Gondharaj lemon fruiting for the first time...There are 7 lemons and some more flowers, very eager to taste it. It is supposed to be very fragrant variety and used widly in Bengali Cuisine.I had planted many, lots of them didn't survive the summer and also were overgrown by weeds. I have 3 plants totally.
I have a small patch where I cultivate happy hill rice in every rainy season. This time made it bit lower and raised buds so that water stagnates and never leaves it. Earlier I had used bricks instead of buds, but water used to leake and topsoil was lost.
The patch was growing green gram for 2 months,cut that and mulched it. Yesterday it rained nicely and hence had a feel that monsoon is starting and put some seeds in water. Plan is to soak them for 24 hours and sow. Today there was no rain, if rain recedes again, seeds may be lost, but have enough seeds in the refrigerator.
Mixed soaked rice seeds with cowdung and added little water so that it mixes well. This is just to try, mixing with cowdung and sowing, how it germinates and prevents from insect and bird attack. Earlier once when I sowed rice seeds, ants picked most of them.
24-June-2026
Small channels were made using a sharp tool and then seeds mixed with cowdung was put
Today I went with family to a temple called Kachamkurichi in Kollengode,Palakkad and on the way back to a view point where a good view of the mountain and paddy fields at the base is seen. Even at June 21st, there is no monsoon rain established in this part of Kerala while other districts are receiving reasonably good rain. Paddy fields are waiting for the rain, and some people have sown paddy and it is growing.
When we got down at the view point, was surprised to see a familiar plant and that looks to be Stylosanthes Hamata. I was not sure how it came there, but it is not there on the road side or some other nearby area.
It has established well, and was a beautiful sight to see..
I had posted these photos in two WhatsApp groups, just to see if anyone recognizes that. To my surprise two people responded, saying they know Stylo grass,is a good cattle feed and nitrogen fixer and prevent erosion. Those responses in Malayalam is given here...
By Binojkumar of Jaivasamrakshnasamithi
സെററല്ലാ ഹമാറ്റ, എന്ന പേരിലറിയപ്പെടുന്ന വിദേശ ഇനം ചെടി. ചില ദിക്കിൽ പയർ പുല്ല് എന്ന് പറയും. കന്നുകാലികൾ ആർത്തിയോടെ തിന്നും. ചില ദിക്കിൽ മുയൽ പുല്ലേ എന്ന് പറയും. മുയലിനും ഇഷ്ടം. അന്തരീക്ഷ നൈട്രജൻ വലിച്ചെടുക്കുന്ന ഒന്നാംതരം ചെടി. ചെരിവുള്ള സ്ഥലങ്ങളിൽ നട്ടുപിടിപ്പിച്ചാൽ മണ്ണൊലിപ്പ് ഉണ്ടാവില്ല. ചില റബ്ബർ തോട്ടങ്ങളിൽ കണ്ടിട്ടുണ്ട്.
I have been planning to grow glyricidea and other native tree saplings in the farm just to bring more and more shade. I can see that without shade, grown crops find it difficult to manage in summer. Now a days, in this area summer is harsh and rain has been reduced.
I bought some glyricidea seeds from amazon and also collected some seeds from farm and from road side and has been growing them. When rain pickup it will be planted in the farm. Glyricidea saplings from seeds has been doing good so far, they are drought tolerant and fights summer nicely. I have been growing them in plastic cups which costs around 6-7/ indian rupees, and this can be used for at least 4-5 years.
I should be growing them from February onwards so that they can be transplanted at the start of rainy season.
I have kept a field which has not been ploughed for the last 5 years now. I had kept some plastic sheets on this to keep the weeds away, but it was not covering the full field and hence had to keep it moving to different areas. But it made weeds less and made the work of cleaning the grass easy. One male labor and one female labor cleaned the area which is 0.1 acre. Male person cleaned it using spade and kept the weeds at the side. Initially I thought cutting and keeping the weeds using sickle is best, but later spade showed to be a better tool.
Kayama seeds of 2Kg were put in water for 24 hours...Rain had receded, but hoping that it will rain in one or 2 days, seeds were sown. Since plastic sheet was put cleaning was easier. Using a sharp tool, lines were marked and seeds were put and cowdung slurry was poured. This makes seeds invisible to peacocks and also ants does not pick them. On a single day, complete sowing process was completed and one day clearing process was completed.
I was happy that in 0.1 acre land, we can comfortably do all the work to sow the rice seeds in 2 days, 1 day for clearing and 1 day for sowing. Manual weed control also is possible to some extend if the seeds are sown in lines.
23-June-2026
Rain didn't come as expected, hence seeds didn't germinate well, only in a few places it came up. So waiting for rain is of no use, sowing for rice is best done when rain is established well, especially when sowing soaked seeds. If sowing directly, it has to be under soil or it should be seedball and should be done in between April mid and May 1st, so that seeds come up with first rain, in this case it should be minimum 5-6 months duration crop so that they have enough time to recover from in between dry spells.
This time I am growing few rice varieties in grow bags, just to multiply seeds and to preserve them. Each seed is kept in water for 24 hours and then sown in to grow bags. I have marked their name in the grow bag, some places it is not clear, I have also written their name in the paper and kept in each grow bag and took a photo.
Here are the varieties..All these were sown on 8th June 2026.
Happy Hill
Developed by Masanobu Fukuoka, original seed received from Japan.
Kayama
Indigenous variety, 150 days duration
Raja Kayama
Kasarkod
Erumakkari - Original
Seed received from RARS Pattambi
Erumakkari - Indira
Chuvanna Modan
Upland rice variety received from RARS pattambi
Stylosanthes Hamata is the new covercrop which I am trying. It is low height and grows nicely and is leguminous so should be enriching soil. I am just trying to study which is the best sowing period, if there is soil moisture it germinates well, but in high rain, I am not sure if it germinates and grows well. But it is drought tollerant, it survives summer well, it won't be seen in summer, but when it rains, it will just come back.
This year pre-monsoon rains were bad, and monsoon itself started on June 3rd early morning, till that it was sunny all the time.
With first rain, I sow some seeds, wanted to see, how they come up. But since it is rainly season, there will be frequent rains, whether they like it or not is we have to find out.
In all these places I have sown seeds, will have to find out if they come up.
