We Purr As We Grow

Vanilla-orchids, new collection to come.

2010-07-20T11:22:00.003+08:00

Yesterday, while strolling in the Singapore Garden Festival, a thunderbolt striked me on my inspiration-cap. And the new interest sparked off from there : VA-NI-LA ! I shall start collecting vanilla-orchids, those plants where vanilla-pods are harvested, cured and used as spices.

It doesn't matter how clueless I am on vanilla-growing. There wasn't much entry on the most popular gardening forum in Singapore. Vanilla-growers must have been hidding their secret collections! Psst, if you have one, share your pics with me :)

On the 4-year mark comes a revolution !

2010-07-20T10:35:00.004+08:00

'Looking back' is the general mood on our little-island with the coming National Day celebration. As Singapore looks back 45-years to the birth of a nation, I nostalgically browsed through my own blog, all the way back to the new-born entry 4years ago, on 4Sep'2007.

Fondly recalled how an apetite for heirloom tomatoes sparked off a new hobby in gardening; which later fireworked into a large collection of complementing edibles, ranging from herbs to fruiting/vegetables, both temperate and tropical. I had great fun, on top of the sweat and misery of failing crops, pests and bad weather.

Approaching the 4-year mark, I feel like a revolution! Not just a superficial makeover to the garden. But a major change- new directions, new working models, new partners.

So the blog took on a new name, 'We Purr As We Grow', inspired by the new purring-partner on this blog. A delighted gardener is just like a delighted cat. We toil and sweat, then sit back and admired our completed task, still heavy in our breathing, and sounding just like a purring-cat !

Bye to 'We Eat So We Grow'. Now 'We Purr As We Grow' :)

The Sun. They love; I dun; she does sometimes.

2010-02-05T08:01:00.009+08:00

The Sun is back. Was yesterday, being the first day of spring on the chinese farmer's calender.

The dinner-plate hibiscus and sunset hibiscus (she's the color of my nonya-kebaya) love it and bloomed lavishly...

I frown with the heat... While kimi enjoys the sun-basking in the morning...
...then she naps on the cool pebbles in the early afternoon... ... and hides in my room while I work hard at the study at mid-day.
Kimi follows me like a shadow as I move around the flat. So her chosen napping-spots must strategically allow her to monitor my movement while she's napping... Like the exit from the study in the pic.
Cats! LOL.

Rosy CNY & Valentine's day.

2010-02-01T21:59:00.007+08:00

Two years of continously viewing pictures of well-kept roses by gardeners on the forum haven't tempted me a drop to grow one. Until...

Its half a month down to Chinese New Year, nurseries are burping CNY-plants! I walked all the nurseries along Kovan and Thomsom, hunting for Jasmine plants (to replace my husband's aged/vigourless 'gals'). Non in sight. Jasmine flowers are white, they do not fit into the festive color codes for CNY.

Then 2 rosy-smiles beamed my way while I was manouvering the narrow path lined with giant mandarin-orange plants. I succumbed.

So here we get a new rosy entrance/exit. And happy valentine's day :)

Moonflowers are elegant ladies.

2010-01-28T18:23:00.003+08:00

One day, the vines will go into full blooms, and we'll have a balcony-railing dancing with white-ladies :)

Blue attractions - Bunga Telang.

2010-01-28T17:51:00.005+08:00

I like blue flowers:) They draw me into the realm of a calm blue ocean. And Bunga Telang flowers are the 'blue-est' I can get on this tropical island.

Here's the flowers in single-petalled form,

and double-petal form.

The plants grows easily, with little maintenance. Let them indulge in abundance of sunshine, and they'll be bloom their heads away. That delighted Kimi-the-cat. She has taken to eating the blue flowers (one big chomp) and leaves!

Inspiration 2010- It all starts with an ending.

2010-01-01T07:39:00.004+08:00

End old habits, start new habits...

End bad practices, start good practices...

Wrap up outstanding work, start new schedules...

Abandon redundant roles, adopt new roles...

Ditch rotten relationships, pick up fresh relationships...

Forgive and forget, write new memories...

...blah blah blah... Tis the new year theme:)

Majoram flowers.

2010-01-01T07:24:00.003+08:00

The majorams flowered on the last day of 2009:)

Little white flowers, so tiny that I would have missed it if I haven't been putting my nose on the plants (something tat I enjoy very much given the addictive fragrance of majoram).

First aid to broken stem

2009-12-07T07:28:00.003+08:00

What can a gardener do to a Roselle plant with broken main stem, who has shown great determination to continue staying alive for the last two weeks? -Splinting with chopsticks;)

Retro-parties for Portulacas-Gals.

2009-12-04T16:52:00.007+08:00

These gals, they love to party, the 60s style. Look at their silk dresses!

These brainy-looking chaps are really, just average performers.

2009-12-04T16:38:00.004+08:00

ID : German heirloom tomatoes, Riesentomate Aus Siebenburgen. Translated as 'brain tomato'. Indeed they look like lumps of brain...

