Monday, February 23, 2009

Polygonium cuspidatum

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Prunella vulgaris (Xia Ku Cao)

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Houttuynia cordata (Fishwort, Heart Leaf)

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Rhinacanthus nasutus

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Tradescantia spathacea (Boat Lily)

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Artemisia vulgaris (Mugwort)

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Acalypha australis

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Polygonium chinese

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Perilla frutescens

We grow this in the garden. However I've yet to see any one using it LOL. Here's the link on how to use Shiso in cooking ...etc...

http://whatscookingamerica.net/HydroponicsGardening/Shiso.htm

This plant had been attacked by some kind of mildew and has already gone to plant heaven.

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My neighbour managed to get some new seedlings and she grew them at another spot. So far the plant is growing under a bright shade and it is growing well.

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Pereskia bleo (Rose Cactus)

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Pereskia grandiflora

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Sick Red Okra Leaves

This is happening to the Okra plant in the CG. I believe there is the attack by the mildew, some bacteria or virus is also causing the older leaves to turn brownish and some kind of insects are having a feast with the leaves. The plant is still fruiting .... Since the CG is an organic garden, all my neighbour is doing is cutting away the affected leaves .... the stalks are almost "botak" but I do see new shoots and leaves growing too.

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Thursday, February 19, 2009

How to make a newspaper seedling pot

Oh ... I love this "How to video". It is timely for me cos' presently I'm germinating lots of seeds and soon will be transplanting the seedlings into small pots. I like to let the seedling grow stronger first before planting them into the CG.
This surely saved me some money too .... can use the money saved to buy more seeds LOL.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Winter Melon

Initially there were two plant seedlings in the CG and one of them didn't survive. The other somehow managed to grow well and it's now producing a fruit. I noticed that initially there were lots of flowers and fruiting buds formed. Then quite a number of baby fruits dropped off and now there's a developed fruit sitting on a brick. I wonder if this is the dwarf winter melon species.
I also noticed that the fruit is turning slightly yellow too.

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Thursday, February 5, 2009

Passion Fruit

The passion fruit plants are growing over a trellis that's spanning two planting beds. When I first tried out the fruit ...it tasted really sour. Then my neighbour kept fertilising the plants and lately during the hot spell I noticed that there are plenty of new fruits forming. The fruit when ripen turns an orangy red color and this time when my neighbour tasted the fruit ... she said they are sweet again.

Read about the health benefits of eating passion fruits here in the link ...
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Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Mulberry Bush

I have this Mulberry bush growing in the CG for about a year and it has been trimmed many, many times. I have yet to see it fruiting and it just happily continue producing more leaves and branches. During one of the pruning session, I planted some stem cuttings in the planter bed and even gave a friend some cuttings to plant in a pot. I got news that one of her stem cutting was producing some fruit. I learned that she fertilises the plant cuttings once a week. I guess I will be doing the same with those in the CG.
Out of the ten cuttings I planted, five of the stem cuttings rooted and produced new leaves. However during the last week of hot weather two of the cuttings got fried and they are gonnas.
Let me try putting in more fertilizers for the next couple of weeks to see how they grow.

Read the link here for health benefits of eating mulberries http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/benefits-of-mulberry-2071.html

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5/3/09 Update ... the mother mulberry has fruited but fruits have yet to turn red. Happy dance!

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Update 24/03/09

These were the tiny weeny fruits(size of the french bean seed) from the tree. I guess they must be the first fruits cos' I heard from my neighbour that the tree has never fruited before.
I got on the the GCS forum to find out how to get larger fruits. I discovered that pruning the tree would help the tree to fruit and also get larger fruits. Now I will make a prunning date with the mother mulberry tree.

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