Edible garden updates..

Thought you guys want to know the latest updates of my edible garden..

Hi..My princess would give you a tour in my edible garden..hehehe

My roselle plant thriving well..hoping she can  bear me ribena-tasted fruits soon..

Kesom plant..growing taller and adding more branches..thinking of pruning them later..

My bamboo dance spinach and white spinach mingled together very well..The one with the mesh wire on was sowed with loose leaf summer green salad.The mesh wire was made to keep the furry friend out ..grrrr!!

A row of Mediterranean herbs..from left: celery, cinnamon basil, sage and rosemary..rosemary did not do very well these days..I wonder why..huhuhu

Cheery purple aster decorating my front fence.

A pot of chives..

Kacang buncis or bean ..climbing up my fence without any teaching..a pretty clever plant, I must say..

A pot of lemon grass/serai..the leaves need some trimming I believe..

Kaffir lime plant/ pokok limau purut..this is essential for the next pot of tomyam!

These are only some of my plants..will update soon ya..Bye for now..

       "Happy Gardening"

Okra you make my day!!

Hi there..I just finished my 1st draft of thesis so been quite busy lately..but now, since I have some spare time, gardening is back on the list of things to do..yippy..Well, yesterday I visisted my twin sis who lived nearby and she gave me some vegetable compost to feed my hungry veggies..so in the evening,  my 2 little helpers followed me around while I fed all my veggies with the compost..I noticed there was one bigger bud growing on one of my okra, but I presumed it was a bunch of new leaves coming out. But, this morning, when I peeped down from my bedroom window I saw this awesome pale yellow with deep maroon centre flower coming out from my okra! I couldn't contain my excitement, so I ran out and took the pic of this gorgeous okra flower..Check it out..!!

Lovely okra flower...Hope there will be more of them soon!

 While taking photo of the okra flower, I caught a glimpse of my kangkung (water spinach) begging for me to harvest them..since we will be having fried fish for dinner, a nice kangkung dish with some coconut milk will go very well with the fish, so I decided to harvest the kangkung..

My styrofoam container full with kangkung..beckoning me to harvest them..

This kangkung was planted in just a styrofoam container..no pesticide, no chemicals, just plain chicken manure fertlizer!You can do it too, you know..

"Happy Gardening, Folks!!"

Wuzzup Ms Pinkie Rabbit??

Sorry folks for the long silence..been busy with personal things lately..Btw, things are going very well in my edible garden..2 days ago, we have the 1st harvest of my bamboo dance spinach (bayam daun tajam), my very 1st bak choy (aaahhhh..finally) and the evergrowing chives..Here r the pics:

The bamboo leaf spinach 2 days before harvesting..

Worth the waiting..3 month-old bak choy finally harvested!

Fresh from the garden after a heavy downpour..it couldn't get any fresher than this!

Leaves of the bak choy..If I am not mistaken this is the New Jade Bak Choy

See the size of the spinach top leaves..I left the stalk for them to grow again..

The credit should be given to En Iskandar from tanamsendiri.com..I was asking him last week why my bak choy was slow growing and many has actually withered away.. He suggested that I put them in a place where they can received sunlight especially in the morning, when plants make their food the most. He also mentioned that to build a strong stalk, they need plenty of sunlight and nutrients .So I quickly moved the bak choy pot (actually only 1 survived out of 20 plants I germinated) to a new place where the sun 1st hit in the morning. To my surprise, the stalk really grow, just as what Mr Iskandar said! So, within 2 weeks, I finally harvested my very 1st bak choy and I was really proud when my twin sis jealously commenting that maybe I used some growth hormone on them!!Hehehe..this bak choy is 100% organically grown and I strictly reminded myself that anything grown in my edible garden will be pesticide and hormone-free! 

        In this rainy season, my 3 pots of kangkung is doing very well and I planned to harvest them nx week. I have also asked Mr Warhammer to buy a mesh-wire to keep out the cat that littered my new pots of salad last week. Since the soil has already been infected by the fungal in their faeces, I throw away the soil, washed the pot and replaced the soil..I then sowed a generous amount of loose leaf summer salad in the pot..The mesh wire was put on top of it to keep the nasty cat out..grrrrr...!!

          The french bean is also doing very well eventhough I am very dissapointed that out of 8 beans sowed, only 1 germinate but she is thriving very well now that I had placed the pot near the fence..They have already climbing on the fence without any teaching from me..hehehe..they are very smart, really..

           My porch has officially became the Mediterranean herbs garden..this is where I put all my rosemary, sage, cinnamon basil and celery plants..Sometimes, when it is windy you can smell the fresh aromas come from these herbs.. They enjoy sunlight very much but respond rather badly to too much water..So since I did not trust the weather lately, they are kept under the protective shade of the porch and they seemed to love it..I have also added pandan or screwpine, kaffir lime, tomyam chillies, oval capsicum and red chillies to my edible garden..Will update about them later..Till then, bye-bye, folks!!

