Reforestation and Sea Water Irrigation

Alright.  I'm changing my stance a bit.  When I was mulling about saltwater irrigation yesterday, I figured that the primary goal should be to desalinate the water to irrigate plants in an erstwhile desert.  Still a great idea.  But I think there's also a lot to be gained by lining the pathway of water with mangroves.  These trees are extremely tolerant of salt water, store carbon in their roots (they're called halophytic) and can be used for biofuel.  Did you know that Pasig river used to be lined with mangroves?  But that's another story.

Irrigating a Desert with Sea Water

In recent months, I've been reading a lot about current environmental issues like desertification and rising sea levels.  These are such contrasting issues, don't you think so?  This got my imagination running again.   Remember my thoughts on garbage utilization and city master planning?    This is part economics & logistics, atmospheric science and irrigation.  So here's my wild thought.

Build an underground tunnel from the ocean to the desert.  Collect the water in plots very similar to salt beds.  You can probably use a solar pump to get the water from the trench connected to the tunnel to the beds.    In fact, make it these basic salt beds.  Then, cover the beds with a passive solar distillation set.  Basically you'll have slanting glass on top so that the condensation seeps into a central storage container. That water can then be used for irrigation purposes.

How to Care for Roses

About a week ago, I went full circle in my gardening adventure when I got myself a white rose plant.  Naturally I did my research so I can take care of my brand new rose plant.  In general, it likes everything in generous doses.  First of all, roses like lots of direct sunlight (at least 6 hours a day).  It's just like petunias,  lavender, oregano thyme and tomatoes.   It also likes a lot of water:  it favors watering deeply fewer times than watering frequently and lightly.  Deep watering likewise promotes deep root development.  You can even water from the bottom.  But remember to water the roots and not the leaves.  Finally, it also feeds a lot.  Feed it lightly but frequently with your basic balance NPK fertilizer.  I'll just use diluted urine of course.

How to Propagate Tomatoes with Cuttings

As you may know, my tomato plants were germinated from seeds I got in the local plant nursery.  So although I've read a lot about tomato cuttings, it wasn't relevant to me yet.  But now my upside down tomatoes have grown up somewhat.  They're almost a foot long so I figured it was time to play.  I've read that you can propagate tomatoes in water so that's what I'll do.  Besides, I am leaning towards hydroponics since it's uses a lot less water than growing a plant in a soil medium.

Impressionist Scene

Last weekend, we went to La Mesa Dam Ecopark just past the Batasan complex in Commonwealth.  Not bad, if you're into parks.  We really liked it because there was so much foliage and because there was trekking involved.  One of the pictures I took was of a body of water inside the park. And I must say, the shot got exactly what I wanted.  

Whenever I look at paintings, I always choose the impressionist ones.  In particular, I like nature shots with a body of water reflecting the scene above.  That's exactly what I got in this picture. 

Propagating Crysanthemums by Cuttings

Okay, so I'm running a couple of experiments on my mums.  My mums haven't bloomed ever since I bought them.  After doing some research, I discovered that mums are photoperiodic: they bloom as a response to shorter days.  For one of my mums (I did root division on my original big one), I just give it 7-9 hours of direct sunlight.  I'm hoping it'll bloom in a few weeks.  On one cutting I'm trying to root it after dipping it into a honey-water solution, which I hear acts a lot like a rooting hormone.

How to Propagate Cuttings with Honey

If you read enough gardening material on the Net, you will find that a lot of plants are propagated by cuttings.  Some cuttings are easy to root like herbs.  For example, Basil and Mint cuttings will easily root in a glass of water.  Other plants are more challenging.  For example, my flowering plants (petunias, mums and hydrangeas) will supposedly need a little extra.  In most cases, I find that other gardeners dip cuttings in a rooting hormone before sticking them into little pots with sterile medium (I always see peat, perlite and vermiculite). 

But some of us don't want to spend for a rooting hormone because we're gardeners with a tight budget.  I've read that you can just boil parts of a willow tree (any variety) and that will have the same components as a rooting mix.  But then again, have you ever seen a willow tree in Manila?  So I continued searching and found that the next most frequently mentioned rooting hormone alternative is HONEY.

