Report my Begonia Rex

I sense that my begonia rex is more and more unhappy these days. Today I decide to examine it.

I take it out and within in my expectation, the roots are very weak and not developing very well. I have to repot it.

This is the soil mix I use this time. Last time I used more peat moss and potting soil. This time I make it grittier.

Almost equal part of peat, potting soil, pumice, red volcanic rock, black volcanic rock, perlite and vermicast. 

I love the feeling of touching soil. It’s so relaxing.

Add all the soil with the begonia.

Give it a through watering. I use the water from my rooting bottle that was old water safer for

Leave it at the best area for tropical plants a southwest outdoor corner without direct west sunlight. It’s cool and humid.

Hope it will live happily ever after!

My Dental Implement Ordeal II

This post was supposed to post on 2013, but it was somehow on draft, and I post it now to record one of my darkest period in my life.

As I mentioned in my last post that I was recovering. But things turned down hill a week ago after I went to a kite flying session with my daughter. In the night of the day, my half throat, ear and somewhere in side my cheek I think angrily inflamed. My ear was full and my half head and throat were in pain. I was totally in panic and didn't know what was going on.

Night time was most miserable because the fullness of my ear made me feel suffocating and awoke. The ear was so bad till the point that I heard ringing sound.

I went from A & E to ENT specialist, all the doctors told me that everything was fine, my sinus and throat was health and the fullness of ear will go away. I took all the medicine that I have never taken in my life such as nose spray, steroid tablets, decongestant and antihistamine. My condition was sometime ok and sometime really bad. The worst thing is I am extreme tired, but I cannot sleep because of the unbearable uncomfortable in my left ear.

In the middle of the sleepless nights, I stood in my balcony and looking into sky and wondering why all this happened. Is God trying to send me a message? I have never had such difficult time in my life. I really wanted to just jump down from the balcony if without my family and my daughters. Living was meaningless with such horrible disease.

What was really went wrong? Looking back, I was so simple minded to jump on the dental implement bandwagon. My implement doctor is a very nice and thrusting surgeon. But she never explained to me in detail what the surgery was like. I don't even heard the term "Sinus Lift" from her, She just told me that she will put some bone under the sinus which I thought was the bone under the missing teeth. I asked her what will happen if something is wrong. She just simply said that if there were infection, the surgery will fail and everything will be back to my current status. I never thought that she will enter my sinus and actually broke a bit of my sinus membrane during surgery. Only after the surgery was finished and I sit on the surgery bed that  I realized that I made a mistake that I should not go such a hush treatment. But it was too late.

All along I have some nose issue. I am allergic in the morning and will wake up sneeze a bit. But the allergic reaction usually last for half an hour. In the day, I normally have no problem if I didn't touch dusty things or suddenly go in and out of cold and hot places. I do have three times feeling a bit of ear fullness. But they went away very quickly within 2 to 3 days.

I never expected that these problems went full balloon when after my Sinus Lift procedure. I have non stopping running nose, drainage from mouth and ear fullness. I didn't know what happened and was scared to death. Initially, my doctors thought was infection and gave me so much antibiotics. Only till very late they realized it was actually some kinds of sever allergic reaction.

Making a Drink from Lemongrass Pandan Leaves and Kaffir Lime Leaves

My lemongrass, pandan and kaffir lime grow crazily fast. I have to tidy them up very often. In order to throw away the cuttings, I use them to make a delicious drink with a lots of health benefits. Go to Google the health benefits.

This what I harvested.

This is the tea I made. 

 

The steps to make the tea are:

First wash them throughly.

Cut out the lemongrass roots. Smash them so it’s easy for them to release nutrients.

Make knots  of long lemongrass leaves.

Make knots of pandan leaves.

Pick the leaves from kaffir lime cuttings.

Put all of them into a pot.

Add a lot of water to cover them.

When it is boiling, turn to smaller fire. Cook 1 to 2 hours.

Pick the leaves out when it’s done.

This is the drink.

Add some rock sugar and honey for taste.

Pour them into glass bottles and keep them in fridge when they are cool.

Add some ice to drink. It tastes really delicious something similar to chestnut drink.

Not finished yet, don’t throw away the part with roots attached.

Plant it to have more leaves.

You can also try to root kaffir lime cuttings:

Have fun and enjoy reading!

An Easy Neat Compost Making Method for Small Space

I would like to introduce a very easy and neat compost making method from kitchen waste with a small garden or in an apartment.

1. Collect your today’s waste

Chop them to make small pieces 

Prepare a flower pot and soil, lay a layer of soil on the pot

Lay the waste on the pot

Cover the waste with soil

Cover the wastes fully with soil to prevent attracting from insets.

If you have old compost containing good worms such as earth worm or millipedes, it’s best to add them in.

I found that these worms will find way to go into the compost pot somehow even if you don’t add them.

Final step is to put a plant inside the compost pot so your garden doesn’t look ugly.

You can also use it as a vegetable storage area to store cabbages the best. There are three main benefits this way: first saving fridge space, second helping eliminate pesticides when left them under rain, third keeping the cabbages fresher.

When one pot is full, you can start another one. After about 3 months, the compost is ready. 

Gardening as my new Lifestyle

As I moved to my new home with a front and backyards, I need to spend some time to do gardening.

As all gardeners know, it’s such a rewarding and calming activity. I really enjoy it.

This is my front yard.

This is part of my backyard.

 I still need time to take time out from working with my daughter on her cello to make them into a better shape. 

While I was tidying up my over growing Indian Borage, I tried my version of Indian Borage tempura. It’s really delicious and easy to make,

The recipe is described as below. Indian borage is extremely easy to plant. Just poke a cutting into soil it will survive at 99% rate with water and a bit of sun.

Now you get the delicious tempura. The Indian Borage tastes very similar to green chili, but without spicy taste. It’s good for children.