GARDENING BY NUMBERS IN THE NORTH GARDEN

DISCLAIMER

This post is about numbers. Some readers may be able to expand their view and/or concept

of what this one quarter of the whole represents

THE AREA  beyond the arch is 8' 7" wide.  I do not have any idea how anyone could park those living room automobiles in 1940, when this house was built. Is a pain in the ass to enter, for the lack of angle and so is to exit for the lack of view. It is totally useless. We park in the street.

The high beds to your right, have five inches thick concrete walls,  a depth of eleven inches and seventeen inches wide. with a total length of 23'.

From the arch to the fiberglass garage door there are 30.2 feet.

The five holes dug with chisel and sledge hammer are between 13 and 25 inches wide.  Every vine mentioned in my previous posts is there, I will not get into that.  The highest point vine wise is 9' 2".

A close approximate number of species in the high beds is 51. This includes an original Croton, (the only one), left by the original owners lichens and all, a good environmental sign. It is probably 20 years old.

The north garden has an area of 262 concrete square feet, or 30' 2" by 8' 7". The planting area on the other hand is 34' 5".

All the numbers exclude those species in holes and pots.

Finally I thank all of you who drop by and read, leaving or not feedback.  Planting in every context requires some thought and effort. Aesthetics are there or not depending on the education and exposure of the viewer reader.  As I have mentioned before, when a garden is planned with flora and fauna in mind, anything else should take a second place.

Nevertheless I feel certain satisfaction when I compare my garden to others here and in foreign lands.  This feeling become joy when others in the distance share some of the pleasure, that is not always an accident.  Thanks.

apaga i vamonoh.

if your calculations are different, 

Bravo!

A CAMPAIGN PROMISE POST

 I dedicate this post to ALL those bloggers, the one percent, out of  every one hundred, sharing their wisdom,  expertise, theories and practices in all the issues discussed in this blog and theirs. I take my hat off . You know who you are.

SOME TIME AGO, I promised to share some aerial views of me garden. This time I concentrated on the north and east sides. There are not many blogs offering aerial views of anything. Another notch for the road.

I have also some pictures of my garden resident Spindalis nest in the north garden. In addition I will offer my still life with another nest that fell in my museum material photo still life: Air, water and soil. However I do not want to overwhelm my fans and foes. Next time I will provide the rest of the show. Today was a very productive day in a photographic sense.

that is that
apaga i vamonoh.

THE LAST TOMATO POST

I WONDER what would or (www), JOSY LATORRE , ingest  after a sumami, dressed on top with plutonium. This burned out singing cartridge, is the local vegetarian authority of the eating, not the planting.  IT would be interesting to research all vegetarian fundamentalists to see what the hell they plant, or if all the pose is similar to that great gone inner city comedy show, Seinfeld.  In nine years nature, flora or fauna were never mentioned while it lasted, not even by accident.


The tittle is the last tomato, because the last Solanum lycopersicum, would have caused less or no impact to the reader. By the way, I visit other blogs, less and less, since they exist like news smedia parasites. Not an original concept, not one, or creation or anything...Just chit chat and dull small talk predominates in the local arena. Their lack or originality include the tittles. These posts all may suck, but some tittles are remarkable.


The first meaningful  tomato I ever ate was planted by a Rumanian, Ms. Dascalu, the nail technician wife of the Mr. our landlord and tool and dye maker, in Queens as ugly, flat as Staten Island. It was the first of 3 boroughs in our peregrination for a 'better future'. It was followed by Brooklyn before Smith street became another Manhattan, and ending in the beautiful Upper West Side, 186th street and Broadway, next door to Fort Tryon. 

However, the Mets territory has a lot of Colombians, by 82nd street, taking the Oriental Express, the 7 train. These are my favorite South American segment for their speech patterns, vocabulary, humor, music (salsa, cumbia,ballenato, llanera), literature, films, narcos series/soaps and gastronomy.


Tomatoes look more weedy than many or most weeds. It is unbelievable so many people in the blog world are so infatuated with tomatoes. Last year, I probably saw, a hundred blogs with photos of tomatoes and or sunflowers with bees.


The story of this plant is simple. I put one cherry tomato from Super Max,  to dry under the sun for the hell of it.  Now I got this weed with 15 cherry ones. Getting what one wishes...That was the last gardening obstacle I had to overcome to be the best there is in the Caribbean.  I guess now I will have to move to grafting, after that there will be no more, I have covered the whole court, unless one reader could provide or remind moi of anything I may have forgotten.

