Okra

I got a pot of okra from the nursery, thinking it's too much of a hassle to grow from seed. 

But with 3 plants in a tiny pot, I was advised by fellow gardeners that they are too crowded, yet too matured to repot. Leaves start falling off and the new leaves were barely bigger than 5cm. Fruits were also smaller and not tender. 

By fluke, I left the fruits on the plant and let it turn brown because I wanted to observe how long it will take for that to happen. I kept the dried pods and seeds because they were too pretty to throw. Turns out that is the right thing to do to save okra seeds!

The okra seeds in the pods were black and all dried up. 

Unwilling to pay for more okra plants, I decided to try my luck at germinating the seeds. Bearing in mind that I am not too lucky with germinating seeds, I am tip-toeing in this experiment.

I started 9 seeds in an ice tray filled with substrates (Welgro), because I had some lying around.  

We suffered a few nights of torrential rain and the ice tray was literally flooded and overflowing, as the rain managed to splash in. Each time I emptied the excess water, I am certain I lost some seeds, as it's hard to tell them apart from the peat.

On Day 3, 3 seedlings miraculously sprouted. Interestingly they turned up in assorted stages. The tiniest little sprout in the right most cubby can barely be seen.

So I potted the 2 more advanced seedlings in the substrate. 

It's the 5th day since we started growing the seeds. The cotyledons are peeking out from under the shell of the germinated seeds. We are still holding our breath and fingers crossed... 

Will keep this post updated. 

Update 12 August 2015:

1 week after planting the seeds, the seedlings have grown beyond 10cm and the cotyledons are looking healthy. I repotted them in more of the Welgro substrates and increased direct sun to 1-2 hours.

Update 28 August 15: 

3 weeks after planting the seeds, these saplings are more than 20cm and furry leaves have started to develop. 

Update 9 Sep 2015:

I came across a facebook post where a fellow gardener mentioned that he was given an okra plant grown from a sucker. He has no idea how it works and I could not find information online on how to propagate from okra suckers. So it's time to experiment!

On 4 Sep 15, I cut out a sucker that was about 20cm, from our existing okra plants and put it in a cup of water to hopefully root the cutting. Within 3 days, small white dots appeared on the stem. 

An okra sucker is the shoot that grows out from the side of the main stem, usually above the stalk of one of the leaves. I cut the sucker closely where it joins the main stem. 

4-5 bigger leaves were attached to this sucker. They were droopy by the 3rd day, so I snipped them off. 

On the 5th day, roots formed clearly at the base of the stem! Hoorah! I will leave it for a few more days till a healthier root system is established before putting it in soil.

Update 26 Sep 2015:

These are the okras grown from seeds. It's been 7 weeks since sowing the seeds and we are seeing our first flower buds!

Waiting patiently...!

Shallot tops

Every once in a while, something grows unexpectedly in the garden to surprise and give joy.

I use shallots a lot in our cooking. It brings out another dimension to food when used appropriately.

Our happy pot of shallots started as a resilient little bulb that sprouted in the basket. I kept it aside on the potting rack to pot. But in the midst of renovations, it got forgotten. 

When I next looked, it was a shriveled little clump of sadness that had almost dried out.

I plonked it into a pot of carrot tops I was experimenting with. And this was what it looked like:

It's the poor little cluster at the bottom left. Hopes were not high and it was left to its own devises. 

(Note: The thriving greens with the fancy leaves are carrot tops. Will follow up with a separate post to share the findings of that experiment.)

This morning, after 2 days of torrential morning showers in sunny Singapore, this amazing healthy cluster of joy popped up in the pot!

Just six days after potting, it has grown from 2cm to about 10cm. And from 1 cluster to 3!

 

So now it sits happily in its own pot basking in the sun.

A few sprigs of the shallot tops go straight into our cold soba lunch. Hand in hand with ice cold sparkling water and a slice of lemon from our garden. Perfect combination to beat the heat!

Update 11 Sep 15:

1-2 weeks after enjoying the shallot tops, they died back. A quick search reveals that shallots, onions and garlic do not yield bulbs here in our tropical climate!! 

The greens do flourish, but I have no idea if they last. 

As the little tops were really tasty, I decided to keep a bunch of shallot tops handy. So I popped a little shallot onto a seed pot filled with Welgrow substrate. This time, I had none with shoots. So it's a good opportunity to find out how long it will take to develop shoots. I planted it on 29 Aug 2015. I also did not bury the bulb.

It was a long process to develop the shoot. 2 weeks of little or no action. The roots took a long while to develop as well. 

Then finally on 11 Sep 2015 more than 2 weeks later, the first sighting of some form of life. 

What a relief! Now back to fingers crossed.

