Workshop on Gardening in Monsoon

Ginni and her Monsoon Garden tips:

“Hello and good afternoon everyone. Hello everyone, welcome to another workshop by TAOS. Today we have Ginni with us. Hello Ginni, how are you?” Asked Zehra. 

“Hi Zehra, I am good.” Said Ginni. 

“Welcome to our workshop. It’s a pleasure to have you with us today Ginni. Let me tell you briefly about Ginni, she is a Die Heart plant lover and she is a social media influencer and has a keen interest in gardening DIYs. You can go through her social media handle to know about her beautiful balcony Garden. She has a very lovely green corner for relaxing on her balcony and she has decorated her garden with simple DIYs. And today day she is going to tell us some useful tips on gardening in monsoons. So let us begin.” Said Zehra. 

“Thank you Zehra for having me here talking about myself I am Ginni. I am a freelancer web developer and also a plant mom. My plant journey started a few years ago, when Delhi became the gas chamber because of too much pollution in the air. Many people today grow and keep plants to make their surrounding air purifiers. And that was the beginning of my journey, my love for plants. So, at that moment it hit me that there should be a green corner at home to relax our minds. Yes, I may have inculcated this from my parents who had gardens and loved gardening. 

So it feels so good to be surrounded by plants. I feel that when you are on a screen patch, you feel surrounded by positive energy. It’s so therapeutic to be with plants and get this energy and boost yourself as it releases stress for your mind. 

From that learning, I started learning about how to maintain plants. And I am still experimenting with plants. So, the planting journey consists of experiments, every day you do learn a lot while experimenting. Plants may live and may die sometimes. As we can see the climate is changing very much this year 2022 we have seen too many heavy heat strokes, even sometimes temperatures go to 49° and it is hard for the plants to survive in such a climate. Therefore, we keep experimenting with things that go right with what kind of plants. As you know, everybody’s body is not the same I don’t react the same, so the same is with plants. 

So today we will talk about the plant tips that we have to do in monsoons. It is said that monsoon is the best time to go for planting as the temperature is low or humidity is low, the rainwater will provide nourishment and it will boost the plants. Rain has both good and bad effects on plants. So we have to keep in mind the points that our plants don’t get damaged in future. The points are: 

1. Place your plants in a way, to get sufficient water and not excessive rainwater. And if the topsoil has captured/stored lots of water, you need to keep in mind to remove the water after the rain stops. Otherwise, it would become one of the reasons to damage the plant. 
2. Pot with a proper drainage system, if there is no drainage system excessive water would get stored in the soil which will damage the roots of the plant.
3. As many people place the tray below the plant pot and there are many chances of mosquito breeding. As we know that during the monsoon time dengue fever is at its peak, so we need to be careful for our and our plant’s safety. 
4. In the monsoon there is more humidity due to the wet environment, which will increase the attraction of insects toward the plant. We have to take precautions and use fungicide sprays every 10-15 days on our plants. 
5. So, monsoon is a good time to fertilize your plants as well as during heavy rains the nutrients of the soil get washed off. So we should keep in mind to fertilize our soil with good organic fertilizers. It will help the plant grow healthier and greener. 
6. Monsoon is an ideal season for repotting plants. That is the time when you can shift your pots from small to bigger ones for better development of the plants. As the soil is wet it is easy for the plant to adapt to the new environment. 
7. You should also prune and trim your plants because it will help the plant to grow new shoots within a week.

We can easily grow plants by cutting and sapling in this season. You can grow Pothos, dizzy plants, coilers, bougainvillea, mogra, and ZZ plant from the cuttings. So if we are talking about cuttings, then there can be many different ways to plant them. So we will talk about the techniques and how we can propagate the plant through cuttings as well. We do propagation through these three techniques: 

1. We propagate in the water.
2. We directly put in the soil. 
3. Nowadays the trend is of the LECA balls technique. 

As you can see the downward-growing long trail of Pothos, I will remove it from the plant and we have seen the nodes and cut the nodes to propagate in water. You have to select the nodes of the leaves that are fully grown and mature. This is because if the nodes are healthy the propagated plant will be healthy. Now, you can use a thread or rubber band to collect and keep all the nodes together in a bunch for better propagation in water. 

You can put the cutting in the water in a small container and it can be placed anywhere in your house for decoration also. I have also propagated the Snake plant in the soil, it is a slow process but 99% of it gives good results. The propagation in the soil can take time for about weeks to one month, but you will witness baby roots and parts growing. 

Nowadays the most buzzing about the new technique is LECA balls they are raw Leca balls which are clay balls and are baked. So, you put the ball in the water and it expands by absorbing the water, when you put the plant in it the plant will get water slowly, and will ultimately reduce the chances of root rotting. Even in a hydroponics garden, they are using Leca balls. If you are busy you are a busy person and don’t have time to look for plants Leca balls are the best option nowadays. One of the best things about leca balls is that it doesn’t contain any organisms so you don’t have to worry about insects or pests. The point to be noted is, the leca balls completely depend upon the water. When we plant in the soil they have nutrients in it and you also put fertilizers for better growth of the plant but in water, we don’t use any fertilizers therefore to grow plants in this medium you need some kind of liquid fertilizers. 

So before using like balls you need to first rinse or wash the leca balls thoroughly before using. With this technique or method, you do not need to worry about the water and also about the mosquitoes breeding in monsoon season. It is a good method for propagating a plant and therefore I suggest this method be used, and if not still there are two more methods for the propagation of a plant.

