Gardening

Water the plants only if you find the top soil dry. If it is moist or wet then delay watering.

Sunlight exposure is mandatory for most plants. Read, learn and adapt based on plant needs.

Journal – Keep a notebook to keep track of your seeding charts, timelines and harvest dates. I maintain a monthly updates in my journal.

Though i have been trying my hands in farming for nearly two decades now, have not really managed to do even 10% what i aspired to do. The failure to do a good job in the small garden around our home in Pondicherry however doesn't have any excuse whatsoever. It's almost two years since my Son suggested me put my energy and focus entirely on our garden first. He explained the size is quite ideal for me to manage it entirely through my own physical effort. He also added that as i gain more experience with our garden, probably my farming practices will improve based both on my improved strength and knowledge. Despite the passage of time, i did not really act on his advice.

My friend Mr Marimuthu also had commented along the same lines. He even offered his assistance to plant trees to fill the empty spaces in the garden. My standard excuse has always been that i don't want to rush in planting trees without proper forethought. I always had a very negative opinion about cutting down trees, hence the reluctance to plant trees in the first place.

In early June'26, hired an elderly lady farmhand to weed the garden for ₹700. Things changed for the better when my daughter started urging me to plant trees in the entire garden so there will be no place for weeds. This time however, after delaying her suggestion for over a fortnight blaming the extreme weather, finally went ahead.

We bought 25 saplings from Isha Nursery on 2026-06-26 at a subsidized rate of ₹10. My daughter messaged and spoke to the Villupuram Isha Nursery on the timing and availability of saplings. She also came with me all the way to choose the saplings and we returned by late noon. She also prepared the planting layout.

The total cost of the saplings was ₹340, which included two Avocado saplings which cost ₹50 each. There were 5 guava, 4 each of Lemon and Star gooseberry, 2 each of Jack fruit, nutmeg, custard apple, Indian Gooseberry and Pomegranate saplings in total. Even though i paid ₹30 for one nutmeg, one extra sapling was provided as the quality of nutmeg saplings were poor.

Twelve of the saplings were planted on the same evening from 4pm to 7pm and the remaining was planted next morning between 7:30 am and 11 am. My daughter not only gave me words of encouragement and support, she also put in the physical work. She removed the soil dug by me, collected and put the coconut husk in, applied back the dug out soil, planted and watered the saplings. She also helped move around the buckets, tools and supplied nourishment during the work. Even though the planting work was tiring, both of us felt overjoyed on completing the work. She watered the plants daily until she left for her college on 2026-07-08.

I have been thinking of creating a green wall structure in our first floor balcony mainly to prevent entry of dust. Since i don't have any experience in growing plants in a pot, i started reading about Container Gardening. I almost decided on Shankhupushpam. However decided to begin with Avarai due to seed availability. As on 2026-09-23, this is still stuck at zero.

I have started composting using a wiremesh container bin since end july i.e 2026-07-31. A second bin was created to hold only dry leaves.

Monthly gardening updates are made in the Journal. Their links can be found in this section.

• 2026-07-26
• 2026-09-10
• 2026-09-29