My Golden Harvest!

I have harvested my Yan Kee pineapple!

My Golden Harvest!

First spotted the little fruit on 21st January 2013

Photo taken on 4th February 2013

The many flowers that makes up a whole fruit.

Signs of ripening, 14th May, 2013

Beautiful golden yellow, fully ripe, 17th May, 2013

My Golden Harvest !!

This Yan Kee pineapple is extremely sweet and juicy! It has a light coloured flesh and the juices are oozing out as I sliced the fruit! The fruit is not as big as the one I bought, but then it is really worth the long wait! Pineapple plant is so easy to grow, they are really fuss-free and do not need much attention at all. Occasionally, I would feed with some organic fertilizer, and leave them as they are, they grow really well even in very hot condition. I have some other pineapple plants growing at the moment, of different varieties, will share on another day. Meanwhile, try to find one of these Yan Kee pineapples, enjoy the fruit and plant the crown in a pot, put it in a corner where it can get lots of sun, and you shall be rewarded with a juicy and sweet pineapple! But you have got to be very patient, it's along wait, about 15-16 months!

******************

Update on my previous post, as pictured below :

Thank you to everyone on the feedback of this weed known as Plaintain or Plantago Major. I have completely forgotten about this plant, until I've read from some of your comments (Autumn Belle, Stephanie, Stiletto, Sowie, The Novice Gardener, Lrong, Anonymous, Louise) that these plants have medicinal value especially for kidney and urinary systems. I instantly remembered then, that I sowed the seeds almost half a year ago! I should really take some ginkgo biloba for memory booster! (Knock my head!)

Here's the "story" (smiling sheepishly) :

The seeds was given to me by a lady whom I saw harvesting the plants sometime last year. I was curious and asked her about it as I have never seen this plant before. She then told me that it is good for urinary system and that she's harvesting it to boil with some barley. She then gave me a long stem of flowers for me to take home and sow. To me the flowers are still "green and young" and there are no seeds visible. I was sceptical that it would grow and when I reached home, I just scattered the flowers in one of my empty pot, and that was about November last year! Seeing that nothing sprouted after about many, many weeks, I threw into the "vacant pot" some other vegetable seeds which had already past their expiry dates. I was clearing my stock of seeds and instead of throwing the expired seeds away, I just threw them into that vacant pot. So when these Plaintain starts to sprout, which I have completely forgotten about in the first place, I began to wonder on the young sprouting plants. They definitely do not look like veggie, yet do not look like just any weed! So my curiosity got the better of me, and start to look for more info from the internet and finally post it in my blog, hoping that maybe some of you may recognize it. And you did! Thank you so much for your help! 

Who would have thought that it took almost five months for the "seeds" to sprout! But then I'm glad that they finally did!  

Happy Gardening !

Weed or Vegetable?

Found these plants in one of my pots and have no idea what they are! A couple of months ago, I threw in a handful of seeds, and have thrown away the empty packet, now I could not recall the seeds of which veggie that I sowed. Or maybe those seeds did not germinate and these are weeds instead?  They do look like weeds to me.

If you are familiar with this plant, could you please enlightened me? The closest that I've found out when I googled for more info is this one plant, called Plaintain Weed, from here. Could this be one of the species of Plaintain Weed?  If it is then I have a treasure in my pot, as this weed, Plaintain Weed has remedial properties. Until I know what these plants are, they will remain as they are in the pot for the time being.   If anyone should know or recognize this plant, would appreciate if you could share! Thank you!

Happy Gardening!

Curry Leaf Plant

My curry leaf plant is growing in a pot, it is about 5 years old. I bought the small seedling from the nursery, and over the years, I have cut off the stem several times, leaving only the small main trunk as it was infested with the Leaf Beetle, which is a threat to the plant. As as always, this plant has sprung back to life with new branches and leaves. I have found to my horror, a couple of days ago, these beetles and their larvae on some of the leaves. I cut off the top branches since the ones below seems healthy and green and do not have any signs of being infested yet!  I'm keeping a close watch daily for any more of this irritating pests. The only way to get rid of them is to remove them manually, to read a little about this yucky creature and how disgusting they look, you may refer to one of my earlier post, here. And the most effective way to save your plant (from my experiences) is to cut off the stems and branches, don't worry, it will grow again rather quick.

I found this pupa on the curry leaf plant. I googled and found out that this pupa belongs to the Swallowtail butterfly, here.  Notice the way the pupa is being supported. At one end, it seems to be attached itself to the stem, and if you see the picture closely, you may notice a thin line of thread that is supporting and going round the  pupa in the centre, almost like carrying it,  attaching to the curry leaf stem.

Another one, could this belong to the same swallowtail species? 

Can you see the thin thread supporting the pupa? I did not notice it when I took the photo, it is only visible when I downloaded this photo. It has been raining everyday and as I am writing this post, it is raining very heavily right now. Hopefully the pupa would hold on against the heavy downpour. But then, nature always has a way to survive against all odds.

Update on my pineapple fruit. It has grown so much bigger and the crown has developed beautifully!  I'm all smiles!

Happy Gardening !