Bare Bones Gardening

Tree Troubles

2007-12-24T08:46:00.000-08:00

Because there are cracks appearing in my concrete block house over the past couple of years we had an engineering report prepared.

Now while some of the damage has been caused because of the volatil;e clay soils, and the mining industry of the area over the past 100 or so years, and no-one knows even the exact location of some of the tunneling that went on.

The major concern that involves a gardening perspective here was the ingoing damage of the small leaf fig tree in the neighbours yard near my fence line.

Not only is this causing the soil to be dried out extremely quickly because the large tree is drawing moisture from the surrounding soil over a large area. But it is also causing damage to the underground services like sewerage and rainwater pipes in and around the two houses.

All this because a person planted an inappropiate tree, (probably a one time house plant), on their fence line. It is also starting to grow into the overhead electricity line going to the neighbours house.

Moral to the story - think long and hard when planting long term species (Trees, bamboo etc), about what size or area they will cover in the years ahead. Including long after you have moved on.

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Post Shopping Regrets

2007-12-22T06:56:00.000-08:00

Now is the time when most of the Christmas shopping is done, and we are into the actual preparations for the big day. We now sit back and wait for the way too early wake up call on Christmas morning by overexcited kids, who are going to be hyped up all day long. Between the excitement of opening presents, playing with them and the overloads of sugar, chocolate and deserts…..

Unfortunately though at least some of the presents that we receive or that we buy for ourselves, both in the lead up to, and after the Christmas rush, will probably never get a single use, or only a few uses before being relegated to the shed or the back of some cupboard.

This is especially a problem when it is our own money we have wasted on purchasing some little or even major gadget or other item, that does not get the use expected of it, when you were in the shop looking at it. We as gardeners are very guilty of these sorts of purchases, buying both big and little gardening gadgets that get little use after their initial enthusiasm. Most would admit to having gadget items stored away somewhere in the house or shed, or have given things away to others, or to charity stores.

Among mine include a gardeners kit where you have a set of different implements (Hoes and rakes etc) that can be screwed into either a long handle or a short handle. Just didn’t find that all the effort of changing implements worth it nor did it seem as strong as a single old implement that it was supposed to replace. So it has been relegated to the shed, while I still use all the tools it was touted to replace.

And this is not even just dealing with just gadget items though, this includes such things as clothing, toiletries, toys, decorator items, etc.

On a recent survey of women, it was estimated that they buy around 71 items of clothing a year & around 8 are never worn.

Though I wonder how many of the unworn items were purchased for the men in their lives….

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How Come....

2007-12-17T06:35:00.000-08:00

How come is it that goods that go by vehicle are called shipping or shippage, yet when you transport goods by ship, they are called cargo?

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Mistletoe

2007-12-16T00:09:00.000-08:00

Now at Christmas when this plant is such an important part of the tradition of this festival. It is important to remember that this plant is not just a simple and pretty plant. Nor is it an innocent such as the person for whom the current celebrations are held. As pretty as it looks you still have to remember that mistletoe is a parasite and it still sucks strength from your tree’s.

Because it's roots are growing inside the branch of the host plant, sucking life and nutrients from the host and weakening that area and the host in general and making it’s branches more prone to breaking off. Also makes the host more susceptible to other pests and diseases entering around that area.But on the upside its fruit provides food for many of our native birds who eat them and then deposit the seed mixed in their dung on the branches of other trees to germinate there in cracks in the barks.

Despite the fact of the problems they cause, they are just as much a part of the natural environment as any other plant species, even though they are a parasitic plant that requires other plants to produce their food for them.

Now if this were an animal parasite how do you think we would react about it sucking the life out of the host it was attached to?