Yamaha U1 Piano for Sale

Yamaha U1 Piano for Sale - I'm not very sure about the model, but I think it said U1.  It's still very new.  The owner never learned how to play it I guess.  I tried it out.  The keys are pretty much in tone. No blemishes.  P45,000.  Non-negotiable.  For pick-up only.   

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How to Prune Your Basil

Yesterday, I wrote about how pruning encouraged my Swiss Mint to branch out. That showed the impact of one cut.  Is there a particular science to pruning?   Is pruning good for Cinnamon Basil as well?   I try to be scientific, but not too scientific.  That means I adhere to some general principles but I don't follow the book each time.

I try to prune at the lowest possible stem, probably just a few nodes above the soil.  Why?  So that the plant branches out at that level.  Then you'll have secondary stems growing (or branching out).  When they're 4-5 nodes tall, I cut above the lowest possible node then.   So on and so forth.  But honestly, I don't follow that to the letter.  I look around for stems that look "ready" for cutting and I prune away.  If I remember right, I must have pruned my month-old (since purchase) Cinnamon Basil around nine times!  Yes, I have a certain addiction to pruning.

Does Pruning Make Bushy Mint Plants?

When reading plant care tips, whether herbs of flowering plants, one of the most common tips you'd see is pruning.  You're supposed to pinch, deadhead or prune (all of which are foliage and flower removal) to encourage branching and to make the plant bushier.  I've witnessed that many times in my very short herb caring career.  Today I'll demonstrate it with my Swiss Mint. Barely two weeks old in my garden and it already fell prey to my prunamania (addiction to pruning).  Look at the red circle.  That's where I cut the original stem about a week ago.  Today, a week later, you'd see that leaves are growing on the sides of the cut. In a week or two, it will become apparent that my Swiss Mint is branching out.  Theoretically, you perform that regularly enough, you'll have a bushy plant (lots of branches).  That makes pruning really cool in two respects:  your original plant looks a lot healthier and you get to propagate a lot (naturally you should root and plant the cuttings).

Next time around, I'll show you what regular pruning did to my relatively young Cinnamon Basil over the course of a month and a half. 

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Welcome Oregano!

If you've read Celestine Prophecy, it talks a lot about awareness of your environment (that is, if I remember the book correctly).  It also talks about meaningful coincidences.  It's one of my favorite books.  Well since I've reopened my gardening eyes a few months ago, I've been seeing a lot more herb sources.  For example, just the other week, I was buying water containers from a supplier.  However, since I was a bit early, they were still closed and I had to wait outside on the street. 

Just across the street my delivery boy identified a sprawling plant as Oregano.  He was so sure it was Oregano and so swore one of the workers also outside.  How cool is that?  And so we helped ourselves to a couple of big cuttings.  In fact, it wasn't even a cutting since we had no tools.  We just broke off some branches.  I smelled the leaf.  It did smell like an herb!  When I got home, I just plugged them in to the erstwhile tomato seedling bed (where most of them died).  Now about a week later, it looks like the Oregano will be just fine.  Still looks as strong as it did last week when I plucked it.  Before, whereas I just had an Oregano Thyme, now I have a true Oregano. 

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How to Stop a Radiator Leak with Eggs and Pepper

My Multicab radiator sprung a leak.  My friend Sua then mentioned that you can use an egg and some pepper to plug it.  Intriguing thought.  And so I Googled the topic, "fixing a radiator and with an egg and pepper" and found lots of entries.  The theory is that the pressure due to the expansion of the water would jam the pepper and the now cooked eggs into the hole and plug it.  Supposedly, the pepper would harden like a rock.  It seems the jury is mixed on this one. So I figured I'd try it.  I used half a bottle of pepper and about three eggs and tried it out for a couple of days.  You know, I figured it might take a couple of days for the eggs to cook.

Welcome White Rose!

Well, it looks like my gardening adventures have come full circle.  When I was in Grade 4, I started taking care of roses.  In fact, during valentines on that year, I even sold flowers in my school.  And mind you, I sold each one!  I took care of my roses for a couple of years.  In fact, I may have had as many as a dozen different rose plants at one time.  I had red, white, peach, pink and orange roses.  I had big blooms and small blooms.  It was a great time.   In fact, I was so enamored with gardening, I even bought a book called, "How to Propagate Plants".  Why do I remember the book?  A couple of days ago, I saw it as I was collecting books to donate to my old school.  I'll talk about that in subsequent entries, but back to the book and the roses.