     "Happy Gardening, Folks!!"

Make your own liquid enzyme fertilizer..

I was very keen to make my own compost..as most people quote, compost is the gardener's gold..but living in a neighbourhood, I understand that making compost in your house compound may bring up unbearable stench and this may cause unpleasantness to your neighbours. I brought this thing up when discussing gardening matters to my friend, Dean..Like me, he is very keen about  gardening and has collected many useful infos about gardening but since he is living in a rented apartment, space is very limited..Back to the main point..Dean brought up about making liquid enzyme fertilizer..Since I was very cautious about stench that may be produced from breaking down of organic materials, he suggested that I used orange or lemon peels instead..It can give a pleasant, citrusy smell.. Upon reaching home from my work yesterday, I made a big pot orange juice and keep aside the orange peels..This is how my liquid enzyme fertilizer looked like:

My precious liquid enzyme fertlizer..

This liquid enzyme usage is not restricted on becoming fertilizer only. It can be used to clean your floors, cars, to wash veggies and fruits,etc..Here is the "recipe"

Liquid Enzyme Fertilizer Recipe

100gm of brown sugar (or any unprocessed sugar such as molasses or gula merah/gula melaka)-I used brown sugar

300gm of orange peels (or any fruit peels of your preference such as jackfruit, orange, etc)

1 l of tap water

Airtight container

How to:

-Mix water with sugar to dissolve..then pour it down the bottle using funnel

-Add the orange peels

-Give the bottle a good shake

-Labelled the bottle . Dun forget to put the date on so that you know when it is ready to be used!

This bottle should be left for at least 3 months or more..You would want to open the cap once a day for the first month to let out the "oxygen" from the bottle..If there is any whitish layer formed on the top layer of the content, just tighten the cap to prevent any air from entering and give the bottle a good shake..The enzyme will be ready when it turns dark in colour.. You can filter the solution using any thin cloth such as muslin, diaper cloth or plain ol' t-shirt..For veggies or any plants, dilute 1 part to  20 part of water . Dean told me that he had made this fertilizer once and used it on a lime plant that bore him no fruit at all for the last 10 years..The plant then started to grow flowers and eventually lots of limes!! Can't wait for mine to turn to enzyme to give me lush green veggies to munch on..Will update you on their progress, ok?

" Happy, Gardening, Folks!!"

Ms Pinkie Rabbit's edible garden current updates..

Hello folks!! My obsession towards gardening remained strong and this is the longest hobby that I maintained continuously  so far (according to Mr Warhammer) besides baking..Before this I had ventured into many things from on-line business, beading, sewing, cup cakes and many more..but those passions did not survive very long.. This morning, me and my twin sister took a little trip to Sungai Buloh to visit a nursery there and ended up buying a kaffir lime tomyam chilli plant, 10 packs of soils and more babba pots..Will post about the plants soon. Enough about that, let's take a tour to my edible garden, folks!!

Before going for a tour in my garden, these are starter pot made from newspapers..You can google how to do this thru' youtube..

Chinese celery (daun sup) germinated from the seeds..They are very temperamental and took about 4-5 weeks to germinate..I did not put much hope on this as they looked very fragile..will update you soon on its growth..

Another break from the tour..found this book in MPH..eventhough it is for western farming but I found their tips on propagation and types of soil very useful..

My chives flowers  had already blossoming and showed me her beautiful snowy flowers. I planned to let them dry out a little and catch their seeds in plastic bags for more chives in the future..

New Jade Pak Choy sowed close to each other waiting for me to thin them down so that they can thrive well

I got this polystyrene container  from my acetonitrile (used for my lab works) boxes, I cut out some of the insides and are now accompanying my babas and ceramic pots in my garden..I utilized it to grow more kangkung since my last success with kangkong..The seeds were purchased from Mr Iskandar from tanamsendiri.com..

Extra Dwarf Pak Choy sowed in the same container with Chives..making full use of the tight container space I have

Another pot of chives with pak choy..

My thriving galangal..I dd not give much attention to them but they are doing very well..

Newly planted onion leaves..

I was baffled by the condition of these bak choy..Thay are very slow growers..These bak choy are 3 month-old!Bak Choy really posed a challenge to me..I was amazed when others had claimed that their bak choys are ready to be harvested after 1 month..grrrrr..nonetheless, I patiently watered and fed them chicken manure every 2 weeks..

Another 2 bak choy plants in another small pots.. Thay are doing well compared to the one in the large pot..I wonder why.. hmmmm...

This little fellow germinated from the seeds of the oval capsicum I mentioned in the previous post..can't wait for it to grow and transplant to a bigger pot..

These are the stalks from the harvested pot which grow for the second time,,The tallest one was the one surviving from my experiment of sowing them under the shade..Looks like kangkung enjoys germinating under full sunshine..

These are chinese celery that was grown from the stalk..Some has already wilted away..Only 2 survived and I did not have the heart to throw them away..so sad..:(

My coriander thriving happily under the full sunlight now that I have moved them from under the shade..

