Garden Talk: A New Leaf in Your Home Garden

By Zahrah Nasir

Q: I recently relocated to Islamabad from Karachi and wish to grow vegetables in my garden. Is this the right time? If so, please recommend three or four easy to grow ones and how to go about their cultivation.

A: Yes this is the perfect time to put in some vegetable seeds. At this time of the year it is best to grow your vegetables in a sunny position. You could start out with peas, carrots, spinach and lettuce which are all reasonably simple to grow. Peas, spinach and lettuce all do well in soil that has had lots of old, well-rotted, organic manure worked into it, whilst lettuce requires the same but with some river sand added to ensure good drainage.

Picture Source: Google

Peas should be sown half an inch deep and an inch apart to obtain strong plants and they will need supports, such as trellis-work or canes to climb up. Spinach and lettuce seeds should be sown, very thinly, about quarter of an inch deep, in rows four to five inches apart and lettuce seeds, these are very fine, thinly just under the soil surface, in rows six to 10 inches apart. Carrot seed, once again the seed is very small, is best sown thinly, just under the soil surface, in rows no more than six inches apart. All should be kept weed-free and watered regularly.

Q: I would appreciate your comments on my quick organic fertiliser recipe: One cup mustard/cotton oil cake powder. Half cup dry alfa powder. Half cup wood and paper ash. Half cup wood powder. Four or five powdered egg shells. Three to four rusty iron nails. Use 50/50 with soil.

A: Firstly I do not personally recommend the use of either mustard or cotton oil seed cake in the garden. Much better to use ‘bagass’ which is residual organic material from sugar mills. I am puzzled by ‘alfa powder’ unless you mean dried, ground up alfalfa which is fine. The wood/paper ash is good, as are the powdered egg shells; iron nails are good too if they are small ones and if you take care to bury them deeply in order to avoid accidents.

By ‘wood powder’, I presume that you mean sawdust. Fresh sawdust heats up as it rots down and will burn your plants and their tender roots. It should first be composted down and, only then used in the garden. It would be interesting to know how your plants have reacted to your fertiliser as detailed. Experimentation is great, please keep it up and growing organic is the best way to proceed.

Q: I have been nurturing an ivy creeper which finally developed roots and climbed the criss-cross wooden frame alongside my bay window. Over a period of five years the plant covered the whole structure and looked beautiful. Unfortunately, all of a sudden the leaves started yellowing and falling, leaving a large area bare. I thought that the tube well water — laboratory analysis says it is unfit for human consumption — could be the cause so I switched to normal sweet water praying that would help. The plant does appear to be developing new leaf buds but I am really worried about what to do.

A: Your ivy sounds gorgeous and you are commended for getting it to do so well. It is good that you stopped giving your ivy the tube well water as it sounds as if this was the problem.
The fact that, after switching over to sweet water, the ivy shows signs of growth is very encouraging and I think that patience should be exercised now. The plant should re-grow in time.

Q: I have a problem with my fig tree in Islamabad. The leaves are yellowing and falling. What should I do?

A: This tends to happen during periods of high summer humidity or rain and is absolutely nothing to worry about at all.

Q: I am trying to grow bananas and pomegranates but neither bear fruit. The leaves of both get so badly damaged by strong winds that they die. I recently added organic fertiliser to the soil and I water regularly. How can I improve their condition please?

A: Cultivating bananas and pomegranates in a windswept location is asking for trouble. The only solution to the problem is to erect wind protection, the type depending on the size of your garden.

Q: Is avocado a remedy for arthritis? Is it possible to purchase the plants in Karachi or do I need to look elsewhere?

A: Eating avocadoes will not cure arthritis but a poultice made from the bark and leaves is, it has been claimed, helpful in the treatment of rheumatism. I do not know if avocado saplings are now stocked in Karachi nurseries but I doubt it. Avocadoes grow into huge trees and both male and female are required for them to fruit. The climate of Karachi is not really suitable for their cultivation.

Source: The Dawn, InpaperMagzine

Published on: 10/15/2012

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The North American Landscape Kew at British Museum

Where: British Museum

Type: temporary exhibition

The British Museum is playing host to Kew Garden’s ‘North American Landscape’ from 10^th May to 25 November 2012.

The main motive of the temporary garden is to strengthen the cultural understanding of geographical landscapes around the world and support biodiversity conservation. It draws attention to botanical diversity and the threats faced by the north American plants due to the destruction of the natural habitat.

The garden itself is a very nicely landscaped temporary construction, with a great wealth of flowers, shrubs and trees. A little wooden bridge gives access to the centre of the garden and each planting has an educative text. The garden is visited by the hundreds of visitors to the British Museum and people sit around the edge to enjoy a little corner of peace and relaxation in the middle of a busy, urban and cultural setting in the centre of London.

The project is a collaborative partnership between Kew Gardens and the British Museum, the London Borough of Camden, Botanical organisations and the universities across the United Sates. The project is financed by American Express is the financial supporter of the garden. The ‘Landform Consultant’ is behind the beautiful design and construction of Landscape.

Geffrye Museum & Garden

Where: Geffrye Museum

Type: Museum garden, permanent

Geffrye Museum is one of Hackney’s nicest and well maintained museum, hostings rooms based on interior design across the ages. The museum has a private garden maintained as a herb garden and for educational purposes. Recent development of the garden also provided an opportunity to explore the links between the domestic interiors and gardens. Its designs was inspired by a historical study of middle class gardens in Victorian times.

Photos © Gavin Gardiner on LondonHolic


The museum and its garden are maintained by the Geffrye Museum Trust and London County Council with funding from Department for Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS). The garden conducts various activities, educational events in gardening and horticulture.

