Educate yourself on popular dog breeds of the world:

Miniature Pinschers

THE Miniature Pinscher, also known as "Minpin", is a toy breed of dog. In its homeland, Germany, the dog is known as the "Zwergpinscher", meaning Dwarf or Midge reared to hunt vermin, especially rats. The Miniature Pinscher is known as the "King of the Toy Dogs".

Although appearing similar to the Doberman Pinscher, the Minipin is not a "Miniature Doberman". This breed is much older and had appeared in sculptures several centuries ago. The Miniature Pinscher was imported into the U.S. in 1919.

The Minipin is normally about 25 to 30 centimeters at the withers. It weights about 4 kilograms. The coat colours, according to most breed standards, are red, stag-red, fawn, and black or chocolate with white markings.

The coat should be short and smooth. The dog frequently has a docked tail. It carries it ears either picked or half-dropped on a stylish head.

Members of the Minipin family generally share some personality traits. They are by nature, not generally timid or calm. They possess an energetic spirit and curious nature. They are normally quite stubborn but can also be very sweet. Although small, a Minipin makes a great watchdog.

Minipins have the habit of barking excessively. It is recommended to owners to socialise their dogs before 3 months of age. The dog's exuberant spirit and small size make it the ideal house or apartment dog.

However, its energetic temperament, cat-like agility and curious nature may not suit everyone. Young children should be taught to handle the breed as they are quite fragile and could be injured if rough play is involved.

Grooming is easy as the short-haired coat requires little attention. Care must be taken in cold weather because its coat does not provide enough protection from the cold. Miniature Pinschers have the tendency to overeat so it is necessary to keep a watch on their diet.

Keen and sporty, this lively small dog gives the impression that he loves being outdoors in a garden or park. It has a quick reaction and makes a useful household watchdog.

Garden Guide

With Dr. Fazal Sultanbawa PhD, Director Research and Development CIC

Ornamental Mushrooms: To colour dark spaces

MUSHROOMS have traditionally been collected or grown for food. However, there are no rules to say that they cannot be grown for ornamental purposes.

Why, you may ask, when we are blessed with such a range of plants for diverse environments should we bring the lowly fungi into our living space. Well, there are many reasons.

Firstly, some basics - mushrooms are fungi, more precisely the fruiting bodies of these fungi, which bear the spores or reproductive cells.

In this sense, a mushroom can be compared to flowers of a plant. Fungi (usually) grow as thread-like filaments called mycelia, which are usually not visible to the outside.

In the mushroom group of fungi, after some degree of growth and development, these mycelia get together to produce the familiar mushroom.

Mushrooms are often confused with plants, but the two differ in very fundamental ways, which has a bearing on the way they are grown.

Plants need light to grow and can make the food they need through photosynthesis; in contrast, fungi need to grow on some other plant or animal, either dead (technically the saprophytes) or alive (the disease causing type).

Importantly, fungi do not need light to grow - therefore, mushrooms will do very well in the dark spaces in our houses and gardens. While they do come in all possible colours, the lighter colours would be preferred as they would be more visible in a dark space.

Growing edible mushrooms has become a lucrative business for many small enterprises and State institutions like the Department of Agriculture, Industrial Development Board and others have actively promoted the ventures.

The range of varieties available has progressed from the easy-to-grow Oyster to more difficult ones like Abalone and Button, indicating the increasing confidence of growers.

Growing mushrooms for ornamental purposes is not very different to growing the edible kinds, in fact is easier because you don't have to worry about contamination by other types of fungi.

The only difference is in the type of container used. Ornamental kinds are more presentable if grown in attractive containers or bonsai trays. Alternatively, they may be grown on old logs.

A variety of media can be used to grow mushrooms, ranging from straw, sawdust, rice hulls, coir fibre etc.

The medium must be able to provide the growing mycelium with all its nutritional requirements, which are not unlike those of a plant.

Media commonly used provide most of the nutrients, but some nutrients like nitrogen are very low and therefore some supplementation may be required. A little urea (1 teaspoon dissolved in half a litre of water mixed with 1-2 kg of medium) is usually beneficial.

To get started, prepare the growing medium according to materials available, in a suitable container. Then go around the garden or the neighbourhood looking for mushrooms.

You can either pick the mushrooms and collect the spores (usually a black powder) under the cap of the mushroom or dig up some soil under the mushrooms, as it may have the fungus that produced the mushroom.

Mix the spores or the soil into the growing medium and keep it moist. It will be faster if you can buy some spores (or 'spawn' as it is sometimes called) from plant exhibitions or commercial growers.

However, it will be more fun if you can collect some mushrooms during a walk in a park or a wooded patch.

Mushrooms should spring out fairly soon, depending on the normal cycle of the particular fungus. The fruiting cycle can vary from a few to many days.

After the mushrooms dry out, don't discard the whole thing - it will grow back again. Just put it away in a storeroom, keep it moist and feed it with some urea.

Be cautious about adding normal fertiliser, which contain copper, zinc or manganese, as these can be toxic to fungi. When the mushrooms reappear, bring it back into the hall, just like you would display your favourite ornamental plant.

A word of caution - some mushrooms are poisonous and there is insufficient information on local mushrooms to classify them as safe or not.

Therefore, avoid eating any mushroom collected from the wild. Also, if you have little children, it may not be a good idea to grow unknown or wild mushrooms in your house, as the brats may try to munch them, especially if they are colourful!

In the next issue, we will look at ways of using natural logs and making artificial logs to grow ornamental mushrooms.

Flower of the week

Colourful Gloxinias

AMONG the long flowering species of petunias geraniums, begonia as in Sri Lanka, gloxinias have made its appearance.

Gloxinias may have an exotic appearance but they are easy to grow in pots and if grown in beds, semi-shade must be provided as the flowers are more delicate than others in their species. They combine well with foliage plants.

Ferns and long stemmed foliage combine well with the white edged hanging baskets. Avoid over-watering for a good display. The soil must be damp but not wet or water retained. Gloxinias can be raised from stem cuttings as well or even from lead cuttings.