AS I WAS PASSING

VIEW FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RAINBOW

Living without a Garden

Balcony Gardening is on my calendar.

IF you are like me and a little bit of a compulsive gardener you can probably imagine how frustrating it will be to live for the next months in an appartment with just three tiny balconies.  Yet, I am confident that I can grow at least a few fresh herbs and perhaps a container or two with tiny tomatoes, baby courgettes and and a variety of chillies.

At home in Australia I am lucky to have a large vegetable plot at my disposal. It feeds my family and friends all year round with fresh vegetables. To me there is little more exciting  than to watch the fresh green tips  of my vegetable seedlings emerge from the ground in anticipation of having them later for dinner.

Shopping here in Dhaka for vegetables during the monsoon season is not much fun.  The quality and lack of variety on the green markets and even the "posh" supermarkets who import some greens from Bangkok here in Dhaka is appalling. Yes, veggies may be inexpensive, but as an organic gardener who uses no toxic sprays or chemical fertilizers I dare not even think about the residues of toxic substances and all the other pathogenic critters these veggies may contain.

So, before I departed Australia I fortunately found the perfect package at my garden center to start my balcony garden. They are Coir Potting Mix Blocks with added fertilizers that expand when water is added. The blocks, the size of approximately two bricks were not only easy to pack and realtively cheap to ship from Australia, they also guarantie a growing medium that is free from pathogenic and toxic material that local growing mediums may contain. A perfect alternative to local 'mud' for my first Balcony Gardening Project.

My brick expanded to fill two large styrofoam boxes, enough space for mint, coriander, lemon grass and basil.  I am sure these lovely herbs will definitely brighten our meals over the next few months.

 

posted by: Lewana at September 08, 2009 02:33 | link | comments |
balcony gardening, balcony gardening

“The lake smiles, so inviting to bathe”

 
No thank you, I’d rather not even dip a toe into the lake right in front of our apartment building. Dhaka, or rather Gulshan where I have been living for a week by now, was once a pretty garden city dotted with bungalows and gardens filled with bougainvilleas and jasmine.  Now, twenty years after my last visit, it has faded into a concrete jungle with rubbish filled streets, traffic jams and ugly high-rise buildings.

The Gulshan Lake with its once scenic views, once constructed by the British as a much needed reservoir for a drowning capital, has died an ecological death.  Its water is deep green with algal bloom, rubbish floats on the surface and accumulates in garbage dumps around  the edges.  Untreated sewage and solid wastes are discarded into the lake on a daily basis and it appears to me that there are no effective conservation activities whatsoever.

On the bright side there are feisty trees growing along the lake’s edge and right in front of my window quite a number of birds are finding a refuge amongst the leaves and branches. Interestingly, the crows have learned that it is a lot safer to go for a drink of water from our air-conditioners.

posted by: Lewana at September 05, 2009 04:45 | link | comments (2) |