Month: January 2019

This is a blog post very very close to my heart. I have always loved roses from the very first time I set up a garden. All my balconies over the years had roses in different colors and sizes.

So one of my conditions while setting up the new garden was that there should be many many rose plants. The gardener was true to his word and planted roses all around the edges. I was elated.

There were tiny plants with 4 leaves and 2 flowers. I reveled in their beauty for a couple of months. But then the plants started getting weaker. Could have been lack of sunlight. Could have been lack of nourishment. I have heard that plants in nurseries are steeped in hormones and what not. So by the time we get them, they are not sturdy or mature – made to bloom in their infancy.

My disappointment grew over time, when most of the roses died under my watchful eyes. I’ve recently started burying banana peels near the roots. Banana peels are rich in phosphorus, which is very essential to plant growth. And I think it has helped. They’ve started blooming again, in ones and twos. One of them was so pretty, that I had to post it in Instagram! Ain’t she pretty?!!

I’m elated, thrilled, fascinated by these beautiful perfect flowers. Love you roses!

The gardener who set up my garden initially told me that he was planting cabbages and cauliflowers. Both plants looked the same, and I wasn’t experienced enough to question him.

The plants grew very well until they started having tiny cabbages. Then the pests discovered them, and there was no stopping the multiple worms and bugs that ate up all the lovely leaves. All my neem oil+detergent spraying had very little effect since the leaves are so closely packed. Got a decent crop of about 10 cabbages, each one the size of a large orange. It was enough for one yummy dish!

And that’s the cabbage farming story:)

And so it happened that one day, I went to GKVK Agricultural university in Bangalore in search of seeds and fertilizers. And I bought carrot seeds from there. Tiny red glossy seeds that looked pretty, like carrots. I made a small bed ready and planted them. They sprouted pretty quick and looked good.

They grew and grew rapidly. I saw the leaves and wondered why they didn’t look like carrot leaves.

After fighting the normal worms and other pest problems, they finally bore fruit. And guess what they were. My carrots turned out to be radishes.

I got a very good crop. But the point is, I don’t like radishes. I made radish soup, which was yuck! Radish chips which was bleh! And radish curry, which was barely edible. Distributed the rest to few near and dear ones, who were willing to bail me out during my time of despair!

And so I retire from radish gardening, with this unique story of how my carrots turned out to be radishes!!