BONUS

SOME people may be thinking that I have mellowed.  Just in tone.

To show the people I have not check this out.

What the HELL are motivators, life coaches for?

Dont we have enough with priests, reverends, sychologists and sychiatrists? LILY GARCIA, you suck! Big time.

This fool went to Mount Holyoke, got a degree in god knows what and now preaches and writes her own gospel in a fucking vacuum. She sucks in a superlative fashion cosnsidering that she violated the client/attorney/priest confidentiality declaring  her husband hammer was not hanging adequately to amuse her readers. SILVERIO, you too are in the same bag, both of you both are ugly and toothy.

This people believe they can motivate others, with yoga, good, vegetarian food, energy, without a social context in which nature, flora and fauna do not exist, not even implicitly. 

Well try to mentally motivate my hog neighbors. Their yard sucks.

This post was brought

to you by the word sucks and  variations.

THE CONSPIRACY POST

ON 8 MARCH 2011 your humble servant and favorite blogger, denounced huge and minor water leaks in the streets and avenues of Santurce, my metro zone undisputed domain.  Puerto Rico leaks!  Such an important piece that even Myrisa from paisciego gave me a hands up like it, in feisbuk.

On 26 MARCH of the current I go for a few strolls during the day, ending in La Placita del Mercado en Santurce, where the alcoholic segment of the population goes to pick up girls and vice versa, with some interacting in between.

This spot with  attractive, ancient architecture, considering that most original architecture has been destroyed all over,  is a favorite to hang out among locals and  tourists included. It  is also, perhaps the best place to study the biped portorricensis.  The astronomical decibels from the loudspeakers, with added spices from timbales, congas and cow bell will wear you out in thirty minutes, it is unbelievable, brutal!  Sure every local biped, no matter their social/economical status,  if they make 200 K with a phd or 12K for a family of four, high school drop out, thinks is perfectly normal, civil,  to listen to shitty salsa music, and trying to HOLLER a conversation during the procedures.


Down here you could get a fine of five hundred bucks for a beer in a side walk, or cursed and fined for smoking indoors, but no ONE has ever thought of the right of quiet, god damned, of every citizen.

1. It is something biped portorricensis can not do, enjoy and respect quiet.

BACK TO THE STUDIO

The conspiracy.  Well I am afraid, I have no other explanation, someone is reading this blog and repairing not only the water leaks, they are also paving the Fernandez Juncos Avenue and restoring the sidewalks in some streets except mine. This has to be a conspiracy.

What am I  going to criticize now?

Joking aside the same problem persist. Lack of systematic maintenance. The perfect restored  sidewalks in  Old San Juan, 
an expensive and tedious work, have been already destroyed in front of the Chamber of Commerce to fix some pipes.
The exact same thing happened a week after the Fernandez Juncos water leak appeared in your favorite blog.

In brief: The leaks in front of: Ciudadela, Fernandez Juncos, Ponce de Leon and Borinquen Avenue, and Sagrado Corazon street a five year old one and not even in my pictures were FIXED. I want to congratulate with my misanthropic heart whomever took the responsibility for the well being of the people. Puerto Rico would do it better with me as an illustrated despot or plain despot if you dissent with the adjective. 

If you like this hit the link 

on top to your left, or the two blogs...

apagad e iros...

Eumir Deodato "Also Sprach Zarathustra" (1972)

   I have received an unusual letter. RF are his initials, about my same age. Same barrio, Savarona in Caguas, before the illegal plague from La Espanhola.

He wants to leave his traces on earth before passing away. On his letter he quotes as references: Carlos Vicky Morell a fifth rate attorney, Luis Aviles a  mongrel convict, Fernando Monteverde a nigger,  and Taco the forgotten clown.

Tomasa del Carmen Puchi, a judge, originally from Morovis, was one in a number of his ladies men days life during the decade when Mr. Deodato, became a well known arranger and piano player from Brazil.

On his notes RF, does not give many details except her alabaster sof and cool, skin naked at eleven am, when he would drop in his bycicle by the housing project in the out skirts of Caguas to Aguas Buenas for foreplay and pull out fornication without condoms, ganja, speed, amphetamines and/or whatever was available. 


He mentioned in his notes that he became aware of Puchi's ambition during some carnal exchange, when the judge in some guest house room, around one o'clock in the afternoon, commented: What a slim waist you got!  Apparently our heroine was fornicating with fat/married/gentleman in that world of judicature and another age range.