How to Grow a Mango from Seed: What Works, What Doesn't

Over the past three months, I've experimented with about a dozen or so mango seeds.   I've pretty much tried every mango seed germination technique that I've read about in other sites.  I won't tell you what's right or wrong, but I'll tell you what worked for me and what didn't.

• Germination Technique # 1: Dig a hole.  Put your basic mango seed in.  Wait.   There was neither seed drying nor fibrous husk removal.  Initially I thought it didn't work.  I put in about 5-6 seeds (Carabao and Indian mango) in a big pot. Water it once in a while.  Guess what?  In about a month, to my surprise they all started sprouting.  So I had to transplant.  It's not very elegant, but it works apparently. 
• Germination Technique # 2: Dry the seeds. Put it in a zip locked bag with water and a paper towel. Leave it out in the sun.   After three weeks, nothing happened.  Useless seeds.  Tsk.
• Germination Technique # 3: Remove the seeds from the fibrous husk.  Put it in a zip locked bag with water and a paper towel. Leave it out in the sun.   After three weeks, all the seeds have roots.  The longer you leave it out, the better the chances of seed survival. 

And that's it!  Try all of it out just for fun and see what works for you. 

Petunia Propagation: How to Get Petunia Seeds

My petunias are doing okay. They bloom and grow on their own without too much effort for me.  I water heavily, leave them in medium sun, spray my soap solution and use diluted fertilizer about once a week.  The red & white one just looks a little slow because it got bumped a couple of weeks ago and I lost a couple of healthy stems.  However, my attempts to propagate my petunias by stem cuttings and by simple layering have not panned out.

Gotu Kola (Centella asiatica) Self Propagation: The Runner

I've had my Gotu Kola for 2 1/2 months now. I have to say, it's hard to master its care.  At the start, it seemed fine.  I placed it under medium sun and used potting soil, although I planted it on the ground.  It even started growing new plants.  But then it started struggling and I read that it's an aquatic plant.  So I got my baby Gotu Kolas and placed them in an ice cream container with enough water to make the soil slushy.  I was going for a swamp effect.  Even there, there were ups and downs.  And this is supposed to be an easy plant to take care of.   Tsk.

Upside Down Tomatoes - When's the Harvest???

I'm such an impatient gardener.  I can't wait to harvest tomatoes!  I planted my tomato seeds back on Feb 22.  Then I moved them to a seedling bed.  I researched on tomato care as they were growing up. I read some articles about upside down tomatoes so I got curious and tried it out.   I was afraid I made a coupe of tactical errors in that one though so I experimented with another upside down tomato planter.  It's been 53 days since I started and my tomatoes still look like seedlings!  Tsk.  And I've killed about 80% of the seedlings already.  Considering that tomatoes are supposedly easy to grow my tomato mortality rate is quite an achievement.  Sigh.  From my research, it takes about 120 days from seed to harvest.  I'm still just at the halfway mark, apparently.  Sigh.

I'm seeing some white streaks in the leaves though.  I'm not sure what those are.  It's surprising because I spray them everyday with a mild soap solution.  Dang bugs.

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RIP: Mona Lavender Plectranthus

I remember the days when I used to look at my Hannah Leah and marvel at its lavender flowers and dark green leaves. Ah yes, the memories when I found out that it was actually called Mona Lavender Plectranthus.  I will look back on those days fondly...all three weeks of them!!!

I can't believe I managed to kill the most beautiful flowering plant in my yard.  Argh.  So where did I go wrong?  I'm not sure.  The first couple of days were fine.  And then at the start of this week, it just wilted.  There were a couple of things that could have impacted my plant:

• I moved it from a sunny location to a shaded location.  It became sunlight deprived.
• I didn't change the watering degree even after moving it.  It may have been over watered and got root rot.
• I sprayed it with a soap solution that was a little too strong.  I didn't use bathing soap as I normally did.  I used an anti-bacterial dish washing liquid that I use to wash water containers.  A day after this, the leaves were down.  I think I may have burned the whole plant.

