Rose pests

Though the rose bushes put on a good show in our garden, they are not exempt from the pest attacks. Few months back while tending to the rose bushes, we found a scaly sort of growth in their stems. Initially we thought it is part of the aging process of the stem as it looked like a brown coating that resembled the bark of a stem.

Later on a closer look and searching in the internet garden websites, found out they are indeed pests that are attacking the stems and are called scale pests.They suck the sap in the stems eventually leading to the death of the plant.The cure is to rub the scale pests off from the stem using a brush dipped in rubbing alcohol and then to employ a thorough neem spray.In extreme cases of infection,pruning of the damaged parts is the only solution.

We were too late in finding out all of this.Upon investigation of the rose plants,two were beyond saving stage and they dried up quickly no matter how much we rubbed off the pests and sprayed them.We could not do anything other than bidding adieu.

Three more plants were moderately infested and we are constantly cleaning up the scales as and when they appear.It is becoming very hard to completely eradicate them just by the rubbing and the spraying actions. We have already cut off many of the branches.

The problem with scale pests is that when you think you have completely eradicated them and saved the plant, within a month or two you find them again spreading and causing damage.It is becoming such a nuisance to handle them to be frank.

For now,out of those three plants, one has been completely saved by heavy pruning.The rest two are still in the danger zone and we are going to keep on cleaning until we find the correct time to completely prune the plant to save them.

Aside all of this pest worries, when you see the other healthy plants and the blooms I think it is worth the effort to help them.Their blooms are such stress busters and energy boosters

Ladies finger for the upcoming summer

Remember the ladies finger pod that we had saved for seeds from the previous season?

We were able to collect around 40+ seeds from this single pod.The seeds were completely dry when we opened the pod but I still left it on the counter for a couple of weeks before sowing.

I sowed around 10 seeds in 7 containers but only 7 seeds germinated so far.

We will wait for another week or so before sowing another batch of seeds. Our aim is to have atleast 10 plants and hope we achieve that soon.

Shades of red

Every day it has become a habit of ours to pop into the terrace and watch the color filled tomato plants.We pluck only when the tomatoes are deep red but everyday it is pleasing to watch them change from a pale yellow to orange and then to various shades of red.

There is a famous gardening quote that goes "it is difficult to think about anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a home grown tomato".. I should add not just eating but even looking at a homegrown pulpy tomato in the plant is enough to charge you for the entire day!

The way to the eggplant land

The brinjal plants were bought as saplings from the weekend market. I did not hope much for them then,as from my experience harvesting a brinjal purely depend on the presence of natural pollinators in your area which is a huge miss in our side. 

The plants were nurtured and maintained and cared for alright but the expectation was very less all along. There were only 3 plants and all of them flowered around the same time .. when they flowered I tried to hand pollinate but none took off. We let them be ..

So one day I was very surprised to see something hanging like a brinjal in the place of the remains of a flower and almost screamed. We were euphoric thanking the stranger bee that did the task.The lone brinjal was harvested just a week after that but we realized it was way too early when we cut it. It had not even seeded but taste guaranteed the quality of the vegetable.

The next one formed not soon after that and this time we left it in the plant for more days and harvested it just this week. It was way big and bulky but still tender. I suspect this would not have seeded either.

We have two more brinjals forming and hope this is just the start of the season.

Watch out for the thorn in that flower..This variety brinjal has around two to three thorns in the green cap. When I asked my mom about this, she explained that this is the original heirloom variety that my parents,when they were young,used to see them very commonly sold in the markets. This variety has become very rare since the recent decades and the advent of the hybrid varieties.I am so happy that by some luck we ended with a mullu kathirikai.

Harvest update

Happy to realize that most of these days our food miles is just less than 5 meters. Oh what a wonderful feeling!

A look at just this week's harvests..

Avarakai and Brinjal

Getting this much harvest every single day :)

Mint

Tomatoes and Brinjal

Drumsticks,drumstick flowers and greens and avarakais