The Sizzling Casserole : My Gardening Diaries - "Bloom where you are Planted"

" Plants always makes ME better, happier & stress-free..They are sunshine, food & medicine to my soul"

I'm the kind of person who loves to dig her hand in soil, get dirt under nails.....n watch the seedlings sprout.

My day starts with a cup of tea, in my tiny green space, listening to the chirping of birds and calm relaxing music.

Gardening, for me, is a fantastic way to get connected with nature.. It helps heal me mentally and physically... It has that magical power to heal stress...U take a seed, sow them, watch them grow, you pour love on them, feed them with compost & see them smiling back at you with fruits n blossoms.....I can't explain that happiness..it's beyond extreme…

How my love for gardening surfaced!

I have grown up with plants in my home. Since childhood, i hv seen my parents enjoy planting and nurturing plants..My mother is a garden freak which I inherited from her.. We had a small backyard vegetable garden n a flower bed, back when I was a kid.... where we had planted a lots of organic n seasonal veggies n fruits..beet, radish, carrots, corns, cucumber, lady's finger ,n many more to name..I remember, as a kid, in early winter morning , we would go there n pick fresh produce like green peas, beet, capsicum n make our delicious breakfast.. In the afternoon after school, we would spend our precious time there hopping n playing around & that is an awesome memory I have of our garden, and that's when i discovered how joyful harvesting your own food can be! ...Now, with the construction of buildings around..the space is not sufficient enough to make a landscape garden. But Maa has managed to make our own garden bed with lots of flowering species. N thats how my love for gardening surfaced. ... I found out how wonderful, Gardening is!

After I got married n shifted to another city, here, where its hard to find a space for gardening, I have built a mini terrace garden, where I have planted flowering plants n hv been growing my own herbs. I have been trying to grow everything that i can lay my hands on as I love experimenting..i love to grow produce, that i usually won’t get here..( which I used to enjoy back in my hometown )..but with sort of space I'm unable to plant much... ....I have planted turmeric, for its leaves which I won't get here, in awe of making ' ' Haldi Patra pitha''. I have grown pumpkin blossoms, again one of my favourites, to make pumpkin flower pithau bhaja. Then Malabar spinach( Poi) & few more....I have grown baby tomatoes, bell peppers, green chillies, spring onion, curry leaves, mint, celery, lemongrass , aloe vera.. to name a few.