Holiday Wishes!

Holiday is approaching. The year is going to end! The year of 2011 is almost ending! There are left with only 3 more days excluding today!


This is time where we stop and think about our achievement and new resolutions! Have you reach your aim? Have you set your new target?

Hope Everyone have a wonderful year ahead and Wish all of you 'HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012'!

Hope we will reach high next year like my curry plant which is growing so rapidly now!

Weekend vegetable

I was suppose to harvest Pak Choy 2 weeks ago but since I had a lot of winged beans and I was away too, I decided to let the Pak Choy for another weekend. The heavy rain caused 2 of the plants to have root rots. It was raining continuously for 3 days....on and off and the whole place at my garden become wet, soggy and the vegetable bed become like a small pool. Luckily I manage to harvest Pak Choy before the leave become yellow.

Last 2 days there were no rain at all and I manage to pour some soil to make a raise bed. Hope the rain won't do any harm anymore!

I just wonder, when it rain, we complain of too much rain and when it doesn't we do complain otherwise........Human...... hahahhahaaa.....

balsam & Festive wishes!

During my childhood, Balsam plant was very popular. Most of the house garden have them and they self seeds everywhere so easily. Now i seldom see them.

I grow balsam for their pretty flowers and for the medical function they have! Last week i prepared a new place for them and transplanted most of them. 2 of them are left at my vegetable bed area as they are outside the brick. I will show to you once i completed the area. Do you grow Balsam?

Anyway MERRY CHRISTMAS to all my Christian Bloggers!  Hope you enjoy your day with your loved one!

Daikon Radish @ lobak putih

Daikon Radish which is known as Lobak Putih in Malaysia is full of Vitamin C. It's popular vegetables in Asia, especially in Japan, India, China and Korea.

many way of cooking radish is available.

In Chinese cuisine, turnip cake and chai tow kway are made with daikon.

In Korean cuisine, a varietal is used to make kakdugi and nabak kimchi use the vegetable, in addition to the soup muguk.

In Japanese cuisine, many types of pickles are made with daikon including takuan and bettarazuke. Daikon is also frequently used shredded and mixed into ponzu (a soy sauce and citrus juice condiment) as a dip. Simmered dishes are also popular such as oden. Cut and dried daikon is called Kiriboshi-daikon(literally, cut-dried daikon) which is a common method of preserving food in Japan. Daikon radish sprouts (Kaiware-daikon) are used for salad or garnishing of sashimi. Daikon leaf is frequently eaten as green vegetables. Pickles and stir frying are common. The Daikon leaf is one of a leaves of Festival of Seven Herbs, called suzushiro.


In South India, daikon is the principal ingredient in a variety of sambhar, in which roundels of the radish are boiled with onions, tamarind pulp, lentils and a special spice powder. When cooked, it can release a very strong odor. This soup called 'mullangi sambar' (முள்ளங்கி சாம்பார்) is very popular and mixed with cooked rice to make a good meal.

( information from internet)

I harvested 3 of them yesterday. One ( not in the photo) goes in to my sambhar or Dhal curry. 2 more is inside the fridge. The leaves are kept to for stir fry! The leaf taste a bit like Sawi. One of them have started flower but the root is not hard.

vegetable seedlings

The vegetable beds have been empty for almost 2 months. The only vegetable growing now in my garden are winged beans and Pak Choy. Grass seems to be happily covering the bed. The monsoon weather really make the soil so wet.

Seeds have been sown and the little seedlings are growing happily in the small pots. but i was a bit hesitant to transplant them due to so wet weather.

Last weekend I manage to transplant all of them with my finger crossed! The pots won't cater them long enough but i hope the rain will not make their root rot. I have mix the soil since my garden soil is clay type.

Pak Choy is ready for harvest!

The title itself should have given you all idea on what will be the dishes for my weekend cooking!

I shall have homegrown pak choy again after 2 months break!

GBBD - December

Monsoon season is here now. A long wet day and night. Clothes seems to take few days to dry! Nevertheless we have sunshine in between. I should be thankful for it! Some of the flowers are in full bloom but many drench by the downpour. So i'm left with few photos to take!

This Plumeria doesn't have smell! but it's so beautiful!

Ixora seems to enjoy rain i guess as they have ample of blooms!

For more flower blooming around the world please feel free to visit may dreams gardens

Pink beauty!

Here comes the pink beauty! Another Plumeria which i grow from the cutting given by p3chandan. It took me almost 8 months to be rewarded with this pink beauty! Many blooms have drop since i took this photo a bit late. The rain seems to be so unkind to the flowers.....

Look at the pretty flowers! They really have very strong smell! So good as a perfume! Plumeria do have smell after all! hahahhaa....

sun flower

I always save the sunflower seeds for future planting. Once you have sunflower in your house, you will have forever passion for them! They are just so vibrant in colour and cheerful!

This sunflower was from the seed which i throw as i assume it's not healthy. A single seeds germinated. The height was up to my shoulder. May be almost 5 feet , big stem and the sunflower was so huge! I have grown sunflower before. Took a good care of them but i never been rewarded with so huge flower like this! I spent most of my yesterday evening gazing at this huge bloom!  

so huge and beautiful!

