Absence makes the garden grow faster!

I was away for 11 days and when I came home the garden was almost unrecognizable!


The Okra plant were bent over from the weight of overgrown okras, the Thai Basil and Sweet Potato plants have ran amok, the bountiful turmeric has dried out because the batteries in the auto-watering system have died (I think) and the Dill looks set on growing into a tree - it is now about 5 feet tall.


And someone has pinched the bigger of my 2 prized Milk Fruit seedlings. I have moved the remaining plant into the secure fenced area.





On the brighter side, the sole custard apple has ripened on the plant and I harvested it and will savour it later today (hopefully it tastes good). For the record and future reference, the custard apple took 3+ months flower to fruit.


Two Bell Lilies have bloomed in tandem.


The Lime has flourished without signs of caterpillar attacks (because I sprayed some diluted Neem oil onto its stem before I left).


The rescued Kumquat plant has plenty of leaves and a few "Bird-shit" caterpillars but no flowers although it should bloom now and fruit in time for Chinese New Year 2012. Well, maybe next CNY in 2013.


The yam has also multiplied - I think there should be at least 3 yams growing underground now.


And the beet root has sprouted lots of leaves. Understand that the leaves are very nutritious.


Last but not least, one of my longest surviving pet plants (it reminds me of my dog-in-heaven, Humphrey) - the "Batubulan" plant is flourishing.

Not one but two .... !

This morning, I had planned to harvest that sweet potato I spotted two days ago but ended up with two instead. It was a surprise find - I noticed a bulge in the soil next to the ginger and I thought "wow, my ginger has really grown - maybe I can dig out some for cooking." But surprise, surprise, it turned out to be a sweet potato tuber and I am puzzled as to how it got there. It was pat against the ginger some distance from the first tuber I was going to dig out.





The sweet potatoes were very thin-skinned, different from the ones I get from the market. After washing off the soil, they looked such a raw pink. I will probably make some sweet potato dessert soup and maybe steam some for a salad too.






Actually, from the top view of my garden, I can see how profusely the sweet potato plant has grown (it has taken over the whole fencing along the back lane) and I think I will most likely find more and probably bigger tubers underground :))

Bursting sweetness!

This morning is a very happy morning - I was doing some overdue weeding in the garden and generally tidying up the loose pots and dead roots when I chanced upon a wonderful sight - a sweet potato tuber bursting forth from the ground. Honestly, I had no idea what the profusely conquering sweet potato creepers were doing underground! I was just hoping that they were as productive in the soil and I had pondered how to check for signs of the tubers.



Well, I didn't have to - because the plump tuber just showed itself to me this morning. Wonder when it bursted through the soil - I didn't notice it until this morning because it was camouflaged by the ginger plant and the pomelo. Now I have a question - should I harvest it soon before it gets too fibrous??



The tarragon has also grown profusely, overshadowing the rosemary - maybe that is why the rosemary is infested as there is not enough sun for it.



Here are two pictures of the yam plant for the record - first one is when I planted it, and now, sprouting two plants. I think I should at least get two tubers? No? :)

Papaya GOne!

Well, the papaya was unceremoniously cut down with a curved saw in less than five minutes. It was definitely fruiting prolifically but the papayas were all stunted - why? :(



On the other hand, the sole custard apple fruit "born" more than 2 months ago took its time to grow to the size of a small apple today but I think it is still not ripe for the picking.







Meanwhile, the one twig of dill plant from my neighbour about 2 months back is now about 3 feet high and flourishing as the sun has shifted back to the south, giving it the luxury of full sunshine everyday. It seems to be the only plant doing well in the herbs patch :( - the rosemary keeps getting attacked by some spidery mites and since I don't use pesticide, I can only keep cutting off the infested leaves.



Overall, my happy garden has gone wild - the sweet potato is totally aggressive, traversing every other plant; its territory knows no bounds. The turmeric is also going wild in its pot and that is totally unexpected - the size of the pot is not big and is supposed to be a limiting factor to how big a plant can grow. Well, not so in the case of this happy turmeric.

I can really see nature at work in my garden and how the law of survival applies if there is no interference from man! I got a plant (whose name I know not) from my neighbour - from two sprigs in a pot it has like grown into a bush and is now 5-feet tall and growing, competing with the swarming sweet potato for territory.

The pandan (screw pine) is also suddenly prolific although it has taken its time and the strange thing about it is that sometimes it is not as fragrant as I expect it to be. Could it be the fertilizer? or what?

I also got some yam plants growing - from a tiny yam (the Chinese used this variety for the lantern festival celebrations on the lunar eight month full moon night). I stuck one into the grown and almost killed it, thinking it was a weed (having forgotten that I planted it there). Today it is sprouting with a few shoots - maybe by next year I don't need to buy yams from the market, hahaha!

Papaya has to go ....

