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

Short stories (draft)

The aircon hummed in low decibel, constant and unnoticeable by the throng of people rushing to and fro the whole walkway. He tried to concentrate on the clean and sterile looking floor, devoid of spots.

 

With trepidation I waited for the news and strange as it may seem (or cruel), I heaved a sigh of relieve that the “chosen” one is not me.

 

I know it is dog-eat-dog world but to see 3 longer serving person getting axed while I remain gave me the sense of non-enjoyable happiness.

 

I’m feeling weird now… blur and weird.. and I’m shivering (not due to the cold).

 

 

The hustle and bustle in the cabin interrupted his thoughts. Upping the volume of his mp3 player, he sunk deeper into his seat, cradling the book he reads closer to his chest as he pondered on the hours earlier when he stepped on the flight with light footed steps.

 

As the songs directory shuffled itself automatically, he heard a familiar tune. A tune which grabbed his attention the moment his ears heard it. It brought him a momentary sense of tranquility despite the din, his book is all but forgotten.

 

Smile appeared on his weary face as he shifted his thoughts on the welcoming sight of his loved ones back home. It never fail to bring tears to his eyes whenever such thoughts crossed his mind. He, a man considered to be the pillar of strength brought down and mellowed with such emotional effect?

 

Closing his eyes, patiently he waits, and he played the song repeatedly. Thoughts firmly on the smiling face with that pretty eyes of hers. Sleep overcame him with ease despite the uncomfortable surroundings.

 

Suddenly he is jolted from his slumber with the bump on the plane landing and patiently he waited until it came to a screeching halt. 

In caram memoriam...

In loving memory of Papa. 717.

The timing of death, like the ending of a story, gives a changed meaning to what preceded it

-=Mary Catherine Bateson=-