In the terrace garden, things bloom and colors open up, , one reaches for the camera and get co-bloggers to admire them.
Once in a while, one has to share some failures too , to make up for all the harvest consumed in the past months.
Yes, I am talking about the cabbages;while growing them I had more dilemma then good harvest.
They looked like this , and now you can see how it has progressed. I am disappointed that I did not get round heavy lush looking cabbages. They are coming up,fighting the heat and lack of proper watering . It looks like they are taking ages to grow properly.I went through another dilemma of “should I tie them or not”. I asked a few experts, did not get feedback, so I tied a few and left a few 🙂
In case you are wondering what the glistening on the leaves is, it is ginger garlic, chilli solution sprayed on the leaves to fend of cabbage loopers. Fairly successful I can say. Compared to last year,when the worms were eating off all the plants, this year they have been low lying. the heat also may be the reason. I did harvest 2 and made nice Kootu and enjoyed it. Of course, it tasted divine, without any pesticides, and hopefully organic.
Not all is negative news. The Dosakkaya seeds have sprouted up left right and centre. This time I am giving it a good attention, pruning and staking and feeding, to see a few good ones. I am getting some nice corn ( Butta) , as companion plant for Brinjal and Papapya. Fun.
All said and done, I am not giving up yet. I am keeping my fingers crossed for getting sufficient water for the plants. In Hyderabad , some areas are having water problem, power cuts, and the heat. This is the time when farmers take rest, may be I should too. I am trying to make lots of Amrit mitti, and look forward to the rains, like any farmer with parched fields. After 60 years of Independence we are still looking to the skies to pour and give succour. People will not do rainwater harvesting, will not plan , will waste water, and we pay.
it looks cool. let’s see how things progress from here on. and do not give up, nope.
Thanks Debajoti. Bless you!
A few things that resonated with me. I have a set of chili plants from the hills that are braving their second Hyderabad summer (balcony, potted). I used a small pot inside a larger one, so that I could keep the outer pot filled with water to beat the heat of the air.
Hopefully organic… a few generations down the line, it probably will not matter, and there will really be no way to tell.
The need for rainwater harvesting comes from thoughtless urbanization. Governments should work on roads, power and housing and incentivize moving industries to smaller townships. We are not paying for not harvesting rainwater, we are paying for human greed and shortsightedness. We are paying for our distorted interpretation of “civilization.”
Hi, Welcome here Subhorup. Your comment was lying in Spam!!!May be due to recent Google changes.
The idea of using one big pot with water for cooling the smaller pot is a good idea, kind of ACfying it seems:-)
About the houses /flats and our greed, yes, it is. Now the responsibility lies heavily with younger people, and the next young generation.
They may choose Laurie Baker style houses, who knows? I also imagine that next few generations may start using mud and chuna and thatches for construction, since the sand and other stuff will disappear soon.
Cabbages did survive.Bhutta{corn},brinjal and others to keep hope intact …..Water scarcity and heat are problems but then these will also pass.
namita
Thanks Namita 🙂 Every time I see a plant wilting, the spring bringing in new saplings, I feel guilty about those seeds waiting to be sown in April!
i think yr problems lay in how much space you are givin them. bigger pots! cabbages are some seriously heavy feeders – with many farmers top or side dressing with a batch of high nitrogen fertilizers like blood meal. bigger pots and more fertility. you shouldn’t need to tie them up to get cabbages to head – they will form on their own given enough time and the proper conditions. one more thing you might what to think about growing some of the short season early cabbages that only take about 65 days (from transplant) they don’t grow as big – but still need a big big pot.
Thanks you so much Patrick, and welcome here.
Yes, I will plan for short term variety next season.
These plants were bought form our local Govt. nursery.
Of course, we do not get blood meal here , and also other good organic fertilizers.
Wow! Those plants look just so lovely! 🙂
Welcome here Jen! and thanks.
Hi Pattu,
You did wage a battle to grow your cabbages and i think you succeeded in gaining more insights for next year’s venture. I think they look like overdone and need to be harvested. Summer is always harsh and frustrating for gardening aficionados. I’m sure you’ll manage somehow!
Thanks Uppalji!
All the best. Keep up your great work.
Hi, Makpossible, welcome here and thanks.
lovely …:)
Hi Geeta,
Welcome and thanks.
Loved this article! That corn looks delicious. 😀
The corn is still not harvested Asha. Meanwhile got two cabbages, small, but well formed 🙂
Loved the pictures. Can you tell me what natural pesticide I can use for my hibiscus and other leafy plants. They get these horrible white infestations and sort of eat away the plant. Will chilly solution help and for how long?
http://rachnaparmar.com
People use soap solution with a little neem oil, or soap nut powder solution with neem oil. I also try to hose it down.
Ginger garlic solution also is sprayed once in a while. They do make appearance , and it is irritating. I pluck off the tips with mealy bugs and let it grow again.
If you can get lady bugs , it seem to solve the problem easily!:-)
Anyhow, they appear again.
I will try it. thank you!
So beautiful. I yearn for a garden. Unfortunately, pigeons in my verandah ( don’t know how to shoo them away) prevent me from keeping even potted plants. Had a lot of them, but had to remove them when the pigeons were done massacring them.
Hi Vidyaji, Welcome here. Thanks.
It took me 60 years before starting 🙂 Pigeons.. mmm They say wire mesh (kabutar jaali) helps, but it is a pain. I used it for my cats, and they used to growl at me when I use the mesh. It did help.
Very interesting and useful to all city dwellers. My own experiments with growing Chlli and tomatoes were very much enjoyed by my kids.
Hi Prasad, Welcome here.
I am sure the kids were impressed. A nice way to make them appreciate these simple ways of life.
Wow…I should use the ginger garlic chilli idea…I have loads of infected leaves and I have been painstakingly removing each leaf which takes up a lot of time…. I was growing cabbage last year but it didn’t survive.
The corn looks really great. I’d never considered growing corn in containers…
I moved all my plants to shade preparing for summer, but the summer rains doesn’t seem to come to an end…It has been raining a lot here in Kerala… 🙂
Welcome Anisha,
Ginger garlic spray is good esp. in Summer. Lucky that you are getting Summer rains in Kerala.:-)
You corn looks great, can you share details about size of container, number of plants and height of the plant when it started showing the cob? I have planted some baby corn- about 3 in a medium sized bucket and I think it’s going to be overcrowded!
Hi Chitra, I am sorry, that corn was scattered for a cover crop, to improve the soil, of the Amrit mitti heap , inside the container. The main plant, is papaya, which is only growing and no flowers yet. Meanwhile, when I sighted the corn, I let it grow, out of curiosity.
The container is a big laundry basket of about 2 1/2 feet high.
I love gardening and your blog is so nice.. I am going to keep coming back here 🙂 🙂 loved all your veggies! great work:)
Welcome here GB!
Thanks a lot.