Seek And Ye Shall Find...Purslane

Common Purslane with Yellow Flowers | Kulfa | Portulaca oleracea

For the longest time, this plant's name evaded me. It was one of the 27 varieties of flower seeds I had germinated back in March last year. But it didn't match the look of any of the floral plants I had on the list. I tried Google Image Search and got nowhere. Thought of asking Reddit but never got around to it. 

It was one of the fastest to grow amongst the few thriving. It spread its seeds to all the nearby pots, making me have to pull out so many of its saplings for months on end. So much wastage! Had I only realized that this is a plant I've actually eaten before, not once, but many times. I've even plucked the leaves and cooked them. Goes to show how little we observe with a keen eye. I couldn't help but wonder... how much about our surroundings escapes us? 

Turns out, this plant is called Purslane, also known as Kulfa in the local lingo down south. Kulfa Gosht is a regular dish at our table when it's available. It must have been mixed up in the seeds starter pack I'd ordered online. It wasn't on the list, and since it's a fast-growing weed, it's kind of irresponsible of the retail outlet to ship it to unsuspecting customers without so much as a warning about mislabeled seeds and nasty weedy surprises. 

Common Purslane Seedlings | Kulfa | Portulaca oleracea Saplings

This plant is known by various names like Pigweed, Little Hogweed, Fat Weed, Pusley, Luni Bhaji, or Kulfa. Its scientific name is Portulaca oleracea. Portulaca Grandiflora was on the list of the floral plants I grew and was the first to bloom. It's possible that two mislabeled packs of Portulaca were included in the pack, and that's how I ended up with so much Kulfi! Bilingual pun alert! Kulfi is an ice-cream like frozen dessert that's messy to eat as it melts quickly. 

Besides letting the seeds touch the soil, there's not much to growing Purslane. They self-propagate, grow well in extreme heat, and withstand frequent drought-like situations. Mine had yellow flowers - Common Purslane, with tiny black seeds that kept dropping everywhere and sprouting into new saplings by the week. I was tired of keeping the other pots free of their invasive presence, so I scooted out the main plant, along with the roots, and threw it away. But the plant wasn't done with me yet. No Sir! It wasn't! I let that particular pot dry for a few months to reuse it for other plants. But, once the monsoons season set in, the pot started getting watered frequently, and the next thing you know, it's full of Purslane seedlings. 

Something made me not throw the pot away. So, here it is today when I came across this Reddit post in the gardening forum asking to identify the plant in the picture. It's Jade Plant, according to the answers. Curiously, when I googled Jade Plant and switched to images, there it was, a picture of another plant that looked suspiciously like the one I'd been struggling to identify...Purslane! 

Not only does Purslane or Kulfa make for a delicious Bhaji, but it's also rich in vitamin A, vitamin C, and omega-3 fatty acids. You can read more about the health benefits of Purslane on Webmd. Supposedly, it's one of the most nutritious wild edible plants. And you can eat it raw once you wash it thoroughly and add it to salads for its sour flavor. And just like that, I now have an inexhaustible source of Kulfa I can tap into every other week for a delicious meal of Kulfa Gosht! You can replace the mutton with chicken, and it still tastes terrific. 

What's more, it's grown organically, free of harmful fertilizers, and fresh off the soil! Google tells me that the stem and flowers are also edible, in addition to the leaves. Talk about blessings in disguise! Hurray!

Cocogarden Organic Potting Soil Mix Review

This is a hobbyist gardener's review of the Cocogarden Organic Potting Soil Mix available online via Cocogarden's Amazon India retail store. 

Cocogarden Organic Potting Soil Mix - 4.5 Kg Bag

I ordered the 4.5 kg bag, and upon opening the package, the net weight displayed was 4.5 kgs. Unlike a few other brands that have problems with proper weight measures, Cocorgarden isn't cheating you when it comes to the quantity of soil you're paying for.

Cocogarden Organic Potting Soil Mix - 4.5 Kg

You can also notice the moisture content in the bag if you look closely. This was my second time using a readymade soil mix, and from what I've read and understood, the soil should be light, fluffy, and dry. This organic potting mix is soft and fluffy but neither dry nor wet. It was moist.

You can see how it looks in seedling trays here.

Cocogarden Potting Soil Mix in Seedling Trays

This is after a good sprinkling of water. If it looks a bit on the dry side, it was. And this would turn out to be a major problem later. I'd also made my own potting mix with the fertile garden soil from our backyard with 20% cocopeat and 20% vermicompost. Here's how moist my mix stayed despite 37 °C+ temperatures during the day.  

