Pakistan Environment and Health Portal

*While energy crises have become a sort of inalienable fact of life, the electricity shortfall is expected to be worse than ever this coming summer owing to fuel problems arising from liquidity crunch and water shortage.*

*CONDUCIVE weather conditions and supporting policies have overriding impact on overall agricultural productivity. And unless the biological and economic factors coincide, a bumper harvest is difficult to anticipate.*

I *magine visiting Lake Sailful Malook, Kinjhar Lake or Ucchali, where you see a water body and a beautiful landscape like picture postcard in front of you. You see water there, some birds or plants.*

 Searching for the enchantment of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Karachi, Lahore, Quetta or wherever may sound like a very far-fetched fantasy, but Shakespeare would have done so as long as there was a plant of ‘Thyme’ to be found.

 Chopping vegetables at the kitchen counter this morning with heavy snow, gusting sideways across my line of vision and wondering which gardening subject readers may find of interest next, it suddenly struck me that the majority of ingredients for vegetable spaghetti sauce I was making actually came from my garden.

 Obtaining a reliable supply of good quality seed can be extremely problematic here in Pakistan and one way around this is, when you have grown something that you consider to be worth increasing, or if an annual for replanting the following season, then simply save your own seed from existing plants.

 The more blooms you cut the more blooms the plants will make.

 The overall attraction of any garden, large or small, can be greatly amplified by the judicious placement of what are known as ‘focal points’.

 A gentle drizzle patters on the leaves of fruit trees in the orchard as dawn turns the sky watery pink and the sun begins to make its appearance.

 Brilliant hued or softly shaded, geraniums are one of the easiest pot plants to grow, though, of course, they can also be planted directly out in the garden.

 Let’s face it; numerous apartments, for example, are pretty short of natural light, as are a large number of downstairs rooms in close together houses and the psyche of residents of such homes can be vastly improved by having some indoor greenery to soften the contours of their lives and by keeping them rewarding company.

 Everyone can have a herb garden no matter which region of the country they reside in. If you live in cities such as Karachi and Lahore, chances are that you will be able to grow a wider variety of tender herbs during the cooler winter months than in the hot summer ones. But no matter where you are, there are quite a number of perennial herbs which can take both extremes of hot and ...

 Summer. The season to sizzle, sweat and simmer, when the temperature and humidity are unbearable and the electricity goes off — again!

 The seeds of bulbs and corms which are native of the cold, mountainous parts of the world require a period of frosting prior to germination. Zahrah Nasir

 Incorporating plants into an office environment can enliven the work atmosphere tremendously. It is good to see that more and more companies are following this route.

 Imagine a three feet long sweet potato which, above ground, can climb up to twenty feet and more and, as if this isn’t enough, bears bunches of cinnamon scented flowers and you will understand exactly why I decided to experiment with growing ‘Dioscorea batatas’.

 Sunflowers are Zahrah Nasir’s 

 It’s fun to make fresh and dried-flower arrangements. Zahrah Nasir gives tips

 The well known chrysanthemum family of plants, which is actually a member of the Asteraceae genus, comprises of 20 distinct varieties all thought to have originated in Europe and Central and Eastern Asia, with particular emphasis being placed on China and Japan where certain species were cultivated as long as 2,000 years ago.

Autumn is here and I am wondering where the time has gone. It seems just like yesterday when last year I advised you on purchasing flowering bulbs. Recently, I found myself face to face with my annual bulb dilemma. I had strictly told myself that I was not going to the bulb store, even though a friend had excitedly informed me that new bulbs had just arrived. But I am a hopeless case ...