Nona a plenty!

After an absence of 17 days, I returned to a happy garden. I left it in the care of a friend who came and pick caterpillars off the pomelo and water some potted plants once a week. And all's well!

The custard apple (or what my friends in Penang call "nona") flowers are unusual - forgotten what it looked like the last time as there was only one. Now there are a few in various stages of blooming and I really don't know how to describe them - so see it for yourself :)







The 5 new okra plants have grown but their leaves are different from the previous batch in that it is rather completely round rather than sharply tri-lobed! I wonder why - it was from my previous plant - so, what happened? Recently, in Penang, I saw an okra plant that had distinct tri-lobed leaves.

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.

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!