Wandering through a neighbor’s beautiful garden many years ago, I came across a stone plaque nestled in the bushes with the words:

“As the garden grows, so does the gardener.”

My neighbor was a proud, happy gardener, besides being an accomplished career woman and parent to three teenagers. She made the time for gardening each day because it gave her space to grow – within and without. We nurture life in many ways, and for those of us who choose to grow through gardening or farming, the options are plenty!

Here’s what I’ve been busy growing in my little urban farm since my last post….

Lemongrass – tall and lovely, easy to propagate from shoots, handy for herbal tea

Ginger – this spiky, ungainly plant will surprise you with its underground harvest in six months

Aloe Vera – why spend 50 bucks a stalk when this wonderplant will grow with no fuss at all?

Stringbeans/Frenchbeans – an easy, lush winter vegetable for Mumbai

Pole beans – rapid growing and bountiful, this is the reason Jack could climb so high!

Sweet Potato – a shockingly profligate grower that can very easily take over your garden – roots to full pink potatoes in months

The veggies that grew well on my Mumbai terrace this winter were mainly rooted ones – potatoes, beetroot, radish, ginger, garlic, turmeric and onions. Beans thrived in the cooler temperatures (tropical summers can shrivel your bean plants in a day) and the speed with which they climbed and bore fruit was heartening! I have enjoyed, and continue to enjoy, many joyous moments harvesting a wide variety of beans, and digging out full, baby pink sweet potatoes, golden turmeric and almost-as-expensive-as-gold ginger! But more on that later in my next post on tropical winter harvesting!

Until then, enjoy the growing. And if you can trace the person who observed that gardeners grow in the act of growing a garden, do let me know!

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