Monday, February 11, 2013

Garden Design and Concept.

I thought I knew a few things about gardening, but given a task on someone else garden or plot, DESIGN slowly becoming scary. First it is not my specialty. Second some of the things asked  are beyond my gardening knowledge.

Mother used to say, you don't wait to be a millionaire to give and donate.  So lets see what's the request from a blogger friend through email.

Your passion towards a greener earth is most admired. I may not have a green thumb but I share your passion for a greener earth. I hope to seek your advice on this garden project that I'm planning for my soon to be opened kindergarten. I wanted to turn a 24 meter-run of wall with planter box into a beautiful wall garden and edible garden for the children to enjoy.   Attached is a photo of the wall and planter box. I may have the passion but lacks the knowledge and so I hope it is not too much trouble to bother you with the following questions :
 1- The width of the planter box is only 30 cm with a depth of 25-30 cm, what type of edible plants can be grown in such a small planter box. I hope tomatoes and green beans can be among them.  2-How do I grow creeper plants to cover the wall without having to share the small planter box with the edible garden? I worry that the soil, direct sun and space in the planter box may not be enough to be shared by the creeper plants and the edible plants.  
3-My goal is to have the wall covered with easy-to-maintain creeper plant that is thin layered and would not block the sun required by the edible garden that I plan to grow in the entire 24 meter planter box. Do you think that is possible? and if it is, what creeper plant will that be and how do I grow it?  
4- For the edible garden, can I use one type of soil for different type of plants such as herbs, leafy vegetable, tomatoes, cucumber, green beans, cabbage and etc? what soil will that be and can I get it from any nurseries? Where can I find varieties of plant seeds or seedlings? I do have a longer list of questions, but I will refrain myself till I get your reply :)  
Anxiously waiting for your reply.


planter box waiting for  "green touch"
Suggestion:
1. Most vegetables can be grown in 30cm wide planter box. For immediate impact spinach would be good for children to shout and yell because spinach is quick. Tomato and brinjals may add colour to planter box. But of all vegetables, cabbages would definitely steal the show.  I tried cabbage before, growing them them in pots. With cabbage, everyone will stop and ask questions.... haha.

2. Creeper: I know pokok duit-duit which crawl on coconut trees. On brick wall, I suppose creative addition of cocopeat may encourage such growth.

3. That creeper plant (pokok duit-duit) doesn't get itself rooted to the ground. It's born as aerial plant.

4.  If I were you, I would retain the original soil but add compost and organic fertiliser. Most gardening supplies can be purchased from nurseries, including seeds.

Gardening is an adventure of success and failure. So lets not worry too much, as long as we can be passionate about, things will get better and we feel happy about the gardening adventure.


_________bangchik and kakdah_________
pasir gudang johor

6 comments:

  1. Hahaha, that is easy for you Bangchik. If only i have that in the city i will be very happy, instead of my 1.5m X 1m at the 5th floor having only west sun. But i grow some kangkong, ampalaya, tomato, spring onion, hoya, 3 Rhenanthera orchid pots. Epiphyllum oxypetalum, zigzag plant and the cholesterol plant. Can you imagine how they fit in there?

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    1. Andrea..., you really are friend of plants kingdom for bringing them up to the fifth floor!!

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  2. Salam bangchik..
    when it's our own garden much easier kan...letak compost tuh a very good idea..grow some flowers also good together with veges..kat bawah tuh boleh tanam some pokok yg tutup bumi (sorry i forgot the name..)

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    1. Dunia tanaman memang menarik, dalam apa keadaan pasti akan ada pokok yang boleh tumbuh. Atas batu, bawah naungan pokok besar, dalam air, celah batang pokok.... ada saja species yang mahu menakluk!

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  3. Thanks for these suggestions, my wife likes gardening very much, she likes to grow various vegetables and flowers, i will definitely share this post with her.

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  4. Miguel Carson

    Thanks for the visit and comment. Life is short so lets share as much as we can.....

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