Helicopters flying by the office

Admin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 21:43:44 +0000

After seeing so many helicopters fly by the office day after day, I decided to start keeping my camera handy and try snap some pics during the day. They fly by pretty quick so it’s not always easy to get the camera ready and open the window in time, but I’ll try!

15th Jan 2010

Planes at Heathrow Airport

Admin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 21:36:11 +0000

Here are some pics of planes taking off at Heathrow Airport, UK. I’m not exactly a plane spotter so I can’t identify the planes unfortunately. There was heavy machinery running 24/7 to clear snow and ice from the run ways.

Urban Jungle

Admin — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:39:02 +0000

Living high up in a condo unit means I don’t have any traditional gardening space. I’ve managed to maximise what little outdoors space I have. For example, this urban jungle sits on a piece of wood which lays over an outside aircon unit. Although I call it an urban jungle, it’s really more of an urban farm!

This page documents the progress of the jungle. New plants are being added regularly and the layout is changing quite frequently depending on which plants grow tall(e.g Pole Sitao) and which require a little more room to the side (e.g Squash).

Some of the plants were started from seeds under fluorescent lighting while others were just started outside.

Time Line

19th Nov 2009 – This is the beginning of the urban jungle. Right now the pots are just placed outside on an aircon unit.

22nd Nov 2009 – The jungle is expanding although still not very green. Space is becoming limited!

28th Nov 2009 – The jungle is starting to look a bit greener!

30th Nov 2009 – I managed to find a piece of wood which fits into the space very well, I’ve now got more room and the jungle has expanded!

8th Dec 2009 – The jungle is coming along..

11th Dec 2009 – The squash leaves are really starting to get big. The leaves of the Pole Sitao had previously wilted a little, they appear to be okay now.

12th Dec 2009 – A night shot of the urban jungle. You can see I’ve rearranged some of the plants and the addition of another tray. The basil in the new tray was previously growing in plastic bottles, hence why those at the edge are having problems standing up.

14th Dec 2009 – The squash plants are getting a bit greedy with space. Their big leaves are trying to take over the jungle!

21st Dec 2009 – The cress has been removed. The chilli and basil have started to grow quite big after a little pruning.

12th Jan 2010 – It’s been awhile since my last update to the Urban Jungle. The squash plant has been temporarily moved inside until I can find a permanent home for it (hopefully in someones garden!) because it was getting far too big and taking over the other plants. Some of the sugar pea plants did not make it through the holiday period and the snake grass eventually died from the fertiliser that was accidentally mixed with the soil. I’ve added some perlite to the top of the pots to hopefully help with water retention. Ideally the perlite would have been mixed in with the soil from the beginning

19th Jan 2010 – Shortly after this picture, I trimmed back most of the plants. Due to space issues, I dramatically trim back the pole sitaeo every few days.

28th Jan 2010 – One of the basil plants is starting to bud so I hope to see flowers soon.

29th Jan 2010 – Close up of the small white flowers growing on the basil plant.

I've added an 18W CFL above the jungle. The light is hooked on to a basic 3M 'stick on' hook and I just plug it in when I want to use it. Simple!

The urban jungle lit by the CFL. It highlights the jungle at night (if plugged in!) and makes it easier to water the plants.

25th Feb 2010 – Despite being so high up(don’t see many bees and such like up here), the chilli plant managed to get pollinated and has started to bear fruit.

28th Feb 2010 – A night shot of the jungle. Some of the older basil plants were removed and replaced with clones. The chilli and Tomato plant are bearing fruit. Everything else is doing pretty good also.

Plant Pictures

Admin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 07:36:26 +0000

Here you’ll find some pictures of plants that don’t fit in elsewhere on the site. They could be interesting grows, inspiring moments or just otherwise undocumented plants

"We may be few, we may be small - but we are strong!"	Peeking through the bushes at Ortigas Center	Basil and squash growing hydroponically
Cactus bending over for light	Basil growing hydroponically	Squash and basil growing in SNAP hydroponics
Squash plant brought inside	.	.

Helicopters during Ondoy Storm

Admin — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 09:08:09 +0000

Unfortunately I don’t have a big zoom lens so these aren’t the best pictures ever. However, I was still lucky enough to snap some okay shots of Helicopters zooming around Metro Manila delivering aid and making rescue attempts after Ondoy hit the Philippines.