Ocean to Land

Our natural world is being destroyed at an astonishing rate, that by 2030  the destruction we make will be irreversible. First of all, what is the natural world, the natural world is everything that we see around us, it is not the gadgets, not the concrete jungles, roads, etc.., of the city, it is everything else that is here in this world for hundreds of years including us. Organisms that proliferated here for thousands and millions of years are vanishing at a rate the earth has never seen before. It is said that the extinction rate is 100 to 1000 times the normal rate, which means within a few decades earth will be lifeless if we don't act now. Global climate change has dropped both people and other life forms to the brink of chaos. Increasing floods, hurricanes, droughts, and other natural disasters have increased in number and severity over the past few years. Unsustainable human activities such as agriculture especially livestock farming, where the methane gas released by the ...

The world is full of wonders and mysteries, but everyone has their own way of discovering these wonders and mysteries, some like to discover more about our past civilization and their remains, some wants to roam the cosmos through a telescope, and some wants to dive deeper into the world of equations and complex mathematical problems. I personally find those no more interesting than just confusing stuff, what I'm truly interested in is the marvelous, stunning, and awful creatures of our natural world. The reason I'm so much interested in the natural world is really simple, they are awesome, even though we all live with and among these, we haven't fully understood and learned about the natural world. Every time I go out and look at the natural world, I'm mesmerized by Mother Nature, I discover new things and I feel immense pride and pleasure that I'm a part of this natural world. When I look at a creature crawling by I feel like they are my cousins and we both share ...

Cinnamomum tamala is from the Cinnamomum genus which includes the cinnamon which is commonly used in various cuisines most notably in biriyani in Asia( Indian subcontinents, china). Common Names: It is known by its various local names  Hindi: तेजपत्ता tejpatta Manipuri: তেজপাত Tejpat Tamil: தாளிசபத்திரி Talishappattiri,  மரப்பட்டை இலை (Pattai Illai) Malayalam: തമാലപത്രമ് Tamalapatram,  vazhanayila ( വഴനയില ), Vayanayilla, Theralliyilla. Telugu: Talisapatri, Talisha, Patta akulu Kannada: Patraka Bengali: তেজপাত Tejpat Urdu: तेज़पात Tezpat Assamese: Mahpat, তেজপাত Tejpat Gujarati: તમાલપત્ર Tamaal patra Sanskrit: तमालपत्र tamalapattra • Tangkhul: Sakomna Medicinal Properties of Cinnamomum tamala: Antihyperlipidemic Effects: Aqueous and ethanol extract of Cinnamomum tamala leaf was found to reduce  total cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL-C, LDL-C and Atherogenic index and increase the l of HDL-V  when dosed for 10 days at a rate of 400mg/kg/day. link Antidiab...

Pollinators are essential for your garden, everyone knows that they pollinate your plants and make you yield more produce but in recent years pollinators like bees, butterflies, birds, bats ect., are disappearing at an astonishing rate. By planting plants that pollinators love you can increase pollinator numbers in your garden, you can do it by taking a few steps. Plant a lot of flowering plants in your garden which has a lot of pollen and nectar, if you are constricted in terms of space plant plants that are edible as well as pollinator attracter, plants like basil, marigold, nasturtium, etc., will do the job, many medicinal and aromatic plants are attractive plants for pollinator and also medicinal. Have flowers in your garden all year round, so these pollinators have food for the whole year. Never ever use pesticides and other chemicals, if bees could speak all the bees would literally be begging everyone to avoid pesticides, seriously this is a big issue, the Colony Collap...

Gardening is a joyful and soothing hobby, but it can also give you some bad times, like the one which I had today. I had a cucumber vine which I was so proud of because of one huge cucumber on that vine which I had and I even hand pollinated this cucumber flower by myself. I just had one huge cucumber on it, I was so proud of it, that I even posted it on my Instagram, Pinterest and all social media page, but unfortunately today I lost that cucumber to a monkey. What's worse than that is, the monkey just bit a few chunks around it and left the cucumber on the ground. When I went to my garden and saw this I was frustrated at that moment when I saw the leftover cucumber. I found out that it was a monkey by its bite marks and the only thing that comes to my garden during mid-noon is a monkey, I have experienced the same thing for many times before, but this is my first time losing a cucumber, before this I have lost tomatoes only, they will come and take my tomatoes, that even not...

