MY LITTLE GARDEN IS SMALL COSMETOLOGY RESEARCH CENTRE

I didn't really know such a very little garden has potential for so much. In my past posts I'd been contemplating how to include the beneficial properties of mango leaves in my bathing soap and hair wash. 

I don't know if it is science-based or indigenous knowledge or my 50 year old brain thinking deep. Maybe it's divine revelation. But it just occurred to me that I could infuse those qualities of mango leaves indirectly into my bathing soap and hair wash through the growing Aloe Vera plant(s). 

This entails manuring the Aloe Vera plant constantly with mango leaves. 

I already manure with lemon grass - I can use the fresh lemon grass and mango leaves and/or the remnants left after boiling them for tea. 

While on that it occurred to me I can as well use the peels and other remnants of oranges, also pawpaw leaves and stalks, soya bean chaff etc to manure the Aloe Vera.

The Aloe Vera juice i.e. that inner slimy part is a very vital ingredient I use in compounding my bathing soap and hair wash. 

Rather than go through processing all these other leaves or herbs and fruits to add to cosmetics, it is possible to get at least one of the vital ingredients already used infused with those materials  while it is growing.

When I start growing the other cosmetic  ingredients I use i.e. spices, I can also infuse them with anything I find to have beneficial qualities.  

Which reminds me- this lemon-scented plant  that sprouted on its own in my garden can also become a regular manure for the Aloe Vera so I can tap into the lemon qualities. 

So the Aloe Vera I would be growing going forward would be Super Aloe Vera. By using it in cosmetics, I surely would  not need  to lay foundation on my face or paint it even in my golden years before applying ordinary powder  -  with Natural Cosmetics, you don't need to hide your real face

 😀

#Aloevera

#pureagriculture

#agricutureversusgoodhealth 

#minigardenresearch

#purebredseeds

#agriculturalmedicine

#gardeningindryseason 

#growingcropsindryseason 

#spaceconstrainedgarden

#gardeningincementedpremises

#gardeninginsacks

#growingplantsinsacks

#minigarden #urbangarden #urbangardening 

 #minigardening  #integratedgardening #gardening #gardeninginsmallspaces #integratedgardeninginsmallspaces  #spaceconstrainedurbangardening

#intercroppinginsoilsack. 

#growingcornindryseason

MY MANGO TREE SEEDLING IS OUTGROWING SACK IT'S PLANTED IN

Over the weekend, a friend told me she had fever some weeks ago, went to the hospital got treated. She recovered somewhat but there was a relapse - the fever returned. She became sick again.

Her mother then got some leaves of trees including mango leaves, boiled and gave her to drink.  She recovered fully.

What sparked that conversation was my natural look - I don't use herbs as treatment but as food if edible and for hygiene.

When this friend  mentioned mango leaves, I was glad that despite the possible challenge(s) of growing in containers, that I had decided to plant mangoes in sacks since I currently can't plant directly in the soil.

Though I have few other mango seedlings in other sacks, the main one is that which I transplanted  around third quarter of last year.

I have tried to slow down it's growth by using the stems as stakes to the snake tomato plants  which have very short growing cycles of about three to four months.

So the mango tree isn't growing so fast but still growing anyway. The root  must be getting bigger as the sack it is planted is getting torn.

I would have loved for it to fruit at least once before relocating it. But the growth even though hindered must not be completely  stopped - you know when any living thing stops growing, it will die.

So to keep it alive, it has to grow even if slowly. If it doesn't fruit in the sack, mango leaves are useful - apart from herbal treatments. It can  be taken as tea.

It is anti-inflammatory so it can be used in food that have tendency for inflammation e.g. beans. I also use it in washing my hair.

I am even exploring possibility of including it in my bathing soap which I compound with other edible agricultural raw materials- the fragrance of mango leaves is quite nice. But when I sun-dried the leaves, the sweet fragrance  has reduced so much- almost non-existent.  But I am still researching on how best to use it for hygiene purpose.