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Dial up frustations

2007-12-15T05:10:00.000-08:00

Being on dial-up I get very frustrated and often end up surfing away from many blogs when they have a lot of pictures on their main page. Simply because it takes so damn long to load their main page I end up giving up trrying to see it. It also frustrates me with the big gaps between their writings with the blank spaces between it.....Things often freeze up with my old computer while they are loading, and this is not just with that page but everything else that I am doing on the computer, which adds to the frustration levels.

These are pages that I am not likely to revisit either, as long as I remember them. Which is sad because many of them have interesting entries. But because of the long loading times many of us on poor old dial up are disadvantaged by it all.

And no, I cannot have cable or broadband in my house, with the old telephone wiring in this place. I am stuck with dial up or no internet at all. And besides I do not want any contracts running for two or three years which further restricts my internet choices.

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Another School Year Ends

2007-12-14T05:40:00.000-08:00

Well the school year ends today here in Queensland for the lower grades, (Grades prep & 1-7), while the upper grades (Grades 8-12), have been finished for up to a month already. And it means that from here on in I will only have one child left at school. Yippee...

But it means entertaining the youngest for the next 6-7 weeks till the new school year begins in late January after the Australia day holiday. It will seem strange not having a child in high school next year for first time in 11 years.

Here we are wrapping up at the end of another year, (commercially, socially, educationally and mentally), with schools, businesses, and professional people finishing up for the year and try to relax over the christmas/ New Year period, over the next week or so.

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Self seeders are good for garden but not the environment

2007-12-12T13:29:00.000-08:00

You hear a lot of bloggers rave on about how great it is for certain species of plants to self seed around the garden, and yes it's true that it is a good thing confined within your own garden space.

As it provides you with free replacement plants each season, from these species.

Among the species that do this includes plants like petunias, alyssium, Queen Anne's Lace, and even some veggies and herbs like basil and lettuce.

However on the downside have you ever thought about what happens to the seed that falls on to your driveways, paths or even onto the roads in front of your property..... They end up being washed into the stormwater systems, that flow out into your local creeks and river systems. From here they wash into the semi dry gullies or up onto the banks of the water systems, where they sprout and become weed species in your local environments.

Another issue again is the plants which epand their territory by runners or underground runners, or by offshoots. These are good when confined within your garden but what happens when these plants are pruined or have side shoots dug up and removed from your property. Especially when the garden waste they are in is dumped inappropriately and not composted properly. They again have a major chance of becoming environmental pests. Plants which stand a chance of becoming so include many of the aloes, frangipani's, mints, bamboos etc etc.

So what can you do to stop these plants or seeds escaping from your property.
1. Ensure that all organic waste is properly composted
2. When you wash driveways and paths around seeding time, sweep or wash them into lawn or garden areas, not the storm water drains.

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Plant a plastic pine in your home this Xmas.

2007-12-11T02:27:00.000-08:00

With reading many blogs from those in the northern hemisphere, and all the talk of visiting 'Christmas tree farms', I have to say I am grateful for the Aussie tradition of using 'Plastic' christmas trees. My own tree is about 5 years old, and gets packed away and brought out each year.

With all the talk out there on the net of saving the environment and carbon tradeoffs etc. Yet here we have so many people across the world, especially in the northern hemisphere, going out and cutting pine trees down using them like a boquet of flowers, and then a few weeks later throwing them out with the rubbish......

Where as here in Aus', we have an accepted tradition of using plastic christmas trees. Maybe this is in part due to the fact that these sticks with leaves are not lasting very long in our hot summer conditions, I'm not sure. But I am glad that this is one northern hemisphere tradition that we have discarded.

I don't even think there is a single 'Christmas Tree Farm' in whole of my state...

I would have to be grateful that the only real trees I have ever seen decorated for christmas have still had their roots attached, either as decorated potplants or as decorated trees which were still out in the garden....

So I would like anyone who is contemplating going out and buying a 'stick with leaves on', to stop and consider, do you really need to?.

Just because the Jones next door will be going out to the 'Tree farm' to buy a new bunch of needles on a stick as a loungeroom decoration every year.

