My Garden Friends

With Dr.Karl Bleen, Researcher at IGSC, IIT Madras

With Dr.Karl Bleen, Researcher at IGSC, IIT Madras

Letter From Dr. Karl Beelen

I'm contacting you in relation to the garden group gathering in RA Puram of which you seem to be one of the driving forces. I'm a researcher at IGCS (indo-German center for sustainability) conducting fieldwork into grassroots initiatives in Chennai that engage with everyday spaces in the city, including gardens, rooftop gardens and organic farming.

I know there are a couple of articles about your group/association in the Hindu, but I would love to hear more about how the group works, what sort of initiatives you're working on, the people you seek to reach out to, as well as the motivations that drive you as one of the organizers of this group. 

kind regards,

Karl

Dr. Karl Beelen

research fellow IGCS, IIT Madras

996 2924 996

karlbeelen@protonmail.com

Oyster Mushrooms on Logs

I found these mushrooms after a lash of heavy rains  for two or three consecutive days, in chennai this october. 

It grew in my backyard. I was curious to know what type of mushrooms they are.

I googled and found that these can be oyster mushrooms which belong to a variety called Pleurotus.

Pleurotus is a genius of gilled mushrooms which includes one of the most widely eaten mushrooms, 

P.ostreatus. Species of Pleurotus may be called oyster, abalone, or tree mushrooms, and are some

 of the most commonly cultivated edible mushrooms in the world

 Most species of Pleurotus are white-rot fungi on hardwood trees, although some also decay conifer wood

Yellow Brinjal- The reason for the Yellowing

The brinjals in my garden started to turn yellow due to two reasons.

One may be due to , the fruits getting into an over ripe state. Secondly, It may also be due to the sunburns, as the days were very hot and I had placed the pot in a very sunny area. 

When its leaves were damaged or removed, the skin of tender, young fruits were exposed to excessive ultraviolet radiation. This might be another major reason for the yellowing.

This damage may appear as cream to tan spots, or might cover the entire exposed surface of the fruit, like the one in my picture above.

Blog readers please share your views.

Regards,

sangeetha

Sale of Hybrid Seeds , Manure , and Fertillizers in Raja Annamalaipuram

Greetings from Garden Group Gathering to All.
Stock of hybrid vegetable seeds are now available for sale.They include Green Chillies, Ladies Finger, Tomato and Brinjal. You can also avail Fresh Vermi compost, Bio fertilizers and neem sprays for  your adorable plants.
For further details, and gardening consultations,
Contact
Sangeetha
7358552372
or drop in
No 20/33,6th main road, RAPuram chennai 28.

Euphorbia Milli in a Pot in My Garden - Welcome The Crown of Thorn!

Euphorbia milii

The Crown of Thorns is a woody, multi-stemmed, succulent shrub that originated in Madagascar.
Dark green, tear shaped leaves appear randomly on each thorn covered branch.
When a Crown of Thorns plant becomes stressed due to over watering or under watering, humidity or temperature changes, it may quickly drop all of its leaves.
Normally, once the cause of stress is resolved, fresh foliage will quickly return to your plant.
Crown of Thorns will produce flowers nearly all year, but especially during the winter months.
The tiny flowers are insignificant but appear just above brightly colored red or yellow bracts.
Because of their leaves, most people don't consider a Crown of Thorns to be a succulent plant, but in reality it is. They have limited water storing abilities, however, and often have to rely on moisture it takes in through its leaves so I would try misting your plant daily. You might also want to increase the amount of water you give it each time you water it.
Crown of Thorns plants should be watered once a week when it is in a growth cycle, but only once a month while dormant. Whether dormant or actively growing, never water before the soil has completely dried.
Once you have resolved the leaf drop issue, you should start feeding your plant monthly with fertilizer to get your plant blooming again.
Crown of Thorns plants should have some direct sun each day, even if it just an hour or two.

Propagating a Crown of Thorns Plant

CAUTION!  The white milky sap is VERY poisonous, use gloves and wash your hands thoroughly afterwards! First of all, you need to cut any of the rotted branches back to a point where you find clean healthy growth.
If the rot started in the roots you may only be able to salvage a lot of cuttings, however if the rot is only at the branch tip, you can cut it back to healthy wood, and your plant will come back from the rootstock. It is possible to take and root cuttings from a Crown of Thorns plant but they take a little more effort and time than most cuttings.
Using a very sharp, clean knife (I like single edge razor blades) cut a branch off at the point where it meets the main trunk.
Set the cuttings aside in a cool dry place for two or three days to allow the cuts to callous over.
Once the callous has formed, dip 1-2 inches of the cut end into a rooting hormone, such as Roottone®.
Insert each cutting into a clean pot of sterile, sandy potting soil.
The pot should then put in a warm place with bright light. Do not water at all for the first 2 weeks, and then you can begin watering the cuttings very sparingly until you see signs of new growth (usually in about a month)
Rooting will be faster if the soil is kept at a constant 75° F.
I suggest that you take several cuttings to be sure that you succeed with at least one of them.

Description

It is a succulent climbing shrub growing to 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) tall, with densely spiny stems. The straight, slender spines, up to 3 cm long, help it scramble over other plants. The leaves are found mainly on new growth^] and are obovate, up to 3.5 cm long and 1.5 cm broad. The flowers are small, subtended by a pair of conspicuous petal-like bracts, variably red, pink or white, up to 12 mm broad. The sap is moderately poisonous

Dangerous/Poisonous:

As with other euphorbs, Euphorbia milii produces abundant quantities of poisonous milky sap that causes skin irritation. The sap contains diterpene esters, which are tumor promoting chemicals. When handling all Euphorbia species one should wear gloves for protection.