This reminds me of my childhood when I managed to kill about a dozen rose plants do to "over nurturing".  Oh well.  Maybe a small part of the plant will survive and thrive.  I'll know a week from now.  The worst that can happen is that I'll have a spare pot to use. 

BEFORE

AFTER

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New Addictive Object

This thing is so cool!  I use it every morning and afternoon.  Can you guess what it is?

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Lavender Care & Propagation: Root Division Results

Well it's been 11 days since I performed a root division on Jean's lavender. It's the best way to propagate since plants are equipped to survive.   I noticed though that it's a slow growing plant.  It looks almost exactly like that when I first got it.  A mint would've grown a couple of extra leaves already by this time.  It's as slow growing as my Fortune Plant.

Recipe: How to Make Basil Pesto Sauce

I need to entertain myself while I'm waiting for my donated sweet basil to grow.   Nothing much has changed since I planted it.  There are two small leaves in the center plant.  But funny enough, the leaf with roots stood up!  I can't imagine how that will continue to grow.  We'll see in a couple of weeks.   As for my cinnamon basil, I've cut too much in the past weeks already in the name of propagation so I have to wait for it to grow back a bit before going on a cutting and rooting spree again.   For now, I will entertain myself with a Basil Pesto recipe.   I chose one with no nuts, since nuts are high in uric acid and are bad for my gout. It's also a middle ground in terms of ingredients since the ratios vary per site that I visited.  Like everything else, just experiment and see what you'll like.

Welcome Swiss Mint!

Hello there!  My garden has a new member.  Say hello to my Swiss Mint!  It smells great.  It joins my growing list of garden mints.  It all started out with my Japanese Mint and Chocolate Mint.  Then, I got some gift Peppermint cuttings from Jean which she followed up with a Lemon Mint (I forgot to welcome my Lemon mint!).  Just before I bought the Swiss Mint yesterday afternoon, my friend Sua gave me a Spearmint cutting (I hope it survives!).  She gave me a Thyme cutting too.  I hope that survives as well.    I can imagine the tea and salad potential of all the mints in my yard.  And when I propagate enough for a cool wedding tokens sideline.  It's exciting!

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How to Make Chrysanthemums Bloom

It's time to experiment with my mums.  I checked out various articles on how to make mums bloom.  At first I thought it was a fertilizer issue (or lack thereof).  However, as you would find with my mums a month ago, it became lush with fertilization but there were no resulting flowers.  Apparently, mums are light sensitive or photoperiodic.  Mums bloom when the days become shorter and the nights grow longer.  In the US, mums bloom during Fall when daylight shortens.  I read that commercial growers "trick" the mums to flower by artificially shortening daylight.  They cover the plants with black canvass.  In my own experiment, I've been keeping my mums in a dark shed.  How many hours?  Well, I read that mums need at least 6 hours of direct sunlight so take it from there.  In my case, I hide my mums by 4:00 PM and I take them out at 9:00 AM.  That gives my mums seven hours of sunlight.  You have to treat this like sleep.  The darkness must not be interrupted or it won't work.  In a similar respect, if your sleep is interrupted several times a night, you won't feel rested. 

Have you tried anything like this?  Let me know.

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Mophead Hydrangea Update and Propagation

After learning that my May Flores was actually a Mophead Hydrangea, I started researching on its care.  Apparently, Hydrangeas generally require shade or filtered sunlight. So I moved them from the sunniest part of the garden to my front porch.  The only sun they'll get there is indirect beams.  After a few days, I noticed that the leaves were much greener and no longer susceptible to wilting even at high noon.  As for the blooms, you'll notice that they're a light shade of blue now.  Beautiful, right? 

How to Make Japanese Mint Tea & Wedding Favors

It was bound to happen.  My Japanese Mint and Chocolate Mint babies have grown up and I've had lots of fun propagating them.  But like all herbs, the time comes when we have to eat them.  I've been reading up on mint tea so I figured I'd give it a try.  I plucked about 10 leaves from my mother Japanese Mint plant, washed them and boiled them in water.  I strained the leaves and drank the tea.  It's alright.  It tastes like tea.  I didn't have that many leaves to harvest though since I've been on a cutting and planting spree.   Then I tried Cinnamon Basil tea.  I used roughly the same number of leaves.  It tasted like water.  hahaha...I think I need more leaves next time.  Lastly I tried Chocolate Mint tea.  I didn't drink it since there seemed to be some oil after I boiled the leaves.  Hmmm...I'm not sure if that was a result of a dirty kettle or if I managed to extract some oil.  The oil was colored chocolate.  I'll try it again next time.