Homemade Potting Soil Mix

And here's how dry the Cocogarden potting soil mix tends to get despite frequent watering. Some clods were so dry, they had a sand-like texture, not conducive to growing most plants.

Drying Potting Soil Mix

Seedlings potted in my homemade potting soil thrived. Those in the readymade potting soil mix by Cocogarden struggled to grow. The seedlings that sprouted were weak, withered, and died after a week or two.

Weak and Droopy Seedlings

Even in summer temperatures, other seedlings planted in my homemade potting soil mix fared much better.

Healthy Marigold Seedlings In Homemade Potting Soil Mix

After two months of observing these seedlings grow, wither, and die, one can safely conclude that the Cocogarden Organic Potting Soil Mix isn't worth it. 

I've mentioned using Ugaao's Potting Soil Mix in the past. I had barely spent any time maintaining those fenugreek and coriander seedlings, yet my harvest was healthy and rich. Go for Ugaoo if you must buy a readymade potting soil mix, especially if you're planting in harsh Indian summers. 

Making your own potting soil mix would be cheaper if you have fertile garden soil handy. You can watch Dr. Surja Prakash Agarwal's Best Potting Soil Mix video to learn more about other ingredients you can include in your mix. His channel is a treasure trove of helpful information and quick tips for Indian gardeners. 

Once I was done with this planting phase, I reused the Cocogarden potting soil mix again - sometimes, I am a slow learner. This time, I added cocopeat and vermicompost to the mix, in addition to watering it with liquid seaweed fertilizer. Nothing sprouted in this mixture, not a single seed except a few wild weeds. Lesson learned!

This product has an average rating of 4.2 stars out of 5 with close to 1000 ratings on Amazon. Perhaps, my experience is a one-off case with a bad batch of potting mix delivered to me. If your experience differs, let me know in the comments. We can discuss what I could have done differently and made it work better for my seeds. 

Feel free to comment on my writing style, diction, and prose, as this is also an exercise in writing a few words every day to hone my skills as a Content Writer.

Thank you for reading. Hope you find this review helpful and avoid wasting your money and time on a less than mediocre product. 

Gardening Vs. Blogging About Gardening

My First Blooms - Portulaca | Moss Rose

Turns out doing a thing is much easier than doing it with meticulous documentation. As pleased as I am to have learned this new skill, I couldn't stop beating myself up about not blogging about everything on time. Then I had to tell myself, "It's alright." The goal was to learn a new skill and be closer to nature. Documenting it for new learners would be an additional feather in my cap if I got around to it. And I didn't. Or couldn't. 

As the saying goes, coulda, woulda, shoulda! I'll not be the next messiah of newbie gardeners and I am okay with it. 

I'll probably update the blog as and when the fancy seizes me just so I can look back at my experiences one day and feel better for having accomplished something. 

Until then, dear myself, ciao!

Potted Floral Plants From the Nursery

I wanted to buy a few things like potting soil, cocopeat, vermicompost, neem oil cake, some pots, and so on locally. Went to the first plant nursery I came across as it was quite a hot afternoon, and my sister had no patience to drive to the big one a few miles away. 

Orange Kalanchoe Blooms

They didn't have most of the things I wanted. The potting soil mix came in 25 kg bags which was too much for me, quantity-wise. I did buy loose cocopeat that cost me Rs. 100 for 4 kgs. This was ready to use cocopeat, unlike the compact blocks available online. If you do the math, this worked out much more expensive compared to the online options. Next time, I would like to buy this compact block of cocopeat from Cocogarden as it expands to nearly 75 liters of cocopeat powder. 

I ended up ordering their potting soil mix, which has excellent reviews compared to other potting soil mixes by brands like TrustBasket, IFFCO, Ugaoo, and MahaGro. I've used Ugaoo's potting soil before to plant cherry tomatoes, coriander, and fenugreek(methi). I would say its performance was decent because I never saw the cherry tomatoes, but methi and coriander grew in abundance without much care. 

The nursery didn't have seed trays either, so I ordered this pack of 5 seedlings trays by Kraft Seeds. Each tray has 49 holes adding up to 245 holes in total. Enough for me to germinate 9 pods per flower at the least. Although the reviews for these trays aren't stellar, neither are reviews for other seedling trays available online. Whether it's this colorful set by Kraft Seeds or this pack of 10 seedling trays by Diligent, this pack of two seedling trays by the Home Garden Store, or this set of seedling trays sold by Bio Blooms Agro India Pvt. Ltd, they've got uniformly bad reviews. I just went with the most economical option as the quality of the trays wasn't a criterion under consideration. 

