Based on my track record, I make a really crappy gardener. The only plants that survived under my care were cacti, because they could go for weeks without water. I think this picture will give you an idea of how un-green my thumb is:
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The sickly plant on the windowsill died several days after this photo was taken, while my mom's collection continued to grow.
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Still, I love plants. At the supermarket near my house, right at the entrance, there's a plant section. I would always stop just to look at them, even if I'm not buying any. I love to see their different colors and shapes and sizes, and the fact that they are alive and breathing. It's just that I can't seem to handle the amount of commitment it takes to keep them alive.
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Earlier this year, I saw a post on Facebook about the Free Tree Society in Kuala Lumpur. Basically, the people in this society take in seed donations from the public, grow them, and give the saplings away for free. And they were looking for volunteers.
I thought that was really awesome. I got to play with plants while not having to shoulder all the responsibility on my own. If a plant died, it was not going to be entirely my fault. 😅 So I booked a slot on their Facebook page (this is important to prevent overcrowding, because they sometimes get groups of volunteers from colleges or corporations).
The nursery was only open on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 9.30am to 12pm. My slot was on a Tuesday and I was the first one to arrive. One of the senior volunteers gave me a little tour of the place. Despite its small size, the nursery had a massive collection of plants. They were going to have a tree giveaway event in a couple of days, so that explained why they had so many tiny plants in little grow bags lined up on the floor.
I met the other volunteers who had started to arrive. They were mostly regulars and foreigners. Just goes to show that the level of awareness among the local people about environmental issues is still embarrassingly low.
And then we got down to work. Each of us were given a pair of gloves. The first thing everyone had to do was to clean up the area. All dead leaves, twigs and natural waste would go to their compost bins. Yes, they make their own compost to fertilize the plants. Then we mixed the mature compost with soil and rice husks, and transferred more baby plants into grow bags for the giveaway. There were papaya trees, chili, and Thai basil. We made as many as we could because the event was usually a hit with the public.
I found an earthworm wriggling in the compost mixture, and suddenly felt like giving up this whole gardening idea.
The nursery was only open on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 9.30am to 12pm. My slot was on a Tuesday and I was the first one to arrive. One of the senior volunteers gave me a little tour of the place. Despite its small size, the nursery had a massive collection of plants. They were going to have a tree giveaway event in a couple of days, so that explained why they had so many tiny plants in little grow bags lined up on the floor.
I met the other volunteers who had started to arrive. They were mostly regulars and foreigners. Just goes to show that the level of awareness among the local people about environmental issues is still embarrassingly low.
And then we got down to work. Each of us were given a pair of gloves. The first thing everyone had to do was to clean up the area. All dead leaves, twigs and natural waste would go to their compost bins. Yes, they make their own compost to fertilize the plants. Then we mixed the mature compost with soil and rice husks, and transferred more baby plants into grow bags for the giveaway. There were papaya trees, chili, and Thai basil. We made as many as we could because the event was usually a hit with the public.
I found an earthworm wriggling in the compost mixture, and suddenly felt like giving up this whole gardening idea.
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On June 30th, my partner and I went to Raja Musa Peat Swamp Forest Reserve to help with its rehabilitation project. The forest covers 23,486 hectares. You can only imagine how many trees it can house. Unfortunately, the forest suffers from frequent fires due to prolonged dry spells, excessive logging and illegal encroachment.
So, on the last Saturday of every month, the Global Environment Center (GEC) would gather volunteers to help them replant the trees in the area. Again, volunteers had to register their names so that the organizers could easily assign them into groups and distribute tasks. My group had four people including my partner and myself. We were the only all-girls group on that day. I was assigned the difficult task of digging holes with a hoe while the others planted. Digging the holes required a special technique which was shown to me by one of the forest caretakers. It was more strenuous than I thought, especially under the hot sun. Being a peat swamp, the soil was wet and muddy all over. Good thing that I was wearing my waterproof hiking boots.
That day, we pledged to plant 100 trees among us, but I think we managed to do more than that, with each group planting 10-15 trees. I only planted one, because I was busy digging holes. It was certainly far from enough to offset my carbon footprint, taking into account all my traveling and plane rides, but it sure felt good to start somewhere.
So, on the last Saturday of every month, the Global Environment Center (GEC) would gather volunteers to help them replant the trees in the area. Again, volunteers had to register their names so that the organizers could easily assign them into groups and distribute tasks. My group had four people including my partner and myself. We were the only all-girls group on that day. I was assigned the difficult task of digging holes with a hoe while the others planted. Digging the holes required a special technique which was shown to me by one of the forest caretakers. It was more strenuous than I thought, especially under the hot sun. Being a peat swamp, the soil was wet and muddy all over. Good thing that I was wearing my waterproof hiking boots.
That day, we pledged to plant 100 trees among us, but I think we managed to do more than that, with each group planting 10-15 trees. I only planted one, because I was busy digging holes. It was certainly far from enough to offset my carbon footprint, taking into account all my traveling and plane rides, but it sure felt good to start somewhere.
