Tag: Plants

Part 97- Success!

Rovija Khapre 0 Comment General Topics, Life during Pandemic ,

89 days to go my friends. 89 days. This week has turned out a little strange. I wrote a little about global warming and then on my friend drama that had nothing to do with this. I’ll tell you why this week’s blogs haven’t been as informational. Well, it’s because I have been given 2 break weeks. I have only two weeks left for school, this and next week, and my parents have given me breaks for them. Meaning, I don’t have to do any homework or follow my schedule- which you already know- except for writing blogs, and I just get to relax and do whatever I want all day. So, I have been spending my time on my secret Minecraft project and gardening and buying new books. That’s right, I already have new books. It’s actually a manga series, Cardcaptor Sakura and it’s the Clear Card series, which is basically the next part of the series. I have been wanting to read the series after watching the show and learning it was originally a manga series. Anyway, I also went to Kinokuniya in Carrolton. That area is all Asian. There’s a farmers market- 99 ranch- which is Chinese, a Korean Barbeque, revolving sushi bar, a bakery called 85 degrees C, which is so good! I got three pastries and they are soo good. I really recommend it. I couldn’t go to 99 ranch or buy anything from teh food stores because of something goon on, but my parents promised to take me again once it’s over. Kinokuniya is filled with a lot of manga series and a lot of things relating to anime. As well as a section for pens and pencils from Japan and notebooks and plushies taht are all Japanese related. Like, Hello Kitty, Pusheen, Molang, and more. 

But that’s not what this blog is about. It’s an update blog. I have, so far, one, okra that is almost ready. It grew a flower not too long ago and has transformed into okra. I have a small cucumber as well. I thought I found a few more, but, today I only found one. My pineapple is, growing splendidly though. It has new, healthy leaves. My watermelon is only growing flowers. I haven’t seen any fruit or other growth besides that. I can’t wait until they are ready. My crabapple tree is planted, and I hope is getting used to its new environment. I also realized that I never posted a picture of the whole garden, so I added that down below. Anyway, I hope everyone has a good rest of the day. Bye!
The first okra

Tiny food!

My cucumber vine growing

Tiny growing watermelon

The whole garden

More bitter gourd

My pineapple and it’s new leaves

Tomato

Part 91- A new addition to the plant family

Rovija Khapre 0 Comment Family, Life during Pandemic ,

99 days until the 2020 Presidential Elections. How, exciting. I know that on Friday, I had a very unusual blog on my day, but, it was an awesome day. I am going to confess that I haven’t read the newspaper this morning, so I don’t really know any new news or anything that I can really write about for the 2020 Election log. I know that it’s disappointing, but, that’s just how it turned out. But, I do have some exciting news.

So, this is a bit of a memory blog. In Ohio, before we moved, my grandparents or my parents bought a lovely apple tree and planted it in our backyard. Our backyard in Ohio was HUGE. I’m not joking. We had two maple trees that weren’t saplings at all, a small pine tree, another tree which I don’t remember what type it was, and my little apple tree. The apple tree wasn’t that big and was still growing. I do know, that my grandparents/parents planted the tree for me. I do have a small confession to make. I never really took care of it. I mean, I was a little kid, but still. I didn’t really eat the apples it grew. Once, I did pick some apples and brought them into the apples but I never ate them. They were small apples though. Anyway, yesterday my parents went to Costco to look at some plants and came home with a beautiful Crabapple tree, that is still a young plant. It doesn’t have strong branches but, it is still beautiful. I now have a new addition to my lovely garden of cucumbers, okra, watermelons, bitter gourds, tomatoes, pineapple, and a grapevine, which I very rarely or haven’t mentioned at all. Just finding out that they got one for me, brought back so many memories. The last day we would be spending in Ohio, was the worst. I didn’t realize how bad moving was until I came home from my last day of school to my home all boxed up. We went through every room and I just cried. That was my home, I lived there for as long as I knew, and I was leaving it to some new place I’ve never been to. After that, over the years, and even today, I always look back to that beautiful and grand home I lived in and I always regretted not being able to take care of my little tree. The new people who moved in wouldn’t knwo about my little tree, and might not care about it. They might just think it was planted for decoration or something, but that tree was for me. And I LOVE it. So, getting this sweet little Crabapple tree means so much to me and I promise that I will never make it feel left out as I did to my little tree in Ohio. I will make sure that it grows- as I never saw my old tree grow or spent much time with it- and I will take care of it with all of my heart. 
There is a picture of my tree at the end of this blog. I know that I am supposed to be writing about the Elections, but I had to share this memory with you all. I hope you all are well. I am going to include updates on my apple tree when I do update blogs on my plants, as it is now a new addition to the plant family, and I can’t wait for it to grow and start producing flowers and fruits. BYE! ( By the way, there was a glare from the sun so I couldn’t take a picture right and had to edit out my finger that as in the shot. Plus, the picture  may or may not have been taken wonky)

