Rose from Front yard

It is getting quite warm here in Houston. The backyard vegetable garden seems to thrive under hot and humid conditions. Tomatoes, peppers, bendi and brinjals are fruiting well. Some of you emailed me about tomatillo status. It is growing like a lanky teenager. Lot of vertical growth with flowers but no tomatillos so far. I could not get another tomatillo plant this year for cross-pollination. If I plant next time, there will be a pair.

The vegetable vines are also doing well. Red alasanda (Asparagus beans) are growing like there is no tomorrow and producing lot of pods. Chikkudu (Indian broad beans) are also flowering a lot. Karela, Turai, Zucchini, green beans, cucumber are coming up slowly.

For vegetable vines, Vijay and father-in-law together built a support system with some wooden beams. The frame is four columns, one in each corner. Connected them horizontally with three sawed and sized beams. One on each end and another one in the middle. The gap between the beams is filled with wire mesh. Near the vegetable vines, we stuck four to six small sticks. Tied a twine to each stick and connected the twine to wire mesh above. The vines are following the twine to the frame. The support system is nothing fancy, but it seems to do the job.

Here are some photos from the backyard.

Row of Roses

Maruvam (Sweet Marjoram)

Cayenne Peppers

Banana Pepper

Bell Pepper

Tadka Mirchi (Chili Pequin)

Tomatoes

Cherry Tomatoes

Kakara (Karela, Indian Bitter gourd)
(The vine is following the twine that is tied to the stick in the ground.)

Homemade Vine Support for Vegetable Vines

Henna Plant (Gorintaaku Mokka)

“Caldwell Nursery” is a small nursery near our home that sells one of a kind plants, roses and fruit trees. They also have a nice website and keep it updated with latest offerings. After going through the website I made a list. Visited the nursery in March, the planting season in Houston, bought henna and few other plants. The henna was a tiny potted one, but after planting in the ground, it is growing well.

My father in law, the master gardener, who is visiting us from Nandyala, wanted to trim the branches and add some support to help the new growth. As a result, I have a cup full of fresh henna. I’ve added few drops of tea decoction to henna leaves and made a fine paste in a stone mortar. Henna is a healthy herb, not only colors but also reduces the heat of the body. During hot months, what is better than henna to keep the hands and the head cool and colorful?

Henna Paste with Tea Decoction (Gorintaaku Mudda)

Kittaya’s Net Friends ~ Chloe and Max

Chloe Drinking from Water Fountain at Her London Home

Kittaya Bird Watching

Thank you Ranjan for sharing the adorable Chloe and Max’s photos.

Champaka

In late 80’s, I read an article in a Sunday magazine of The Hindu newspaper. I still remember vividly its title and some of the pictures published in it. The title was, “Stunning Beauty in the Wild” and it was about the beautiful flowers in the wild and had some really stunning pictures printed. I saved that copy and it took me nearly over a decade before I could clearly understand how these pictures were shot, what type of lens were needed and also to shoot some pictures myself.

That article caught my attention and I was so fascinated by the beauty of the nature’s creation in the form of flowers and the ability of photographic equipment to capture that beauty.

I found such stunning beauty in my own backyard and tried to capture it through the lens.

Equipment:
Nikon Micro 105mm/f 2.8
Nikon D70s

Rose

Rock Rose Pavonia

Gardenia

Nooru Varahaalu (Ixora)

Pooja Pushpam ~ Mandaram

Bluebonnets of Houston

The beauty of spring appears in the form of native wild flowers like bluebonnets here in Texas. If some happy and energetic faces appear on bluebonnets spread surfaces, the intensity of the beauty increases. One such occasion occurred recently when our friend Yasin invited us to enjoy the bluebonnets near their home and also asked me to take few pictures of them with the flowers showing in the background.

It was a crisp, warm and sunny late morning. We all enjoyed watching that small field of bluebonnets and taking pictures. They said they were happy I got to take their pictures. But, I think I was happier because I enjoyed bluebonnets and captured some beautiful moments and happy personalities. Thank you Yasin, Sadiqa and Abed!