Eggplant Seedling Growing plants from seeds are really easy for most plants, just throw some seeds on the ground it will germinate within a few days. As easy as it sounds when it comes to planting exactly the same number of seed you need not that easy even experienced gardeners don't do it right. Every person who has ever grown plants from seeds should have come across this problem of the extra seedling. When planting seeds like carrot, leafy greens, radishes, brassicas or anything with small seeds can be oversown easily. Chilli Seedling I personally don't like to throw away the seedlings which I took care for days. So, I try to plant as many seedlings as possible, I try to fill every corner of my garden with plants, sometimes I don't follow plant spacing guidelines just because I have extra seedlings. I even try to plants vegetable seedlings with my ornamentals in a confined container, even planting it in your garden borders, in corners of your growing area, wh...

Arrowroot Harvest Maranta arundinacea or commonly called as arrowroot plant, it is an easy ad prolific crop to grow. I like this plant because it looks good in the garden with its tropical large leaves and it is also productive and you can eat the rhizomes, it is medicinal, ornamental and food at the same time. I planted a small tiny rhizome in a small plant pot and left it to itself and within few mounts, it overtook that pot so after a year or so I repotted it to another grow bag. Then again it was growing like crazy with the full sun even though every noon it wood wilt and I used to water every evening. But I didn't know when to harvest it, so I did some research and found that the plant will turn yellow and will die to the ground within 10-12 mounts of planting and then the rhizomes will be ready for harvest, but my arrowroot was growing for 2 years with no signs of yellowing. Arrowroot leaves can be fed to livestock I decided to harvest the arrowroot despite all...

Hand pollination may look unnatural but at the present situation where bees are vanishing at a faster rate every gardener should know how to hand pollinate to get a better yield and also plant a lot of nectar and pollen-bearing flowers and avoid pesticides to ensure remaining bees are happy and healthy. Growing gourds and melons not so difficult for me, but making them fruit is so hard. I don't plant gourds intentionally, they just sprout on their own from the compost pile. My gourd plants have never fruited for me and I don't know why is it so, but still, I leave then in my garden when they sprout out of my compost pile, but last year I was really shocked to see my watermelon plant having a fruit, though the fruit was really small, its a big thing for me that too in a container. Male Flower(Cucumber) Female Flower(Cucumber) After seeing that even this year I planted as many gourds and melons on the same spot where I got watermelon last year as usual nothing ...

I wanted to have driftwood in my aquarium for a really long time but I don't see any worth in paying what the fish store says for a bunch of sticks, so I have been trying and testing different wood and twigs but nothing worked out great. Then I came across this crazy people using different botanicals in the aquarium and as they did I did some research and found out they are really beneficial to the fishes and it also takes place in nature every single day as the leaves, twigs, seedpods fall, it realises tannins which have antibacterial and antifungal compounds and over time these fishes have learned to use these compounds to protect themself. Finally, after finding all of these I looked at a lot of websites selling these botanicals and I was really shocked to see these botanicals costing soo much( i know this could be silly to some of you, but in India where I live these things are waste products and free of cost, you can literally find these on streets.) But by looking at th...

Food Scraps Composting is the best and easiest way to get rid of your food and kitchen waste, but many people think composting is too hard to do but there are ways to do it easily and effectively. Here are some ways to compost without breaking your back:- 1. In-ground composting:- This is the easiest way to compost. Just dig up a pit in your garden put all your organic waste in it, as simple as that. Its best to have a deeper pit and as you fill it up, add a thin layer of soil on top of it just to cover the food scraps, add your old potting soil which is of no use any more, when the pit is filled three fourth of the way close it with a lot more soil and create a mount on it because as it decomposes the volume shrinks eventually it will at ground level. You can actually plant something in it by the time the plant reaches three fourth of the pit the scraps will be composted, but don't plant any root crop as they won't have a proper ...

Cardiospermum Halicacabum:- Cardiospermum Halicacabum also known as balloon vine, balloon plant or many other local names like  mudakkotan  (Tamil), Uzhinja (Malayalam) etc., is a perennial plant from soapberry family. Cardiospermum Halicacabum is known for many traditional uses and it is said to cure many illnesses. Cardiospermum Halicacabum is a climbing plant, native to Asia, Africa and Australia; the seeds are produced in a papery casing that has exactly three seed inside, the flowers are small and white in colour. Names:- Common names- Assames e :  কপাল ফুটা লতা kapaal phuta lata Hindi :           कानफूटा kanphuta, कपालफोड़ी kapalphodi Kannada :    ಬೆಅಗ್ನಿಬಳ್ಳಿ agniballi, ಬೆಕ್ಕಿನ ಬುಡ್ಡೆ ಗಿಡ bekkina budde gida, ಬೆಕ್ಕಿನ ತೊಡ್ಡಿನ ಬಳ್ಳಿ                      bekkina toddina balli, ಚಿಟಕಿ ಹಂಬು chitaki hambu, ಎರುಂಬಳ್ಳಿ erumballi,    ...