What is pertinent on this anecdote is that the witnesses could corroborate part of it. However, RF, is only interested in placing himself and his life experiences about to end in a historical musical context, perhaps the most relevant.


Eumir Deodato made this this record during September 1972, when our hero and heroine judge were in Cayey, undergraduate students, UPR second unit university.

Along Eumir,  Billy Cobham, Ray Barretto, Hubert Laws, Stanley Clarke, Johh Tropea and Ron Carter participated in this historical and sentimental vynil masterpiece. One of the best records I have ever  listened to  in addition to Mr. RF.

Puchi is still a judge in the criminal court in el Pais de Caguas, and goes out with Luis. 

that is that, a rather unusual post,

if you ask me...

 

T

UNKNOWNS TO YOU AND/OR YOURS TRULY

TO KEEP a blog without feisbuk like considerations require focus, perspective, and imagination, just as when planting.  One keeps priorities in their correct place, no matter what.  Some go for the popularity, amount of comments or visitors.


When I made my vows, only setting trends, kicking of butts, mattered.  Another possibility, the one that really matters, becoming a historical reference in nature, ecological,
landscape maintenance and installation issues, collecting, propagating all sorts of adequate plants for my  collection were part of the picture, the intention, motivation.


I feel some satisfaction since five years later no other blog has shown any of the above interests regarding the landscape in the urban concrete/asphalted context of Puerto Rico. Most are into the minga/petraca mode. There are about fifty blogs arguing about four shitty local newspaers. Not I.

In the past when I showed, rare, little signs of arrogance, bully like if you prefer, I thought the botanical names were pertinent to present certainty in one arguments about this or that. Now I do not care. It makes no difference locally. Most people, the non initiated, not only do not give a flying fart about nature, they are unaware and totally disconnected from it.
My impression is they live like Michael, under anesthesia, totally numb, except when earthquakes and sumamis* hit the news.


I would like to share some these DK plants, even when I got a hint about their families for the amount of similar plants in my garden or reference books.


The grey-blue agavacea is significant. Along the succulent, were bought from catalogs while living in Brooklyn, USA.  Both are over ten years. The oldest in my collection.


The plant with minuscule Holly like leaves was a present from Myrta, the domestic help in Lucy Laborde's residence.


The one with Spatiphyllum or Anthurium like leaves a present from my greatest collaborator Rengui, the inlaw.  An authority in vegetation of all kinds.

BONUS

There is one I know in the group. Ochna mossabisencis, a clone from those in the plantation luis munhoz marin. This is the first time it has bloomed in 6 years. I got it when it was five inches tall.

* Buahaja some felt like correcting it....confess! 


My next feature will set another trend.  It is going to be the inventory of a residence in Caguas where a relative of the family residing in it for ten decades  will provide moi the list.
That is one of my goals. To leave evidence of what Puertoricans planted before  the arrival of useless nurseries. These are responsible for  destroying the imagination, ability to propagate and swap plants in all sociological segments of the population.


apagad e iros....

IN THE GARDEN AT RANDOM

ITis a little difficult with age,  to sleep as in the past. After four hours I am awake, unwilling to read for the time it takes to get used to the light and focus.

That is not all, the knees are back to old habits.  A pain that was alleviated with glucosamine, is back. The walking as in Summertime,  ain't easy.  Fortunately, for some reason, there are no weeds to worry about in this concrete prairie style garden.

In this department, Sociedad Horticultural Bouret announces, the first Plumeria glabra blooms in 2011. Plumerias have no rules of engagement. Mine are almost naked, with  few leaves and flowers coming along. However, around the city you could fine some with lots of leaves and/or flowers at once.

The rare, scarce Ochna mossabisencis has bloomed for the first time in six years. Another remarkable first along the Guaicaum officinale, mentioned a while ago. 


My grafted lemon has the first crop of the year moving ahead, along with the Carica papaya and Capsicum florescens which has almost ended.


The Spindalis portoricensis one of our  aesthetically remarkable isle bird, was surprised eating whole Merremia quinquefolia blooms.
This took place once, a couple of weeks ago. It is significant, since I have made an effort to attract fauna that may otherwise would not drop by.  This bird is probably the only one with so many colors in such an arrangement.


