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)