Balsam

The first batch of Balsam were Tall and the stems were fat too. They were half of my height!

The 2nd generation of Balsam are never tall like their mother! Somehow it stay low. half the height of their parents. The fertilizing and watering are almost the same. I wonder why..... may be some message was sent through the genetic codes to the seeds i guess! ;-)



Their flowers are still pretty!

  

Sunflower seeds

Last weekend i cut off 5 of the sunflowers to harvest the seeds. To my surprise only few fat seeds was available. Others was flat and i don't think it will germinate!

I prepared the small pots for the seeds. Let's see if they germinate!

Sugarcane @ Tebu!

Sugarcane after 6 months! Still having slender stems. They have grown taller than me now.

Sugarcane does produce seeds! But usual practise is planting from the cane stalk. Do you know that? As for me i never seen the seeds. They mature in 11 - 18months.

Sugarcane are used to make jaggery in India. A kind of unrefined whole cane sugar. It's believed to be healthier choice than sugar!

As for me I'm just waiting for the cane to mature to make "air tebu"! Popular drinks during hot weather!

pricky Caterpillar!!

It's been long since i show my collection of caterpillars! Actually not my collection but due to my ignorance caterpillars make mass houses on my plant! hahaha...

These type of caterpillars are totally new to my garden. They are yellow in colour. Look like miniature porcupine to me!

However unik they look, i still remove them altogether! It's a hate relation ship!

House Plants

Most of us have House plants in the house for decoration purposes. They can be colourful foliage plants or flowering plants. Some of house plants do purify the air too! That's double the benefits to us!





These are some of my house plant collection. How about you?

Flowers

A trip around my garden in the morning is always good! I saw many flowers blooming and many spent flowers too!  

Pak Choy - 2nd attempt

Once you have planted Pak Choy, you will know how good to have them in your vegetable bed. They are quiet easy to grow, fast to harvest and delicious to eat.

I have transplanted my 2nd batch of Pak Choy last weekend. They are still very fragile now. i need to add egg shell to prevent small snails from finding them.

Some findings on Health benefits of Pak Choy:


■ Pok choy contains certain anti oxidant plant chemicals like thiocyanates, indole-3-carbinol, lutein, zeaxanthin, sulforaphane and isothiocyanates. Along with dietary fiber, vitamins these compounds help to protect against breast, colon and prostate cancers and help reduce LDL or "bad cholesterol" levels in the blood.
■Fresh pak choi is an excellent source of water soluble antioxidant, vitaminC (ascorbic acid). 100 g provides 45 mg or 75 % of daily requirements of vitamin C.
■It has more vitamin A, carotenes, and other flavonoid polyphenolic anti-oxidants than cabbage, cauliflower...etc. Just 100 g of fresh bok choy provides 4468 IU or 149% of daily required levels vitamin A.
■Pak choi is very good source of vitamin K, provides about 38% of RDA levels. Vitamin-K has potential role in bone metabolism by promoting osteotrophic activity in bone cells.
■Fresh bok choy has many vital B-complex vitamins such as pyridoxine (vitamin B6), riboflavin, pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), pyridoxine and thiamin (vitamin B-1). These vitamins are essential in the sense that our body requires them from external sources to replenish.
■It also contains good amount of minerals like calcium, phosphorous, potassium, manganese, iron and magnesium. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure.

Planting Corn again

I'm planting corn again. I know many of you know what happen to my previous attempt but I just can't resist the corn seeds in my fridge. I promise myself for 1 more trial only. I know the risk but I'm really so eager to plant it again!

The little seedling was transplanted to the ground last weekend. There are happy to grow with Balsam. Hope to see some corns this time around.......or may be it's just a day dream.

Bitter gourd at last!

Bitter gourd is a tropical and subtropical vine of the family Cucurbitaceae, which is among the most bitter of all fruits.

There are many varieties that differ substantially in the shape and bitterness of the fruit. The China phenotype is 20–30 cm long, oblong with bluntly tapering ends and pale green in color.The bitter melon more typical of India has a narrower shape with pointed ends, and a surface covered with jagged, triangular "teeth" and ridges.

almost reaching !!

