Hi Folks,
Welcome to 2021, and I can only hope fervently that it’s a much better year for all of us than 2020. Though I will not downplay 2020, it was overall a year of negative sentiments and poor health indicators, and our hopes for 2021 is very different.
First, the vaccine. The vaccines started becoming available in UAE by Dec end/Jan, and there is an ambitious drive to vaccinate at least 50% of the population by summer. From flydubai, we have registered for the vaccines. Initially it was supposed to be Pfizer, but it is limited in stock, so we don’t know if we would get that or another vaccine. I believe it’s good to take a vaccine so that it helps us in our fight against the deadly virus.
Second, my garden. I had started it out sometime in October. In a matter or three months, it has changed its look from a small garden to a very green environment, with leaves all over and pots densely packed and some fruits starting to appear. I am proud to say that I harvested ladies fingers, cucumbers, coriander leaves, lettuce is growing, tomatoes have started appearing, potato has started shooting up and chilli plants are also taking roots. In addition, there is basil, mint, parsley and many more varities of shrubs that can be used with salads and steaks. I also planted several gardenia plants and bougainvilla, which give the garden a very colorful look. Jasmine and sunflower are also there, which I hope will flower during the summer. Let me share some pictures of the garden as it is now, below.
This is how my garden looked three to four months back (to the left), and how it looks now. Actually, there’s lots more but this image doesnt show it well. I think the image below does more justice.
This is a panoramic view maybe two months back. I have taken a same shot now. You can see it below.
This is how the garden looks now. With flowers along the railings, and kitchen plants in various stages of bloom and growth in pots and potato bags. This potato bag is very ambiguous. While it is definitely closer to nature through bio-degradable materials and stuff, I personally find that the soil is very loose inside. It doesnt settle well, and we cannot grow plants like carrot, lettuces etc in it. It might be good for potatoes, radishes, beetroots and the like. But keep in mind, the soil is very loose. So even when the plant grows, the soil around the root will keep moving, making it unstable. I had to throw away carrots and I think now some spinach also because of this issue. They don’t grow well. On the other hand, the potato (planting experiment from kitchen) is growing very well, touch wood.
Lets look at some fruits that have come up recently.
This cucumber above was the first one to grow, and was hidden for a long time. I despaired for a long time that all I could see were leaves, and there were no fruits. Then, when i casually checked the pot, there it was. Like a hidden treasure!
These are cucumbers that have grown from the plants I planted long back, and they got badly affected by my fertilizer trial. Actually two plants dried up, and this is the only one remaining. These started from the plant below, which was so small.
This photo was taken long back. Now the mother plant looks like this.
I put a net so that the climbers could move up, and grow healthy. I ordered some sticky bases on amazon, into which we could put nails, and i attached the net to these nails. Saved me from drilling into the wall to drive the nails in.
I can also see tomatoes coming up now. They look cute, and I have never seen tomatoes on plants before. So waiting for the day I can see them in full splendor.
This is one of the tomato plants that are growing in the garden. It contains some baby tomatoes as well. I also want to post pictures of spinach and chillies, which are coming up.
I am a bit worried about the chillies. Because, they are growing in this bag and like I mentioned above, the soil is loose. Let’s see. Gardening is a new thing for me, and there has already been several learnings. I don’t have any issues starting from scratch, if that’s what it takes.
One visitor other than me and my family visits this garden regularly. It’s a bird, and it keeps pecking away at the plants. I initially thought of driving it away, but then decided to watch what it was doing. My idea was to take some close up photos if possible with my 100-400mm lens. I soon realised that it’s a young engineering mind that this bird has. It is very clear what it wants. It will peck and search, and find small dry twigs and pieces of leaves it will analyse. Then, if it meets a particular dimension, it will take it and fly away. Unfortunately, it’s flying to the apartment above, where as I wish it would set up a nest in my balcony. Maybe it’s for the best, since it might wreck the whole garden if the bird family also grew up here.
It’s grown quite used to me sitting in the balcony with my leg up on a small table, and has no issues pecking very near me. Who are we to change the order of nature? The best experience is to open up ourselves to nature and become a part of its wonder in whatever small ways possible.
My first harvest (of course, the microgreens and coriander don’t count) was this set of ladies finger. Tasted yummy when cooked, and even though it seemed so little, it meant a lot. Maybe it might mean little for seasoned gardeners and all, but I am an amateur just starting a hobby. And it was a great achievement, made all my hard work seem worthwhile.
Just some passing frames before I wind up this post. Though I wanted it to be generic, it ended up mostly as a gardening post. So not sure if I should change the title itself. I will leave it to you guys to read and let me know what your thoughts are.
During these times of pandemic and constraints on moving around and overall outlook towards life, gardening is really something that has kept me on my toes and harnessed my energies and passion towards a nature friendly activity. While I may not have a lawn or a backyard, I am happy with the limited space in my balcony, and I believe I can arrange it better. Gardening has become a passion for me now, more than a past time. Happy Gardening to all those people out there who are fellow gardeners, and Start Gardening to those people who still haven’t!!!…