The Ladies have arrived

Last year when I thought growing Vendaikkai/Ladies finger is such easy task I was in for a surprise. When the plants were right about ready to fruit, there was mealy bug infestation. And we did not have a clue what they were or how to control them. We had one or two harvests but then forced to take down the plants that time. 

This year we were a bit equipped and experienced how to prevent/control the white bugs and so this Aadi month we sowed the Vendaikkai seeds for this year in containers.The containers were kept in sight always monitored very carefully. Mealy bugs are usually present in the underside of the leaves. So you can predict how tedious this monitoring task could be. Hence we did not sow very big and had just 4-5 plants. This is kind of a trial run for us to check how experienced are we in controlling the mealy bug attack. 

After three months,looks like we passed. There was NIL attack by the bugs(Touchwood) and the plants were healthy and happy and started producing good quality fruits. Here is a round up..

Sowed on : Last week of July

First harvest on : Third week of September - to get good healthy plants we had plucked out the first few flower buds.

Just Hatched :D

First true leaves

A good drench of rain giving them a boost

Almost 2' now

Buds forming

Impressive

:)

After this success, we have planted some more plants (around 10) in the ground and they are progressing slowly. Now fingers crossed!

Purple beauties

Purple chillies.. I have heard about them. I have coveted them. Yet I never dreamt that we would grow them at our home. When I thought it was very rare to get the purple chilli seeds (referred as bolivian rainbow chilli) and that I have to really search for them in the online forums in order to secure some seeds, one of the Sunday market garden vendor was selling a sapling of this chilli. Talk about irony and coincidence. 

Store bought sapling

The sapling that was there in the market was very mature and already in the last stage of its life. But still we bought it (on my urgency purely).My idea was to save seeds some via this plant which had around ten or so fruits at that time and propagate them in our garden in the upcoming season. This plant arrived in our garden last year and gave me a good number of seeds (atleast a hundred). 

All fruits left for preserving seeds

For this season I sowed around 10 seeds and all of them germinated successfully. The plants were very healthy and gave us a decent number of chillies though we haven't used it in the kitchen so far. 

First fruit

The fruits are initially light green in color

Then they slowly turn to a dense purple color

And when ripe becomes blood red

Another bunch of fruits forming

Reserved for seed saving

In between purple and red, the fruits remain orange for a few days

I have heard that they are quite hot and we do not prefer that much heat in our cuisine. So for now they are serving only ornamental purposes in the garden but I have an inkling if the next season produce is more we might definitely see them getting used in the kitchen.

A look at the roses

I am very grateful that we found out about the magic brew called panchagavyam(PG) last year. PG is a natural fertilizer derived by fermenting five products of cow. We apply PG to the plants every month and they show instant results. Going organic has certainly helped us accept the tried and tested natural formula of our ancestors in growing plants.. Here is a look at the roses that bloomed in our garden with the help of PG and epsom salt.. 

 

This little rose bush certainly made history by producing 13 buds in one single branch :)

And here is our white rose blooms' on one single day