers, fenugreek (methi), fresh coriander (dhania) and mint (pudina) from my garden. I am still waiting to harvest ginger, garlic, chillies, potatoes and coriander seeds. I find visiting my garden in the morning, one of the best ways to start the day. More often than not there is a surprise in store – a tomato that’s turned unusually large, a brown ladybird or a stunning lady's finger flower. More on all those in future posts.