In other related news the amount of stray cats, has decreased. Even when Farrukito, continues to feed them without any neutering efforts.  I believe Pain in Ass Tony a neighbor, is poisoning them. Since I have no evidence, except circumstantial, for some garden arrangements and comments he made to eliminate poop rights to this felines in his property, I will not offer a his description, not that anyone cares or reads this blog. 


Outside me garden, three importan issues
have developed. Believe it or not, some sidewalks around Barbe St, have been rebuilt from scratch and Fernanez Juncos Avenue has been paved. A insignificant step for humanity, but remarkable down here.


I am surprised by the US, UN, EU  abrupt love, with air bombs expressions to help them  rebels in Lybia. It reminds me of Mugabe, the Tutsis and Hutus, dismembering each other with machetes,  Apartheid,  Darfour and many others. A pity they had no oil. Perhaps some juan would had 'helped' them in a timely fashion.

time to go apaga i vamonoh.

THE FICUS POST

I DO NOT KNOW   when it started.  Judging from the excessive amount of dying Ficus benjamina in Parque Luis Munhoz Rivera in San Juan, I will take a wild guess: 1920.  I could be earlier, but that is when the planting Ficus of any type epidemic infected the Puuertorican minds or whatever is they carry in that head cavity.

The Everest of stupidity in landscape installation and maintenance is planting Ficus of any kind for hedges. I have denounced this practice with all the humble, kind, abrasiveness and bluntness I was capable of in the past.  Edwin Gonzalez Bauza, an agronomist, took it so personally that created:
econuco.blogspot.com, to counter attack my irrefutable arguments. By the way, the blog was a still borne. You could reach him at www.gramaslindas.com, if interested. 

I contacted the retarded above, to comment on a picture in their gramaslindas site showing leaves of grass cut with a dull blade or trimmer. The picture is still around. 

BACK IN THE STUDIO

The justifying issue with Ficus of any kind, it is similar the reasoning about the gastronomy in  BK, KFC or Mickey Dee, they are killing people, particularly the morbid obese, some of these monsters can we observed in Total Transformation.  But amazingly they junk fans,  ALL have a reason to justify their non stop eating of the wrong foods and lack of exercise.

The people in landscape, architects of the pendejismo paisajista school, and residence owners plant them Ficus alone or as in hedges with their reasons.  When alone, these species destroy sidewalks, gutters, all water pipes, any pavement in brief.

Imagine trying to keep one of these monster trees as an eight/ten feet hedge? Well, that is custom and use down here.

But NO ONE seem to notice, or care.  Only Antigonum or yours truly.

Almost forgot, if you live in Pueto Rico I invite you to visit the sterile/dull/ugly, Minillas Government Center. These stars in the post are planted in a mass grave like concrete circular hole around twenty feet below ground level. I am referring to those embracing the concrete to death.  Just like those temples in Thailand or Guatemala are strangled by criminal trees..

But if you observe carefully there is also a row planted on ground level, to leave no doubt as to the stupidity of the architects, contractors and government officials. Instead of fifteen Ficus in hole and ground level, a total of FIVE would have been enough, considering their canopy can reach fifty feet wide, in the worst scenario, imagine ten in less than four hundred square meters!

DISCLAIMER

Let the record show that I do not question the beauty, aesthetics of any Ficus planted in great open spaces anywhere in the tropics, the right context.  Like the hemorrhage of palms in Puerto Rico, the epidemic of Ficus should be STOPPED now by law.

Or provide a stiff  fine to  anyone responsible whose Ficus destroys public or private property on ground or below ground, including government agencies.

that is that.

apago i me voy.

PITHELOBIUM PLUS POST

I thought that no one would mind if I present  other photos with the subject. After all, I only learned about Pithelobiums five years ago when I moved to Santurce  No one knew the botanical.


The first Pithelobium I recall, not in these posts, caught my attention for the majestic projection even growing in the wrong place. It may still be,  in Tapia street and Eduardo Conde avenue.  It was not the beauty presented here, but it shows some character. Guama americano is the popular name.  

Here are some of the best I have seen. They happen to be triplets, I did not pay attention to the third previously. Two in the median, one south sidewalk of Baldorioty the Castro Avenue, near by Diez de Andino street.

As time goes by, I am more convinced there is no better tree for big spaces in the San Juan Metro Area. Tolerating  no maintenance or the custom/use wrong ones,  hot, surrounded by concrete, asphalt, fumes and salty breeze. 