Why not consider going to a department store and buy a pretend christmas tree. It will cost more the first year, maybe. At least I assume that there must be some places selling plastic christmas trees, you can't go anywhere here without seeing them for sale. Though you would have problems finding any 'fir bouquets' for sale.

But after this christmas is over you wont be throwing it out with the rubbish like a bunch of used flowers, but dismantling it and putting it away to be brought out next year, and the year after.........

Come on, everyone talks the talk, of doing whats right for the planet, yet stop and look at what you are doing especially at this time of year... Give the planet a present, and avoid cutting down one less tree.
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Insulated Plant pots

2007-12-10T06:03:00.000-08:00

One of the problems that we face here in the subtropics during summer, is broiling our pot plants in their own juices.... With the heat we have during warmer weather when the sun heats the surface and sides of our pot plants.

Why plant companies insist on putting our plants in black plastic pots is something I do not understand as things coloured black, like most of our pots conducts heat faster and more than other colours.....

The solution is to place your pot plants whole including the pot inside a slightly bigger pot, and filling the space with something like chip bark, between the two pots.

This will provide an insulating layer between the the roots and potting mix and the part of the pot which is being heated by the sun or at least the outside hot atmosphere.

Try to keep this insulating bark layer dry so that it will not conduct either heat or even cold from the outside pot to the inner pot holding the pot plants soil and roots. As water or even moisture will only assist in conducting heat between the two pot layers.

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Peg Twine Supports

2007-12-09T00:10:00.000-08:00

If you have problems tying and untying and re-tensioning twine supports for your vine trellis, why not consider using some peg based twine supports.

The idea here is to tie some twine through the springs of a pair of pegs, with some loose twine between them. Clamp these two pegs onto the trellis on each side of a growing vine where you need to support them.

These type of supports allow you to move them easily, or readjust them for better tensioning around the vines or other growing plants, without the problems of re/tying and untying of the supporting twine and knots which become hidden among the growing plants and their foliage.

Using coloured pegs also helps you find the ends of the twine supports a lot easier as well.

This type of vine support is particularly helpful for people who have problems with their fine motor skills, (eg Physical disabilities and arthritis)

EDIT: Here I am referring to ordinary clothes pegs, (Many of which here in Australia, are spring based to go over and around both clothes and clothes line), but any sort of clothes peg would work over wire trellis.

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Natures Own PH Kit

2007-12-08T08:16:00.000-08:00

Many areas of the world are suitable for the growing of Hydrangeas.

Have a look around your neighbourhood and note what are the colour/s of the flowers of these plants during spring and summer. Usually these are being grown in part or light shade.

If the flowers are blueish then the soils are acidic, if they are pinkish then the soils are alkaline. If the flowers are white, well you have no idea what the soil is like, because white hydrangeas are always white....

This by the way, is in direct contrast to store bought PH kits where pink indicates acidic soil, and blue indicates alkaline soils.

The only thing you have to watch is the fact that keen gardeners may have put in soil additives to change the colour of their plants, just to confuse you.

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Mouse Trap Clipboards

2007-12-07T00:02:00.000-08:00

Why not nail or screw up one or more old mouse traps above your garden shed bench, or even near the door of the garden shed.

These can be put to all sorts of useful purposes, like….

Holding pairs of gloves, Fingers up for drying them out, or wrist end up (especially if the wrist is folded over), to stop creepy crawlies from crawling in and creeping you out on putting them on again

Keeping Seed packets in view to remind you of what has to be planted soon

Holding construction plans at view level, so that you don’t end up too many spare parts left after purchasing ‘Put together yourself’ items.

‘To Do’, ‘To Buy’ or ‘To Be At’ notes from you or your other halves…..

Newspaper or magazine articles or plans of things to do or to aim for…..

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Citrus Rind Pots

2007-12-06T00:16:00.000-08:00

Instead of throwing the old citrus rinds in the compost when you are finished eating the fruit out of it, why not reuse them as seed raising pots.

