Bamboo diary: Light for Moso

My moso seedlings have been in a bad shape lately. They seem to be wilted. One of them especially. I figured that it must be the lack of light, since it’s winter here and the days are shorter. So, I’ve been carrying them around the house every day to get them as much sun as I can. But last night, I didn't take them back to the room, so my mom almost stepped on them, because they were in her room at the balcony door. And then I had enough.

Only 8 (out of 10) of seedlengs has survived so far.

The oldest seedling is probably suffering, with chlorosis, that is.

 And the bright one is at the worst for now.

Bambos are accopanied by a Dracena drako seedling, I got the seed at Tenerife islands this summer, where I went on vacation.

Today I bought them a lamp (Megaman plant lamp BRO515P). It was a bit more on the expensive side, but I think it should do, for I want what's best for my plants. I was looking for it at almost every specialized store there is, that I've known of, but they only kept neon lamps, and I don't have a fitting lamp for such bulbs. So, I almost gave up. But then, in the last store I went to, I found the right one. It was just right for my old table lamp.

So this is how I did it:

I fixed the lamp on the table, which I refer to as the 'table lamp', and because the thing is old, the screws that should hold the lamp in position that you had set, didn’t do their job, I had to block it with a wooden stick. And then of course, put the bulb in.

I set the light on timer for 12 hours (from 6am to 6 pm), and so turned the light on. I hope that now my little mosos will be all right. I just wonder, if I should give some fertilizer to seedlings.

So, read you next time!

Uroš

From autumn to winter with Haruki Murakami

Those days I'd been on a journey with a Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. Well, not literally, but with two of his books that I read.

But let us start at the beginning. If you have read my blog of GRRM, you probably already know that I have two favourite writers. The first one is GRRM and the second is Murakami. Actually, they are not a first and a second for me - they are equal. Yes, they do write differently, but I find myself in both.

I really found myself or my style of writing in this book of his.

'The Elephant Vanishes' (original title: Zō no shōmetsu) was his first book in my 'from autumn to winter' journey. I got this book as a present. Well, more as a self-treating gift. I got these gift cards, that were to be used at some book shop, from my school mates at the end of the year and, because I was about to buy a book and didn’t have the money at the time (being a student is hard, you are constantly “poor”), I'd get myself this one (thanks mates!).

It is a collection of short stories, which were originally written from 1983 to 1990, therefore they are from his early days as writer. And gosh, some of the stories (style of writing) are so similar to mine (sometimes I write a little, if I get inspired). Most of the stories in this book are a sort of a set up for Murakamis later novels.

My personal favourites are: The Sleep (about a woman that does not sleep), The Silence (a story of a boy, who was victimised by a school mate for an ego revenge), The Window (a guy who works at a small firm as a letter writer, meets a woman who makes a minced-meat steak for him), … 

I could list almost all  of the stories from this book, but then this blog would be way too long. But all of them have something in common. They all talk about things we an see daily and live in the real world, such as loss; pain; loneliness, and then Murakami wrappes them up in mysticism and surrealism (in some cases). But still, stories are much likely  the every-days peoples lives.

While I was still reading the vanishing elephant, one day I stopped at an antique book shop, not looking for anything, just harmlessly passing by. And there I found the book, that I had been looking for a long while. 'A Wild Sheep Chase' (original title: Hitsuji o meguru bōken). 

I was a bit disappointed by the Slovene translation and by the design of  the Slovene edition. The story is great though. Actually it's a thriller, where the main character is literally looking for a sheep, which shouldn’t exist. Again, in this book (it’s divided on two parts), we can find Murakamis parallel worlds. It was a book to feed on. I'd read it in a week; reading it while I was working (I work in a phone centre - a student work -, so I have some time to read while calling out). And the book was so unpredictable, that I didn't know what will happen, straight to the end.

These two books were my companions since the end of autumn to the beginning of winter. And I sure enjoyed it.
One of his books though, was with me a few years ago during a summer. Oh, gosh, when I remember the reading and the story of the book, I can still smell those summer breezes and the sound of the tree leaves, played with by the wind, behind boarding school …
Many times I wanted to read it again, but I really have to wait for the right summer. Well, this is my favourite book.

Kafka on the Shore (original title: Umibe no Kafuka)

How did I get this book? 

Once I had a magazine in front of me (like at the time, when I discovered 'The Game of Thrones') and I found a short passage into the book. Probably it was the talking cat from there. I bought it and started reading it.