4 out of 8 tomato plants..I read from my gardening book that 2 or 3 tomato plants are enough to feed the whole family but they are so precious to be discarded..so I finally decided to keep them..

I was fascinated in making my own compost but Mr Warhammer warned me that since we are living very close to the neighbors, the stench will disturb them..how I wish I have my own land to turn to my very own garden where I can really work on REAL gardening..making my own compost, bigger beds for my veggies and herbs..But for now, I have to make do with what I have (sigh....)

"Happy Gardening, Folks!!"

 

Potato frenzy..

We found a new shopping centre to do our groceries..NSK has been introduced by my dear twin sister..so me and Mr Warhammer went on friday night to check it out..the specialty of this market is that you can also buy from the wholesaler department which is cheaper, of course..So I came across a sack of "Bangla potato"- this is the name written on the sack and it just costed us RM 4.90!! So my mind has already churning with many thoughts to fully utilized the sack of potatoes and shepherd pie came to my mind..So last Saturday we had potatoes for lunch and dinner..For lunch we had blackpepper beef stew with fried potatoes and 2 western dishes which were chicken and potato and shepherd pies..Check these out, folks!!

My unbaked chicken and potato pie

Baked chicken and potato pie..served with ketchup

Home made shepherd pie..yummy!

Will post the recipe later when I have the time..Bye for now, folks!

"Happy Cooking, Folks!!"

The Kesom and Serai experiences..

I have quite a few experiences with serai or lemongrass and kesom. You will be quite surprised to know that I have failed 3 times before successfully grew one..Kesom on the other hand was a huge success on the first attempt but then the sequential attempt were total dismays..Based on these experiences I came to a conclusion that :

1) For Kesom..the stalk that wished to be planted should be from the freshest stalk possible..i.e..when you buy from the market, you should immediately remove the leaves, leaving about 3 topmost leaves and immersed it in water for a couple of days (it took me almost 5 days) for the roots to grow..Then, plant it straight to the ground or pot. If you used the refrigerated one, eventhough it will grow roots after immersing in water, the stalk will just wither away after some times.

2) The same goes to lemon grass..Use the freshest one as possible..Do not use the old ones or it will just dry up and die..

This is how my pot of kesom looks like now..

My proud pot of kesom..

Just a month before it looked like this..I then gave them a new smaller home (pic above) as I needed the pot for my roselle plant..heheh

This is my successfully grown lemon grass..adding more leaves each day..

Finally..the stalk started to grow leaves..

"Happy Gardening, Folks!"

My 1st harvest of kangkung..

It has been raining heavily for the past weeks which made me moved all my okra to a new spot under the porch..The rainy days however, brought good news to my water convolvulus (or kangkung) and kesom..they grew very well in this rainy season..so after seeing a few leaves turning yellow..I finally summoned the courage and decided to harvest them for the very first time..

My pot of  kangkung..

I know this is not much..but it was good enough for me...I also harvested a stalk of onion leaves together..

My earlier sowed bak choy did not survive very well, though..just keeping my fingers crossed for them to survive.. the veggies sowed together in the long pot on the other hand are doing very well under the porch..

My chinese celery..I noticed that they cannot have too much water..one stalk has already died on me..

My baby bak choy..I have already plucked some so that they will have ample of space to grow..

Some of these are bak choy extra dwarf..

Bamboo dance spinach..they are slow growers compared to bak choy at first, but suddenly undergoing a growth spurt!

I was feeling under the weather these few days..so not much gardening activity around the house until today..I managed to pluck dead leaves and sowed more kangkung seeds and butterhead lettuce..but all are kept under the protective shade of my porch..The weather was unpredictable these days!!

   "Happy Gardening, folks !!"

Pea soup for the soul, anyone?

Mum was down with gout recently..so she's trying to give up protein as much as she could..so she gave me a can of this..

Yup, a can of green peas..

 My family did not favour green peas that much..not even when I added these peas to fried rice or gulai ayam, so I wondered how should I use these peas in cooking..suddenly I felt like trying a new recipe that I saw in Nigella's cooking show.. yup..pea soup..I've been wondering how was the taste like, so I definitely should have it a go..Check out my recipe..

Ms Pinkie Rabbit Tasty Green Soup..

1/2 holland onion (chopped)

1 clove garlic (chopped)

1/2 carrot (chopped)

1 pint of chicken stock ( I used Maggi's chicken cube)

1 can of green peas

1 tablespoon butter

How to:

-sautee the onion, garlic and carrot until soft with the butter

-add the chicken stock ..let it boil for a while

- add the green peas..simmer until soft

- turn off the heat then blend the soup 

- serve immediately

You can also add some milk or cream to make it thicker but I love it this way..I could finish a pot of this!!

Tadaa..a bowl of Ms Pinkie Rabbit's  pea soup

My prince turning "green" after consuming the pea soup..hehehe

                         "Happy Cooking, Folks!!"