Over the past few years gardening has become my stress buster. It gives me a sense of joy and accomplishment. There is a huge sense of satisfaction to see something in my plate which has been grown by me. Although my endeavors have been mostly confined to pots,due of lack of garden space, but still with little care and thoughtfulness growing own vegetables is very much possible.
What are you growing this summer? Our small balcony is facing towards West. From June onwards it becomes quite challenging to keep everything in healthy green state. Here are few tips and pictures from our balcony garden:
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Chrysanthemums / Chandramallika
Chrysanthemums are quite easy to grow, this plant is almost two and half years old. Each summer it goes back to dormancy but again comes back to life when the temperature drops down during Fall. My only challenge with this plant was to save it from aphids. During spring when the stems are soft it attracts bunch of aphids which can completely stun the growth of the plant. Ultimately I had to resort to Neem oil to repeal the pests.
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| Begonia |
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Hibiscus
Two years back, a friend of ours moved back to California and ever since then we adopted her Hibiscus plant along with a bunch of others.
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Marigold
Marigold is another simple stunner. And the best part is the dry petals are the "seeds"!! I have been able to give away baby Marigold saplings to my neighbors!
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Kalanchoe/Patharkuchi
Kalanchoe is one of my favorite and hardy plants. This Kalanchoe is with me for the last 7 years and have survived one frost as well!
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Sweet Jasmine, they are synonymous with summer
It is a lovely feeling when you wake up in the morning, step to your living area and the sweet smell of Jasmine wafts through the morning air.
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Groundnut
This is the first time I have decided to experiment with Groundnut and I would report my success or failure in the coming months!! Fingers crossed!
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Potato plant flowers
The greatest showstopper for this year would be potato plants!
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Potato in a pot!
I planted them around March and harvested them around end of June. Potatoes are very much possible within a pot. I planted potatoes which already had an "ëye"on it, kept adding soil as it grew and covered the top soil with discarded tea leaves to retain the moisture. At the end of the season the trees delighted me with bounties and I am definitely elated!
This is the first time I am growing potatoes and I learned quite a few important lessons:
- As usual time/temp is quite important. Since Houston tends to get very hot by end of June, it is imperative that the growing window is quite short ( End February - Mid June) and one should make best use of it
- Late blight or brown blotches is quite a dreadful disease which appears as a brown patch on the leaf and unfortunately my potato plants were not spared. I had to resort to pruning the affected area to get rid of this fungal disease.
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This year I also planted microgreens in my window sill. I grew spicy Mizuana. The experiment was not very successful though. May be I will repeat the experiment again later!
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Indian flat beans/ shim
Indian flat beans or Shim are a tall slim, climber variety which needs support. The plant is self pollinating which makes the job easy for a gardener!
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| Tomatoes |
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Parsley
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| Curry patta |
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| Red capsicum or bell pepper |
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Green pepper
And here are the picture of my produce :
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Produce 1
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| Produce2 |
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Produce 3
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| Green pepper pickle! Mirchi aachar |
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Apart from gardening updates, in a future post I would share how I incorporate reuse and recycling in my gardening endeavors! And before I sign off, hang on , please say Hello to another friend of me as well!
Meet Mr. Bob, am sure you will be charmed by the bright red display on his throat!
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