I became a gardener way back in August / September 2008, when I had to focus on something interesting but not strenuous. I had different types of plants in containers in my balcony (about 10 Square Feet area) including a drumstick tree. It took me about 4 months to do that much space with new experiments and with new plants. By then my treatment had touched an important milestone and life took a big turn. I was not to lift anything heavy - not even a litre of water. That put a full stop to my gardening dreams... But then my family took care of my plants in addition to taking care of me.
By April 2010, the treatment stopped completely. I was alright, up and running, though life had taken a toll on me. I had also tested my ability to withstand the pressures of working life with a consultancy work by then. I was ready to go back to work. I prepared my resume in end of April/early May 2010. To my surprise market reacted pretty nicely and got three offers in hand - from TCS, Ford and from HP. (those were the only companies I passed my resume to). I had a lot of free time till July 2010. In May, June and July, the only task was to attend interviews; it took only about 10 days of effort split across 2.5 months. The situation was much like 2008; I was healthy, but free... I turned my focus back on my plants.
I made some decisions about my plants (I think I made all wrong decisions around that timelines); I moved a few of them to the staircase. The biggest mistake was to move my drumstick tree to the vacant land besides my building. The tree survived nicely for about 3 weeks, but slowly started withering. There were rodents in that area. I did not know/realize. They ate the roots of the tree and killed it. The ones in staircase also started dying as the heat was too much for them to bear. I too was got caught up in mental trauma both in personal and official life. All my plants except for a money plant (Silver Vine), pasalai keerai (Indian Spinach), sotru katrazhai (Aloe Vera) and malai arali (a variety of Oleander) died. These four were really hardy and withstood all kinds pressures – no water on many days, hot sun, no manure.
Since May this year, I have been thinking, why have I left life to go on as it feels like and I should take it back in my hands. I should live life on my terms and not in any other way. I started doing things that I liked. I like writing and sharing information. I started blogging back. I was thinking about gardening also. But did not do much about it. After a while, with great difficulty I planted a few sangu pushpam plants(butterfly pea). But that is it about it. My 10 sq. ft. space was very dull with containers with no plants.
Today, I got down to work on my garden. I filled the containers with new red-soil-sand-manure mix. It took me about three hours to empty all the old soil and fill with new mix. I have six containers ready for plantation. In the coming weeks, I will start planting.
By April 2010, the treatment stopped completely. I was alright, up and running, though life had taken a toll on me. I had also tested my ability to withstand the pressures of working life with a consultancy work by then. I was ready to go back to work. I prepared my resume in end of April/early May 2010. To my surprise market reacted pretty nicely and got three offers in hand - from TCS, Ford and from HP. (those were the only companies I passed my resume to). I had a lot of free time till July 2010. In May, June and July, the only task was to attend interviews; it took only about 10 days of effort split across 2.5 months. The situation was much like 2008; I was healthy, but free... I turned my focus back on my plants.
I made some decisions about my plants (I think I made all wrong decisions around that timelines); I moved a few of them to the staircase. The biggest mistake was to move my drumstick tree to the vacant land besides my building. The tree survived nicely for about 3 weeks, but slowly started withering. There were rodents in that area. I did not know/realize. They ate the roots of the tree and killed it. The ones in staircase also started dying as the heat was too much for them to bear. I too was got caught up in mental trauma both in personal and official life. All my plants except for a money plant (Silver Vine), pasalai keerai (Indian Spinach), sotru katrazhai (Aloe Vera) and malai arali (a variety of Oleander) died. These four were really hardy and withstood all kinds pressures – no water on many days, hot sun, no manure.
Since May this year, I have been thinking, why have I left life to go on as it feels like and I should take it back in my hands. I should live life on my terms and not in any other way. I started doing things that I liked. I like writing and sharing information. I started blogging back. I was thinking about gardening also. But did not do much about it. After a while, with great difficulty I planted a few sangu pushpam plants(butterfly pea). But that is it about it. My 10 sq. ft. space was very dull with containers with no plants.
Today, I got down to work on my garden. I filled the containers with new red-soil-sand-manure mix. It took me about three hours to empty all the old soil and fill with new mix. I have six containers ready for plantation. In the coming weeks, I will start planting.
