Coriander has started flowering :) waiting for the seeds now

 Spinach looks good too. Have another set of Spinach growing along.

 Dil too looks beautiful. The germinating of Dil seed was amazing.

 Proud to have this Mint. Story goes, bought at the store, cleaned, sorted and left is the refrigerator for more than a week. I realized mint doesn't need a seed to grow but only a stem. Picked up 4 from the refrigerator, only one survived. So, this one holds a special place.

Just back from Terrace Gardening Workshop

Attended workshop held at Vittal Mallya Scientific Research Foundation. Met Dr. Viswanath, a pioneer in the field of Organic gardening in Bangalore. Started promoting Organic Gardening since 1995 and has been successful in enlightening more and more people in this field.
There were 30 people who attended the course. Few pics from the VMSRF terrace

Choice of containers is up to you. Your imagination is the only limitation. Cauliflower, Tomato grown in 12" clay pots. Capsicum & a new variety of Chilly in paint containers.

 Dr. Hegde explaining seeds varieties, soil mixing, seeding, tools, pest control/management

At the end of the day we were gifted with a copy of Dr. Viswanath's popular book "A handbook of Organic Terrace Gardening"and the below five saplings. Two chilly, two cauliflower and a tomato. I picked up a Strawberry sapling :)

Will be planting the saplings tomorrow morning. will update tomorrow on how it goes and also on the technology I picked up at VMSRF.

My first harvest

The leaves underneath started turning yellow, hence decided to harvest the cilantro.

Feels good, to eat what you've grown. Without any fear of chemicals, fertilizers.. just pure vegetable...

However, I am a little unhappy about the spinach I transplanted last week. Out of 5, only 1 survived. Will post pics of it later. 

I picked up few tools last week, paid about Rs.220 for them.

Wonder when and how I am going to use them :)

Germinating seeds

Having been following a group named Organic Terrace Gardening on Facebook. Read a post where in Seeds were germinated before sowing. Hence, as per the instructions:
1. Soaked spinach, tomato seeds overnight in a bowl of warm water.
2. Placed the seeds in tissue paper, and sealed them in zip lock plastic bag. Remember to keep the tissue paper moist and not wet as the seeds rot. Lot a bunch of spinach to this :(
3. After five days the spinach looks like this:

Carefully cut the piece of paper and placed them in the bottle of coke and it looks like this now:

High hopes on this experiment :) btw, coriander looks like this now:

 Using as pots with everything that is being thrown away. Bought a toy for my Son, used the box for planting coriander again.

Have planted tomato seeds today. Will share the pics as soon as the seeds sprout.

Status update

Its been 3 weeks, since I sowed the coriander seeds and it looks like this now:

The growth rate seems to be slow but happy with progress :)
Toying on the idea of reusing cola bottles, i emptied a bottle and cut it across.

Planning to grow Spinach in it... 

New chapter in life: From Geek to Gardener

It was a long time ago, when I helped mom setup a kitchen garden@Dwd. But vaguely remember we ever put a serious effort to sustain our needs. Happy with the one-time success, the idea withered down.

I am now bitten by the gardening bug but don't have the space we had at Dwd. I have to stick to containers:(

Well, the thought came to me when I heard coriander costs Rs.45 in Bangalore. This was in the month of May 2012. I quickly searched on Google for blogs on growing coriander. Learnt most of the thing from the Geek Gardeners blog. Headed to Lalbagh, picked up the seeds, compost and red soil.

On way to office, picked a pot (Rs.120) my biggest expense so far.
Very next day, loosened the soil, mixed the compost and sowed the seeds. After a wait of 15days, there was sense of achievement, on seeing the seedlings :)

Marriage Certificate

Hello All,

I thought i'll write a post on how to get your Marriage Certificate from Dharwad, Karnataka. The rules and regulations might change for other states. But, my best guess is, its the same all over Karnataka.
First of all, you need to get the following things in place:
1. Two couple photographs (a wedding or reception snap with bride and the groom) of size 4x6 size.
2. Three B2 size photographs. The photograph should the same snap as used above.
3. A wedding invitation card.
4. Voters id acts as the best id proof and they usually ask for it. Else your Passport, Ration Card etc...

You can get the registration form from sub-registrars office. In Dharwad, you get the forms at the Xerox shop next to the sub-registrars office.
On the form you need to fill in Bride's and Groom's details and Signature with date. Then you need three witnesses who attended your wedding and get their details and signature on the forms.

Submit the form to the Sub registrar, who on verifying will sign the form. Once the form is signed, a lady enters the details on to a computer and gives you a rough document for verification. Please make sure there are no mistakes on the rough document as the details in the rough document will be used to make originals.
You have to sign on the B2 photographs and done. You get two copies of your marriage registration.

Hope this info is helpful.

GoodLuck,
Jayant