This book is really something! Talking cats, imaginary friends or living conscience, raining fish, Oedipus syndrome, stones that open doors … it can give you so much. It’s quite a heavy book to read. Well, shortly it is about a boy that runs away from home, away from his father, and he is companied by a boy named Crow.

Oh, it’s hard to put in words, the description of such a great book, so I will just write you a passage from the book and hope that it will get you to read it.

Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjust. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn’t something that blew in from far away, something has nothing to do with you. This storm is you. Somethinginside of you. So all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing your eyes and plugging up your ears so the sand doesn’t get in, and walk through it, step by step. There’s no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time. Just fine, white sand swirling up into the sky like pulverized bones. That’s the kind of sandstorm you need to imagine.

…

And you really will have to make it through that violent, metaphysical, symbolic storm. No matter how metaphysical or symbolic it might be, make no mistake about it: it will cut through flash like thousand razor blades. People will bleed there, and you will bleed too. Hot, red blood. You’ll catch that blood in your hand, your own blood and the blood of others.

 And once the storm is over you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be shore, in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.

And here is the same passage to listen (prologue and first chapter of the book, just to taste):

So, read you next time!

Uroš

Happy holydays

I wish you all Merry Christmas and Happy 

(with lots written blogs) New Year 2012.

And you probably already know Achmed :D

So, read you next time!

Uroš

Frogs and toads of Slovenia on CD

As you probably realize, I’m in frogs lately. Just the previous day I was looking for something bout them on internet and I found this:

It’s a CD with sounds of 13 frog and toads that live in our country, recorded by Tomi Trilar and it was published by Slovenian Museum of Natural History.

O this CD you can found calls of Yellow-bellied Toad (Bombina variegata), Fire-Bellied Toad (Bombina bombina), Common Spade Foot Toad (Pelobates fuscus), Common Toad (Bufo bufo), Green Toad (Bufo viridis), European Tree Frog (Hyla arborea), Common or Grass frog (Rana temporaria), Moor Frog (Rana arvalis), Agile Frog (Rana dalmatina), Italian Agile Frog (Rana latastel), Lake Frog (Rana (Pelophylax) ridibunda), Edible Frog (Rana (Pelophylax) kl. esculenta) and Pool Frog (Rana (Pelophylax) lessonae). All spieces of frogs and toads that live in our country. 

I was listening this sounds for all day long, and I think I will start so sound like a frog to. Well but the main thing for me to buy these CD is to learn sounds of frogs and toads, because this spring I will try to find them in their mating season, because I want to take photos of them. Right now my main goal for this comeing spring is Green Toad (I just love her color), Common Spade Foot Toad and Moor Frog.

Well anyway you have probably already seen my photos of Yellow-bellied Toad, Pool Frog and my favorite for now European Tree Frog.

Here are some sounds from CD (you can find more on their offical page):

Alternation of two males of Yellow-bellied Toad - Bombina variegata.

Male advetrisment call of Green Toad - Bufo viridis

A chorus of males of Moor frog - Rana arvalis

At first you would not think that some frogs can soud like these.

Gosh I can’t wait spring! But wither has just began so I have planty time to learn their songs. :D

So, read you next time.

Uroš

Bamboo diary: Autumn update

Finally the autumn has come. Everything was still green and warm  only a week ago . It seemed then, that the summer just didn’t want to go. But then, in just a few days of rain the temperatures dropped rapidly, and the trees changed their leaves from green to yellow, like if you would turn a switch on.

Well, with the cold my P. nigra came at risk. Of course, this bamboo can hold on even to -15°C, but I don’t want to take any risks, for the plant to get frost damage. Well, if it was only for the cold and snow, it would have been ok, but the problem is: where my bamboo grows it doesn't have enough shelter, so It’s pretty windy, what is usually the main cause for winter drought. 

  

What I have done is, that I have “protected” my bamboo against winter. And here is, how I had done it:

First, I tied the bamboo up, on several places from bottom to top, so that the plant itself is protected by it’s leaves, and because it is easier to do the next steps, where the branches could be damaged during the process.

Second, I put a net for defense (which was a leftover form when we put the fence on) around the bamboo and stuffed it with straw, which will protect the lower and underground parts of the plant. Last year, when I also did it this way, I stuffed it with straw a little to much, so the water didn’t drain as it should, and because of that, I found a few rotten leaves on culms above ground, therefore this year I didn't go so tuff on stuffing.

Then I put a 1,60m long stick next to the plant, and tied up the upper parts of bamboo on it, for stability.

