Some harvest this week

Harvested these few veggies from my small potted garden this week :

 The long bitter gourd...the first fruit

 It is not very big, but of a medium size

 Kailan

Okra and egg plant

Happy Gardening !

Bitter Gourd

Bitter Gourd is one of my favourite veggie. I love it when braised with chicken or meat. Sometimes I use it for omelette, and it is delicious when stuffed with fish paste and deep-fried. There are lots of other ways of using Bitter Gourd, like in soups, stir-fries and it can also be juiced, for it's health benefits. You may read all about the benefits of bitter gourd, there are tons of information from the internet.

Several months ago, when I bought a Bitter Gourd from the market, I simply sowed some seeds into a container at my back yard, and in a matter of days, the seeds have sprouted into small seedlings. From there, it took about almost 2 months for the plant to flower. I pollinated the female flowers myself, since there are no bees around, and just a small number of ants.

After harvesting a few of these melons,the plant is now showing signs of  "I'm done!" Got to start over, but have not make up my mind whether to grow bitter gourd again or some other vine veggies that are just waiting in queue. Times like this, I wish for a big gardening area!

I'm sharing this post with Garden Tuesday @ Sidewalk Shoes

Happy Gardening!

My harvest in December

My garden front is not looking good at all. Too much rain has rotted some of my plants and the most happy garden pests at the moment are the slugs! Each time when it is the rainy season, I can find them hiding in between the pots and up on my plants. I found their hiding spot inside an upturned pot. There are about a dozen garden snails, from baby snails to adult snails resting in it!

The only harvest that I had this month are the ever loyal Malabar Spinach, Belimbing Fruits, Spring Onions, Chives and one Bitter Gourd Melon. The most happy veggie that has been thriving well in the rain is the Malabar Spinach. 

I planted 6 seedlings of the Red Capsicum, one is surviving and the other 5 are eaten by the snails. My brocolli seedlings have not escaped the snails either! The other 5 seedlings of the okra seems to be doing well. More snails are having a jolly good time over at my back garden too, seems to be having a party with the grasshoppers! While the snails are enjoying the leaves from my Bitter Gourd Plant, I caught two big grasshoppers, that has been eating my beautiful big, green and healthy Tumeric Leaves. Now the leaves are filled with holes!

Malabar Spinach

 Malabar Spinach grown in styrofoam container

Harvest the leaves 

Stir fry, topped with fried garlic for dinner. The leaves are sweet and tender.

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Bitter Gourd

This melon wasn't yellow when I checked it two days before! Did not look at it until two days later, when I saw from my window that it has begun to ripen! Harvest it and since it is not very big, used it in omelete.  Surprisingly, it is not bitter at all, I think that with too much water from the constant rain,  must have affected the taste of the melon. 

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Belimbing

 Lots of fruits, have been harvesting it almost every week!

The fruits are especially bigger with the constant rain.

Brownie has moved! His owner has moved and taken him along about two weeks ago, kinda miss not seeing him around! Hope he is happy in his new place!

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I would like to wish everyone  

A HAPPY NEW YEAR AND A WONDERFUL 2012!

Shoe Rack, What Are You Doing In My Garden?

The shoe rack replied, "I'm not wanted where I'm supposed to be, where else can I be, except be a friend to whoever needs a friend, you can always lean on me!" 

This extra piece of shoe rack has been in my mini store for ages! Finally put it to good use! Two of my french beans are happily creeping towards the shoe rack supported by two bamboo sticks.  This 'handiwork' was done by my dear hubby. 

Do you know what that is?  Well.... it is our very old TV aerial!  It has been on the roof for years!  Ever since Astro was installed years ago, this aerial has "ceased operation"!  Almost two months ago, our Astro has gone ga-ga, the Astro guys came to repair and told them to bring it down. Hubby wanted to dispose of it, but I have better use for it!  Ha! Ha!  Hubby modified it for me and ta...da... I have a sturdy  plant stake!  On the left, another french bean plant is making its way up and to the right is the bitter gourd plant. Never realise that I like an aerial so much!

OK, time for some harvest!

My little harvest of nai pak. Too little to stir-fry, so goes into my yong-tau-foo noodles. Very crunchy and good! The rest of the nai pak, eaten by snails and the culprit below!

The flat grasshopper.  I do not know what it is called, but I think flat grasshopper seems suitable!

Another harvest :

 Belimbing! I pickled these! Yummy!

The extremely hot weather turns the leaves yellow real fast!  It's like having autumn in my backyard, which can be very irritating! The leaves keep dropping even as I sweep! But I am being rewarded with lots of fruits. Gave some to my sisters and neighbours. Look at the bird's nest. It is still up there after so many months!  There are no birds now, but really amazing, this nest can withstand strong heavy rain and sometimes very windy days too! I hope that the birds will be back to their "delivery nursery" soon.

Happy Gardening !

My First Bitter Gourd Fruit

My first bitter gourd fruit and I did not even know about it until it has already ripened on the plant! I planted the bitter gourd plant from seeds (the small variety bitter gourd) about 3 months back in a pot. I let it crept up to my belimbing tree and I think that is a mistake, because it creeps up so high among the belimbing leaves that I can't even see whether there's any fruit! There are lots of flowers but they just dropped to the ground. Maybe it's because of the rain, as you know, the weather has been kind of "crazy" lately. Blazing hot in the morning and sudden heavy downpour in the evening. I guess that the poor tender flowers couldn't stand the force of the downpour!

Almost every day I "inspected" the plant hoping to see a small fruit but looks like I missed this one. One morning, as usual during my "inspection" I noticed an orange coloured fruit among the belimbing leaves. To my delight, it's a bitter gourd and it has already ripened to a beautiful orange in colour. And despite my frequent inspection, I missed this beautiful fruit ! It's my first bitter gourd fruit ! I couldn't wait to show it to my hubby and the kids! My son says "Wow, so pretty, just like an orange" . Pluck it the next day and it has already cracked revealing the red seeds inside. I planted the seeds and now three new plants has sprouted.

I spotted this yesterday morning during my "inspection". A small tiny fruit is growing!

I spotted this bigger fruit this morning! I am really excited. It feels really wonderful, and couldn't wait to "reap the fruits of labour"! This really boosts my confidence in planting other vegetables.

Will continue my inspection tomorrow to see whether there is any hidden bitter gourd among the belimbing leaves. Keeping my fingers crossed!