Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Shifting gears (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifting-gears/)

-   -   Gardening experts in Team BHP? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifting-gears/89939-gardening-experts-team-bhp-32.html)

Finally - Just like ChatGPT, KissanGPT is here. Its powered by Open AI to guide with its expert agriculture knowledge. Right now its only voice based but gives great answers even for questions like - how many times can one water a particular plant etc.

You can use a compactor to make logs

https://www.ehow.co.uk/how_8645847_m...-leaf-hat.html

https://www.homemadetools.net/homemade-leaf-log-maker

There was an article of India made compactor, but I cannot find it.

One side of my garden was being overgrown by grass thanks to the rains and I was hard pressed finding someone to trim it.

Finally decided to buy a string trimmer. At 2k odd I thought I'd give it a shot.
https://www.amazon.in/beyond-Decker-...dp/B09WYLH239/

Bought it from a local hardware store, and Sunday it was trimming time! Got safety glass and boots (Am a little paranoid). The shopkeeper suggested to give it a break after 15 minutes of use.

Took some time to figure it out but it was easy enough soon enough and it was cutting grass like no man's business. Good for small patches and you need a long extension box.

If you look closely you can see the patch of grass still standing tall. Wire was not long enough :)

Hello Bhpians,

Not sure if this was discussed but couldn’t find any relevant information. We are thinking of having a lawn + few plants (5x40) in a first floor balcony facing front of the house (under construction) towards north. Sun light will be limited here, will that become an issue for grass to grow? Also what kind of major maintenance is expected in the long run? Do we need to replace the soil frequently? Apart from water proofing and water drain provision, do we need to make any other provisions? Thanks.

A simpler approach would be to use synthetic grass, and plants in pots. Keep some drainage points even for the synthetic grass, because the rain water can then find an outlet.

Buying seeds online - a gamble

Hello. Through this post I am trying to share some of my vegetable growing learnings, especially buying seeds online. Buying seeds online can be a gamble and I have spent some money on useless seeds.

Usually around September when the monsoon rains begin to wane is when I start accumulating inputs required for starting vegetable batches for the year.

Most important being seeds. I use seeds dried and saved from the previous season, which include okra, brinjal, chillies, ridge gourd, yard long beans.

Seeds of some veggies like spinach, mustard, tomato I buy online. Off the various online websites I have tried, found seeds made by IIHR, Bangalore fairly good. IIHR-Indian Institute of Horticulture Research. The seeds are always recent and fresh, germinate well, the produce is good, seeds are inexpensive.

The institute has a seed portal https://seed.iihr.res.in/ at which the seeds can be bought easily. The website lists around 25 odd varieties of seeds, veg as well as fruits.

I buy the seed kit which is the last item on the page. The kit has 8 different type of veggie seeds. Costs 200 rupees plus 100 odd rupees as speed post charge.

The kit with 8 different variety of seeds is good enough to meet the veggie needs of our home.

Spinach seeds I got this season are an example of their quality.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=grtMoK...BEcmFpbiBQaXBl
This video is my effort at growing spinach in a small space, which gets sunlight and is protected from rain. Was initially skeptical, whether the depth of the pipe would be enough for the root system, but it seems to be working.

Have tried growing spinach in the ground but it never progresses well. The intermittent heavy rains bash the spinach or ants carry away the seeds.

Hope the information would be of use to many.

Almost every state in India has a agriculture, horticulture University / College and they have websites. If they could integrate a seed portal like the one IIHR has, functional and easy to transact, quality seeds could be accessed.

If anyone is aware about any such portal do share the information. Thankyou.

Growing mushrooms at home:

My wife had tried growing mushrooms at home a few years back. While the end result was yummy, the process was intensive and time consuming. So she gave it a break.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks back, she chanced upon a insta video by a gardener showing a ready to use kit for mushrooms. Turned out that they had a stall at an exhibition at that time.

https://growthefunguy.com/

We got a couple of kits, and it's been little more than a week and the oysters are almost fully grown in their pink glory :)

Just cut out the marked portion, make a few cuts with a sterilized knife and mist water onto the cut areas thrice a day. That's it.

Tonight it's going to be mushroom fry :D

Just a quick pic of a rocky cave setup for my banyan bonsai. For some reason I find joy in setting these up after winding down on my aquarium hobby.

And I still keep finding new beauties in the garden. This tiny little fellow was amongst a few curry leaf tree that I was pruning. Looks like a Scorpion Mimic Green Jumping Spider. Tough little fellow to take a pic of. Kept jumping onto my phone when I was taking pictures :)

Does anyone have any tips on a leaf blower? My garden has a few adult trees that shed leaves like no man's business and raking/sweeping it is a chore.

The culprits are: Teak trees, Jackfruit trees and a wild jackfruit tree.

Thinking if a cordless leaf blower would help a bit.

Quick check on youtube shows videos out west where it is usually large open areas or lawns. My garden is a bit congested and wondering if this might damage flowering plants.

Is there any soil testing centre or lab in Bangalore which can test different levels of npk, pH and other micronutrients in garden soil?

Can someone suggest good and cost effective pressure washer for cleaning the dust getting accumulated upon the plants?
Currently there is no water outlet nor there is a provision to get one in the balcony and we are watering the plants using basket.
These manual pumping based pressure washers work but it is tiring to refill water after every 2-3 plants.

Do not try the pressure washers that are used for cars etc.

Your one option is a battery operated sprayer which can hold upto 20 litres of water. Something like IFFCO could be got at 2500 instead of regular price of 4500. But do remember that you will then end up with one more item to maintain.

Check with UAS.

Found this pamphlet - thought it may be helpful.

Nice thread. I never knew this existed.

Ever since we moved to the US, we developed the interest for growing plants and gardening in general.

Due to weather conditions, this is mostly a seasonal hobby. My wife loves to grow all kinds of flowers and vegetables in our backyard.

The best part is we never bought any special seeds. We just take the seeds from the veggies bought from outside and she grows vegetables in our backyard.

Last year (August 2023) was an absolute bounty with just too much growth of every vegetables. Even after using for our cooking, we had to give away most to friends and neighbors.

We grew a lot of veggies :

1. Tomatoes
2. Green Beans
3. Carrots
4. Brinjals
5. Capsicum
6. Mint
7. Coriander
8. Jalepeno Peppers

I can say one thing. Gardening is one of the most soothing and stress busting activity ever. Food made at home with home grown veggies is even more special. :)

The amazing resiliency of plants:

I am trying to grow some plants here at home. I had to travel for a week, and these plants were missed during watering of the other plants. They had like dried up when I returned. The leaves fell at just a touch.

Resumed watering them and in about 4-5 days, I see new new leaves sprouting.



Not the first time that I see a plant coming back to life. Back in 2017, an irregularly watered plant (at a different location) had dried up. The branches were snapping off, and I thought it was a goner, esp when I looked at the state of the plant. But it has survived, and 7 years later gives us the flowers daily for Puja at home.

It always feels good when I see this happening.