Beginning of new running season...

Yesterday I started my training for the current running season. The season will end sometime in Feb10 with the Auroville Marathon, before summer of 2010 sets in. Feeling lucky to be in bangalore as the rains have already arrived here and it drizzles almost daily in the evening making it cool to do practice runs and jog.

I have shifted to a new place with no parks nearby :( and will miss Agara Lake badly, where i did most of my training of the last running season. So, I thought of exploring locations near to my new place where one can at least run 3-4 kms in one loop. A loop of 3-4 km works out well for me, as on the days when am feeling lazy I can just run one loop of 3-4 kms and if energy levels are higher I can go for 8 kms in 2 loops. Mostly, I don't run more than that in one go.

The first route I explored was the road going from kudlu village towards hosa road junction. The road is without any street lights, the only and intermittent lights were from the speeding vehicles. Most of the vehicles on this route in the evening time are from Electronics City towards the Sarjapura junction as this road helps to cut the distance between these two points almost by half in comparison to the more crowded route via Silk board and Hsr layout. Also the traffic at these hours on this road is next to nil and that prompts the drivers to speed. It can't be safe for a lone runner on an unlit road with such speeding vehicles even though I was keeping to the extreme left of the road. So, i turned back after a km or so.

Then I tried the route from Kudlu village towards Sarjapura junction, this road is relatively better lit, ran a distance of almost 1 km or so on this route before taking a left turn near the IDEB Sprinville project, this turn connects straight to Kudlu panchayat office and then to my place. Guess this loop from Kudlu village via IDEB sprinville back to my home will be close to 2.5kms, will take a correct measurement someday on bike.

Meanwhile I am looking forward to run in the Sunfeast open 10k on 31st May and participate in the BSA hercules duathlon (5K running + 20K cycling +5K running) on 14th June.

Duathlon will be my first event involving a cycle but I don't have a cycle helmet as of today. Plan to purchase one sometime next month. I have very high ambition of completing atleast one full marathon this season along with few half marathons. Best of Luck to me!!

First harvest of greens

On 25th May 09 we had the first harvest from our little kitchen garden.

The harvest was of these tiny leafy vegetables, what we call in Oriya as Kosala Saaga. I had sown the kosala seeds on 3rd of May and considering the time gap of 22 days the growth wasn't that impressive, probably the reason being the water logging that we had in the garden during the past few days and also the lack of any kind of manure/compost etc in the soil...

[caption id="attachment_64" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Tiny leafy greens - First harvest from the kitchen garden"][/caption]

I was guilty of rushing through the sowing of these seeds even before the builder had completed the soil filling in the garden. The first round of soil filling was followed by plenty of rain and the soil settled a lot more than i had imagined. Hence more soil had to be filled into the garden and for the soil filling to happen, I was forced to remove these tiny leafy greens, else they would have all gone down under the soil.

Anyways, after the initial rounds of ooh and aahs we settled upon making a nice little curry out of these greens along with some potatoes and brinjals. And believe me the curry was very tasty inspite of not so impressive size of the greens. In my bro in laws words the curry was mainly of potatoes and brinjal with leafy flavour :)

In my heart I am very happy about my move from being a pure consumer to little bit of creator category. This shift means a lot to me specially after reading Mr. Sridharan's thoughts on http://goodnewsindia.com/pointreturn/online/why-is-goodnewsindia-not-being-updated/

I loved this quote from his site: Blessed is she in whom the creator and consumer are within reach of an embrance.

This man, it appears, is doing lot of good work and his site is a pleasure to read.

Visit to Dept of Horticulture & introduction of medicinal plants in KG

Working to prepare a garden from scratch is surely a lovely experience and am only a beginner in the field of gardening. So, the idea of visiting new nurseries, seed stores etc. are very inviting..

I have been greatly inspired by one blogger http://geekgardener.wordpress.com/ in his experiments with container gardening and inspired by his visit to Department of Horticulture, Hulimavu, I had made up my mind to make a visit there someday.

