Can't upload pictures via my cellphone.

I was trying to upload some pictures of Princess Basil via my cellphone, but somehow things aren't exactly working. argh...

Anyway, Princess Basil isn't doing too well right now. Well, she is still alive and kicking. But recently, I noticed that her new shoots and leaves tend to dry up and turned into little, black lumps. Thankfully, not ALL the new shoots are turning into black little rasins... so, at least there are still some new leaves around.

I also saw some really tiny, little black wing insects around the soil. That is NOT good. It seems that I am having a pest issue here. After doing some research, I realised that my Princess Basil is being raped by Thunderflies!

These %^$*# sap-suckers are causing some stress to my Princess Basil. Unfortunately, these thunderflies are really tiny and quite impossible to catch by hand. And since Princess Basil is meant for consumption, Im not too keen to use pesticide on her.

Thankfully, a really kind lady from GCS forum (Green Culture Singapore) gave me some advice on making my very own home-made-and-yet-organic pesticide, which I'll give it a try this weekend.

If all things fail, I'll eat up Princess Basil before those evil, pesty Thunderflies get to her 1st!

Busy Bee

I’ve been taking my green chores rather seriously lately. I would check on Princess Basil at least twice a day. Just wana make sure that she is sprouting new leaves and getting enough sun. I have also added some “organic” fertilizer to her… some left over coffee powder, some left-over tea leaves, and also some crushed egg shells. Well, so far she’s still alive, so I guessed those left-over stuff aren’t too bad for her. At least, not KILLING her yet.

I’ve also been surfing the net for more information about indoor gardening, and what are the suitable plants that I can plant for my planters. Previously, I was gloating that my unit was north-east facing, which meant that I would not get much sun. In fact, I’ll only get some partial sunlight from 2 – 5 pm onwards… Now, I'm kinda beating my chest over the limited amount of sun that I'll be getting UGH, O well, better than nothing.

So, I just gotta work with plants which are shade-loving. Most flowering plants and fruiting plants will be out of reach for me then. ;(

But I think I can still work with herbs with that few hours of sun, I can't wait to hop over to my herb garden while preparing for a meal, a la Jamie Oliver style. I simply adore the way he can just pluck some herbs from his herb garden while working on his zhi-czar.

So, from the internet, I’ve come across this ingenious lady, who has this really kick-ass idea on how to plant her herbs. Vertical herb gardening rocks!

I am so inspired…. This Project Planter Box is really getting interesting!

My very 1st plant -> Princess Basil

Since I’ll be the CEO of Project Planter, I better make sure that I do a good job… or else, the CFO-cum-shareholder will most probably skin me alive.

On the eve of the reunion dinner, 12 Feb, I was happily doing some grocery shopping at Jason’s, where I chanced upon some pretty, little pots of basil. I figured that it would be the best time to put my green fingers to the test, so I bought a pot home.

It came in a really small plastic container that even I wouldn’t call it a “pot”. Thankfully, Bishan was having its usual selling-useless-stuff Passar Malam, and I managed to find a decent looking, white porcelain pot and some soil to repot this basil.

The original plastic container was so small that 95% of the basil’s roots were growing OUT of the container. I was thinking of ways and means to cut up the container, so that I could retain as much of the roots as possible. Me, being me, Miss “chor-loh”, accidentally PULL out that 95% of the roots while I was cutting up that little plastic container.

OPPS… … …

O well, too bad. I guess Princess Basil just gotta learn to survive on that 5% of roots. After repotting my fragile Princess Basil, I realized that her stems weren’t do a good job in supporting herself and Princess Basil was being very unsightly, flopping all over the place. So, I found a sturdy-looking, sunny-colored-orange straw and stuck it next to Princess Basil; and tied her stems to the straw to give her some support.

There, she looked much better already.

Of course, I was worried that she wouldn’t survive for more than a few days. And it really didn’t help that I was busy plucking away her beautiful leaves as I really needed some basil to cook.

Despite of all that, Princess Basil is currently doing quite well. Her leaves are in a healthy bright green, and I can even see some small leaves sprouting!

Princess Basil is definitely hardier than she looks.

I’ll post some pictures soon!

What can I do with 5 grand… …

There are many, many things that I can do with 5 grand, eg:

1) a 1 wk trip to Japan inclusive of airfare
2) 3 designer bags
3) pay fore all my kitchen appliances
4) invest in the equity market to make at least 5%, ie: $250
5) buy a really kick-ass REAL, original designer chair

And the list can go on.

But my Interior Designer is charging me 5G to design the 2 planter boxes at my new place.

I was like “Are you kidding me?????” *scream*

So, I’ve decided to take up Project Planter box, since I don’t have much say in Project Habitat anymore…

My budget: $1200. That should be enough to buy all the plants, soil, and whatever necessary gardening equipment?

To be frank, I have absolutely no idea. Time to scout around the nurseries along Thomson road to check out the prices!