This post is already late and we all know the reason why? Yeah, the greenhouse. I have been moving around pots, setting up drip and making a bench and what not.. Its been quite a hectic week but full of fun and enjoyment.
The response for greenhouse post was overwhelming and thanks for all the wishes and motivation provided by you all. I am working on the post that details about the making of the greenhouse from cost, materials to lessons learnt.. 😉
The winter is kinda on its way out and summer is ready to jump in.. Lets see what we can sow this Jan.
Leafy veggies:
- Lettuce
- Indian Spinach ( Palak)
Gourds:
- Pumpkin
- Ridge gourd
- Cucumber
- Snake gourd
- Water melon
- Musk Melon
Root/Bulbs
- Radish
- Carrot
- Onion
Fruit veggies:
- Tomato
- Brinjal
- Ladies finger
- Chillies
- Bean
Go!, rollup your sleeves and do some serious seed starting.The gourds, and other veggies that have a hard seed coat can be soaked overnight to hasten germination. You will be surprised with the increase in the germination % that an overnight soak can achieve.
For more seed starting tips Refer: Here and here.
While you all are busy seed starting, I will go work on the “greenhouse-the making” post.
ciao
gg
38 Responses
Hi GG:
Thanks for the motivation you are providing us!
I started Cucumber on Dec 1st and harvested my first cucumber today! The feeling was really very delicious!
Just wanted to share my experience … Cucumber seems to hate transplantation. All the seeds of mine germinated and I had problem of space and hence, I transplanted some seedlings. Though the plants germniated at the same time, the transplanted ones show stunted growth, leaves are not fresh green, look weak too, while the non-transplanted ones look like giants currently in my terrace garden, with plenty of 2-inch cucumbers !
Also, I succeeded in starting ridge gourd and bitter gourd after a couple of attempts; they are a month old and are looking promising too! My attempt at bottle gourd has not succeeded, I did not get even one successful germination. Lastly, my attempt at pumkin succeeded after a set of failures, I have a small fledgling pumpkin plant too!
Thanks once again !
Regards
Meena K
hi Meena,
Did you plant in pots or in ground?
Regards,
Uma
Hi Uma:
I grow cucumber in my terrace. We have permanent planter box (cement) made along the parapet walls, slightly less than 2 feet in terms of depth. The non-transplanted ones growing in the box are showing healthy growth. I put the transplanted ones on plastic bags and they are not so luscious in their growth, I think the problem here is transplantation and not the container.
Regards
Meena K
Hi GG,
I happened to come across your blog by sheer coincidence and what a beautiful blog it is. I love your unending enthusiasm for the garden and homegrown veggies.
A few doubts.
I would love to have some cherry tomato plants. Where are the seeds available in bangalore?
I bought some hybrid mango, lime,chikku and jamun plants from lalbagh, which they said would bear fruits even in the pots. Its been almost 6 months now, and I dont fine any progress in their growth. The lime plant had a few fruits when we brought it home. But after that, no flowers or fruits.
The pots are big cement pots and were prepared by my gardener using soil+dry gobar mix+a little sand. I am manuring it with the packed manure atleast once a month.
Now I find a few mini fruits formed in the chikku plant, but not sure if they would sustain.
Could you kindly advice, if there is any mistake in what is being done. If so, what corrective measures can be taken?
I hope I am not troubling you with too many questions.It was such a relief to find an informative blog like yours.
Thank You
Poornima
Thanks for stopping by.
Cherry tomato seeds used to be available in Dept of horticulture, Hulimavu. I am not sure if they still have some stock.
Regarding the plants you got from Lalbagh, ensure they get good amount of sunlight and may be you can try using some stronger manure like horse manure/chicken manure. You can also try adding some chemical fertilizers like NPK(19:19:19). Sometimes the manures just dont have enough nutrients in them.
Feel free to ask if you have more questions.
Thanks
gg
hi GG
In the republic day parade I saw that in manipur (or is it tripura im not sure now) bamboos are used for irrigation. You said you are planning for irrigation lines for the green house. May be you can try this.
Would be a greener house 😉
Chitra
Hey Chitra,
Thats a nice idea. I just remembered one thing. When I was a kid, I used to use the papaya leaf’s long petiole as a straw and try to pull water through it. 😉 Thanks for the info.
GG
Hey there GG,
So I went to the Lalbagh flower show and came back with lots of flower pots 🙂 and a few vegetable seeds…
I had to repot some of the flowers as they were not potted yet… i didn’t have gravel to put at the bottom of my plastic pots, so I laid that down with newspaper… is that ok?