Consider putting a hole in the bottom of the rind to stop it retaining too much water around the germinating seed.

Then just fill the rind with seedling mix, position one or two seeds in each. Position the rinds in a tray to stop them falling over, and moisten the mix. You can later thin out the seedlings to one strong plant per rind.

You can transplant the whole ‘pot’, into the garden or a larger pot for growing on. The rind pot will decay into the soil, adding a little extra fertilizer close to the root system of the growing plant.

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8 Things to be Grateful for Meme....

2007-12-05T15:41:00.000-08:00

Oh boy, I’ve been tagged for a Meme again…..8 Things to be Grateful for… by Stuart @ Gardening Tips & Ideas/Blotanical…..

So here goes...

1. Being alive, after 2 heart attacks and open heart surgery during the last 3 months, guess I have to be grateful I am alive this Christmas.
2. 4 darling kids, that I could happily strangle at times, but mostly adore…
3. 3 brothers and a sister that care about me still despite having families of their own these days.
4. Good friends and neighbours who look out for each other.
5. A life in which I have no great regrets.
6. A love of gardening which has not only kept me sane (?), and helped me meet and become friends with many people around the world.
7. To live in a country in which you can feel safe, and live a comfortable life and get a good education.
8. An offbeat sense of humour, which has helped me see the funny side of things even when I’m down.

After having already done 2 meme's in the last couple of weeks, I won't tag any one person though.

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Hot-water Bottle Greenhouses

2007-12-05T04:25:00.000-08:00

Fluffius Muppetus is having a ‘Winter Blog Carnival’, and even though it is not winter here Downunder, but summer… I thought I would participate. So here is my contribution.

Hot-water Bottle Greenhouses

For those of us who cannot afford the space to have a full sized greenhouse in and around our homes and gardens to help start seedlings off early before the last frosts have disappeared, that is before they could survive the cold out in the garden.

A way of getting seedlings started a little early towards the end of winter is by using hot-water greenhouses to warm the seeds and the surrounding soils. These are a cheap alternative to finding the space and money for a full sized greenhouse.

The idea here is to get yourself an old esky or a polystyrene box as your base greenhouse. In the bottom of which you place a couple of hot-water bottles, filled of course with freshly boiled water. But have them wrapped with old towels or blankets or bubble-wrap etc. This is to keep them insulated and only allow their warmth to dissipate slowly.

Then place the seed trays on top of this layer.

If you are growing seed that does not require light to germinate then you might consider putting a lid or an old towel or blanket over the top of the esky/box to help keep the warmth in and around the seed trays, for the first few days or week, until you see signs of germinating seedlings. Germination rates and times will have to be watched to see when you need to remove any light excluding top off of the ‘Greenhouse’.

Another idea is to wrap plastic food wrap over the top of the container, to help keep moisture in and around the seed trays, or to place the whole box inside a clear plastic bag. These can be obtained from around items purchased in bulk, or from around blankets/doona’s, or even using one of those vacuum storage bags, with the zipper openings. In the cheap stores here in Aus, you can purchase clear plastic covers that are meant for over computers and the keyboards that would also work.

These plastic sheet/bag toppers may need propping up with sticks or something similar, to stop them sagging down into the box, with the weight of the moisture that will accumulate on the inside layer.

The heat from these hot water bottles will probably last for about 12 hours a cycle, and probably will have to be done twice a day for about a week. This method should help the seed come up fairly fast. Then bring the seedlings out of the box and harden off somewhere still fairly warm and bright.

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Re-Tried Beans

2007-12-04T04:39:00.000-08:00

Did you know that in areas where you have a long enough growing season left after a crop of beans have finished, that you can get the bean plants to re-shoot and give a second cropping, by cutting the plants back to about 6-8 inches (100-150 mm) high stumps.

