HFS Times – A New Beginning By Horticulture & Floriculture Society

Message From The Founder

“The preservation of health is easier than the cure of the disease”, as a famous quote goes.

Health and happiness are not by chance; they need to be consciously chosen by us. And what a way to stay healthy by way of living green. I am really enthralled by the way society members have been going all out to Schools and residential societies to promote green environment by adopting various methods like composting, gardening, flower shows etc. Whether it is planting fruit trees, or cultivation of medicinal plants, going organic, or even helping nurture a small flower on a window sill, the efforts of this group to “Go Green” are really commendable and are important contribution towards building a green nation. Horticulture & Floriculture Society, under the dynamic and able leadership of its Chairperson Ms Rama Tyagi, has been consistently working towards this. The success of the efforts and popularity can be judged by the fact that the numbers of members of the society have been ever increasing, and include Who’s Who of Horticulture and Floriculture science. The scope within the ambit of the society has also been expanding vastly from seasonal flowers and vegetables to Miyawaki forests to Balcony gardening to composting.

I wish the members all the Best in their future endeavors.

Happy Greening.

Colonel T P Tyagi Veer Chakra
Chairman, AOA Federation, Ghaziabad.
Chairman, Rashtriya Sainik Sanstha
Chairman, RWA Federation Ghaziabad
Chairman, Institute of Vaastu Science.

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

On behalf of our team, let me extend a warm welcome to the first edition of “HFS TIMES”.
As a Chinese proverb goes, “Life begins the day you start a garden”. And how true.

So, let us begin this journey together. The sole aim of this Newsletter is to keep you updated on how to plan your garden for the coming months, how to overcome the minor irritants that we might face, and help your garden bloom as the birds break into soulful chirping with rising sun each day, and fill the air with sweet aroma as sparkle of fire-flies welcome the dusk.

As we slowly tread down the path leading to pink winters, we bring you a bouquet of write-ups, so fondly contributed by our beloved, extremely knowledgeable members, to guide you through the coming months in preparing your dream garden.

This is the first tiny step that we have taken towards a Garden Revolution.
As I believe “STAY ALIVE IN YOUR GARDEN, FOREVER”.

So, Happy Gardening.
Group Captain Sushil Bhatia (retd)

Charisma–Morning surprise for me …

Vandna Bhatnagar

Blooming water lily in the middle of my garden,
The life line of little heaven.
Swings lightly with soft sweeping wind,
Burden getting off my mind.
Attracting lots of cute flying beauties as boon,
Tiny creatures mad with balmy smell.
Twilight folding flower cuddling its cute beloved,
As if accepting it with gratitude.
Another fresh morning,
Bee back to its senses,
Finding its way to other freshness,
Fish in the pond eager to touch.
Alas !! can not compete with flying beauties,
Happy with the fondling of sweeping lavender beauty,
Hang in the beauty of green leaves.
Waiting for the dawn,
New bud on the way to spread its charisma.

Designing Tips For Small Gardens

Ms. Hema Pandey

A vibrant garden is everyone’s dream. Depending on size, location, climatic conditions, budget, etc, there are a number of features that can be added to the garden like hedge, edge, topiary, lawn, rock garden, water garden, cascade, fountain, fernery, flower beds, both permanent and seasonable etc

.

Providing an inclination or slope gives an illusion of a large space. The slope has to be rested on a permanent wall; that is, the high area of the slope should be against a permanent wall; so, it is very important that this wall is made completely damp-proof by putting 2-3 layers of anti-damp paint, which is available in the market. The soil so filled should cater for proper drainage. It should be pest-free with enough decomposed coir, so that the plants can grow healthy. This can be used to have lawn, or plants with colourful foliage. However, the choice of the plants should be made keeping in mind the amount of sun light, direct or indirect, the area receives. A small cascade, with combination of potted plants, can be used to create an illusion of a large garden.

