Mint & Holiday wishes

Once I had a space full of mint. They were over flowing that i started to think of them as weeds. Somehow some kind of caterpillars started to infest them. It's strange for me since the mint taste is liked by caterpillars! Their leaves reduced and grass started to grow.  

Last weekend all the weeds was uprooted. Fertilizer was applied. Hope this will rejuvenate the mint!





close up of Mint



   

BTW, To all the Muslim "SELAMAT HARI RAYA" AND "HAPPY HOLIDAYS" to the rest. Hope all of you will have a lot of fun and safe journey back home!

Roselle juice and Jam

Yesterday i came back home quiet early. It seems the traffic have reduce a little compare to first week of Ramadan. May be many already started to go back hometown for the joyous Raya celebration. Many of my friends are starting leave from today!

As i walk through my garden, I found many Roselle fruits around.

I had time to do Roselle Juice and Jam.

So refreshing juice on hot day!

First time i did Roselle jam. tasted so good ! A good amount of sugar and real taste of Roselle. Now i realise that the commercial jam only have the sugary taste! 

I'm linking this to GTTC by greenishthumb

Sunflower

Bunga Matahari or Sunflower or i call it "suria gaandhi poo" in Tamil is one of my favorite flower! These are some of the seedlings.

I clean a flower bed with the thinking to transplant the new seedlings later on. The same day i sow the seeds in small pots and throw some seeds which i thought not healthy. To my surprise some of the seeds which i assume unhealthy have germinated!

This weekend i need to add soil and mulch to make the soil more rich. The original soil as you can see below is clay and full of stones.

Croton

Does Croton produce flowers? All i know is that Croton produce beautiful and colourful leaves! I'm a bit surprise to see some flower bud spikes on my Croton. What are they?

They do look good. Will it bloom to become flowers?

Balsam

On my mind today

I read some of the benefits from internet:

Different parts of the plant are used to treat disease and skin afflctions; the leaves, seeds, and stems are also edible if cooked. Juice from balsam leaves treats warts and also snakebite, while the flower can be applied to burns to cool the skin.Impatiens balsamina L. has been used as indigenous medicine in Asia for the treatment of rheumatism, fractures, and fingernail inflammation. In Korean folk medicine Impatiens ('Bong Seon Wha Dae') has been used to cure constipation and acute gastritis by meat. One in vitro study found Impatiens, especially the seed pod to have antibacterial activity against Multiple Antibiotic-Resistant Helicobacter pylori. It inhibits 5alpha-reductase, so may have potential medicinal use in male BPH/LUTs. It is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant, and has become naturalised and invasive on several Pacific Ocean islands

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Mulberries

This is my first time to taste the fresh mulberries right from the garden. It's so juicy!

 The plant is so young but have started to produce berries!

Mangoes!

I can see few mangoes as of now. But usually the fruits will drop down and only 2-3 will grow to mature.

Here are the Roselle!

It's been 2 months since we drank Roselle juice. To those who have drank fresh homemade Roselle juice will agree with me on how refreshing and tasty the juice is!

I was a bit late in sowing the seeds. That was the main reason for us to run out of Roselle. But now my tiny seedling have grown up and produce a lot of fruits! The fruit is pack with a lot of Vitamin C and Anthocyanin!



The Roselle fruit and the spent bloom



Garden Bloggers Bloom day!

The hot and rain has become a weather trend here. It rain heavily almost every other day now. Flowers in my are enjoying the weather i guess. Many plants are in full bloom now.

butter daisy

Heliconia

Gerbera

Hibiscus

Luteola

  This is my first time to take part in GBBD. For more flower blooming around the world please visit may dreams gardens

Lady's finger

2 of my lady's fingers planted beside the lemongrass have grow up . The plants are tall and the leaves are big. No pest have attack their leaves.May be the lemongrass is giving some kind of protection through their smell ?  Will they have the lemongrass taste a bit? hahaha...

Kangkung

Kangkung's  flower

Water spinach or Kangkung is one of my favorite vegetable. Grasshopper love them too! I can see many art work done by the grasshopper to my kangkung. Since Kangkung is still in abundance, i don't really mind to share with the grasshopper. I read somewhere that grasshopper can transfer virus to plants. I'm a bit worried on that!

Insect in my garden

I have many insects in my garden. Many of them are pest!  Let me show you all some...

caterpillars



grasshopper




grasshopper...bigger version....



tiny white grasshopper

this is garden friendly dragonfly!

Last Tomatoes......

I always plant tomatoes in my garden. I stop fruiting plant for a while but after about a month i started to sow tomato seeds again! I just can't resist having them in my garden .It's really nice to see tomatoes around! Juicy and nutritious too!

Mealy bug like them too! Besides chillies, tomato plants are their favorite spot! I need to constantly check under the leaves every 2-3 days to avoid their colony!  

Anyway as my tomato plants ageing, mealy bug have make it as their host plant! I think this will be my last harvest!

On my last post on lime, i show you all the flowers here . There was a few flowers that i imagine of few limes! However i only can see 2 limes as of now! Where were others? May be the heavy down pour have swept away all the flowers.......

spinach everywhere....

Spinach do self seeds easily. I can see them everywhere on my vegetable bed. All are green variety. None are red. I have blog previously on how hard i find growing the red spinach. Hope to see the red spinach seedling too!

powerpuff

Powder puff have beautiful flowers which is loved by us and the insect such as butterflies and bees. This is my first time to see Powder puff setting seed pods. The seed pods are flattened and long. I have tried using stem cutting but it never grow new leaves. I hope to sow the seeds and see many more of this beauty emerge in my garden.

the pretty red flowers