Then watering and fertilizing them, as normal.

From this new start, they will send up new side shoots and within a few weeks give you a new crop of beans.

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Why Protect Peatbog Ecosystems?

2007-12-03T06:02:00.000-08:00

We hear a lot of people state that we should not use peatmoss as an additive to our potting and propagation mixes and for burning in house fires, because of the farming/mining of which is destroying the ecosystems around the peat bogs, which are mainly located in the cool temperate climates of places of the world, like Europe.

However I would have to argue why shouldn’t we use it?

After all most of the Peatbog ecosystems are not natural ecosystems or environments after all…. They are mostly in reality only there because of man’s interference in the area over the past few thousand years, and are not natural in any way at all. Because they only exist because man has denuded those areas and especially the upland slopes above them, of the larger plant species and the original ecosystems, simply for the timber and firewood, and cleared the land for such. It is only this, which has allowed the water to pool in these lower areas and thereby creating the conditions whereby the bogs have started and grown. And a secondary enforced ecosystem has developed around these permanently wet areas. A type of ecosystem that would never have arisen except for man himself.

Now if man really wanted to help these areas surely the right thing to do would be to re-establish some of the larger plant species and trees and their surrounding ecosystems and even the old forests back in the upper slopes above the peat bogs. Which of course would lower the amounts of water siphoning through underground into the peat bogs anyway…., thereby destroying them. But re-establishing the correct natural ecosystems to the land that was there before mankind arrived.

It would be like telling Aussies not to interfere with the ecosystems that are slowly re-developing and becoming established around the saltpans here, because of our own deforestation efforts since colonisation of this country. Or even the maladjusted ecosystems that have established themselves around our towns and cities….

In certain areas of Australia they are starting to mine the salts around some of these saltpans, would you tell these miners that they should not try to help the environment by clearing the areas of some of the accumulated salts…..

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Collective Noun for Gardeners

2007-12-02T02:45:00.000-08:00

Helping my son do some research on ‘Collective Nouns’, I began to wonder what you would call a collective of gardeners.

After searching around on the net for a while, I wasn’t able to find a reference anywhere, so I guess it is up to us ourselves, to come up with our own ‘collective noun’, for our own kind.

What should the collective noun for a group of gardeners be?

This is not an exclusive list, as I am sure that there are a myriad of other possible terms which might be applied to a group of gardeners. But here are my suggestions.

A Bed of Gardeners
A Bouquet of Gardeners
A Bunch of Gardeners
A Club of Gardeners
A Fall of Gardeners
A Forest of Gardeners
A Gossip of Gardeners
A Grove of Gardeners
A Hothouse of Gardeners
A Nursery of Gardeners
A Pod of Gardeners
A Pot of Gardeners
A Shed of Gardeners
A Show of Gardeners
A Spade of Gardeners
A Spring of Gardeners
A Truss of Gardeners
An Orchard of Gardeners

My personal favourites though would have to be ‘A Bouquet of Gardeners’, followed by ‘A Show of Gardeners’. Anyone else got any suggestions, or has found an accepted version of a collective noun for gardeners anywhere?

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Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia

2007-12-01T22:17:00.000-08:00

We gardeners often suffer from Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia
Which simply means a fear of long words

Just seeing some of the words and phrases used to describe some of the plants, chemicals, fancy botanical or manufacturing terms, pesticides and fertilizers.

When it comes to the botanical words many of these words and terms are simply descriptive words and phrases in Latin or Greek, to describe a certain aspect of that species, whether it’s the flower or leaf colour, shape or texture.

One of the problems we gardeners face is in dealing with Botanical Latin is in understanding and having a go at trying to pronounce some of these damn term and words, or what the botanists mean by many of the descriptive names they give to plants. Other times the names are Latinized versions and derived from the person who discovered the species or someone the discoverer wanted to honour.

But at first glance they look so damn much like double Dutch, as we used to say…

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Germination Problems?

