The Urban Nemophilist

I had this project at the back of my mind for a long time and the opportunity came up during my current visit to my hometown in West Bengal. So I went ahead and collected some moss, weed and wild plants from my mothers overgrown garden to build a native terrarium. Prior to the build I had actually run a test where I placed some of these plants in a sealed container for 3 weeks. Almost all of them did well. They rooted and flowered giving me the confidence to try them out in a closed terrarium. Also the springtails culture I am developing here hasn't taken off yet so I closed the terrarium without the springtails.

In this video tutorial I demonstrate how to make a beautiful dish garden using some commonly available succulents. Haworthias, Aloe and a Titanopsis in a dry desertified landscape setting is the main theme here. I started with a sketch of the scape I had in mind and proceeded with the built with the sketch as my reference. I was so inspired by the final result that I decided to put some colour on the sketch too. Soil mix includes: coco peat sand fired clay charcoal lava rock chips pumice pine bark Plants used: Aloe black beauty Haworthia attenuata Haworthia retusa Titanopsis Calcarea River stones and twigs used for hardscape. This dish garden thrives in bright direct light, but can tolerate bright indirect light too. Water every 3 times a week, allowing soil to dry out between waterings.

In this video I am hard pruning and repotting a Jade bonsai tree that my mother had grown from a cutting ten years ago. The tree has matured well over the years and looks quite nice. I started pruning from the top outer edge gradually working my way inside. I also cleared the trunkline by removing the small off shoots. hard pruning this way will improve the aesthetics and the structure of the bonsai tree. it will also promote new growth and the tree will grow with new vigour. Once the canopy grows back I will prune and create some canopy pads to give it a Japanese bonsai look. I also pruned the roots and made it ready for the new pot which is a slightly deeper that the previous one. Since the tree is off balance I decided on this heavy pot to keep it steady and balanced. I also hope that the tree trunk will grow a bit thicker in this pot. I have used my bonsai soil mix for the repotting. I retained the sedum ground cover from the earlier planter and also used some river stones and lava rock top dressing to give it a scaped look. Finally I gave the tree a thorough watering. Jade (Portulacaria afra) is a fairly easy plant to grow. All it needs is some bright light outdoors and watering when the soil is dry. —————————————————————————————————————— The urban nemophilist lives in the city but his heart and soul lives in the forest and wherever there is green. The celebration of colours, the ambient sounds, the mystic scent and the fascinating wildlife that make up the forestlands and waterbodies of our earth is the elixir of his life. The urban nemophilist attempts to capture all of this through his green art and sustainable gardening activities while his sketching and music sets up the mood for what is nature-appreciation at its best. His goal is to create awareness on conservation of nature and wildlife through is art and sustainable initiatives.