How to Grow a Mango from Seed 2

Here's an update to my latest and best mango germination story.  This mango seed had grown big hairy roots, and the last time I blogged about it, it looked like this.  As further evidence that it's really good to keep the mango seed in the plastic bag for a long period of time (if you're not following, read the prequels to this post), let me show you the seedling.

There are multiple green, healthy looking leaves.  The seed itself  has remained completely green.  New leaves are starting to sprout even as the first ones are still unfolding.  The other seeds had amag (not sure what the English term for that is).  Even though they grew, they weren't as beautiful as this one.  

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Malvarosa Benefits, Uses, Cultivation, and Propagation

It's been almost two weeks since I got my Malvarosa (Pelargonium Graveolens).  I think it has grown by a couple of inches.  So I figured it was time to do my research on it.    It's also called Rose Pelargonium of Geranium and is best known for its fragrance.  The essential oil is harvested in commercial quantities and is used for perfume.   What I didn't realize when I bought it was that it's a flowering plant.  I saw pink flowers when I was researching it on the Internet, although I also read that it only flowers in June and July (but that's in the US.  I'm not sure when it would bloom here)  Without further ado, here are some interesting Malvarosa tidbits:

How to Grow an Upside Down Tomato: Attempt # 2

When I first heard that tomatoes can be planted upside down, I was intrigued.  And so I tried it.  To read my first upside down tomato attempt, check this. And here's how it looks now.  Apart from looking cool, why plant your tomato upside down?  You avoid weeds.  It helps with space.  You don't need to stake or support the plant.  Saves water since you get to the roots at once.

Where did I go wrong the first time?  If you checked the picture, you'd see that I used the drainage hole to plant the tomato.  By what I've read in other sites, that hole is too small since tomatoes are gigantic plants.  While you can buy expensive 5-gallon containers to hold your tomatoes, I've also read of more economical solutions, such as using a 2-liter soda container.  In my case, I used 500 ML.  Who knows, right?

Petunia Propagation: Work in Progress

In the last couple of episodes, I talked about a much awaited recovery of my red & white Petunia. I also showed a couple of Petunia pictures I got from Tagaytay and mentioned how amazingly big they got their plants there. 

In between those days, I made a couple of attempts to propagate my Petunia.   I tried:

• Stem cuttings in water - I took a 4-inch stem from a healthy Petunia, removed a couple of the bottom leaves and soaked the bottom in water.  I tried this in both a zip locked plastic bag and an open glass container.  After about a week or so, the stem wilted.  No roots.
• Stem cuttings in soil - Same type of cutting only I placed it in a pot with soil with medium sunlight exposure.  In less than a week, the stem wilted.  No roots. 

Mona Lavender Plectranthus!!!

Ha!!! I found it!!!  Just over a week ago, I learned that the local name of my Tagaytay plant is May Flores. A few days later, I found out that it was actually a Mophead Hydrangea.  One down right?  Then I bought this very beautiful flowering plant (purple blooms and dark green leaves).  The local name was Hannah Leah.  Silly me, I didn't ask for the scientific name.  Thus, when I got home, I had no idea that this name could not be found on the Internet.  How was I to care for this plant then?

So I left it at that.  In the meanwhile, I was planning to blog about the new Lavender that I got by performing root division on Jean's big Lavender plant.   Guess what I accidentally came across???

MONA LAVENDER PLECTRANTHUS!!!

Hannah Leah = Mona Lavender Plectranthus

Mystery 2 solved!  Now let me read up on it...