And as the third part, I put the so-called winter felt around it. First on the lower part, and then on upper. I have fixed the whole lower part with stones, and then did the same with the upper one, just that I didn’t use straw there. I tied up everything with a rope, so that the wind wouldn’t get any funny ideas.

When I was preparing the bamboo for the winter, I also removed one of the rhizomes, that came up the same as some others, of which I have already written about in post: 'Dividing Phyllostachys nigra'. At first, I wanted to throw it away, but then I noticed it had already had roots on it, and I saw some sleeping buds on it as well.

So, I planted it, and what will happen will happen.

I also have to tell you, that only one of  the small plants has survived; the one with more roots. It has already made its first shoot.

And now, the final part of my Autumn update are moso sprouts. I’m quite happy with the results. Out of 30 seeds, 10 of them sprouted. So, I had 33,3% germination rate. But, of course, not all of them will survive. Three of the them are quite in a bad shape; they just don’t want to develop. But I also have two different from the others.

One of them has yellow stripes on its leaves, so I assume, that this one could be P. e. ‘Bicolor’.

And the other is much lighter than the others, so the leaves as the stem. At first, I thought that it’s because of soil; that it didn’t get enough nutrients; but it had the same soil as the others, as well as other conditions as light, water, temperature, … So, I hope, it’s a different variety. If you have any clue about this, as of which it could be, please le me know.

You probably remember, that I have sown F.nitida seeds. Sadly nothing has come out yet, and I’m start to lose hope, that anything will happen.

So, read you next time.

Uroš  

European tree frog - Hyla arborea

This week, again at my girlfriends, I took photos of European tree frog - Hyla arborea. Actually, I have cheated a little bit, because I didn't find this frog in nature. I asked my friend, whom works at Ocean Orchids company, and these tree frogs have come to live in the greenhouses, where they have perfect conditions to live. So, I asked her if she can catch me one, because I need a photo of it for my diploma. Well these are the photos of the frog. Of course I let it go free in nature.

So, read you later!

Uroš

The man who planted trees

Today I would like to write about a book, that was recommended to me by someone. It’s about a story that had high influence on me, and, we could say, on my meaning of life. This is a blog about a story written by Jean Giono – The man who planted trees (original title: L'Homme qui plantait des arbres).

It’s been probably round year and half, if not two years, since I bought this book. As I said before, it was recommended to me by my friend, with words: “This book will be probably right for you,” when I begged her to write me a list of books that I should read. And it really was.

It took me a while to find it. There weren’t any books left in bookstores in the dozen places I checked, so I had to buy it over the internet. I don’t really like to buy books that way, because it’s too unpersonal if you haven’t had that book (or one of it's sibling-books) in hands before, but sometimes there is no other way.

The Slovene copy of the book is printed on special paper, and equipped with wood engravings by Peter Abram. 

When the book arrived, I was surprised by how thick it was. But luckily, I have learned already, that the quantity of the written is not always quality. And then I smelled it. I just love the smell of books, of their paper, and sometimes I even think that I can smell the letters in them. So when I smelled it, I was surprised again, it smelled so differently from the other books. Maybe because of the paper they used for the book.

The story is partly autobiographical, and it talks about a shepherd, who had unselfishly planted thousands of trees in the ruthless landscape in the French Alps.

I won’t talk about the meaning of the story, because I believe, that every story gives different wisdoms to different people (if you don’t have the time to read it, you can watch it below). For me, this story was inspiring, and it has woke up the calls in me, which I hadn’t heard in a long time. The calls, which made me become a gardener, but during the school time, and this whole world going so fast, I had forgotten about them.

So, I started planting my own trees. I started with Ginkgo biloba. I had collected seeds in autumn, in the city where my school was. I planted them in spring, on the day of the earth, 27. April 2010, and soon they sprouted.  I have them on  the balcony, where they are exposed to the sun and the wind, so that plants can be more resistant. I decided that I will give them to the people, I care about a lot, and are special for me. I have already given a few to some of them, and as they say, their ginkgos are growing nicely. This year I also planed gingko seeds. And because this is an international year of forests, I will plant them on the land we own, to form a little forest. 

Last year's, and this year's plant of Ginkgo biloba

I have already prepared seeds of a Dove tree – Davidia involucrate, of Monkey puzzle tree – Araucaria araucana, and I will probably some other tree seeds.

So, now if you would like, well actually I highly recommend you to watch this short movie 'The men who planted trees' by Jean Giono, and I hope it will touch you too, but still try to read the book.

