A Little Home Made Compost Can Revive A Dying Plant

I don't have green fingers so I consider it lucky if my plants don't shrivel up and dry. Still it's nice to see my few plants thriving and looking in the best state of health.

I don't have many plants - two potted palms, some curry leaf ( gives added flavor to my curries!) and "snake leaf" (good for sore throats). It's better to have a few good looking greenery rather than many half dead ones. Don't you agree?

Well lately my mini garden has bloomed out beautifully. This was despite my husband's suggestion to throw  out the palms as they were scrawny, brown and unsightly. My secret was home-made compost! No amount of artificial fertilizer that I had been using seemed to improve their condition. Adding fresh compost has given new life to my dying plants.

How to make a simple compost heap


1. Use a big container / gardening pot. Make sure it has holes for drainage.

2. Ingredients for the compost - freshly cut grass, dead leaves, vegetable peelings, tea leaves. If adding twigs and other woody materials, the decaying process will take much longer.

3. If possible, have a balance of green and brown ingredients. List below.

4. Keep compost bin in a sunny or semi-shaded area.

5. Cover with a lid. Don't worry if you don't have one.

6. Turn the heap regularly to mix up the ingredients.

7. Once the materials have decomposed you can use the rich, dark crumbly compost for your plants.

8. I use two bins - one for the already decomposing plant materials and the other for new ingredients.

Green (nitrogen rich) ingredients


Raw vegetable peelings

Tea bags, tea leaves, coffee grounds

Grass cuttings


Brown (carbon rich) ingredients

Cardboard - cereal boxes

Newspaper

Wood shavings

Woody prunings


More on How To Make Compost

How To Avoid The "Heatiness" From Eating Too Much Durians

Is there such a word as "heatiness"? The double-tongued dictionary defines heatiness as characteristic of certain foods said to cause emotional or physical reactions associated with fever, temper,etc.

The durian sure comes under this category. Don't ask my how but anyone who has eaten durians will tell you that  this fruit is definitely heaty. So if you want to enjoy your durians without suffering its ill effects here are some tips. I don't have scientific proof but from the many tales of durian lovers some of these remedies have worked.

1. Drink plenty of water. The secret is to drink it from the shell of the durian. Not sure how that works but many have sworn by its effectiveness.

2. The heatiness of the durian can be countered by the mangosteen. No wonder the two fruits are often in season together.



3. Coconut water is another cool way to quench your thirst after a thirst of durians. Some stall offer fresh coconut water for sale to cool off the heat.

4. I personally take 2 grape seed extract tablets after a big durian meal.

The grape seed extract seem to have a cooling effect so now I can safely enjoy eating durians as often as I like.

5. Of course the most obvious remedy is not to overeat if you know you have a tendency to develop heatiness after eating lots of durians. Easier said than done, I know.

Have You Eaten Any Durians Yet This Season?

Gone are the days when you had to buy durians and then try to open them at home with a parang before enjoying their fruit. Anyone who has tried this knows it is not an easy task.

Durian eating can now be enjoyed at the many stalls set up where you can sit down at tables with your family and friends. SS2 in Petaling Jaya is one such area.

Now I prefer to eat my durians at home. Don;t ask me why. Well, these stalls certainly know take away is a favorite way of buying for many Malaysians. They are ready with big tupperwares for you to enjoy your durians at home.

One of our personal favorite durian species is the "Raja Kunyit" or "Mau Sang Wong". There are so many species that it is sometimes hard to choose. You can take your pick of the sweet, golden colored fruit or you may prefer the ones with a bitter taste.

Chilled durians taste great so you might want to keep extra fruits in the freezer to be eaten at leisure. Gone are the days when you had to finish the fruit as soon as you bought them.

Of course you may have to put up with your fridge smelling of durians. What the heck! It is only for a short while as soon as durian season is over.

A Squid Angel

What in the world is that?

In case you don't know who this weird looking squid is, let me enlighten you. They are volunteer Squidoo Angels out to bless any lens which they feel deserve some angel dust.

A blessing from a Squid Angel will also give your lens a small boost in rank and of course additional traffic. Isn't that nice?

When I first joined Squidoo, it was very encouraging to receive a blessing. So now when the opportunity came for me to be part of this program I happily volunteered for the task.

What started as a week assignment has now turned into me being the neighborhood Travel Squid Angel for South Asia countries.

In My First Angel Wings, you will find the lenses which have been blessed. Do visit them and you will understand why I blessed them.

Squid Angel clip art courtesy of Greekgeek on Squidoo.

A New Year With New Toys

Happy New Year! My mobile has been abuzz with New Year Greetings from family and friends. Modern technology has made it easy for us to send greetings to loved ones at the tip of our fingers.

Mobile phone companies must look forward to these special occasions when their SMS sales shoot up the roof. We may moan the way technology has made things so impersonal but I for one welcome the convenience of that little mobile phone. I am able to stay in touch with my family who are frequent travelers. If they are overseas, a message can be sent at the cost of RM1!

This new year will see me enjoying more of today's fancy gadgets. After all my son gave me an iPod shuffle for Christmas. If you happen to see me with ear phones on you know why,lol. I can see why many young people have their ears tuned out to the outside world and tuned in to their iPods.

Importance Of A Good Introdution

The introduction of a blog post or a Squidoo lens is important as it will decide if your reader will stay on to read the rest of what you have written or leave the page. People's attention span is short. So in those first few sentences you need to attract your reader' attention s that he wants to stay and read the rest of your article.

A good introduction also will mean that it might attract the attention of search engines. If you intend to earn some income for your writing, your introduction will make a lot of difference to the traffic to your article.

Squidoo recently came up with a list of The Best Squidoo Intros Ever!. Here you will find different topics being written by various Squidoo lensmasters. Read some of these lenses to get a better glimpse of how you can improve on your introductions.

My lens Top 10 Places To Visit In Kuala Lumpur has been included in this list too. So do drop by and let me know what you think.

Making Money With RocketMoms Session 11

The holiday season is here. With the month of December, schools are out, many are planning a vacation or already on one. Christmas is just a few weeks away and the malls are already putting up the decorations to entice shoppers. The RocketMoms are here to help shopping easier with their holiday lists.

The RocketMoms have holiday lenses to build as part of Challenge 11.

These are the "Hot 100 Lists" from books, gifts for pets, gifts under $10, toys for toddlers, family games, holiday desserts, best holiday vacations, holiday songs, Christmas decorating ideas and gifts for moms.

So far I have completed 5 of the lenses. We have to create 8 different types of lenses if we want to graduate from session 11. So why do I participate in this challenge?

I find that as I try to complete a different type of lens I learn to stretch myself and in so doing improve on my lens building skills. Of course along the way i make some sales when folks buy something through my lens.

With these 5 lenses I have made two sales so far- from my holiday song lens, Mary's Boy Child. That is what I like about Squidoo. I can earn from my lenses too.

Are you on Squiddo yet? If you are not part of Squidoo yet, you can Join Squidoo Now. It's free! You can Visit me at Squidoo.