Sow What ?

People in their admiration for a colorful garden, vegetable patch, or bountiful harvest exclaim that the gardener is endowed with a Green Thumb.  An avid gardener will tell you the thumb and nails are anything but green with stains of the muddy earth and associated fragrances. Gardening or tending to a garden is a skill acquired like any other skill that involves education, training, and practice with many failures and successes with learning being a continuum- intuitive at that. It is not a talent one is born with. While a " G reen Thumb " compliment is well-meaning and most encouraging, I am overcome by a primordial longing to narrate the travails with weeds alongside non-sprouting seeds, Aphids making merry with the  Mealybugs, Ants, Rodents, and Monkeys in a jamboree, Curling leaves, falling-flowers, root rot, and what not! Green Thumb as such is no superpower or natural endowment and at best can be an inherent aptitude. Green Thumb is not what you are born with as is be...

Leaf composting 3 minute read Often times we find garden wastes being burnt or dumped into garbage bins along with other wastes destined to reach the landfill.   It is a good practice to compost the fallen leaves   along with other garden discards with the help of organic, microbial accelerators.   This will speed up the biodegradation process in urban  setups  that have challenges of space, manpower,  and  other resources.   The leaves of most trees contain twice as many minerals and micronutrients as manure. When used as mulch, or when composted they are worth a pound for a pound!   Here is why:   ·         Deep-rooted   trees absorb minerals from  the soil, a good portion of which goes to the leaves ·        They supply fibrous organic matter that nourishes the soil ·        Humus ...