2007-11-30T02:45:00.000-08:00

Are you having problems in getting a particular type of seed to germinate, or to give consistent good germination rates?

Here is a little suggestion or experiment that might work with your problem seed.

Put some seed in a pot or seedling tray and cover it lightly with more mix. This is partly because most seed needs to be covered in soil to germinate, but also to prevent seed from being washed away when being watered. This soil layer is enough to insulate the seed from being burnt/boiled by the hot water.

Only try this with a few seed, no more than you can comfortably afford to loose if it fails.

Then gently, like from a squirt bottle (Plastic sauce bottle, plastic syringe etc.) pour some freshly boiled water (hot), over it.

From then on water normally.

The single dose of hot water might break the seed coating enough to allow the seed itself to break through the seed coat, and solve your germination problems. And should not do any harm to the seed.

This does help with some particular seed, like parsley.

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7 Weird/Random Facts About Me Meme

2007-11-29T19:05:00.000-08:00

I've been tagged by Johblogs, who wants to know about my weirdness factor..... lol. Where do I start....

Here are the instructions:Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.So here we go; 7 random and/or weird facts about me:

1. My Siblings are spread from Auckland in New Zealand to Perth in Western Australia

2. I have two stray sons, who followed each of my two older sons home from school in their respective grade 11 year, (School mates)... and continued living with us till after they finished school.

3. My wife was garranteed that we would not be able to have any more kids due to radiation therapy in 1994 that had killed all the eggs in her ovaries..... We had our youngest son in 1997.............

4. When it comes to christmas and easter, I reckon that I am a bigger kid than my own children...

5. Last Christmas, my youngest (then 9yo), woke me at 02:30 in the morning, to say that Santa had been. He only survived till morning, because he lead the wake up call with a cup of coffee, under my nose.......

6. By putting one arm up behind my back and one arm down over my shoulder, i can shake hands behind my back.

7. When doing touching my toes type exercises from a standing position, I can touch them with my bare knuckles.

Having already done one meme this week. I will leave this one open to anyone who wants to be tagged.

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Time Wasting on the Net Again

2007-11-29T04:45:00.000-08:00

One thing I hate about getting on the net is following a link to what looks like it might be a good and promising article about something I want to look up, only to find that it is just another b… f…. ‘buy me’ link. If I wanted to get a book or some other product about the subject I would be out at the mall or the library.

And oh boy what sales hype, once they have got you there.

Mind you they know they only have a few seconds before it registers with you that you have been trapped once again before you hit the magic ‘back’ button to escape. So they try and hit you with all barrels in pictures, words, colours and dazzle. To try and encourage you to stay and read further..

What I am on the net for is instant answers. I am avoiding the mall because I don’t want to spend my hard earned money….

I find those links frustrating because I have just wasted my time and efforts reading their hype and following their links for nothing… grrrr.

So it’s back a few steps and go check another link, hoping that this one isn’t just another waste of time as well.

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GM Canola gets go ahead in Two States

2007-11-28T05:44:00.000-08:00

NSW and Victoria have given the go ahead for farmers to grow Genetically Modified Canola from next year; this will bring them in line with Queensland. Other states still are evaluating health and environmental issues concerning GM Seeds.

According to the article, 70% of the world’s production of canola production is GM modified. Now to me that is scary that companies like Monsanto and Bayer now control that much of the seed bank for this particular commercial species.

(Genetically modified plants are changed from the original genetic stock, by borrowing genetic material from other plants or even animals, supposedly to improve, their yield, pest & disease resistance, weedicide or pesticide resistance, or for some other usually economic value in a commercial crop).

But how long will it be before some ‘Genetic Modifiers’ will be used to change things like Tulips and Roses just to give us the elusive true Black and/or Blue flowers in these species, or indeed just to provide some other commercially gimmicky flower or plant just to make a quick buck….

