composting the small way

The general understanding of composting is that the activity is good and it helps improving the soil. Thus nothing is wasted. Decomposition of living matter has been going on for zillion of years. Man is not a necessary party to the way nature sees decomposition. It has been the job of bacteria, and other little insects. Snails and slugs love to bite leaves, and worms love to eat dead leaves and leave their black poo on the ground. Termites will bite woody material to feed the young. So that's how it goes with decomposition.

Now that man values the black gold of humus so much, decomposition becomes a man made adventure. The other day, at Putrajaya Floria 2010, a guy was selling composting machine at RM1000. Man decides to turn composting as a business venture.

But my little vegetable garden in Putrajaya Malaysia, with its constraint of space,  keeps doing it the natural way. The heap will take it's own sweet time, to heat up and transform itself into powdery dark brown material called compost.

a compost heap

another compost heap

yet another compost heap
these are dead banana leaves.

references:
Fundamental Principles of composting ~compost org
Basic Principles of Composting ~LSUAg Center
Composting in the Tropics ll ~infonet-biovision.org

bangchik

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wednesday ~ flowers on a hot day

bangchik

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Introducing Kale into the garden.

Huh, when was the last time I grew kale? It must have been years. I was really mad recently at the failure to germinate kale using the old seeds . The recent visit to Putrajaya Floria 2010 brought home a few packets of seeds, kale included. For a change, I purposely vary the technique a little bit, by being less lavish on watering. Once the seeds were spread onto the surface, I sprayed lightly with water. Just once a day, very light not drowning them. It worked! Within a day, the seed coats broke, then little root tips appeared. The rest was history in the making... It could be the said technique or the new seeds that make germination successful.

kale seedlings in little pots
and there are more.
(benih kailan)

I would like to distribute kale all over the garden. Two sections of the raised bed has been prepared and reserved for kale. Pots that have been vacant after the harvest of cabbages will look nice with kale for a change. The previous attempts with kale two years ago, proved that the leaves were simply too tough for pests to bite. I dare not guess what will happen this time around.

kale: the first post 

bangchik and kakdah

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An approach in container gardening.

Container gardening is versatile

on parsley

I have been trying to grow parsley from seeds without any success. I have grown parsley with those bought from the store before. Recently Kakdah bought parsley. She cut off the stalks and leaves except for the shoots and keep them in refrigerator. I place the remaining stumps in a container.

parsley

on serai or lemon grass

This is not the way lemon grass is normally grown. Kakdah cut off the usable part leaving a small portion at the base. The top parts are used for her masak lemak tempoyak ikan patin. The remaining portions are placed into a container with the hope that they will sprout little babies.

freshly cut serai or lemon grass

serai or lemon grass

old and new

on chili

Kakdah did an overhaul work at the front porch. She cleans up the place and does some minor adjustment. She took out pots with young chili in and place them under the bushes of marigold. After a while, the pots are forgotten. A month later, I saw these little chili struggling for breath and space to grow. I did total pruning on the bigger one, and leave the smaller one untouched.  Within a week, the pruned chili gear up all its energy to sprout new and fresh looking leaves.

small chili

the new branches and shoots, after a total pruning.

chili

the bottom half

chili

total pruning and undisturbed

on Kale
this is not about kale, but the container itself. I am accidentally into recycling...

cooking oil plastic container recycled with kale

on pennywort

pegaga or pennywort

the container will slowly be filled with water.

a little pond.

bangchik

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Pak Choy 5th update ~ almost there

pak choy 
or 
sawi putih

pak choy in deep container

pak choy in deep container

pak choy in shallow container

1st posting on pak choy serial:  Pak Choy stage by stage.
2nd posting on pak choy serial: Pak Choy adding more leaves
3rd posting on pak choy serial:  Pak Choy third update 

4th posting on pak choy serial:  Pak Choy, the fourth update.

5th posting on pak choy serial: 

Week 1 ~ first pair of leaves

Week 2 ~ second pair of leaves

Week 3 ~ on average, 6 leaves. the leaves are increasing in size

Week 4 ~ the plants concentrate on increasing the size, new shoots are slow now. 

Week 5 ~ ready to be harvested

It doesn't take long for pak choy to grow and become big, and ends up for a lovely stir fried menu. Looking at pak choy in both pots, we can safely conclude that the amount of sunlight matters much to the growth. The shallow container which is placed at a sunnier place, performs so well.

We are going to harvest them soon,
using the Cut and Come Again technique .

bangchik

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Pak Choy, the fourth update.

Pak Choy or Sawi Putih

deep container in the dry yard

pak choy 
in deep container

close-up of pak choy in deep container

shallow container alongside the house

pak choy 
in shallow container

close-up of pak choy 
in shallow container

an older batch of pak choy,
ready to be taken anytime

1st posting on pak choy serial:  Pak Choy stage by stage.
2nd posting on pak choy serial: Pak Choy adding more leaves
3rd posting on pak choy serial:  Pak Choy third update 

4th posting on pak choy serial:
 

Week 1 ~ first pair of leaves

Week 2 ~ second pair of leaves

Week 3 ~ on average, 6 leaves. the leaves are increasing in size

Week 4 ~ the plants concentrate on increasing the size, new shoots are slow now.

pak choy in deep container.
This container is well outside our garden. In fact it is in the dry yard where kakdah normally hangs the cloths. The area is enclosed with brickwall, about 5' 6" high with two swing doors at both ends. The floor is tiled orange. She can get to the area through the kitchen's door. Pests in the form of grasshoppers seldom get to the area. Therefore, dry yard is well away from pest. The plants are totally free from pest bites.  Since the pot is at the edge of roof line, sunlight is fairly reduced and we would expect plants to be a little bit lanky.
pak choy in shallow container
This container is placed alongside the house, within the canopy of the roof. Lawn is 5 feet away. There will be pests straying to the pot once in a while. Grasshoppers seem to like pak choy very much. The biting habit is evident, but still tolerable. Pak choy grow better at this location, because of ample sunlight.

bangchik

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They started off the same time.

lady's finger
also known as Okra, or Bendi (Bahasa Malaysia)

lady's finger flowering.

roselle, still waiting
I am sure you can see a part of the twining plant kacang kelisa 
or kacang botol or winged bean. Roselle plants are very close to winged beans trellis. 
A branch is adventurous enough to stray and find roselle.

I did a post earlier about the confusion while transplanting them on vegetable bed [click here: Roselle with lady's fingers in the middle]. They look awfully similar at the early age. Having them in a row, lady's finger in the middle flanked by roselle on both sides, makes them even more identical, to the point that even Kakdah didn't realise there is lady's finger in the middle until the day lady's finger sprouts nice flashy yellow bloom.
So Lady's Finger chooses to be the first to produce flowers and fruits.
Roselle plants  are waiting for the right moment to show off their lovely flowers. I guess Roselle is planning a real big surprise.

bangchik

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