My first Mango planting experience

Hello there!! Hope everything is fine at your end. I am sharing my experience on gardening in this post. Hope it helps you in your gardening endeavors...

Lets get started!!

Mango season is here!!

Anywhere you roam around in southern India this year, you will see mangoes in abundance. The yield seems to be very good this year and I am sure all the farmers are happy with their produce. I am a foodie and have a special liking for mangoes. It was a lot of fun having tasty mangoes, but even more fun creating saplings out of them and see them sprout into beautiful young plants. We bought a couple of varieties of mangoes and have tried creating saplings with each of them.

Extracting the seed

The first task (after eating the fruit of course ;-)) is to wash the shell containing the seed and let it dry. You will notice that one side of the shell will be hairy. Once it is dry, take a knife and carefully shave off the hairy side and cut open the shell as shown in the images below.

Once you remove the seed from the shell, it will look like below.
https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmUXVdJ1bFK83nzJhd2viRxqYB51FVBT6Q6SyDNaB1HJHx/image.png

Nature is so beautiful, it provides an additional cover for the seed within the shell. See the image below.
https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmVE8NT5Vu83JwK4M2P54zCFfVM4nQ3P4YRb58KSReg9D2/image.png

Wrapping the seed in a paper towel

You can take the seed extracted and place it in a paper towel.
https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmaZw1QXGigfod3EtgRgZyab92Q9x4cWE5Fq8uKhSjB3LF/image.png

Wrap it as shown below. Make sure you can see the seed from the opposite ends like shown below. Do not seal these corners. It is through these 2 vents that the roots and stem will come out.
https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmcBZ15Ls3eSMDtS9SMFz8TwzHy5UJuAVXdr2yb3GdaTrx/image.png

Water Sprinkling and seed incubation

Sprinkle water on either side of the bundle as shown in the image below. After that place the wet bundle into a transparent plastic cover, blow air into it and tie the mouth. Place the bag in a place where it receives maximum sunlight. The bundle will absorb the sunlight and utilize the air within the bag and start growing.
https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmPuvzMJovDrBbUT5t2Q1mnu2wX6P7JbU8sRj7yfRDPvbh/image.png

Sprouted sapling

All this I have shared above is what I did today. I followed the same procedure 2 weeks ago. Today I opened those bags and this is how it looked. I cannot express my joy in words looking at the sprouted saplings.
https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmZi347JJAXf2ymCwceRPsB7pphoMugvQk3KyYToBi5y7M/image.png

Planting the saplings

The only thing left to do is plant the sprouted sapling into a pot. You can buy commercial potting mix if required. I have my own compost which I prepare from our kitchen waste. I used the sand that was available in our own property and mixed compost in 1:1 ratio, meaning 50% compost and 50% sand. It looks as shown below.
https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmNQVBWyGXY9c659Fe4Z7drqGdBgKyw5pPVwAWkKApXAJ9/image.png

Isn't it beautiful? I really had a wonderful time going through this process. Once it grows sufficiently big, I will transplant them into an open space where it can be nurtured further.

I derived inspiration to start gardening from 2 important people in my life. One is Mr. Subhendu Sharma, whose TedTalk about afforestation had a great impact on me. He is doing it commercially at a very large scale. Very impressive. The second is Mr. Balasubramaniam (@rainbowbala). He has been creating saplings at home and planting them in the outskirts on a regular basis. Also he has his own garden at home. He is very passionate about doing it. I am taking them as my role models for this initiative. I am so happy that I am able to make a positive impact, like them, to the environment in my own humble way. I hope this serves as an inspiration for many of you to experience this joy.

Note: All photos taken are from my own camera. No infringement whatsoever. If this blog was helpful and a good read please let me know by commenting.