Updates from My Garden

What have been growing in my garden?

My first chilli hanging on the plant.


My chilli plant is suffering from 'leaf-loss' and yellowing leaves. This is the balding part of my chilli plant. I wonder if any hairloss shampoo will help?? Or is this due to attack of mealybugs? I have been spraying some of my chilli plants with a concoction of garlic, bird's eye chilli & dish detergent.

From my visit to CETDEM's Organik Day event, I am able to solve this puzzle on why I have 'Ulam Raja' and Japanese Ginseng plants growing in my garden. The seeds of these plants were accidentally included in the pack of Marigold seeds that I bought. Ha ha...isn't that good news! Buy 1 free 2. Seen here is my one and only Ulam Raja, growing healthily. During my recent trip to Kerteh, I have eaten a lot of this herb with rice during lunch time.

I think this is a Balsam plant. I suspect the seed for this plant was included in the pack of Marigold seeds that I bought from CETDEM in April. Would anyone be able to confirm for me if this is a Balsam plant?

For the benefit of fellow gardener, Ting, from Growing Vegetables with Ms. Green Fingers, who asked how a garlic plant looks like. Here is the garlic bulb that I placed into the ground and left to grow. I was away for several days and some of the leaves had browned and wilted. The plant looks like spring onion, don't you agree?

A Yen Kee pineapple that I bought came with a slip at the bottom of the plant. The fruit seller told me that I can grow the pineapple from this slip. Yen Kee pineapple are widely grown in Klang and this pinepple produces sweet fruit that is less fibrous than our local type of pineapple. Root has sprouted from this slip. However the growth seems to be very slow.

My radish plants are flourishing well. You can see a radish bulb peeping out from the soil. I read on the internet that radish must be grown quickly to ensure that the bulb will be plump and tender. If it is lacked of water, it will grow to be hard and dry. Radish also need several hours of direct sunlight to grow well.

I think I have overcrowded my radishes. The bulbs may not grow to be big. Never mind. This is my first experience of growing radish. I shall learn from this mistake.

Our new neighbour, Uncle Tong, offered me 2 bulbs of Calathea Makoyana when he re-potted his plant. I have seen admiring the foliage of this sold at Giant Hypermarket and had been admiring Uncle Tong's plant from afar. He made my day when he offered those bulbs to me!

Calathea makoyana is also called Peacock Plant because of the decorative color patterns of the upper leave surface. The leaves are being hold on long thin stems and do have a remarkable capability to adjust their position to the angle of light. Growing up to 2' ( 60 cm ) and preferring filtered sunlight.