Let's say, this tomato will make its presence as a talking piece, but hardly as a tasting piece.

So *strike out*, no more brainy-looking tomato plant.

Pic was taken before ripening. These are red tomatoes.

The balcony evolved...

2009-09-08T14:29:00.006+08:00

120kg of pebbles, One happy kitten, and A slimming plan, led to the maturing of our balcony-garden.

The pebbles clearly demarcated the growing strips. Water drained out of pots flow right under the pebbles, keeping the feet and the paws out of the dirt. Thus, the balcony-garden are free to roam again :)

This balcony-garden started at the beginning of 2008. Took a few months to settle into the first completed look in this photo (last Oct), which I liked very much for its dreamy feel sans the congestion (which was a problem this year until The Slimming Plan was written).

The corridor evolved...

2009-09-08T13:48:00.004+08:00

Then, it was bare. We lived with a naked corridor for half a year when we moved here.
Now, we rejoiced in the jolly entrances and exits to work everyday. Much skill and confidence were built up along this long journey, gathering up this neat little corridor-collection.

Pests attack our green-pets frequently. Strong wind had blown some down twice in the past. Blankets from above had flown down and broke a branch of the maple tree... yet, we are not dampened in our spirit.

Grow and flourish you will, kids!

Amusing fittonias

2009-09-08T13:33:00.004+08:00

I have a soft-spot for fittonias. It started with the first touch at Maggie's garden, feeling the raised veins as I rubbed the leaves between the index finger and thumb.

Then I set eyes on This Fittonia. That must be Love-at-First-Sight! ...though gardeners frequently fall in loves without being able to identify the drive.

Dear Waimun, sweet as he frequently (not always) is, put together a box of four varieties of fittonias, now standing joyfully at the corridor (his designated gardening zone).

Thumbelinas- i cheer & i wept

2009-09-08T10:07:00.008+08:00

Ms Togo Trifle African, such a beauty! Most heirloom tomatoes are. Wonderfully lobated... though I must say that some people think these to be ugly or deformed. Lol.

It will have been a tomato-feast IF all the few dozens fruits grew up to full size. But they didn't. The growing condition and hydroponic solution is right, flowers bloomed in abundance and loaded with pollens, fruits are bountiful. Yet, the fruits are merely little prunes (these are regular round tomatoes), and the plant started to wilt soon after the last vine of fruits set...

The fruits continued to ripen, hanging on the tomato vine, yellowed right to the tips. Amusing and saddening.

Good view of tomato hairs.

Photo taken a minute before green-heaven.

Wailing for our Laotian-tom

2009-08-05T14:12:00.001+08:00

...who just broke his spine in a sudden gust of wind. I shouldn't have left him unsupported at 15cm. Full of remorse.

New era - Period of Toms

2009-08-05T10:17:00.002+08:00

Changes bring new lifes!

I am excited with the new direction coming Nov. Then, new lifestyles spells adaptations for the existing. Kimi will have to adapt. The garden will have to adapt too.

The present balcony garden is slowing growing out of the existing planting list. We are downsizing the plant list so as to upsize the produces. Too much riddle? Simply, the new lifestyle coming Nov do not give me much time for gardening. Thus a very selective collection will be grown, and whatever is growing out there has to be 'independent'. Too much to ask for from pampered indoor plants? Not really! Tomatoes, cucumbers and many herbs grow wonderfully in hydroponic, which is so addictive cos working-time was reduced from watering everyday to topping up nutrients one/twice a week. There will be lots of heirloom tomatoes in future. And the rosemary, thymes, bay, lemon myrtle, pandan and curry plants in soil are happy to continue standing in lesser-sun and drinking only every 2/3days. The remainings such as mints and basils are really easy-going plants too.

So now we have (on the way) a balcony-garden with more walking space and less work :)

Btw, my dear toms are fruiting again. Looks like a bountiful harvest this round.

Joy-machine

2009-08-05T10:11:00.000+08:00

Thymes are my Happy-Herbs. They witnessed some most enjoyable periods of my life- the Hawaii and New Zealand.

Bring them into our house is like installing a Joy-machine: Brush brush-> Sniff sniff-> Floated with sense of joy:)

Chrysoberyl

2009-05-24T16:02:00.009+08:00

Chrysoberyl, a gemstone that's commonly known as 'cat's eyes'. See pic below for comparison ;)

A month's breezed past and I have no new posting. Thought I'll put Kimi up then ;)

We are counting down to a whole week in Bali in June. So plants that were take down (all due to 'natural expiry', none diseased), no replacements were sowed in their places. By now, the previously little and packed balcony-garden looks like its been on some kind of diet-program, obviously down-sized... And looking very much better now with less plant and more space, despite my unwillingness to admit this.

