Pictures of our reader's gardens....contd...

This is from Utpal Shah in Alkapuri...

Thanks Utpal!

Pictures of our reader's gardens

This is from Bhavna Shah in Ahmedabad:

Pesky Bugs and Critters

Firstly, we'd like to thank Bhavnaben from Ahmedabad for directing our attention to the plant disease and disorders. 

Every gardener has to deal with common diseases or infestations, and although you can get good info off the net, its not always easy to diagnose the plants and treat them by yourself. So this week, we're going test out some ideas, on various plants. Lets start with tomatoes.

First, prevention is better than cure, so always do a thorough check of your plant and if it is looking unhappy, try to identify what part of the plant is affected:

•   Leaves

•   Stems

•   Fruits

•   Flowers

•   Roots

If you see something odd or abnormal, act fast!!.

IMAGE CREDITS: ohioline.osu.edu

1} Verticillium/Fusarium wilt: this is a fungus disease/infection which is most of the times fatal…watch out for:

•   Leaves are suddenly turning yellow, withering, and dropping off
, and even though you are regularly watering, they look like they are water deprived.

•   Plant is surviving, but is stunted and yield is reduced
 to almost no tomatoes!

•   Stems
 start to look brown

What you can do: try to buy these fungicides: Trichoderma Vanguard, Phosguard, Captan 50WP, Elevate 50WDG, use them according to instructions on the labels and don’t over water.

Also, plant hybrid, resistant varieties. Do not grow tomatoes in that same soil for 2-3 years. If possible, try to add neem based manure to the potting soil.

Bacterial Spots: This is caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas. It looks exactly like Bacterial speck -which is caused by Pseudomonas syringae bacteria. The only difference is speck is curable- and your plant wont die, whereas spot usually kills the plant.

Watch out for:

Small ugly black spots (up to a slightly greasy feel1⁄8 inch across), circular to irregular in shape on fruit, and even on leaves

 Image credit: omfra.gov.on.ca

What you can do:

Do not wet the tomato plant, only water the soil…too much humidity and plants grown too close together encourages this problem

Keep area weed free, and apply mancozeb (available at most agri stores) to soil before planting saplings as a just in case…

If you end up with spot, apply spray of streptocyclin as soon as possible.

 Others:

Aphids. These little white speck like insects suck sap. They eat the tomato leaves and stems, which weaken plants and allow disease to spread. Control them by applying insecticidal soap or insecticide.

Mealy bugs:

White bugs on stem and leaves of tomato plant, with a waxy coating. Rub the white stuff with cotton dipped in alcohol, and then spray with insecticidal soap or set black ants (makodi) on the plant…they can eat the mealy bugs!

If the infestation is too heavy, you may have to add soap to solution of cloropyriphos or chinni kam and spray…

Image Credit: homelycapers.com

Growing Your Own Lettuce

Interested in growing some organic lettuce?

Here's how to go about it:

There's 4 types of lettuce: Cos varieties, Butterheads, loose leaf and crisp heads. Iceberg, which is a crisphead is one of the most commonly available one here available here.

Step 1: Prepare a raised bed or crate or wide and atleast 1 foot container, and fill it with 40% fully washed cocopeat and 60% Sunrich organic manure (or fine compost). If you are not using cocopeat, instead using soil, make sure the soil is humus rich and free draining, ideally with ph 6.5. If you are planting right now, remember lettuce does not tolerate too much heat or rain, so best to provide it partial shade and shelter from rains when planting new plants/seeds.

Step 2: If you are growing from seed, make rows 12" apart, and sow the seed at 1/2 inch depth. If growing ready plug plants from trays, just sow them in rows 12" apart, keeping 4-6" distance between plants. Keep crow above soil, and water well.

Step 3: Lettuce like cool weather and lots of moisture. Water well everyday, and provide Sun Khanij Bhandar or any other micronutient as well as all purpose organic fertilizer. Do nothing more!

Step 4: Bolting is when lettuce starts producing long stalk like flowers.After flowering, the leaves will become rubbery and bitter, so you need to pick all leaves/head before this. 

In case of crisp head varieties like iceberg, harvest the head after 8 weeks of planting the plug plants, and for loose leaf varieties, start picking from the 6th week.

 Companion crops for lettuce are Dill, Garlic and Beetroot, which keep pests away and impart flavour to the leaves. Lettuce can be planted with cucumber, spring onions and broccoli. 

Lettuce plug plants are available from Sun Agrigenetics. Just call (0) 787 406 5060 to place an order.

Gardening is fun in the rains- everything seems to grow faster and healthier due to the humidity and distilled water courtesy of Mother Nature.

Many plants start growing vegetatively, instead of producing fruit/veg. However, here's a brilliant post on how to use other parts of a fruit and veg:
 
Global Underground eats-shoots-and-leaves!
To this, we'd like to add a few more ideas:

Pea Shoot stir fry! 

Drumstick leaves are rich in vitamins and iron...use them in soups, shak and add to chapati or paratha dough.

White part of watermelon (inside rind) can be used to make soups or vegetable stock

Leaves of Tindora (Ghiloda or Tondli) can be used in soup or a fresh juices and has great anti diabetic power.

For amazing videos and urban green living ideas, go to Global Underground
  This is an online magazine for sustainable living, and is run by Nicole Hays.