The real significance of growing Jaware / Khetri in Navratra / navami pooja / can jaware or Khetri be eaten?

What made me write this post are the discarded Jhuwara / jawara / Khetri pots after the ninth day - NAVAMI Pooja of Navratri. Hindu sow wheat or barley seeds on the first day of Navratri pooja and offer the saplings to the mother goddess on the last day as part of the rituals. One can easily find these pots along with the remaining saplings inside the huge MCD dustbins or piled up under any Peepal tree.

Courtesy - Google

What people don't understand is the real meaning behind this ritual which has been followed by the Hindus for years. Being a Hindu I must say that our Sanatan Dharma is probably one of the most well thought religions which stand so firm in their ability to explain its rituals and values in the most scientific and logical manner. When we talk of this ritual of sawing Jhuware / jaware / Khetri ( Also Harela in Uttaranchal region) it clearly indicates the value of sprouting the grains and growing wheat grass to reap out the health benefits out of it. It's importance is so deep and well appreciated by our ancestors that it is offered at the feet of the goddess as a symbol of respect, purity and devotion and then kept on our heads as a mark of blessings from the Goddess's feat. We saw it keeping so much of purity and hygiene aspects in mind in terms of selecting the soil and  manure and also choosing the quality of seeds. We then keep an eye on its growth and water it consciously in order to help it grow reasonably well. If the saplings doesn't grow well or long enough it is not considered as a good sign. At least a few sprouts must pop out to be offered to the goddess and then be taken as a prasad. Do we ever thought why it has given so much of importance in our rituals and is linked to positivity and prosperity in our life.

The biggest agony of today's age is that we choose to follow rituals just as action points without trying to understand their true meaning. By all such rituals our ancestors tried to pass on the gift of the knowledge which they wanted us to imbibe in our day to today life. Growing Jhuwara should not be the action for just one day as part of a ritual but must be grown throughout the year and consumed as part of our diet. Imagine the tremendous health benefits of consuming it on a daily basis in the form of a salad dressing or in a powdered form or may be extracting it's juice etc. 

Courtesy - Google

Ages back there was no such concept of commercializing the knowledge but with passing of time and also realizing the health benefits of wheat grass many organic and Ayurvedic companies have started offering variety of products ranging from powered wheat grass to flavored Juices. These tiny greens are rich in vitamin A-C-I-K-B complex and also proteins. There are seventeen amino acids which present in these saplings. These miracle greens are  70% chlorophyll, which can tackle most of the blood / hemoglobin related problems in the human body. It is amazingly filled with oxygen and therefore a natural detoxification agent. They can even remove heavy metals from the body and tackle many blood disorders. As now they are marketed vigorously by the health companies across the world people buy them at any price because a Baba Ramdev is suggesting it or an Amway is advocating it. 

High time guys .... it takes almost no efforts to grow fresh wheat grass at your home or balcony or even at the windowsill. You may use any type of container even a used container from your kitchen to grow it. You may consume it's fresh leafs or juice it in your grinder by adding a little water into it. People staying in the most polluted cities can take tremendous health benefits by consuming this juice as an excellent detoxification agent and an easy remedy to flush out the toxins from their body. A prevention from free redials and a rejuvenating heath drink for your overall health system. What are you waiting for..Goooo man.. Grow the greens.... 

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Blooming Mum's (Guldawari) In my Delhi Balcony

MUMs......Grown from cuttings and shoots of a plant from the last season and nurtured with my home made compost... My living rooms balcony looks as if I am somewhere in the hills these days.. 

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First Pumpkin bloom in my balcony garden

I was up at 6 today and as usual the first thing is heading to the balcony with a cup of lemon tea. This habit gives two benefits ... I talk to my plants and strengthen my bond with them and part of this chitchat allows me to take a little bit of morning sunlight.

This morning the pumpkin vine gave me a beautiful surprise where a large yellow flower was saying hiiii? I am here. The vine is showing many buds and I hope female flowers coming up soon. If you have plants around you will have endless surprises coming your way...

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Welcome Note of my Summer Kitchen Garden

The first Okra pod along with the beautiful flower look like the Welcome Note of my Summer Kitchen garden. A detailed post on my summer plants later. Till then bye .... Ciao

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Growing Tomatoes in Containers, growing tomatoes from seeds

Nothing like watching your hard worked plants bearing fruits. I stay in an apartment and the only place to garden is my balcony with a set of containers. but gradually as I experience more I can vouch that most of the vegetables can be grown in containers varying shape and size according to their root growth system. I started with these tomatoes in November by simply burying the seeds (which I bought from a nearby gardening store ) in a pot filled with soil and cow dung manure mixture. It gave a good germination rate of around 98% within 5days of sowing.

These pics are taken around 20 days after germination.

I transplanted them in to 10" containers (5) and 2 grow bags after a month.One plant each container in a mix of soil, cow dung manure and my kitchen waste compost. 

 

Around one & half month old

I nurtured them with daily watering, airing once in a week and feeding around 50 gm of my home made compost in every 20 days. I have heard that tomato plants are prone to pests like mealy bugs and aphids hence I kept on checking the leave to ensure I can treat them as soon as I encounter any pest problem. They are parched on the balcony wall where they get around 6-7 hours of direct sunlight. They started flowing in around 60 days  from germination. 

