Marigolds are ready to show.

marigolds

marigold bush

marigold bush close-up

the first bud

the second bud

Huh, with summer all year round , we miss the cycle of most flowering plants. We tend to grow flowering plants without the worry of weather and climate. In 4 seasons region, gardeners are quite particular when to start growing and the time should be enough for flowers to appear before winter comes and paints everything white.. Over here, I just grow them knowing that one day they will be kind enough to push out the first bud.
Marigold forms a lovely dense bush, and in a way they do create an impact to the surroundings. After seeing the light of day since March this year, now the first bud appears, then the second. I purposely put this post through before more buds come out, before the anticipation of flowers slowly recedes....

The other day, I saw a snail or two resting on the stems of marigolds. I am sure, they had a quite dinner of marigold shoots. When marigolds come to this height and age, snails cant kill them. It is at the young tender age, that they are very delicate, and a good lick by snails will put little seedlings to sure rest.

Soon there will be yellow dots all over.

bangchik

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Another go with Tomato.

The other day, we were talking about getting tomato seeds in a different way which we never tried before. Kakdah used half of a juicy tomato for cooking and let the other half in a plastic cup. After a couple of days, the tomato became soft and watery with a hint of early decomposition. I just squeeze the whole thing in a bowl. The seeds are separated. The very same night, a few seeds were placed in pots for germination. They didn't take long to sprout... I could see the white tips of the roots coming out the next day. Once they achieved the second pair of true leaves, I put them on the vegetable bed. The vegetable bed was the site for compost heap for almost a year. It should be fertile enough for the little plants I suppose..

four little tomato seedlings sprouting.

Tomato seedlings
they were transplanted on vegetable bed 
after the plants had completed their first true leaves.

Tomato seedlings: 4

viewed from the other end, very early in the morning shown by the long shadows

tomato: 3 plants

the latest photo was taken around 6.00 pm, just before watering.

The soil looked dry. Now there are three little plants. 

One of the pair in the middle was pulled out.

I dont know the variety. 
It is the normal variety sold in Carrefor Putrajaya vegetable section.

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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pineapple gripping hard.

pineapple in a pot

top view

flashback: the pineapple 
a month ago. 

pineapple on the ground

top view

pineapple on the ground

side view

basil seen from the above
to join the images of pineapple viewed from the top.
it does give a peculiar view with its columnar flowery stalk

Kakdah's brother Faizal was explaining about the way pineapple grow. It was months ago. He mentioned about leaves grow in a circular fashion. He suggested  cutting the pineapple seedlings into 4 quadrants and each should grow even though they look terribly injured. He also said the similarity to banana plants, about leaves adding in a circular pattern.
For a plant that size, pineapple is quite amazing. The weight of the eventual fruit is a lot heavier than the plant itself. To show extreme care and affection, the plant chooses to crown the fruit on top of itself. As far as the comparatively big fruit is concern, watermelon is pineapple's friend and rival. But watermelon surrenders on strength and the big watermelon has to rest on the ground.
The growth is very slow and our naked eyes will definitely miss the minute change. Photographs taken at monthly interval may at least give a hint, that pineapples do grow, add new leaves and make leaves longer. I am sure our pineapples are now strengthening the central stem in full anticipation of the eventual fruit resting on its crown by the end of the year.



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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Life Insurance Claim Denials

This is one of the most misunderstood aspects of life insurance and a constant source of animosity and suspicion between consumers and life insurance companies. Consumers think that insurance companies are out to get them, steal their hard earned money for years and then deny their claims over a technicality when the time comes. This is one of those areas where the life insurance industry has failed to educate consumers on the denial process and the misunderstandings that have resulted have come back to hurt their image. In honor of open communication, let me try to take a step towards setting the record straight.

First of all, let's establish what claims a life insurance company can and can't deny. Most state laws prevent insurance companies from denying a claim two years after the policy has been inforce. The only exception to this is if the beneficiary is convicted for intentionally killing the insured and even then the benefits are usually still paid but just to someone else. Within that two year period the life insurance company can deny your claim if you misrepresented anything in the application or underwriting process or if you commit suicide. If you die from a pre-existing condition that they didn't ask about, that you didn't know about or that had never been diagnosed, then the insurance company will still pay.

Another check and balance in the claims process is that each state in the United States has a department of insurance that is there to enforce the laws of that state. These departments of insurance work for the residents of the state and they are there to protect your rights. If there was an evil company out there unfairly denying your benefits, then all you have to do is file a complaint with your department of insurance and they can arbitrate between you and the insurance company to make sure they are upholding the laws of the state and treating you fairly.

So the key to take away from all of this, is to just be honest. If you are honest and forthcoming during the life insurance application process, then you have nothing to worry about. If there is any doubt on an application, then I would recommend erring on the side of more information is better. For example, if they asked if you have used a nicotine product in the past 12 months and you smoked one cigar when you were at a poker party, then I would recommend saying "yes" and then explaining that you don't generally smoke, but you had one cigar at a poker party. Most companies will still treat you as a nonsmoker and you also don't worry about your claim getting denied because you lied about smoking.

Michael, Garden State Life Insurance

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Is my life insurance a good deal?

This is a pretty subjective question, but I have a few thoughts to share that I think can make you more comfortable about your life insurance purchase.

Does it match your needs?

When you purchase life insurance that you don't need or doesn't accomplish what you intend, then that is a bad deal no matter how cheap it is. Think about why you purchased or are purchasing the life insurance. Debts, funeral expenses, income replacement, estate taxes, tax free investing, etc. all have different life insurance product needs. If you want to make sure your wife and small children have income to live on until the kids are grown, then find yourself a level term product that lasts until your kids are adults or the age you plan to retire. If you want to make sure your funeral expenses are paid for, then a guaranteed whole life insurance product that will pay if you die tomorrow or 50 years into the future probably makes the most sense.

Price

I always recommend that you research and shop around to find a plan with a good rate at a company with high ratings and a high level of customer service. I apply this philosophy to most of my shopping. When I get ready to purchase a new electronic gadget that I need, (or want, whatever) I will usually look up the product on both Amazon and Google Shopping just to see what the going rate is. I love shopping with Amazon. Their service is great and I really trust them as an online retailer. If their price is pretty close to the lower prices on Google Shopping, then I will usually buy from Amazon rather than risk saving a few percentage points to go with an unknown company or someone on Ebay.

When I buy running shoes, I usually go to a store that specializes in running shoes. The people there usually are runners and they know their shoes. They usually pull about ten pairs of shoes they recommend and we work for about thirty minutes to find the perfect shoe. Sure I could probably find a better rate if I purchased online or from an athletic super store but with a running shoe, finding the really good shoe is more important to me than finding the cheapest shoe.

When I purchased my life insurance, I took the same approach. I went to an online life insurance website that I trusted and got a list of companies and rates. I went with the second cheapest company for the type of product I wanted because the company had higher ratings and was only a few dollars more expensive per year. I didn't even check other websites or shop with other agents because I had found the shopping experience I trusted the most to find the life insurance product that fit me the best.

Michael, Garden State Life Insurance

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