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!

Beautiful Sunday!

Yeah, it is beautiful to be greeted by the bright bloom of the winter melon's yellow flower when I looked out of the window this morning.







On closer inspection, I spotted the shy conch-shaped white flower of the pinto bean. So sweet and delicate, isn't it.





And of course, the greens of my little green patch is no less important - the packed apex of the papaya and the flourishing mint!

In the morning ......

the plants once again look invigorated, ready to reach for the skies and grow and grow and grow ......

The winter melon plant is thriving but I wonder how is it that the newer part of the stem is thicker than the oldest part of the stem. I always thought that plants are thickest at their base.





















































The ginger is growing strong and the shoots are really flourishing, so the tuber must be expanding underground.



















Infestation of the turmeric leaves seemed to have been brought under control but I guess I must continue to be vigilant in spraying the leaves with the organic pesticide.










The light and dark sides of the pinto beans in the morning as they compete to take control of the fence.















The Batubulan plant is loving its new garden and it sits rather prettily on the batu giling, - must be enjoying being in the centre of things.













Last but not least, the local chilli I grew from seeds are also thriving next to the Thai Basil and their leaves look similar!







Overnight, the jasmine plant have been devoured by caterpillars as I have seen some yellow butterflies fluttering around my garden looking over the weekend. Sigh, what can I do to protect the plants for such natural predators - or I can just contribute to the life cycle of the butterflies by sacrificing non-essential plants.

More papaya seedlings were weeded out and two were transfered to the bad soil area to test if the soil has recovered.

Grass? So Cute!

When I walked past my little garden this morning on the way back from market with an okra pod, I saw the little so absolutely cute patch of papaya seedlings that looked almost like grass.


The little cherry tomato was just harvested and laid on the papaya grass.


Planted the okra seeds today on a raised bed. Read that they need full sun and good drainage. Hopefully my shortcut of planting fresh seeds works. Here are the winter melon seedlings planted a week ago. They sprouted really fast - now I really believe that newspaper article which said that 2 ladies got a winter melon 18 inches long from seeds they plant more than a month before.


I think the chilli plant are 2 different plants in the same pot. One always have slim red chillies while the other, fatter and round orange coloured chillies.


The old cucumber is growing well and I think I put it in the correct corner - its creepers should be able to climb the fence - I just spotted the tendril which is usually used to coil round fences when it grows upwards. Looking forward to harvest my own pesticide free old cucumber. I wonder how do they become old cucumber - do I just let them grow and grow until they turn yellow? Are they normal cucumbers before they turn old and yellow? Or are they totally different species?


Are these jasmine flowers? I bought it from a nearby NTUC - it said jasmine on the sticker. Wonder if it is!

Colony!

These papaya seedlings look like a colony of invaders. The clump of seeds scooped out of a sweet papaya was randomly thrown into the garden last week and now they have sprouted together. From experience, the fittest will survive. I guess I have to plant a few of them in case some turn out to be male and non-fruit bearing. If lucky, I will get to eat the papayas within 6 to 8 months :p