Our Friends Sadiqa, Yasin and Abed ~ In Bluebonnet Field

Yesterday, it was windy with pollen heavy air. Another typical sneeze inducing spring day in Houston.

We went for strawberry picking at a nearby farm called Froberg’s around 9. It’s a small farm, but seem to attract large crowds. You park car in the front, follow directions to strawberry picking. At the entrance, you will be given a small bucket. “Go and pick. Lift and look under the leaves for the ripe berries. Pound $1.50.” That were the instructions we were given. We picked about 6 pounds. Fresh and good looking, those were too tempting to stop picking.

They have a vegetable and fruit shop in the front. You can buy locally grown vegetables and fruits. There is candy section for children, also a snack bar with pies and roasted peanuts. And for meat lovers, there is a smokehouse with various kinds of meat products. All and all, this is a nice place to spend sometime. Will definitely be going there in the future as they said they would have “pick your own blackberries and jujube” in the coming months.

Froberg’s Farm

A Beautiful Big Live Oak Tree in the Farm

Strawberry Fields

Strawberries ~ From Flower to Fruit

Vegetable and Fruit Shop

Snack Bar with Tempting Fried Pies

Ripe and Juicy Strawberries for Home

For those of you interested to go, here are the address and the directions:

Froberg’s Vegetable & Fruit Farm
11875 County Road 190, Alvin, TX
281-585-3531
Open everyday, from 9 AM to 6 PM.

Take Highway 6 South. Enter Alvin. Take right on County Road 146. At the railroad stop sign, turn left onto County Road 190 (Alvin-Manvel Road). The farm is about two miles to the left.

Are there any other farms like this in Houston and vicinity?

Kittaya’s Early Morning Rountine

This pagoda water fountain is a decorative item in our front room. Now it has become Kittaya’s dedicated water fountain. He seems to enjoy drinking from the fountain all the time. It is always a great sight to watch him drinking from the flowing water so peacefully, particularly during mornings when sunlight falls on him through the window.

“When I get a home with backyard, I will plant this, this and that too.”

As long as I can remember, this has been my dream about home ownership. I know nothing is owned by us forever or this won’t be permanent, but at least for now, we are home. And there is a backyard. I am enjoying tilling the land and planting the seeds with dear Vijay’s help.

The backyard space we have is in rectangular shape. In the middle, in a row, we planted fruit trees. We think this would give the fruit trees ample space to grow without encroaching on the neighbors spaces. On the sides, we placed plantar boxes suitable for raised bed gardening. After considering all the options for vegetable gardening, we have decided on raised bed method. We thought they would look clean, and it would be easy to control the weed situation. So went and bought lumber from Lowe’s. Constructed 3’x6’x2′ and 2’x6’x2′ boxes. Four for each side, a total of 8 boxes.

Here are the photos:

Fruit trees: from left to right
Pomegranate, Guava, Fig, Mandarin, Loquat, blueberries, Barbado’s Cherry. We purchased the plants from Urban Harvest and FBMG fruit tree sale.

Right Side of Rectangular space:
I have kept the four boxes for kitchen basics:
Box 1: 6 kinds of tomatoes and 1 tomatillo plant
Box 2: chilli peppers – Indian hot variety also known as Thai chilli pepper, 2 Serrano’s, 1 bell pepper and 1 chili pequin (small, round peppers similar to tadka chilli type).
Box 3: Red onions, shallots and red potatoes
Box 4: I kept it for herbs and strawberries. Right now spearmint rules the space.

Left side of Rectangular space:
In four boxes, one box is for green leafy veggies like methi, gongura and spinach. Another one is for brinjal and okra. Remaining two boxes are for beans. So far I planted brinjal seedlings, gongura, methi, and okra seeds. Also beans, Indian broad beans, cucumber, lima beans, turai, peas, and zucchini. Each variety in a row. 5 rows for a box. There is still some space left.

My wish list:
Gawar, Karela (Indian type), Lemon cucumber, Parval, and Tindora seeds or seedlings.
Green brinjal and drumstick (Munagakaaya) seeds or seedlings.
Banana (apple banana) and papaya seedlings.
Catnip for kittaya.

What are you planning to plant this spring? Any tips and advice for this garden newbie? I would love to hear from you.