A most effective home-made pesticide

In my last update of the Pests and Bugs post, I wrote that I would follow up with some more insecticidal soap recipes. I have meanwhile tested one against leafhoppers with pretty good results.
In this post, I share the insecticidal soap recipe and introduce a new pest: the leafhoppers - showing photos of them and the damage they wreak.

Ready, set, TRANSPLANT!

In my last post I announced the transplant of my first seedlings (yes!). In this entry, I want to share my experience in starting the seeds and caring for the seedlings, the lessons learned, as well as hands-on tips and practical advice to guide you through transplanting the seedlings.

Aubergine, Aubergine

So, as I excitedly posted earlier: more planted seeds germinated. I was waiting for chili to germinate before announcing that the eggplants seedlings had emerged because, for some reason, I am more excited about growing chili.
This post is about starting the eggplants, they being the first to germinate and all.

Now is a good time to start aubergines, a crop that grows well in containers and that, in warm conditions like Egypt's, will also grow as a perennial - so, I guess if they fail to produce fruit, mine can always function as ornamental plants, provided they make it successfully to the transplant stage. Here I share how they are faring so far; you will also find a factsheet in the same format as the previous one.

Propagation for Fun - Growing Ananas

Growing your own ananas is easy as one, two, three. Quite literally too. Check out the post for the three simple steps to starting an ananas, or pineapple, plant and a couple of photos as well.

Cantaloupe Germination: Emergence of a Seedling

It's the emergence of many actually, just thought the singular made for a better title. I am so excited. As I last posted, barely three days after I had started the seeds, the cantaloupe seedlings were already emerging from the soil. Cantaloupe is cited in many sources as being a seed that readily germinates; but I was still surprised by that rate. I also placed some seeds between two damp towels in a sealed bag in the fridge, as I had learned this can be done to accelerate germination - I am not sure how much speeding up I can add to an already pretty fast rate. Nonetheless, I do intend on planting the cooled seeds after a week or so and comparing the germination time in both cases. In this post, I try and summarize all the relevant information I came across about starting and growing cantaloupes, you can also view the factsheet here (embedded below).

Starting Seeds - An Introduction

Starting plants from seed is an exciting pursuit for any aspiring gardener. Whether you choose to grow food crops as a healthy supplement to your kitchen, or ornamental varieties to compliment your display, that - usually quite impatient - wait that starts the moment you bury the seed will more often than not be rewarded by the magic of a seedling emerging from soil.
This week, I have started a number of seeds.

In this entry, I write a general introduction about what you need to consider when starting your own seeds. I will be following up with detailed posts and factsheets about each of the crops and varieties I have started. Currently, the focus of these posts will be on container gardening.

Mixing Potting Soil - The Basics

In previous posts, I talked about mixing my potting soil. In general, plants you purchase from typical roadside and riverside nurseries in Cairo will be potted in the dark rich clay soil. Clay soil possesses some properties that make it a superior farming medium: it is highly fertile and is more resistant to erosion than sand and silt soils.

However, clay soil also also possesses other properties that make it less suitable or desirable as a container plant growing medium: it is considerably heavy, and will become too firm when dry (the timeless image of Egypt's unchanging farmer ever plowing the dark land comes to mind). In this post, I describe the basic ingredients to mixing potting soil and their function in the mixture.

When Birds Attack

During winter, my plants suffered from a ferocious bird attack. Sparrows targeted the moisture-rich, soft leaves of the succulent plants. Some, like a potato trough I was growing for the beautiful velvety trailing green, was irrevocably ravaged; while others I was able to restore to out-of-control monstrous vividity (post on that soon). In this post I describe how I managed to harmlessly drive the birds away.

Pests and Bugs

Plants are prone to pests and bugs. A lot of the bugs are tiny and attach themselves to spots of the plant that make them not always directly detectable: plant crowns, underside of leaves.
Regular inspection of your plants in general and these spots in specific will allow you to control pests and bugs before they do any or much damage. Leaf discoloration, wilting, wrinkling, curling, and stunted growth at the tips are all signs of some infestation; so always watch out for these symptoms.
In this post I present the most common bugs and discuss my pest control methods, I do not use any chemical pesticides.