Top 10 Succulents for your Home Garden

September 15, 2017 by Weng Zaballa Leave a comment

I am pretty satisfied with my window garden. While the idea of expanding urban green space at home is good because we still have a vacant spot at the rooftop, I am afraid that it might be difficult to maintain. So, I opted for smaller and easy-to-care house plants to maximize the small space.

photo not mine

Found this list online – Top 10 Stylish Succulents for Home Garden. I got a score of 1 out of 10, I only have plant #3 – Aloe Vera. My jade plant withered last summer.

Let’s proceed to the list. Just Google the names if you want to see how the plants look like.

Golden Sedum
Hens and Chicks (Echeveria elegans)
Aloe Vera
Burro’s Tail (Sedum morganianum)
Zebra plant (Haworthia attenuata)
Echeveria “Lady Aquarius”
Jade Plant
Flaming Katy (Kalanchoe blossfeldiana)
Queen Victoria Agave
Black Rose

I’m keeping my fingers crossed in completing the list. Happy Gardening!

Roses and Bromeliads

July 17, 2017 by Weng Zaballa 2 Comments

I bought some plants for my teeny weeny garden last Saturday. Take a look at my beautiful pink roses and bright green (with red bulb) bromeliad. I started collecting bromeliads because “we are friends”. I mean, this plant is very easy to propagate.

I am very happy with my new flowering plants.

pink rose

bromeliad and money plant.

5 Amazing Indoor Gardens

May 12, 2017 by Weng Zaballa Leave a comment

I am currently in the mood for beautifying my indoor garden. In fact, I tried making a macrame hanging planter out of cloth strips last weekend. FYI, macrame is an art of knotting cord or string in patterns to make decorative articles.

This is my finished product:

If you are an urban gardener like and want to try other means to arrange your plants, here some suggestions for you

1. Hanging Planters

macrame hanging planter source

2. One Pot Herb / Flower Garden

(I am so inclined making this one, perfect for my empty large terracotta pot)

source

3. Vertical Box Planter

source

4. Windowsill Garden

source

5. Mason Jar Planters

source

Garden Improvement

January 10, 2017 by Weng Zaballa Leave a comment

The collage below shows my plant collection in my mini garden. However, all of photos there were taken one year ago. Most of the plants were gone already.

This is one of my problem when it comes to gardening – when busy days come I tend to neglect my plants. Majority of the plants dried out. I am really a forgetful gardener. I hate myself! hahaha….

I want to re-arrange and improve my mini garden this year. I hope to be inspired real soon…. 🙂

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Terrariums as Tabletop Gardens

August 18, 2016 by Weng Zaballa Leave a comment

Terrariums make beautiful tabletop mini gardens and create a tropical mood in either home or office. My daughter and I have made a terrarium for her Science project last year. With minimal materials which include glass container, potting soil, pebbles, charcoal, small plants, and some teeny tiny decors,you can already design your own. terrarium. They’re easy to maintain. All you need is to spray some water once that soil looks dry. Perfect for a forgetful gardener like me, yay! Perfect a weekend DIY project that also serves as a bonding time with the kids.

Before showing you an infographic about terrrarium-making, here is a short trivia for you..

The first terrarium was created by accident by botanist Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward in 1842. Ward accidentally left a fern spore in a jar. Over time, the spore grew into a plant! Hence, the name Wardian case for the early type of sealed protective container for plants or the early version of terrarium.

How to Make a Terrarium Infographic by Green Future

Click on the image to read the original article.

Happy planting, err terrarium-making!

Indoor Garden

June 27, 2016 by Weng Zaballa Leave a comment

My niece who is soon-to-be agriculturist shared this photo on her Facebook account.

organically grown bottle gourd (upo) credits: RGSEscober

It’s just one of the vegetables planted in their indoor garden which is located in the kitchen of the former house which was damaged by typhoon. They also have okra, different kinds of chili pepper, and tomatoes.

We’ll be home this coming weekend to celebrate my mom’s 80th birthday, I hope to taste and bring home some of these veggies!

On Growing Herbs (Again)

May 23, 2016 by Weng Zaballa Leave a comment

I took a break from gardening for almost two months. Been so very busy with a lot of things lately.

My recent comment exchanges with a friend and former office mate Anna in her Wanders and Flowers blog prompted me to post an update on my urban gardening adventure. Our topic is about growing herbs. I told Anna that I am a hard time growing herbs. I’ve tried twice, but all of the herbs I planted did not thrive. In her latest reply to my comments, she shared a link about growing culinary herbs.

After reading the article that Anna shared, I realized my two mistakes in cultivating herbs.

Error Number 1: Planted the herbs on a place without direct sunlight.