Finally I could make it there on May 20th (Took a day off from the work;) ).

I went there along with my mother, she is an avid plant lover (Being from the Adivasi Hinterland of Orissa has its effect), and in my heart I knew she would love to visit this place...

Department of Horticulture,Hulimavu is just few meters before the Meenakshi temple, beside the Cocunut Development Board, if one is approaching it from bannerghatta road. It's easy to miss it, as there are no big eye catching billboards or crowd, very unlike a lalbagh for example.

We made an registry entry with the security at the main entrance and he instructed us to drive down 0.5 kms down the road to the main office. Both sides of this driveway are chiku orchards and many a green houses.

I wanted to buy few seeds of few cultivars of lettuce. So, I went straight into the office and asked the officials there, for a list of available seed varieties, and he guided us to the notice board. To my amazement there were more than 200 varieties of seeds in the list, and i was hearing the names of most of them for the first time in my life.

I noted down the names of few cultivars of cherry tomatoes, peppers, lettuce and zuchinni. Most of the seed varities here are priced around Rs.5 per gm. That was really a welcome change, because by now I am used to packets of seeds from different nurseries like Nursery Men Co-operative Society in Lalbagh where they are almost heftily priced in comparison to the price here. Also in those nurseries one has no control over the quantity of seeds to buy. Mostly the packets have some x quantity in them and 90% of the seeds from these packets are of no use for a small kitchengardener like me.

Chandrakala, attends to seed purchase request at the DoH and normally, once the orders are placed, it takes half an hour for her to procure them from the seed store(clod store unit). We thought of using this time to just look around the place and that is when we came to know the actual treasure DoH has in store.

We came across one of those shaded enclosures where DoH has a collection of different varities of medicinal and aromatic plants. The collection is just awsome!! with over 40 varities of mdecinal plants available readily for purchase. We had no idea about the usefulness of so many varities of plants available there. Thankfully the attendant offered to help us with a pamplet. The pamplet clearly detailed the name and usage of different medicinal plants in both english and kannada. Overjoyed, we went on a shopping spree and here is a list of few of the plants we bought.

1. Insluin Plant - 2 leaves a day (Morning and Evening for 1 months helps control diabetes)
2. Aloe Vera -
3. Brahmi
4. Clove Basil
5. Camphor Basil
6. Chakramani (Multivitamin plant)
7. Mehendi
8. Mint
9. Balsam
10. Lemon Grass
11. Hipli (Long pepper ??)

Here is snapshot of all the plant's taking a break before they settle in their new home...

[caption id="attachment_48" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="All plants bought from DoH, Hulimavu"][/caption]

Apart from these medicinal plants we also bought
1. jasmine
2. Blood Flower
3. Sandalwood

And to my surprise each of the above plants are priced in the range of Rs. 3-6. That's unbelievable in city of B'lore.!!
With the shopping done, we happily headed home promising ourselves to return here more often.

In the meantime, here are few more pics from my garden.

[caption id="attachment_49" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Hibiscus"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_51" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Peas seedling transplanted into container from plastic glass"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_52" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Tomato seedlings"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_53" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Poi Saaga (Not sure of English name). Used in Oriya non-veg delicacies"][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_55" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="gladiolus bulbs have turned into these beautiful plants in just 15 days!!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_56" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="The little papaya plant looks little settled now"][/caption]

I got the containers

I needed few containers which can be put up in the space which gets nice and direct sunlgiht but unfortunately covered by concrete in the form of boundary wall foundation and storm water drain. Human is always greedy for more :)
So, I was on the look out for economical containers in good numbers which can be put on these two places. I had enguired with few nurseries and at Lalbagh. The average cost for a decent size container was some where around Rs. 100/-.
I had to get them quickly, so that those can be filled with the red soil before the garden contractor from the builder side is gone. My guess was it's always going to get more difficult to get the soil filled up in the container after that.

Finally, yesterday I found the gold mine. Builder was selling off the old/used paint containers to one guy. And it so happened, I reached the right place at the right time, or so i think till now :) I bought few of those containers... Here are they seating pretty in my garden, waiting to be filled up with soil.

