I have had some seeds with me before the lockdown itself. The lockdown only accelerated planting them. And now the best thing has happened. Some of them even bloomed. It is so satisfying seeing something you grow from the seed bloom or give fruits.
Yesterday, I had the first bloom on my velvet petal plant. That’s not its name but that’s how I identify that. That was the best thing happened that day I can say. But there’s much more to the plants, successes, and complete failures during this journey.
I learned a lot during the process. Most things I had never given importance before or seem pretty easy in the videos online. I always wanted turtle vine hangings. In the starting that was my only intention; to have turtle vines in the balcony.
There were only two pieces of the vine I got and it was planted in a small mud pot. I just wanted it to grow and I know it grows without much effort. So the plan was to grow them and report a few to better hanging pots. It had started to grow well.
From two pieces of the vine, I had these much within a week or two. I was really happy with that until one day I heard a loud noise. It was the pot on the floor when the kids had a great shot with their football. Except a few that were safe others were all broken.
But, as I said, I knew its not a difficult plant to grow. I had hope it will do well in a few weeks. But this time, I planted them in an old plastic hanging pot which was used before for orchids and abandoned to our pile of “we don’t use them but we still keep them because you never know when it comes in handy” things.
This time I was smart enough to plant one of them in another pot too. This pot had all the seeds I bought from a flower-show-exhibition. They had great varieties of plants, most flowering plants. I bought at least 10 packets of seeds from them.
Can you guess which one I was more excited to see growing? Sunflowers!
Can you guess which one I never saw, not even a shoot coming up from the seeds? SUNFLOWERS!!
I had two packets of sunflower seeds and many seeds of other colourful flowering plants. I even made a note of which ones are planted in the pot with how many seeds in the row and stuff. Well, weeks went by, I even started reading about how long it takes for them to start growing.
Most of the seeds I didn’t know which one is of which plant. They didn’t have labels. Weeks went by and I kept waiting. Nothing, none of them came out of their seeds.
That was a huge failure. The rest of the seeds from those packets I dumped into one single pot and that was about the flower show seeds. But, the excitement I had waiting for them to grow taught me to not expect anything from a seed. Or rather not to be too excited.
Then I decided I am never spending again on the seeds and buying from nurseries or at least exhibition centers. One day I was visiting someone and they had a huge collection of plants. From different types of orchids, roses, and many other ornamental plants. I was not too ambitious this time.
So, I brought back a few seeds from this velvet petal plant and a twig of rose. They insisted I take other plants too but I wanted to know if something grows with the soil I am using. And more importantly, if I can properly grow something.
This time I dumped many seeds in the same pot. I also bought a few pieces of pothos. So I added that too into the pot. I watered them every day and just didn’t keep any expectations. The roses were almost getting dry but I watered them anyway. If there is something I love more about planting and growing it is reviving a dead plant or from a part of it.
Then it happened. One day, there were these tiny green colours in the dirt. I pretty much felt like I got the nanoparticles in perfect shape! I mean it is not as difficult as that, but, a comparable feeling of joy.
Not just that, in a few days there was a small growth from the side of the dried twig of rose. A healthy side branch. In days, two healthy side branches from two of those roses. Yes, now I have roses for my garden-in-plan.
Then it happens, the rise of the red-leafed saplings. The only ones which made it successfully from those seed packets.
They were the Amaranth plants, I was guessing the red ones. I had bought different colours of it and was expecting yellow. But, at this point I was just happy something did grow.
Next few days were the ones with more happiness with the little ones growing and shining in the sunlight. But the sun was too hot. It was the summer heat and in Kerala this is the hottest times. To add to that, we had the record high temperatures. So, I watered all of them well every day.
In the meantime, I had put some seeds of chillies in a pot. They had also grown up to a height that it needed replanting. All of them were taken to our land where we normally grow vegetables and fruits. Its the experiment land of my father and he is seeing success there. That also means they were having a good time making fun of my failed ones.
Soon enough the velvety petal plants also grew up and we were already in the lockdown by then. I always wanted to get into permaculture. But, with time I understood if I wait till I have enough land to try that I may not be doing it at all.
So instead I thought I would do whatever I can to replicate the model and not use plastic. Conditions then turned into “I’ll only use whatever waste plastic is in the house and not buy something that’ll go into waste affect the environment badly.
