Role of the Humus and Soil in Plant development.

Humus, Nutrition and Soil

 

Importance of soil and its components for plant life

All living organisms on earth needs nutrition (in different forms) for their growth, survival and reproduction. Plants also need all the minerals, vitamins and proteins etc for their own requirements and also to generate/ produce food which all other organisms consume in the food chain.

While we talk about the food chain, the water and nutrition drawn from soil/ humus and Carbon dioxide absorbed from the atmosphere by the plants and produce flowers, fruits, seeds and other edible forms with the process of photosynthesis.

Now with the food chain it travels to the top of the food chain and returns back to the earth in form of waste, dead organisms and various other forms which the worms, bacteria and many other tiny living forms consume and again break them to simple forms of nutrition which is called the humus or the nutrition part of the soil.

In this cycle, few plants have adapted to draw their nutrition directly through water, air and from other living trees (parasitic). Also some of the plants don’t even conduct photosynthesis and just consume nutrition to grow and reproduce.

Now, what role does the soil play if the humus provides the nutrition?

Soil are just the powdered form of rocks and part of earth’s crust along with all the organic matter. The color of the soil is formed due to the content of minerals in that region.

Soil does play a very vital role,

1. They provide the structural support required by the plant by holding the roots.
2. They hold the humus and water required by the plants roots.
3. They are home to billions of organisms who are involved in the process of decaying of the dead and waste that in turn goes back into the cycle.

In a general scenario, when you are growing vegetables or fruits the potting mixture should contain the local available soil and organic matter like compost / cocopeat and should be mixed in right proportions according to the plant for roots to grow and hold water and nutrients.

Stunning Office Garden Entrance

Amarnath’s Modefinserver Office

It all started with our friend Jagannath, who always has best interests for us and lends a hand to help at all times. He called us and told that his boss is building a new office nearby and has recommended us for a small garden area in front of the office.

We met Mr .Amarnath and Mrs. Deepa Amarnath in their still constructing office. It was in its final stages of completion and they had already set a date for the opening of their new working space. Myself (Rajhesh) and Ramya were amazed by the concepts used for Interiors in the whole office.
For a small office standards, it was grand and a fun intended environment, for the employees.
The building had 3 floors and each floor was designed with it’s own theme to keep the employees engaged with activities.

As we finished our tour of the building along with our conversation, we understood their requirements for  an innovative garden rather than a mundane office garden.
Even though the couple couldn’t describe what kind of garden they were looking forward to, we could see the enthusiasm to get the best results for their employees to enjoy.
So we invited them to our farm, to make them understand about few garden styles they could adapt and every time they mentioned they liked something we noted it down to add it to the plan.

We discussed various ideas and finally agreed that with a small entrance a water garden with the fishes waving at you everyday would be a grand entry way for the office. We suggested the idea to Mrs. Deepa Amarnath and she was quite excited with the idea and asked us to draw a sketch of the same.

We presented the idea to everyone on board and it clicked like a magic without much negotiations. As the building was under construction yet, we suggested the hardscaping be taken care by them and we would act as a consultant.

By then, our friend Jagannath had gotten the opportunity to work Onsite, in  Kenya for six months on an offshore business for the company. Throughout the period he was in conversation and said he really misses the opportunity to see the garden.

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  Before

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  Construction

There were few changes to our initial plan, but eventually we sorted out the differences and improved the plan as per the building requirements.

Finally, it was time to get the garden done as the next day was the opening ceremony of the office. When we reached there we were up to the shock that still a lot of work related to interiors and minor construction was still happening at a very rapid phase.

The time was ticking and we had no space to work as everybody were busy fixing in the last minute rush.

Our plants and soil arrived and we requested them to allow us some space to do our work. All we could do is get the plants down from the truck, dump the soil at the far end of the road and wait till the evening for others to rest.

We worked till 11 pm in the night making sure the details are right. Arranged transportation for the laborers and we left at 12:30 am with the whole world around us sleeping in peace. The next morning we were supposed to visit the site for the opening ceremony and were anxious about the results, provided the short time.