[caption id="attachment_41" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Containers seating pretty on the boundry foundation wall"][/caption]

I bought all of 20 pcs for 1k, not a bad bargain i guess, given that these containers are huge in size and can have fairly large plants in them. Very happy at this development. Next i'll try to get few rectangular cement pots, for putting on  the storm water drain, normally available with the road side vendors around hsr layout. They too cost around Rs. 100/- each.

Apart from these development, here is an update from my Garden. Spinach (or is it coriander ??) have started sprouting. Papaya is shedding it's bottom 2 leafs and two new leafs are coming up :) My mom is very excited about this. As kids we had a papaya plant in our front yard which use to give plenty of vegetable for her curries. She has fond memories of those. So, she insists i plant one more of papaya plant and i'll oblige soon.

The jasmine i had bought from the nursery is in full bloom. 6 gladiolus bulbs which i had bought from Lalbagh last weekend for 60 rs and out of which one was rotten have also been placed properly in front area of drawing room. In the interim 4 days I had placed them in the plastic glasses, and surprisingly today while planting them in soil I observed they already have roots.

[caption id="attachment_42" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Gladiolus Bulbs goes there"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_43" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Jasmine "][/caption]

That's it for now. More updates will follow

KitchenGardener

New Seed starting and update on last one

Last few days have taught me few lessons on patience and perseverance. Seed starting which I had initiated on 3rd May have started giving results. Some very encouraging and some disappointing.  Cucumber, Kosala Saag and Okra have done reasonably well while bitter gourd, ridge gourd and coriander are showing no signs of sprouts. Here are the pic of what succeeded.

[caption id="attachment_35" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="True leafs of cucumber - 9th day after sowing."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_36" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Okra seedlings, only 4 out of 6 germinated."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_37" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Kosala Saag - So many sprouts!! :)"][/caption]

Out of what hasn't succeeded till now, bitter gourd still has a faint chance of sprouting. So, that seed bed is left untouched. Coriander seed have now been declared to be of bad quality and hence the seed bed has been allotted to spinach. Ridge gourd hasn't shows any sign of life, but we are still watering it hoping for a miracle!!

Last weekend was a action filled day for the gardener in me. I made a trip to Lalbagh, Nursery Men's Co-operative Association. It warmed my heart to see so many garden enthusiasts there, all making some purchase for their gardens. I too purchased seeds for the following vegetables: Tomato, Brinjal, Peas, Beans, Carrot, Chilli and Bell Pepper. I also bought 3 different varities of flower seeds: Petunia, gladiolus and another variety for which i don't remember the name right now. It cost me a total of Rs. 200/- of course excluding the entree fee and parking fee :)

Last weekend I also made trip to Kudlu Compost Factory. I think the job at the compost factory is definitely worth a slot in Discovery's 'Dirty Jobs' show. I bought a 25kg bag of 'Agro Rich Compost' (plain aero compost i believe) from them for just Rs. 100/-. They were very happy to get rid of it. I believe not many retail buyers go there for buying compost. They even offered free home delivery on a call. Here is there number: 5730649 in case someone needs it (They also sell vermi-compost at 120 per 20kg bag).

I have thought of doing little improvisation in the seed starting process this time. Last time i had put all the seeds on the soil in different beds. That led to problems like; few options for providing desired shade and protection from heavy sun/rain to the seeds. Also in the event of some seeds not germinating from a group like in my case it was Okra, it leaves open space in the bed making it look not so organized.

So, i decided to buy some seed starting containers. Inquired at Lalbagh and they quoted Rs.10/- for each. I require a bigger number (at least 25). So, i thought of trying out some cheaper options and settled for the normal plastic glass (Sugar Cane juice size). It cost me Rs. 40/- for 100 pieces. Let's see how this experiment works out.

I made a mix of compost and red soil in the ratio of 1:5 ratio for seed starting. Hoping it's ok. My wife labeled all the glasses (She has asked to give her full credit for it - and here it is) and we sowed seeds of all the vegetable varieties in them (Date - 10-05-09). Here is how it look finally.

