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Growing onions - what I have done is to peel off an onion in such a fashion that I land up with the inner-most part (this is usually split bulbs) and made sure I did not damage the upper shoot region and the lower root region. All the peeled off parts of the onion were cut fine and used in making curry or as a salad (though not appealing.) The point of using some part of the onion is that one onion gives only one onion. Arithemetic 1-1 = 0. So you have not created anything. So might as well eat part of it and use the remaining to create a full one. Yes, you would have created spring shoots which you can use. There are multiple producing potato-style-onions but I dont think the one we use at homes are multiple yielding ones.

So next what did I do? Trying Hydroponics on this piece of onion. Dipped the base (base only) of this onion in water in a bottle (1/2 ltr minute maid) and the shoot is out. Its been 36 hrs now. Maybe some more days and the shoot might grow up. Anyone tried this?

Further maybe we can plant it in soil or keep doing this on the same onion. Cut the shoot. Let it grow again. Cut it again. Infinitely do this. Is it possible or tried?

Another question:

In Chennai does anyone know where one can get more seeds e.g Spinach, Radish (instant gratification,) carrots, lettuce, herbs (rosemary, thyme, oregano, parseley, sage, celery.) and more?

Horticulture dept (TNAU) did not have these last time.

Ah, one more thing: How do we water the tender amaranthus? The stalks look so feeble and micro. The force of the spraying water actually pulls a few down to the ground. Any tips?

@jeev, my elder daughter has taken some onions and planted in the garden. She takes the onion shoots once in a while for her cooking experiments. What I noticed over the past few months is that it keeps coming back, but dont know how long it'll tend to do that!

Have a small area about 4'x10' for growing plants. Wanted to grow something that would not require too much tending, is resistant to insects etc.
So decided to give a try to Amrutha Balli a.k.a Tinospora cordifolia a.k.a Guduchi

This plant is supposedly having medicinal properties. Lot of people drink a concoction made from this plant after jogging early morning(as they are sold outside jogging parks etc.)

Its been about 6-7 months and this plant(actually, a climber) has grown about 40-45 feet above ground level.Doesnt require much space on land as well. Few things to tend to this plant are

1. Lots of water. One small bucket of water, atleast twice everyday.
2. Tea powder & Coffee powder(after they have been used) can be used as fertilizer.But do not over do it.
3. The dried leaves from this plant itself can be added back to soil.
4. Repeat 1-3 :)

The benefits:
1. No insects (white ones, flies etc )
2. Pleasant/Fresh smell & feeling inside the house. Since this plant is in front of main door and wind blows towards the inside of the house.
3. Pleasing feel to eyes as it is very rich greeny greeny plant.
4. When it rains/drizzles, its even more awesome
5. Leaves can be eaten. Boosts immunity apparently.

PS: Also had this Malabar spinach or Basale Soppu growing like crazy but had to get rid of it since the tiny purple fruits were all over the house and stained the walls and floor.

Update:
- Got 2 more 12 inch, 2 more 13 inch pots, 1 rectangular tray clay pot, 1 squarish clay pot
- Got 2 more sacks of soil + (neem-cake+organic-manure) Rs 80/- from Kalyani Nursery opp Velachery Aerie.
- Got 10 packets of seeds (spinach, radish, red-keerai, cluster-beans, french beans, corriander, asparagus-beans, beet) from D.Thilokchand.
on Saturday. Got a headache after running around in the harsh sun and spending some time in the balcony. So yet to make use of all those.