Harvested some veg- hydroponic vs soil

2009-04-21T21:56:00.004+08:00

Grown a few rounds of vegetable on hydroponic, and am able to finally draw some conclusions on hydroponic vs soil media. I mean, these are nothing new, many laboratory experiences had been conducted to give experimental results... i just want to see for myself ;)

XiaoBaiCai on left is grown in hydroponic solution, on the left in soil media. At harvest time, the XBC on the left looks obviously 'fatter' & juicier = larger in size, thicker petiole. Kimmi-the-kitten sure knows her food too, she chose the hydroponic XBC. I can even hear the crunchcrunch as she chews on her salad! Good thing it is pesticide-free on our little balcony garden:)

I'd posted previously on the colorful silverbeet. How its impossible in soil media but grew wonderfully in hydroponic nutrients. Here they are, harvested.

Colors (2)

2009-04-01T09:05:00.004+08:00

Silverbeet Brightlights. Pink and yellow petioles;)

In the 06Mar2009 blog entry, i wrote about them. Now they have already grown up to be big-kids, upgraded to their own pots.

Colors (1)

2009-04-01T08:58:00.004+08:00

These fair ladies are cheerful additions at the door. They seem to enjoy the bright location (=no direct sun) very much, throwing out flowers continously since they came few weeks ago.

Orange & yellow dwarf Crossandras.

Balcony update

2009-04-01T08:16:00.008+08:00

Our green-pets on the balcony are enjoying their lifes, generally.

Those perched on the low balcony wall get good wind and nice views of the communal garden downstairs.

The siverbeets especially, are enjoying their spa-bath while taking in the views out there.

Missy Picotees (the morning glories) climbed to get an even more advantages viewpoint.

Bay-sir grows himself up and out of the gap between the wall and railing.

All's good. The Hydroponic box of PakChoy (KY-early fr Known-You) was harvested a few rounds before being 'taken down'. Purple french beans are harvested too, and they continue to throw up flowers and new pods. New vegetable seeds are sown. Sweet basils grew up to 40cm tall, and upgraded to their own container. Ditto dills who stand in their own tub, perched on the low wall, looking out of the balcony.

... Except an unlucky chap, Bonsai-Shuimei, who's infected with black spots on the leaves. Skyfiery came visiting yesterday, smelled rat, and got diagnosis from Sixhunter that its probably black spot disease. Tat is a messy problem.

Poor handsome Shuimei got trimmed down brutally (ALL leaves n secondary branches gone), soil changed plus a root trim to downsize the root ball. He probably will take a long time to recover from tis brutal trim down. IF he survives :p

Today will be an April Fool's gardening day -making concoctions to spray down the plants from fungus-growth (in case of spread), and continue fixing the spider mites problem in the mint box.

Old grannies' tomatoes are flowering

2009-03-10T16:03:00.006+08:00

They are known in their politically-correct names as 'Heirloon tomatoes'. But HT-growers know that they are (mostly) old grannies, slow to grow, takes their rocking-sweet time to flower and fruit; and production can't beat the new-age commercial tomato kids.

Yet we fall in love with their good old taste, and will wait patiently for our good old grannies.

Thought they are flowering now, but it is impossible to put a date on the calendar for that Togo Trifle African Tomatoes salad, and Fautome Du Loas Tomatoes salad... cos we'll never know when they are ready for harvest. LOL

Here's two Trifle African babies.

Textures are fun

2009-03-06T23:11:00.004+08:00

Herbs need not be just an aroma-thing. Give the nose a break, and use the fingers some times ;)

Sage (above)
Lavendar Goodwin Creek (below)

A backpacker's garden

2009-03-06T22:55:00.006+08:00

What does a backpacker do when she needs to hang a set of 4-feet growlight with adjustable height ever 20cm?

2 ceiling hooks, 2 S-hooks, long polyester strings, plus a couple of knots (Tarbuck knots, Trilene knots and Alpine butterflies)

Job done !

''Your jasmines are blooming, Munmun!''

2009-03-06T22:37:00.005+08:00

Well done your first pruning-job, MunMun.
The girl went into full-blooms :)

Growing up in spa-bath

2009-03-06T22:06:00.005+08:00

Different treatments for different plants. Some prefer mud-bath (soil media); others like spa-bath (hydroponic)!

My plants... hmm, still experimenting to determine who prefers what...

Pakchoy (KY-early from Known-you) grows faster and taller in my hydroponic boxes.

These are the happiest sweet basils I'd ever grown! ...in hydroponic too.

Silverbeet Bright Lights (from Mcgregor, NZ) is a variety that i had not been able to grow beyond the seedling-stage in the past. Note : in soil media.

Yet they look healthy enough in hydroponic, and should grow to maturity ;)

Mornings glories

2009-03-06T21:05:00.006+08:00

It's Morning Glory Picotee, from Milkbone. They are just as pretty, in or out of bloom :)

Purpose of life for a cat

2009-03-06T19:46:00.005+08:00

What's life if u have to live behind meshes and closed windows, even if it is to secure your safety? What's life if u get unlimited food without having to lift a paw? Yet u can only watch the 'outer space' beyond those windows, and imagine what is the world like outside this tiny 142sqm 'world' that u are not allowed to walk out of?

So do u, a cat also have a purpose in life? Or does your purpose lies only in my life?

