Oasis at home

One of my hobby is to tend to my garden. Little space did I have, as I stay in a condominium, I try to have as much potted plants as possible. Here in my balcony, which is rather big, I have water lily, lotus flowers, orchids, fern, Japanese roses, lime tree, money plants, varieties of cacti and many more.

I always believe in doing something to help in keeping the environment cleaner. As such, I do plant some flowers here and there. Not much I can do, but it is also great in helping me to exercise during the weekend.

rain drops on fern leaf

I have to put fertilizer on the flowers and plants once a month. At the same time, I will loosen the soil to soften it and encourage water flows. Loosen the soils will also encourage more air in the soil which will makes the plant healthier!

Pegaga

I have some fishes in my balcony too. I have them in my lily and lotus pots. This will prevent the mosquitoes from breeding in the water. In the pots, I have Japanese Koi, guppy, beta fish, moon fish, sword fish, neon tetra, some small prawns and also the zebra fish. In addition, I have the fish that helps me to clean up the alga in the ponds too.

water plants with Japanese Koi fishes

I had tried planting orchids in my place before but it died after a while. I had never succeeded in planting orchid what more to see it blooms. however, this time round, I had successfully tendered to my orchid and seeing it blooms, not just one stalk of flower but two! A lot of effort is needed in making sure the orchid survive and it blooms too. The place must not be too hot nor too dry. I have to water it every morning and evening, fertilized it twice a month and also to cut away roots that had died. I tried putting some egg shells surrounding the base too.

Lotus flower...too heavy that it need support!

Japanese roses

The Japanese roses is one of the easiest to plant and take care. It need constant watering and once a month to fertilized it. Other than that, it will just grow under hot sun! Before this, I have them on the shaded place and it can't grow much. Until I move them to the top, they started to flowering non-stop!I bought this lime tree two years back. It has consistently flowering non-stop through the year but I did not realise it took a while to the the fruits ripe. This year, I have to make sure it flowers in July so that the fruits will be ripe by Chinese New Year and I can put it for display again!

Fern

At the end, I just love to see my garden blooming and at the same time, this little oasis I have at home, is helping to keep my balcony cool and also occasionally, I have birds and butterfly flying near too!