For shaded area, ferns, coleus etc can be planted. For sunny area, however, the choice is much wider. Most of the seasonal like petunia, marigold etc can be planted.

In small spaces, vertical gardens come handy and they can be created by planting pots in vertical frames. A variety of vertical frames ranging in different heights and widths are available in the nurseries these days. The catch here is that the plants with luxuriant growth should be selected so that the pots are hidden. Varieties of chlorophytum, dracaena etc may be used. The choice of plants is very important. They should grow well in the prevalent conditions and also provide colour through flowers or foliage. Watering in such an arrangement is done with fine spray. Compost is an essential ingredient in the potting mixture.

Terrarium is also a good choice for small indoor garden, with adequate flexibility to implement one’s imagination.

Do’s and Don’ts of Transplanting Seedlings

Sandeep Rohilla

Tired of failed transplantation of seedlings? Here are few Do’s and Don’ts for you to follow.

Do’s

• Deep watering is required after transplanting your seedlings.
• Put your Seedlings into shade for 2-4 days after transplanting them. Then move them into sunlight slowly for better growth.
• When you buy any Seedlings from a nursery, just wrap it in some newspaper and wet it with water (the paper should be moist).
• Always use light soil media just like sand.
• Always transplant your seedlings in the evening after sunset.
• Early morning dew is best for baby plants
• Select only those seedlings which have at least 3-4 true leaves.

Don’ts

• Don’t transplant your seedlings direct into large pots. Use 2-3-inch pot for transplanting your seedlings. Thereafter, shift them into large pots once you notice roots coming out of the bottom hole.
• Don’t mix any kind of fertilizer into soil media at the time of transplanting.
• Don’t use any chemical fertilizer for at least 15 days.
• Don’t water with shower on newly transplanted seedlings. Use Tray Method to water the plants.

OPEN AIR GARDENING DURING LOCKDOWN

P K Malhotra

As of now, all of us have been under lockdown for more than 5 months. Be it any age, each one us is locked in our homes, mot of the time. So, how to utilise this time gainfully?

Irrespective of place, building, or city where we live, we do have some sort of vacant space around us; be it terrace, balcony, window silts, etc. This space can be utilised for growing vegetables, greens and beautiful flowers.
During this period, a good number of families have taken up gardening as a hobby. Children are the new Crusader of the Gardening from School level to Residence Level.
It is scientifically proven that soil has friendly bacteria within, for us.
In Indore, ‘A Quarantine Gardening Fest’ was Organised. Hundreds of Entries came in various categories, which were: Big Lawn, Small Garden, Vegetable Garden, Potted Plants, Balcony Garden, Medium Garden, Flowering and Bonsai Garden. The best entry was ‘Gardening’ by Rathi siblings, Abir(10 yrs) and Ananya (6yrs).
From starting they shared their Gardening with their teachers and friends and became popular with them. Talking about gardening gives more happiness and solace than being on Mobile or doing other works. A new phenomenon of GARDENING has taken place in every Society. Our “Horticulture & Floriculture Society of Ghaziabad (HFSOG) is already quite well known in NCR and doing well under guidance of Smt Rama Tyagi, a Scholar, Guide and an avid gardener herself, along with other members who are also seasoned and experienced.

How to grow plants in Hanging Baskets

Rashmi Aggarwal

Hanging basket is a technique to grow variety of plants baskets, which can be hung at various places like in balcony, stairs, Verandah, trees etc. to beautify the area and create greenery.

There are lot of varieties of hanging baskets in markets, like Iron, Plastic, Ceramic or you can use eco-friendly products like old waste plastic can and bamboo.

Plants. which can be grown in basket are: Fern, Asparagus, Baby tear, Wandering Jew, Jade, Money plant, Turtle vine, Chlorophytum etc. Winter seasonal flowers, like Petunias, Kalanchoe, Geranium Alyssum, Nasturtium etc. also can be grown in baskets.