What is Kimmi doing when Rummi is studying

2009-03-06T19:40:00.004+08:00

The stepping-stool under my workstation.

Making plans to chomp down a balcony

2009-02-16T20:50:00.011+08:00

4x2metres balcony is all we got. Did an inventory this afternoon. There are already some-34 varieties (see 'What's growing' on left column) of herbs, vegetables and fruit-vegs within this little space.

To maximise natural sun locations for growing, the double-tier planting rack has been moved to form a continous 4metres sunny-frontline with the existing heirloom tomato collection and suspended herbs rack.

Leafy vegetables -> Started; to expand.

Grown in hydroponic boxes. With 4weeks rotations, and harvesting 4 cooking-days a week, there will be a need for one more hydroponic box. What I have now is Pakchoy, Choysum, Lettuce and Silverbeet. Looking for Spinach and Kailan. Do drop me a note if u will like to propose more greens, or your prefered variety ;)

Root vegetables -> To research & start soon.

This catergory of edibles is completely new to me. Maybe grow some radish or carrots in a soil box? How deep should it be? What kind of soil media? Which varieties? ......

Fruiting vegetables -> Started; to improve lighting condition.

Im partial to heirloom tomatoes. They will all grow up to be giants. However, being indoor, I only allow them grow up to 2.2metres, after which, chop it down and grow new plant. Still, this arrangement is good enough to keep me happy with my little collection. Only problem seems to be that more and more sunny days have been replaced with cloudy (though equally high temperature) days. There is a need for setting up growlights to fill in 2 extra hours of artificial lights a day.

Amidst growlight selection right now... Once set up, the edible-balcony blueprint should more-or-less remains stable till 2010 at least. And I look forward to the exciting actions-days for the following weeks ;)

Divide the 'land'; together we will grow.

2009-02-16T17:50:00.009+08:00

These are days of mudfish-morale : you know you are a fish, yet you can only crawl on your stomach on the muddy floor of the ocean-of-unlimited-opportunities.

To keep the morale afloat during this period where things just dun seems to go the way they should, i chose to work on one aspects of our life. Knowing and doing at least one thing right/victorious feels uplifting now:)

Now that Wm has chosen also to 'taint' his fingers green, we divided up our gardening area into two sectors :

- Corridor will be ornamental. This will be Wm's domain.
- Balcony will be edibles, thus strictly organic and hydroponic combo. Tis will be my domain.

Let life breath into our gardens !

Favourism killed the Toms

2009-01-29T08:36:00.008+08:00

These are my precious heirloom tomato plants- expensive and scarce seeds, carefully monitored to grow to this healthy stage of plant's life. I spray down the balcony-garden with cooking oil and detergent mixed with water once in a while to keep pests in tab (or kill). Timing is crucial in sprays like that, strong sun rays will cook the plants through the oil deposited by the spray.

That morning, I took too long to feed and play with Kimi-the-kitten during her breakfast hour. By the time I sprayed down the plants, the sun is right at my tail, winding up the day with its best rays, which on this unfortunate day, will see the cooking of the tomato plants straight in their pot!

Here's a big blow to a gardener's work morale; an especially heavy one that came with clear knowledge on the burning effect of oil spray, and time of the killer-rays, yet I'd blatantly ignored them.

The Toms are buried with remorse. New seeds are sowed in their places. Hmm, will these new kids be willing to germinate for me after 'tasting' the unfortunate death of the generation before them... ...

Durian IN ; Catnip OUT

2009-01-19T01:19:00.006+08:00

Live in Singapore, then eat like a Spore (err) cat! Kimi loves to eat durian. An overwhelming interest she showed to durian which do not exist in catnip.

And NOPE, im not putting any durian tree on the growlist, LOL

Maple tree on a tropical island

2009-01-13T10:26:00.007+08:00

Nursery-shopping bugs caught on waimun and i. We brouht back a maple tree tis time. LOL

Imagine a maple tree on a tropical island... hmm... is it ever going to survive, grow new leaves, turn red, and shed again next year ?!?! We dun koe.

Maple tree with cranberry-red leaves. Estimated height- 2metres tall.

Coleus simply look like colourful lettuces. And they will grow fine without direct sun. Perfect for tis location.

The make-over corridor looking and smelling great now :)

We self-imposed a ban on our visiting nurseries again for undefined period of time.

Fantasy list - Kittens growing on vines

2009-01-09T08:52:00.009+08:00

If only kittens grow on vines too! Then i can train them up the poles, and pluck them when they are mature... no more kitten-on-laptop/books/printer/fax machine, or kitten playing in wet bathroom, n walking pawprints all over the flat.

...she jumps around
...she rolls over in the middle of the room
...she attempts to do my filing
...she sorts my receipts by destruction
...she lies on textbooks n laptops to inhibit work so tat we play with her.
notti notti

CNY plant is - Jasminum Sambac

2009-01-02T10:42:00.005+08:00

If we collect enough of the flowers, maybe we'll get jasmine-perfumed home tis Chinese New Year ;)

Luv the pot stand. Luv the double-petals. Luv the stronger fragrance in the single-petal. Simply cant decide which i like more. He he.

