Pretty Blooms From My Curry Leaves Plant

Has anyone seen the flowers of a curry leaf plant? I first saw these pretty flowers in the grounds of a temple in Malacca. Only then, did I realise that curry leaf plants have flowers. Sometimes we just take them for granted, never realise the beauty side of it, only the main purpose of this plant, the leaves! The leaves are definitely a must in curry and savoury dishes the world over.

The flowers are small, white and fragrant. Yes, I did! I smelt the flowers. It has a light, pleasant sweet smell, similar to jasmine, only lighter. These flowers will eventually turned to small round red fruits and eventually change to black. Is the flowers edible? I do not know, can anybody help me on this??

Gerberas

Gerberas share the same family as sunflowers, daisies and asters. They are native to South Africa and can be found mostly in Africa, Asia and South America. They are also known as African Daisies. There are various forms of gerbera flowers that can be put into four groups ; single flowers, double, crested doubles or full crested doubles. It is the fifth most cut flowers in the world, after rose, carnation, chrysanthemum and lily.

Maroon

The first pot of gerberas was given to me by my sister when I moved in to my house about fifteen years ago. My sis, upon seeing my craze for gardening, bought a pot of dark orange gerbera as an addition to my garden of sunflowers and marigolds. I love it instantly and my garden has never been short of a gerbera plant ever since!

Bright Red

These are the gerberas that I have in my front porch. They are really easy to grow, in the sense that, they just seems happy to be in full sun. I just leave them where they can enjoy the sun, as long as they are slightly moist, but not too wet. The only thing that needs to be done, is to pick the leaves as they turn brown and yellow, and cut off the wilted flowers. By doing this, the new leaves and new flower buds will grow and with occasional fertilizer, full sun and enough of water, you can be certain that it will reward you with beautiful blooms all year round. Of course, it won't be as big as the ones in Cameron Highlands, but still as striking and beautiful!

Pinkish Peach

Pinkish Peach

I bought these plants from one particular nursery where nice gerberas plants can be found. The average lifespan of these plants are about 3 or 4 years. But the longest that I have grown is a little over 2 years. Mealy bugs and snails are the main pests. When I buy this plant, I always look for the biggest bunch of leaves and make sure that they are healthy and stay close together.

Sweet Orange

Maroon (close up)

This is the double crested (I think), the petals are in layers, the colour is pinkish peach. New buds are growing.

Most of the leaves have wilted and there is only one bud, usually there will be at least two or three buds growing at the same time.

The colours of gerberas are simply gorgeous. Of all the colours, my favourite is the bright deep yellow. But my yellow gerbera plant is not very healthy with just a few leaves, trying to "revive" it back. I have therefore just recently purchased another pot of bright yellow gerbera! Without a healthy pot of yellow gerbera in my "garden" is just not complete! All of the plants above have been in my "garden porch" for over a year except for the maroon, about 6 months or so. My white gerbera plant wilted and died a few months back and am tying to find another one, but white gerbera is harder to find. The ones that I found, are scare and not in a healthy state. White gerbera is really beautiful, when put together with the colour ones, the contrasts is really something.

My new plant which I just purchased about a week ago! My favourite colour!

Aren't they gorgeous?

I have never been successful in growing them from seeds from the dried flowers. Any pointers on this, anyone??

Happy Gardening!

Coriander

My third batch of coriander - 1st container

My third batch of coriander - 2nd container

I planted these coriander plants from seeds. Wow, just a little amount of seeds, goes a long way. I just love the smell of coriander. These two containers are placed just outside my kitchen window, right where my sink is, the spot where I usually stand doing the usual kitchen chores, cutting and cleaning, washing and 'admiring' my plants from that window. And the best thing is, sometimes I can catch the most wonderful lingering scent from there. That scent would be from my coriander plants! I would usually just cut a few stems of leaf when I'm having steam fish for dinner, or would use it as garnishing, especially for chicken porridge, it makes a whole lot of difference to a dish. The fragrance of this wonderful herb plant is one of a kind!

Have you ever seen or notice how a flower of a coriander plant looks like? They are really small, white and dainty, really pretty. The three pictures above was taken about seven months back, my second batch of corianders. These are even more fragrant that my current ones now. I have forgotten which brand and types of seeds that I bought when I planted this batch. The leaves from this batch is smaller in size. Of the three batches that I have planted, these are most fragrant of all. It is so fragrant that on windy days, my kitchen will have the most pleasant scent!

Whenever my sisters or friends came to visit, there would be "ooh, the flowers are so pretty!, so this is how a coriander flower look like, I didn't even know they have flowers!" So neither do I! I did not expect flowers from my coriander plants!

When the flowers are all dried up, I can see small little seeds of coriander! They are really small. These coriander plants will always have a spot (well, two spots..) in my potted garden. The two containers by my kitchen window will always be filled with this wonderful plant.

Happy Gardening!

Bird Nests on Belimbing Tree

There are less fruits on my belimbing plant this time. Could it be that I have not been feeding it properly? I have not been applying the fertilizer for quite sometime now. Apart from the photo above, there are a few fruits scattered here and there, not like the previous time, bunches of fruits, that I gladly gave away. Anyway, it is enough for me to cook some sambal tumis and asam pedas too! Might make some sambal belacan to go with fried fish... mmm... that's the wonderful part of homegrown veggies and fruits, from the garden (in my case... backyard!) to the cooking pot, to the table, chemical-free! Healthy and tasty!

There are two birds' nests on the tree. The other one is so high up that I am unable to take the photo (and I do not owe a super hi-tech camera!). This is the second time in the same spot that the bird makes it as their nest. I have not seen the birds! The first time was a few months ago but their nest was destroyed during the very heavy downpour! Now they have rebuild another one. Hopefully I will catch a glimpse of the birds and their little birdies!

The same ladies fingers plant is fruiting for the second time!

Only one stalk, one leaf and one lonely ladies finger. This plant will have to go!


Happy Gardening !

Harvesting of one single tomato!

It has been almost three weeks since my last posting! Have been rather busy lately. I have sort of 'neglecting' my plants for a few weeks now, and it shows! Tomorrow will be a busy gardening day for me. My bitter gourd plant is really showing signs of wilting. The leaves are infected with the bugs and most of the flowers are male ones, so I guess there is no point in keeping it any longer. Anyway I have harvested 4 fruits from this plant, and they were delicious.

My tomato plant has only one single fruit! I wonder why?? There are many, many flowers but all of them just dropped off! I have search from the web about pollination, and have done just that. Maybe I did not do it right. Anyway, my precious tomato shows signs of ripening about a few days ago. And in just 3 days after that, it was right for harvesting.

I have harvested 4 ladies fingers and 3 red chillies. They tasted great, although the red chili is not hot enough!



Have a good gardening day!