[caption id="attachment_38" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Seed starting in plastic glasses (Sugar cane juice size)"][/caption]

One problem with my lawn is, it doesn't get sunlight all day and only half of it gets sunlight during the day. Also, from the half which gets sunlight, a major part is taken away by the rain water drain and the foundation of the wall (All concrete). So, i have to go for lot's of containers for my plants. I have already put the 2 10kg fevicol dabbas (Which were bought for interior work) to use. One of them now plants the jasmine, bought from a nursery some time back and other one is waiting for a plant.

With the seed starting done, i was wondering what to do with so many seeds that are stil lying with me. Some time back i read on GeekGardener's (A container gardener from bangalore) blog about seed swapping. Would be wonderful if we can get something like that going. After all each gardener would like to see all the seed with him taking the form of a plant (Even if it's not in his own place).

At this stage I'm full of dreams, dreams of lush green garden in my backyard with so many varities of vegetables in them and being self sufficient in terms of my vegetable requiement. Too big a dream for City Life ??!!

Started work on my kitchen Garden

We have shifted to our new house on 2nd of May 09. God has been kind enough, we have a private lawn with the flat. Since the time i have booked this flat, I have been waiting for this day partly because I wanted to redevelop my interest in gardening.

While the builder was putting the red soil on my lawn i fought with him to first remove the construction debris and then put soil on the lawn. In spite of all my requests there is still some cement,sand mix that is left over in my lawn. Still, I have managed to get almost 12-18 inches of clean red soil on the lawn. Little more than what other lawns in my apt have got ;)

On 3rd May 09 i have sown 5 different type of seeds in the lawn (All soaked overnight). They are Cucumber, Karela, Ridge Gourd, Kosala Saag, Coriander & Bhindi. All seeds were brought by my mother from Orissa and the vegetable vareity is li'l different the one we get here in B'lore. My mother does have a green thumb. Plant's do really well with her and she cares for them like her son/daughter.

Coriander, Kosala are sown just half inch below the surface. While other 4 are sown at least 2" below the soil. Am little apprehensive about the depth of 2". Is it too deep for the seed sprouts to come up ??

Weather God has been very kind in the last 4 days. It rains moderately in the evening while the days are sunny. I believe this is a very good weather for the plants to germinate. Water and Warm !!

Today 7th of May (4 Days after sowing) we are able to see some sprouts of Kosala Saag and one sprout of cucumber plant. Very Happy!!
Last 4 days we have all been waiting for this patiently!!

Today planted few branches of Pudina which we have got from the normal vegetable market, heard they are easy to grow. Will shift these Pudina to containers soon, they grow very bushy and given a open space will just spread to large area.

Morning I noticed few ant's on the outer ring of the area where seeds are sown, was worried if the ant's are actually eating up the seeds. Sprinkled li'l bit of turmeric powder Haldi (5-10gms) in a ring formation around the place of sowing. Hope it helps!! I am reading more and more on organic farming and am inclined to keep my Kitchen Garden organic.

Today morning been to nursery on the sarjapura road. I found the guy there to be very helpful and knowledgable got one papaya and one mallige(Jasmine) plant each costing Rs. 20/-.
Also got to know from him that Karnataka Compost Factory near to my home actually sells vermi compost for just 7-10 rupees a kg. Plan to visit them soon and get some compost for the lawn.
The other item's for which i found the price but didn't buy are:

Dwarf coconut plant:125/-
Alphonso Mango: 120/-
Medium size black color plastic container: 100/-
Organic Manure and pesticide 5kg bag: 100/- (Is it really organic ??)
Most of the other flower plants i enquired of were in the range of Rs. 25/- (Pretty reasonable i believe!! Or is it because this was my first experience of nursery)

Hello world!

My interests are Long Distance running, Swimming, Cycling and Organic Kitchen Garden. Apart from these i sometimes have views on almost anything that i come across :)