Radish and Leafy Greens

Radish (on the left) and celery, chinese cabbage and other leafy greens (right image), freshly picked from the garden. The radishes were grown using Burpee's Organic Radish Seed. The packet says that the radish will be ready within 22 days. It is true. The seeds are tiny. But, just scatter them around and within next day, seedlings emerge, and start growing fast. Strangely, the seedlings emerge and grow even if there is not enough light, and the outside is freezing (22 degree Fahrenheit). However, I left these radishes in the ground for more than 22 days as I had other things to eat. I have heard people saying old radishes taste bad, bitter, hot, are stringy and what not. But, I did not notice any such thing with these radishes though they were growing in the ground for more than two months. Very nice tasting radish.

We (Indians) also eat the green leaves of the radish plants. I usually saute all these green leaves using garlic, pepper flakes (or a big jalapeno) and sometimes mushroom. Absolutely yuuuuuummmmmmmyyyyyyyyy...Thats' what I did this morning and had it for breakfast :-). Whenever I pick green leaves (for cooking), I usually pick the leaves those are closer to the ground or those that have lots of holes, chewing mark, etc (art work of slugs, snails, aphids and other insects). I leave the healthy, fresh looking leaves for the plants. In that way, the plants survive and keep on providing me with food; I also get to eat fresh organic vegetables and leaves :-).

Growing Pumpkins and Watermelons

I started growing vegetables in 2010. 2011 was my second year and I ventured out to try growing something new (well, from my experience point of view). I planted iced-watermelon plants and Bonnie's pumpkin plants. My husband built a small raised-bed and a trellis, using whatever wood were lying around in the basement, to raise the plants. Pumpkin plants hardly need any care and they can easily overrun the garden. Luckily for us, the Bengalis, we cook and eat not only pumpkins but pumpkin flowers, and the plant - everything of pumpkin is considered delicacy and variety of dishes are cooked using either the flower or leaves and stem or the vegetable. We not only enjoy the pumpkins but even share some with our animal-friends and animal-neighbors. Our animal-friends never destroy or attack our vegetables. This was the last pumpkin that was growing; weather got chilly and most of the food-sources of our friends got depleted. Then only they came to try out the pumpkin.

Diary of a novice gardener in Boonton-- Beginning -- Part1

I knew nothing about gardening. In fact, my attempt at keeping the house-plants alive during my undergraduate and graduate days usually ended up in disasters. I just knew that I love nature and anything green - small plant, tall plant, bushes, shrubs, weeds, grass, even emerald stones (who told diamond is girl's best friend though I would like to have a diamond to cut and experiment with my rock/stone collections). So, I took full opportunity of our backyard and the ample bright sunshine it gets throughout the year to go out to Garden Centers, Wal-Mart and Home-Depot to buy small plantlings (a term I am coining because they were not seedlings and at the same time not yet fully grown plants, but somewhere in between). I bought tomato, cucumber, eggplant, hot pepper (chili pepper) and green bell pepper (capsicum) plants, onion and garlic bulbs.
[Caption: The left is an eggplant flower; the right is an okra flower].
Of course I bought the plants on whims but then lethargy took hold of me. The plants laid outside on the patio, in their small seed-growing containers, for quite a while. And I sat inside doing research on internet on how to transplant plants from pot to backyard soil, what to do to grow those vegetables and started observing the areas that receive maximum sunshine in the backyard. This is a very important observation to be made and recorded by any gardeners. A gardener has to know which portions of her backyard receives how much sunlight and for how long every day. She then needs to do research on how much sunlight each individual plant needs, on average, every day.
Empowered with all the knowledge, I embarked on planting the plantlings. It was a back-hurting, sweat-producing, extremely tiring job. I gained new respects for all the farmers around the world; for all the farmers in the past whose hard work helped in the flourishing of the human civilization. To have a successful vegetable garden, one needs to clean all the weeds and grasses, till the soil, put fertilizers and prepare and till the soil some more. Then only the plants can be put. But that is not the end of the story. After the plants are put, more fertilizers poured around their base and watered, one needs to keep vigil for plant eating big insects, aphids, snails and re-growth of any weed. Meticulously each insect and snail has to be removed away from each plant (please do not kill them as they are very beneficial for your backyard. Take them away to another part of the backyard, away from your vegetable garden. Why they are beneficial will be part of another diary entry), and all the weeds pulled out. Weeds need to be pulled out because they take away the essential nutrients from the soil and you want to provide as much good food to the plant as possible to make it grow into a healthy fruit producing plant and have a successful garden. However, once the plants are established and have grown tall and have started producing fruits, you do not need to pay so much attention to weeds, contrary to whatever anyone else or the book says. The weeds might actually help in locking the soil moisture and snails and insects will attack the weeds instead of the plants. That has been my experience so far and I am producing good amount of vegetables.
As the plants are transplanted into the backyard, one needs to pay attention to their water requirements. Water-need, fertilizers and soil treatment will be part of future entries.