a diverse story.
white pumpkin (real name - ash gourd) is one of the best and easy crops that grow in the summer.
full of water, it is a summertime treat.
we planted 4 varieties of seeds 3 different locations since mid january. we picked the right season and in fact spread our risk by planting with such diversity in variety and soil type.
but NOT a single bud to show for the effort....
no idea yet on why we were blessed this way.
on the other hand, our neighbouring farmer grew ash gourds over more than 5 acres and had a bumper crop over over 5 tons per acre.
while he managed to sell one lot, over the last 2 weeks, ash gourds prices have tanked to Re 1/kg.
he will not be able to sell over 15 tons of gourds.
they are lying in his field, unpicked and in a vain expectation of a recovery of the prices.
even if they perk up a bit, his fruits will be too mature to be sold.
sadness, indeed to see so much food going unused.
white pumpkin (real name - ash gourd) is one of the best and easy crops that grow in the summer.
full of water, it is a summertime treat.
we planted 4 varieties of seeds 3 different locations since mid january. we picked the right season and in fact spread our risk by planting with such diversity in variety and soil type.
but NOT a single bud to show for the effort....
no idea yet on why we were blessed this way.
on the other hand, our neighbouring farmer grew ash gourds over more than 5 acres and had a bumper crop over over 5 tons per acre.
while he managed to sell one lot, over the last 2 weeks, ash gourds prices have tanked to Re 1/kg.
he will not be able to sell over 15 tons of gourds.
they are lying in his field, unpicked and in a vain expectation of a recovery of the prices.
even if they perk up a bit, his fruits will be too mature to be sold.
sadness, indeed to see so much food going unused.
7 comments:
Maybe try making Agra Peda? That's the only preservation thing I can think of in the case of ash gourd.
On a separate note, we are missing ash gourd, the farmer's market didn't have it this shopping trip.
// NOT a single bud to show for the effort....
no idea yet on why we were blessed this way.//
This happened to me in my terrace!
I had to rip off small ones which refused to grow. I have kept the vines to keep the terrace cool :-(
PS Kindly delete the earlier comment.It was a mistaken press of some button on the keyboard.
Not a solution to your neighbor, but I was thinking whether using a mature ash gourd as the receptacle to grow your seeds would allow it to grow better in your fields. You could think of the flesh of the fruit as similar to the yolk of an egg. Another analogy would be to think of the gourd as providing the nutrient equivalent of the Groasis Waterboxx.
Hi
I have never been a farmer but have been reading about farming for reasonably good period of time. Take my comment with a pinch of salt. Disclaimer apart, I feel you have not prepared your land enough to try different crops. Atleast based on your posts and what I have read from DV's posts, I feel you should prepare yourself (your land) better before venturing into varieties.
For a start, you don't seem to have a cow of your own in your farm.
Am I right or wrong? I don't know but you may.
sc - too much sugar needed for the peda.
the receptacle idea sounds interesting. will try.
vm - did it cool the terrace. it may be that the concrete was just too hot for the buds to mature.
ram - we do not have a cow.
Ash gourd stays good for 6 months to a year if picked at maturity and stored in a cool place. He can wait for September (around Onam) when the prices tend to shoot up.
akka - if he had the storage space, this blog post would have only had the story of our misery.
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