Double-petals

Single-petal

Lovely pot stand

Its delightful ! - more fragrance, more colors

2008-12-26T09:38:00.010+08:00

This Xmas sees happy nursery-shopping trips with Renee n Waimun.

Renee is excited about moving back to tampines. She picked up loads of flowers, greens n hardware overnite to start her lovely little corridor garden.

And after 1 year of watching Rummi-at-work, Waimun starts to displays interest in what's growing within his compound. He'll like more fragrance, which sounds like a strange request from a person who wakes up with stuffy nose most of the days, hehe !!

I luv how the corridor look now, with the ornamental greens n flowers.

The balcony air is 'puffed' with Wrightia Religiosa and Jasminum Sambac... waiting for the combination of blooming flowers paired with breeze from the river. Here's pic of left section of balcony.

These 2 colorful pots of Pentas added splashes of colors to Rosemary n Indian Borage.

Maidenhair fern is a Pot-Of-Elegance:)
However, the two pots of polka-dot faces are under stress from repotting, some leaves are curling up at the edge, and some 'faces' losing their polkadots. Opps.

Here's a close-up of the little red lantern flowers on the hanging pot of Abutilon Megapotamicum, in the balcony. Ohh, its a conversation piece ;)

Jaminum Sambac is the flower that is used for chinese jasmine tea.

And finally, a pot of must-have =Wrightia Religiosa. After re-potting in small pot and trimming, it acquired kindofa bonsai-look;)

Its a Charleston Xmas tis year !

2008-12-22T08:36:00.005+08:00

Merry Xmas & Happy New Year !
This year, Jean & Waimun are in a dancing mood.
Let our family dance for u

Kimi Bluemoon

2008-11-29T13:58:00.005+08:00

So this is our Blue pet;) She likes to lie on e floor n stretch herself veeeery long into a roll of grey carpet on our laminate floor.

New season new pets - Green & Blue

2008-11-24T09:50:00.008+08:00

Nov/Dec is very pleasant on a tropical island. Rain comes frequently while the clouds shield off the blazing sun rays. Even the view from our little balcony got all dreamy and holiday-resort-looking ;)

With all the buzz-buzz in work n studies completed/procrastinated, now is a good time to start the 'food chain' for 2009. Here's the new Green-pets coming up...

On top of these, our new Blue-pet is coming home with us tis friday. She's a British Blue Shorthair kitten. Susan gave these catnip plants to Kimi. Hmm, Kimi is all pampered with gifts even before she come!

Mister-Oregano is my favourite. He's been around since this little balcony-garden started in Jan. We haven't been able to cook him fast enough to match his growth speed; so tat's how he became a hanging-pot-of-oregano, shaggy hair and moustache. LOL

Tomatoes are smarter than cucumbers

2008-09-05T07:56:00.004+08:00

Four days after posting this complaint about the progress of the tomato and cucumber plants, Miss Costoluto Genevese ripened up! She must have been secretly surfing this blog!

Lets hope she'll teach mister cucumbers soon how to get onto my wireless internet too;)

Given tat the harvested tomato can be sitting so comfortably on the lap of Rummi, it's obviously a twig too tiny! This is an heirloom tomato tat is supposed to be the size of Jean's closed fist, at least. Wonder if the 2nd round of fruiting will right this problem?...
Hmm

Bay leaves

2008-09-05T07:50:00.005+08:00

In Wellington botanical garden (NZ), bay leaves grow into bushes at the herbs garden:)
Wed's Worldfarm-excursion, little bay leaves plants from Holland are for sale at $18 each. That's expensive for a small herbs... but i simply couldn't resist. So it was acquired!

Mini-orchid bloomed again

2008-09-05T07:46:00.005+08:00

This mini-orchid bloomed a second time, and tis time, the color is much deeper purple. hmm...

Wish list

2008-08-31T14:40:00.006+08:00

Sunshine, Peppermint, Chocolate mint, Basil (except sweet, thai & holy), Sawtooth coriander, Thymes, Sage, Tongue-of-fire bean
... ...

Bunny & tortise race - Cucumbers & tomato plants

2008-08-31T14:13:00.007+08:00

Here's my cucumbers (Richmond green & Crystal apple; from YATES) and heirloom tomato (Costoluto genevese; from SWALLOWTAIL) plants.

Both trying to be the tortoise in the fruiting race!!

3 costoluto genevese tomatoes, under-sized and unripe, had been hanging there for a whole month, neither growing further nor 'fading' off.

Both cucumber has been throwing out displays of yellow male flowers. The females flowers with baby-cucumber attached only started to appear this week.

For the time being, i continue to water and fertilise them impatiently; while buying commercial cucumber and tomatoes off NTUCs to fix the cravings.

Cuucmbers being left pot on the floor; tomato being right pot on the floor.

Tell me how to cook oregano

2008-08-31T13:55:00.006+08:00

Its only a 15cm pot but they grow really quick. Oregano must have love Singapore very much! Till i find more ways to utilize them... ...