Soil mixture used in basket

• Cocopeat 60%
• Vermicompost 30%
• Perlite + vermiculite 10%

Mix well all things.

How to make basket

• First make a base with either coco fiber liner, moss, jute, or green net.
• Fill the basket with soil- mix.
• Fix the plant.
• Then give generous amount of water.
• Hang the basket in shade.

Care of hanging basket

Watering is very important because in basket water evaporates very quickly. Once a week take out the basket down give a nice shower bath. Remove any dead portions and fertilize.

इंद्रधनुष

अमृता भारती

अरमानों के इंद्रधनुषी रंगों को
पंखुड़ियों में पिरोकर
मैं इन फूलों में इतरा रही हूं ।
तुम्हारा प्यार
सावनी बयार बन
अपने शीतल स्निग्ध स्पर्श से
दुलरा रहा है ।
ये नाजुक नव पल्लव नहीं
मेरे बच्चे हैं
जो मस्ती में झूम रहे हैं ।
देखो मेरी जीवन बगिया
मेघों के आशीष से
भीग रही है ।

Tips For Growing Lemon Plants Successfully

Sandeep Rohilla

A lemon tree is a must-have plant for any home. It gives a very mild citrus fragrance and growing it is a rewarding experience. It is very hardy plant and easy to grow as long as it gets its basic needs.

If you are going to grow the lemon plant into pots, then you need to keep following things in your mind.

• Select a dwarf variety of lemon plant.
• Pot size should be at least 16-inch depth.
• Lemon plants are very cold-sensitive plants. They require a minimum of 4-5 hours of sunlight.
• It should be planted/placed near the south side of your home as lemon plants need protection from frost.
• If you are growing it indoor, then use growing light.
• It loves well-drained soil, with pH value close to 7.
• Potting mix (50% garden soil, 20% river sand, 20% compost and 5-10% cocopeat.
• Check and open the drainage hole of the pot while filling your potting mix.
• Lemon plant requires consistent watering to produce healthy fruits. Giving too less or too much water can lead to fruit drops.
• Always water when your top layer of soil goes dry.
• In summers, it requires more frequent watering. But in winter, water only when required.
• In summers you do mulching to maintain moisture for a longer period. This also helps to stop growing weeds into the pot. You can use rice husk, cocopeat, peat moss, or moss grass for mulching.
• The most important part of growing lemon is feeding/fertilizing. It is a very heavy feeder plant. It requires heavy doses of Nitrogen to produce good fruiting. For this, you can use Bone-meal, Vermicompost, or Slow-release NPK (12-6-6).
• You can add fertilizer at an interval of 15-20 days.
• The most common problem of lemon is ‘leaves turning yellow’ due to nitrogen deficiency. Iron and magnesium deficiencies also cause yellow leaves. You can use Epsom salt to overcome this problem.
• It requires pruning after its fruiting to get more fruits next time. It will not produce fruits if you don’t prune at the right time.
• Cut all the damaged branches to get more new shoots. Just remember to use a sharp cutter to cut the branches for pruning.
• Monitor your plant regularly for insect attack. Spray neem oil or garlic spray to prevent insect attack. Spray can be repeated at an interval of 15 days, or 3 days, if plant is infected.

How to Attract Pollinators in our Garden

Shailja Mishra

Organic gardening is the need of the hour.
For healthy n safe food supply
For clean n sustainable environment
For enjoyable and rewarding experience.

75% of the plants and 1/3^rd of vegetation that we eat require pollinators. Honey bees, native bees, butterflies, moths and birds are good pollinators. By providing food, water, shelter and nesting sites, we can attract pollinators. Different pollinators respond to different colours. By adding seasonal sequence of flowers, we can attract pollinators throughout the year. We can add shrubs, ground covers, hedges, vines and trees so that there is something for everyone. The more the bloom, more the pollinators.