And repotting is some careful work 🙂 either that or nurseries here let their plants stay in the little plastic bags for too long! I had some herbs i wanted to repot (wanted my container herb garden), but i fear i may have torn some of the secondary fibrous roots while i tried to make them fit into the pot… will that be ok?
Coming up soon, coriander and chillies 🙂
Swapna
Hi Swapna,
I had been to the flower show too a couple of days before 26th. Regarding re-potting, the whole idea of placing a layer of broken pots is to make space for water to easily drain. By newspaper, you mean paper balls or just spreading the paper. Spreading paper may not help as it will decompose and compact soon. I used to put a layer of thermocol pieces. As I never had broken pot pieces and didn’t want to break any for just this reason.
When you repot the plants from the polythene bags, little bit of root disturbance is ok. Infact if the roots are pot-bound it is good to tease the roots a little bit so that they explore the new world after re-potting. The nurseries keep the plant in the same bag till they are sold so.. who knows when it was transplanted in that polythene.
happy gardening
gg
Ah well, i did spread the paper at the bottom of the pot… let’s see…
Will paper balls do? You mean just rolling up paper to make balls right?
I repotted chives and celery but the former seems to be drying out (but i think it was doing that when i bought it too, so basically, a bad choice) and the celery seems to be yellowing (but then i do see new shoots from the bottom so there’s hope!)
Thanks for such a great blog… as someone said, really useful to have an India perspective!
Swapna
Hi Swapna,
Dont worry if you already did so. The problem comes only if the soil compacts too much. For a soil that drains well its not actually a mandatory option. Although it wouldnt hurt. For all my pots, I use cocopeat+compost and I don’t any material at the bottom. I fill them with plain cocopeat.
It is enough you add few drops of dish soap liquid to a litre of water. Also, do you have any pests on your plants ( esp coriander?) if not why bother spraying.
thanks
gg
Neem oil is a contraceptive, it just breaks the life cycle of the insects. Anyway the dosage humans/animals would receive from the sprayed vegetables is not enough to have any effect
Hi Gg
Are heirloom seeds illegal in India? I heard sale of such seeds are illegal in certain countries and hence this doubt.
Hi Revathi,
I am not too sure if they are illegal or not. Bringing those seeds from abroad is not allowed because those seeds can bring along some weeds as well. Seeds should accompany a Phytosanitary certificate and they will be tested in our laboratories before they give it to you. Heirloom generally mean any OP varieties that are more than 50 years old. If the heirloom is indian then its totally legal.
I wish we have seed companies making those exotic heirlooms available in India.
Thanks
gg
Hi,
I am an ardent fan of your blog. I have taken to gardending recently and currently have brinjal, ridgeourd, cherry tomates, bitter gourd and coriander in my veggie patch (which is my balcony:)).
I wanted to know whether we can try growing herbs such as sage, rosemary, thyme etc. at home. If so, could you suggest a place where you can get these seeds in Bangalore. I am from Mumbai but I can tell my friends to buy it for me.
Regards,
Shubha
Hi Shubha,
Its good to hear that many have taken to gardening in small spaces. You are growing many vegetables which is a good thing. Herbs like rosemary, sage and thyme can be grown like you grow vegetables. In Bangalore, You get all the herbs as saplings in polythene bags in Department of Horticulture Hulimavu. I am not sure if their seeds are available I will let you know if i find any.
hope this helps
gg
Hi GG,
Thanks for the information. Gardening is a big stress buster for me and the joy of seeing the seelings grow and then harvesting it is inexpressible I guess:).
I guess getting the saplings will be difficult for me as my firends can’t courier it:(. Mumbai sadly doesnot have too many good nurseries as people don’t take to gardening easily due to space crunch. I will try for it in Pune though. Just another query, can we grow the red/yellow capsicum as well in containers or do they require extra care?
HI Shubha,
Gardening indeed is a stress buster..
You can grow any capsicum in container and the yield depends on how rich the soil is and you need atleast 10L container. 20L paint bucket is good.
gg
Well, for late starters like me, you’re so helpful 🙂 I love your seed starting posts. Do you still have any flowers in your garden? I mean flowers as in flowers 😀 and not flowers flowers 😀
Hi Chandramouli,
Thanks. I always envy your flower garden. I don’t have many flowers actually. Offlate because of my wife, i am forced to grow Dianthus, Zinnia, Dahlia and portulaca. All are in seedling stage. Will post when they are blooming..
gg
Hi,
I am a recent follower of your blog. I must say that it is one of the most informative for a newcomer like me. Your blog has inspired me to start growing vegetables in my balcony.
