What’s up in the Basunti gardens.
The season closed at Basunti on the 6th of December which then gave us the chance to concentrate on the gardens. First thing was to harvest the remaining crops from the monsoon planting. First to come out was the Turmeric, (Haldi) of which we collected about eight kilos of beautiful bright orange corms. This has since been washed, diced and is now drying in the sun, until it is ready to be ground into a powder. The next thing was the Ginger, (Adrack) which produced a bumper crop of nearly thirty Kilos. The last was the chilli, (Mirch) which gave us three kilos of red hot lovelyness. Half the chillies are drying in the sun, the remaining one and a half kilos is being bottled in Olive Oil and fresh Garlic. Should be ready by March, to be drizzled on the Kedgeree and Pasta dishes. All of these essential Indian cooking ingredients, will be enough to see us through the next year, until we plant them again in June.
Having finished the harvesting, we then started preparing the beds. The delivery of a truckload of composted cow manure, is wonderful sight to behold for any gardener. The first thing we planted, with a large dose of manure, was three beds of Barot potatoes. These are now about six inches tall, and hopefully, we should get about one hundred and twenty kilos, come harvest time in March. Since then the remaining seventeen beds have all been prepared and I have planted, Spinach, Beetroot, three different types of Carrot, Florence Fennel, two types Cos lettuce, Asparagus and Radicchio. Will stagger the remaining planting, including Red Mustard salad and Wild Rocket, so that we have fresh salad all through Spring.
The weather is beautiful at the moment, with the daytime temperatures in the mid twenties. The garden is awash with colour, with the Poinsettia (regular and rose) in full bloom. The Bougainvillea is also blossoming and it’s red, pink, purple and orange flowers, along with the white of the Madagascan Periwinkle, yellow Chrysanthemums and the multi-coloured Crown of Thorns, are creating a riot of colour.
The birds are starting to form flocks of similar size birds and the garden is a cacophony of tweets and twitters. Most spectacular at the moment is the Crimson sunbird, who flashes amongst the Poinsettia in a blaze of iridescent colour. Have also been joined by my old friends from the mountains, the Blue Whistling Thrush and the Black Redstart, who will both overwinter at Basunti. All in all, it is a lovely time to be alive.
