You lose some . . . you win some?

One of the cucumber plants died. My home help told me one seemed to be in trouble. When I went to see, I found the stem of one plant seemed to have been hollowed out. As I looked, I disturbed some tiny black flies, which flew away. The second plant was fine. I sprayed both with neem soap solution but couldn't save the affected one.

 Cucumber -- plant in the foreground is dying

I finally transplanted the lettuce -- the seedlings seemed to have grown large enough. But they are so delicate and languishing. Do hope they will survive.

Lettuce, just transplanted

I have some new additions to the garden-- calladiums and an agave. I will have to put some pebbles around the calladiums until they spread or I find some other ground cover. Otherwise the rain will splash earth all over them and they'll start languishing too.

Calladium

Agave

Some old and trusted friends continue to bloom. The pink hibiscus was trimmed right back to a third of its length but has loyally started flowering again, even though my husband felt I'd been cruel to it. He's a bit like Dogmatix in the Asterix comics. Hates it when I prune plants, even though I've explained that it's good for them. I have to prepare him for the sight whenever I'm going to prune.

Hibiscus

Evening bells

Clematis

Round 2 of vegetable growing on the balcony

I've started my second round of growing vegetables from seed. Tip of the hat to Raj of Organic Kitchen Garden who gave me the seeds for the cucumber, tomatoes and lettuce (and beans, of which more below). He also gave me the poi sag as seedlings, taken from his mother plant.

I planted the seeds and  transplanted the seedlings some time ago. The plants started off well, but with hardly any sun for more than a week now, they are growing more slowly than they should. Keeping my fingers crossed.

I muffed only with the lettuce by transplanting the seedlings too early. They all died. A second lot of seeds has germinated and I will take care to plant them only when they're robust. I took Raj's tip and planted them in a mix of cocopeat and compost (my own homemade compost) so that the seedlings can stay in the pot for some time. I also had bad luck with the beans. They germinated and transplanted well, and were growing fast. But one day I found the leaves covered with a white powdery substance, which didn't go after spraying with neem soap solution or just water. Eventually the plants died. I will plant the seeds again when there's  more sun. If anyone knows what happened to the beans, do let me know.

Cucumber

Tomato-- marmande

 

 Germinated lettuce

Poi sag

The lot below  is from the first round. Some plants from the first round are fruiting again so I'll keep them till the vegetables mature. The plants are showing their age so I will put them to rest after that.

Brinjal

Capsicum --only buds just now

 

 

Chili

 

Vegetable gardening

I was keen to try vegetable gardening and started the first lot on my own, after a little reading on the Internet.  I grew brinjal, capsicum, tomato and chilli -- I had fair results with the first three, but no luck with the chillis. Then I attended a wonderful workshop on container vegetable gardening by Mani of geekgardener and Raj of Organic Kitchen Garden blogs and learnt all about the correct way to germinate seeds, transplant the seedlings and feed the growing plants. With their invaluable advice, I 'm hoping to have better results with my second attempt. This time I've planted lettuce, beans, tomato and cucumber with seeds Raj 'sold' (at very nominal prices to ensure people do use the seeds) at the workshop.

Here are some pictures of the first attempt; these were germinated from seed and transplanted into small pots.

Brinjal

Capsicum

Tomato

These plants were further transplanted into large pots, which were to be their final home. Here are pictures of the mature plants with fruit.

Brinjal

Capsicum

Tomato

Finally, here are pictures of the harvested vegetables and the dishes I made from them. 

Brinjals and tomatoes and with a sprig mint also grown on my balcony

Bruschetta and grilled aubergine with yoghurt dip

Except for the garlic in the dip, all the vegetables in these dishes were grown on my balcony!

Plants in my garden

Crown of thorns

Dancing lady begonia

Crocuses

Pink crocuses

Bleeding heart vine - close up

Bleeding heart vine

My first post

A few people have suggested I start my own gardening blog and I've decided to go ahead. I get so much out of seeing other people's blogs, especially those in India, that I decided maybe I should contribute as well.

I've been gardening in Bangalore for about five years now. I have a small strip of garden on the ground floor and a balcony on the first floor of my duplex apartment. Since the ground floor garden doesn't get much sun, over time I've learned which plants will grow well with 2 to 3 hours of sunlight a day, a little more in the summer. They are firebush (pic on the left), mandarin orange, bamboo, ferns, philodendrons, bleeding heart vine (also known as coral vine), clematis (white), chinese evergreen and crown of thorns. I also have two beds in the driveway before our apartment, which get 3-4 hours of sun, and am currently growing hibiscus, guplphima, heliconia, star jasmine and crocus there.

I'm new to blogging and find I can't add more pictures to this post so will start another and post more pics there.