Part 83- Gardens and food

Rovija Khapre 0 Comment General Topics, Life during Pandemic ,

HI! So, as you may have noticed, today’s post has a new title. In my previous blog I said I was updating it, and I have only managed to do these two posts, and I still need to go back to all my previous ones and change those. Today will be a little update. As you can tell by teh title, it is Garden update, and hinting from it, I am ready to cook using my beautiful veggies. ( It’s actually just one vegetable but I wanted to build suspense) So, my watermelon has grown, and have started producing flowers. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing because they are still young. My okra plants have thrived well, as they continue to grow taller, and my cucumber is bursting with yellow flowers here and there. My tomato plant still remains, slightly crispy on the edges of its leaves and no progress. My Karla- or bitter gourd as I have just remembered the name for it- is growing, a lot, and it has food! One bitter gourd is almost ready to be harvested as it is huge, 2 more follow, not that far behind, another is almost there, maybe another week or so, and one still needs a while. I’m so proud of my little plant children! What I’m really excited about is my pineapple. Just recently, my plant has started growing fresh new leaves. This means, that it is living! Leaves aren’t just dying but are also making way for new ones. This means that I may be able to have my own pineapple plant and eat my own home-grown pineapple as a snack and forever until I’ve eaten it all. I’m so excited! 

I’m not going to be teh one cooking as my mom is, but, I’m still contributing as I’ve supplied the main ingredient. In Indian culture, we create something called Bhaji ( bh-aa-ji) – if that helps pronounce it and it’s where we take vegetables and make food out of it. Yeah, so creative. It’s hard to put into words except that it’s like the main thing we eat for dinner or lunch every day unless we feel like eating outdoors. Long story short, my mom’s making Karla Bhaji. { karlachi bhaji- in Marathi that is the proper way to say it} I, have never tried Karla so I’m gonna say no thanks I’m sorry. I just don’t like the look of that vegetable even though it’s like the number one thing producing anything in my garden, and I’m not good at trying new things- food and books and clothes. Anyway, I’ll at least try it, and tell you how it’s been. Plus, I wanted to share something really exciting to add to my update.
Usually, when I do garden updates it’s like, yeah yeah you’ve done this and they’re growing This time, this weekend- last Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and today- have been the hottest days ever. Reaching up to 102 degrees or just staying in teh 100’s, the heat has come burning down onto my plants. Of course, I’m watering them, but I’ve been watering them 2x more than usual and the other plants twice now that there is more heat, and I have been constantly worried that it might not be enough. Just seeing my pineapple has grown new leaves that are growing in this heat and that my plants aren’t burning up is enough proof that I’m doing well and that I should water more because one can NEVER BE TOO CAREFUL. 
Anyway, this was a plant update, pictures are at teh bottom, I hope you have enjoyed it. At the end of this, I’m going to post a how-to plant your own plants at home blog. Be on teh lookout for that. BYE!!!
My pineapple has grown new leaves, as seen in the middle.

