I have always liked gardening since I was kid. We had a large-ish garden back then, and spending any time outside the confines of the four walls was fun. Hence I spent a fair amount of time in the garden, planting trees, watching them grow, watering them, digging up soil and dirt and what not.
From a very early age I had a fascination towards homegrown crops. I didn't understand much, but I understood this much they tasted waay better, always. We had different types of spinach, and vegetables, and fruits growing all over the house. It was always kinda festive.
As we grew up, life got in the way and gardening was not on my to do list for a very, very long time. That love for plants stayed dormant for many many winters, until just recently when my wife and I went to a new place. We have a nice balcony with plenty of sunlight during the day and it was just begging for some life to grow. The fact that I was done with exams for at least another year opened up a free spot in my schedule that I could once again divert towards gardening. At long last, after nearly 12-13 years I have taken up gardening again.
I won't say it is my "passion," that would be lying. But it definitely is a very pleasant hobby that enjoy thoroughly. I am in no way a pro gardener. I am more along the lines of what they call "Youtube Gardener!" LOL!
I don't buy a lot of tools or chemical fertilizers. Apparently organic gardening is the new sexy in town! So I have been making most fertilizers out of kitchen waste, used tea leaves, grinding egg shells and shit! The only stuff I bought were a small bottle of Neem oil and some Epsom salt.
I try to work mostly with stuff lying around in the house.
I had a day off today, so I turned some of the forks and cooking spatulas into soil digging "machines" and spent the day irrigating the soil on all the plants. I'm still to find out what happens when my wife finds out later this evening, luckily I will be at my chamber that I am also starting today by the way. So fingers crossed for the heat to smoothen out by the time I return!
I guess what I am trying to say here is, trying to make use of whatever I have near me has definitely made it easier for me to pick back up a long dormant hobby. I don't know if this helps me be a better version of myself, but it sure does reduce my time on the internet and diverts it towards spending it a bit with nature.
Either way, here's a picture of my recently blossoming black chilis!