My biggest gripe about the brands I've ordered is the extended delivery time, almost a week to get the soil and the trays to my place; why?

As is the norm, you go out to shop for one thing and end up buying 10 others that were not on the list. Just so, I ended up picking up some potted flower plants from the nursery too. Here's a look at the 11 flower plants I bought and transplanted/re-potted last week. Altogether, they cost me around Rs. 800/-. 

It is recommended that you let a day or three pass before you repot plants bought from the nursery to give them enough time to acclimatize to the new surroundings and prevent them from decaying due to root shock. 

1. Peach Aster

Potted Peach Aster

Honestly speaking, I had no clue what flower it was when I bought it. I had to look up all the flowers on Google Image Search. While a few queries yielded quick results, others required ages of extensive keyword research to zero in on the right nomenclature. 

This plant is almost 100 cm tall and took well to re-potting.  Its flowers are big and pretty but not fragrant.  I bought it for 70 bucks.

Here's a look at a couple of brands that sell mixed-colored Aster seeds online. Most of them do not have good reviews, but seed germination is a tricky process, and your mileage may vary.

1. Heirloom Quality Hybrid Formula Mix Multicolour Flower Aster Seeds - Pack of 50 seeds
2. Dipa Garden Aster Princess Mixed Flower Seeds - Pack of 80 seeds
3. Kraft Seeds Aster Mix 3 in 1 Flower Seed Combo
4. Splendour Seeds - Aster Flower Seeds - Pack of 200 seeds
5. Only for Organic Store Aster Flower Seeds - Pack of 50 seeds; this is the one I'll be using. 

I couldn't find any potted Aster flower pods being sold online, so you'll either have to buy the seeds and germinate them yourself or visit your closest plant nursery to buy an Aster plant in bloom. 

2. Pink Chinese Rose

Potted Pink China Rose

Rosa chinensis or Bengal rose, or Chinese rose (not Hibiscus), is a pretty rose with no fragrance. I'm not sure how well it has taken to the re-potting, but so far, it looks alright. Unlike Aster, there are plenty of options available to buy a bloomed live rose plant online. Here are a few:

M-tech Gardens offers live grafted rose plants in rare colours like Blue Moon Rose, Rare Grafted Black Rose with Red Edges, Rare Grafted Rainbow Rose Live Flower, Grafted Pink White Rose, Grafted Pink Yellow Rose, Purple White Dual Rose Plant, and more. 

You can also buy rose seeds for germination from the following brands:

1. Rare Blue Rose Seeds - Pack of 10 seeds
2. Royal Paradise Garden Mixed Rare Colour Rose Flowers - Pack of 20 seeds
3. Earth Hopper Hybrid Multicolor English Rose Seeds - Pack of 150 seeds
4. NooElec Seeds India Store Mixed Rare Colour Rose Flowers - Pack of 80 seeds

Most of these seeds have terrible reviews, and I personally would not recommend wasting your money, even though they're pretty cheap. If you have some money to spare, and wouldn't mind the minimal efforts required in the germination of seeds, maybe you can give one of these seeds pack a try. I am tempted, not gonna lie!

3. Damascus Rose

Potted Damascus Rose

This plant had a couple of buds and blooms when I bought it. Had to resort to deadheading to get the wilted flowers off and encourage more blooms. So far, it looks alright but is showing a couple of yellow leaves. Although it is supposed to be a fragrant flower, I couldn't smell anything. You can buy both the seeds as well as the live plant for Damascus rose online. Here are a few helpful links.