My tomato still shows zero progress or any growth

Here’s some thriving and well growing Bitter Gourd

Left, biggest Karla- ready to be harvested, middle and right, almost there!
Still need time to grow

One that needs a week

Rope-reaching okra

Growing everywhere cucumber plant!

My Cucumber with flowers,
hiding behind the shade of my okra plants!

My tiny watermelon being attacked,
 by my cucumber that wandered into my okra plants!

Part 74- Updates and good news

Rovija Khapre 0 Comment General Topics, Life during Pandemic ,

Hello everyone! How are you? Today is the second day of July, which means this Saturday is the 4th of July, independence day. Today’s post is going to be more of an update day. On my plants, and just in general, you know.  Let’s get started. 

So, on my plants, we have good progress. My cucumbers have started growing flowers, which means that they will start to produce cucumbers soon!!!!!!!! And, my watermelon, which was taken over by Mumma’s Karla plant has started growing it’s little springs, at such a young stage. It’s not very tall- as tall as my okra and cucumbers or as strong, but yet it is growing its “springs”, and for that, I am extremely pleased. I am soo proud of myself and I cannot wait to “harvest” them to eat. I also wrote a 2-page story in Marathi. not much, but when you think about it, that’s an achievement for me. My teacher actually gave us a starter, and I usually write my own stories, like the whole thing never with a topic or start given, so it was really hard. Harder than coming up with a story. I managed to turn it into a twist and into a fantasy story in the end, and a To Be Continued at the end so I could check and revise it in a day so it will be over. I do like it though. I actually started a draft in English, to get an idea of the story, and I’m really liking how it was turning out. I think that will be on my to-be-stories list. This is the only one on the list, besides a few that are in teh making of. I did have an art class today, and I have to say, the piece we drew was really nice. I think it was really nice. Just sketching, a picture of a lock that is opened with a wood background. The shading techniques and how the background came out was just beautiful in my opinion. I really enjoyed it. As well as teh piece from last time. A lovely watercolor one of a flower, that was extraordinary. It came out really nice with the different shades and blending and watered out colors technique. I really loved it. 
And, sadly, that is all I have to say. All my updates. I mainly just wanted to update you on my plants, and I will post a pic of them soon. BYE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Life of 12 year old- Coronavirus Lockdown- Part 56

Rovija Khapre 0 Comment Life during Pandemic ,

Umm… So, I guess I have to say this, but, I’ve been waiting for a topic to come in my head for quite a while now. Maybe what I can do is catch up on a few things that I needed to write about. I had some gardening tips and ideas that I wanted to share.

When planting seeds from home, make sure that you dry them in the sun first. Anything like beans, cucumber seeds, strawberry seeds, etc. They should be dried out. Ones like avocado seeds shouldn’t. Mango seeds should also be dried. Plant them in soil- potting soil, and preferably, start the seeds out in pots or small reusable containers until they have germinated or at least sprouted.
As you can see, I have re-used a mango container to plant my seeds in. My plants have still not shown me any sign of life yet. 
 Make sure you keep them in visible sunlight, but not in direct sunlight, and water them at least once a day. Once they have roots and sprouts, plant them. Preferably, in a plant bed. It should have soil, mulch, and cleared of grass. Grassroots grow very long and can be difficult to pull out if they are left alone for a while, so it’s best to pull them out immediately. Once out of pots, you should water the plants at least 2x!!!!! For fruits and veggies that are incredibly juicy, you should give them A LOT OF WATER. 
If they are vine plants, make sure they have a pole to grow with. 
Left to Right:
2 Watermelon plants, 2 okra plants, 2 cucumber plants
Plants like avocados and pineapple should be put in water. 
For avocados, poke three toothpicks into the seed, spaced out. One side should be “empty” Place the seed in a container with water. Make sure the seed is touching the water- so they can actually grow. Make sure you refill the water and change it every 2-3 days. The seed should crack, and you can start to see a small root growing inside. Once it is big, plant the seed. ( I don’t know the rest at the moment, I’ll check back later)
For pineapple, cut off the top part- the leafy part, and peel the few leaves at the bottom off. Place the top in a container filled with water. Change the water every 2-3 days as it gets dirty quickly. Roots will start to sprout and one they are very long, plant them carefully in the ground or in a pot. Water regularly and have your own pineapple plant at home. 
As you can see, my pineapple’s roots are still growing and are not yet ready to be planted.
My seeds from home are a bit slow, so if you want fast-growing plants, I would say, maybe buy the seeds from Walmart or home depot. That’s what I did with my okra, watermelon, and cucumber plants, and they have been growing first and fast!!!! When watering plants that are not potted and require a lot of water, I would say, when using a hose, hover over the plants for a few seconds- maybe 10-15- with the shower setting on. Nothing fierce, but light. The mist setting is also handy for light spraying. 
Anyway, I guess that is what I do when I am gardening my plants. I hope everyone grows a beautiful garden and has lots of plants at home!!!!!!!!!!!

