Thursday, August 30, 2007

Gardener by accident



Earlier this year I wrote about how I killed off nearly every plant that I had…and only the ones more stubborn than me survived….the death toll included a coffee plant that was growing rather well in a pot, a pepper creeper and a table lime that I had brought from yercaud….not to mention the orchids, but they were the non edible bit of the massacre…when I revamped my modest collection of about 70 pots (small and medium) on the balcony the only thing I really wanted for the kitchen was a curry leaf plant….then I added some dying ginger that is so luxuriant right now that I cant believe a few months ago was a shriveled up piece in my fridge for many weeks…. And a kind of green that’s called bachili in Telugu and I don’t know what its called in english….makes yummy stir fry, is great in dal, but best as a bajji (bhajiya) …… about a month ago cleaning out the masala box used for tadka (the round tiffin with many small katoris holding dry red chillies, methi, etc) I dumped some of the debris that was at the bottom of the tiffin box into a pot on my kitchen balcony….not realizing that it would be crowded with saplings that I couldn’t even recognize in a few weeks…that’s exactly what happened…I had about 20 odd chilly seedlings (transferred and now prospering in 3 pots), some dhania and methi that I have long used up, some urad dal saplings, and a lime sapling (transferred into a medium pot and doing very well…about 6 inches with 12-13 leaves) …the only mystery plant was something that looked like amaranth…the leaves were very much like amaranth, only much larger with a different odor….intrigued I let it grow…and one morning some pods began to grow…..my maid then said it was sesame….. I somehow never imagined this!! I know its just one plant and it will not be enough for anything …but I haven’t the heart to pull it out!! Now the leaves have fallen and I think the pods will ripen or dry….i just want to see what happens next….. as for the chilly plants….i don’t think I will need to buy chillies this month

3 comments:

Sreelu said...

Arundathi, wow what a beatiful accident, Urad dal plant I would love to see that,not bad for huge pots collection. you should post pics

Kajal said...

WOW......You care your plant very nicely. I like it. I also like plants but not much time for care.
Nice writing. Good Day and Happy weekend:)

amna said...

u r tagged :)

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