The tens of dying Ficus in Parque Luis Munhoz Rivera, and the hundreds of abused Ficus species planted in public areas should be replaced with Pithelobiums. The  ones shown create no problems with their root or branch system. It is incredible, that no juan has ever noticed them.

THE PITHELOBIUM POST

THE BIGGEST  seeds one could find in the tropics are Cocos nucifera and Barringtonia asiatica..But in our guest of honor case, Pithelobium dulce, the seeds are about a quarter of an inch long.


Also known a Guama americano among the non initiated, has captivated your humble servant with this powerful architecture, umbrella like canopy. It is totally unknown, disrespected, underestimated, monumental tree. Why?


It grows where it wants, dispersed by wind, birds eating it sweet pod insides, almost like a weed.  Surely it does not interest those fools I am mocking constantly. It will not provide profits since it is found in streets, sidewalks, highway medians, concrete cracks.  But when these seeds  fall in an adequate spot it is impressive, as these pictures show.

Some people, without any planting, collecting or propagating, researching skills and without consulting with yours truly, went ahead and declared Thespesia grandiflora as the national flower.
Let the record show, I believe it was a stupid decision. What were the judges credentials? What were they thinking?  At any rate, Thespesia populnea has a much better attractive flower and it is resistant to salt water.

I declare Pithelobium dulce 

a patrimony of Puerto Rico 

and the Caribbean.

  I have the credentials.  

Dario apaga la luz.

REMEMBERING THE FUTURE

DURING the nineties while living in New York,  I had the opportunity to practice the skills learned while working as an editor, proofreader, copy/paste,  at a now defunct regional newspaper, LA SEMANA.

The illustrations were samples from magazines and newspapers. The magazine, the whole 3 issues, black and white typewriting paper, printed in an electrical Smith-Corona, with the assistance of Gladys Munhiz.


I want to thank Tito Collazo, graphic artist, from Espiral Inc., for the courtesy of scanning and enhancing this 21 year old prints. Mr. Collazo, across the street, neighbor and fellow part time gardener, appreared in this virtual space recently, along his pony sized dog Dalila and Diva. 

The magazine was the original ANGLOSPANO REVIEW. 

POSSIBLITIES OF URBAN FARMING IN THE FIELD VIRTUAL VS REAL

RECENTLY, three people wrote on the doomed picture of Puerto Rico's future in terms of food and its huge population, 3,400,000.
Only one will be mentioned for his consistent honesty, he does not plant, but knows the issues in terms of water and soil uses, family agricultural background,  history and  close observations planting of edibles in pots by his wife. Check: Planificacion Necesaria, Tema 1 Agricultura Urbana, alcantarillaalquimica.blogspot.com.

My constant practice with collecting, propagating and planting gives me a somewhat different approach to the possibilities in the field regarding ANY plan with a narrow or wide focus.  What you see below is applicable anywhere in the world, since agriculture is practiced by people.

If you have a concrete yard, most of it, and you decide to plant you could. However one needs a chisel and sledge hammer to break in.

A trowel, spade, bucket and place to put the debris.  The soil will not be in great shape. Solve that with your own compost. Dry leaves, coffee grounds, onion/garlic skins, earth worms added to it, will allow anything to grow, believe me.

Gardening demands some fitness.

Good knees, back, arms, stamina and guts are also necessary to dig one or five as I did in the north garden.  I walk between 2/3 miles daily. If you work in an office, sitting for forty hours at work, plus twenty watching television, gardening may not be for you or your children. Keep that in mind.

You need to know before hand what could be planted.  Do you live in the neck of the woods, high, or low, flat, close by the ocean? Is it humid, hot, wet, dry? Lots of shade or no shade, some shade?

Clay, sand or loam?  Or a mix of all or just one? Percolation is it excellent, medium or poor?  

Once you determine type, quality of soil, you could plant anything considering climate and weather conditions for your area. 

You will need tools, gloves, a cushion for your knees, a light seat,

weeder, hand pruner, A one gallon sprayer or smaller to irrigate, spray pests and kill weeds.  Are you keeping track?

To have any type of garden, edibles or ornamentals require tools and some notions of what you are doing.  Lets take plant selection for example.

Most people go for the monkey see monkey do: tomatoes, lettuce, peppers to name three.  Decide to plant seeds or grown plants.You need to learn how to care for them plants since they get particular diseases from the soil or insects. You need to learn to identify damage from chewing or sucking insects, and to read signs of stress to irrigate.  Leave some spare time for weeding, on your knees...