Zinia, Cosmo’s, Hyacinth, Crocus, Sunflower, Marigold, Hollyhock, Salvia, Honeysuckle and Lantana attract pollinators. Sage, Oregano, Rosemary and Lavender also attract beneficial insects.

Studies reveal that butterflies respond to colours faster than humans. Butterflies love purple, violet and blue colours the most.

We can add bee houses, shelter and nesting sites to attract pollinators and beneficial insects. We can add bird houses. Humming birds are good pollinators for night bloomers.

We should avoid pesticides and if need be, it should be sprayed early in the morning or late in the evening when the pollinators are inactive.

Hope these small tips will attract more and more pollinators and will add beauty to your garden and benefit your plants

Making Creative Tray Garden

Suneeti Goel

A tray garden is an art-form and creative fun for everyone. When I initially began my journey of gardening, I commenced by collecting ornamental and flowering plants. After a while, my passion developed into creating these small wonders. Tray gardening (also referred to as container gardening) is landscaping in a small tray. In the limited the limited space of a balcony or a window ledge, a tray garden creates the illusion of a green vista.

Miniature landscapes are built in beautiful shallow ceramic dishes, plastic or flat terracotta trays, or cement pots. You can even use handmade pots as an alternative option.

How are these different from Bonsai, you ask? It should be noted that Bonsai and Topiary are the most popular forms of gardening in trays, but, Bonsai and Topiary follow a set of fixed rules. The ultimate goal of growing a Bonsai is to create a miniaturized but realistic representation in the form of a tree, while, tray gardens represent a scene in nature. It is a miniature landscape made out of an individual’s imagination. In a tray, plants are arranged in an aesthetic manner.

The true English tradition demands that miniature garden should, preferably, lay in old wooden troughs but nowadays one can get THE most beautifully carved and specifically designed trays. All you need is a little creativity, imagination, and enthusiasm to infuse life into the world of greens. The tray garden mostly depends on your own imagination but all the flowers and foliage should adhere to the weather conditions outside. The elements add life to the garden.

Miniature toys and accessories reflect the look of the tray more realistically and make it livelier. There are a variety of styles and themes for tray gardens that you can choose from. Each theme exhibits the different set of accessories and plants. You can create fairy, jungle, and forest themed gardens, Zen gardens, fountains and mountains all in a tray! Water on the stones and gravels create a winsome effect.

Plants must have small leaves and a bushy structure. Plants such as- Arelia, Boxwood, Snowbush, Asparagus, Yucca, Golden Duranta, Euphorbia, all variety of Ficus, Juniper, Nolina Palm, Chamadora are the great choices. Clumps of plants with variegated foliage such as Fittonia, Chlorophytum, Syngoniums, Alternenthera, Phoenix etc. add colour to the garden. For the coverage of the base, Pilea, Mondo grass, turtle wine, fine weeds which grows along with grass can be used. Sphagnum, live or active moss on the top gives a finished natural green surface. It gives attraction to your creation, all in a woodsy feel.

Different kind of rocks with symbolic features, colors, shapes create the essence of nature in your tray garden. They depict a real landscape. The combination of small foliage plants, elements and rocks in a single tray gives it a feeling of a natural location to the observer.

Some points should be kept in mind while creating these compact trays to assure a stunning result. The height of the plants and width of the tray must be proportionate. Elements and the accessories must depict your theme. Place the plants in an odd pattern while creating a forest tray, to depict the wildness of a forest. Combination of green foliage with variegated plants gives beautiful presentation. Too many accessories can spoil your creation. Balance your creation by following golden-ratio rule or rule of thirds.

Pests In The Month of September

D K Sharma

Any ecosystem contains a balance of organisms living in harmony with the environmental factors. Community of organisms is the food-web prevailing in the place in order to facilitate decomposition and nutritional cycle. The balance is maintained according to the non-biological factors like temperature, moisture etc.

