Harvest time for green beans!

 Harvest time is the most happiest moment for a gardener! All the effort put in garden rewarded with bagful of harvest. Fresh and pesticide free of food!

I have planted 5 beans plants with the aim of harvesting enough beans for cooking at least a meal! Sometimes it dies half way of pest attack. This time, pest ignore the plant for Hibiscus , curry leaves and spinach! So they forgot or may be never see the beans...At least not yet!

It's beans time again!

Due to my pregnancy, may be I would say my "laziness" make my garden strive on own.

Anyway as my garden vegetables harvest become less and lesser, I started to buy vegetables from wet market. Then I realize the taste is so different from the one fresh from garden, I started to worry about pesticide and wash the vegetables too many times......Of course I still buy many vegetables from market like cauliflower, brocolli , etc but I seldom buy the Asian green actually. .......hahhahaha..... So finally I put aside my laziness and try to plant as much vegetables as I can.

Beans are my 1st harvest after so long. From below pictures you can see that most of my plot is empty. The old sticks and rods are still standing tall without any plants!

Little beans and the purple flower!

  

Daun Pandan is widely used in Southeast Asian cooking! It has good aroma and flavour to cooked food or dessert!This plant is widely cultivated and commonly seen at the backyard.

 

It's has fan-shaped ,long, narrow, blade-like leaves and woody aerial roots. The plant is sterile, flowers only grow very rarely, and is propagated by cuttings.

I had few cuttings from my neighbour last year and it's growing well with little care. I don't fertilize them but it' happy with only water!

It's used as cockroach repellent too!

 

Hot and spicy!

Chillies are really simple plant! Unfortunately pest love them so much! The plant is very easily attacked by mealy bug!

Mealybug females feed on plant sap, normally in roots or other crevices. They attach themselves to the plant and secrete a powdery wax layer (therefore the name mealybug) used for protection while they suck the plant juices. The males on the other hand, are short-lived as they do not feed at all as adults and only live to fertilize the females. Male citrus mealy bugs fly to the females and resemble fluffy gnats.

I have to check the leaves every week to see if any of them have set the colony! Every now and then I have to clean the pest using my hand as I try to minimize the pesticide but they come back sooner or later!

So far the chilli plant is surviving the attacked! Some of the leaves have changed to become yellow due to this pest but the plant look good so far! Every week I have ample of chillies to harvest! 

Red chillies in wet market cost RM20/kg or about USD 6++/kg. It's really expensive and I'm grateful to have the plant in the garden!

  

GBBD- June 2013

I'm early this time for GBBD of July month!

The sun is shining so brightly and it look like long summer here! It's been long since it rains but my plants are surviving due to my watering effort!

The ever flowering periwinkle! It has ayurvedic benefits!

I love the vibrant colour of cape honeysuckle! They have been invasive on my from garden but I'm happy with them!

Costus have been struggling for sunlight as the honeysuckle covered the area! I need to relocate Costus!

The self seeding Torenia is everywhere in my garden!

My yellow hibiscus!

 Some ants enjoying the nectar! Anyway my house have variety of ants!

Plumeria is flowering again but they have grown beyond my height!

 Wrightia is enjoying sun bath!

White hibicus is showing up too now!

Marigold is my favorites! They have both beautiful outlook and pest removal character!

Balsam is back for good ! :)

Can you see the spider? I use to see spider on this plant! Very strange! Grasshoppers have tested their teeth! The leaves have many medical benefits!
 

Indian vegetable

Due to my ignorance, half bed of my precious "ponnakani keerai" ( or I shall call them Indian vegetable since most people seldom have seen it ) are gone. Most of them was eaten by some kid of insects which left them in sorry state. I'm not sure if it's grasshopper or some other insect though....... Grasshoppers comes in variety of sizes and they are the manic in my garden!

I know it's good for grey hair solution and eye sight but I wonder if grasshopper have this problem too! ;)

Currently I have half of the bed which I have saved and they look good so far. I shall trim some for my cooking this weekend and the branches shall be planted back at the empty bed! That's sounds good!

Roselle juice again!

I have make myself more available in the garden than the past 4 months! ;) It's good news for me as the garden was so terrible during my absence or may be duing my ignorance time......

Last Saturday I harvested all the big Roselle fruits and make a bottle of juices! The picture above was taken after I harvested the fruits!

It's been so long since I tasted this juice! The taste is similar to Ribena juice! Drinking homemade juice with few ice cubes during the hot season is so good!

 Refreshing juice of Roselle!

I have fill them up in the "blackcurrent cordial bottle" and now the the bottle is almost empty after 3 days!   I shall plant more of the plant to produce enough juice for atleast a week!