1. Mphmi Damascus Rose Live Plant
2. Royal Paradise Garden Rare Heirloom Pink Damask Rose Bush Flower Seeds - Pack of 20 seeds

4. Dahlia Royal Purple | Decorative Double Petal Dahlia

Potted Dahlia Venti Royal Purple

I remember the price for this one and the other Dahlia. Both together cost me Rs. 350/-. Bought them for their sheer size - massive blooms. This royal purple decorative Dahlia is thriving, as seen in the picture, and a new bud is blooming already. Didn't transplant it, simply added some cocopeat+vermicompost mix to the pot, placed it in the sun, and that was that. Hopefully, it keeps blooming. You can buy the seeds for this particular color of Dahlia online here:

1. Kraft Seeds Zinnia Dahlia Flowers Mix - Pack of 100 seeds
2. Aero Seeds Dahlia Unwins Hybrid Mix Flower - Pack of 100 seeds
3. Hudgle Punjab Seeds Worlds Dahlia Mixed - Pack of 100 seeds
4. SS GARDEN Dahlia Hybrid Plant Multi Colors - 1 Live Plant in Poly Bag

5. Decorative Edinburgh Dahlia

Potted Decorative Edinburgh Dahlia

This beautiful decorative Dahlia has maroon petals with white tips. Sadly, it didn't take well to the re-potting and is wilting by the day. I'm not sure if I can revive it. I'm waiting for the organic fertilizers I've ordered to see if they can induce regrowth. The internet says you should fertilize the plant 10 days after transplanting, so the timing works out as long as it's not totally dead by then. Although not the same as the Edinburgh Dahlia, here are a few places online besides Amazon, where you can buy Dahlia seeds.

1. Ugaoo Pyramid Seeds Dahlia Seeds
2. nurserylive Figaro Dahlia Mixed Seeds
3. TrustBasket Dahlia Mixed Seeds

6. Wild Pink Geranium | Geranium Maculatum | Pink Cranesbill - Possibly Misidentified

Potted Geranium maculatum Plant | Wild Geranium

Another wilting plant that looks like it's all set to give up its ghost. It's also the flower I'm least sure about the terminology of. I think this is a variety of wild Geranium, a.k.a Geranium maculatum with pink flowers. The leaves definitely resemble pictures available online, but the flowers tend to be lighter in colour. I wasn't able to zero in on another plant that as closely resembled the one I bought. So, for now, until someone corrects me, this is wild Geranium in pink. A wild pink geranium on the verge of death, that is. If you would like to buy this flower's live plant or seeds online, here are some helpful links:

1. nurserylive Geranium maculatum Live Plant
2. Other varieties of Geranium in red, white, orange, etc.
3. nurserylive Pink Geranium Plant
4. M-Tech Gardens Rare Geranium Flower Seeds - Pack of 20 seeds

7. Kalanchoe Flowers

Potted Orange Kalanchoe Blooms

These were the cheapest plants I bought at the nursery. Rs. 50/- each for both the 'Orange Kalanchoe' and the 'Pink Kalanchoe' blooms along with the pots. 

Potted Pink Kalanchoe Blooms

These are succulents that require minimal care. Could have planted both in the same pot if I'd read up on them earlier. I'm planning to buy the Kalanchoe (Ka - lan - ko - ee) in as many colours as possible and plant them together in big pots so they resemble big live bouquets that can brighten up any room. You can buy the live plants and seeds online at the following links:

1. Green Paradise® live flowering Kalanchoe Plant - Set of 3
2. V K GLOBAL Kalanchoe Red Plant
3. Greenursery Imported Kalanchoe Double White Color FLower Live Plant
4. Kalanchoe Flower Seeds

I definitely don't recommend buying Kalanchoe seeds unless you want to grow them from scratch. Nor do I recommend buying these live plants online as you'll get them much cheaper at any local nursery. 

8. Violet Torenia | Wishbone Flower

Potted Violet Torenia

This was another flower that took forever to reveal its actual name. Most online posters have mislabeled it as Violet, which is a different flowering plant altogether. Its real name is Torenia fournieri, and it's popularly known as the Wishbone flower. It also comes in various hues of purple, pink, white and their combinations. 

Unfortunately, this one is mostly dead. The roots of this plant were not very deep, and when taken out for transplanting, the plant above the ground just came apart. A lone stem had managed to stay upright after planting, but it looks like even that's wilting now. 

You can buy Torenia seeds and live plants online at the following links:

1. Bighaat Torenia Seeds
2. SeedsnPots Torenia Kauai Mix Seeds
3. Purple Torenia Live Plant
4. Mphmi White Torenia Live Plant
5. Mphmi Violet Torenia Live Plant
6. Pink Torenia Live Plant

Again, these are more expensive online. I don't think I paid more than a hundred bucks for this plant along with the plastic pot at the nursery.

9. Sweet William Flowers | Dianthus Pink | Dianthus Red

Potted Sweet William Pink Velvet Flowers Plant

I wonder why this didn't take to the transplanting as well as the red one. 

