Easy plants to grow - 1

Malabar Spinach

Malabar Spinach also known as the Indian Spinach(Basale Soppu in Kannada) is a vine which is super easy to grow in a container as well on the ground. Malabar Spinach is a vine which needs a support to grow on. If you have a large garden you can leave them to spread on the ground.

 

Although it's a type of spinach, I have observed it doesn't taste much like spinach. They have very fleshy, thick leaves that are juicy and crisp. While cooking, it becomes slimy. My people are interested in eating it's tender shoots along with the leaves. Like typical leaf vegetables, Malabar spinach is high in vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, and calcium.

It will thrive in moist, fertile and well drained soils. I have observed that generally they don't require much fertilizer but produce large leaves when well fertilized organically. They tend to develop tough leaves if weather is too dry or not well watered. Their growth is ideal in an area with a warm, rainy climate.

 

Propagation:

They can be propagated either by planting a mature cut shoot or by seed. Easy propagation is by planting the seeds which is vey dark purple in color. If the stems are too tough to eat , simply put them back into the soil for re-rooting.

 

Malabar spinach have grown all over my garden through seed propagation, I have just left them as it is with some support. It's a non fussy plant, I never seem to get tired of eating them.

 

 

  

 

 

Ripened  berries and un ripened berries which would produce new plant.

 My younger son uses them to paint his body with dark purple color for fun.

Handmade cushion cover

Last week was my younger son's b'day. We wanted to have a small get together with few neighbors and their kids, a very low one. Apart from the store bought chips and cake I wanted to have something homemade on the menu. I have tried Gulab Jamun recipe from this lovely Veg recipes of India. Most of the time it turns out well if not perfect. Well this time, my fears came out true and the Gulab Jamuns did not turn out as they should have. 

Frustrated, I wanted do something to uplift my mood. We had few curtain linens at home lying wasted. The extra cover to the odd sized cushion was long pending. I cut them according to the cushion size, stitched them  by hand and later embroidered at the edges, all in couple of hours. It definitely bought peace to my mind and also made my younger son happy for getting new cushion cover  -:)

Season of mangoes

Hi Guys, how have you been?
I am busy enjoying the remains of summer season, eating mangoes, Rasayana , milkshakes..

I had been vacationing in my native, the longest time so far. There are two mango trees in my parents home planted when I was in high school. From past 8 years it has been yielding sweet mangoes. Whenever I am at my parents home during mango season, my father gives me in charge of these mangoes. In the past month of May , all I am doing is plucking them, ripening them, eating them.

I take a large tarpaulin sheet, call my neighbors and kids to hold all the four corners.  Then take a long bamboo sick with a hook in the end, with this pluck all the mangoes possible with care. Most of the time I have to stop after plucking 20-30 because the tree is full of red ants(locally called 'Chauli'). They would drop along with the mangoes on us. Mangoes dropped into the tarpaulin would be wiped then put into basket containing straws. Then this basket is placed in a less ventilated room.
Unfortunately few of the ripe mangoes are infested with worms(I am unable to understand why, people say 'buri nazar' has fallen for the mango trees :-)). After a week or so I check whether there are any ripe mangoes, check for the worms, otherwise cut them for relishing or distribute among relatives, neighbors.

Here in at home in B'lore we have 4 year old tree grown to 6 Feet tall. This year it has given us around 15 mangoes. Don't know the variety but looks like Neelam. Doesn't taste very sweet probably because the tree isn't grown well still.

My library...

It's my home's birthday again although this post is bit late. My Internet connection went kaput for few days thanks to my three month old kitten. My kitten while playing pulled the dongle cord which we usually keep in top for better signal receiving.
I am sharing with you a corner in my house that is very dear to me, a corner where I meet new people, fellow blogger, friends. It also holds books that I have treasured. It's the library and the computer table unit.

We have a huge window which is in sync with the bay window downstairs. We are planning to put bamboo blinds and this plan is still a plan so far...

Felt butterflies...

Working with Felt is a wonderful thing. I remember some 5 years back when I asked for Felt fabric in the usual book cum stationary  shops all I would get was a blank look. I had found them finally selling at a high price in the new Itsy Bitsy craft shop in Jayanagar, Bangalore(now no longer exists there). I hadn't done anything with them except making few flowers, book marks. I thought they were too precious -:)

Nowadays we get felt in all craft stores. There are many things you can do with felt mostly small stuffed miniatures, toys, ornaments etc.,.

Cutting felt to the exact shape is a tough job for beginners like me.

I took two equal felt  pieces and used a cut paper butterfly as a model. But yet I was unsuccessful in cutting the exact shape.

One good thing is that I cut both the pieces together at a time. Even if there was any mistake in the shape it didn't matter much. They would be sewn together.

I have sewn both the pieces together by blanket stitch.

Detailed butterfly

Do not put the stitches overlapping, it doesn't look good. The first butterfly I did, the stitches were too close and they looked messed up. Anyway I decided to retain them. Looking from far no one can make out the messed up butterfly.

Do not put stitches too close together

We get colored wooden beads in the craft shop. You can get the plain ones and colored them with matching acrylic colors.

How about orange..

How about Orange is a blog that I love to follow. Off late there has been Orange color in my garden. Few pics.

The Orange honeysuckle..

The peacock flower. Lots of parrots rush in to eat the seeds(green ones) of this plant. Its a pleasure to see them. We know they have come by their squeaking and later the remains of the seeds on the ground.

This is the fourth time it's flowering since I bought in last October..

This plant has grown on it's own on the lawns. I don't know the name though. Didn't pull it out since their flowers are pretty. Aren't they?

Bekal Fort, Kasargod

Last year December during Christmas vacation we got a chance to visit Bekal Fort for a day trip.
Bekal fort is located on the coastal Arabian sea, north of Kerala. The fort spreading over forty acres, has massive walls about 12 meters in height built of laterite stones.

As you enter, there is Hanuman temple at the entrance. Near the ticket counter the historical background of Bekal Fort is displayed. Don't miss this if you want to know the history of Bekal fort.

We left Udupi in the morning and reached the fort around 11 AM. It was too hot in the afternoon to explore. I recommend to go in the rainy season and greenery inside the fort would be great. In other season late afternoon would be better.

The fort was clean and well maintained. There are few refreshment shops inside.
There is a beach on either side of the boat but we didn't explore it.

There is a stairway inside the fort. The steps lead to a tunnel and eventually to the outside wall of the fort facing the Arabian sea. There is also a well both for which visitors are not allowed to enter. 

Excellent views from the Fort of the serene Arabian Sea.