Don’t discard those shells the next time you fry a sunny-side-up or whip up an omelette. They actually have some interesting applications for your gardens and your potted plants.

If you were one of the 70,000 who visited HortPark duringthe recent GardenTech 2009, you might have noticed the fleshy plants that adorned a garden archway and hung from swinging baskets, decorating both sides of the linkway to the main event tent. These plants are succulents, or water-retaining plants, from two genera, Sedum and Senecio. Neither is native to our equatorial climate, making them unique additions to any home or garden.

Common sense dictates that plants need water to live. Exactly how much water and how often, though, is a question that baffles many a new gardener. Plants require water to transport nutrients from one part of a plant to another, and too much or too little water can prove fatal to any plant.

Some say that gardening is a hobby best suited to those living in landed houses, equipped with plots of land for their own yards or gardens. At Blk 666 Jalan Damai, a group of dedicated community gardeners begs to differ.