Showing posts with label choko. Show all posts
Showing posts with label choko. Show all posts

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Vegetables Update and a Very Nice Surprise.

I think I have achieved the objective I have set last year about growing more leafy vegetables in our garden. I wanted to do so as these vegetables are more perishable compared to fruit vegetables so if I can have a fresh supply in my garden regularly, it would be great. On my market/supermarket trips, I buy more of the fruit vegetables such as capsicums, eggplants, cucumbers, gourds, pumpkins as they keep fresh for a longer time. And I plant more leafy vegetables so I can harvest them fresh from my own garden.  Of course when the weather is warmer (spring, summer, autumn), I do reserve space to plant my own eggplants, cucumbers, capsicums and beans.  Also, I am hoping my choko vine produce fruits for stir-fry as well.

The kang kong/ water spinach in patch F is ready to be harvested.

Some fresh pak choy green for soup. So far, planting choy sum, Chinese brocoli and buk choy has been a failure.

I bought sweet potato leaves from Springvale market and stir-fried it with my home-made sambal  paste. Hubby loved it.

I reserved some sweet potato cuttings and stand them in water, hoping they will root and I can plant them. This idea came a bit late but if it works, I still can have my own leaves to eat. The hot weather helps the sweet potato plants grow very quickly.

I harvested a few choko shoots to stir-fry with the sweet potato leaves. Amazing! They taste really good. I read on the internet that every part of the choko part can be eaten. Also the possums love these shoots and that made me try them. A good decision! Another vegetable for the dining table!
The Kao Kee plants are growing new shoots. They get mildew easily and I had to resort to spraying the bottom leaves with fungicide as milk or bicarbonate spray did not work.

Our first kang kong harvest. for stir-fry.  Plus a bunch of edible chrysanthemum (Tung O) for soup.

Hmmm...yummy kang kong with fermented bean curd.  I can finish the whole big plate!

We have been doing bird-watching a lot.  Today we had a flight of sparrows feeding on the bird seeds.

I put out two trays so the pigeon (wildlife) will not bully the sparrows.  Each bird variety has a tray. We notice the non-native mynahs bully the pigeons and the pigeons bully the sparrows...how funny!

We were out on our front garden when my son caught sight of a plane doing heart shapes in the sky!!! I rushed for my camera.

My son managed to get into the picture by sitting on the fence, literally!

Here's another heart the plane did. What a pleasant surprise!!!

Monday, December 12, 2011

Garden Gadgets, Possum Problem

12 December
- milk spray on grapevine
- bicarbonate spray on pak choy pods, destroy fungi-infected pak choy pods (hot water treatment)
- weeding around patch at front of house

14 December, cloudy with sunny breaks, 21 deg max
- watering the garden
- harvesting pioneer beans, tung O, strawberries, kao kee

15 December, sunny.
- milk spray grapevine, kao kee, hydrangeas
The naughty bush-tail possum nipped and ate the young shoots of my choko vine.

Here's another shoot eaten. On Monday night, my boy and I camped in our back garden and for the first time, I saw the 'burglar' jumping onto my plum tree and walking on our fence and on our shed.

I have been harvesting pioneer stringless beans for freezing as the quantity was not enough for cooking.

The bean plants, about 5 of them, are growing beans at different speeds.

My wisteria in the pot climbed up the beam in a clock-wise fashion. Not too sure if I would get any flowers.

A yummy bunch of Tung O (edible chrysantemum) for soup.

Beans and a fig (brown turkey).

Made a few cups of lemon balm tea this week. Refreshing!

A bunch of kao kee for soup too.

Steady supply of strawberries every day.

Here's a look at 3 of my wonderful gardening gadgets : Left to right - 1. Handsfree nozzle 2.Green Spray head. 3. Blue fireman nozzle. They are precious to me for watering my garden since I suffer from shoulder and neck problems, as they are handsfree and the sprays are adjustable.  Care to be taken when using them as if they are dropped, they can damage quite easily.

I bought this cheap spray unit from Bunnings for $7, the cheapest displayed. It actually works wonderfully. This morning I used it for the first time for milk-spraying my grape vine, kao kee and hydrangea. It really beats using 500ml spray bottles which really aggravates my shoulder/neck problem. It is also fantastic for large quantity of solutions.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Choko, Coriander, Saffron Sativus, Chives, Thai Basil, Poppy, EChinaea (Cornflower) & Strawberry Delight

I planted some flower seeds last Friday outside the garage where there is a strip of soil. Cornflower (Echinaea), Poppy and Foxglove. It rained and rained almost the whole of this week. So far I have not seen the seeds germinated. I also planted some Mustard seeds (Biomulch) and Clover seeds in Patch F. The patch is empty now and the mustard and clover when grown, will be dug into the soil as nutrients for the soil.
My bittermelon plants are crawling up the trellis and have flowers but no fruit yet. I doubt I would ever get one this seaon since they only started growing December.
All 11 strawberry delight plants have done well and growing! They are all in styrofoam boxes which leak which is great because the boxes will not collect rainwater and drown the plants. Yeah more strawberries next season!!!
My thai basil are doing very well even with the cold rains. I hope I would be able to keep them alive through the coming cold winter months.
Chives (Asian type) have survived the dividing and re-planting. All I need is some support as the long leaves are falling all over the place.
The planter of saffron sativus crocus are growing. So far those 12 under my peach tree havent sprouted yet and I am beginning to wonder if I have planted them too dig. :(
Surprise find! Lots of coriander seeds have sprouted where the old coriander plants were. Very happy gardener here!
I decided to invest in a choko few days ago. I love to grow perenial fruiting plants, vegetables and flowers because I dont have to pay money to keep planting new plants. So I thought choko would be a good idea. It has gorgeous leaves, is perenial and bears fruits for dishes. This morning I found the base looking a bit different. Something is sprouting. I guess it could be the root. Many websites talk about choko planting but they never ever mention properly how to plant it. So I chose to place it in a bowl and see it sprout instead of planting it straight into the ground.
"All that mankind needs for good health and healing is provided by God in nature...the challenge of Science is to find it." - Paracelcus, the father of Pharmcology, 1493 - 1541