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Gotu Kola Swamp

The last time I talked about my Gotu Kola, I haven't found the right formula in caring for it yet. It was in an ice cream container with no drainage.  Since I read that it grows well in a swamp, I flooded the container with water.   What happened?  Well right after I transplanted my Gotu Kola from a small cup into the container and filled that up with water, the Gotu Kola started wilting.   After a few days, they seem upright, but at least one was wilting.  After about a week with no excitement, I lessened the amount of water so that the soil was just over muddy. I didn't change the sun exposure (medium).  And today, this is how they looked.  Seems like they've adapted to the water.  There are new leaves and they're upright.  Could this be the right formula?  Would it propagate faster?  Maybe...

Pictures are sequential from March 22 - April 5

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Is My Oregano Thyme Growing? Benefits and Care

Yesterday, I was wondering about the lack of growth of my Fortune Plant. Today, I have similar musings.  About two weeks ago, I divided my Oregano Thyme into two plants.  Root division is the preferred method of propagation for Oregano Thyme.  Since then, I've been watching out for those two.  I'm not sure if they're growing at all.  Does it look like they grew to you?

Before

Is My Fortune Plant Growing?

Remember Badong and his Fortune Plant?  Well, it's been a couple of weeks and I can't quite figure out if the plant has grown at all.  I read up on it and Fortune Plant care is fairly simple.  Just water it (not too much chlorine please) and give it some sunshine (indirect).  Clean the container once in a while and that's it.  Still, it seems to be just as tall as Badong.   I suspect they're growing up at the same pace. Hmmm...

Before                                   

After

 

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How NOT to Propagate Your Poinsettia

I don't really talk about my Poinsettia a lot.  I don't find it very interesting.  Nonetheless, in my last entry, my Poinsettia has recovered and was doing just fine.  I decided to try and propagate it by stem cutting.  I took a healthy stem with leaves (about 5-6 inches) and planted it in rich garden soil.  I think I tried growing it in water before and it didn't work.  Will the soil work?

Well, the cutting wilted in a week. It was like the life was drained out totally.  That was fine.  It happens right.  But guess what?  The entire stem (or stalk) and all the leaves where I took the cutting from wilted.  In about a week, the entire stalk was dead!  The sap leaked until half of the plant just died.  Well, I guess I'm not doing that again.  Tsk.

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Adopted Plants: Chrysanthemums, Sweet Basil, and Lavender

I've just attended another session of Gardener's Anonymous (GA).  This time around, I took pictures of a couple of plants I transplanted into pots yesterday.  All these came from Jean and each had its own story.

Let's start with the funniest one.  In one of our first adventures, we bought mums.   That was about two months ago.  She has a textbook behavior of pruning diseased leaves.  With that, her mums kinda shrank.  But then it recovered!  Enter the bird.  For about two weeks now, the mums' growth has been stunted because a bird kept visiting and snacking on the plant.  In the bird's defense, I figured it was just pruning.  Now I have the mums so that it can grow for a while without being a bird snack.  Let's see what happens.

Japanese Mint & Chocolate Mint: A Newbie Gardener's Dream

There's nothing more encouraging than success.  If it's your first time to garden, naturally you'll want plants that will thrive under your care.  From the ten (have I reached ten already?) or so plants that I've recently tried, I will highly recommend the Japanese Mint and the Chocolate Mint.  Look at the before and after photos separated by 30 days.

As you can see, both plants seem more lush in just 30 days.  But wait, there's more!  In the 30 days, the combined number of mint plants in my small garden has grown from the original 2 to 19!  But wait, there's more!  There are 19 in my garden, but this doesn't include about 3 or 4 that I've already given away.  That includes a 100% propagation rate.  How nice is that?!  Is that an ego boost or what?

In fact, I've been doing so many cuttings left and right that I've already enrolled myself in Gardener's Anonymous (GA). It's much too addictive.  Alright first time gardeners, go get your mints!  They're easy to propagate, easy to care and useful for curing your flatulence!

Just do a quick search on mint in my blog to read my minty fresh adventures!

Japanese Mint Before & After

Chocolate Mint Before & After

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How to Germinate a Mango Seed

It's been a while since I talked about my mangoes, so I decided to write an update.  At this time, I am growing five different mango plants!  Some are Carabao Mangoes and some are Indian Mangoes.  Why those?  Well those are the varieties I got from the supermarket.

If you're interested in germinating mango seeds (growing mango plants from seeds), check out the steps I followed in this mango entry.  The germination rate is almost 100%; that is, they always grow roots.