Indian borage is an independent herb

2008-08-31T13:46:00.005+08:00

Indian borages are such sweet companions on the little balcony. Leave them pretty much alone, and they will take care of themselves. A little caress and they give u nice sweet aroma for a long while.

Wonder if they will ever flower for me... cos its unheard of IB to flower in tropical singapore.

These kids are capable of growing into big 'bushes'. To keep them compact, i am 'restricting' them in small pots, like these.

Pak choy -harvested

2008-08-31T13:41:00.003+08:00

Here's KY-early Park Choy harvested and cooked into soup.

Seeds are from Known-you. Veg are short and compact (around 20cm tall), nice-stasting greens without fibrous stems.

Hungry! Waiting for the harvest...

2008-07-30T16:24:00.007+08:00

Amidst my busy schedule now, juggling work, study and housekeeping, watching the little balcony garden grow become my top stress-reliever. nevermind if the students or husband or sprained-ankle had been cranky, simply sharing my joy on this blog is good enough to nullify all unhappiness :)

Fruiting tomato, flowering cucumbers and maturing XiaoPaiChai.

Herbs are really fast growing! We just cant seem to be eating them fast enough.

Here's BungaTelang growing up nicely.

Mini orchids -new decor for ugly waterpipe

2008-07-09T08:44:00.010+08:00

Once upon a time, i buy shoes and indulge in salmon-sashimi whenever i feel stressed out, depressed or generally moody...

nowadays, i just go nursery-shopping. LOL

here's 2 new pots of mini-orchids, hung on the waterpipe in the balcony. The decorated pipe turned out to be quite a pleasant decor style :)

Visit to Punggol community garden

2008-06-29T20:56:00.013+08:00

Here's a wonderful community garden in Punggol, under the 'command' of Velvetine-the-dimpled...

THIS is Velvetine-the-dimpled...

and here's Solonavi and Velvetine standing inthe middle of the community garden. Vel was hanging on to her very precious and unique tilandsias pot.

LittleRedRidingHood & BigBadWolf

2008-06-29T20:41:00.010+08:00

Little red riding hood went hiking in the passionfruit forest in Punggol Community Garden...

Along came big bad wolf...

Little red riding hood fled...

Err, wat an untidy escape across the aloe vera field, hehe

New layout - Making space for new pots

2008-06-24T23:47:00.005+08:00

Two new tomatoes plants & two new cucumbers plants are ready to be go into their final pot. And that's a lot of space to ask from a HDB-flat's balcony and small stretch of corridor.

This calls for ruthless spring-cleaning!! All the bean plants in the corridor trough are taken down. Their ill-health is apparent.

With the corridor rack freed up now, the Basil-Trios moved out...

...here's an 'After'-foto showing the balcony looking naked without the lush-&-green basils...

... and here's the 'Before'-foto for comparison.

Costoluto genevese, tomato plant is flowering

2008-06-24T23:34:00.004+08:00

Standing at 50cm tall, she is flowering :)

First cat in the balcony-garden

2008-06-13T13:08:00.004+08:00

Maggie gave us a 'cat'. Is that a sign of a a real cat coming soon? i dream...

DIY corridor racks from GaruBoy

2008-06-11T10:32:00.005+08:00

Garuboy is a DIY-veteran. He fabricated this corridor rack for us with leftover metal hollow-sections, steadest material for such a purpose. With the rack hanging on the corridor parapet wall, the young beans' box gets a nice suntan; while we get tis greener entrance :

GaruBoy sponsored the corridor rack. Rummi sponsors his seeds. We are happy neighbours in 'Sengkang resort park' :D

Vacation self-watering set-up

2008-06-10T22:19:00.008+08:00

Rummi & Mocha went away for a week. Nice-maggie and nice-daniel offered to 'babysit' our green pets. But there are simply too many pots to move, so all stay put in on the balcony :p

In the end, ever-so-creative rummi set up an experimental greenhouse-environment for the plants; whereby oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water circulate/re-circulate/recycle within each pot during this period.

The method - (LOL) CLINGWRAP the pots ! Here's some fotos :-

Failed cases are
-> Tomato seedling. Clingwrapped too tightly, the weak seedling's stem flopped.
-> African violet. Too much recycled moisture in box, leaves & flowers rot away. Will punch a few ventilation holes next time.

The rest survived! And thats 95% success rate ;) The herbs, beans & tomato plant even happily 'flourished' in the clingwrapp-ed enclosure.

Think im ready to go travel frequently from now on :D

My heirloom tomato fantasy

2008-05-29T18:30:00.007+08:00

Acquired a tomato-tastebud since the RTW-backpacking that started in 2000. Backyard tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, un-commercial tomatoes, however u choose to call them; they are simply divine!