So, we have original carrots in the market during the cold season. What I do is whenever I am using a carrot I just cut the nodes and put it in water and in a few days there is a shoot and small leaves grow out of it. It can be used for decoration as minimal care is required.” Said Ginni. 

“There is a question from our viewer Ananya:

1. Is it okay to let plants have rainwater?” Asked Zehra.

“Yes, rainwater is important for the plant’s growth, but you need to keep in mind that there should not be any excessive collection of rainwater in the plant pots as it will damage the soil and roots of the plant. Excessive collection of rainwater on the top of the soil should also be removed or thrown away as it will deteriorate the plant conditions. You should keep rotating the plant pots if there is continuous rain.” Said Ginni. 

“There is one more question from Ananya:

2. Should we remove wilted leaves?” Asked Zehra. 

“Yes, it is very important to remove the wilted leaves, as they overpower the new baby leaves and absorbs more amount of nutrients that are required by the new leaves. Even if you grow flowers, so whenever the flowers die you need to pluck out the flowers otherwise they absorb more energy.” Said Ginni.

3. “Are there any seeds that can be sown in monsoon season?” Asked Zehra.

“Yes, there are many seeds that can be sown in monsoon season. If you have good experience with seeds then you can go for saplings. I always prefer saplings, as you can buy and play around with them. Since, the cold season is approaching, which is a season for growing flowers, you would find different types of saplings of flowering plants in the nursery during October. So, if you buy and put saplings at your home they will settle till the time the blooming will start.” Said Ginni.

“There was one question in my mind:

4. “what are the fertilizers and pesticides that you use for your plants?” Asked Zehra. 

“I use very basic fertilizers that I create at home i.e. vermicompost because it is the best fertilizer for the plants. Apart from that, you can use the water used while washing rice as fertilizers and especially in pothos it gives good growth. You can also use water which is kept overnight with banana. Also, seaweed liquid fertilizers are in the market that can be brought to use. You can also use, soapy water, or Neem oil to keep insects aware of the plant.” Said Ginni. 

“Coming on to the last topic:

5.”if you are interested to make a green patch at your home and you are busy or you are a beginner so which plant you should take to your home?

The plants that I suggest are:

1. Pothos Plant: This plant can grow in any medium like soil, water, and in leca balls. Where ever they are they will create a very beautiful green patch. You can also get different varieties like neon pothos/golden pothos, marble queen, and many more. 
2. The Snake Plant: This plant is the best air purifier. Even if you don’t provide the plant water for 15 days there would be no problem. There are many varieties of this plant with long or short leaves. 
3. Syngonium Plant: This is a very good plant. It can grow in water as well as soil. The color of the leaf of the plant adds a different charm to the green patch. There can be many varieties, I have green and pink Syngonium.
4. ZZ Plant: This is also a very beautiful plant. So, when it shoots new leaves you will be able to witness how beautiful it looks. This is a good indoor plant. You can also propagate this plant in water with the cutting method. 

These are the basic plants that you can have at home. While buying plants in the nursery, the vendor usually tells about the plant being indoor or outdoor. But in reality, there are no indoor plants, as every plant needs fresh air and sunlight like human beings. So your main motive, keep rotating your plants to get fresh air and sunlight. If you put the plant in one place it will lose its charm and beauty.” Said Ginni. 

“So,

6. “all the plants that you have are on your balcony, or do you have them indoors as well?” Asked Zehra. 

“As I said I keep rotating my plants. Sometimes they are indoors and sometimes they are out in fresh air.” Said Ginni.

“I wanted to ask you:

7. which growing medium is your favorite?” Asked Zehra.

“Till now it was water, but my current obsession is Leca balls. As it is trendy and going well, I would also experiment with it for propagating more plants through it.” Said Ginni.

8. “in which medium plants grow better?” Asked Zehra.

“I think plants grow better in water medium. As the leca balls take time. But using water brings more care and responsibility, as you need to change the water in the container and maintain a regular eye so that the roots don’t rot. As water is always available rather than leca ball, therefore while considering resources water is a good medium to grow.” Said Ginni. 

9. “Do you use water only to propagate or do you let your plants grow in them?” Asked Zehra.

“Normally, I use water as a medium for propagation, but my pothos is there in the water as well, I do have them in water in my kitchen for 2 months. In other plants, there are chances that roots rot in water.” Said Ginni.

“Gardening is a medium to release mental peace. Every time, if there are new shoots or leaves it is exciting as if it is our first time. So, I initially started with these plants but later on, I started experimenting with flowering plants also. On my balcony, during the cold season, there is no sunlight so it is always a challenge to bring and grow flowering plants that require ample amounts of sunlight for healthier growth.” Said Ginni.

“So, the last question of the day:

10. “do you buy plants from the nursery, or do you take a cutting from people? What is your main source by which you get a plant?” Asked Zehra.

“Normally I accept everything. So many times when we are in need of exotic plants which we cannot obtain from near you, then we go for online portals or nurseries. Talking about a simple plant you can get cutting from anywhere. I do also get cutting from my mother, and saplings if needed.” Said Ginni.

Thank you so much, Ginni.

“That was amazing Ginni, it was pleasure talking to you. Thank you for your valuable time and information that you have given to all of us today. Thank you so much everyone for joining us.”

HAPPY GARDENING!