In My Garden. 

Episode – 1

“In my garden” is the new segment where I take you for a little walk in my garden talking about all the trivial things while holding my cup of coffee. So, Welcome to my garden, episode -1.

The current garden setup is a new one for me as I have moved to Chennai. I have already shared the story of my new garden in my previous blog post. In case you are interested, give it a read. Here is the link to click – My First Harvest.

The growing season “Aadi”-

Gardeners all over Tamilnadu would love to wait for Aadi (a Tamil month) Mid July to Mid August to start their garden. Because it is the best growing season for the crops (in Tamil – ‘aadi pattam’). It is a popular season as we can grow almost all kinds of plants in it.

There is a famous saying in Tamil called, “ஆடி பட்டம் தேடி விதை” (aadi pattam thedi vidhai) meaning, this time is very suitable for sowing seeds. 

Among all the seasons, my favorites are aadi and thai pattam (where we start sowing in January.)  I usually wait for July or August to start my garden. This year, I started my garden in August. 

I prepared my garden a couple of weeks beforehand the growing season. If you like to know what are all the things I did to prepare my garden, comment below. I will share it in the next blog post.

New Plants & Seeds 

I am very excited to start many new plants this year and I have already made a list. So let’s see them. 

Vegetables – 

I sown the following seeds in August. The rest need to be sown in late September, which I will share in my next update.

• Ladies finger/okra
• Brinjal/eggplant
• Tomatoes
• Chilies
• Broad beans
• Onions
• Radish

Greens & Herbs –

I planted some of the hardy greens and some herbs this year. 

• Palak/spinach
• Ceylon keerai
• Pasalai keerai
• Coriander
• Mint

Tubers –

These are the ones I am always excited about. This year, I am growing a few things that are new to me. 

• Turmeric
• Taro roots
• Elephant foot yam
• Potatoes.

So, these are the plants I started in August. As said before, there are a few things on the list, which are needed to be sown or started in cooler months like late September. I will share about them in the upcoming updates.  I am trying many things that are new to me this year. But still not sure about the result. Let’s see how we are doing!

The current state of my garden –

Let us face the truth. My garden is not always the ideal one. Many plants have dried, died, root rotted, and been infested all the time. You know it’s all in the cycle. And I am always learning like a beginner. 

I have a few brinjal/eggplant which is heavily infested with aphids. So the growth has been stalled.  I had a couple of rose plants, and both of them dried. So I took them away, as I know they won’t revive. 

All the seeds sown are slowly sprouting. My garden is slowly taking shape and getting greener, due to the climate. No big rainfall so far. Weeding and pruning plants are under process. 

Apart from the garden works, I am fighting a big problem. Sometimes I try to deal with it while the rest of the time, thinking it’s cute. 

The Main Problem 

I don’t think you will believe me if I told you that the main problems I am facing currently are ‘crows’ and ‘pigeons’!! Yes, you heard me right. They are the big issues now. I will share a few scenarios with you. 

If I have freshly sown seeds in well-mixed soil this day, I will see seeds outside the pots the next day. The crows have dug the soil and thrown them out. Trust me. I have seen it directly. 

I will see some escaped seeds sprouting with two tiny leaves and stems. The next day it will be cut in half and thrown inside the pot itself.

What’s worse is, that some flowers in the plants would have turned into fruits. I will be very excited and patiently wait to harvest them, as they have a few more days to mature. Those impatient crows will pluck them with their beaks and throw them randomly throughout the garden. An even worse scene is where they peck the fruits with their beaks in half. 

Yes, now you know. Apart from mealy bugs and aphids which most of the gardeners will be fighting with, here I am guarding my garden with all my might from crows and pigeons. If you have any tips, help me, and share them with me. I don’t want to hurt them or stop coming to my garden though.

That is it for the update on my garden. Do follow me on Instagram, @dt_gardens where I share my little joy and rant more about my failures & disappointments in gardening. See ya in my next blog post. 

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