Giloy - a gift

My parents always bring plants and seeds for us when they visit or give them when we visit them. Most of them do not survive the heat of Ahmedabad. But one did. And this one taught me the importance of growing native plants, that suit Indian conditions. 

This plant is called Giloy (गिलोई). It has several ayurvedic benefits, the most important one being to keep recurring fever in check. This makes it very useful for curing dengue. In recent years, the demand for it has increased as people have realised it's effectiveness for dengue. Aptly, it flourishes in the monsoon and grows everywhere. 

Mom gave me a stem cutting from her collection the day I was leaving after a visit. I kept it in my bag. And then promptly forgot about it when I got back home! I only remembered 4 days later. I wasnt sure whether it would still survive, but it did strike. Within a week of planting, it produced two leaves. 

And when the monsoon came in full swing, it grew really quickly and climbed the drip irrigation pipe.

Fruit tree on the terrace!

We wanted a tree, any tree. It had to be a large one, evergreen and preferably with flowers. We went to our favourite nursery again this weekend to look for one. We had our heart set on Champa (Frangipani), but it quite toxic to dogs. Even so, we thought of the dwarf one for the balcony. Turns out that it was close to ₹7000! No, thank you. Back to the drawing board for the tree then.

Both of us had certain criteria that we did not want to compromise on. We wanted a tree with a defined stem, hence an Areca palm was out. We wanted one with lots of branches, rather than a tiered appearance. And for sure we wanted one with flowers.

It wasn't looking good, we couldn't find anything suitable. Until he showed us a Chikoo tree. It suited our purpose completely and had the added bonus of bearing fruit!

It arrived with much difficulty as it really was very tall! Once it settles in, we can give it a prune. For now, it looks lovely from our bedroom window.

Tall Chikoo tree

Placement of the Chikoo tree

Watering system for the terrace

As summer advanced into Ahmedabad (later than last year), it brought on 40+ temperatures. In addition, Ahmedabad is very very dry, with hot winds. Our plants started dying left, right and centre. Some of the casualties were - Marigold (yet again), a chilli plant (who could not be photographed), Jasmine, Zamia, Rose (again, could not be photographed) and the indoor succulent (no photo of this either). 

A self watering project had been on the cards for a long time, but it involved many steps. First, I identified a Syntex tank to store the water. Then we searched for a plumber on Fix91 and UrbanClap. We found a good one on UrbanClap who knew what he was talking about. He had previously setup a hydroponic kit for someone. He was supremely excited with our project, as were we!

He decided that the white pipe (used for the RO waste water) would be ideal. It is sturdy and does well in the sun. He bought the various joints like T-joint, elbow-joint etc. He also bought the drips for the irrigation, which was our preference. 

Finally, this weekend he set it up. He brought someone over to build a stand for the tank, so that it is at a height. He made a hole at the top, so that vaccum is not created when the water is extracted. He made a hole near the bottom for the pipe connection. This pipe is connected to a valve, with an on and off position. After the valve, the white pipe network has been connected. 

Water storage

Valve connection

He has made one connection to the pots under our window. Another branch runs along the other wall to water the wall. From here, one branch goes down to one end of the balcony. Another branch also goes down to the balcony, along the railing. 

Branch 1

Branch 2

We tested it out today and it works like a breeze! We turn it on in the morning for about 10 mins and the plants get enough water to last the day. The lawn was taking up the most water because it did not have a drip. Now we have put a drip and water the lawn with the AC water instead. 

The first time we filled the tank with tap water using the garden hose. After that, we put in any waste water that we can manage to. For instance, everytime we clean the aquarium, we get about 2 buckets of water. This is best put in the tank. The water is rich in nutrients and can be used to water plants to get better foliage as it contains Nitrogen and Phosphorus. We also put the RO water and AC reject water in when possible, else we use that directly in the lawn or the indoor plants.

Composting - round 1

Well!

Composting is not as easy as 1-2-3.

So, in theory, we did everything according the guideline.

