Tag Archives: nursery

The sunflowers germinated

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Since the weather turned to the better about a week ago, I’ve put more effort into two things:

  1. Golf
  2. Gardening
:)
I’m not showing much improvement in golf, but the garden has taken the bit and is off and running to full glory. During the Eid long weekend I took the chance to redo the vegetable patch and although no vegetable have been seeded there yet, I’ve prepared the ground and for the moment am using that patch’s sprinklers to water the small number of seed trays I’ve started. This morning, I was really happy to see that one of the sunflowers trays have sprouted with what looks like very healthy growth.
These are two types of sunflowers: at the top of the picture are the Mammoth Russian variety which can grow to 10 – 12 feet in height and with flower heads the size of dinner plates; while the others at the bottom are the much shorter Velvet Queen variety.
I was actually not holding on to much hope that they would germinate as their sell-by date has long past. They were marked to be used by 2010. I’m glad that they’re doing well (so far!)
At this rate, I’ll have to replant them into their permanent places within a week.
Me happy!

The Garden Nursery

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The Garden Nursery

The Garden Nursery, originally uploaded by malyousif.

My friend Rami and I visited Anne Al-Jalahma’s "The Garden Nursery" this morning, despite the horrendous weather we are experiencing in Bahrain – thanks to the huge Iraqi sandstorm earlier in the week – the nursery itself was a sight for sore eyes and a replenishment for the soul.

It is the ONLY nursery in Bahrain that I felt is made and maintained by a gardener for gardeners. It really shows where the others are going wrong; for while the others are interested in "moving pots", ie, bulk sales with whatever the season throws at them, Anne’s garden is a well thought out collection of wonderful plants which she herself has propagated in Bahrain and have been tested in our own climate.

The gardeners working with her are also knowledgeable and give good advice as to where and how to place the plants once bought.

It is also one of two nurseries – the other being Jannusan Exotics – who actually bother to label every plant with common and scientific names. Anne’s; however, comes out on top once again as most of the plants not only have the clear labels, but pictures of the plants when mature and flowered. I am sure that if you take a picture of an obscure plant to her, she might even help you name it, as she did with a very tiny picture of a Clitoria I showed her on my mobile phone.

Overall, this is the best garden nursery in Bahrain, barring none, and should be the real refuge for all of us who are frustrated with the box movers.

The poppies didn’t work

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I planted three kinds of poppies in seed trays on Sept 21st and none of them came up. Unfortunately I have had to give up on them; the ones I tried were:

[TABLE=3]

I think the reason they failed is probably due to (1) over watering, and (2) overzealous with the plant food! Even others didn’t fair very well actually except for the Calendulas and Antirrhinums of the same batch linked above.