Dish Friday

This Friday I will be at rehab centre to do some planting. I've been thinking of doing some dish garden for sale and intentionally, the money will go to welfare fund.

You see, the centre has planted many mondo grass, bamboo plants, succulent plants, and few unknown beautiful plants. The problem is, nobody wants to buy as they say all these plants are common and...boring. So I hope to transform these 'ugly duckling' plants into swan - just to keep things interesting. Wish me luck!

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Yellow is death

I want to share something about my first planting - a houseplant. As a rookie, it was quite disastrous in the beginning. What can I say, first planting has never been a perfect one. As always. You learn, you plant, you fail...it's yellow... then learn again, plant again and fail...cos of yellow.

It's awful to get a bad sign. A yellow sign. It's a frustration sign because the sign tells you the plant is going to die. That what it means. Without knowing the causes done, you obliviously keep trying and trying until you have nothing left to plant. What a waste. You hate to go back again. Exhausted!! It really plays trick on you. What is wrong?

When I began my planting, I thought less about planting consideration. Well, I did think about it but not much - just less. Sometimes, when we plant, we tend to overlook the rules of planting because we think it's a piece of cheesecake. You know, like getting a new pot, adding soil, placing the plant mercilessly without the sunlight, over-watering it EVERYDAY without understanding the pain the plant has.

Believe me it really breaks your heart to see your plants turn yellow. What causes them to turn yellow? This is how I was taught by my great mentor. 

Over-water
Do you know what is the most painful part for the plant to bear? A thing that can really make the roots get 'drown'? It's over-watering. When too much water, the roots can't absorb the oxygen which can result the leaves turn yellow and eventually, they'll all wilt and die. Don't over-water. So, when do I water the plant? Only when I see the soil is dry, I water it. I will have to make sure my soil is moist, not dry... but moist - and that depends what kind of indoor/outdoor plants. Water when only necessarily. I check my plants regularly.

Congested roots 
Will this be the most common thing people have? Something that we overlook?... When a plant like that starts to grow more and roots start to outgrow its pot even more, your pot is unable to give more space for the growth which can break the pot. If ignored, your plant will die. Roots will keep on growing that they need to be re-potted. It happened to my snake plants. I was 'told' by the helpless looking plant that the roots escaped to the drainage hole begging to be re-potted. I quickly transplanted root bound plant into a bigger pot. You can't let it abuse itself.

Transplant
This is  very tricky part.When transplanting, just be reminded roots are the essence of plantness. You also have to know when moving a plant to a new soil, the roots begin to adjust new environment. Previously, when I transplanted my plant, I used top soil that contained less nutrients. Few days later, the leaves turned yellow and died. Wasn't sure why, I began to check the problems. It turned out I didn't put the new transplanted plant under the shade. I didn't pay attention to what I was doing.

Here's how:
Be sure to loose the roots from the soil. Find a perfect pot for the plant (not too big, perhaps just medium) and this time be sure to get a pot that is bigger than the previous one.

I use mixed soil (dark colour) all the time. It's a ready-mix which contains prelite, sand, chicken manure to make your plants stay healthy and beautiful. Add a quarter of mixed soil into the pot then gently place the plant on top of the soil. Cover the whole roots with soil gently and make sure no cracking at the top of the soil surface.

Lastly, water it lightly then place the plant under the shade. Don't get too excited once you're done. The plant needs new adjustment so be patient. The actual results can be seen within two weeks. Fertilize it once a month. DON'T OVERFED.
 
 NEVER FERTILIZE WEAK PLANT.

 

Beautiful plants combination called dish garden

People love to have indoor plants in their home. Not only it purifies the air, it also creates ambiance in your living room. Houseplants are very friendly and healthy and your house loves to be surrounded by blossom plants.

Personally, I love indoor plants too. But my most favorite part is dish garden - a combination of variety  of plants to be planted in one pot or container. Dish garden is the most charming and exotic plant ever design. I had made a simple dish garden for fun. Just to polish my creativity in designing. You will find the pictures of me doing dish garden. 

Plant selection is vital. You have to be very selective when choosing plants. Some plants are not compatible because of their different condition. Like example, cactus or succulent plants known for their outdoor plants, so you have to avoid mixing them with indoor plants when you make dish garden.

