HORTICULTURAL FUN AND TRICKS OF THE TRADE

I HAVE EXCHANGED words, sentences with this authority on vines from a hells hole out of Africa, Reunion Island, off the coast of Mauritius (got ATLAS?) through a great site, Dave's garden.com for some time now. Everything went fine until he, a fan of Heliconias, Gingers and such, wrote a nice article about the beauty and pleasure of cultivating these species.

I the humble contrarian placed a one sentence rebuttal with a picture of my old, dear and disappeared garden in Bayamon. In it, the fundamental essence of my gardening practices were established succinctly. One should not plant ANY of those mentioned, unless you have a humongous garden, because the invasive root system will leave you without any garden at all, think KUDZU.

JJacques response? "I do not mind cutting off some roots or leaves when necessary. Isn't that
part of gardening?"


I am sorry fellow gardeners if you agree with this far away professional. When there are age,
physical and health conditions the picture is different. Think of joints, knees, back, neck arms,
and the use of tools to perform the cutting, the kneeling position. Heat, sweat and on and on.
GARDENING IS FOR FUN! At least that is the way I practice it. ANY plant that becomes a pain
in the ass with disease, too bushy is gone, soon or later.

My judgment is not arbitrary. I need a good cushion or seat to perform simple shores such as
weeding, gloves and hat. That is my reality, what my body allows me to do. However, even if I was younger my stance will be the same because anything that is a pain, takes away the excitement, the good feeling of gardening with flora and fauna in mind. That is why hedges,
lawns and palms are out the question.

When planting Bouganvilleas for beauty and security bought or propagated by yourself, let them grow for two/three months in the pot . Watch the growth pattern, the branch scaffolding. Thinking always of the space where it will be planted. Lets say a corner.

In my case, I allowed one of the branches to grow almost to twenty feet. It was tied to the metal fence with fabric, not a string. The side branches on top are allowed to grow
as they please over a wire trellis, going from the fence to the security decorative iron
works on the windows. Since the branches tend to drop, I am not a SLAVE of the pruning for this simple reason.

Another advantage is that I have no excessive organic waste as a result, or being pricked with the multiple, hard thorns that this bush is known for, or having to be on
top of it to keep it the way I WANT, 12 times or more a year. Plants should be allowed to do what they wish, if you can not understand that, do not be a fool, get rid of it or change it to a suitable place. Remember how this started? Watch the way it grows in the pot, that will give you a little clue of the tendencies later.

If you drink coffee daily at least once, you could get a pound or more of coffee grounds
for compost, plus the garlic, onion, pepper, skins every ten days. That amounts to thirty six pounds a year. Add all the dry leaves you sweep daily from your garden and you could reach fifty pounds of your own compost, without much difficulty. Great
savings for your pocket and a healthier, better looking garden.

Compost tea anyone? In some sort of burlap sack put some green/dry organic mater
in a five gallon recipient for twenty four hours. The color and smell will tell you the diluting proportions.. I get usually twenty five, or thirty in total to be sprayed on the
foliage...IF you go to the web and see the scams requiring you to buy this and that to
make compost tea you will never even consider it. However, it is really useful and simple my way. Since I have not burned any of my collection, remember 120 species?
I can recommend this method. Diluting is the secret. Making that almost brown water lighter...

The time to go anecdote...I was the groundskeeper of the Luis Munhoz Marin Foundation and Parque Donha Ines, that is how I know so much of these thieves,
white collar/ecological criminals...There was ginger/heliconias everywhere.. Mentally
retarded people plant without thinking ahead...Well, one day as I was cutting off the
dry leaves from some muder sucking ginger, I got distracted and even with my glasses
the tip of one ginger leaf hit my eye or the other way around. I was fortunate and was left just with the intense pain/irritation, but I could have lost one...Fuck gingers/heliconias..time to go....