A cucumber, probably the last.

small cucumber, 
probably the last.

small cucumber, 

flower at the tip is drying up.

mutilated leaves.

 The beetles have been chewing at will, 

but luckily they don't get close to the growing cucumber.

I guess the skin and the hairs of baby cucumber 

must have insect repellent properties.

So far three has been harvested. This particular one is the fourth. It does exhibit youthful look, hairy shining green. But the leaves are in such sorry state, mutilated by brown beetles. They could be friendly pest to the point of helping pollination, but their chewing habit is a little bit too much. One could argue, even that chewing habit is positive in nature, because they help to reduce the number of leaves. Therefore food can go to the development of fruits rather than maintaining a luxurious set of leaves. But the torn and mutilated leaves are not pretty sight.

could that cucumber be the last?

bangchik

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Putrajaya Floria 2010 ~ a run through

FLORIA 2010
Putrajaya Flower & Garden Festival 2010

It was a quick run through, or rather a  brief walk through. I was quite busy lately, otherwise we could have visited the flower exhibition much earlier. Normally the first day is the best where flowers and plants on display is fresh and healthy. We went in  on the second  last day, around 10.30 am, and back by 12.00 noon. One and a half hour is brief by Kakdah's standard.  It was quite a repeat of last year show but still the crowd was quite big.


Something caught my attention, huh, a compost machine. With the price of a thousand dollar, it got me thinking when will the investment break even...... Our crude compost technique, open heap of composting material, only deals with garden waste.  Kitchen waste invariably will end up in garbage bin to be taken away by garbage lorry. What a waste... haha. Now with compost machine finding its way into houses, Kitchen waste will not be wasted ... But the price!!..

FLORIA 2010 , Putrajaya Flower & Garden Festival 2010 is open from 10th to 18th July 2010. We were not lavish this time. Three bags of organic soil, seeds (kale, celery and petola) and gardening utensils ( small scoop and fork) found their way to our little vegetable garden. Small sum, just 20 ringgit Malaysia. I didn't take many photographs of plants and flowers on show. Just a few to mark the occasion. However, Autumn Belle of My nice garden did a serial on the show ( click here  )

a section, where schools and institutions display their garden creativity.

not too hot, but umbrella is always helpful

Kakdah noticed these lovely yellow ground orchids 
and asked me to click a few.
We have purple variety in a container, 
and the blooms keep coming back on a continuous basis.

yellow ground orchid.

kakdah attracted by the lovely yellow bloom

everywhere was hot, 
Kakdah with her own shade and purple orchid by her side.

a small open transport, 
ferrying people from corner to corner. The lady was holding on the steel, I suppose such an open transport proved scary to some.

peat soil sold in 10kg bags.
We still have 2 bags from the last purchase at Bangi Agricultural Show.

the compost machine.
The guy was explaining how the machine works.
Quite a crowd interested to know, what the green rotating machine can really do.

The crowd heading towards different directions

bangchik

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Chili after 3 months

red and green chili

The last time I wrote about chili was in March. After three months, chili plants are still growing. But the general health is weakening, leaves are wrinkling and chilies begin to come out with various awkward shapes. They are still hot and spicy, to heat up any menu that requires them. That was among the last chili, before I did some heavy fluffing around the plants and  added poultry fertilizer to the hungry plants. A few branches were cut, leaving the stronger stem and branches.

flowers emerging

flowers

heavy with buds and flowers

After a couple of weeks, the plants are kicking with zest and energy. Buds and flowers are everywhere. I hope the little branches can withstand the weight of chili as they develop further.

bangchik

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Banana pairing and growing

a pair of banana

variety: pisang tanduk
(notice bitter gourds on the left)

It was almost four months since I last did a post on banana [28 february 2010 Banana seedlings, another attempt.] The pair was then tiny little seedlings without leaves. Now they are happy with leaves and stems of strong plants. Banana plants love wet soil and heavy with humus. So I conveniently place dead leaves as composting material close to these plants. The compost heaps serve two purposes, first as constant supply of humus and the other as a cooling agent. I am quite sure the roots are happy with composting heap on top of them.

When they grow this big, I stop putting fertilizer . I suppose it is okey, because their long and steady roots should be able to search for their own nutrient and water.

