Pride of India

Queen Crape Myrtle(Pride of India) during  summer

 

 

The tree after the blooming season,  produces these seeds.

It looks like bunch of dates..

 

Linking this to Our World Tuesday

Hibiscus.. A Few of them

 I have been missing in action for a long time. With kids gone back to school, I am back to being myself. The house is so peaceful for a while.

I always wished to have many varieties of Hibiscus in my garden. With a small garden it's bit difficult to have different kinds, colors of Hibiscus but it's not impossible. Most of these are propagated from the stem cutting and couple of them bought from the plant nursery.

 

Painted terracotta bell

Last week we had a wonderful time where kids and husband have a long weekend on account of Ganesh Chaturthi. I was worry less in terms of kids studies. All we did was to celebrate the festival, crafting, watching movie in a tent style, coloring etc. I had after a long time splendid 'me' time.
I got to finish painting the terracotta bell that I had got few days ago from the road side vendor. Often while browsing through the shopping websites, I am so tempted to buy those beautiful terracotta items. They are so inspiring. Doing it yourself is fun, easy, light on pockets.

It took more than four days for two coats of acrylic paint to dry. While painting, the upper circles were disturbing, so tied them with the soft cloth. I painted the circles last, hanging them with a support.

My intention was to spruce up my garden with this bell, for time being I have kept it in a corner of my home. I am so glad that I utilized this time efficiently...

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...