For example, Dragonfly eating can be controlled by encouraging the growth of organisms like ladybirds, praying mantis, etc which feed on assassin

bugs. Even spiders eat wasps etc. So, if we go organic, these helpful bugs will visit our gardens and keep our gardens pest-free. The period between the new and full moon (the first quarter and second quarter) is considered as the best time to perform tasks that require strength, fertility and growth. The period between the full moon and new moon (third quarter and fourth quarter) is considered best for harvesting, slowing growth etc. Healthy plants, if grown with adequate nutrition and water, are less susceptible to pests and diseases.

A pest is an enemy of plants which is living creature like bird, cattle, insect, fly, caterpillar, slug, snail, bug, scale etc, and causes damage to the plants beyond acceptable levels.

A disease is a physiological disturbance in a plant caused by fungus, virus, harmful bacteria, deficiency of minerals etc.

Following measures are suggested to reduce the effect of pests and diseases:

• Buy varieties which are disease-resistant.
• Burn the diseased plants, if not cured.
• Sterilization of the soil.
• Turn the soil inside out.
• Cultural control.
• By destroying the hiding places of pests.
• Removing weeds.
• Crop rotation.
• Using manure and compost which is well decomposed to protect attack from ants, white ants, black ants and other pests and diseases.

Mechanical Control

This type of control involves the following:

• Handpicking of insects like mealy bugs, caterpillars, beetles, snails and slugs etc.
• Removal of clusters of eggs of insects by rubbing them off with hand or with a tooth brush dipped in methylated spirit.
• Removing affected branches or shoots, leaves or flowers.
• Quarantine or removal of plants to prevent from spreading to other plants.

Chemical Control

Following methods involve some sort of chemical or concoction to be used:

• Traditional remedies by use of Beejamrit, Enzymes, Jeevamrut etc.
• Neem decoction: Neem leaves are boiled in water and decoction sprayed. (Leaves 50 gm, Water 1lt. Boil for ten minutes.)
• Nicotine soap mixture: Boil 2 L of water with Washing soap (30gms) and Tobacco leaves (30gms). Boil till soap is dissolved. Cool and store. Use by dipping the plant upside down. Protect the soil by covering with paper.

All pesticides should be applied in the morning and on dry day. The same treatment needs to be repeated with a gap of three weeks, if so required.

Aphids attack the tender parts of the plants like Chrysanthemum, Geraniums, Dianthus, Dahlia, Lilly, Potato, Citrus Plants, Beans, Cabbage, etc. Malathion (0.03, ½ TSP) and Metasystox (0.025, ½ TSP) dissolved in one litre of water can be sprayed.

Other pests, which can attack plants include

a) Leaf beetles.
b) Epilachnene beetles.
c) Cabbage butterfly.
d) Mites.
e) Scale insects.
f) Thrips.
g) White ants.
h) Whitefly.

To conclude, we must try to grow and keep the plants healthy. Also, we must try to grow disease-resistant varieties to keep them pest-free and disease-free.

Start Composting-Part 1

Vandna Bhatnagar

It is the need of hour to compost your kitchen waste. Before we start how to compost ,we should go through some basic of composting.

• Composting can be done in garden as well as in balcony.
• Composting is done by the bacteria.
• Composting gives out liquid called leachate .It is very good fertiliser for the plants.
• We can do composting in two ways depending upon the types of bacteria.

Aerobic composting—In which the air is required for the working of the bacteria which require air to breathe.

Anaerobic Composting–anaerobic composting takes place in enclosed containers which may smell due to liberation of hydrogen sulphide gas.

Anaerobic composting is also of two type – Dry Anaerobic composting — uses no additional water or liquids to promote the biological process. Cut grass, fleshy plants and stems, or food waste are finely chopped and shredded, sealed in the their respective air tight containers or in a pit in ground and left for several weeks or months to naturally decompose. Wet Anaerobic composting — use of animal and poultry manures, slurries, and green organic materials mixed with water as a form of liquid composting. The water content of the liquid feedstock is very high at more than 80% of the volume. Wet Anaerobic Composting converts liquid organic waste into a rich source of renewable energy in the form of “Biogas”.