Life of a 12 year old- Coronavirus Lockdown – Part 42

Rovija Khapre 0 Comment Life during Pandemic ,

Hello!!! Today is May 21st, and sadly, not audition result day. It is the day before the results. I read the email wrong, so it is actually coming out on the 22nd of May, at 12:00 p.m. Sooo, yeah. Sorry about that. You know, I start writing pretty late, which I shouldn’t do. This gives me less time ad then my work comes out like it was written by an 8-year-old. No offense. So, here is my news. I really need to finish before 6:30, so I am going to write more about the Cares and Heroes act on Friday- tomorrow. I actually made a mistake when writing because I understood the acts wrong. I need to clear that up and write more on the job losses I said I would research more on that and I haven’t gotten to that yet. Hopefully, with a large amount of my time on Friday or possibly Sunday I can write so much more than what I have been writing. Also, I wanted to pin down a few photos of my plants that I have been endlessly mentioning. The photos will be down below at the end of this post. Today I just want to write about some thoughts going on. So, teenagers are usually wanting to do everything themselves, feel independent and don’t care about what their parents say. I really really hope that I don’t become like that one day. Anyway, I started realizing how much some teens really are ignorant of COVID- 19. Yesterday, when I was going to the center with Mumma, I saw three teens hanging out in the back of a truck. The car was parked, and they were so carefree, like without any masks or any social distancing. They were probably 2 feet close because the back of a truck is pretty small-large but small- and were acting like the world isn’t in a race trying to make a vaccine to cure the pandemic. I mean, they were so careless. Just hanging out together, and so carefree Like they were thinking the virus is just a hoax, and they were invincible. probably not but just a thought. Like before, when a group of young adults went out to a party and thinking they were invincible and the virus couldn’t touch them. Well, they all ended up getting infected. More people just get infected by these small things.  It’s incredibly important to stay away and wash your hands often, wear a mask in public, and wear gloves if you are going out and are going to touch things. When washing your hands, follow these instructions:

1. Wash hands with soap and water. 
2. Wash your hands for 20 seconds, try singing Happy Birthday or the alphabet
3. Wash your hands thoroughly, meaning, between fingers, behind hands, nails, scrub well
4. Rinse your hands with warm water and make sure all the soap is gone
5. Dry your hands with a towel, preferably a cloth one to reuse
6. Do this after using the bathroom, coming in touch with any bacteria- mold, fungi- after eating, after coming home from stores or other places, after touching any insect or any soil- you never know- 
7. If there isn’t a bathroom nearby, use hand sanitizer and make sure your hands are “cleaned” before continuing with your work
Hopefully, doing this can help reduce the number of cases and have fewer infections. I hope everyone stays safe, healthy, and strong during these times. I hope everyone has an excellent evening. 
Strawberry Plant
Okra and Cucumber are growing, the watermelon is still waiting
Bell Peppers and beans
More peppers and one more plant- I forgot the name
Pineapple to the left, and the two avocado seeds on the right

