Aloe Vera, Indian medicine - a plant to grow in the UK and Singapore

" 'allo, 'allo" - is this truly aloe vera? I saw it growing outside the front door of my friend's flat. My friend in Singapore lives in an HDB flat. the initials HDB stand for Housing Development Board, which builds and renovates state built housing which covers Singapore).

Many of the flats treat the common corridors as spaces to fill with clutter and treasures. Firstly, but not only, all the family shoes are left outside the door. "Your sandals will be fine. Nobody will take them," they assured me.  But I have seen all kinds of plants and even animals, birds and fish outside, such rabbit hutches and all sorts of things in the common corridors outside HDB flats.

My friend grows several herbs in window boxes on the communal corridor outside her flat.

I stopped to look at them.

She generously gave me a section of aloe vera, which I had never seen before. It looks like cactus. Ironically, you associate it with healthy soothing properties, but it has nasty spikes.

I looked in Wikipedia to check. Yes, aloe vera really is a green spiky plant like a succulent cactus.

What do I do with it? Turn it all into a drink? Or use it as a decorative plant?

I can't leave it growing indoors. My family are totally unreliable when it comes to watering plants. If I am away travelling or staying in one country, my precious plants are dying in the other country. My family would generously give to a human beggar but would not offer a drop of water to a dying plant.

You cannot leave saucers of water under a plant in Singapore. It's against health regulations. You must not allow vases or saucers in cemeteries or balconies. Inspectors come around to check you are not breeding mosquitos. (I don't mean breeding them deliberately but inadvertently.) The main fears are dengue (several hundred cases a year), then malaria, possibly pika.

I stuck it into a plastic waste paper basket as an improvised pot. Now, where to find earth? Can you take earth from the ground? Previously when planting new rose bushes in England, we were advised to use compost, which not only has added fertiliser to help feed and reinvigorate he poor little plant which has been upset by being moved,  but also sterilised to kill off bugs, to which your delicate immigrant plant might be vulnerable.

So I sent my rider out on his motorbike to a gardening centre to hunt for a planter and compost. I advised him to tell the garden centre what he was planting, in case they had any advice on the size of the pot or anything else he needed, such as drain holes or stones in the bottom of the pot.

In England one of our friends had filled her bathroom with plants. She said the steam in the bathroom would help ensure the plant was moist. (And keep t clean looking. Although she and her cleaning help would be giving the plants daily attention.) It was also quicker and easier to feed water to the plants from the nearby taps.

But I don't want to risk breeding insects in the house. (Not that I want them on the balcony, which is dangerous and illegal. But in the house, hiding in awkward to reach crevices, or feeding off our three times a day crumbs is an added risk.) Now the plant can sit on the balcony and get rain water when we are forgetful.

Tell the garden centre you are planting aloe vera so they give you the correct compost.

If my understanding of the wikihow article is correct, you do not stand a 'pup' in water like cut flowers.  You do not bury the leaves under the soil or even allow it to touch soil. Also too much sun can result in leaf burn. Hm.

Am I going to succeed? If not, at least I shall have learned something. I am one foot on the ladder to growing aloe vera. Next time I see the name I shall know so much more. As they say, learn something every day.

Choosing a Trough
I sent a family member off on his motorbike to the nearest garden centre. His job was to choose and transport a trough. He was supposed to phone me. He didn't. If I had thought about it, I could have calculated how long it would take him to get there, and I could have made a chasing phone call: "Hello - how's it going?"

Trough Colour
Nonetheless all went well. The smallest troughs were grey; the largest ones were brown. (Or vice versa.) The middle size was a jolly orange which contrasted well with the green plant. (If you already have the other colours or want to be subtle in a public place, or to co-rodinate with brown tree trunks or wood, or grey granite tiles, you might choose the other colours.)

Planting the 'Pup'
We put the soil in the trough. The soil we bought contained little stones. We had four bags of soil but used only three. The instructions for aloe vera from wiki said put stones on the top of the soil to keep the leaves off the soil. Not having any spare stones, my family member put the stones on top of the soil.

If you don't have a plant, you can buy aloe vera drink. See my previous post.

MORE INFO

http://www.wikihow.com/Plant-Aloe-Vera
From Wikipedia
https://www.google.com.sg/?client=safari#q=aloe+vera&gws_rd=cr

If you want to buy a plant in the UK it costs under £10 and you have a choice of several varieties.
From Gardens4you.co.uk
Here's the link:
http://www.gardens4you.co.uk/index.php?/House-Plants/Aloe-Vera-Plants&gclid=CLmnjb21l8wCFU8eaAodBSQClg

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Richard III, Roundworms And Your Diet

A newspaper article on Richard III says he had roundworm, which you can get from meat which has not been properly cooked and from using faecal matter as fertiliser. The article also says that roundworm is prevalent in tropical countries.
   This reminds me that meat should be thoroughly cooked, both at home and in restaurants. I always ask for medium, never rare.
   The debate about salads is also raised in tropical countries. When I first went to Singapore I listened to the Americans saying they would only eat salads from Australia or the USA because they did not want the risk of food fertilised by faecal matter. (They put it less politely.)
   People who lived in the tropics liked what they were used to eating and buying, at cheaper prices, and were against food which they though had added chemicals.
     Health and safety ideas can back up your existing preferences after the event. Or cause you to take or change your view.
  Two more views on what people prefer to eat: Some people think that insect life is a sign that a vegetable is good to eat and not treated with chemicals.
   But I have liked pre-washed salad since I read about how it is spun around flinging off anything which should not be there. I have never been a fan of worms in my food. I can't stop worms eating people after they are dead and buried. But I'm with all those people keen to stop worms eating me and my food. I don't want worms eating my food, whether apples, fruit or vegetables, before I eat the food. Nor do I want worms grabbing the nutrients from my food after the food reaches my intestines.