Today’s post is going to be less wordy! I present you with a photo essay on the wonder of transformation that’s taking place on my  terrace everyday- as flowers blossom, get pollinated by a slowly increasing tribe of butterflies and bees, and become edible fruit…or vegetables!

Apparently, the distinction between fruit and vegetables has to do with the presence of seeds (fruits have them, veggies do not). The nifty scientific explanation is courtesy my son. The cool photographs are courtesy my daughter!

Okra/Lady Finger/Bhindi Flower and Fruit

Darling Buds of May…and of Capsicum/Green Peppers

A Delicate Lacey Snake Gourd Flower Awaits Pollination

The Sweet Chilly Flower…so different from its Pungent Fruit

Cabbage…as lovely as any other flower!

This week I read about the disappearing population of butterflies, bees and moths in the North Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Our unsustainable demand for mass produced apples, blind recourse to chemical fertilizers/pesticides, and systemic failure to encourage organic farming has decimated these creatures in Himachal. Now the state needs to import bees to pollinate its apple orchards! What next mankind, and whither common sense? It was terribly depressing news. I came upstairs to my terrace garden that day, thankful for my little tribe of butterflies and bees who come by daily to check out which flower needs pollination, and I vow never to use chemicals in my garden, ever.

And until the next post, happy and sustainable growing!

© Mumbai Farmer 2013. Do not copy in part or whole without prior written permission from the author. Infringement of copyright will render you liable for legal action.