Life of a 12 year old- Coronavirus Lockdown- Part 41

Rovija Khapre 0 Comment Life during Pandemic , , ,

Soooo, remember what I wrote yesterday as my ending- the question? Well, it seems like I have my own answer, and I did not realize that the articles were like dirty politics. I had no idea, I am truly sorry. President Trump actually made a Cares act during this time to help the small business owners, preserves jobs for American industries and provides fast and direct economic assistance for American workers. The Cares Act is a $2 Trillion package. ( The further info is used from here) It lays out economic aid payments to U.S. citizens. According to this article. However, this act did not include provisions or made few provisions for immigrants and their families. Wait, why??  Is that because they are not citizens? But they still should get the same. What if they were an employee at a small business and were trying to support their family, and had a young child? One question. Does this act go to the small business employees as well, or just the owners? My next research question. Anyway, there is also a Heroes act. This act is a $3 trillion package meant to attack the coronavirus and the economic effects in the U.S. To be very honest and very clear, I have very little knowledge and facts on this act, as well as many. This one is the most recent and is one of the things that are trying to help us during the pandemic, so I should know at least 2x as much as I know right now about this. By the way, as a side note, it is 6:39 P.M. so I really need to work faster. I admit I am not the best typer in the world for a middle-schooler. I may have to cut some thoughts and stuff short, making this sound pretty mediocre and half-written so, apologies for that. I’m going to continue on this tomorrow when I have actually a better planned out schedule.

Ok, so today I have a new addition to my overly excited garden. An Avacado plant. Technically, an Avacado seed hanging in the water and supported by three toothpicks. My cucumber and okra plants have started sprouting. Yaaay!!!!!!!! My strawberry will take some time though, as well as my watermelon. No sign of growing from my bell peppers and beans, or the mangoes, though that will takes years. Next, we picked up my stuff from school. Sooo much stuff!!! It is still in Mumma’s car, just in case, and we will open the bag tomorrow. Hopefully, all my stuff is there, including my awards and stuff. I am so excited!! MS Orchestra Audition results come out tomorrow!!!!! Tomorrow, I’ll know if I got into Chamber or not. I mean, it’s fine if I’m not. I’ll just know that I needed to work on a few things and that will get me well prepared and better for the next audition. What else??????????????? Oh, dad sent this blog site to me. It’s his friend’s daughter’s site, and it’s pretty cool. Her site is well structured, and her thoughts are more simple yet strong and persuasive. I think you should read the posts. Here’s the link. I enjoyed reading her posts and how much care and determination she has to make sure people stay safe and healthy during COVID-19! 

Rutherglen

Rovija Khapre 0 Comment General Topics ,

Have you ever tried Rutherglen? Well if you haven’t then I could tell you about it. Like all Vineyards during vintage, wineries around Rutherglen are busy all hours now as summer fruit hanging heavy on the vines demands to be harvested. But soon autumn will creep across this picturesque corner of northern Victoria, dressing its vines in shades of yellow, orange and red that stand out against the monotone greens of the surrounding lanndscape. Hands still stained maroon by juice from the grapes, folks at the coal face will savour the gentle changing of the seasons and make time to chat with visitors to their cellar doors. Now you know about Rutherglen if you didn’t know about Rutherglen. These are only a few facts about Rutherglen so if you want to learn more about it you could look it up in the news. 

How to plant a seed in a bag

Rovija Khapre 0 Comment Science and Technology ,

First you start with a type of seed that you want to plant. Next you take a small ziplock bag and a paper towel. Then you take paper towel and wet it. When you are done wetting it you fold it to make a piece of cloth. After that you put the paper towel in the bag and put the seed in the bag also. Later put the seed on the window and leave it there untill it grows a stem and leaves ( it might not grow yet). After a few days when it has a stem and leaves you can take it of the window and plant it in a flower pot. After a while it will grow into a plant, it will have vegetables or fruits on it if it is a vegetable seed or fruit seed. That is how you plant a seed in a bag. I hope you enjoyed learning about the way how to plant seeds in a bag.