Mint....unsuccessful attempt

I read somewhere that Mint is invasive. I have seen them being so invasive in my garden. There was time when i try hard to trim them down so that they don't take over the little curry leaf plant and Chillies. But now I'm trying hard to make them grow! ...sigh.....

Plumeria

Plumeria in my garden is so white....resemble purity but the flowers do not have smell at all! Is this usual? i grow up thinking that Plumeria have a strong smell especially at night but mine have none! May be I should try to smell it at night?! hahahha....

After a good shower!

Own space for Avacado!

Finally Avocado tree gets it's own space to grow. Previously it was growing with Ornamental bushes which we planted as natural gate. However now we realise the bushes doesn't serve the purpose and taking a lot of space. So i have remove it! I think the Avocado tree look more cheerful now than before!

This Avocado was planted from seed. Unintentionally though as i always eat and throw all the waste at compose area that make some to germinate.

Avocado is very big tree is reality. I'm not sure if it can grow over here in small space but i shall take the wait and see method. Looking at the price tag at the fruit stalls or supermarkets make me smile to have a tree at home! 1 fruit cost RM5 !  

A row of House Plant

Few days back we had a real big visitor to the house! It was a big butterfly or may be moth. I have seen them before but not in my own house!

I tried to chase it away from the house at night before going to bed since i know the lizard love it so much but in vain. Surprisingly it manage to find very good place as hide out from predator!



butterfly/ moth says: no one can see me here....!

Today morning I manage to catch it and release it to my garden successfully! At least i have save it from house lizard! When i came back in the evening from work, i could not see it. May be it have flew away or hiding somewhere. Do you know if it's butterfly / moth?

There are many culture belief surrounding butterfly coming to the house:

1) Indian believe it's a sign that someone close going to pay a visit to your house

2) Japanese believe it's a soul of someone close to you ( dead or alive person soul while that person is sleeping) visiting you

What is your believe?



The 1st winged beans!

Finally the winged beans have set beans! Previously there were so many flowers but most of it drop down. May be the rain have drench them.

The 1st winged beans in my garden!

Curry leaves

Curry leave plants or "karuapolei" in tamil seems to be growing well. But the bottom leaves have many black marks or dots. It seems like some kind of attack. Have you face this kind of problem before? How shall we overcome this problem?

Flowers

I have find passion in growing Marigold flowers!

the bud, the dried seed pods and the flower

HAPPY THANKSGIVING  to all my USA Bloggers!

Aglaonema

Aglaonema is also known as Chinese evergreen. It's a great house plant which add vibrant colour and have the capability to purify the air! It's native to the tropical swamps and rain forests of southeastern Asia and north to southern China.

They prefer indirect sun light and should be kept moist but not soggy. They should not be exposed to temperatures below 10°C (50°F), with optimal growing conditions between 20°C (68°F) and 30°C (86°F). High humidity is also important in growing them. In cold country they plant this beauty in greenhouse. It's easy to propagate from cuttings, which will root in a glass of water, or from divisions however be careful of the sap as it contain poison.

Sunflowers

Gardening is not always a successful story. Many time we will face failure due to outer reason or own negligence. Sunflower plants which i have neglected have been flowering but if you look at them you know how negligent i have been.....

The little Seedling of Pak Choy

I make sure I have continuous supply of green leaf vegetable at least for my weekend cooking. All gardening activities was neglected for almost 1-1/2 months and I'm end up with little vegetable to harvest. Past 2 weeks i have been putting my hand in garden again.

I transplanted Pak Choy Seedling which have true leaves ready ! Some of them fail to continue growing. May be I have disturb their main root. Other still adjusting to new place under the sun!

Pucuk Manis - The progress!

Pucuk Manis @ Cekur Manis which is also scientifically known as  "Sauropus androgynus" is popular leaf vegetables in South Asia.



The leaves are in dark green but mine is lighter ...may be due to lack of Sun. The Mango tree is shading them!


Usually the leaves are stir fry with egg or grated coconut. We can also make soup with the leaves. The leaf has a sweet taste. This vegetable is among the few flora which contain Vitamin K.

The propagation of this vegetable is very easy. Just chop few of the branches. harvest the leaf and plant back the stem to the ground! They are very easy to grow!

It's all new area ....again....!

I have told about the Heliconia which i chop down due to it's invasive character and about the place which became ideal place for snake. Once all the Heliconia goes......the area become a bare area. After sometimes Torenia, Zinnia and Periwinkles started to self seeds that area. I throw some sunflower seeds which i thought not healthy but one of it emerge!

I planted 2 of my Euphorbia Milii cuttings and shifted my potted Thuja Platcycladus to the ground. There are still a lot of space available and the weeds are growing happily. I'm planning to put more Euphorbia Milii cuttings to make this place very un-inviting to poisonous reptile but I haven't start any..... I'm having to much to handle at the garden now since i have neglected them so long.....sigh...!

Someone told me that Heliconia is a plant which is very hard to get rid off and I think it's very true! Can you see the  baby Heliconia plant at the end corner?!