Shutterbug's Blog

Living with Multiple Myeloma in Hyderabad , India . Random musings .

Category Archives: Gardening


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Lock-Down Dairies 1 May 20 : May day today, Movie ‘Bheeshma’ , harvesting Ponnaganti koora – leafy greens , uploading video on YouTube ‘Peanut chutney’ , Lockdown extended to 17 May 2

Today is a public holiday owing to ‘May Day’.

I decided to totally relax today and no work from home too.

Made my Mom’s Peanut Chutney recipe for breakfast today and uploaded the recording on YouTube. The twist in this recipe is the use of Raw Onions at the fag end of the process. Another special ingredient is the use of Coriander seeds/powder which gives a different flavour to the chutney. Also the taste and crunch of raw onion is yummy. Here is the link-

Watched the Telugu movie ‘Bheeshma’ this afternoon . A movie a about Organic farming vs Chemical based farming. A subject which is dear to me. Surely the movie didn’t have much impact on the audience as not many are able to appreciate the difference yet.

Time to harvest my leafy greens namely ‘Ponnaganti koora’ from my little garden . This plant grows easily on the edges of fields in Andhra Pradesh , Telangana , Karnataka ,Tamilnadu and Sri Lanka too. This plant is not usually grown as a proper crop. It is a perennial plant and doesn’t require any maintenance except for a lot of water. It is another healthy green like spinach.

Lockdown on India is again extended by 2 weeks ie from 4 May 20 to 17 May 20.

Don’t know yet if this will have any effect on the reopening of my company on the 4 May 20.

For the first time during Lockdown Indian Railways has arranged a special Train from Hyderabad to Jharkhand for 1200 Migrants. More such trains may be arranged from other parts of the country. Anyday , Home is home , whichever part of the world it is .

Indian Railways is doing a great job under the leadership of Mr Piyush Goyal. Lot of essential supplies like food, medicines, milk etc being transported across the country.

Had another great Meditation experience during the live session by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. During the question answer session after the Meditation he says that after one year all the pain and suffering because of COVID-19 will be gone and things will be normal again.


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Lock-Down Dairies – 30 Apr 20 : Vaccine ready !? , Starting of operations by our Company, Live Meditation with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, getting rid of Ants in my garden , hand pollination of Ridge gourd

Read some good news about the vaccine being developed by Oxford University these days.

Also saw some news about how India is going to manufacture these vaccines.

Appears good.

Some of the branches of our company in other parts of the company have started operations. We are a manufacturing company and hence very important that employees are physically present in the factory so as to produce goods.

There is some news that we might start operations from 4th May 20 which is just a few days away.

There are other similar companies in Hyderabad who are processing passes for their employees so that they are permitted to go to work by the police.

There is a live Meditation session with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar everyday at 12 PM and 12.30 PM. He also answers a few questions and is interviews by celebrities everyday.

I am unable to participate everyday , but whenever I do I am having a great experience. Each meditation is for around 20-25 minutes but everytime it feels like 5 minutes only. Superb !!

Time to try another method to get rid of ants on my garden..Boric powder. Told hubby about it and to try in the Pharmacy…and he got it..I was thrilled. Saw a few videos on YouTube and zeroed in one one particular method.Add one spoonful of Boric powder and 4 spoonfuls of sugar to 2 spoons of water. Mix well and make into a thick paste or slurry. Poured this paste into old diyas and placed them in a few hotspots in the garden.

Hope the trick works. My little ridge gourds are being sucked on by the ants and killing them 🙁 .

I recently learnt about hand pollination of plants. The best way to increase the yield of vegetables. I was watching one small ridge gourd grow and finally the flower on it tip bloomed today. It was dark when it bloomed and I finally completed the activity. Hopefully the Boric powder and the hand pollination will bear fruits ,I mean vegetables 🙂

My first Brinjal crop 🙂

And last but not the least , today’s harvest consisted of 3 long brinjals. Feels nice..hoping for more produce in the future 🙂

~Annam parabrahma swaroopam ~


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Lockdown Dairies – 28 Apr 20 : My Youtube channel ,using Talcum powder to drive out ants

Uploaded my Video to my YouTube channel last night. This is a recipe for preparing slightly different style Scrambled Eggs. Learnt this recipe from a cook in my parents house.This was way back when I was in college. This lady belongs to East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh and her name is Ammaji. I call this dish ‘Ammaji’s Scrambled Eggs’ . There is a slight twist in this preparation and that is the use of water.