So, I found this old sack and filled soil in it. This one was for the velvety petal plant. It doesn’t require much sunlight. I chose a place where it only gets direct sunlight for some time and the rest of the day it is still bright.
The time came to replant those ones and I felt like I made the mistake by replanting them. I mean, in the videos you only see healthy plants being replanted into another pot and staying healthy. However, mine, the moment they were uprooted from the pot they looked like they died.
This is how they looked after planting into the sack. It takes time to get adjusted for them I think. The next day was also not looking very well. But then a few of them grew stronger and a few, I have no idea where they went.
The ones which came up grew taller in time. Now, everyone was making fun of me saying it is the weed plant that makes your hand itch if you touch it. The truth is I also didn’t know the name of the plant so I kept telling them about the flower. But no, for everyone else it was the itchy plant (I am talking about Thumba: to all the Malayalees).
Finally, the day came when it bloomed with the first flower. I was happier not just for the flower, now I don’t have to explain to everyone. They are really pretty. There are many more buds on it and I can’t wait for them to open up.
I also need to control them from spreading everywhere. It grows wild. Even after replanting from the old pot, many seeds of this plant were still there and they all grew up now ready to be replanted.
I always wanted pothos and there were three-four twigs, no, they are not twigs, maybe vines or pieces. I had put them in water and they all started to grow. I also got this other plant which is also a climber. Luckily, they all started to grow roots.
There was no way I could go out or get flower pots. So, I thought of using the beer bottles. That’s how it all started, collecting bottles. My brother brought a sack full of bottles not just of beer but other good ones too.
I have seen many bottle arts and in the videos, everything seems a bit easier. I tried washing them all and took me a good one week to finish washing all these bottles. Soak them in batches and peel off the labels and stuff, uff!
Pothos are now kept in those bottles. I need to make Macramé holders for them. For that, we’ll have to wait a few more weeks until all the shops open. For now, they are used to grow plants like these to grow. I just love the blue bottles. Them with a few fairy lights!
Did I talk about the snake plant? That is also one of the abandoned ones I got. Then there was a fresh shooting. It is the prettiest pattern I have ever seen. I have also kept all the damaged leaves I got with it in soil. Hope they also grow.
There were many volunteer tomatoes and other weeds too. Tomatoes I need to replant. I also made another sack pot and have thrown all the vegetable seeds in there. Let's see what all comes up. It was not just me after the plants started to grow my mother also saw some orange seeds.
They have grown up but the problem is our climate is not suited for orange plants at all. I think they might just die off later. They need colder climates and we don’t have that. Also, I don’t know what this star-leafed plant is either.
One other thing I learned during this time is the importance of variegation in indoor plants. As a kid, I always hated plants with colours like that or patches. I never understood why people liked them in the first place. Same with leafy plants. I never found them attractive in my childhood. Now, I wish I had those plants, most of them are super expensive.
I also like how these little patches make these leaves different. I think out of all, I like the fresh pattern of the snake plant. Also, this dark leafed one. Ugh, I need to learn their names!
The amaranth I said, they also have a few shoots of flowers now But, they are more attractive to their leaves. They all have this red-ish pink-ish colour at the edge and borders of them. It looks so cool with a light green colour.
It is not a good sign I think. They all are living congested in the pot and I think that’s why they are so short and thin. I have two others of them living in a different pot and they are very tall and strong. But I like how these ones came up with the red-ish edges.
Updates on my turtle vines, they all are growing very well. Sometimes, they go yellow like this because of the sun or water. It is only after I started growing them I understood how things change when there’s lack or excess of sunlight, water, and other factors.
The water here is chlorinated and I wanted to make sure plants do grow in that water. Well, some of them do and some of them don’t. But, now I feel a little confidence to try a few vegetables. I don’t think I will be going anywhere out of the district or state until this corona thing ends.
I am also still not sure how and what to do with the bottles. Hanging them outside is just not possible. Monsoon comes with heavy rain and heavy wind. The last thing we need is broken glass pieces everywhere. It’ll be great if someone has some ideas about using them to grow plants or any décor ideas.
Those are my plants for now. Hopefully, more will be added to the collection soon.
PS: This one I am planning to get from my neighbor🤫
