Mini Garden Concept

Mini Garden Concept

Mini Garden Concept was something built into my sphere of activity but failed to materialize due to constant movement related to my work assignments.

It actually dawned on me that living in the topic is a luxury.

My family hated skyscrapers and confined living quarters.

I always bargained for a good house / garden even if the job was in a far remote corner of this planet.

Once, I had few exotic plants on the windowsill and had to come home for my father's funeral, for 10 days in winter.

None of the plants survived.

I gave up any miniature adventure with plants until I landed in the West Coast of New Zealand south island.

Even there I never saw any ladybirds in the garden.

They use lot of insecticides in agriculture and one day drove with the family past Reefton to collect few specimens but they never survived in the semi-urban garden.

Even here in Kandy we used to have many different ladybirds but not anymore due to liberal and unscientific use of insecticides and poisonous imported fertilizes.

But our children were enthusiastic and we always had mini garden and collecting specimens were their task.

Tray used for collecting rubber latex was the base.

On top of the soil mount in a corner was a plastic water tank.

The water was supplied with a plastic saline bottle hung on a tree branch.

All the tubes (saline tubes perforated with safety pins) were hidden under soil.

The design was left for them to manicure.

It was total success but a mini garden in a bottle was bit of a miss.

Rock garden was another concept.

We even had a big jute plant but it is no more.

I got busy, they grew up and the concept went into hibernation till lately.

The strangest thing I noticed recently was that all those tiny specimens we collected are still in our tiny garden after 30 years.

How they survived without any attention, I cannot figure out.

I know my friends from Colombo when they visit us take few specimens of ferns for indoor decorations but they die a natural death.

I counted at least 7 types scattered all over.

When the domestic aid and the cleaning man comes (he is not a gardener but weeder) I have to give special instructions not to uproot and upset the tiny tots (ferns) in the ecosystem.

Strangely my rooftop water garden also have few specimens taking root.

Mini garden is a workable concept but need constant attention.