• They said to start with a bottom layer of newspaper. We did.
• They said to throw kitchen waste in. We did.
• They said to throw in a handful of remix powder now and then. We did.
• They said to stir it once a week. We did.
• They said to throw in the microbe powder once a week. We did.
• They said to wait for things to decompose. We did.

And yet, it didn't decompose. So we moved the topmost bin to the middle space and continued throwing our waste in the upper bin. It has been 3 months now and it still hasnt turned into compost *sigh*.

I finally decided to sift out the "compost" and take what I can get. It wasnt too bad, but very dry.

Sifted compost

Compost too dry

And therein lies the crux of the problem! 

We do not eat so many vegetables everyday to generate enough wet waste. Addtionally, Ahmedabad is very dry. I had placed the compost bin in a sheltered part of the terrace. But that did not prevent the winds from drying it out everyday. Hence, we were fighting a losing battle against moisture.

Now we have placed the compost bin just outside our terrace door near the society stairs. It is a dark place, unaffected by the wind. In a week itself, I can see that the scraps are retaining their moisture and decomposing. Fingers crossed that the next batch does not take 3 months to decompose!

Indoor stars

After conquering the outdoor world, we decided to buy some indoor plants.

We had bought a Croton back in February with our winter shopping. It was doing well indoors, with very large leaves that are in different colours. In addition, the pot was good looking. We bought two of these.

Croton in a red pot

This month when we went shopping, we though to buy the same plant with different coloured pot. These would go on the staircase landing. We bought green pots with Croton.

More Croton

We also wanted a large plant for the drawing room, something that has height and draws attention to it. The nursery showed us Palms, which does the job. However, it has a lot of width to it, which would keep increasing as it grew. Then he showed us Araucaria, which is commonly called the Christmas tree. It looked fantastic! We bought two in black plastic pots.

Araucaria

Bringing in some permanents

As we get better at looking after our plants (and not killing them within 3 days of bringing them home), we bought some plants that are evergreen. Since the wicking bed was empty (yet again), we got plants suitable for that. This time, we tried yet another new nursery called Anand nursery in Gandhinagar. It was the best! Great collection, helpful staff and a complete solution in terms of plants, pots, stones, gardening equipment and fertiliser.

Summer plants and others

A summer collection is incomplete without a Hibiscus. These flowers are bold and the leaves are even bigger! They come in very nice colours, red being the most common. But we decided to go for a yellow one with a red centre.

Hibiscus

To tie our Ahmedabad garden back to our Melbourne one, we included a Kalanchoe in this collection. They are very popular here actually and they come in many different colours. I don't remember seeing so many colours in Melbourne, nor do I remember them flowering so profusely.

Kalanchoe

Another plant common to our Melbourne garden is the Carnation. These Carnations are not as large as the ones we had in Melbourne, but they have more character to them because of the double colour.  They look very dainty.

Carnation

Here's an interesting plant we picked up. It's a Jade plant (Portulacaria Afra Variegata), but double coloured too!

Jade plant

This plant is not much to look at in the picture, but it's dark coloured leaves are lovely. The lady at the nursery said that it flowers too. The pot had two of them, so we put one at both ends.

Alternanthera

And finally, we bought another marigold. This is our second, let's hope it lasts!

Yellow Marigold

We also bought a tree. It's called Tabebuia. It's growing near the society's swimming pool also, but that one has pink flowers. Ours has a white flower with a yellow centre. It's quite leafy and is filling up the balcony space well.

Tabebuia

White flower Tabebuia

We also bought a type of Kamini Jasmine for our terrace. It will be placed just outside our window, so that the fragrance comes in through the window. It has very tiny flowers and quite a subtle orangey smell! I guess when it's covered with flowers, the smell will be more obvious.

Kamini Jasmine

Jasmine flower

We also got a free Mogra Jasmine when I ordered plants from there. This one is not as bushy as the Kamini Jasmine, but flowers are bigger and more aromatic. It struggled a bit in the heat to start with, but picked up with regular watering. I have attached a jute thread to the railing for this one to climb on.

Mogra Jasmine