Saturday, March 12, 2011

My Garden journey so far.... (so good!)

First spring at my roof top Garden had been a total success.
Begonia lovely and beautiful, I fell in love at first sight when I saw it in the nursery:
                                          

China rose:- this small little plant is giving me flowers in abundence no demands, never had been fussy just needs lots of direct sunlight:

 I had loads and loads of chrysenthemums in my garden


It was so much of fun sitting on that chair enjoying the winter's sun and watching my chrysenthemums


 
I didnot had much success with dahalias but these are the three blooms I got from one single plant, I think they need lots of care, next time: 

These are the Gajanias they also gave me a lovely flowershow although around january end they got severely infected with Aphids:


These are the lovely geraniums,adorable lovely bunches of pink flowers which no body could ignore and every visitor to the garden had a word or two for them; sadly they also got infected with some disease which i couldnot identify, i sprayed them with mild soap water solution it helped but the blooms are not as they were:-




These are the marigold, put them as companions for the tomatoes, looking lovely with tomatoes arent they?




Sweet Alyssums kept them in my balcony they are giving us unending sweet fragrances from last three months:



Salvia


These are pansies, 4-5 plants in  one container, arent they looking lovely?


 I had been a plant lover always, but this is the first time that I am nurturing them myself. This is the first time I have a roof top garden and that too is coming up according to my ideas and wishes. In the year   2010 when we renovated our house and me, my husband and son shifted to a bigger room with a balcony the idea of terrace garden came up in my mind. Ours is a joint family so after the renovation the space constraint was all gone and first I ventured to make a balcony garden, so that whenever I look out of my window I can see greenery, then gradually with frequent trips to plant nursery and ever increasing collection of plants that space seemed smaller to me and I counted total terraces that we have, and hey we have four terraces in all so I took the one which is easily accessible from my room first for my ornamental roof top garden.



 hubby dear got the shed fixed up for the shade plants and garden furniture:-


 then I took the other terrace for my edible container garden:-


these are beans, chives, cabbages, tomatoes, radishes all on the roof top in containers.


these are peas, I dont know whether they will survive the hot weather approaching soon


my tomatoes in companion planting with onions


 The top most constraint with roof top gardening is carrying the soil upstairs, again hubby dear came to help, he got the green belt area in the side of the house cleared and fenced up so that I can plant more veggies over there.


here you can see him toiling hard to straighten up the fence  :)
I have grown lots of veggies in this area tomatoes,eggplants, beans, bitter gourd, round gourds, corn, greenies, fenugreek, spinach, cucumber, basil and marigold, so now i am gardening on land also, I do fear that i have planted too much and whether i would be able to have a good produce or not, but then this is my first time and I am learning, i will fare well, I always do.

Within this 5-6 months of starting gardening I am a happier and content person, I feel more closer to God when I am in my garden.

10 comments:

  1. This is a b'ful gardening journey tastefully expressed. I truly loved it yesterday when the first few words that came out of my mouth were ''Wow! So cute", on seeing your garden in real. I'm sure you loved it too, afterall it's all your hard work :-) happy gardening Mann! - Manu

    ReplyDelete
  2. I came here you post something. Did not expect to be left speechless--that is what these flowers do. Anyway, this is what I wanted to share:

    "If Spring is here, winter is far behind (forgive me Shelley bhai :)

    During winter they had badly butchered a pilkhan tree, many years old. About ten days back I had it pulled out and have planted in a big pot. Now the new buds are coming.

    Yeppeee! and also Yahooooo!!"

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow! I think shelley would have been better off with this version of the phrase, way to go. winters of course are far behind, plants are just recuperating from chilly winters, spring I think is near to end and hot hot scorching summer is fast approaching, gardening is gonna be very very tough now.
    congratulations for the new buds on a badly butchered and recently transplanted pilkhan tree, it surely is thanking for the act of benovelence. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your garden is extremely impressive. I'm glad I found you and look forward to reading more. Thanks for visting me on Bloom Day.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Bringing him home is in a way selfish also.I hope I and the tree have long and happy association.

    ReplyDelete
  6. i am sure the association will be a happy one although motivated by selfishness...ha ha.
    but i am not sure how many years it would be able to survive in a pot.

    ReplyDelete
  7. You may like to see this picture.

    http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=1948696123571&id=1427613623&aid=2117430

    ReplyDelete
  8. I think this should give the link.

    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1948688483380&set=a.1948696123571.2117430.1427613623

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Manish - thanks for visiting my blog and for your kind words.

    Just a tip on your vegetable container gardening - especially in the heat of summer.

    If you were to paint your pots a light colour (to reflect the heat away) and cover the top of the soil either with a thick layer of mulch / light coloured stones, and ensure that each of your pots have a drip tray (to collect the excess water that runs out the bottom of the pot - thus creating a mini dam) I don't see why your container gardening should not work - and work well.

    Also, you may consider providing more dappled shade to the pots - similar to what you already have, using, what I think is, shadecloth. You could also use thin branches of wood or bamboo - not to totally block the sunlight, but to mute it a little. :-)

    It's all about protecting the pots and the top surface of the soil from the drying effects of the sun / midday heat, whilst making whatever precious water is given to the plants available to them, and preventing evapouration.

    In winter I would suggest covering the soil surface of your pots with straw - that is great for keeping the plants / soil warmer than the outside air.

    Good luck :-)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanx so much Dani for ur great tips. Yes, evaporation is the main problem I am facing these days and I have to water my plants so much, so this weekend lots of mulching. again thanx a lot. :)

    ReplyDelete