The Next Morning, when we reached there, we stepped in to see a small crowd at the entrance. It was a show stopper and people around were praising about the water garden in front of the office. Kids were happy looking at the fishes in it. We were happy with the smiles on all those faces, that’s what got us the real satisfaction with our work.

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  6 months later

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Mr. Raghavendra Rajkumar’s Residence

It was in last week of August 2015, our dear friend Abhay Surya invited us to the Kannada Movie Superstar Dr. Rajkumar’s house and introduced to the wonderful couple Mr and Mrs. Raghavendra Rajkumar.

To our surprise,in the very first meet they were jovial with us and even cracked few jokes. We were touched by their simplicity and courteous manners.

Mangalamma (Mrs. Raghavendra) sat with us for a general discussion and explained her expectations.
As per our usual procedure within few days we went up with a plan with few sample pictures for selection.

She was very happy with the options provided and handpicked the fiber pots which looks like granite/stone and also the hanging metal pots lined up with coir pots.

It was during the time of marriage of Dr.Shiva Rajkumar’s daugther, that we had the opportunity to decorate the space.

We only had 2 days to go to: plan, to research, to buy materials and to install all of them.

We had just two things to do fix the hanging planter baskets, arrange the fiber pots with plants in a row, sounds easy right?

But like every project, we had our share of challenges.

Day 1 : We had to find 40 hanging baskets which looked all the same, and this was challenging because no vendor carried a stock of similar baskets of that quantity. After many phone calls we came across a store named Minerva Naturals who assured us that they would be able to arrange it the next day.

We rushed on to Minerva Naturals to check the Hanging planters sample, we noticed that the hooks provided in the metal baskets are not suitable for the bars in the pergola. On site, The long stretch bars were made out of a combination of wood and metal and had different width and length. We had to find a common design to make sure everything hangs at the same length.

After an hour of research in the market we found  “U” hooks which were flexible for all the bars to provide us with uniformity, but these hooks don’t come as per our requirements and we had rush back again to a local factory to customize it to suit our needs.

By end of our 1st day all we had was the metal “U” hooks customized for us and a promise from the vendor that the hanging pots would be available the next day.

Day 2 :
We called Pramod, our dearest friend and savior. We explained him about the shortage of time and informed him that we would be collecting the hanging baskets from one end of the city and he needs to arrange for the rest like soil, compost, fiber pots, plants etc.

As we set out to buy the hanging baskets we noticed it was a sunny day, and which was unusual for rainy season, and the sun burnt bright on us first half of the day, and as we collected the baskets and headed back to our nursery the weather pattern changed and heavy rains started lashing on us by noon.

Within a short period of time the streets were logged with water, the high density traffic came to a stand still. We had a difficult period traveling through the slow moving traffic.
By the time we reached back our farm, it was around 5pm.

Luckily, Pramod had arranged for the pots, soil, compost, pebbles and other tiny things. But we had to hand pick the plants quickly as we were running short of day light. Once done, the day light started dimming and we had our staff plant them in the pots.

It took nearly 2 hours for the whole planting to be done and it was 9pm by the end of it.

After the planting, the whole set was loaded in a vehicle ready to be transported the next morning.

We were happy that the day ended with all the things ready to be installed.

The next morning we needed all the helping hands we could so we invited Ramya’s brother and cousin to join the gang and arrived on site by 8am and started fixing the hooks at required points while we wait for the plants to arrive. The plants arrived at 9 am and we had Abhay join us to lend us some hand. We started fixing the hanging planters one at a time and few of us were shifting the fiber pots. It took almost 7 – 8 hours for the entire process till the desired result was achieved.

 

There were also few pots ofHydrangea with a cluster of blue flowers placed at the opposite end. Finally the soil in the pots were decorated with white pebbles to sync it with the pot color.

We had a splendid day, and with all this we shouldn’t forget the courteous clients. Everybody from their home made sure we were sufficiently refreshed with beverages, buttermilk and juices the whole day.

It was celebrations time at home, and there were lot of people who appreciated our work with a bright smile on their faces.

Wonderful time and another journey begins here.

We are happy and proud to have had an opportunity to work at their place. Thank you!