Hibiscus Patch

Xinmin students have adopted the Hibiscus Patch. The students come to visit the CG and render help to the hibiscus patch. They help by doing the weeding and watering at the patch. Usually they will pull away the grass that grows near the tires and get rid of stray weeds that get into the planters. Once I got them to fertilize the plants using the garbage enzyme solution and they were wriggling their noses as they watered the leaves ... LOL. They are really helpful and I can see the joy in them when they are doing these activities. I am sure they don't weed and water at home in their apartments. The patch is growing well and have blooms quite frequently.

The Secret Garden in Utama KL

During the recent June holidays, the three of us made a visit to the Secret Garden. My first impression ..... wow .... the plants are growing huge and lush but why no one trimmed them... LOL
Venturing further into the garden .... I realised many parts of the garden sort of needed attention. It's a big garden on the roof top of One Utama ..... serene and tranquil and when we were there a handful of visitors were also exploring the place. I am sure the garden has seen better days cos' I 've seen photos of the garden my friends posted in the GCS forum 2 years ago. Plants die off and maintenance and weeding is a perpetual chore . Still there are pockets in the garden that have lovely blooms and can be quite enchanting when seen at a certain angle. Below are the memories I have of the Secret Garden .....

Adenium

Updating the Adenium blooms in the CG .....
They have been growing here for about a year and the recent hot spell forced them to bloom.

CIB Garden Competition 2012 Award Presentation

Wu Wo Yuan was awarded the Platinum. RC chairman receiving the award on behalf of the Community Gardeners. See .... first name and first line .... :-)

News in Life Storeys .....

Here's the link to a write up in Life Storeys about our Community Garden Leader .....


Since she was a child, Hougang Ave 4 resident Mrs Iris Chua has always been resourceful, a trait that she attributes to her mother, a housewife.
"Back then, toys weren't as easily available from shops as they are today," recalls the 59-year-old retiree. "Instead, my mum would make dolls for me out of old clothes. From there, I learned to make my own toys with whatever I could get my hands on."
Mrs Chua goes on to describe how she used to make houses from shoeboxes by cutting holes in them to make doors and windows. She also furnished these "homes" with furniture she made from matchboxes, gluing them together to make little tables and chairs....... continue reading in the link below .....

http://lifestoreys.hdb.gov.sg/retired-teachers-teaching-recycling.html

Heartland Youthoria 21-27 May 2012

The CG participated in the above events during the week. We conducted a workshop for 40 students at the HDB HUB. The workshop involved hands-on-session in making an Eco-bottle for an indoor garden. We taught the students step-by-step in recycling a 1.5 litre pet bottle into an anti-mosquito pot for planting in water. Below is the end result ..... I must say it's a pretty pot using the water gel babies, colorful marbles and charming ribbons for decoration.

During the week, Northland Primary came to visit the CG. The students helped in the weeding and watering of some parts of the CG, toured the garden with interesting pointers to look at, they witnessed the CG vounteers harvesting two yam plants, a huge 20 g wintermelon, a couple of turnips and tasted the CG herbal tea. Iris also demonstrated to the group how to make an anti-mosquito plant pot using a pet bottle. Noticed in some pics you can see videographers and photographers and even have a couple of reporters interviewing us and the students during the visit.

Bromeliads Update

Most of these plants were donated to the CG by friends from GCS. They came in a pot with a plant or two. Propagating them is a slow process and so I am waiting for the time when I have enough to do some landscaping for a patch in the CG. Meanwhile I just enjoy the color changes on the leaves as they grow and if there are blooms happening .... that means I will soon have baby plantlets.

Duranta 'Dark Purple'

This was a plant donated to the CG in a small hanging pot. I saw the lovely blooms and decided to plant it into the ground so that we can have a reasonable size purple bloom bush. Waited almost a year and a half before I saw blooms again and finally you see the blooms here. This beauty is hidden from all eyes because the shaded trellis was built in front of it.

Persian Shields

A GCS friend donated her cuttings to the CG. The leaves have a unique purplish bronze coloration when grown in the right conditions. Sometimes a pinkish purple can also be seen. This is an excellent example which I usually share with the students who come visit the CG about leaves that are colored not the usual green. The plants like the shade and the humidity in the garden. Any bright sunlight will tend to bleach off the leaves to a pale purple. So in the CG they grow under the Longan tree.

Succulent Dishes Updates

Some updates .... they seem to be doing OK. They have been growing for the past three months. Had to take away those that didn't do too well and replanted some others to try again. Let's see how they do again. In time to come I know some in the dishes will overgrow again ... then it's trimming time.

Teck Ghee Vista Visit

Our CG was involved in helping out the Orange Valley elderly residents set up the CG. We donated some potted plants to them to help them as a start up. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was there to officiate the opening of Teck Ghee Vista and the CG ambassadors together with the Xin Min Primary Heartland ambassadors were there to welcome him and distribute fragrant potpourri sachets made with our garden leaves. Here are the memorable moments to enjoy .....

Taiwanese Mulberry Fruits

Finally had the chance to harvest some to eat .... LOL They are huge and almost my thumb size for the largest berry seen here. The black one tasted not sour but not too sweet at the moment.

Garbage Enzyme

We try not to use any chemicals in the CG for insect and pest control unless absolutely necessary. We use garbage enzyme for general pest control and we make them ourselves. Here is how it's made ...

1 cup of black sugar .....

10 cups of water .....

3 cups of  vegetable matter in this case I used old apples that are not sweet ......

Put all the ingredients into a big tub and cover .Let them ferment for 3 months in a cool place shaking the container once in a while to mix them all up and open the cover to release the gas.

After that sieve out the vegetable matter and retain the liquid . This liquid is called Garbage Enzyme. The vegetable matter can be burried into the ground as composting material.

Here is the link for some more information on Garbage Enzyme ....
http://www.instructables.com/id/Garbage-Enzyme-Multipurpose-Uses-amp-Safer-and/