Here is the link to the video –

I uploaded another video today ,which I recorded yesterday. This is a composite Roti or Vegetable Roti.

Here is the link. –

I have been eating composite Roti’s for the last three months and they are quite filling. They are healthier, tastier and easy to digest. I learnt this recipe from ‘Natural Lifestyle’.

Appears I am getting addicted to recording and uploading videos. Recorded another video today 🙂

Making videos is a nice hobby :)…. Sharing some useful and interesting stuff with all. Does require a lot of planning, the actual recording , editing , uploading and then watching the number of views the videos are getting.

Lots of ants in my garden ,sucking on all the flowers . I see small ridge gourds growing but they soon turn yellow and dry up. I see lot of ants going up and down these plants.Saw a few videos on how to get rid of the ants and saw there are many solutions too. This evening i did the easiest thing . I sprinkled talcum powder on the plants.Talcum Powder is supposed o suffocate the ants. Got to see if it makes any difference. Fingers crossed. Feeling very upset that my gourds are drying 🙁


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Lockdown Dairies – 26 Apr 20: Zoom chat with schoolmates, Supermarkets sealed in Hyderabad during lockdown, Broadband is down, my glasses are repaired and back , kitchen cleanup , spoilt milk as fertilizer.

Sunday has finally arrived. Had a hectic 6 day week working from home. Earlier , I would see my brother and several others working in IT companies working from home , all the time with ear phones , attending meetings, sitting in front of the laptop or moving around with phone and ear phones plugged in ….. i wasn’t able to understand and appreciate the way they work….it is my turn now and it is definitely very strenuous, been doing exactly what the IT folks have been doing . Learnt that I have to be much more attentive during these sessions and somehow this style of working seems to be more productive. Everyone from our department seems very enthusiastic and working for longer hours.

Came across a news item about a couple of Supermarkets in Hyderabad being sealed for flouting social distancing norms. Either too crowded and no insistence on wearing a mask. This is a good move by the police.

My schoolmates decided to meet on Zoom this morning and it was fun. However , most seem to be having Internet issues, including me 🙂 . Had to log out after a while.

My Broadband is down since yesterday and the service personnel told us that nothing can be done till Monday. Had been using my Mobile Data connection to manage work yesterday. My data plan is limited hence did not want to use it for WebEx through the web. I joined the meeting through a voice call and managed quite well.

Yayy, my reading glasses are back after being repaired !! Thanks to the owner of the organic store whom I know since two years. She took my glasses when she had come for delivering veggies few days ago, she has the permission, they were picked by the optician who is close to her store, repaired and handed over to her after couple of days , and she brought them to me today when she came to deliver veggies . The lockdown has made it very difficult for getting anything repaired.

Spent some time cleaning the kitchen. Feeling good now. I always try to do my best to cleanup after cooking but never do a good job. Have to be more organized. Got so used to the maid/cook doing the cleanup 🙂

There was some leftover milk last night that i didn’t refrigerate. Obviously got spoilt by morning. I had this thought whether it can be used for plants as a fertilizer. I looked up some youtube videos and did find a few where spoilt milk was diluted and given to plants. This is a good source of calcium for the plants which is an important nutrient that plants require. Yellowing of leaves is caused due to calcium deficiency. I diluted the milk with water and gave it to my plants. There are a few plants with yellow leaves.

These days I have been experimenting with different organic fertilizers and this is one of them :). I am discovering a lot about growing plants these days .

Hearing good reviews from family and friends about this Telugu movie Bheeshma. Was unable to watch today. Looking forward to the holiday on 1 May.

~Let Go~


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Lockdown Dairies – 23 Apr 20 : A surprise visitor

It’s been exactly one month since the lockdown started in Telangana state.

Feels like ages , never been this busy in my life. I thought I would be able to watch a lot of movies but that is impossible. But I did manage to watch couple of movies on a public holiday.

Looking forward to the next public holiday comin up on 1 May 20.

Each morning,as soon as I wake up ,I open all the doors and windows . More so during summer. The cool morning breeze is the best part of Summer. It is very humid throughout the day but we have not yet switched on the A/C . Not so hot yet.

So this morning after opening all the doors and windows I went to the bedroom and came back to the hall almost immediately. I see a visitor happily eating the fruits on the dining table sitting on the table.

