Gharghar u Znuber!

Garden Visitors

----- Monday, 4th April 2011  -----

The insecticidal soap seems to have worked!! The aphids are all dead.. I shall wait until the plant regenerates some and then post another pic! :) In the meanwhile, I have managed to capture yet another visitor on camera.  This one is welcome in my book - what do u think?!  Can you see the web? It spanned the entire length of my roof - what a busy spider! 

-----   26th March 2011   -----

Insecticidal soap has been purchased and plants have been sprayed accordingly..  I hope it works!!  According to some quick research you can easily make insecticidal soap at home using liquid soap.  Does anyone have experience with this? Also, how to tell a liquid soap from a detergent if the bottle is not labelled "liquid soap" ? Any particular ingredients to keep an eye out for?

-----   12th March 2011   ----- 

I shall document all kinds of visitors to my garden here.  Sadly, the first pictures are not of the most welcome visitors, but they are visitors none the less!  I hope to slowly attract birds and other beneficial animals that may balance out the harmful effects from the below.

HerbSuperb!

-----  Sunday, 3rd April 2011  -----

I felt completely evil, but I did it.

I hunted down that Japanese beetle and I stomped on it (same as I do to snails in my garden)  :(  I still feel so guilty, but my sage has already thanked me by looking pretty.  Ah well, c'est la vie :S

 -----  Sunday, 27th March 2011  -----

I have always observed and marvelled at the vigour of my sage plant.  This Salvia species has seen many a generation of beetle on my rooftop.  I have so far made no effort to remove the beetles, hoping somehow that this particular visitor had some positive effect somewhere else in my garden.  Both adult and larvae LOVE this plant and eat its leaves at a fast pace.  But good old sage is stronger and produces new growth at an even faster one, in a somewhat defiant manner :)  It has even started to flower now, despite its very nibbled state.

Has anyone had similar beetles visiting their sage? The adult beetle is beautiful, with a sort of metallic stripey thing going on with its carapace.  Any beetle enthusiasts willing to suggest a name?!

The Mystery of the Curled Honeysuckle (Lonicera)

I have been trying to solve this mystery for quite some time now.. my honeysuckle gets enough water and I can't spot anything on its leaves or bark which I guess rules out pests.  I'm guessing it may be some sort of nutritional deficiency but I'm not sure of how to go about sorting the problem out using organic methods... Any suggestions?! 

Ceratonia siliqua, Carob

-----   Saturday, 26th March  2011   -----

 

 -----   Friday, 4th March 2011   -----

 

The Vertical Aspect

It took me just under a couple of hours to construct the three trellises below!  I did it all myself using a brush and wood glue, a hammer and some nails.   The only help I received was Nannu cutting out the bits of wood into the right size from a strip of wood which was once part of a door.  I aim to train my climbing roses (once they grow) and my honeysuckle onto and across the structures to drape the wall with green. 

Rosa spp., Climbing Roses

Next on the list of garage constructs is a large trellis or two, to train the vertical shoots from the two climbing roses onto.   The plants in the first two pictures below were potted yesterday, in huge pots that I purchased specifically for the roses which, I was told, like deep soil.  Megan gave me this advice when I bought my first rose, shown in the third picture, and it has been doing well so far.  I have therefore applied the same principles to my two new climbing rose plants. One is supposed to have pink flowers, and the other yellow - we shall find out!  Updates with respect to my three Rosa species to be posted here in the future. 

Lilium columbianum, Tiger Lily

I am overjoyed to discover that the Lily babies I had separated last year are both sprouting healthy new shoots! :) I shall document their progress (and potential offspring) here.

For those who don't know, Lilies are bulbs that produce shoots every year.  As bulbs grow, they produce other baby bulbs that you can separate off and pot elsewhere! :)

Balsam

I received a plant raising kit from Megan as a birthday present and decided to put it to immediate use!  My first attempt features Balsam seeds (no idea what the genus and species are - must do some research) that Megan also gave me :) 

This is ideal as the only space I have to grow anything here is the roof, and as you can imagine this is a rather harsh environment for germinating seeds and seedlings.  This kit enabled me to create the perfect environment for germination in the balcony of my own bedroom (parents can't complain about me causing clutter here - and by parents I obviously mean my dad).  The balcony is great as it functions exactly like a greenhouse, trapping heat with its many glass panes.  Here is a picture of one of the first germinating Balsam seeds.  

This should be a hardy type - I do so hope it survives on the roof once it grows more!  I shall update the story as the seedlings grow :)

Bat & Bird House

The inspiration for building a bat & bird house came during my visit to the States last December.  I was familiar with the concept of bird houses but not bat houses!  My gaze fell upon its first bat house, believe it or not, in Disney World's Animal Kingdom.  I came across the idea once again only a few days later when I was back in Virginia visiting a system of caves called Grand Caverns - the little museum outside the caverns was encouraging individuals to create habitat for bats by handing out the plans for building a bat house.  A couple weeks and some research minutes later I stumbled across the idea of combining a bat and bird house in one structure, and of course I fell in love :) 

Wormly Does It!

All plants in this project receive their nutrients from our organic household waste.  Our wormery or vermicomposter, depending on where you come from, is essentially a house for lots and lots of worms!

I was introduced to this composting method by Wayne Teel, who was lecturing the SERM/ISAT course in Malta at the time.  Wayne's knowledge was a fundamental addition to my present appreciation for all things sustainable and natural.

The first lot of worms was kindly donated by a friend, Brian.  They have now multiplied to a huge number.  The structure was constructed by Nannu (this is what we call our grandfathers in Malta).  All of our organic kitchen waste goes into the top of the structure where it is consumed by the population of worms residing within.  The worms egest the material in a finer form and this makes for a natural way of recycling the nutrients in our organic waste and passing them on to plants in the garden.  Vermicomposting in this way is quicker than thermal composting.  Another plus is that there is absolutely NO smell from the waste.

Nannu constructed the wormery which now stands in the small shaft in the middle of our house.

 

The blue basin at the bottom collects fine material that passes through the four compartments above.  The little bucket collects liquid that drains out of the entire system.  Both material from the blue basin and liquid from the bucket are used to provide nutrients to the plants.

Welcome to My Garden Project!

Welcome everybody!

This is where I shall be documenting my gardening experiments.  Current project location is the rooftop of my parent's house in Sliema, Malta.

My grandfather Joe contributes an awful lot to my project, helping me realise all my ideas in his workshop which is located in the garage behind our house.  My grandmother, Grace, and parents, Richard and Hilary are also well into my project - I'll be mentioning their contributions throughout my blogs.  Another must mention is Megan, my friend from Virginia, and Lisa her mother who is a skilled arborist; they have been a huge part of my inspiration and constant motivation!

You are all welcome to share my experience, please comment and suggest at will!

Justine :)