Had made several attempts on growing heirloom tomatoes since the year began. This is by far, the healthiest-looking seedling. Uncertain how far she can go, or maybe just a slim chance to walk all the way to fruiting... well, at least i made an attempt on a dream :)

Holy, Thai & Sweet basils - Collection completed

2008-05-29T18:21:00.006+08:00

With the acquisition of holy basil from Monday's shopping trip, my collection of Basils-Trios for kitchen adventures is complete ;)

Baby bamboo, 8cm tall, from Uncle Green-fingers

2008-05-29T18:14:00.004+08:00

Maggie drove by to visit an old church-uncle. And he possess the legendary Green Fingers! Everything he touches will grow.

This little cup of cute baby-bamboos is a present from Uncle-green finger.

New acquisitions from tai-tai shopping trip

2008-05-29T17:53:00.008+08:00

Monday was a half-day 'tai-tai' date with Maggie. OMG, she sure luv nursery-hopping!

Here's new acquisition from World Farm...

Phyllantrus paker, sitting on the corridor

Rosemary

Sawtooth coriander, in the the beans trough

Holy basil

Garden grown up a little more

2008-05-16T10:33:00.002+08:00

Self-satisfaction in watching the garden grown up, though its just a little bit... hehe

AV is a purple chiffon dress

2008-05-13T21:58:00.006+08:00

All ladies should have an African Violet in their garden. Like a purple chiffon dress in the wardrobe, for the evening when one ditches the little black dress for a feminine piece.

Propagating from stems & leaves cuttings

2008-05-07T10:49:00.006+08:00

Learning to propagate from stem cuttings and leaves cuttings. Both the Indian Borage and Thai Basil cuttings had nicely grown new roots. Time to pot them.

And Esther, Thai Basil babies are ready for your adoption :) See photo below...

Thai basils for the wok

2008-05-07T10:41:00.007+08:00

Love thai food ! My own basils (grown from seeds) are simply not growing fast enough to go into the wok :p

Last weekend, I bought this pot of Thai-Basil from FEF nursery Kovan. That should feed us for a long while :) The purple flower-stalks are really pretty. Pity that i'll have to snip them off soon so that the plant can concentrate on generating leaves for our cooking.

Another cucumbers story

2008-05-07T10:39:00.004+08:00

One saturday, Green Culture Gardening Forum arranged for an Edibles-gardeners' gathering. Seeds were freely circulated. Here's 2 more varieties of cucumbers added to our balcony-garden.

Sowed 2 seeds each of Crystal Apple and Richmond Green on 21Apr'08. Photo below shows progress on Day-17... One of the Richmond Green failed to germinate. The surviving one (rightmost on photo)is growing slower than the other 2 Crystal Apple...

Generally everything is growing s-l-o-w-l-y. Weather in Spore this year is strange. Rainy still in May when we should have been toasting-hot. Hmm.

Waiting for a cucumber harvest

2008-05-07T10:37:00.007+08:00

Happy-gherkin has been flowering, happy rummi has been counting flowers...
so when will the cucumber come ??

Mushrooms from nowhere

2008-04-26T09:44:00.003+08:00

Here's some mushrooms. They came 3days ago during the wet-wet-week. We had such a windy balcony on the 3th floor! Unknown weeds seeds and mushrooms spores got blown into the pots from the surrounding garden.

Oregano are cute-looking herbs

2008-04-26T09:38:00.008+08:00

Some of their growing-up photos...

Gherkin is a happy cucumber

2008-04-26T09:28:00.008+08:00

Since the quick sprint from seed, this cucumber has been growing steadily. In fact, roots had already crawled out of his pot! Makes me wonder if the 30cm(dia) pot is sufficient.

Growing along the corridor

2008-04-23T12:14:00.006+08:00

What shall i do with the corridor space, and we have so much of them. Look left, look right :)

Besides the morning glory pot on the right, climbing its way up and subsequently to twill around the railings, creating a romantic entrance without the arch in future... ... what else can i grow out there?

The left corridor is mostly shady, catching some short hours of afternoon sun.

The right corridor is sunny, and rising with the sun.

Culinary herbs

2008-04-23T11:49:00.008+08:00

At this moment, there are only coriander, rosemary, indian borage and oregano.

Thymes, parsley and basils are still germinating.

Chives are a dismal (twice), they grew half-heartedly, then stay put at 20cm. I gave up on them :p

Photo of the balcony-garden

2008-04-22T15:05:00.005+08:00

As requested by you, you & you;)

Prematured giant sunflower

2008-04-17T11:45:00.007+08:00

She thought she's a daisy !

The seed-packet says 'Golden Crown Sunflower, grows up to 2 metres tall'... but tis baby bloomed at 80 cm tall. And she barely even looks developed.

Will certainly make Attempt#2. Soon. Shall wait for sunny May/Jun/July.

Flower Edamame, flower !

2008-04-09T20:15:00.009+08:00

Chlorophyll day

2008-04-08T08:49:00.002+08:00

Day of gorgeous sunshine! (that dun come often during this period)

While all the green-babies are busy running the production lines; the rest of the pets are sun-tanning on the balcony.

Morning glories seedlings, heavenly blue

2008-04-06T11:38:00.012+08:00

Sowed 22Mar'08. Foto taken on 6Apr'08. Day-16.

