The Prem Nivas gardens, which the older children have planted with aubergines, lady's finger, spinach, tomatoes and coriander, have come on very well since I left for my visit to friends in North India. We have all now eaten coriander and the spinach from the children's gardens.
The children compared their plots and could see that in some the plants were small because they had not had enough water, or because the seeds were sown too close together. They could also see that some of them had weed free plots and others were overrun with grass because they had not done enough preparation.
Hari, Janaki, Sai, Sampath and Ashok have the best kept gardens and healthiest plants..
The spinach is not the perpetual variety that we have in the UK, it is pulled root and all, so it is much smaller and more tender. It takes 4 rows to feed 36 children and staff, so I have sown the children how they can plant a lot more of it by intercropping between the aubergines and tomatoes before they get too big.
The first flowers are appearing on Sai's and Sampath's tomatoes. I will take some of the smaller tomato plants down to Shanti Nivas when I go there tomorrow afternoon to see how their garden is coming along.
The children call the garden nearest the kitchen my garden because I dug and planted it.
I sewed beetroot for the first time, along with tomatoes and coriander, in my partially shaded area.
Some plants are ok,others, such as the tatakora, which I am assured is an edible leaf, seems stunted.
Our beans are up but not climbing yet..Ashok has planted more coriander for me because I said I liked it.
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| Sai's garden was one of the best |
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| Santosh's spinach was the first that we all ate |
The children compared their plots and could see that in some the plants were small because they had not had enough water, or because the seeds were sown too close together. They could also see that some of them had weed free plots and others were overrun with grass because they had not done enough preparation.
Hari, Janaki, Sai, Sampath and Ashok have the best kept gardens and healthiest plants..
The spinach is not the perpetual variety that we have in the UK, it is pulled root and all, so it is much smaller and more tender. It takes 4 rows to feed 36 children and staff, so I have sown the children how they can plant a lot more of it by intercropping between the aubergines and tomatoes before they get too big.
The first flowers are appearing on Sai's and Sampath's tomatoes. I will take some of the smaller tomato plants down to Shanti Nivas when I go there tomorrow afternoon to see how their garden is coming along.
The children call the garden nearest the kitchen my garden because I dug and planted it.
I sewed beetroot for the first time, along with tomatoes and coriander, in my partially shaded area.
Some plants are ok,others, such as the tatakora, which I am assured is an edible leaf, seems stunted.
Our beans are up but not climbing yet..Ashok has planted more coriander for me because I said I liked it.