There are many health benefit of bitter gourd that some drink the bitter juice!  It's believed that it has antiviral, antimalarial, anticancer properties. Besides it's cardioprotective too!

 

My bitter gourd have started to bear fruits. Not many but enough for a meal!

Grass ?

One plant in the garden that we don't have to put much care is lemongrass. They survive on their own. Mine have overgrow and the leaves are drying. They do look like tall grass.

I have took some to plant it surrounding the house as it's believed to be insect repellent.

The other day i found a web which provide names for it in different language:

French: Citronnelle
German: Zitronengras
Italian: erba di limone
Spanish: hierba de limon
Indian: bhustrina, sera
Indonesian: sere, sereh
Lao: bai mak nao
Malay: serai
Sinhalese: sera
Thai: takrai

Any other name in another language?

Okra

Before weeding

Among my lady's finger plants batch, this batch is the weakest or may be not so healthy. This is all due to my negligence. It's so thin and the lady's finger itself is very small. I have add some fertilizer last weekend. Weeds were removed . Hope they will grow happily now!

Spider Plant

I use to see Spider plant in p3chandan blog but i never expect to receive this plant from her together with Mulberry and Plumeria plants few months back! It's triple joy for me actually.

This is my short finding on it:

"Chlorophytum comosum, often called the spider plant, is a species of Chlorophytum native to South Africa.

Spider plants have long narrow leaves that are 20–40 cm (8–15 in) long and 5–20 mm (0.2–0.8 in) broad, growing from a central rosette. At the spot where a leaf would normally develop a node, the plants produce adventitious roots down into the soil, and new above-ground shoots. It also produces branched stolons with small white flowers and baby plantlets.

It is a popular houseplant. The most widely grown is the variegated cultivar 'Variegatum', with one or two broad yellowish-white bands running along the length of each leaf, but natural, entirely green plants are also grown. The Spider Plant is an especially popular plant with beginners, as it is easy to grow and propagate and is very tolerant of neglect, being able to thrive in a wide range of conditions.

Spider plants have also been shown to reduce indoor air pollution such as Formaldehyde in Tobacco Smoke ,Plywood Foam Insulation,Room Deodorizers,Waxed Paper,Facial Tissues,Paper Towels, Permanent Press & Fabrics!

This is such a beneficial plant to have in the house!

Tomatoes for me!

It's been long since i harvest tomatoes right from my garden ! Finally!

My garden is not so productive now. I have only few tomatoes, chilies and a bitter gourd to harvest. Oh yes, a little carrot too! I think i pull it out too fast. Anyway all of them are in the fridge waiting for me to cook!

Can you see the carrot? I think i pull it out early! Anybody know how to judge if carrot is ready to be pull out?

Orange Beauty

Tecoma Capensis or Cape Honeysuckle is Ornamental shrub with clusters of tubular shape flowers. There are few range of colours from Vibrant orange to scarlet.

I have the Orange colour variety. It can grow up to 6 meters if unchecked! The leaves itself are very beautiful in glossy green colour. Propagation can be done from cutting, layering and seeds. It can be very good ground cover or trained as climbing vine at porch or arbors but make sure there are enough sun light for the plant to produce blooms!

Plumeria

Plumeria or Frangipani is flowering plant which produce very fragrant flowers (especially at night) to lure sphinx moth to pollinate them.

I often see this plant by the road side. They have pretty blooms but i didn't realize that the flowers have no nectar! There are many believes on this plant according to different culture. Do you know? What is your belief?

There is a website which i found very interesting for learning more about Plumeria : http://plumeria.org/

I have 2 type of them in my garden now. Growing happily. I just can't wait to see the flowers. Are they really scented flowers at night?  

Sunflower - ageing

The sunflowers in my garden have make every passerby to have a look. Some even asked me for the tips to grow them! hahhaha..... I feel funny since me myself is totally new to sunflower and tried few times before making it bloom and produce beautiful Flowers!

 The flowers are drying up now. Yesterday i manage to cut few of the dried Flowers. i haven't take out the seeds yet. Hope there are many healthy seeds for my new batch planting! Any advice on how to get the seeds?