Kacang Botol

It took a while for the plant to flower. It just grew continuously, creeping upwards until it reached the roof. Then one day, it flowered and we had four angle beans hanging on its vines.

Fai giving his dad a hand.

Stir fried with sambal belacan or eaten raw with a sambal belacan dip...Ooooo Yum!
I am off to get my pestle and mortar...

Mutant Corn

We dried and then planted sweet corn kernels from cobs we bought at the market.
The corn that grew were deformed but Fai said they were sweet and devoured everything.
Looks like corn bought market has been genetically modified and not suitable for planting.

It's time for the pumpkins to 'kahwin'

The boys giving the pumpkins a helping hand.

Male flower

Female Flower

Remove petals on male flower to expose stamen

Rubbing the insides of the female flower.

Successful fertilization!

First harvest

First harvest of sweet potato leaves fresh from the garden for dinner

A few pieces ginger started sprouting and I had left them at the countertop with the intention to plant them into pots. Next thing I knew, Han came along, spotted the offending sprouts and lob them off with a knife.
Looks like I have to wait till the ginger sprouts again.

Gardening

Our vegetable patch with sweet potato leaves and sweetcorn

I scattered a few seeds around and forgot which went where, so I can't tell what's growing,

A stray brinjal plant that was discovered when DH cleared the garden.

Han found a germinating seed under a tree and decided to plant it.

Han's tree planting project

This is either pumpkin or watermelon. These seedlings were found growing in the middle of the compost heap.

Fai and his Dad going around the neighbourhood looking for plants.

Our Alamanda and Hibiscus plants were acquired the same way. Now we are on a lookout for Frangipani.

Fai busy dissecting a honeysuckle flower, looking for nectar.

DH found a Frangipani tree with a broken branch, which was a good thing as he didn't have to think of a way to cut the thick branch. It had a lovely pink flowers and large, broad leaves, so to the back of the bicycle it went.

Now the planting begins.

Vegetable Patch

Can't wait for homegrown vegetables and herbs.

JY, Machika and Swathy helping to plant sweet potato stalks that were given by PohPoh.

In a week, leaves were sprouting from the stalks.

Sprouting sweetcorn.

Fai helped to plant sweetcorn into 2 rows.

We now have pumpkin, chilli padi, okra, basil, mint, four angle bean growing.

We have also started to compost our vegetable and fruit peels and have been using soot from our nightly bonfire to fertilise the soil.

Daun Kadok

I love having Arian around. He shares my boys' love for movies, Transformers and slapstick comedy. He says his prayers before meals (in spite of Fai assuring him that " Over here, we don't need to do that!"), insists of washing his plate after meals and since his favourite colour is green, he eats his vegetables with gusto. And he likes my pumpkin :)
Left to play without boundaries and interference, they always come up with lots of interesting activites.
After a day of imaginative play (turning furniture upside down or piled up high to become pirate ships; and an enactment of Toy story 3 ), the boys decided to play in the backyard.
Initially Fai asked for garden scissors to make a sword out of a heliconia leaf. After he had done that, I asked him to trim the Kadok leaves that were trailing down into the drain.

Han and Arian joined in and that was the end of my daun kadok.

The kadok leaves ended up in this. Fai said it was for composting.

Look! Not a single kadok leaf! Fai said that all the 'weeds' are gone. Well, I will be replanting them tomorrow. They grow wild in my backyard and I have never eaten them. Now that YeeKuMa suggested frying them with eggs, I just might.

Arian was so caught up with this that KV had a tough time convincing him to leave.

"I want to stay 2 nights the next time" he says.