I want to end on a positive note, so here's the thriving red Sweet William plant with new blooms after transplanting.

Potted Sweet William Red Velvet Flower Plant

Some deadheading might be in order to encourage more blooms. I really liked the velvet texture of the petals of this flower. I can't wait to give them the seaweed fertilizer, so they bloom in bunches, as seen in online pictures. Here are a few helpful links to buy Sweet William seeds online.

1. TrustBasket® Sweet William (OP/Desi) Seeds with Free Germination Potting Soil Mix
2. Aero Seeds Sweet William Mix Flower - Pack of 100 seeds
3. Golden Hills Farm® Dianthus Barbatus/Sweet William Flower Mixed Seeds

I didn't have to buy the pots to transplant the pods nor the potting soil because both of these were readily available to me. If you're looking to buy pots, you can check out the wide range of flower pots available on Amazon. 

I also bought vermicompost from the nursery at Rs. 50/kg. Couldn't find the brand online, so here it is.

Sadabahar Vermicompost Booster for Plants

I am not sure of this brand's quality or performance, but it fits in well with my budget constraints, so I went for it with my eyes shut. You can obviously choose one of the well-reviewed brands available online or make your own. 

I'll blog about these plants again once I've had the opportunity to use some proper fertilizers on them and revive the wilting ones. Perhaps, they'll have new blooms in the new pics; we'll see. 

That brings me to the end of this long post. Documenting these things is a far bigger hassle than actually getting the work done. It took me longer to create this post than to buy the plants, transplant them, and click a couple of pictures. Much respect to those who run successful Youtube channels about their hobbies, this is a lot more work than I had fathomed earlier. Phew!!!

Blogger's formatting goes haywire if you try to post two or more images in the same row, so I used Pinetools, a free online tool that helps you play around with images. Use the merge images feature to club two images horizontally - as shown above, or merge them vertically if you so wish. 

That Was Quick! Seeds Package Was Delivered Today

I had ordered this package on 3rd March 2021, and it was delivered this morning, 5th March, 2021. That's less than 48 hours! I am impressed. Here's a look at the size of the package. It's pretty small; I was expecting 250 grams of cocopeat to be bigger, I suppose. It will expand once it's been watered, so no concerns there. I'm sure it will be enough to germinate 27 flower seeds.

Here's a look at the package that arrived and its contents.

Amazon 30 Flower Seeds Package

Seeds Package Contents

30 Flower Seeds Package Details Slip

Cocopeat Block | 200 to 250 grams

Twenty Eight Summer Flower Seeds

Here's an alphabetical list of the 28 flowers seeds shown in the picture above:

1. Acrolinium
2. Antirrhinum
3. Aster
4. Balsam
5. Calendula
6. California Poppy
7. Chrysanthemum
8. Cockscomb
9. Coreopsis
10. Cosmos Bright Yellow
11. Cosmos Sensation Mix
12. Dahlia
13. Delphinium
14. Dianthus
15. Gaillardia
16. Godetia
17. Gomphrena
18. Hollyhocks
19. Iceland Poppy
20. Ipomoea
21. Mesembryanthemum
22. Nemesia
23. Petunia
24. Phlox
25. Portulaca
26. Stock Flower
27. Sunflower
28. Verbena

Also included in the pack are seeds for Kochia, Yellow Marigold, and Orange Marigold. Kochia is an invasive species, so I don't intend to germinate it. Might also skip sunflower and both the marigolds. 

Kochia and Marigold Seeds

That's it for the day. I'll compose a detailed post about the 30 different varieties of flower seeds included in the package later. 

Gardening It Is - Flower Gardening To Begin With

One of my goals for 2021 was to pick up a new hobby or pursue a new interest, which also counts as a skill. The itch to do something productive that leads to corporeal results, things I can touch, hold and feel, has been gnawing at me for a while. Most of my work has been online, and it just isn't as satisfactory as baking, cooking, or other pursuits that make me happy. So, here I am. 

The goal is to learn this on-the-go. I'm not going to invest heavily, to begin with, because I'm not sure how long I'll stick with it...I a fickle like that!

Step one was buying a couple of seeds to germinate. Bought this pack of 5000 Flower Seeds in 30 Varieties for the simple reason that a 250 grams block of cocopeat comes free with it. 

Here's a look at all the flowers included in the pack:

And here's information on how many seeds per flower are included in the pack:

Ordered these today, 3rd March 2021. Let's see when I can get the pack and how soon I manage to get on with the germinating.