Part 1/4:

 Part  2/4: 

Part 3/4: 

Part 4/4: 

So, read you next time!

Uroš

Bamboo diary: Moso sprouts

Today, I just returned from a week-long holiday on a Tenerife island, and I was really happy when I saw my first bamboo sprouts. The seeds of Phyllostachys edulis – Moso - have sprouted. While I was gone, I kept my grandma busy, I told her to keep an eye on them, and to write down the dates of emerged seeds. When I came home, she happily told me: ”You have three small bamboos there, and I had to look very closely, so that I could see them.” These were the first three Mosos (11.9.2011), which came out just 14 days after the sowing. Then the next day there were two more sprouts, and today another two, again. Gosh, I’m happy, seven out of thirty. I really do hope, that they will all survive. Oh, and I almost forgot. It looks like, there is no difference between the seeds, which have been soaked through the night, and those which weren’t.

I am surprised that, again, none of the Fargesia nitida seeds have come out, even though they were fresh, and the Moso seeds against them, were over a year old. It probably happened because I hadn’t put them in the fridge for stratification, and it will, therefore, take them a little bit longer to sprout.


Here you have some pictures of the little ones:

sprouted on 11.9.2011

sprouted on 12.9.2011

sprouted on 13.9.2011

So, read you next time!

Uroš

George R.R. Martin and A Song of Ice and Fire

If you have thought about me, about where I have been for the whole of the August,  you were probably thinking something like: ‘there he went, he stopped again.’ Well actually, it isn’t like that. I was at my girlfriends, and unfortunately they don’t have the internet yet. And even if they would have it, I probably wouldn’t have had any time to write. That’s because I had some student work to do. I had to earn some money for car registration. I was working for practically whole day, every day. And there was this other thing I was doing, which took my precious time. Of course, I gladly spent it doing that. I was reading.

By the title of this blog, you have probably already guessed, what I will write about. If not, let me tell you. I won’t be mistaken, if I say that you have all heard about the famous HBO series, 'The Game Of Thrones'. We are about to talk of that, just not of the TV series, but instead the book series, written by one (I only have two) of my favorite writers, Gorge R.R. Martin.

It all started in 2007, when some free book magazine jumped in my hands. While I was just flying through its pages, I automatically stopped, when I saw a picture of a front cover of the first of Martins books, translated in Slovenian language by Boštjan Gorenc. When I saw the title of that book I just knew (I hadn’t have known GRRM or any of his books from before) that is it / IT. So, I read the passage from the book, published in that magazine, and I fell in love. I ordered the book over the internet, that very day. It came to me in just a few days.

Book I: A Game of Thrones

I was reading the first book for almost three months. But not because it wouldn’t be interesting, it was because it was so grand, and full of everything. I needed time, to just get to it, and maybe also because of Martins ways of writing. What I mean by that: Martin writes these books in his own way. It would be, like, when you are reading it, it’s day light, you have your favorite characters in the book, and you somehow see, how this should be going. But, yeah, this you can expect in normal books. Martin, in his books at least, in these series, makes things a little bit different. He kills your favorite characters, or does something horrible to them, and events in the book, which you would probably finish differently, usually as is finished in normal books, he twists them totally around, so that you, as a reader, really have no idea of, what had just hit you. Suddenly, it becomes totally dark, or better to say, night time. Everything is turned around, and you have to build the castles of imagination in your head again, and here is daylight again. This just happens again, and again, and again. So, by this shocking effect of Martins writing, I had to stop reading for a while, and then, when I started again, I was just swallowing it whole.

When I finished the first book, the hardest thing was waiting, and waiting for the next one. 'A Clash Of Kings' came out next year, in 2008, 10 years after the original was first published. And I must say, I was a little bit disappointed. This book wasn’t translated by Boštjan Gorenc. This guy, who translated the second book, hadn’t had such a good vocabulary, which in these kinds of books, is a 'must be'! But yes, all the other books are translated in Slovenian language by Boštjan, and I really have to say, that I don’t know if anyone else at all, is as capable to transte Martins books, as he is, for the way he does it.

Book II: A Clash Of Kings

Book III: A Storm of Swords

With the second, and the third, and now the fourth, I didn't have much 'problem' reading them, because I got adjusted to it (ali just got straight to it). So I was just reading, reading, and reading some more, and doing almost nothing else, until I finished the book.

  

Right now, I’m reading the fourth book, 'A Feast For Crows'. I have just a few chapters left now, but I’m trying to delay. I don’t want the story to end, because I’ll have to wait for the next book, 'A Dance With Dragons', for too long. 

