good governance gaurds - kitchen garden

Gulmohar in flame a background for the Kitchen garden

First attempt at growing Raddish

raddish

Okra with unusual leaves

pale green okra?

Brinjal makes its appearance

string beans

string bean flower and the first two beans to appear

Elango who helps with garden

string beans

first bitter gourd on the terrace 

was not confident it would grow in a pot

sting beans crop has been good

cluster beans yet to appear

greens in plenty

Raddish is another one that flourishes in pots

a little different shape and color the flower is white

cilantro

this variety has lavendar colour flowers

the young ones

green chillie

orchids amongst the vegetables

Elango having his cup of tea before tending to the garden

today's crop

Zephyr resting after his breakfast amongst the  plants

Zephyr waiting for me to finish work in the garden

Kitchen Garden established with the help of GGG

Terrace Garden

cactus in all its glory

 Spinach,snake gourd,string beans,bitter gourd
3 weeks after the GGG ( Good Governance Gaurds ) squad set up the kitchen garden on the terrace

Egg plant is flowering but hardly any end product must be the summer heat :(

Bitter gourd in the background has grown the fastest 

shifted the orchids into the kitchen garden space for easier accessibility from its narrow enclosure

view of the flame of the forest from the terrace

the first brinjal - egg plant makes it appearance

table roses

okra seedlings

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yet another attempt

 This time of the year in Chennai there is double trouble for plants .. the scorching sun and the summer shortage of water supply from the Metro Water...the plants that can survive with the saline water from the bore well survive though not too happily, rest just burn and die. So there was no other way but invest in a green shade and start afresh as all the earlier plants the tomatoes , okra , brinjal, bitter gourd, green chili all withered away. The attempt to grow them again in the summer heat was so difficult, I almost gave up when I came across the article in the Hindu news papers about the green crusader Radhakrishnan and his resolve to turn Chennai into a Kitchen garden City. I met up with him immediately and the results are starting to show .. here are the first to surface ... 

The surviours

Did not venture into the garden with the camera for it was not only scortching summer sun but the annual shortage of  Metro water . So the plants get the water from the bore well which is saline and has a lot of iron in it.The leaves of most plants fall off or literally look burnt.It's a sad sight . The rare cactus bloom made me venture out with the camera. So here are the surviours :

 cactus bloom has at least 6 buds

purple alamanda                                     canna

                                                                                               
                                                                                     many more waiting to bloom

a relatively small attempt to bloom the green and yellow orchid

The table rose waits for summer to bloom

 White Musanda is not too unhappy                                   Pink Ixora

 Lantana

 Hibiscus variety

 Okra flower                                                                                               Lantana

Pink Musanda

The morning glory is yet to bloom but has survived......