Cherry Tomatoes Growing wild
Hi Hivers! it's day three of the November posting challenge I've undertaken. I am hoping to write a post every day this month and I appreciate your support.
Garden journal for November
It's November and its still raining here in Bangalore, India. August to January would have been the ideal growing season for vegetables normally. The summer sun would have lost its intensity and the weather would be milder and more conducive for the growth of veggies, but the never ending rains has ensured that not many flowers stayed on the plants and whatever remained were attacked by pests. I just had to write off most of this growing season, blame it on climate change, please note the point Mr.Trump. The plants do seem a bit confused by the weather I'd say.
Just my daily harvest of okra
Although this has been a rather disappointing season for growing veggies and flowers some plants did better than others. The best harvest we had this season was the okra. I had planted ten plants
in July six did well, I removed a couple of plants which didn't seem healthy and a couple of them died of pest attack and excess rain. The six I have right now produce enough and more veggies for the two of us. The okras have been fleshy and tasty but I guess right now I am sick of them. At this point I am giving away my daily harvest of six to ten okras to my friends.
Lablab
Lalab beans and the yard long beans seem to be doing all right as of now. I did not plant these, they come up on the own from the vines that I planted in summer. These need constant supervision and pest management if I hope to harvest any veggies at all. The green beans seeds that I had preserved from the last season and tried to grow didn't do well. I bought more seeds from the market and they didn't sprout at all.
Tomatoes did well initially but as the fruits started to ripen they began to rot. I do get some everyday, but the quality of the fruits haven't been great. I love sun ripened tomatoes from the garden which isn't happening right now. On the other hand volunteer tomato plants have become a menace in my garden.
Look at this grow bag, its supposed to be filled with spinach but its over grown with tomato seedling, volunteers if you will. Everyday I need to weed them out to let the spinach grow. For some reason the spinach isn't doing well in my garden at this time of the year. This is the first time I have failed with spinach. I have had to buy bunches of spinach from the market for most part of the month.
I saw a good number of flowers on my strawberry plants but I haven't harvested more than a couple of fruits. The squirrels have decided that they need the food more than I and they pick the best of the strawberries. I am left staring at the leaves this season as well. It's kind of impossible to win the race with the squirrels.
Turmeric Right now
Turmeric has almost finished growing. Big tubers are showing up above the soil and the leaves are turning yellow already. They have a month more of growing time. It's only in January we harvest turmeric, but my harvest may come in by mid December I guess.
Ginger
Ginger is doing well too despite the rain, I hope to have a good harvest in January. At one point I thought that I lost all of my ginger plants as they began to rot due to incessant rains. It seems a few survived and will give me a harvest after all. This is the first time I am growing ginger and that too from a piece of store bought ginger.
Mint
Onions didn't survive the rain and I didn't expect them to. I guess I was sufficiently prepared for what was coming. Beets and carrots didn't even see the light of day. They suffered a worse fate than the onions. Sweet potatoes on the other hand are doing very well, I guess they have big tubers hiding in those bags.
Green chilies are a very important component of our food, we need at least10-15 chilies everyday. This crop hasn't failed me at all and I've had enough chilies to keep me happy. Basil and mint are looking fresh and green and always ready for harvest.
It's the season for broccoli here. The cooler months are when we can grow them without any worries, but this year doesn't seem very promising. The flowers are bolting even when they are a couple of inches wide. That means despite the rain, the weather has been a bit too warm for the plants. I ended up harvesting most of the flower buds when they are tiny.
We just enjoyed a good harvest of pomegranates and the plant is in bloom again. By January or February we will hopefully have another good harvest.
Lime is doing well. My tiny lime plants are loaded with fruit now. These plants didn't take a break this year, we are still harvesting fruits from the last season. These plants are not more than a foot tall in size but are great producers. I have been growing more plants from cutting for my friends. I don't have space for any more of these plants on my terrace.
The allspice bush has been doing well, its about four years old now and I hope to see some fruits from this one soon. I love this amazing spice. The leaves are so fragrant that if you happen to brush them as you walk past them the smell of spices fills the air. It gives you a feeling of walking into an Indian spice market.
Finally the curry leaf plant is putting out fresh leaves. It seemed rather stunted for a while. The deep pruning that I gave it last month seems to have helped.
Turmeric earlier in september
Sadly, I guess a major part of my garden's poor performance has to do with the lack of fertilization. No matter how much manure you add the rain washes away the nutrition the plants sorely need. I was hoping that sometime around August the rains would stop and I would be able to loosen the soil a bit and fertilize the plants adequately. Hopefully the months of December and January maybe a better time for my garden. I have my fingers crossed, please cross yours for me and wish my garden well.
Hope you had a better gardening season at your end of the globe. Never give up on your garden. Happy gardening until I see you again through another post.
If you enjoy gardening please join the hive garden community and post using the #gardenjournal. I don't ever want to miss posting here.
Thanks for all your support. I appreciate it very much.