Meanwhile, I am wondering what to do when the sack the mango tree is planted in completely tears - are there bigger sacks that are also  very durable?

Caution: if you have a fever, please seek professional medical advice/help, don't just go and boil leaves to drink. It takes years of experience and training to understand herbal medicine.

#mangoleaves
#mangoplant
#mangotree
#pureagriculture
#agricutureversusgoodhealth
#minigardenresearch
#growingcornindryseason
#growingcornallyearround
#throughbredseeds
#purebredseeds
#agriculturalmedicine
#gardeningindryseason
#growingcropsindryseason
#growingcropsinsacks
#growingmaizeinsacks
#spaceconstrainedgarden
#gardeningincementedpremises
#gardeninginsacks
#growingplantsinsacks
#minigarden #urbangarden #urbangardening
#minigardening  #integratedgardening #gardening #gardeninginsmallspaces #integratedgardeninginsmallspaces  #spaceconstrainedurbangardening
#intercroppinginsoilsack.
#growingcornindryseason

TRANSPLANTED MY BITTERLEAF PLANT TO BIGGER SACK

BITTERLEAF is a shrub - a small tree so it sure needs more soil depth to grow than small plants.

Can you see how the sack of soil it was planted in has torn? That is one of the challenges of this garden established mainly  with sacks. 

I have  even put in  a second sack when the first sack started getting torn but it's root  still need more space. 

So with this bigger sack I brought out, I hope it will have yet more opportunity to grow and produce more leaves.

 To transplant, remember that you should not uproot if it's a plant has been growing somewhat deep. Gently scrape the soil around the root - see above

 Snce I wanted the bitterleaf to have much more soil than before, I got another sack of soil already in the garden that's also getting torn. This one has a few basil(effirin plants) I replanted the effirin in another container-- an old jerrycan cut into two- if you have any leaky jerrycan, don't throw away, they can be used as container to plant in the garden.

So I poured the soil in the torn sack in the new sack. Then I poured the soil  had scraped off around the bitterleaf and poured in the new sack. I got kitchen wastes  - plantain peels, soya bean chaff and garden wastes - dried  Neem leaves, dried blood leaves, some potato leaves  and poured in the sack.

 Then I carried the bitterleaf plant which still had some soil sticking to the root and put in the new sack.

Then I filled the sack with more soil from another container in the garden. If working alone, before the sack gets too heavy for you to carry, ensure you put it in the position its to be situated before you fill the sack with more soil and manure. 

Behold the taller sack of  soil with bitterleaf planted in it along with another plant which has a nice lemon-like scent - I  have not identified it yet.

 Since I scraped off soil from it to fill the sack for the bitterleaf, I also planted this lemon-scented plant along with the bitterleaf in same sack.

Even if that plant  is not edible, it would likely be good for cosmetics - it's not itchy - maybe I will incorporate it into my organic soap to give it that lemon-like scent.

 Which reminds me, this weekend, I plucked Aloe Vera in this my mini-garden to compound my bathing soap and also added natural spices - I have used the soap for just very

 few days  and my skn seems to be telling me special  'thank you, thank you' and saying 'if you continue  blessing me this way, me - your skin will serve you well till ripe old age' 😁

 Aaawwwnnn! Isn't that sweet! Even if you think it's my imagination talking,, the fact that my skin is feeling real good isn't imagination. 

#bitterleaf

#bitterleafplant

#pureagriculture

#agricutureversusgoodhealth 

#minigardenresearch

#growingcornindryseason

#growingcornallyearround

#throughbredseeds

#purebredseeds

#agriculturalmedicine

#gardeningindryseason 

#growingcropsindryseason 

#growingcropsinsacks

#growingmaizeinsacks

#spaceconstrainedgarden

#gardeningincementedpremises

#gardeninginsacks

#growingplantsinsacks

#minigarden #urbangarden #urbangardening 

 #minigardening  #integratedgardening #gardening #gardeninginsmallspaces #integratedgardeninginsmallspaces  #spaceconstrainedurbangardening

#intercroppinginsoilsack. 

#growingcornindryseason