Both the methods yield best type of composting. It depends upon which method you want to Use.

Now let’s discuss some advantages and disadvantages of the aerobic and anaerobic methods of composting. This will help to choose method of composting.

• Aerobic composting requires a place with air. Anaerobic can take place any where.
• Aerobic composting requires a container with holes for the passage of air. Anaerobic composting can take place even in garbage polythene which is tightly closed.
• Aerobic composting requires regular turning of the matter to keep it airy, but anaerobic composting may be easier as less labour because you do not need to turn the pile.
• Aerobic composting is smellier, but anaerobic composting is smellier.
• Aerobic composting takes less time to get usable compost. Anaerobic composting takes a lot longer to produce usable compost compared to aerobic composting .

In next issue we will discuss how to start and what are the various components required for home composting. Till then you decide which method you want to use.

Vegetables To Be Grown in Winter

Rama Tyagi

Who does not want to eat vegetables grown at their own backyard these days? Specially so during COVID 19, people have realised the importance of home-grown vegetables and herbs. Herbs are very good immunity boosters. People have also realised that most of the vegetables commercially available are heavily loaded with chemicals and pesticides.

Starting a kitchen garden requires a little planning and ground work before you start making one.

Some people think that “Flowers are for pleasure and vegetables for profit”. But in my opinion, it is an understatement. Who will not agree that red tomatoes and fresh spinach growing in the garden are not a pleasure to the eyes, as well as to taste buds?

Vegetables like celery, parsley, cilantro etc which are not easily available in the market can be easily grown in small containers and placed in balcony.

Winter season gives us a whole lot of varieties which can be sown in the month of September, like Cabbage, lettuce, carrots, cauliflower, peas, radish, spinach, coriander & tomatoes in North India. Cauliflower, cucumber, onion, peas, spinach can also be grown in Southern India as well.

Potting Mix

There are different types of popular potting mixes, but people are preferring soil less media these days as it is light and non-cumbersome to use in terraces and balconies. Moreover, it is pest free as compared to soil medium.

Soil-less Mix
Cocopeat 4 Portions
Vermiculite 3 Portions
River Sand 2 Portions
Perlite 1 Portion

You can take anything for measuring as per requirements.

Soil Mix
Garden soil 2 parts
Compost 1 portion
Sand 1 portion
Leaf mould 1 part
Sarson khali ½ cup
Neem khali ½ cup
Any Fungicide 1 tsp

Sieve all the materials and solarise them for 7 to 8 hrs min. This is the basic potting mix. You can also make your own potting mix as you gain experience and as per your region and environment.

Do feed the potting mix regularly every 15 days

Watch for pests and spray neem oil periodically as preventive measure.

Apart from being taken as a hobby, Kitchen Gardening is also being adopted for various other benefits, like air pollution control, need of organic and healthy produce, enabling children to establish an equation with greenery and above all, economy and immunity. We can say that kitchen gardening provides us a with a win-win situation.

Flowers Bulbs to be grown in September – (Gladiolus)

Vandna Bhatnagar

When we talk of winter garden ,how can we forget Gladiolus flowers, one of the most beautiful in bulbous flowers. So, let us know how to successfully grow this beautiful plant.

This is the bulb which can be grown in the temperature range of 20-35 degree C, that is the temperature during Aug-Sep in northern parts of India.

Choosing the Bulbs

There are two kinds of bulbs available: Indian and imported.  Indian bulbs are bigger, normal size being 3-4 inches.  Imported are smaller, around 1.5- 2.5 inches.

Please note that bigger ones may already be exhausted and smaller than this size may not be mature enough to produce good flowers.