Update 16 Sep 2015:

5 days from the first sighting of a shoot, it's still happily going strong. The growth is slower and less impressive than if the bulb was submerged in the soil. But let's see if it lasts longer.

Foraged finds

One of the greatest joy I get from growing is when I get to harvest. 

Right now, our garden is newly established and far from matured. Hence the offerings are few and far between and super random. But everytime we yield something, it is loved and relished! 

The yields are small, so it is true to the spirit of a garden for foraging. I will endeavor to share some of our pickings here.

Update 30 July 2015:

(Mint; Lime; Chilli Padi; Lady's finger)

Update 31 July 2015:

(Kangkong; Cherry apple; Lady's finger)

Update 2 August 2015:

(Lemon; Lime; Chilli Padi; Cherry apple)

Update 22 August 15:

Our first harvest of sweet potato leaves. We are cultivating 2 types of sweet potatoes. The green stem came from sweet potatoes leaves that we got from the market. The purple stem came from sweet potatoes tubers and are grown from slips. 

The leaves of the green stem variety is more supply and tastes better. So we should just stick to growing the purple ones for tubers.

Update 6 Aug 15:

Harvesting is like receiving a mystery box from Nature - a tiny okra here, a puny fig there. We relish whatever we find with gratefulness. Xo

Magnolia

Another thing that I 'harvest' from the garden is scent.

One of the most prolific bloomers in our garden, is the White Champaca (Magnolia x alba), a hybrid between the Magnolia Champaca and Magnolia Montana.

Like the Jasmine flower, the Magnolia flower is used to scent Chinese tea - Yulan Tea - via infusion.

The plant was almost 2m and not flowering when I first got it. Placed in the balcony with full day of sun, the flowers start to bloom at night and shed throughout the day. However, the leaves started to turn brown and drop off rapidly too. 

Eventually, I found a better spot in the backyard. With 3-4 hours of direct sun and watering twice a day, the tree started to flower more and shed less leaves.

On the average, this little 'tree' is now producing about 3-5 fragrant blooms per night. Enough to scent the entire backyard. Sometimes, I catch a whiff of them from the adjacent kitchen.

Hopefully, I can nurse it back to bloom even more!

Basil

I started planting basil as I love the spicy chewy leaves in simple pho soup and aglio olio pasta. 

I started with 1 hardworking pot and realised they deplete quickly, age quickly but are super easy to propagate. In the hope of not having to keep buying, I am working hard on learning to propagate these lovelies. 

I started out by saving the stalks that I use. Each time I harvest about 3-4 inch stalks (average one stalk per person) and after I cut out out the leaves, I pop the stalks in water to root at the window sill. 

Once the roots take shape and I have enough stalks, I pot them in soil.

Our original pot of basil flourished along the corridor, with some indirect sunlight. 

Eventually, I was told by fellow gardeners/farmers that flowering is a sign of the plant reaching maturity. Most gardeners maintain that the leaves lose their flavor once the plant bolts. Hence to save the flavour, we should literally nip the flowers in the bud. 

So when the original plant started to die back, I was glad I have been saving and rooting the stalks. 

To root the stalks, I remove the leaves (to cook) and simply place the stalks in drinking glasses or glass bottles to root. I top up water occasionally and change the water entirely weekly. 

This lot has been left at the sill for about a month. Healthy roots can be vaguely seen at the base. I keep the glasses/bottles by the window sill which is bright but without direct sunlight.

Update 31 July 2015:

We have recently moved and the herbs now have their designated rack in a bright but shaded spot. Basil propagation continues. 

I find the younger shoots less leathery and tastier. So now I maintain a few small plants instead of a big mothership. 

I also realised that proper pruning helps to keep the plant bushy and hence more productive of edible leaves. As a rule of thumb, basil generally forks at the node that you make a cutting. Hence, cutting each stalk as close to the base, will yield a bushier plant. 

I am starting the same process with Thai basil for more a authentic feel to our pho soup. Looking forward to potting this lot!

Fruit blend

Quick power fix for the morning! Yummy, filling and so easy to fix. Such a cheerful colour too. Xo

Mystery sweet potato

I love sweet potato leaves stir fried with homemade sambal chilli. So I got a bunch of heart-shaped sweet potato leaves from the market.

I picked out a few stalks and placed them in a glass of water to root. Within a week, healthy root systems developed on a few of the stalks. So I potted them and placed them in a sunny spot. It all happened so quickly I did not take photos of the process.

2 weeks after potting, the plants are surviving in soil and have sprouted new leaves.

I will be transplanting these along with the Vietnamese variety to the raised beds. So we are growing a variety from tuber/slips and another from leaves. Hope we can eventually yield some sweet potatoes and indentify the mystery sweet potatoes. Fingers crossed!