Sweet basil

 So, as I'd written earlier...the two basil plants by their sheer size were not only proving to be unmanageable in the current raft system but were also almost completely cutting out the sun for the smaller plants growing under their shaded canopy. The rocket leaves especially got the raw deal.

 So something had to be done. And it was. I didn't have any more grow bags left. But garbage disposal bags and other polythene bags I had in plenty. So sturdy transparent polythene bags went into the soot-black garbage disposal bags...coco-peat prepared yesterday went into the transparent polythene bags...and the basil plants went into the coco peat. Thus...

The last bit about the basil plants was though, easier said than done. As, before they went into the coco-peat they had to be taken out from the raft system. And that was tricky. Both the plants as can be hopefully seen in the topmost picture, are fairly large. That implies, they are healthy with healthy roots (read root-systems), which got so deeply-completely entangled among themselves, it actually required force and a hard heart to rip them apart. Here's how they looked inside.

Any how, what had to be done...had to be. And so in the greater good of everybody, the plants were liberated thus...

And then immediately transplanted into the awaiting coco-peat.

Finally, a lot of pruning was carried out and in spite of the transplant shock and all, both looked at peace in the new medium.

The pruning has led to a lot of leaves. Understandably, this afternoon's salad then (both Shankar's and mine) is expected to have a rather strong flavour of sweet basil. 

Meanwhile, I took it as a good opportunity to clean the raft itself and completely replace its nutrient solution. So the one oregano, one parsley and the five rocket leaf plugs (in greying shades of health) rested while the cleaning and the refilling happened. All in all, it looks like a much cleaner system now. I hope the rocket leaves revive. The vacant slots have for the moment been covered, but would soon be plugged with some more rocket leaves.

And last but not the least...the cucumber is truly in bloom. It brings a strange sense of relief, especially since the last time, it was just before this stage that the aphids began their devastating attack on the first plant.