My main concern is that these plants will pollute the rest of the environmental and even our ordinary garden plant communities with GM modified pollen and even cross pollinated seed, curtesy of the natural pollinating methods of wind and insects.

We humans seem to have a bad reputation for taking steps to alter our natural environment, without any real consideration for the future impact of what we are doing in the present. Sometimes this has been in an attempt to fix past mistakes and at other times it has been for a purely monetary, or even just for aesthetic reasons. Or because of alazy streak in our nature.

On the upside though, the research into genetic material may also provide better disease control for us humans and other plant and animal species, and may help bring many endangered and even dead species back from the brink of extinction. But it will also get to the point of where we will have problems keeping pure stocks of genetic material safe outside of the laboratory…..

We are going to see a time in the future when plants that we now grow from seed, and this includes what we now call ‘open pollinated’ and heirloom varieties, will have to be pollinated and propagated in a closed environment, just to protect the original genetic stock of each species or variety, away from genetically modified or even F1 hybrid plant material.

To me indeed the whole GM debate is putting us on a very slippery slope of possible future changes in the plant and even animal kingdoms, which we really cannot tell the impact of. It also brings up issues of ethics of where should we be imposing our scientific discoveries & talents and where should we be leaving nature to do it’s own thing, before she turns around and brings things back to balance again in her own way without our control or imput.

Will we even get to the point where we humans ourselves become a series of subspecies modified to be better adapted to be comfortable in environments we are not used to at the moment, Zero Gravity, High Gravity, Underwater, Flying…….

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Natural Floral Room Deodorizers

2007-11-27T05:17:00.000-08:00

Isn’t it amazing the power of even a single perfumed flower to fill your house with it’s scent.

How come so many people reach for the quick solutions when it comes to solving problems, like when something offends the nose around the home. They reach for the expensive room deodorizers, without even stopping and thinking about other issues. Like opening up a window, or circulating the air around the room or home with a fan, etc. Or even investigating what the source of the unacceptable smell is….

This came home to me again this week, when I brought in a bloom of gardenia into the kitchen one morning, from a walk around the garden, and put it in a glass of water.

By the afternoon, when I returned home from another walk and opened the front door, the smell that greeted me was amazing. Though I must admit that I have a real soft spot for the scent of gardenia, as it has always been a personal favourite of mine.

Even sitting here at the computer, in the lounge room, quite a distance away from the kitchen, I can still smell the scent of the bloom, making it a very cheap and natural room deodorizer, without any of the bad side effects of aerosols, unnatural chemicals etc.

This works just as well for other strongly scented blooms like roses, freesias, liliums, orchids, frangipani’s etc.

Now some people complain that having floral displays in the home leaves a mess in dropped flowers and leaves and it attracts insects inside the house.

Well my answer is that I would rather bring Mother Nature inside the home, before spraying unnatural chemicals around my personal living environment, and also to using them to pollute the environment around my home.

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8 Happy Thoughts Meme

2007-11-26T14:00:00.000-08:00

I was tagged as 'meme-victim' by Ericat @ My Aloe Garden

Rules are as follow:When tagged, you must link to the person who tagged you. Then post these rules before your list, and list 8 happy things about yourself. At the end of your list, you must tag and link 8 other people.

Being alive and back out in the real world after undergoing open heart surgery on the 15th of November. And already itching to get back out there amongst the beloved plants and gardens. Even if I can't lift anything more than a plate of food, yet.

Being a dad to a great boy of 10. Despite all his issues and problems and disability, I am still extremely proud of him, and love him dearly.

I am also a big sucker for christmas and easter for kids, (both big and small ones).

The 8 blogs That I would tag, would have to include some of the blogs that I check out regularly, at least a few times a week.

A Spot With Pots

Bifurcated Carrots

Blooming Writer

Duck Herder, The

Fluffius Muppetus

Garden Punks

Garden Wise Guy

Water When Dry

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