Gardening

...is my new hobby.

I don't know what's wrong with me. I just wanted to do something else at home. 3 weeks ago I thought of starting a new hobby. Not gardening, but scrapbooking.

I actually planned to do some scrapbooking ever since I was pregnant, thought of doing a scrapbook on my babymoon trip to Bangkok. I was 7 months pregnant with Arishah. Bought Canon selphy photo printer just for that. At first I wanted a full A4 colour printer, but the salesman said it's cheaper if I buy the canon selphy in long terms compare to printing it at the photo shop. It was about rm600, with 108 prints. I really don't like seeing pictures in the computer, it's just not the same. Photo album shall live on!!!

I was quite stressed a month ago, mainly because I don't know where I'm going with my career. So I thought I'd drown myself in artsy stuff. Hehe (excuses!).

I chose and collected pictures of Arishah during her neonatal period (first 28 days of life). It took me about 2 weeks to finish. I loved it! I bought some stamps and lettering and (expensive) scrapbooking paper. I don' t know why doing art have to be so expensive here. Hrmph! But I love my letter stamps. It costs rm100 in all! blargh. I found nice stickers at cheap shops, rather than buy them at art shop. The art shop can really be a cutthroat.

But now, I'm concentrating on gardening...Vegetable gardening. I don't think I like flower gardening much. The only plants I like before this are broad leaf plants...simply because they are easy to take care off...and really is a good air cleaner. It's just too much dust in the city! No wonder la Tok Bah suka duduk dalam hutan.

So last month was my trial month. I planted Pak Choy and Kangkung. Didn't worked well :( It would have gone great if:
1. ...Mama's planter have a good drainage. She pulled the lower layer of the planter...aiyah!!! Tok Ma ni!
2. ...Mama's soil was not a clay soil. When the soil was dry, it was like a rock!
3. ...Evil snails aren't eating my vegies!

I'm planning to plant:
1. Spinach - germinating. Ready to be transplanted, but no soil :(
2. Kangkung - didn't grow well because of the clay soil and bad drainage. Replaced the old one and waiting for the new one to reach full growth. Hopefully can be picked in 2 weeks time
3. Baby Pak Choy - gone and eaten by snails, but managed to germinate it well
4. Occasional salads - haven't tried yet
5. Tomato cherries - already transplanted to a bigger pot this evening. I'm excited about this one
6. Okra/bendi - this one transplanted to a bigger pot too
7. A round dish of parsley and chinese parsley (daun sup)

I'm worried about the snails!!! They are destroying my hard work! I bought a snail pesticide, metaldehyde, but I regretted it. It's not good for my plants and me and my family! I'm going to try to use mint leaves next, that's the most natural way to keep them away that I can manage. Killing them with beer (as if I'm going to go to a store and buy myself an alcoholic drink without being caught) or an organic snail killer (they have sluggo and escar-go, but not here in Malaysia I think), is a great idea but not feasable at this time.

Will provide pictures...tomorrow. Good night for now!