I was stunned for a moment and let it eat a few fruits before I slowly shooed it away. It was a medium sized one. I looked around to see if it’s family or friends were also around but didn’t find any. I then came out the main door and saw my neighbours , they were trying to tell me something. I told them what had happened and asked if they saw it enter and they said it climbed the Neem tree in my adjacent plot and jumped into our balcony. Thankfully it was not violent.

Later on i spent some time with my plants.

Here is click from this morning.

I liked the shadow and the green shade of the fern in the morning rays of the rising sun and so clicked this .

Wanted to spray Epsom salt liquid on my plants in the evening but had lots of WebEx meeting.Was unable to look at my plants this Evening 🙁

Had raw veggies for my dinner and then prepared dinner for the guys with their help.

Feeling very tired today. WFH is very demanding and I always thought otherwise. Meetings without much advance notice. Meetings late in the evenings. Unable to plan other activities at home. Hubby and son helping me a lot . They too were never used to doing all the work at home.But doing quite well now.

Don’t know what COVID is doing but heard on the Television that cases in Andhra Pradesh are increasing steeply. Came across a message where it said that India is in stage 3 and there is no stopping :(.

All the migrant labour in Mumbai are going back to their homes in Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu. Sad to hear about a 12 year old boy succumbing when he almost reached his Village by walk from some other part of the country.

The only way out of this misery is to make use of the lockdown and get as fit as one can so we are prepared. Eat healthy , do some breathing exercises, exercise whatever way you can , meditate if possible. Have lots of fruits and vegetables.

I am gonna sleep early today.

~ Vasudhaiva kutumbakam ~


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My Kitchen Garden

Rains are finally here and I am excited to do some serious gardening. I do not have a lot of space for plants ,but I hope to make maximum use of the available space and will be using containers too. I will also be using home made compost and pesticides. Basically trying to grow the organic way 🙂 .

I got a few Chilli saplings from an Organic Store that I visit often. I was surprised to see a few chilli saplings sprouting on their own in my little patch. A few dried/ripe chillies from my chilli plants in the previous season must have got into the soil and were hiding there till the right moment 🙂

Removed the whole Mint patch that I had and planted fresh stems from a bunch of Mint that I got from the store. The previous patch was getting sparse and started drying up. I harvested the leaves several times during Summer.

My Malabar Spinach is growing well. I grew them from the seeds of a lone plant that I had. I have already harvested the leaves twice and is ready for harvesting again.

I successfully made my first batch of Organic Compost during the recent summer months. I have started using this compost for my plants. Feeling good .

Thankfully my plants are not infected with any pests as of now.

I also put a few pieces of ginger and Turmeric in the soil. Got to wait and see how well they do.

I am also experimenting with Coriander cuttings. Replanted a few root cuttings from a coriander bunch that I got from the store. Growing coriander from seeds is a long and slow process. Hope this trick works though I am not confident it will work. Will probably sow the seeds directly in a couple of days.

I sowed seeds of Bitter gourd , Ridge gourd , Snake gourd and cluster beans . I see that a few seeds of cluster beans have sprouted , the rest haven’t . Don’t really know the reason. Either the seeds are not good or I watered a lot. Will continue to sow them again and again until I succeed.

Also sowed a few seeds of Khatta palak (Hindi) or Chukka Koora (Telugu) .

Will also sow Fenugreek/Methi seeds in a day or two . These seeds sprout real fast.

Watching a seed sprout,  the first leaves , the budding , the flowering , the fruits/veggies growing bigger and finally the harvesting , all the activity makes me more energetic . I feel like I am absorbing Energy from nature. I look forward to the next morning to see how they are growing. There is an underlying hope when you are into Gardening . No wonder my Doctor told me to do some Gardening way back in 2012 🙂 . 

That’s it for now. Will post pics of how these babies are doing , in a few weeks.

 


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Joyous colors of Spring from my little garden 2018

The Earth laughs in flowers – Ralph Waldo Emerson

I love spending a little while in the evening with plants . The little efforts that we put in taking care of these plants are very well rewarded by the beautiful blooms that energize me each morning. When it comes to Spring there is not much that one needs to do. Nature takes over and is at its best.

Here are a few pics of colorful blooms during this Spring, from my garden.

 

Double colored Bougainvillea perched on the Compound wall.

 

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Purple Pansy

 

Pink Periwinkle

 

Pink Bougainvilla

 

Purple Periwinkle

 

 

Jasmine

 

Pink Petunia

 

Reddish Orange Periwinkle

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Wild Allamanda

 

Golden Trumpet