Learning About Plants
Things I have additionally learned about plants:
- Pruning and moving from place to another are critical procedures that need to be applied with care at certain times –mostly during the cold season- in order to bring benefit to plants.
- Soil depletes over time, not only in quality but also physically, therefore adding compost is critical for sustaining plants in containers.
- Plants that multiply by fragmentation are a good investment, especially the fast-growing ones. A small container of Zebrina pendula (left top pic) soon produce 5 beautiful ones ready to be offered as s gift to a friend who is interested to start her own little garden. I gave Kalanchoe and Dimorphotheca fragments to my sister. Exchanging fragments is a very common practice among home gardeners here .
- I lost 3 plants due to mismanagement. One due to frost, one due to misplacement (placed in a place where it did not receive enough sun) and once because I added tea leaves to the plant after having heard it’s useful, however the leaves had sugar trace in them and attracted ant and red spider that killed the Brugmansia’s roots.
The above experiences still seem to be primitive, however they are steps on a learning path that started from absolute zero. I had no close contact with plants before. In my parents’ house where l lived until age 30, plants were not welcomed at all because mom thinks they attract insects and mess the house. That separated me from the plant kingdom and I grew up believing that this is a world I will never understand. But now as they joined my life and I watched them grow and flower, I slowly started to love them as members of my family and to find joy in taking care of them. I know this love will grow as I go deeper into what was a mysterious world for me and shed more light on its dark corners.
During one of our early meetings in February to discuss urban agriculture, one of our friends gave us a brief introduction about sprout seeds and their benefits. Following this, I immediately purchased wheat seeds grown organically around the Syrian coast from one of the projects my organization had supported and started to sprout them. I am on sprout wheat now for three moths already and started to feel the positive effect on my body and general health. after going through some health troubles during 2013, I feel now much stronger and energetic than before.
Composting and Waste Management
Besides composting, there are other ways I applied to reduce waste produced at home such as using products with less packaging, purchasing goods in bulk (for example detergents produced by my youngest sister) so that we can re-fill the bottles and packs instead of throwing them away, sparing all bottles, cans, and plastic jars to be used as containers for plants… as a result the amount of garbage dropped significantly. For example throwing away one big bag once a week instead of every second day.
Another thing is to eliminate the use of plastic bags. Most of the time I carry my own canvas bag with me when shopping, and my request not to be given a bag is usually met with surprise by shopkeepers who find this mostly meaningless. One of the them once asked in surprise: people are dying out there and you care about the environment?!!. Unfortunately my husband refuses to carry a bag therefore he brings home new bags every time he’s shopping.