First Step

I started this blog when I had decided to take control of my life. It was April 2010. Long time has passed since then, but I had still not been able to do what I embarked upon. Someone reminded me that, I needed to move forward on the journey I had begun. But still I was afraid to step on the path, which will begin a new chapter in my life. I realised that I was scared of leaving my past and starting something completely new. Therefore I decided to choose some warm reminiscences and start on this journey. And the first thing that came to my mind was…Gardening, something I loved a lot, enjoyed and cherished.

To reminisce a bit, I started helping my Baba in his gardens more than 15 years ago. I remember the Chrysanthemum collection he started back in 1995. Till then we had a very small garden with some flower and fruit trees. He suddenly took interest in this one plant and started collecting different varieties. Soon he had developed one of the most beautiful collections. Below are some photos from my recent visit home, where Baba still continues to cherish his hobby.

Compared to the garden back home, my garden here is a very small place. Before even starting to think, what I would plant in my backyard, there were lot of tasks to be done. I started by understanding the soil conditions, water tables, weather, my space availability and subsequently planting requirements. This sounds like a research activity, but was fun and also leaning process reading through various local gardening books, and visiting garden stores. Having considered all this, it was evident that, I had not much space at hand and there was lot of work needed on the soil itself.

My backyard

Since I had just completed my other tasks and with no job, I had lot of spare time to work in the garden. Starting with cleaning planter beds, creating beds, adding required nutrients to the soil took most of my time during the week. On weekends, my husband would also help me doing some of the work, taking me to various shops for getting different tools and equipments, seeds, organic fertilizers and nutrients. Although it was a lot of hard work, I was enjoying it and most of all doing something, that I wanted to do, and not something that someone else told me to or planned for me.

Anyways, being in the driest region, water restriction was a major problem. So after lot of thought process, I planned to have my own vegetable garden and have plants with less water requirement. I planted tomatoes, eggplant, cucumber, cabbage, carrot, and some herbs like coriander, basil, parsley, and thyme. Sounds like lot of them, but I wanted still more, but had to control myself due to space limitations. When I sowed the seeds, I was not aware of how much care needed to be taken of these little ones, till they were properly grown and established. But soon, it all just came to me and I remembered how Baba took care of all the small saplings, watering them, moving them in shade, spraying them with insecticides, feeding them required nutrients from time to time. I had to do the same for my little plants. It was such a great pleasure to do each of these things, that I completely lost track of time while working in my garden. I remember, sometimes I even forgot about preparing meals, and had to manage with instant noodles or pasta.

All said and done, it has been a great time of my life. Especially when I saw small saplings coming out of the ground, there were no bounds to my joy. I nearly danced with excitement seeing them. The feeling was something like, creating a new life in this world, something a mother feels after giving birth to a child……..Anyways all the hard work had paid off and finally the plants have finally began to grow. They still need to be given nutrients from time to time and protected from harsh sun. I am sure they will soon be bearing fruits, and I would have something more to talk and write about.

Coriander sprouting

Spring onion

Fenugreek (Methi)

But at this point of time in my life, I am just having a good moment in time, enjoying my journey, and looking more positively towards my future.