using jquery growl with php/mysql

Answer 1

PHP is running on the server and JavaScript is running on the client.

So Yeah, you'll need AJAX.

Well, there would be other ways, but they are more work than simply setting up AJAX. Especially so since you work with jQuery which handles most of the AJAX stuff for you.

Let it call a small PHP script that fetches the Rows from the DB, outputs them in your preferred Way (XML or JSON) and exits.

The usual jQuery AJAX tutorials should cover exactly that.

If your App is Multi-User don't forget to send a UserID in the Request so PHP knows what Rows to pull.