Soak bulbs in 1 L water, mixed with 1 tsp fungicide for 15 minutes.

Potting mix to grow bulbs(For per1kg of soil)

• 50 % garden soil
• 50 %compost / vermicompost
• To every 1kg of soil and vermicompost mixture add
• 100 gm cocopeat / river sand
• 50 gm Bone Meal
• 50 gm Neem Khali
• 5 gm Fungicide/ pesticides
• 2 gm micro-nutrients

Mix it well and Plant the bulb so that growing point or the neck of the bulb remains out of the soil.
First watering after planting needs to be done with 1 L water+2 gm fungicide. Spray thoroughly.
After sprouting of 3 to 4 leaves, more soil needs to be added.
Thereafter, after 15 days, spray thoroughly with (1 L water+2 gm fungicide+2 gm NPK 20:20:20) mixture.
Once stick comes out, stop NPK, but continue fungicidal spray with 1 gm of micronutrients.

“Happy planting Gladioli”

The Winter Flowering Annuals

Rakesh Goel

The winter flowering annuals contain the largest variety of flowers which are fragrant as well as colourful. Winter The effect of colourful garden during winter is the most sought-after by every gardener. Most of the annuals were introduced by Britishers in India.

Selection of winter annuals can be done as per size, colour and forms.

These annuals can be sown in the month of September and transplanted in October in NCR and northern region. For hilly regions, they are planted in the months of February-March

Different annuals are planted as per use and purpose.

1. Bedding: Alyssum, Candytuft, Ice plant, Petunia, Sweet sultan, dahlia, Marigold, Phlox, verbena, pansy, carnations, Sweet Williams, Brachycome, Gazania.
2. Fragrant Flowers: Carnations, sweet peas, sweet sultan, Sweet Williams, alyssum, stock, petunia etc.
3. Hanging baskets: Nasturtium, Daisy, Verbena, Phlox, Petunia, Alyssum, Dwarf Sweet Peas
4. For shady areas: Salvia and Cineraria
5. As screen: Hollyhock, Nasturtium and Sweet Peas.
6. For dry flowers: Statice, Acroclinium, Lady’s Lace, Nigella, Larkspur, etc.

Based on colours

7. White: Alyssum, Dianthus, Matthiola, Nigella, Phlox , Petunia etc.
8. Blue/Purple/Lavender: Ageratum Browallia, Salvia, Stock convolvulus, Verbena, Alyssum, Petunia
9. Yellow/orange: Calendula, Marigold, Dimorphotheca, Tagetes Erecta and Tagetes Patula, Gazania, Gerbera .
10. Red: Salvia, Verbena, Nasturtium,

Plants of Dahlia, Gazania, Phlox, Petunia and Pansy come in many colours and their varieties and shades can be chosen as per choice and location.ia etc.

Preparing the beds and pots

Prepare the beds by digging and turn the soil. Add manure (compost+mustard cake +neem cake) along with bone meal. If your soil is alkaline then add Gypsum as per requirements. This should be done by middle of September.

For pots: Prepare your soil mix 40 %soil +10%sand +40% Manure +10% of mustard cake + neem cake, bone meal +2%gypsum and micro nutrients (magic grow).

Mix them well and solarise well.

Preparing the mix for seedlings

You can make any combination of the below ingredients

1. Vermiculite and perlite
2. Cocopeat and sand
3. Sand and perlite

Soak and treat the seeds with fungicide before sowing, to reduce the risk of fatalities.

Following is to be kept in mind:

1. No fertilizer to be added when sowing.
2. Seedlings to be planted in October.
3. After 15 days of planting feeding should start.
4. Keep on pinching to encourage branching.

Stop pinching 35 days before when you require flowering.

Journey of a Tree

Dr Narender Goel

“Look maa, such barren tree. This is standing out as an oddity among all these lush green trees.”

