Modern life with all its conveniences and nuances does rob us of some of the finer aspects of life. As life has gotten more and more complicated we sometimes fail to appreciate how even some of the basic necessities of life are magically available to us. For instance - food.
Most city kids probably wouldn't even know if a pineapple grows on trees or underground and thats probably not a good thing. Cities with their stone walls limit the scope for green fields but I think that gardening is a hobby that everyone should take a shot at. I use the term hobby loosely, you can grow a shrub if you want to but I think you should try it. It will take you back to your roots(Pun intended).
My mom being an avid proponent of the powers of some herbs maintains an active garden at home and my wife being a foodie with a taste for chillies that are as hot as lava has planted a few chilli plants brought from Assam. These are a variety of chilli called Bhoot Jholokia and were the hottest chillies in the World till last year I think. (Now they are no 2- Respect)
I like spicy stuff myself and so I initially took up the routine work of watering the plants and found that to be a very relaxing thing to do at the end of a hectic day. One thing led to another and I had to do a lot of reading on how to get those chilli plants to survive as they are not native to this part of India and these plants are very prone to some pests. Here are my top 3 tips for a healthy chilli plant based on experience. I hope someone finds it useful.
1) Quality of the Soil - Ensure that the soil you use is of good quality, mix it with some organic fertilizer if needed. Also, mix the solid with some sand/gravel. The idea is that the pot where you plant the seeds should not get water logged. Sand and rocks allow the water to percolate through the soil and prevents it from just running off the top.
2) Water - Water the plants preferably twice a day but if that not possibly then once a day is good enough.When the plants are flowering and the chillies are growing, water every alternate day. This forces the plant to retain water and the chilli turns out bigger and spicier. Try to sprinkle the water on the leaves as there are a lot of pests that lay eggs under the leaves and regular cleaning will save you a lot of grief later.
3) Pests - I had some pesky little bugs pestering my garden.The underside of the chilli leaves seemed to have white spots comprising of hundreds of tiny eggs. A little googling and common sense led me to believe that I had a white fly infestation and a couple of websites seemed to suggest that the extract of the Neem tree (Azadirachta indica) was the solution. So I ended up buying a Neem oil extract based pesticide and that worked wonders. I would suggest to get a bottle of such a pesticide and keep it handy.
Happy gardening!!!
Most city kids probably wouldn't even know if a pineapple grows on trees or underground and thats probably not a good thing. Cities with their stone walls limit the scope for green fields but I think that gardening is a hobby that everyone should take a shot at. I use the term hobby loosely, you can grow a shrub if you want to but I think you should try it. It will take you back to your roots(Pun intended).
My mom being an avid proponent of the powers of some herbs maintains an active garden at home and my wife being a foodie with a taste for chillies that are as hot as lava has planted a few chilli plants brought from Assam. These are a variety of chilli called Bhoot Jholokia and were the hottest chillies in the World till last year I think. (Now they are no 2- Respect)
I like spicy stuff myself and so I initially took up the routine work of watering the plants and found that to be a very relaxing thing to do at the end of a hectic day. One thing led to another and I had to do a lot of reading on how to get those chilli plants to survive as they are not native to this part of India and these plants are very prone to some pests. Here are my top 3 tips for a healthy chilli plant based on experience. I hope someone finds it useful.
1) Quality of the Soil - Ensure that the soil you use is of good quality, mix it with some organic fertilizer if needed. Also, mix the solid with some sand/gravel. The idea is that the pot where you plant the seeds should not get water logged. Sand and rocks allow the water to percolate through the soil and prevents it from just running off the top.
2) Water - Water the plants preferably twice a day but if that not possibly then once a day is good enough.When the plants are flowering and the chillies are growing, water every alternate day. This forces the plant to retain water and the chilli turns out bigger and spicier. Try to sprinkle the water on the leaves as there are a lot of pests that lay eggs under the leaves and regular cleaning will save you a lot of grief later.
3) Pests - I had some pesky little bugs pestering my garden.The underside of the chilli leaves seemed to have white spots comprising of hundreds of tiny eggs. A little googling and common sense led me to believe that I had a white fly infestation and a couple of websites seemed to suggest that the extract of the Neem tree (Azadirachta indica) was the solution. So I ended up buying a Neem oil extract based pesticide and that worked wonders. I would suggest to get a bottle of such a pesticide and keep it handy.
Happy gardening!!!