Kings Cross Skip Garden

Where: Kings Cross Central (development)

Type: Temporary community garden

Global Generation, a local charity that works in educating young people (not just in gardening) has taken base on the Kings Cross regeneration site. Their innovative approach to overcoming the ‘temporary’ feature of the project was to build the garden elements in skips! This not only gives them the capacity to relocate if necessary but also gives them a strong and unparalleled identity.

Everything in the Skip garden is recycled and built by the charity Global Generation with the great support of the local community.

Dalston Eastern Curve

Where: Dalston Junction

Type: Temporary community garden

This garden provides learning and skills development in horticulture as well as an atmosphere where the local community feels connected with and can come together in a natural environment.

It is by all standards a fantastic example of a pro-active community coming together to maintain a space which serves them.

The project started as the Dalston Mill (2010), designed by EXYZT architects on the site of the old railway line. This was such a great success that the local groups, not least Open Dalston took ownership of it and it became the Eastern Curve. A temporary project, it is source of many local happening, such as gardening courses and community based events.

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Islamic Gardens – They Could Build A Green Muslim Movement

By Arwa Aburawa, Green Prophet

Can gardens really help promote environmentally friendly behaviour amongst the Muslim community? Mark Bryant says they can

There’s nothing like being with nature to help clear your mind and when the weather is as lovely as it has been recently, who can resist spending a couple of hours in the garden? But the humble garden should not be overlooked. According to researcher in the uk, the garden can be a powerful tool in inspiring more climate-aware behaviours.

Following my trip to Andalucia and introduction to some stunning Islamic gardens, I looked into the role gardens can play in promoting environmentally-friendly behaviour. I instantly stumbled across a little piece of research by Mark Bryant and Sophie Gilliat-Ray based in the UK who state that “Gardens built reflecting Islamic traditions have been shown to have the potential to educate and inform people about environmental issues.” I caught up with Mark Bryant to find out more about this research and the green Muslim community.

Aburawa: Why do gardens play an important role in Islam and Muslim culture?

Bryant: There are some 166 references to gardens in the Qur’an. These include references to earthly gardens which resemble an oasis or palm gardens found in the Middle East today. Both Eden and Paradise are described in terms of a garden and ‘jannah’ means both garden and paradise in Arabic.

This love for the garden is reflected in the traditions of Muslim poetry, literature and carpet design. And much of what is described as Arabesque design incorporates both realistic and stylised plant forms. In terms of the environment, in addition to respecting nature as part of creation many Muslims regard themselves as having been entrusted with the task of acting as khalifah, or vice-regents, of earth. ‘Later We made you their successors in the land, to see how you would behave’ (Surah 10.14).

Aburawa: The research that you carried out on Islamic gardens in the UK showed that Islamic gardens didn’t generally deal with environmental issues and sustainability. Do you think that this could change in the future?

Bryant: I feel it is important to draw a distinction here between the traditional formal Islamic gardens and gardens reflecting Islamic traditions. The traditional Islamic garden is a specific form consisting of specific formal elements. On the other hand gardens reflecting Islamic traditions can include gardens which incorporate Islamic influences outside of those found in the traditional form such as good Islamic environmental ethical practice.

Whilst it is true that traditional Islamic gardens were not necessarily concerned with issues such as biodiversity, conservation and sustainability it can be argued that they demonstrated the importance of the natural world in Islam. If we use the definition of gardens reflecting Islamic traditions we find examples of gardens being built using Islamically inspired environmentally-friendly practice.

For example the community garden run by Wapping Woman’s Centre in Tower Hamlets has had a huge impact on changing people’s behaviour around recycling, composting and a general respect for the environment.

As well as research into Islamic gardens, you have looked into the scale of environmental concern British Muslims have. What kind of state did you find the environmental movement amongst British Muslims in the UK?

I think the following quote from the conclusion of the paper we wrote for the Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture (Are British Muslims ‘Green’? An Overview of Environmental Activism among Muslims in Britain.) best answers this question..

So, are British Muslims ‘green’? The answer is both ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Visit nearly any inner-city area in Britain with a large Muslim population and it is evident that the messages of conservation and environmental stewardship that Muslim environmentalists derive from the Qur’an and Hadith are not reflected in the actual behaviour of many British Muslims. Unkempt urban areas often reflect socio-economic deprivation and a lack of engagement in activities that promote environmental conservation. On the other hand, the findings of our research also demonstrate the emergence of a new generation of British Muslim environmental activists who are using their energy and knowledge to argue that being a ‘good Muslim’ must involve environmental responsibility.

In the Middle East, there are real concerns about the growing scarcity of water. As such, do you think it is justifiable to be building gardens which rely heavily on water?

Whilst I am aware of plans for gardens in the Middle East that are environmentally irresponsible this need not be the case. In fact, within the area of water management, Islamically inspired gardens have the potential to stand as examples of traditional and current good practice in water management. Traditional Islamic gardens have historically served as showcases for effective water management in water poor areas – this was particularly the case in gardens in Iran. The palmerals of Elche in Spain are fed by an 800year old water management system developed by the Moors. These systems were in turn studied by French and British engineers to be used in their colonies in Africa.

In September 2011, the tenth International Permaculture Conference and Convergence, IPC10, which was held in Jordan around the theme of water. During the conference, projects in the Jordan Valley and around the Dead Sea using permaculture and Islamic environmentally inspired designs were highlighted as a positive response to the growing water crisis in the region.

So the Islamic environmental ethic works very well with the currently growing Permaculture movement. In addition many of the traditional methods of water management used in the Middle East represent good examples of effective Permaculture design. Finally, I think there is potential for palm gardens to be used as an alternative to less sustainable green spaces currently being built in the region.

: The Islamic gardens research was commissioned by BGCI and was supported by the Islam UK Centre at Cardiff University.

Source: Green Prophet

Published on" 05/06/2012

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