12-JAN-2010
Pots
I started to have an interest in planting. These are my few starter plants: sunflowers, strawflowers, long and french beans, okra, chillis, brinjal and a few other plants.....
My attempt to record a sequal of its growth....
17-JAN-2010
Handmade trellis
I followed a designed trellis by X-man. I ran out of bamboo sticks so I might just use raffia strings to finish the fence...so the creepers will have more to climb on. Alternatively next time I might just hang strings and let it crawl up and later snip it off for easy clearing. Looks like I might need to build another one..but I have no place to put or should I say no suitable sunlight spot. They need the sun!!
21-JAN-2010
Trellis
At the back are long beans. Front left -cucumber
22-FEB-2010
My growing vegetables
As at todate 22 Feb - close to 1.5 months, this is how the creepers look on the trellis. They have reached max height and looking green :D
Back left - long beans
Front left - Luffa
Right front - cucumber
Right back - luffa
The weather has been hot during this Chinese New Year period. So the leaves also dried up esp the bottom part.
The problem with planting is either too much water or too hot/not enough water.
At least I learnt a valuable lesson about nature and next round I know how to manage the planting better.
Don't over plant and decide where to plant them and not transplanting all the time.
Luffa are very strong plants. I threw a few seedlings on the flower bed and they still grew.
Chillis are alright, again don't over crowd them. The same goes esp for Okras, pull off the skinny , weaker ones..don't be greedy or you will get stunted plants
Luffa and beans are crawlers and they just grow shooting up like Jack in the Bean Stalk..sky rocket high.....needs space to crawl, so don't over plant!
22-FEB-2010
Front-yard....garden
Far left is Papaya tree, Okras, Middle patch are sunflowers, Thai Jasmine and okras....further left unseen 2 luffa plants.....:D
Illegally planted but who cares....
12-JAN-2010
Sunflower
I have great facnination for this flower and its beautiful bloom. I was rather surprised to see how easy it is to plant this flower from its quick seedling growth. This is about 1 week old. Yes I got greedy with lack of space, I suppose I will have to unplug the entire pot and replant it on firm ground. Time to hoe/plow the front garden patch (illegally beautifying the side paths of the road).
22-FEB-2010
Dwarf Sunflower
I saw a packet of dwarf sunflowers.
They should grow approx 3 feet.
This was planted 1.5 weeks - look - still very short like a dwarf...LOL
14-DEC-2009
Before Bloom
This was taken in Fraser's Hill.
22-FEB-2010
Sunflower Bud
The first sunflower bud and from the shortest stem!
27-FEB-2010
Distorted Leaves
I have always wondered why of all the stems, this particular one was so odd. Perhaps it was an abnormal seed I planted. No...I did a general search about leaves..and found similarity to the distortion...bug attack!
http://www.krishiworld.com/html/bhindi.html
27-FEB-2010
First Bloom
This is the first bloom fr the shortest stem. Flower is extremely small compared to those sunflowers I saw. Maybe it's because I planted far too many and too close, the seed??? or perhaps lack of nutrients...:D
Nevertheless....it's beautiful
15-MAR-2010
Sunflower
This is the biggest of the lot. Can't get any bigger, perhaps it follows the planter's genes....me being petite!
15-MAR-2010
Sunflower Bloomer
A bud about to bloom to another `stunted' flower....:D
15-DEC-2009
Bloomed
This was taken in Dec 2009 on one of our family trips to the hills. I hope to see mine fully bloomed soon. :D
21-JAN-2010
Luffa Seeds
These are Luffa seeds. If I read correctly, there are a lot of seeds in a fruit when it's ripe. It does resemble a bit like a watermelon seed. I was told that it taste bitter, though I have not tried eating it.
06-AUG-2010
Luffa Flower
After months of nurturing....it grew flowers...but no pods...just 1-2 miserable pods....
06-AUG-2010
Luffa Melon
Believe it or not..that `gay' luffa plant of mine which never flowered or even fruit, after almost 6 months of torture watering, fertlising it...grew 1 decent fruit. It was either to eat it or to turn it to be a sponge. I decided to turn it to be a sponge for my body....so it was been hanging for the past 1 month already! I doubt I will have any fruit again. It is confirmed that the soil is infertile....LOL
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Believe it or not..that `gay' luffa plant of mine which never flowered or even fruit, after almost 6 months of torture watering, fertlising it...grew 1 decent fruit. It was either to eat it or to turn it to be a sponge. I decided to turn it to be a sponge for my body....so it has been hanging for the past 1 month already! I doubt I will have any fruit again. It is confirmed that the soil is infertile....LOL
21-JAN-2010
Luffa - Sponge
When the fruit is mature, you can rip off the skin, wash it and it looks like this. Used for bathing and washing dishes. If the fruit is young, you can boil soup with it.
