Making your own seeds

Interesting - isn't it. It took me quite some while to realize that making seeds is easier than making Plants! Yes, you heard me right. That's because the time and effort required to make seeds is quite less. 

Now that I've captured your interest, let me tell you how exactly to "make" your own seeds. The procedure is quite simple. 

Take the vegetables like lady's finger/ beans/ double beans/ drum sticks/ peas etc. that contain the green seeds in them, and put them in a polythene bag. Ensure that the vegetable is dry. Put this polythene bag in a refrigerator and forget it, (I mean it) for about 1 week's time. After a week, open the bag and observe that the vegetable has got fully dehydrated(lost all water/ moisture) and has become dry. Carefully open the outer cover of the vegetable and lo - what you have in front of you are seeds - those beautiful things which can now go into your garden and with adequate care will sprout into beautiful plants.

You can also use this dehydration method to remove moisture from potatoes and other vegetables before making fried chips out of them - this way, they are crispier and consume very less oil.

Growing tomatoes Upside Down- Amazing idea

 

Recently I came across a new way of growing tomatoes - upside down so that the roots are up and the plant, especially the vegetable is facing downward. This is supposed to give a better yield. Explanations are that root gets better air and lighting and of course, the gravitational pull makes the vegetables bigger. Before venturing into setting it up, I would like to know if anyone of you has tried this out, and if yes, is it really true. What this will mean is we can have plants hanging from small posts in the garden - a way to create our own hanging garden. Of course, it will be easier to pick the vegetables.

A shocking fact about white rice

As south Indians, we love our food, especially white rice. However, recently , several studies have confirmed the ill-effects of gorging white rice. Harvard Research says that consuming just one cup of white rice (polished rice) everyday can put you at risk to diabetes, regardless of your nationality or whether you have a family history of the disease.  










The alternative is brown rice.  
The basic culprit is the polishing process. Once rice is polished, all the minerals and useful ingredients are lost. What is left behind is white rice, which is basically STARCH. This therefore increases the risk of diabetes tremendously.
South Indians(including myself), watch out....

The 3000 years old Mango tree - The miraculous wonder of Kanchi

The Ekambranatha temple in Kanchipuram is dedicated to Lord Shiva. It is believed that Goddess Kamakshi performed penance to the Lord here under a Mango tree. One can see the Mango tree till date inside the temple complex. The age of the tree is estimated to be more than 3000 years old. Another amazing feature of this tree is that it bears fruits of four different tastes each season.
Right under the tree, there is a shrine of Lord Ekambranatha and Kamakshi. 

Tossing banana skins to improve yield - A tip for gardeners

Recently came across an article about how Banana Peels are rich in both phosphorus and potassium. These are important macro-nutrients that plants need. I have started implementing this in my garden. I really look forward to the results. One blog specifically refers to the benefits that rose plants get from such banana peels.

An advantage of these peels is that they very quick disintegrate into the soil. Also, this is a better method of disposing off an otherwise "waste" commodity.

Here are some specific steps for creating the Banana Peel Fertilizer:
1.Cut the banana peel up into small pieces and put them in your soil. As they break down, they will help your plants by adding nutrients to the soil.


2.Cut the peels up into small sections and put them into an empty spray bottle. Fill it with warm water and let it sit for a couple of weeks. The peel will ferment and turn the liquid into fertilizer.

3. Blend the peels in a blender with warm water, and pour the results directly onto potted plants or into the dirt in your garden. Same result: fertilizer!

A creepy wonder - the Betel leaves

Betel leaves have several medicinal properties as described in Ayurveda. It helps in digestion and also acts as an antiseptic. I bought a betel plant about two months back. Its a very slender creeper and hardly occupies any space. It has a tendency to cling on to other plants which are beside it. I planted it right next to a wall and very amazingly, the creeper has clung to the wall at several places by letting out small roots. These roots bind the creeper to the wall pretty strongly and the creeper keeps growing steadily and vertically. Its really amazing how these plants adapt to the various conditions.

Betel is popularly called Paan in Hindi and Vettrilai in Tamil. Its a tradition to have a few betel leaves immediately after food due to its digestive properties. It feels good to walk out to the garden, pluck one or two leaves and have it fresh. It looks so tender and nice as compared to the betel leaves that are sold in the market. Its pretty pungent too and spicy.

Detergent growing on trees

I was reading about nature and natural products and was amazed to read that we had detergent growing on trees - yes, you read it right. I am talking about soap nuts. The online material suggests that they could be packaged properly and used even with a washing machine. 100% natural and as good as (or even better than ) the detergent that we buy from the supermarkets. Soap nuts are also used in Ayurvedic Medicinal system for treating hair-loss.

Rain Flower - A wonder of wonders!

Nature is amazing and there is no end to the discoveries we make about it. My Garden is my lab where I see, feel and explore the Nature. And true to its enigmatic nature, here is another trick that nature has up its sleeve for us to see. Immediately after peak summer, we had a brief spell of rains. Lo and behold, I found the quiet green tender stalks bearing a matchstick-tip like pink buds. This morning, the buds have bloomed and lo, the flowers are there to see. 

Some searching on the web and I discovered the flower to be Zephyranthes, and more commonly known as fairy lily, rainflower, zephyr lily, magic lily, Atamasco lily, and rain lily. True to its name, the rain lily is a wonder. I seriously wonder how they distinguish rain water from the water that we pour. I water the plants including the rainflower everyday very religiously but its only the rainwater(any time during the year) which makes the flowers blooom.