Under the Monsoon Spell

The monsoon has to be my best season in India. The onset is dramatic, the drum roll of thunder with strikes of lightning set the stage for a visual treat. The wind gods force the clouds to take centre stage and the horizon is overcast with a grey, heavy cloud cover. Last evening the monsoons made land fall on Grassroots and left behind a wonderful teaser of rain to come. The smell of the earth, the crispness in the air, the ever changing light plays with my senses. I can sit and watch the rain as it unleashes its blessings on earth. The sight and sound is magnified by the fact that we have open spaces around with a valley in front and dunes behind. The rumbling and rolling is all so theatrical that I wish it would never go away. The birds hurry for cover, the trees stand up to soak in the rain and my boys (have 2 Tibetan mastiffs - Zulu and Pasha) want to run out and roll in the mud! The land soaks up the offering and stores it to quench its thirst. My note pad comes out as I start jotting down all my monsoon activities. The best season to attend to the land and introduce elements of colour and crop, knowing that they will flourish in the months to come.

This monsoon I have my newly crafted raised vegetable beds, porous pipes for drip irrigation, additions to my orchard, introducing diverse varieties of flowering plants and work on the garden landscape. Work cut out, I eagerly await for delivery of the porous pipes which need to be laid before I can plant my seeds and saplings on the raised beds. I had some area cleared of wild grass to make way for growing rice, arhar daal and groundnut. My first attempt at rice and daal which will hopefully fill our basket and our tummies for the year ahead. I have some vegetable seeds planted in trays, which have surprised me with their vigour, other varieties with larger seed size, I will sow directly on to the raised beds. My back garden needs a watchful eye and the general monsoon maintenance of weeding. The front garden has finally been defined - spaces taking shapes of circles, semi circles and waves create visual demarcations. The space being large craved layout. I need to scout around to fill the circles with perennials mainly, as I am such a low maintenance gardener that I like to enjoy colour year round. I am introducing new fruits with seeds and saplings from friends - jack fruit, avocado, pineapple, passion fruit, custard apple and whatever else I can lay my hands on. With such a hectic agenda for atleast the next 3 months (and hopefully all year) all I can say "Watch this space!