I love growing my own food. Mostly, vegetables as growing fruits is quite a challenge for an amatuer kitchen gardener like me! To that effect, I've made us (pets included; will come to that later) a tiny terrace garden. Sometimes, I also use the sunny strip of the window sill or whichever place in the house the sun cares to peep in. My method is simple: I grow the herbs from seeds and most other stuffs from tiny saplings I source from the local plant nursery. On some years the harvest is bumper on others, just meagre. But the garden never fails. Joyously, I watch it grow everyday bud by tiny bud; fruit by tiny fruit.

So far (and that's about four years now), I've grown cauliflowers, cabbages, broad beans, green peas, carrots, aubergines, peppers, hummingbird flowers, tomatoes, coriander & other herbs, cucumbers and Aroma King limes.

My first steps were wobbly and unsure and, to add to my misery, the excavatory squirrels plagued me with their tireless digging. And, then one day, lo and behold! They suddenly lost interest in my garden as the first green shoots pushed their fragile heads through the crumbly, dark soil.

The cauliflowers were the most challenging to protect from the vagaries of the weather – the untimely winter drizzle; foraging nocturnals with a special preference for young shoots and the occasional bugs. Although, I must say I am lucky as the bugs claimed only a couple of aubergines and half a dozen tomatoes – so far, they haven't been too selfish or unkind! I hardly ever use any chemical spray as everything goes straight to the kitchen and some of the stuffs are even eaten raw

Galileo, the Giant Gourami (our pet fish), loves munching on ripe tomatoes – it's her favorite winter staple. So, the first fruits of the season are for her and the rest go into salads, sauces, and curries. A true connoisseur, Galileo takes fancy only in the best of the lot and is at her happiest after a yum meal comprising ruby-red chunks of chopped homegrowns.

Galileo aka Galu

I always wanted to have fresh chilies and herbs around while dining. I started with planting coriander seeds in a small fiber bowl and it worked out swimmingly The chili plants are yet to flower but the red amaranth should be ready for the table in another week or so.

And, now for some fresh-cuts for the table:

Like the poet Abraham Cowley I, too, wish:

"May I a small house and large garden have;      
And a few friends, and many books, both true,    
Both wise, and both delightful too!"

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