These seeds germinated with no fuss. Just 'plug' into soil, keep moist, and they sprouted the next day.

The morning glories are temporarily residing on the balcony. Will be moved out onto the corridor once they start to climb the string-support. Their designated duties are to send Waimun off to work every morning;)

Gherkin cucumber seedlings

2008-04-06T11:26:00.013+08:00

Sowed on 19Mar'08. Photo taken on 6Apr'08. This is Day-19 already. Growth had being interrupted by stretches of overcasted and rainy days.

What baffled me is how dramatically different in sizes between the 2 seedlings below, both sowned on the same day !

Counting every leaf every hour

2008-04-05T23:21:00.008+08:00

Babies -Fruiting vegetables
- Cocktail tomatoes
- Costoluto genovese tomatoes
- Black plum tomatoes
- Green zebra tomatoes
- Gherkin cucumbers
- Sweet peppers, Antohi romanian
Babies -Green vegetables
- Silverbeet, Dwarf
- Silverbeet, Bright lights
- Choy Sum
- Pak Choy
- Qing Choy
Babies -Herbs
- Oregano
- Parsley
- Cilantra
- Basils, mixed
- Garlic chives
Babies -Flowers
- Morning glories, Heavenly Blue

Adults
- Soy beans aka Edamame; flowering
- Rosemary; adopted from nursery
- Sunflowers, Golden crown

At the beginning

2008-04-05T22:30:00.005+08:00

The new garden is lined with pots of tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers & butter beans seedlings in Jan'08.

Then came freaky weather with extended periods of heavy rains and cloudiness. Some succumbed to moulds. Most refused to grow. One was blown down by a gust of wind.

And bouts of aphids-attacks which overtook the flowering soybeans & butterbeans plants.
... ...
March parted the clouds, and sunshine poured from the sky more often than rain. Re-sowed seeds and new vegetable seedlings basked under the sun and grew into happy little seedlings.

Rummi 'stole' orange rinds from the kitchen, blended then with a couple of chilli-padis, steeped the mixture in hot water overnight... and wash out the pots. Aphids scrambled and died. The battle is won, the organic way! All the pots are happy now. Now they continue to receive regular Spicy-spray-down.

The chosen herbs

2007-09-10T07:27:00.004+08:00

Rummi has a whole list of herbs to grow. Some are chosen cos they are 'cooking-steroids' (taste boosters), are nature's medical gifts, or visual-delights on top of their main roles!

THYMES : Kitchen's best performer cum all-rounder. Medically useful in combating cough & bronchitis; or as an antiseptic. Makes an aromatic little bush on the coffee table too.
OREGANO : Tomatoes' best partner in the plate. Delightful with grilled meat too.
PARSLEY : The italian-version of asian's coriander. Italian kitchen's all-rounder.
BASIL : Tomatoes' best partner in the plate & in the planting pot. Growing multiple colors & leaf-patterns; will be garden's visual-enhancer.
CILANTRA : Soup in asian kitchen just dun taste good enough without coriander leaves! Ditto (some) indian curries. Asian all-rounder.
GARLIC CHIVES : Compulsory in the savoury pancakes & dumplings.
PANDAN : Indispensable in (southeast) asian desert kitchen. Double-casting in some main dishes as well, such as chicken rice & nasi lemak.
ROSEMARY : Is a lovely bushy shrub covered with tiny little flowers. Makes a good herbal tea and occasional cake. Superb for cooking with chicken & lambs.
CAMOMILE : Specially chosen for its lovely aromatic daisy-like flowers. Medically useful in soothing irritated stomach & bowels. Is an aromatic mood-enhancing tea on hot afternoons.

Planting list

2007-09-04T08:44:00.005+08:00

Here is Rummi's planting list...

Tomatoes
- Cocktail tomatoes
- Costoluto genovese tomatoes
- Black plum tomatoes
- Green zebra tomatoes
- Cherokee tomatoes
- Pessimmon tomatoes
Cucumbers
- Gherkins
- Crystal apples
Beans
- Butter french beans
- Soy beans aka Edamame
Chillies/ peppers
- Capsiciums, mixed colors
- Sweet peppers, Antohi romanian
Greens
- Silverbeet, Fordhook
- Silverbeet, Bright lights
- Spinach
- Choy Sum
- Pak Choy
- Qing Choy
- Leeks, Musselburgh
Culinary & flowering herbs
- Oregano
- Parsley
- Cilantra
- Thymes, Thymes vulgaris
- Rosemary
- Camomile, Bodegold german
- Basils, mixed
- Garlic chives
- Pandan
Flowers
- Sunflowers, Golden crown
- Morning glories, Heavenly Blue

Little urban farmer

2007-09-04T08:07:00.001+08:00

With the wedding, came a new life & goal - 'May we grow old AND HEALTHY together'!

With the new flat, comes a sunny little balcony, 3th floor in the air. This is where the action will start this December.

Watch Rummi as she plays the new role of the Little Urban Farmer;)