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!