Existing seed sprouting update:
++ Amaranthus is growing well. However finding it difficult to water the clustered/bushy setup. The stalk is very narrow.
++ Bitter gourd leaves - Dinosaur-like wings are growing well.
++ Tomato is growing well as well.
+ Methi leaves look worn out but I can still see leaves coming out.
- A set of 2 corriander shoots have come out and the jagged-edge leaves are also seen. Another one is sprouting. But I had sown lots of them. Maybe old treated seeds were already dead.
- 2 Okra seedlings are standing tall but look static for 2-3 days.
- Thulsi - one stalk looks ok and fresh, the other ones looking static.
- Potato chitting is not progressing looks like according to my wishes :)
- Hydro onions not progressing either. I am hopeful of one of them. Some portions of the outer most skin has dried up a bit.
- Kanikoorka leaves - a couple here and there are coming out.
- Brinjal - out of the 10 or so, 4 have come out and they are all in different stages. All are small and very recent sprouted.

@jeevmenon - looking at the spouting rate you have, this is going to be a re-enactment of one of the episodes of "Tasveer ka doosra rookh" - an ancient serial lampooning shows on the then monopoly - DD. (two tomatoes - cost of production based on instructions from krishi darshan = 1.5K in 1989 or so - nothing less).

Very encouraging. Thank you very much. No wonder not many get involved doing this over long periods with people like you around. I dont know what makes you say I am doing all this for two tomatoes.

Hey!!!!

No offence meant - every time I get low sprouting rates and still lesser yields, I just think of that episode, and remind myself that I get better results.

(how about 5 yielding brinjal plants from a whole packet of seeds in 3 rows?? Each brinjal was however size of a midsize coconut, and that more than made up the disappointment of low yields.

My coconut experiment has been successful. I have a nice 1-1/2 foot sapling with three fonds. I've also been successful with Jalapenos and have got one of the plants to fruit already. I will post pictures of both these plants tomorrow, if possible.

Has anybody here have luck with 'wintergreen'? I got seeds from eBay but they don't seem to germinate.

Here are some Bell peppers from my balcony garden. These are red and yellow peppers. But, I have no idea when they will change colors.

Guys

i have a 300sqft patch of bare land in the front of my rented house.

1. What type of seeds should I buy to plant a grassy lawn? Local gardening labor keep visiting with offers of Rs 40/- per sq ft for Mexican grass. That will amount 12K for a 300sqft patch which is not affordable. Where can I buy these seeds, and how many kgs will I need for 300sq ft.
2. How do I prepare the soil before planting? Some patches are hard rocky while others have inches of sand.
3. Do I need to sow a few seeds every few inches on the ground?
4. What is the cost per kg of different types of lawn grass seeds? What are the problems with other non-mexican types of grass seeds?

If anybody knows the answers to the above questions, I will appreciate a reply.

Since it is a rented house, I cannot spend more than a 1000/- on this, but I can spend a few hours one sunday planting stuff.

--Ragul

Growing grass from seeds is a long drawn and risky process.

What most of us do is to transplant grass from the nursery to home lawn. The grass is transplanted sparsely and it soon fills up the empty spaces. Be aware that grass is best transplanted during rains. The growth slows down in winter, so this is not a good time to "grow" a new lawn.

Mexican grass is a special variety which if I am not wrong comes in rolls with a bit of soil attached. It is a very slow growing grass, but the advantage is that it stays green all the year round.

My mum is a avid Gardner , she has a lot of variety of flowering plants. This a Bonsai we have had at my place , all credit to my dad. I am not sure how old the tree is but estimated around 15 years.

Our home is located in Varkala, a small town in Kerala, India. Built in 2009, the house has a small garden. We thought there's nothing extraordinary about it.

We used to post images of our garden occasionally in our Facebook walls. And we received some overwhelming feedback from our FB friends. Many of our FB pals wanted more and more pictures.

We have more than one thousand images with us. And that put us in dilemma. "Creating and accumulating" content is not a problem for us. How do we present it? stupid:

So, we decided to put up a small website to showcase our flowers. A simple website::)
ourcutegarden.com

Orchids in bloom!



Cheers!

Wow volkman!!!
My mum has been trying to get the orchids to flower , have been only successful once. Where can I pick some Orchids in Blore and any tips on getting them to flower.

Thanks!