Kshitiz’s mother presently looking at the valley side of the road, enchanted by the Himalayan range, turned her head. It really was a couple of barren trees on the mountainside of the road. They were utterly leafless and had shed most of the branches too. Only a few tenacious ones preferred to stay.

Oak tree too looked at the Kshitiz and his mother. Then he looked at Deodar tree, another leafless tree beside it. In the yesteryears, when these two were lush green, they would have rustled their leaves and the boroughs and would have trembled angrily on any such pithy remark. They would have whistled by the wind passing through their leaves. But now at the fag end of their long and prolific life it wasn’t possible to make such sounds and preferred to stay silent.

Oak was a few years older than the Deodar, and both had seen many springs and autumn together. Starting its life as a seed- a tiny one- until the size of a sapling, in a local nursery, Deodar was brought and planted roadside along the Oak. Soon they broke a firm companionship and it grew as they grew, with years. They had passed together so many years in their lives, they didn’t seem to remember their age. Every autumn they saw and felt each other’s sadness to acquire nakedness, when their leaves fell one by one and their folar acquired the shape of the frame of branchwork, losing its splendrous canopy. And every spring they felt equally joyous to cloak themselves in the spring green and new needles and leaves. After early life to the age of bearing cones and fruits, feeling at times burdened by the annual cycle of fruiting and then shedding, which required lot of effort, they acquired a stage when the burden felt less intense.

And now after years which they could not count and recall, they understood that they stood here vulnerable, unclad, and conspicous ready to fall during some rain by soil wash. Till that time they had to stand here together, amongst all these young trees, telling an untold story, hoping passerby to empathize.  So now these two trees didn’t felt disquieted by the little boy’s remarks. They were happy and contented and done their part as a tree. Just like hands in hands, they stood together with their few branches, touching and interlaced.

Activities

P K Malhotra

Technology has been a great tool and more so in the present times and perhaps going to be a better help in the coming days. The day when our esteemed PM Shri Modi Ji declared a nationwide lockdown and urged the people to stay at home, on 22nd of March’20, our group-FSOG- started with the Webinars .

To Utilise the time and present ourselves the opportunity to interact and learn, Webinars were introduced, and the first one was presented by Mr. Sandeep Rohilla, on plant nutrition. It gave us the opportunity to gather every Sunday to discuss one of the relevant topics on flori and horticulture. During this lockdown period, the way Webinars progressed, it gave the platform to learn, interact, and dissipate knowledge, which otherwise would have been lost under the effect of Lockdown and social distancing. Queries were raised and lectures were delivered by experts in their respective fields of interest and expertise causing immense benefit to the attendees. The basics, pertaining to gardening and its requisite skills were addressed fresh insights were expounded, which profited the learners and the seasoned gardeners as well. The gradually increasing numbers of the people who attended these and the charged atmosphere goes a long way in telling the tale of the success of these webinars.

Numerous topics covering indoor plants, water plants, cacti care, bonsai care, fruit plant care, and ornamental plants were discussed. Artistic aspects of gardening like Kokedama making, tray-gardening, Penjing introduction, and on-the- rock- plants, pot making with stones, tiles and seashells and many more interesting topics by experienced members and experts from their respective fields.

To highlight a few webinars,

Chrysanthemums & Bougainvillea By Mr Mahesh Mishra
Rose Care By Mr Rahul Kumar
Bonsai Care and Tips By Mr Jaipal Singh
Water Plants By Mr Manish Kumar
Fruit Plants By Dr Anant Kumar
Mushrooms By Mr Sanjay Roy
Winter Bulbs By Mr Anurag Srivastava
Aloes By Dr. Mithuraaj
Root Over Rock Bonsai and Wiring By Ms Sheel Yadav

We can, in the coming times, hope and expect to continue this trend of Webinars, making use of the technology, serving the purpose of bringing knowledge and skills to us, with the purpose of utilizing this period of lockdown

Team Behind This Project

*Photograph credits HFSOG members & various sources and websites.