Post date: Jun 13, 2020 9:08:36 PM
Uma Sashikanth
Notes from garden visits this week:
1. Get a grip on how the adult plant will look like. Google. Plan for its full size. Don’t grow randomly without thought. Know what you grow. Don’t expect to be spoon fed. What applies to your kids applies to you. Do homework.
2. Grow so you get enough. Estimate yields. If you don’t sow 20-25 okra, beans, or a 2x2 patch of greens, you won’t have adequate harvests to cook with.
3. Don’t hoard seeds. Don’t keep procrastinating. Sow them. It takes a few minutes. Don’t worry about succeeding or failing. Just sow. A few $s only.
4. Don’t put a trellis on top of a bed. You lose the entire bed to the creeper that shades it completely. Trellis above the path. Train the plant to climb out of the bed. Feet in bed, face in the sun.
5. Prune. Don’t let herbs, flowering plants, tomatoes and others grow wildly. Overgrown yard is not natural. It is mostly mindless. A good yard will ensure that every single leaf gets the sun. That is what good design is about.
6. Support the main branch. Hill it up. Keep it firm. Don’t keep it swaying in the wind. And stake where needed.
7. You must be able to touch and reach every single plant in your yard. I repeat every single plant. Don’t tuck them here and there and hope everything will be fine. You need to be able to check for bugs, prune, support, harvest, and deadhead the flowers. And do these all without stepping in the beds and compacting the soil.
8. Don’t spray water on the plants. And don’t do it in the evening. Fungal infections will catch on.
9. Give a thought to aesthetics. Keep your yard pleasing to the eye. Don’t litter and throw tools around, and pls don’t bag and hoard leaves, soil and compost. Don’t keep unsightly thrush. Apply them; compost them; clean them. If you must store, bin them. Those store bought plastic bags - I feel sick seeing them piled forever. Air them. Be aware that harmful creatures will find habitats in all that stuff lying about.
10. Don’t be obsessed about plants. This is the growing season. They will thrive and grow and yield. Enjoy them. Observe quietly, don’t ask questions at the drop of the hat. Plants teach you more than anyone else can.
Well, long post again. A lot more unsaid. But then...
If you gave the plant all the space it needs, it will grow naturally and beautifully. Plants self prune intelligently. So do trees.
But when you grow in a box and pack many plants there, you have to observe and make decisions to optimise space, sun, nutrition, yield, seasons. Pruning is one of your tools to do all that.
Don’t over feed your plants. Let them tell you what they need. Feed to need, not to schedule :) end of Teacheramma rants for today!