Saturday, October 30, 2010

Gardening : Quick Tips and Solutions

Easy Scarecrows
When the local Goodwill has stuffed animals on sale 10/$1.00 I buy any that have real big eyes or that look like snakes. They get laid on the ground between rows or stuck onto tall sticks like comical scarecrows, to discourage coons from entering the garden. You can also cut the head off of those real large stuffed bears and put them on sticks, as well, to scare off coons. Little kids will love your garden!

Leaking Hose Pipe
Once a bed is planted up & watered in well, cover with about 1 cm of fine wood chips. When plants are established water well, if needed, then put in a 'leaking hose pipe' (made from recycled tires) in a ring about 8 cm from stems. Connect to hose & after a trial to see if the water is going exactly where needed, cover with large bark chips. This method retains moisture, reduces weeds & cuts watering to about 20 minutes every week. [Note: 'Leaking hose pipe is another term for soaker hose.]

Create a New Bed with Leaves
Start a new bed in Autumn by placing heavy cover of leaves on the spot then pin a plastic sheet over & leave until late spring. The result will be a spade deep loam easy to turn over during summer when further nutrients are applied ready for late Summer or Autumn planting.

Late Season Containers
I wanted something "Halloweeny" to put pansies in for Halloween. The local Supercenter sells jack-o-lantern trick or treat buckets for 97 cents each. I bought 2, drilled some holes in the bottom, filled them with gravel and potting soil and have great planters. I will transplant the pansies somewhere else in the garden after Halloween & clean out the buckets and save them for next year.

Cucumbers as Insect Deterrent
Put sliced cucumbers on metal trays and place them all around garden for a simple bug deterrent.

Handling Rose Prunings
I save old shower curtains for pruning roses, simply use the cutters to lay the long branches on the curtain and it drags easily to the scrap area, no more falling out of the wheel barrow.

Tomato "booties"
You know the plastic netting bags that onions come in at the grocery store? Late this summer I figured out how to use them on my tomatoes. Every time I had a tomato start to pink up this summer and I would think I was going to be picking it in a few days, the squirrels or birds got to it first. So, I took those onion bags and cut them in half, and wrapped them around my tomatoes when they started pinking up. That way, I got to eat them instead of the birds. I secured the "booties" with bread twists.

A Compost Bonus
Always have a compost heap. Not only does your garden profit but the snails & slugs prefer rotting vegetation to fresh.

Extend the Life of Your Gloves
I tend to poke through the tips of my gardening gloved after weeding with them for a few months. I found that adding splotch of Goop( available in several forms I use the household version) on the end will extend their lives. Simply clean the fingertips thoroughly,add the Goop making sure the finger tips stay separate, Let dry overnight and the gloves are good to go.

Car Protector
I recycle my old shower curtain liners to the back of my vehicle to protect it from dirt and water when buying plants.
—Guest susan chelf
Controlling Fungus Gnats
To combat fungus gnats in the house I simply use a hoover and hose to suck them up (squash them at night when they are sleepy), before they get to adult size and start to mate and lay eggs in compost. Also put sticky tape round rim of pots which acts like fly paper.

Getting Rid of Bamboo
Have you ever tried getting rid of bamboo??? I think I found something that works. Clear it all down to ground level. With a drill and a 1/4 inch blade bit, bore into the root until you hit live plant (greenish). Then put undiluted blackberry killer herbicide in the hole. I use a large syringe. None I have treated have sprouted in the last month. I am keeping my fingers crossed.


Neem Leaves
Use dried neem leaves for potted plants to keep away all types of plant pests and insects.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Flora From The Jungle (Part 2)

ada orang tu tak sabar-sabar nak tengok sambungan part 2 pokok-pokok yang ada dalam khazanah hutan kita yang semakin pupus disebabkan pembalakan yang berleluasa sejak dulu, kini dan selamanya..hehehe.. pokok-pokok yang ada ni pun diambil dan dijual oleh orang asli dan kemudiannya dijual semula oleh tokeh2 kat nursery tu. walaupun pokok hutan jer tapi harganya agak mahal. ada sekali satu pameran oleh orang asli yang diadakan di jaya jusco, pokok-pokok yang ditunjukkan kat bawah ni dijual dengan harga beratus-ratus ringgit. telan air liur je la..apa lagi..enjoy !yg kat bawah ni intro dia ..

Malaysia's tropical rainforest plants rock the plant kingdom. Among the richest in the world, the flora of lowland and hill forests and montane habitats offer endless evolutionary examples to discover.

From the largest to the smallest, jungle habitats are full of surprises for hikers with observant eyes.

