Summer Knocking!

Late spring is here and already its becoming unbearable. The much dreaded summers will be comming soon.

I water in the morning and by sunset, all the plants have wilted and its only late spring here. I shudder at the thaught of what will happen in the middle of may when the sun beats like a hammer. The arrival of summer always depresses me. I don’t know why it is so, maybe it is because of the dreadful heat, too much sweat, long lazy boring days, lots of flys, not many flowers or over bright days and short nights. I always look at summer with the wry acceptance of the inevitable.

Well, enough of whining, I still have so 3 weeks worth of blooms left.w
Currently, my Carnations are in bloom. Growing carnations is tedious as the weather of jaipur is not very cooperative. You sow the seeds in august, hoping for early blooms and better growth. Spray water on the seeds 5 times a day. 4 days later they sprout and tiny seedlings emerge. You place the seedlings in partial shade and water three times a day. By the middle of september, you have lots of small seedlings with 4 leaves that you wish to transplant in 15 days but one day you forget watering and all your seadlings end up dead. You start them again, go through all the steps again, transplant them and watch with delight when another pair of leaves emerge. You
Always keep a ruler with you to measure its height. 15 cm? Check! 30cm? Check! You wait with anticipation for the right time to pinch and re-pinch the plant. You wake up after midnight and rush to check on your plants as you had a nightmare that they were crushed by a stray cat. You set stakes and nettings at appropriate height and distance, check every leaf for signs of pests and with the first signs of an un-welcome little creature, you start spraying the plants weekly with copper sollutions, chilly+onion+garlic infused water and what not. And then you ask yourself ‘is 4 1/2 months of such back breaking labour really worth it?’ and when you see their beautiful flowers and inhale their sweet clove and nutmeg fregnance, you have only one answer to your question ‘Totally worth it!’