If everything goes well, 

there should be long and 

big banana hanging by the end of the year.

That should be a lovely sight 

and definitely a tropical delight!

bangchik

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sweet corns, first to join.

Sweet corn is not new here. We grew sweet corns during the first half of  last year with some measure of success. Now sweet corns are coming back with a new role to play.  They form a major component as in the Legend of Three Sisters Garden. 

I am facing this problem again and again. Ten  old corn seeds failed to germinate except for one. Then I quickly rush to Mydin supermarket to purchase a new packet of sweet corns seeds.  Now the new seedlings join the sole representative of the earlier batch in the garden bed that was once filled with Ulam Raja, Marigolds, Amaranth tricolour, Spinach, peanuts and raddish. They are transplanted as in the design of Three Sisters Garden.with a little bit of modification.

 

the first trio of sweet corns.

Notice the bigger plant as the sole representative of the old seeds batch.

All sort of seedlings appear as a result of self seeding, mainly spinach, amaranth, and ulam raja. These will be pulled out and some will be scooped out to another location.

the second trio of sweet corns

Peanut plants are visible at the top. I think some peanuts 

from the earlier plants are still in the ground and they germinate. 

I am going to leave those in for a while 

before winged beans really grow.

So corns are the first to join the Legend of Three Sisters. 

Winged beans were sown direct into the ground and so far nothing happen yet. The third component is pumpkins, which are now in tiny pots. One seed has rooted and is pushing the first pair of leaves up. The rest are still quiet.

There will be regular updates on the development of Three Sisters.

bangchik

Putrajaya Malaysia

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Garden to table, kakdah's way

a bittergourd which is the last, winged beans and okra. 

The two big and long okra are hard and seedy, and I dont think kakdah will include them in her cooking. I guess they are matured enough to be saved and dried for seeds. Winged beans are in abundance now.

a close-up

kerabu kelisa



This salad has its own charm, colourful and tasty. Winged beans, young mango, tomato, carrots, red chili, and onions are thinly sliced and mixed. Then add salt and lemon juice. There is no specific amount of each, just add things and check for look and taste to your liking. It will take any lunch and dinner to a different height!

bangchik and kakdah's menu

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In Case You Didn't Believe Me

Last week I wrote an article stating that life insurance rates are on the way up and that the time to buy life insurance is now. Life insurance rates have been decreasing to historic lows over the past couple of decades, mainly fueled by the need for companies to stay competitive with internet quote sites and independent agents.

In case you thought I was just using scare tactics to get you to buy or that I was just spouting off some kind of crazy theory, here is a link to a press release by Accuquote reiterating that many carriers have raised their rates or have rate increases scheduled within the next few months.

Michael, Garden State Life Insurance

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Roselle with lady's fingers in the middle

roselle

roselle

lady's fingers or okra

lady's fingers or okra

the three plants


Some plants simply look the same as seedlings, probably they share some common DNA elements which make them related somehow. It happens to me with roselle and lady's finger or okra. I really thought that the three plants which I planted in a row, were all roselles. After a while I realised that the middle plants is Okra after all.

I am not too sure how the two different plants behave at such close proximity. The last attempts with Roselle somehow attracted red bugs which make the foliage their temporary home. For Okra, some butterflies were too happy to lay eggs when the plants were on their downhill with strength and health.

I just wonder if a different pest will come with this combination.

bangchik

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Yellowing of leaves.

It is not necessarily a pest or disease issue that a plant foliage turns yellow. These disorders may be caused by environmental factors which includes too much scorching sun and lack of nutrients. But there is another natural factor that plants had to go through, AGING PROCESS. A plant, come to a time, will have to go. Our bitter gourd plants are going through just that. The whole plants, foliage and all are yellowing, new leaves getting a lot smaller, a few gourds are still dangling, probably the last. The two plants have been doing well, producing exotic fruits again and again. But now is time to go.

 The whole bittergourd plant is yellowing.

Soon the site will be allowed to rest for a while, first to allow a few periwinkle to establish themselves and a few winged beans probably as ground cover to reestablish the nitrogen prowess of the soil. But again a plan may change....

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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