Book IV: A Feast for Crows

Anyway, for now my favorite two books from this series, are the first and the fourth. Why? Well they do say, that the first one, you never forget. And the fourth; although in this book, none of my favorite characters are there; because Cersei Lannister finally got what she deserved and because it’s signed by 'the' Gorge R.R. Martin himself. And it's also signed by Boštjan, with a dedication even. 

THE autograph of GRRM

A dedication and autograph of Boštjan Gorenc

Just three weeks, before I had to go to Scotland, for three months of practical internship, in Logan Botanical Garden, I had saw on a Facebook post, from Boštjan Gorenc, that GRRM is coming to Slovenia, on the 22nd of July. I cursed all gods, titans, and mythological creatures, from every culture that was known to me. 'Why, oh why, do I have to go to Scotland, just when he comes?!'

So, I called up my best friend, Polona, whom I had also infected with these books, and I said to her: 'Polona, if you want to give me anything for my birthday, take my books to be signed.' And she did. She was standing there, in the line for round 5 hours, just to get an autograph for me. Polona, I’m really grateful for that, thank you so much!

Polona next to the GRRM

GRRM on signing in front and Boštjan Gorenc in the back 

The book was waiting for me on my bed, when I came home. I just sat down on bed, opened the book, and stared at the autograph, for 5 minutes or so.

Now, if you want to know how it was, on Martins visiting and signing the autographs, you can read Polonas blog. And I am also adding 'Not a blog', a blog, which isn't one, by GRRM, it will be right under the links on the right, 'Other bloggers'. And of course, I shouldn’t forget on Boštjan Gorenc's blog.   

So, read you later.

Uroš

Bamboo diary: Dividing Phyllostachys nigra

Last summer I bought my first bamboo. Of course, in our garden centers you don’t have much choice of what to buy. Usually you can find only Phyllostachys aurea or Phyllostachys aureosulcata f. aureocaulis, and of course Phyllostachys nigra. Sometimes you can also find some Fargesia. I decided for P.nigra, because of its dark black canes and light small green leaves.

I planted it in a rain container, from which I had cut of the bottom first. It is 70 cm tall, so that the bamboo wouldn’t escape. I buried the container into the ground, and left the upper edge just a little above the ground surface, so that I could see if I had got any running rhizomes. 

The buried contanier with bamboo.

In one year the bamboo has grown well and it has established quite nicely.

But some of the rhizomes have come out, and instead of finding their way back to the soil, they have shoot out their culms.

This spring I cut them down, and it looks like, that from these rhizomes, or - more likely - from their sleeping buds, new shoots have emerged. Today I dug around them, to see if they have their own roots yet. And they did. I took out two small plants and transplanted them. They didn’t have enough roots, so I had to shorten the culms, because of the balance between roots and leaves. For planting I used mixture of light humus, compost, and quartz sand, so that it wouldn’t get to sift when watering, and growing of the new roots would be easier. I put the young plant indoor, because of the hot sun outside, which would harm the just transplanted plants.

Now that the plants have been potted i have to cut some of their culms.

So, read you next time!

Uroš

Bamboo diary: Sowing Phyllostachys edulis

On Monday (29.8.2011) I sowed seeds of Phyllostachys edulis. I bought them a year ago, from some German on-line company that sells seeds of rare plants. I would had sowed them before, but I was in a student residence hall during the week, so I wasn’t at home enough, to keep an eye on them, if they would had sprouted. So now I have almost finished my studying, and I’ll be staying home for at least a year, and it’s perfect timing for me to grow bamboo. Yes, I know I’m very, very late with these seeds and their germination rate is probably 0%, but still I had to try.

Seeds of Phyllostachy edulis. 6 of them were too dry.

I used the same technique I used with Fargesia nitida,which I sowed the other day. I’ve had 36 seeds and 6 of them were completely dry. I potted 15 as they were and the other 15 with those 6 dry ones, I soaked them in water through the night and sowed them the next day (30.8.2011). The 6 dry ones didn’t get better, so I threw them away. And now, I'm waiting again. It’s probably just gambling with luck anyway.

So, read you next time!

Uroš   

Pool frog and Yellow-bellied toad photos

These are few photos of a pool frogs (Rana kl. esculenta) and Yellow-bellied toad (Bombina bombina)  that I took the other day when I was at my girlfriends. They were both still babies, but already looked as adults. I really like frogs so I want to take a photo of as many as I can. 

(click on photo for better quality)

So read you later.

Uroš