Baby carrots and other survivors

A few days back we decided to dig up our carrot plants and check what was happening below the ground. Considering our beds were not too deep (max about 6-8 inches), we were doubtful if anything much would have happened. We definitely weren't expecting full-grown carrots. So we were rather delighted to find baby carrots about 2 inches long and half as thick as one's little finger. We then decided to try out another experiment - we said let's transplant all these baby carrots (about 6-7 plants) into a deeper container where they could have a go at developing into full-sized carrots. We had got this basket lying outside our vegetable mandi and so we proceeded to fill it up with layers of straw, dry leaves, compost, bagasse and a layer of soil on top. We then transplanted all our carrots into this basket and we have shifted this to our living room balcony, so we can keep a closer watch and also to prevent the carrots from the excessive heat and direct strong sunlight in the terrace. It has been 4-5 days now and they seem fine in the basket. Our hopes are lifted.

We had planted some corn seeds given to us by our friend Shammi, a few weeks back. We had put them in the corners of the existing beds. The logic was that the corn will give support to any creeper plants that grow in the bed. We are how happy to see that the corns seem to be thriving and look really strong and healthy.

Another plant that really seem to have settled into its new home is a red stemmed plant called 'poi' or basella given to us by Divya. She had said that it would grow fast and climb over any support that you provide and would make for a delicious green-leafy vegetable (saag). When we got it from her, it was just about 6-inches high. Now, it has sprouted another branch and grown to about a foot and seems set to break all speed-records in plant growth. Can't wait to taste those lovely looking dark thick leaves. We will soon have to provide a structure upon which it can climb. We did drill a few holes and put in nails in them on the parapet wall of the terrace near where the basella is growing. So, we will now tie a few strings and create a nice mesh for the plant to hang onto.

In the past week, we have also managed to create some pockets of shade over some of the beds, by opening up and stitching together some of the jute sacks that we had with us. We were initially facing a problem of not being able to dig in sticks into the beds for lack of sufficient depth. On the raised bed, we got over this by nailing some plastic electrical casing (that we had found discarded) onto the wooden door that forms the base of this bed. For the other beds, we simply drove in nails onto our parapet wall at regular intervals and tied strings from there and sort of suspended the sacks over the beds which needed to be shaded. The only drawback of this has been that there are parts of the terrace which are now criss-crossed with ropes and we have to duck, bend and use our flexibility to get around these.

The other day, Anita, our friend who had come over to start our small local film club, mentioned that she noticed a construction site nearby which had a pile of bamboos lying there. She suggested going and asking if they would let us have a few. So we walked back with her and asked the caretaker family living on the site. The lady there was very sweet - she heard us out and said she would have to check once with the supervisor before she can give away any material. The next day we went back and were rewarded with 2 pieces of 7ft. long bamboos. Now our next project is ready for us to work on - fixing the bamboos and putting up a shade on it.