Lotus Plant

Somehow the lazy bug crept up on me unaware and I can’t even finish the semi-technical post on auto solar drip system that I “invented” as my first post into balcony gardening.

So I will write on something equally exciting (at least for me) though not much technicalities are required; except perhaps dirty fingers and smelly mud.

The post, ladies and gentlemen would be on lotus plant.

I’m not sure about other Penangites but it’s kinda hard to get your hands on this water plant nowadays; not in the rage I guess.

But I managed to track this plant nursery down; it’s called Seng Huat Nursery at Penang mainland, Jalan Sungai Dua; which sells not only lotus but water lilies as well.

So after getting some needed dimensions and permissions :-), I drove all the way there; lo and behold, I saw one nice looking lotus plant with a cute flower bud (I know this sounds sleazy :-P).

Anyway, I saved (or rather bought) the plant from its watery gloom and brought it back where I duly begun the process of setting it up at the corner of my balcony.

I pulled the plant (plus the mud) from its pot and set it inside a small “balang” (small olden days fish bowl), stuck two NPK tablets for lotus plants into the mud and spread river sand on the top layer to prevent the mud from contaminating the big barrel and turning it into muck. 

Then I propped the whole assembly into the barrel and that’s it. As easy as 1-2-3.

Oh, there are fishes in there as well; which I shall save the story for another day.

After 2 days, the lotus bud bloomed and by the next day, all the petals started dropping off.

So, the bloom is over before it even started. So sad :-S perhaps it is due to transplant shock. I was worried that the plant might die off on me without even saying goodbye.

But then, exactly one week later, there is a new growth from the bowl and now I’ve few new leaves sprouting from the base.

The plant thrives after all. I just hope it will flower one of these days.

Balcony gardening - First post

First of all, I seriously think blogsphere is rather dead or at least dying a slow death. 

Most of the blogs (except those political or fire-hot ones) are abandoned in favour of short meaningless tweets. I mean what can you compress into a 160 characters and making it meaningful at the same time? That itself is another story altogether. 

 

Time is not a good friend of mine lately; with all the added responsibilities gathered over time, and short-attention span (see, I do admit my own shortcomings :-P), I left my blog aside in pursuit of more knowledge (academic + whatnots) and some other more satisfying hobbies. As mentioned in another earlier blog entry, I’m into greeneries now. Malaysia is a tropical climate country with almost constant sun and slightly erratic rain. So what else to do but to spend some time soaking up the Vit-D :-P

Anyway, I will cut my ranting (it mean twigs in Bahasa Malaysia) short (pun intended); and would like to announce the segmentation of my plant-related blog entries into the following labels:

 

1) Herbs and such

2) Fruit plants

3) Misc plants

4) Pest and insecticide

5) Pots, fertilisers and nurseries ;-)

6) Gardening technologies 

7) Others

 

Ps: First entry would be item number six (6) :-) my pride and joy! With all the running around the towns and not to mention slight disagreements along the way :-P

Balcony Gardening in Penang

I know I haven’t posted anything for the longest time but it’s alright cos I guess this blogspot is more like my virtual playground to pen my stuff (from various sources).

Latest craze to hit my stubborn head is balcony gardening. Why do gardening at the balcony?
Well, cos I want to and I’m stubborn to prove that it’s indeed possible to plant plants at the condo balcony :-P
Call me crazy but I am in this mode to grow edible plants which I pursue with vigour unseen since my dwarf shrimp rearing days.. but that is another story altogether (I shall pen it one of these days).

To me, gardening is really rewarding as it gives you the “zen-like feeling” after you’ve toiled the soil and watch them grow. I’m not joking.
The satisfaction compounded many-fold when you’re able to reap the produce after staring at it day-in day-out (yes, that’s what I do).
It is also due to the fact that I can’t get sufficient info from the www on balcony gardening, herbs in tropical climates, insecticidal soap, edible plants in tropics and etc that prompted me to delve deeper into this hobby and present them from Malaysian (tropical weather) point of view.

My agenda will be as follow:
1. List out plants – DONE
2. Homebrewed miticide/insecticide concoction (I don’t exactly brewed the concoction, I just mixed them up like a certified club mixer :-P)
3. Bugs and how I kill them (or rather they defeated me)
4. Support/stakes, soil, fertiliser
5. Others

If you’ve read this far, thank you for your patience.
Perhaps I should start by listing out plants which I’ve grown (and discarded :-P) and plants which survived my evil experiments… nyek nyek nyek…

Growing (and still growing)
1. Spanish moss
2. Strawberries (I still have 4 healthy plants which I kept for experimental purpose)
3. Pencil pine
4. Sage – grown from seed
5. Rosemary
6. Sweet majoram – grown from seed
7. Baby carrot – grown from seed
8. Kaempferia galangal
9. Fernleaf dill
10. Coriander – grown from seed
11. Italian parsley
12. Chives
13. Indian borage
14. Peppermint
15. Spearmint
16. Aloe vera
17. Sweet basil
18. Oregano
19. Thyme
20. Cape gooseberries – grown from seed
21. Thai chili
22. Kaffir lime
23. Wild betel leaves
24. Cherry tomatoes – grown from seed
25. Tangerine lime hybrid
26. Staurogyne repens – it is actually an aquatic plant
27. Calamansi lime
28. Pandan (screwpine leaves) – from a reputable stock J
29. Nepenthes (monkey cup)
30. Gypsophila (Garden Bride) flower – grown from seed

Trying to grow
1. Broccoli – from seed
2. Cosmos bipinnatus flower – from seed

Grown (and discarded)
1. Buddhist yew – discarded due to mealybug infestation
2. Pandan (also known as screwpine leaves) – discarded due to mealybug infestation
3. Strawberries – discarded due to red spidermite infestation
4. Roselle plant – discarded due to mealybug and soil nematodes infestation
5. Grape plant – discarded due to spidermite infestation

Died (it simply died; most likely due to heat shock)
1. Chervil
2. Applemint