What is Kimmi doing when Rummi is studying

The stepping-stool under my workstation.

Making plans to chomp down a balcony

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 !

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

Kimi Bluemoon

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

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

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

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

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

Wish list

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

Bunny & tortise race - Cucumbers & tomato plants

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

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

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

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...

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

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 :)