Around two & half months old

I couldn't find time to buy trellis for may plants and poked these sticks around the to give them support and It actually worked. ;) The plants may drop the initial bloom which is considered  as "plants intelligence" which means plant tend to drop initial blooms until they are strong enough to bear fruits. However drops can also happen due to non pollination. if you don't have bees or butterflies or ants in your balcony pollination becomes a challenge. 

you can hand pollinate your tomato flowers by shaking the plant or may be the entire pot gently and the vibration  will help in pollination. you can also use a vibrator but use it very gently as the flowers are real delicate. Going by my personal experience I noticed that all pollinated flowers tend to strengthen the stem they are hanging with, so that the stem can bear the weight as the fruit grows whereas unpollinated flowers remain on the branches with the same look and feel for 3-5 days get pale and eventually drop.

Once flowers pollinate they start forming fruits and you can easily see tiny tomatoes hanging from the branches. Usually it takes 2 months for the first set of pollinated  flowers to reach at the stage of  Red ripen tomatoes followed by other bunches. I advise to pick them at semi ripen stage and let them mature indoor. This helps new blooms to come and other fruits to be set. Have a look at the current stage of my plants. 

And almost after 3 months from pollination its time to pick the fresh organic fruits. Absolutely Pesticides freeeeeee. I have already had 4  harvests and still may fruits are turning red..

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It's always sad to say Good bye

The last three Calendula flowers of this spring balcony garden.. I Know that I won't be able to have them until next season and have to say goodbye for now.. This is the most difficult part to do but you have to move on for the new.... as change is what nature lies in.. 

A short poem as a good bye gesture to these lovely beauties 

My dear little friends, I am sad as you are going for this season

You brought a lot of happiness, life, vitality and love

Spread vibrant colors and  gave a meaning to my garden

I let you go with a promise to come back in full bloom

with fragrance of love cause you are meant for this reason

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Toaday's Harvest...

Started my day with my lemon tea and a plate full of tomato harvest.

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Thriving Again

To understand the name of this pink hibiscus beauty, you have to read my earlier post "Laika's Pink". I pruned this plant before the winters arrived as it was attacked by mealy bugs. I trimmed to an extent which eventually made me feel guilty as it took really long to blossom again. Hibiscus is a root bound plant and should be grown in mid sized containers which ensure high number of blooms. Mealy bugs are a real threat. For me rubbing surgical alcohol and water 1:1 works really good on mealy bugs. I use my home made Kitchen waste compost for its nutritional needs (Tutorial-kitchen.waste.compost The only answer for "how to care for hibiscus" is feeding with potassium. I prepare a potassium compost for my hibiscus  with banana peals.  Simple and organic..

This spring has come with a lot of blooms on Laika's Pink. Here I am posting the first few captures of this spring blooms in the sweet memory of my dear Laika. You are always in my heart.. and I miss you always. I am sure you are happy in the heaven sitting next to GOD.. and asking him for bananas as you did to us. :) May your soul RIP.....

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Growing Portulaca, moss rose, mini rose, miniature roses from seeds

People who want to beautify their yards / balcony gardens have an easy option of doing it with climbing roses or rose shrubs which have excellent rose bushes. Portulaca is an easy alternate and a low maintenance perennial flower. It thrives on heat and becomes a shrub if given adequate support. It serves as an excellent ground cover. In last summers i even experimented to grow it as a climbing rose on my balcony and succeeded to some extent. Portulacas are called as mini roses or  moss rose and portulaca double (name of a variety with two layer of petals one on another ) looks like miniature roses. Till this summer I always bought the cuttings from nursery where portulaca plants are available for sale. many of my friends buy these plants online as growing them from seeds looks really difficult. This summer I thought of experimenting and bought a packet of seeds. Really really tiny seeds almost invisible. I just sprinkled over the potting mix and watered  them for almost 10 days and very tiny heads popped up eventually. They were so small even to be  identified but yes they were there. Its been almost three weeks and the first bloom is there.I am yet to transplant them in pots. It is portulaca single as you can see four single petals. The packet I bought is a mix so I am expecting  the double one also to come up.. will keep you posted..

 

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Experi - Minting --------- Mint

Its just a few days back that my In Laws were visiting us and I prepared a Chatni (sous) with dried Pomegranate seeds and mint leafs. FIL loved this preparation as a side dish in the dinner. While pinching the leaves I was left with a number of stems which were suppose to go the garbage bin. And then I just thought of experimenting with the cuttings and poked them in a small container without putting much efforts. The only thing which I ensured was watering them daily. And after almost ten days of patience there are finally TWO TINY LEAFS.... OMG OMG OMG

Now I only dream of having my mint tea in the evenings sitting in my balcony garden. All set to face the scorching heat with my mint preparations.... Happy happy happy.....

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Blooming Beauties

I grew these Calendulas from seeds. Easy to grow in containers and a perfect flower for balcony gardens / container gardening.Very low maintenance plants comes in different shades of yellow and orange. Calendula sowing time in north India is mid winters - first week of January and they are ready to bloom by mid February once the frost is over. I will post a tutorial based on my own experience of growing Calendulas in containers till then you enjoy the pictures of my balcony garden.

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