Newspaper seed starter

Everyone must have old newspapers at home, some seeds, and soils, but no pot to make them germinate. Well, using newspaper as a seed starter is not only very cheap but also biodegradable thus the paper pot can directly bury into the ground without disturbing the seedling and its roots. 

 

 

Materials needed:

Newspaper

soda can

soil

seed

DIY

Gather some old newspaper.

Take a soda can.

Fold the newspaper into two. And place the Soda can on top.

Wrap the newspaper around the can.

After that, just fold in one end of the newspaper to make the bottom.

It should look something like this, with the can.

Remove the can, Here is your homemade pot.

Now, just add some soils in. Add desired seed, and let Mother Nature do her work.

Voila, you now have quick and cheap pot for starting seeds that you made from newspapers that you were just going to throw away.

When the seedlings have sprouted you can plant the whole thing in the ground where the newspaper will eventually decompose.

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Cucumber flower

After 4 weeks, and the flood, one cucumber plant managed to survive. Here is the first flower. The cucumber plant is very rough and spiky and can sprawl quite a distance.

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Water Hyacinth

The Water Hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes, is definitely one of the easiest plant you can have in your pond. Not only does the water hyacinth have beautiful purple flowers, but  it also has a high capacity to remove pollutants such as cyanide, arsenic and heavy metals from water.

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Egg fruit / Lekima - Pouteria

The fruits are yellowish to orange with somewhat meaty pulp resembling a cooked egg yolk .

Egg fruit (Pautaria campechiana), belonging to the family sapotaceae, is a large, symmetrical, bushy, much branched, evergreen tree.

The tree reaches a height of 20-30 feet. The leaves are compound, large, leathery, 10-15 inches long and 3 inches broad. The flowers are medium sized borne on terminal and auxiliary inflorescence.

The fruits are yellowish to orange with somewhat meaty pulp similar in appearance and texture to a cooked egg yolk embedded often with a single large seed. At maturity, the strong odour of the pulp is musky and the skin colour turns from glossy to dull.

The taste of the fruit is unique, rich, sweet and highly nutritive with about 2000 IU/100g of carotene, a precursor of vitamin A.

It is also a good source of protein and vitamin C with 2.5 per cent and 43 mg/100 g respectively. Egg fruit thrives well in tropical and subtropical climates.

Moderate rainfall, frost free and dry climate are ideal for its cultivation. It has a wide adaptability to various soil conditions and grows in soils ranging from loose sandy to heavy clay.

The trees are generally propagated by seeds. Since the seeds have poor visibility they should be sown immediately.

It is also propagated vegetatively by approach grafting. Since no named varieties are available, planting materials should be collected from good bearers.

No serious pest and disease affects this crop. The fruits can be eaten fresh either without removing the skin or after peeling and slicing.

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