My garden is situated in a small space by the window, partly covered by plastic mesh, and near the roofs of my two neighbors.

Accordingly, most herbs require several hours of direct sunlight everyday. It is important to find a location in your yard that has full, bright sunlight, and minimum shade. If you are planting herbs in containers, avoid covered porches or placing the containers under shade trees. (source: http://herbs.lovetoknow.com/Growing_Culinary_Herbs)

mints, parsely, and rosemary: gone too soon :p

Error Number 2: Failed to Harvest and Maintain the Herbs

I waited my herbs to growing beautifully, but to my surprise they all turned to yellow and then, bye-bye, all of them withered, even the basil and mint which are the suggested plants for novice gardeners.

Apparently, herbs need to be regularly harvested and cared for in order to thrive.

Now that I am in the mood to plant again, I will be planting herbs such basil, parsely, rosemary, mint, chives and lavender. Good luck to me! 🙂

One Has Died and I Want More Replacement Plants

March 30, 2016 by Weng Zaballa Leave a comment

This cactus died probably because of over-watering, one of the pitfalls of using a planter or pot without drainage holes. With this experience, I might invest in a drill specifically designed for drilling holes in ceramic materials.

I am quite depressed…. So, I researched a bit. I want more replacement plants, the ones that are hard-to-kill and can thrive indoors or shady areas.

Below is my ‘plant wishlist’.

for lucky indoor plants:

Lucky Bamboo (from dracaena genus)
Hawaiian Ti Plant (I already one variety of this)
Money Tree (Pachira)
Jade Plant
Snake Plant

for outdoor plants, I want:

White clover
Basil
Jasmine
Rosemary
Hibiscus
Roses
Agave succulents
African Violets
Vietnam Rose

Other plants:

Song of Jamaica
Song of India
Bromeliad

I chose not to show you photos of the plants I listed above. Just wait and see my future purchases.

On the other news, I will be launching a gardening blog next month. I will be hosting a contest, too. Watch out for it, guys!

Happy Gardening!

Keep Rats and Cats Away from the Plants

March 16, 2016 by Weng Zaballa Leave a comment

As I am writing this, I am contemplating on trying to arrange my plants in our rooftop. I am running out of space, you know. I had a mini garden near our laundry area before. Actually, the rooftop I’m talking about is an unfinished area of the house, no concrete walls in some parts yet. That is why rodents and cats are free to move around my garden and they destroyed my precious plants. To save the remaining plants, I moved them back again to our second floor balcony.

source

To find solution to my problem, I am conducting a mini-research on how to get rid of rodents and cats. Here’s what I got:

How to keep cats off the yard

To prevent cats from digging the garden soil and use it as their toilet, the fist thing to do is remove any feces along with some soil and try sprinkling cat repellent in the area. It is suggested to cut some lemons, oranges and similar citrus fruit and put them in the garden to stop cats from using this area as a toilet…. I will try this and hope it’ll work.

In case cats eat your plants, it is recommended to include plants with strong scent such as lavender, rosemary and mint. (source: gardeningknowhow.com)

How to get rid of rodents naturally

Recently, rodents have eaten my agave succulents and bonsai tea plant.

According to wikihow, seal up holes and cracks in your home where rodents may be gaining access. (that being said, we have to extend the mesh fencing in our balcony…. but how about the open space… argghhh)

Planting mint around the garden will create a barrier that rodents won’t cross.

Aside from that tips, I will also try spraying the following solution to my plants:

Put a teaspoon of red pepper flakes in a spray bottle of hot water, shake and spray generously on the plants.

With that tips on hand, I will try gardening again in our rooftop. I will put potted herbs there and arrange my growing collection of succulents and cacti. Good luck to me!

Happy Gardening!

Succulents in Sansevieria Genus

March 11, 2016 by Weng Zaballa Leave a comment

I’ve learned that succulents in sansevieria are “hard-to-kill” plants and have air purifying properties. This answer my question about appropriate plants that thrive indoor, with low light conditions. With that new discovery, I will be collecting more sansevieria. I have 3 types at present, a Sansevieria Trifasciata popularly known as snake plant or mother-in-laws tongue and bird’s nest, Sanseviera Cylindrica, and a Sansevieria Hahnii or bird’s nest.

I really enjoy researching the name of every plant I bought. By the way, here are my new “babies” enjoying Mr. Sun. I brought them outside a while ago.

Here’s a short trivia for you, guys:

Sansevieria (pronounced as san-se-vi-ee-ri-ah) belongs to the Lily Family which leads the list as being the most tolerant decorative plants. The genus was named after the Prince Sanseviero who was born in Naples in 1710. (source: http://plantcaretoday.com)

Happy Gardening!