Well, the tiny papaya fruits did not grow to term - had half expected it. I had heard but didn't quite believe that papayas grown from the seeds of the fruits that we eat are usually infertile or if there are fruits, they will never grow to term because they have been treated by the producers. So the question is how had the producers rendered the plants infertile and my guess is that the fruits have probably been subjected to low dosages of radiation. That is scary if I am right - just imagine how much of these radiation is ultimately absorbed into our bodies.

You can see in the picture the tiny papayas that remained at that size until they drop. Looks like I will have to cut them. Maybe I am wrong, the papayas do not grow because the female flowers have not been fertilized.



On the other hand, the okra I grew from commercial seeds have yielded many okras for my dining table. I simply steam them for 6 minutes and garnish them with fried shallots and light soysauce. Simply yummy.



Two ripe okra pods whose seeds will be planted when the present 5 plants die out.




The sweet potato flowers look such a sweet lilac. Wonder if they can be eaten?

Pest Galore!

They are pests but still, I am amazed by them! Some of them are so absolutely tiny yet they exhibit the most intricate detailing. In them I behold Mother Nature in all her artistic glory!

These green aliens are awesome - they have tails that look like they have a stabilising function like a car's spoiler (as if they are moving that fast) and a seemingly aerodynamic shell for a body and that frilled fringe - WOW!


Another species of aphids - white ones look like some spun mousse dessert!

Bird Shit ..... NOT!

Leaves disappeared overnight! Whole plants too! And the cause of it is this caterpillar camouflaged as bird droppings. Since my garden is so small and I am not using any pesticide spray I handpick them off the leaves when I see them. And I try to do it first thing in the morning before they devour the whole plant!







The other pests include aphids on the papaya and tomato and the scaly insect farmed by the black ants on the okra! See the black ants hard at work :(

Next Change!

The winter melon had to go to make way for other plants. Anyway after producing a second melon of 13 kg, the subsequent potential melons did not survive. I already have some pumpkin seedlings that I will plant in its place and I hope that they be able to produce some pumpkins in a few months time.



Meanwhile, I have been harvesting my okras one by one and this weekend I am going to have No. 6, 7 & 8 for dinner. :) There are 2 new flowers today and one tiny okra growing. Usually the okras have to harvested after 5 days after they flower to ensure that they are not too fibrous to enjoy. All five plants have produced at least one okra! And they are the best and sweetest okras I have ever eaten in my life, really!



Oh and I am so happy - after all these months of growing papaya plants, it has started to bear fruit, literally. This is the first fertilized female flower and hopefully it will grow to term and I will get my first taste of my own-grown organic papaya!

Will it be bigger?

The second winter melon has grown somewhat and I have secured it from falling into the drain with a milk crate hooked to the fence. :) It is now almost 20 inches long and slimmer than the first melon but then, it is only 3 weeks old. Hopefully it still has another 2 weeks of growth because my messing around with the crate yesterday caused it to suddenly crash, pulling and tearing the part where the melon's stem joins the vine. There was a tear and sap seeped out but hopefully, it can still hold on.



Okra flowers are so pretty and the stigma is so velvety. This is the picture of my first flower taken yesterday. Today, the flower is gone and in its place is a fertilized pod (hopefully)!




Yesterday was also significant in that I fed the plants with my own homemade compost. Vegetable and fruit waste were composted for 6 months and the resulting compost was actually smell free and dry, nothing yucky at all ;)

The vine grows on!

On Saturday, I cut and distributed the winter melon to my neighbours and friends. From the centre of the melon which is more spaced out, it can be seen that this melon has grown larger and longer than most melons found in the market which have compact centres.



I had thought of uprooting the winter melon plant once I harvested the melon two weeks ago but then there were signs of more melons developing - so I left the plant alone. Those potential melons died but new ones started developing. Just earlier this week from under the green leaves, I discovered this 10-day old melon outside the fence. I will have to look into ways of securing it from being stolen or from falling into the drain.



Two other female flowers were spotted too - one outside the fence and the other within my garden. But from experience I think they do not look like they will survive!





This okra flower was photographed yesterday but has fallen off today without even having bloomed :(

A Happy Day!

Today marks a great day, almost 5 months to the day I started my gardening. A first harvest - rather significant for me as the winter melon is the first plant that I had planted from seeds to finally culminated into a first harvest. The sole winter melon decided to "self-harvest" by breaking off from the vine in the heavy morning rain.

I quickly retrieved the prone melon when the rain stopped, trying my best not to further damage the skin as I struggled to move the heavy load from behind the pineapple plant. In the end I took a big piece of rag and laid it on the wet earth near the fallen melon and lightly heaved it over to the cloth before lifting it up to move it indoors to clean it up.

Here is how big it is :) 26.5 inches long, 30.5 inches in girth and 19 kg. The hair on the skin fell off easily when I wiped it and the skin became waxy and shiny. Indeed it is a deep green! For the record it took just 5 weeks for the winter melon to grow to this size!



Meanwhile the second fertilized female flower is looking rather shapely and I think it may survive yet!