CREATIVE CONTAINERS

SLASH AND BURN IN FARMING

Slash and burn agriculture is the process of cutting down the vegetation in a particular plot of land, setting fire to the remaining foliage, and using the ashes to provide nutrients to the soil for use of planting food crops.The cleared area following slash and burn, also known as swidden, is used for a relatively short period of time, and then left alone for a longer period of time so that vegetation can grow again. For this reason, this type of agriculture is also known as shifting cultivation.

Generally, the following steps are taken in slash and burn agriculture:

1. Prepare the field by cutting down vegetation; plants that provide food or timber may be left standing.
2. The downed vegetation is allowed to dry until just before the rainiest part of the year to ensure an effective burn.
3. The plot of land is burned to remove vegetation, drive away pests, and provide a burst of nutrients for planting.
4. Planting is done directly in the ashes left after the burn.

Cultivation (the preparation of land for planting crops) on the plot is done for a few years, until the fertility of the formerly burned land is reduced. The plot is left alone for longer than it was cultivated, sometimes up to 10 or more years, to allow wild vegetation to grow on the plot of land. When vegetation has grown again, the slash and burn process may by repeated.

.

 Geography of Slash and Burn Agriculture

Places where open land for farming is not readily available because of dense vegetation are the places where slash and burn agriculture is practiced most often. These regions include central Africa, northern South America, and Southeast Asia, and typically within grasslands and rainforest.Slash and burn is a method used by tribal communities for subsistence farming (farming to survive). Humans have practiced this method for about 12,000 years, ever since the transition known as the Neolithic Revolution, the time when humans stopped hunting and gathering and started to stay put and grow crops. 

Today, between 200 and 500 million people, or up to 7% of the world’s population, uses slash and burn agriculture.

When used properly, slash and burn agriculture provides communities with a source of food and income. 

Slash and burn allows for people to farm in places where it usually is not possible because of dense vegetation, soil infertility, low soil nutrient content, uncontrollable pests, or other reasons.

Negative Aspects of Slash and Burn

Many critics claim that slash and burn agriculture contributes to a number of reoccurring problems specific to the environment. They include:

• Deforestation: When practiced by large populations, or when fields are not given sufficient time for vegetation to grow back, there is a temporary or permanent loss of forest cover.
• Erosion: When fields are slashed, burned, and cultivated next to each other in rapid succession, roots and temporary water storages are lost and unable to prevent nutrients from leaving the area permanently.
• Nutrient Loss: For the same reasons, fields may gradually lose the fertility they once had. The result may be desertification, a situation in which land is infertile and unable to support growth of any kind.
• Biodiversity Loss: When plots of land area cleared, the various plants and animals that lived there are swept away. If a particular area is the only one that holds a particular species, slashing and burning could result in extinction for that species. Because slash and burn agriculture is often practiced in tropical regions where biodiversity is extremely high, endangerment and extinction may be magnified.

The negative aspects above are interconnected, and when one happens, typically another happens also. These issues may come about because of irresponsible practices of slash and burn agriculture by a large amount of people. Knowledge of the ecosystem of the area and agricultural skills could prove very helpful in the safe, sustainable use of slash and burn agriculture.

Today I gathered all the dry Mango leaves, vegetable and fruit peels and burnt them in the ground space available in my backyard. I have an idea that the ash would serve to be  an good nutrient to grow my veggies 
If any of you  have done like this, please share your experience in this blog.
 Regards,
Sangeetha Saravanan 

Children go on a garden tour

The Raja Annamalaipuram Residents’ Association (RAPRA) is conducting a ‘Nature Walk’ for children at a Corporation park, located on Seventh Main Road, R. A. Puram, today.

“The aim of the walk is to study the different species of plants, and birds in the park. Birds such as cuckoo, parrot, mynah, woodpecker, and squirrel are spotted here,” Dr. R. Chandrasekaran, founder-patron, RAPRA, said. An ornithologist and a botanist will talk about the visiting birds and different species of plants in the park. Apart from this, the visit will provide an exposure to gardening and a learning on how to raise a vegetable garden at home, he pointed out.

Recently, the Association converted a space on the eastern side of the park to a community vegetable garden. Vegetables such as brinjal, tomato, chillies, cluster beans, and ladies finger, are cultivated. The yield is being distributed to the residents and regular walkers.

“Children will be taught to take steps to protect the birds and preserve their habitat,” A. Lakshmi, a RAPRA member said.

“Bird-watching is calming for children and allows them to be introspective,” Mr. Chandrasekaran added.

On the occasion, the children, along with the RAPRA members, will plant herbal plant saplings such as ‘Ginger’, ‘Turmeric’, ‘Aloe Vera’, ‘Betel Leaves’, ‘Thulasi’, and ‘Krishna Thulasi’ in the park.

For details and registration, contact 

A. Lakshmi at 9841154154, 

Sangeetha Saravanan at 044-24340348, and 

Dr. R. Chandrasekaran at 9841030040.

Nature Walk for Children - R.A.Puram Park on 30 November 2014 Between 7A.M. to 8,30A.M

The Community Kitchen Garden in the Corporation Park- Raja Annamalaipuram - Chennai

Share Your Experience - Regarding Mealy Bugs

  I also used *NeemRaz *using sprayer on my Hibiscus Plant which was severely affected with white powdery substance in the tips of the branches. The
leaves used to fall and some became yellowish, due to this condition..  I trimmed all the branches that were affected and sprayed the neemRaz liquid
after necessary dilution, for 3 days at a stretch. Can see visible improvements and new leaves started sprouting. Also mixed neem pellets as
manure for the soil.

Saravanan