Once you got that, decide if you will  follow the organic or chemical path to solve the problems as you think suitable.  If you have a lawn, a trimmer, blower, or lawn mower, polluting with fumes and noise, I do not think flora, fauna or your neighbors will notice if you kill every beneficial insect and other living creatures with pesticides. Alberto Areces Mallea did not why should you? 

I repeat, decide what could be planted before you engage in any GARDENING. Make sure you get a fifty five gallon can to collect rain water. If not watering by hand, get a hose with adequate sprayer, do not use your finger, as so many imbeciles do, even in nurseries.  The water pressure will erode the soil around your plants!

Food is not only something that has to be cultivated or vegetarian, consider goats, chicken, but not roosters, I HATE their noise, rabbits, anything that could be eaten, if not violating the law.  Those former pets, green iguanas should become part of our diet. 

Besides the real planting, the one I do, other virtual possibilities should be explored. An inventory in EVERY urban context should be done to determine what fruits, vegetables, tubers are  already planted in housing projects and private residences. 

The possibility of a bank should be studied. Most people do not care about anything planted in their yards any longer, not even in the country side where I have seen piles of mangoes and oranges rotting in cart wheels offered for free.  Once this inventory is created the chance to exchange and/or sell will be there.

Finally not everyjuan cares for edibles, most people care only for aesthetics. Lets bring them in the bag. I am certain many in this segment would not mind swapping ornamental plants of aesthetic/resistance merits  for avocados, lemons, papayas or breadfruit to name four.

This post could go on forever. But it is enough to demonstrate the complicate simplicity of cultivating anything  worthy of time, effort and energy, with an above average rate of success.

Antigonum Cajan has spoken. Demos gracias a Dios. Show your colors. It is now or never....

apaga i vete. 

PUERTO RICO LEAKS!

I FIND certainly odd, the worries of the people. Wikileaks for example. Or the insurrection in those countries of the Islamic persuasion in the north of Africa. Freedom, liberty, or is it jobs, food and shelter?

IN Puerto Rico there are REAL issues to worry about. Let the people in othe geographies solve their own dialog bombin g each other, after all, IRAK with the democratic help of the USA and Europe is worse than it was with Sadam or not?  

Water is the most important resource we have, along with air.  We could not survive too long without water, or irrigate, wash, or drink. Nothing.

However, in Puerto Rico Does it Better, I can not walk four hundred meters without a water leak in sight. Millions of gallons of clean water down the gutters, night and day. 24/7, twelve months or the whole year.

Multiply the gallons, add the cost of OIL to operate the filtering equipment with electricity, the pumps, the cleaning of fecal waters, all that money in the millions of bucks, night and day down the gutters.

Meanwhile the puertorrican pundits in the newspapers and the MINGA/PETRACA NEWS BLOG COLOR COMMENTATORS, worrying about university students, freedom of this freedom of that...In a country crumbling in huge chunks without anyone concerned about REAL issues. These blind hogs only worry about problems of a meaningless segment of the population.

Lets fix the SPIKIE, leaks modersuckers!  NOW! 

IN THE GARDEN

THE RARE temperatures under 80, make life easy, contrary to Gershwin's well known composition.

INSECTS DEPARTMENT

One dead wood  cockroach, flat and ugly, was found close by the north garden wall while pruning one Turnera subulata.  The good news is that they feed on dead matter.

On Sunday, one amusing green caterpillar found in the Capsicum florescens, pelleted poop all over the concrete.  These creatures like it hot considering they also feed on the pods.

That night a couple of brown beetles were executed flip flop like.

The culprits were caught in the act munching on the Coccoloba uvifera.  I know it may affect me karma in next life.

Miscelaneous

The Carica papaya is looking like crap.  Tens of small flying insects were discovered while spraying.  The attack a little while longer was quick with Antigonum's secret pest formula.  But I am afraid it will not suffice.  Every time the leaves turn brown, shrinking in the process, they pass away.

The basil, oregano and Rosemary propagated recently with rooting hormones are doing well and will be transplanted soon.

If you are into the edible gardening fad I would recommend this procedure.  It is faster than planting seeds, with high survival rates.

Now if you have time to check other blogs with a great possibility of learning something new,  here are 3. 

alcantarillaalquimica.blogspot.com  Puerto Rico
desertedge.blogspot from USA
and 
naturaoxalis.blogspot.  Mexico