Making dish garden is not as hard as it seems. You need to be patient and careful. Here are the 'ingredients' to make dish garden.

You'll need: 

container or pot

mixed soil

plants

stones for decorations (optional)

(Instructions are based on the pictures shown with captions)

Pebble stones for decoration. Pick the medium size

My plant selection: Hedges, mondo grass, snake plants

Flower pot

Add top soil or you can use mixed soil.

Japanese grass known as mondo grass.

Place it on the soil, gently

Hedges, slowly pull it out from the bag

Place it in the pot

Lucky bamboo has very long roots.

Trim the root out but don't over-do it.

Last ingredient is snake plant or 'mother in law tongue'

Place the mother gently in a pot and careful not to break the 'tongue'

Add more soil to cover the roots

Gently press the soil to make the plants stand firm then get rid of all dirt.

For deco, add some pebble stones and saga seeds for coloring.

Take a closer look

What do you think?

Believe me, once it's done, you just can't stop looking at it.

There's dirt. You need to sprinkle some water to make it clean.

Water makes the plants glowing.

Dish Garden

There you are. All pictures are shown on how to make your very own dish garden. Pick any plants you like and be sure the plants you pick must tolerate each other.

Go and try! Best for your desk table, kitchen, living room and more. Make it as a gift!

How expensive is gardening?

How much money you spend on gardening? Cost of buying tools, pots, plants from nursery? Does it require a lot of money to get all things done?

Well, it all depends on your choice. Whether you want it to be luxurious garden or budget garden, they all require maintenance to remain fresh and beautiful. Like they say, nothing is free.

To build a garden, you don't need a lot of money to create your dream garden. You don't even have to think how burden it is because the reality is - gardening is healthy and mentally therapeutic. It is also a good form of exercise. It does not make you feel idle because it gives you responsibility. Gardening teaches you to be responsible, patient and nature lover.You fall in love by looking at your plants. You begin to think how wonderful God's creation is.

I've been taking gardening seriously for the past 3 years. I've been observing, learning, asking, watching people how to grow plants. Sometimes I generously offer my help to my senior friends then asked a lot of questions on how to plant this and that.

Before becoming an avid gardener, I used to help my late brother to do some planting. I was his 'kuli kebun' back then. Most of his plants were tropical plants. They were very exotic, wild looking yet beautiful plants. I was not enthusiastic about gardening maybe because I was too young. To me, it was more to older people.

I remember back then he used to show me gardening magazines. On how to decor your plants. He even brought me to meet his gardener friends asking tips etc. It was more than 10 years ago. 

After his departure, sadly, some of his plants have died because no maintenance. It was probably too hard to handle that I didn't have time to learn to maintain. My mum has to take care of everything. I really pity her though.

I don't know how I got so addictive. It's because of the look of tropical plants really excites me. Their beauty, mysteriously wild looking plants are so captivating. Basically, I love decor. I love watching professional designers how to decor houses on tv. But my interest is definitely plant decoration. It has become my passion.

So my point is, it doesn't matter how big your compound is Whether it's big or small. You even can have budget gardening that doesn't even spend money to buy baby plants in nursery.

Choose an empty space around your house and start gardening. Do remember this: big garden requires big maintenance. I suggest you go for low maintenance gardening because that is what we capable of.

Most of us prefer low maintenance gardening because time is very limited. Low maintenance has to be attractive garden instead of producing dull, boring looking plants. We may have beautiful plants and flowers but do we really care for them? I mean do we really 'groom' them to make them neat? 
 
To take care the plants it's not only watering and fertilizing them. The plants have to be fresh, healthy and nicely DECORATED around the house. Turn them into art and make them attractive.You even can use tropical plants, succulent plants for floral arrangement. Believe me, they are beautiful. Below are my favorite pictures I collected from web images:

 See what I mean?

    

Another collection of indoor plants

Indoor plants are so beautiful to admire. They also purify the air in your house. Putting green plants in your house give good therapy that creates peaceful mind. Here are indoor plants samples from Google images.

Beautiful exotic tropical plants

I've been collecting pictures of tropical plants and flowers. To begin with, here are pictures I would like to share.

Taken from Google images