Dunnit! Path edging
My courtyard is a bit of an eyesore. It could be a very pleasant place if anything would grow in it. I’ve tried all kinds of flowers, tufty wild grass, […]
Category Archives: Gardening
Vegetables gone wild
I love all my trees and plants, but the ones I’m proudest of are the ones that grow wild. I don’t mean weeds like lantana and congress grass, of course. […]
Farming or gardening?
What’s the difference between farming and gardening? My understanding is that it’s a question of scale, from which follows the consumption of the produce, whether it’s domestic or commercial. Going […]
Cheers to chives
A small, mild member of the onion family, this herb is hardly used in India. Considering our great love of onion and garlic, chives ought to be in our kitchen […]
Gandhiji and the gym
Like most Indians growing up in the 60s, I was taken to see and cry buckets over ‘Satyameva Jayate’, a movie which ended with the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. I […]
The congress walk
Ha! I meant congress grass, all you political types! Congress-with-a-capital-C may bring its own troubles, but this congress grass, aka Parthenium hysterophorus, is fast becoming the bane of my life. […]
A bouquet of its own
Prettier than any you can make or buy, this is a bouquet put together by a rose plant that is its own person, requiring nothing except water. We have been […]
The branched papaya
Papaya trees usually have no branches, there’s just the one tuft of leaves on top, with the flowers and fruits dangling below. And in all the papaya trees I’ve seen, […]
Fig Latin
There’s something about Latin names. They’re sonorous, authoritative, and sometimes even melodious. Just try rolling these on your tongue… tectona grandis, saraca asoca, dalbergia sissoo, ocimum sanctum, melia dubia, pinus […]
Gangamma’s Gharial
Gangamma’s Gharial by Shalini Srinivasan, Puffin India. Okay, strictly speaking, this is fiction and not part of my ‘farming library‘. But if I needed an excuse – which I don’t, […]
