Saturday, October 20, 2012

Container Gardening

I have been wanting to start a container garden on my balcony for quite a while now, but I was never really sure of where to go for the plants or the pots or the soil.  I have had the chance to visit many farms at this point, but figuring out the whole transporting pots and soil here, seemed a little bit too much time investment.

Yesterday I ran into a friend at Dorabjees, my favorite store here in Pune located just off of the airport road. She invited me over and explained to my driver how to get there.

We chatted for a bit and I was explaining to her about how I used to work as a field tech biologist, working long hours in the desert looking for endangered plants and animals.  She got up and showed me to her balcony where she was growing a variety of edible greens!  She was even growing purselane!  She was saying that purselane actually originated from India!  I had no idea.  Apparently it is the highest source of omega 3 long chain fatty acids than any other green plant food.  She had gotten the plant from a village market.  All she does, is throw her old vegetables into pots of dirt, and eventually they start growing!  Especially any greens from the market, if the root is still on them, they'll start growing if given the right environment.

I couldn't believe it!  I asked her where she got her pots and her dirt from, she said, behind her house their was a nursery selling.  They even sold organic vermicompost.  I think some permaculture deva answered my prayers.  I asked her if she had time to come with me to the market, she didn't but she happily explained to my driver how I could get there, and also told me how much everything would cost.  I bought 5 pots of dirt plus vermicost for about 500 rupees or 10 dollars.

I think I lucked out.

As soon as I made it home I started planting.  I took out all of my green leafy vegetables- the ones I had just purchased from my favorite super market, esp the ones with roots still intact, trimmed them up a bit and planted them in the pots.  The ones without visible roots, I've placed in little glasses of water, and I'm basically using my power of prayer to see if they grow any roots.

So far, I have planted one beetroot, one sweet potato, one chikoo, cilantro, curry leaves and amaranth.  I am also attempting to cure some seeds I got from Gomukh, I was gifted a few passionfruits so at the moment I am fermenting them in a some water so they will release their grip on the passion fruit meat, and afterwards I will see if they might sprout!

I am so overly excited about this new venture.

Also, I have recently invented a soap which works pretty well for dish washing.. I wouldn't recommend using it for your dishwasher but for handwashing it's awesome!

2 T flax seed, 4 T water, 1 T vinegar, 1 tsp baking soda.

Let it fizzle and do it's thing and it's ready to scrub away, it even has a soapy like consistency.  Try it out!  :)


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