Tropical rainforests swarm with species richness. As a global hot spot, plant biodiversity in the country merits special attention and conservation of these unique life forms to avoid becoming endangered plants.



yang kat atas ni sebenarnya sejenis orkid.bunganya dikatakan orkid terkecil di dunia. nama saintifiknya tak usah tanya la..makcik tak tau. tapi saya sukakan bentuk daunnya yang bergerigi tu..cun!


yang atas ni x pasti nama apa..sapa tau tolong ajarkan ya? ni banyak kat hutan tp sekarang susah nak jumpa..





yang ni orang panggil 'tali kasut' or shoe lace sebab tali nya panjang2 macam tali kasut.

yg atas ni pulak sejenis orkid hutan, dah penah berbunga, warna putih kuning tak ada bau..toke nursery tu jual sekerat-sekerat mcm kat gambar tu..tak ikat dengan kayu atau moss pun.

yang kat atas ni dipanggil janggut sotong..ya ke? entah la..tp memang cantik ..yang ni kecik lagi kalo dah matang panjang berjurai-jurai.yang ni la orang asli kat JJ tu jual dalam RM200.00 sepokok..mak aii!


yg atas ni namanya Ekor Kucing. Yang ini menjadi kesayangan hamba. masa beli dulu x la besar macam ni..cinonit je tapi sembur dengan baja air jepun, makin gemuk dan hijau warnanya. i love u, mwahhs!

so buat masa ni, tu aje yang dapat dipertontonkan. harap yg datng kat sini dari jauh-jauh (Jepun, Indonesia, Thailand etc) berpuas hati sebab sebenarnya kat tempat u all ada banyak lagi bunga-bunga yang lebih cantik dari sini..hehehe..ada ke part 3? haa..tungguuuu! jeng!jeng! jeng!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Flora From The Jungle (Part 1)

Malaysia's tropical rainforest plants rock the plant kingdom. Among the richest in the world, the flora of lowland and hill forests and montane habitats offer endless evolutionary examples to discover.

From the largest to the smallest, jungle habitats are full of surprises for hikers with observant eyes.

Tropical rainforests swarm with species richness. As a global hot spot, plant biodiversity in the country merits special attention and conservation of these unique life forms to avoid becoming endangered plants.

One of my favourite collection of plants are the ones that thrive in the jungle. usually i got this type of plants from the natives or nursery but its quite difficult to get them. sometimes i bought it by chance. it's considered a rare species.









Sunday, October 10, 2010

Veggies

hi..would like to share my veggies picture of this week..enjoy!

antharium? not sure..


water spinach or kangkung

mustard leaves or sawi

basil leaves

daun selom

cherry tomatoes

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

How To Plant An Orchid

one of my favourite orchid "phal Bellina Pink"-beautiful and fragrant!



i just started collecting wild exotic looking orchids that can be found in our jungle. so i need to enhance more knowledges about orchid. as usual, i love to use uncle Google as a reference. this is some of the tips i would like to share with you :

How to plant orchid flowers is one of the toughest endeavors I took on in years. I like gardening and I grow all kinds of decorative plants. I have a collection that range all the way from ripening to straightforward grass-type plants ; like Chinese bamboo. And each sort of plant that I grow wants another approach. It's no different for orchids.

Orchid growing turns out to be a challenge but at the same time, rewarding! There are 5 tips that I'm wishing to share with you in caring for orchids. I assure you that these have been checked and were shown to be effective for all types of orchid species. These are a part of my valuable information bank, which I have gathered through years of expertise. I sure hope you can pick beneficial information that can help you in your own growing orchids ' experience.

Learn as much info relating to the sorts of orchids and their country of origin. You may find it weird to discover more about the kind of orchid that you will grow and where they came from. But in the course of your caring for these beauties, you'll learn that it's a critical part of growing orchids.

By investing time to grasp the sort of environment where your orchid is originally from, you will be in a position to approximate the type of condition it is used to. This is going to help you in applying the right quantity of daylight and water that it requires. Don't use dust soil but instead select the best potting medium for your kind of orchid. This is why it is way better know the sort of orchid you have so you can in a similar fashion match the right potting medium for it.

Some of the popular potting mixes to use are fir bark, sphagnum moss, charcoal, or wood chips. Some even would like to plant their orchid on a tree ; nonetheless this needs a special talent in tying and securing the roots so that it will not fall off whenever there's a powerful wind or storm. It is also important to select the right material of pot ; this can either be clay, which is the hottest one, ceramic or maybe plastic.

Every one has express traits which will impact on the condition of the plant. Lighting and temperature obligation that suit orchids is moderate and not direct. Excess heat can bake their leaves and stop them from blooming. What's most ideal is a temperature fluctuation of 10 to fifteen degrees because they require the sun to provide carbohydrates in the daytime and store it during night when the sun is down.

This could assure continuing and healthy blooming. Water your orchid plant each 7 to 10 days, and this applies for most diversifications. What they love most is to slake their thirst by receiving rain water. Therefore if you have the opportunity to save rain water, do so and use this in your next watering schedule. But if this is not available, you can simulate this same experience by submerging the plant pot inside a pail with half full of water then drain this totally.

Ensure you check the potting mix before you even water the plant. Dip you finger onto the mix, to check if it's's still damp. This is very so for sphagnum moss since they absorb quickly and keep the great majority of the water. Ultimately , it is most advisable that you fertilize your orchid plant during blooming period. Employ a spray bottle to mist the leaves and a mixture of 20-20-20 of dung at once onto the roots. It's a smart idea to mix the nutriments with water and on your next watering cycle, feed them right to the roots.

All the above tips are proved to be valuable in manufacturing long-lasting blooms. And if you are seriously considering planting orchids, you may as well start with the initial tip. It's so straightforward to do, all that you will need is a lot of patience and persistence and you are on the way to learn how to plant orchid successfully.

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