12-JAN-2010
Chili
Age: 1 week
Maturity: 2-3 months
I bought a packet of chili seeds. They failed to grow. I got upset and snipped off a fresh red chili, stuff the entire seed stem into the ground. I was told it's hard to grow chili for it might need the bird to `cultivate' the seed. Well, these seedlings are growing beautifully w/o the bird....I suppose later .........:D
12-JAN-2010
Chilli II
Age:2 days old
I think this could be Chili Padi...small hot chilis!
12-JAN-2010
Cucumber
Age: 3-4 days old
Time of maturity : 2-3 months
Due to space constraint and it being a crawler, I choose only to plant crawling vegetables.
21-JAN-2010
Cucumber III
Approximately 2 weeks old.
Look at the leaves. Two the same and the middle is different.
22-FEB-2010
Cucumber flower
Approx 1+ month, it started to flower
22-FEB-2010
Growing cucumber
Then one find day I saw the first fruit....so cute
It has `spikes' on the small short body....
22-FEB-2010
Okras In Making
A bit of mis-managing with the okra plants. I found that they thrive better on ground planting than in pots. I grew some in smaller pots but they got thin stems and the leaves started to drop. I had no choice but to donate them to the front-yard for future public picking.....it's better to save them than to throw them away.
Beautiful leaves, also hairy and might be itchy too if touched.
Saw a couple of blooms on the way
Even as short as 1 foot..it's already flowering....
approx 1.5 mths or 2. Lost track....check the dates for verification.
04-MAR-2010
Okra Bloom
I like the shape and also the shade of the okra flower....beautiful...
27-FEB-2010
Okra's Bloom
The flower is beautiful, yellowish and purplish inside. Blooms for 1 day and it drops with the pods in it. A wonderful and stylish way of striping...hehe.....
04-MAR-2010
Okra as it is!
Finally the fruit is up! Beautiful..can't wait to eat it!
04-MAR-2010
Okra II
There are 4 pods in a stem...:D
I was told that the pods grow quickly..how true....
and to pick the pod often to prevent damanging the plant and also pod.
Cut and leave a small stem on the plant....
12-JAN-2010
Long Bean Seedling
Age:2 days old
I suspect this is long bean, alternatively french bean. But it looks like a long bean seed.
21-JAN-2010
Long Beans II
Age: Approximately 2 weeks old.
It has grown almost 1 foot tall. Reminds me of Jack and the Bean Stalk story...it's already climbing the fence! I can imagine what it will look like in 1 month's time!
Do not over fertilised or love them to death!
I noticed I did that...the leaves changed colour over-night...
http://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/24223-problem-solving-discolored-leaves-etc.html
22-FEB-2010
Long Beans flower
These beans grow like Jack and the Bean Stalk....fast and really really long.
Takes just 1 month to flower..not bad.......
21-JAN-2010
Chinese celery seedlings
Age: 1 week
I killed it shortly after that. It was too hard to maintain after transplant and too weak to stand the heat.
I found planting herbs a challenge.
12-JAN-2010
Kalanchoe pinnata (Air Plant)
I call this exotic because I have never come across a plant with leaves that grows roots.
This is a very interesting leave which is good as a bookmark. Apparently the roots will still be growing in between your books.
Let me try a sample and tell you later. I took a few leaves and left it on the ground covered the leave so that the roots can grow.
02-APR-2011
Pink Hibiscus
Yes, if I have a garden, you can imagine how it will look like. The fruits of hard labour - pink hibiscus from home
Finally a decent image captured using Iphone4.
By the way it isn't easy to plant from a stem. I managed to get 1 white hibisucs stem to live and hope it will grow some flowers soon. FYI - the white and red hibiscus is considered to have medicinal properties.
12-JAN-2010
Soda Pop Bottles
I chanced up an opportunity to find this site which recycles soda pop bottles as containers for planting. You can even dress them up to make them pretty.
19-DEC-2009
Environmental Friendly
Using old junk to decorate the house...
This picture was taken in one of the exhibits in a place.
19-DEC-2009
Creative/Artistic
Thought this was interesting having the ferns placed on the picture frame.....
This picture was taken in one of the exhibits in a place.