I had some queries regarding containers to be used.
For paint buckets and dust-bin containers is there any specification
about the size of hole to be drilled ?
also the location of the hole. should it always be at the bottom
or at the sides a little above from base ?
any specific tool to drill a hole or any place where such a job is done?
Hi Mukund,
Welcome Mukund. Very happy to hear that my blog got you inspired to start growing your own food. The size of the hole should be small enough to not let the medium come out. 1cm dia would be just fine. If you drill hole in the bottom, then controlling the drained water will become a problem and the floor will be spoiled. I would make a hole on the side about an inch from the bottom. I do this for pots filled with cocopeat. Drilling on the sides above an inch saves some water in the pot.
For holes less than a cm, you can just heat a screwdriver and make a hole. If you want more precise holes or bigger ones then drilling machine would be an option.
gg
Hi GG/Mukund,
I have a better solution for drilling holes in plastic containers that is a soldiring iron. I find it sutaible for even making holes for attaching tank nipple. does’t need re-heating as in case of a screw driver.
Hey GG, congrats for your green house. In the mean time my red cherry – baby and gardener’s delight have germinated and I am excited about them.
-FG
HI Fg,
Thats a nice idea. If you have a metal ring of a specific size then with soldering iron we can make holes of the same size. right? Gardener’s delight is also a variety of cherry right?.. Do post the pics . I am interested to see how many fruits it forms per truss.
gg
Hi GG,
Ya thats true. Gardener’s delight is a indeterminate trype cherry they set 10-12 fruits per truss let see what is there in the days to unfold.
Along with that I have also purchased seeds of an amazing variety called 100’s & 1000’s where a plant sets up to 2000 fruits, the seeds are quite costely Rs. 125 for a pack of 8 seeds. I have not sowed them till now. planning to do that soon.
-FG
Fg,
I was curious to know about 100’s and 1000’s. Once the plants of this variety grows tall, you can use the pruned shoots to make more plants. Save the seeds without fail( hope its not a hybrid). From your blog i read that 100s&1000s is from SUttons. Did you get the shipped here? How was the service and how long it took.
Also, I am writing a post on How to propagate tomatoes from cuttings.. Its almost ready.
Keep us posted.
gg
http://www.suttons.co.uk/Shop/Vegetable+Seeds/Tomato+Hundreds+and+Thousands+Seeds+180648.htm says its a heirloom variety
Cool, I think we should try growing this and see how it turns out..
Hi GG/FG
Thanks a lot for the suggestions
Hi GG,
Thank you for the reply. I am planning to do the extra manuring for the fruit plants this weekend and also moving them to a sunnier place.
Will surely let you know the results.
Regds
Hi GG,
I am getting more and more excited about this variety just have a look http://tomatoseedsuk.co.uk and also have a look at the gallery http://tomatoseedsuk.co.uk/tomato-gallery.php
somewhere it is mentioned that it is relatively new heirloom variety. should not be hybrid in that case. I purchased the seeds from a flower expo. I have never purchased seeds online, I checked the seeds import law in India and it seems that you cant. only authorized aegncies can do that. Let me know if you have more info on this.
I will soon be sowing 1-2 seeds and update you. If you are interested I can send you a pack of it.
-FG
Hi Fg and Gg,
I was under the impression that one could import seeds for personal use in small quantities and hence ordered some varieties of Heirloom toms on ebay a month back. So far it has not reached me. I was wondering whether it is the postal system or the customs dept. which is responsible and was hoping that some day I will get the seed packet. Now I realise that it may not ever reach me.
Revathi
Revathi
Hi Revathi,
Thats the sad part about our customs dept. When you get the seeds shipped from abroad to india, You can track it till it enters customs and after that no one knows where it is. Just for this reason, i stay away from shipping seeds to India. You may never know, you might get it. Give it some time. I am not sure if it is legal for personal use or not but definitely importing seeds without proper documents is not allowed. You know Parthenium or the Congress plant came along with wheat seeds to india? Now we are struggling to get rid of it.
gg
Thanks
gg
Hi please let me know how many cocomber saplings can I plant in 1 pot? Which is 10 lt capacity.. Thanks also how many tomato sapling in 1 pot.. I am completely new to this.. Also my both plants are4 days old after germination… True leaves just started… How do I add manure now.. Also my pot has coco Pete n soil n compost… Now wen shud I add manure n fertiliser.. N wats d difference between them all,,,,thanks a lot please e mail me your reply coool_amera@yahoo.com thanks a lot 10 liter pot
very educating
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