I have some time free today. I’m going to start some mini-mint farms in plastic bottles, and put them out in disused ground in Danshui. I’ll use a mop handle to make them vertical, and stick them straight in the soil, or use a 5 liter plastic bottle to stabilise them. On each mop handle, I figure I can hang 5-10 mint bottles in a spiral, or even helical curve. Mint seems to be pretty easy. I can work that out myself…
Following this guide:
Does anyone know any other herbs which are good for Danshui’s climate? Maybe coriander, sage, dill? I’d like something which is easy to grow, and idiot-proof. I have never grown anything. My parents gardened a lot but I was always busy pirating games on the Amiga. I regret this now.
~O~
What edible flowers would grow in Danshui?
Lavender is more of a challenge, as it doesn’t like humidity. I’m researching how to grow Lavender in high humidity climates. I guess you have to start with the right strain, and maybe use plastic bottles to make a contained environment.
Im happy to spend a few hours researching it.
Does anyone know any other edible flowers which would grow well in Danshui?
OK, apparently English Lavender is good for containers. But Im doubtful if it’ll grow in high temperatures. Guess I’ve got to research.
~O~
I know there’s some farming brainpower in Taiwan. But I’ll also keep an eye on Hong Kong, as they are pretty industrious and clever.
The initial idea is to grow mint and some kind of edible flower in Danshui. I’d also love to take a mop stand to Ximen. I bet they’d like it. Planting in soil is interesting, but mint can be grown with no soil.
So you’d go to Ximen and stick a black (or even silver) painted mop stand with 5-10 plastic bottle pods hanging on it. Total cost, 200TWD.
Play bucket drums or guitar to draw attention… Wear a cool hat and carry a plastic sword.
Seems like an exciting afternoon.
~O~
From a design perspective, I figure Mint and Lavender would look so good together.
Main question… what are the most idiot-proof edible flowers that I could grow in Taiwan?
Lavender is more difficult, more so due to humidity and rain than temperature. There’s a couple lavender farms in the southern US that deal with high temps and humidity, and they grow Grosso, Gros Bleu, Munstead, Provence and Stoechas. They also plant on mounds and ensure good airflow - I bet you could make it work in a container with some care.
I also found a huge branch which’ll do well as a plant hangar. MArk one will look kind of like a garden on a hatstand. The hangars will be branches, Terminator style cables, or cables bent into shurikens.
~O~
So people know, I get 6-7 hours of full sun on my patio from 7 til 2pm. On a cloudless day it’s blazing. So I’ll figure that into my growing plan.
I’ll mothball Lavender for a week or so. I think it’ll take 5-10 hours of research. I figure I’ll start with Chili, Mint and Flowers.
At the risk of sounding like a techie poseur, Mint N Chili gardens are brandable. I can’t stand seeing myself write those words, but it’s true. You need something simple that people can get their heads round. The first display of the gardens will be Ximen and Danshui.
The main aim is to make a portable garden that I can take on the MRT. I guess it’s not 100% good for the plants, but it’ll be good to promote it.
Do any farmer types know how bad it’d be to take plants on the MRT? I guess it would traumatize them, and they might die. Really don’t know. Maybe I should just stick to walking round Danshui, and assemble the Ximen model onsite.
This confused me all morning. I walked round Danshui buying things, thinking;
Why doesn’t bear like lavender?
Why… doesn’t bear like lavender?
Then I realized you meant the Google Translate URL. Yes, it’s ugly, but functional. It’s long because I repeated the phrases. So I can stick it on and walk round my apartment.
Google translate is not perfect, but if you stick to short, clipped 5-8 word phrases that are within your linguistic level, you can check it against the pinyin, and cross your fingers.
Did you click on the url? From my Chinese, I think it’s 80% accurate.
I’m a Leo/Scorpio. I throw myself headlong into everything. Why not make the basic prototype in one 6 hour session, instead of 90 mins a day for 4 days?
I imagine a teacher growing mint and chili on his patio is confusing and superfluous to a tenured academic. ha.
Why couldn’t he just go to Carrefour?
ha j/k
Thank you for your well wishes. It sure is a kick.
~O~
Anyway, nvm.
Design Mark One is ready.
I have a 5 liter bottle with a dried branch stuck in it. The branches reach, ever-yearning, up to the pitiless jade sky.
The shape of the branches? I have no smartphone to provide a picture. I would describe the shape of the branch as Forlorn and Defiant. I’ve lashed one mini chili pot to the first cross of branches with a Royal Blue shoelace. Further up the branch, rests a mint pot, lashed to the branch with a Navy Shoelace. Not sure of the exact shade of Navy. It rests somewhere between Winter Palace and Winner’s Circle.
It looks cool, and I’ve technically proven the concept. It’s a portable garden with two types of plants. I could take it out now and be the talk of the morning park crowd.
But we must push on.
I’m going to try and lash 3-5 plants to the branch. It gets harder, as you really need two branches resting together to get a stable foundation.
OTOH, I could try and hang them on the single branches.
I need to get good at making “Hanging shoelace cradles.”
