iReview

Recently I have moved to my own place after many years of renting. And lately I have this crazy (though do-able) idea to make my own water fountain to turn the regular front yard into a serene gateway. Call it the new home owner pride..heh!

So I searched the Internet to gather what’s needed for a simple, make it over the weekend fountain and found this - Pyramidal Pots Water Fountain on Martha Stewart website.

I hope I could find the time this week to get all the materials needed. Can’t guarantee you the result, though..heh!

No, I’m not writing about the books for dummies series. I am going to write about how you can start gardening even though you have never even grow anything in your life. Some people tend to claim that they can’t grow anything, whatever plant they touch seems to be dying in the process. I guess it happens because you don’t keep a passion in your heart to make it live. You see, like any other living things, plants need to be nurtured and cared for. The plants know whether the grower wants them to live or just simply doesn’t care about their well-being.

I am thinking of growing vegetables and herbs in container. That’s one aspect of the gardening process which I haven’t tried yet. With flowering plants, I seem to be doing fine. While Googling around last night, I found one website Dummy Gardening - You Can Grow It that shares tips and information on container gardening.

I hope in the next 2-3 months time I would be able to have my own planted tomato on the salad plate..hehe!

I was reading about home office decor when I came across Zen Garden ideas. I’m not thinking about the real Zen Garden but the miniature will do for now.

Remember in Desperate Housewives season 2 in which episodes, Bree checked herself into the Fairview psychiatric hospital, the doctor gave her this zen sand to play with. Now I know where to get one for myself..hahaha..I’m not depressed OK, it’s just look calming to fork the sand.

As it says, having this miniature zen garden is like having the opportunity to do gardening in your home office. This is great when the rain is pouring and weeds are growing in my real yard, huh!

My Jasmin is blooming a lot nowadays. Despite the heavy rain, some of the buds remain intact for few days. I picked the loose buds and put them in my candle holder.

If anyone interested to plant it indoor, read the tips here. This site has unusual collection of tropical plants. Now that I know more details about Jasminum Sambac, I will try to cut some, and plant a pot or two since my aunt has been interested in it every time she comes to visit.

Perhaps next time my gardening hobby can be turned into home based business..hahaha..

I’m not the only one who sighs with frustration seeing my yard full of weeds during rainy season.

Even those professionals who run lawn maintenance and landscaping business admit to work 5 times harder during such season. Check the articles on weeds growth during rainy season here.

I’ve been planning to mow the lawn days after days, just to be turn down by the extremely pouring rain in the afternoon. The rain starts from 2pm and will only stop around 7pm when the sun is already setting down on the horizon and the outside will turn dark and mosquitoes will hit like crazy. So I just sit and watch the weeds grow as the saying goes..huhuhu.

Hopefully one of these days the rain will have mercy on me and let me mow the lawn just for the sake of my heart’s satisfaction. I know within a few days the weed will grow up again faster than I can pull it out.

As it says in the article, grass can easily grow three to six inches in a week during rainy season. The same growth will take a month in non-rainy season. Why can’t the same growth be seen in my potted plants? sigh!

A friend who bought her house 2 years ago finally is moving in into the new, fully constructed house in 2 weeks time. Lucky for her, the house received its CF and whatnot only few months after the developer has promised to deliver. In my area, it’s quite common to hear about abandoned housing projects. Some unlucky home buyers did not get to live in their new house even after years of supposed to be completion date.

She was telling me her plan to plant grass on her front yard. I’ve known a few type of grass and was sharing the info with her on the phone. I have planted about 5 x 4 feet of Philiphine grass on my front lawn few years back and now I just dont know whether it’s still the Philiphine grass or weeds on my lawn..hahaha..I just lost hope on it. I simply mowed them whenever I have the time using my grass trimmer which I redeemed using my loyalty card program.

I have half of the lawn with wedelia and whatnot and was thinking of hiring people to clear it out and plant it with pearl grass. Hopefully this time the weed will not have the space and chance to grow..huhuhu

After searching further about Chrysanthemum, I read that “mums” as they are known is among the easiest plants to care…huhuhu..I know now that there are varieties of mums, button, spider, cushion, daisy and the standard (like the one I bought). Check this page to see the visual glossary.

Tomorrow I’m going to transfer it outside for afternoon sun and will bring it in inside before it rains. We will see how it goes for the next 2-3 days. Check this site as it has info on how to care for Chrysanthemum. While browsing further, I think I find some light of hope in sustaining the life cord for my plant. Check what this has to say.

Oh, BTW the picture above was taken from this site, it’s not easy to find a yellow chrysanthemum picture that quite similar to the one I bought. The one in the picture is called football mums.

I never know that like orchids, hibiscus also has different types and breeds. I only know it as red, white and colorful hibiscus..hahaha..but check this out. This site is available in 3 different languages, and of course this link is the one in English.

Do check the info on the hibiscus rosa-sinensis, aka Chinese Hibiscus. To understand more about tropical or hardy hibiscus and their history, check this site out. It also has tips on growing better hibiscus.

From my experience, I know that aphids, thrips, scale and whiteflies are the common culprits. Nevertheless my hibiscus is still alive without much hassle. It is certainly the hardy not the tropical type..hahaha..

I went to the floral bazaar few weeks ago since I missed the floral parade. There were lots of orchids sold at the bazaar and I was having trouble choosing for a relative who truly loves orchids. I already have a few at home and have no intention to add to the collection. After all I’m not really into taking care of orchids, just to try a few at one time. In the end, I bought 9 pots of them in different colors but I think same species. I’m sorry I still can’t tell between Vanda or Dendrobium though I tried to differentiate them by browsing the piles of gardening magazines I bought..huhuhu..

Now the problems start to arise when it’s extremely hot outside for few days and I dont have ample shady space. While waiting for the relative to come and collect her orchids, I noticed that few pots have burnt leaves, must be the sunburn.

I’m checking the Internet at the moment on what I should do to at least save the plants, and I found few related sites which could help. Check this one out. These directory of orchids blogs do help to (at least for people like me) see the gorgeous pictures of the flowering orchids. I hope there’s still hope to save the burning leaves.

I’ve been planning this for years, but my progress is still restricted because it’s not easy to find herbs plants, especially the flowerly scented herbs. I found this site which list down almost all known Asian herbs.

I really love the list though the name sounds different but at least the pictures will help to differentiate. At the moment I have about 10 Asian herbs plants in my small garden. Hope the collection will grow over time.