I’m Gardening?? Really??

When we moved into our new home in June 2009 we knew we didn’t have enough fund left to do up the outside of the house. Now, 6 month later finally we got a chance to do something about it. For a start, the small land area at the side of the house the size of about 40 ft x 3 ft. underwent a makeover this weekend. The rest of the area will have to wait till time permits, and ….when the budget is available.

First, with the help of 3 of my rugby boys, we dug up about 1 ft deep of the land as I expected it to be spoiled with construction waste. I was absolutely right, and it was a real challenge for the boys to finish the job. Finally, at almost 8pm on Saturday, after 3 hours of hard labour, we managed to replace the useless earth with fortified organic soil.

Early on Sunday, I began to plant the combination of flowers that we had purchased the day before. Nearest to the wall fence, we planted a row of Sepit Udang (Heliconia), mixed colours of Bunga Siantan (Ixora Plant…heh..heh…just found out the scientific name for it), Bunga Puding (no idea what it’s called in English) and a few other plants which I don’t have the slightest idea what they’re called either in Malay or English (found one in Laman Impiana, it’s called Pentas Lanceolata) …..and I wish to be known as a gardener??? The next row is a mixture of a shrub type plant called Cuphea Hyssopifolia (also looked it up in Laman Impiana...thank you) which bears either purple or white little flowers. Finally, the plants are bordered by a row of small white pebbles up to the edge of the drain.

The results….. here you are. I like it, Lin and the kids like it too. I also notice now that our little garden only gets about 2-3 hours of direct sunlight as it is sandwiched between the house and the wall that separates us from the neighbour’s. Furthermore, it will also get drenched by rain fall coming down directly from the roof. Fitting a gutter for the roof is still out of the budget at the moment. So just have to see if the plants are strong enough withstand the monsoon downpour later.

The overview of our little garden

Heliconia and Bunga Puding

This is called Pentas Lanceolata

Bunga Siantan (Ixora Plant) in red, yellow, orange and pink

The walkway to the garden tap

The leftovers of my work

I know it’s still a long way to go. Hopefully the garden will turn out well….as well as those I see in Laman Impiana magazine. I can just imagine now…the family having our tea and goreng pisang under the porch while staring at our little DIY garden. That’ll be just wonderful.