All the kangkong you see growing in the foreground is growing out of a pair of flowerpots…

This is the first time I can say we’ve had a successful leafy vegetable crop growing in our garden. My previous attempts didn’t yield great results because the mealies found the kangkong plants growing on our patio, and once I saw them, I junked the plants because they were contaminated in my eyes.

I had a number of harvested seeds from those plants, though, and planted them, following the examples from Novice Gardener and the Weeds, by sowing them in what was supposed to be a tight cluster. I didn’t quite achieve the “mimi” level that they were talking about, but when I placed the two pots of kangkong plants out in the garden where they would get full sun, they really took off!

All the plants grew long stems that snaked everywhere (because of course I forgot about them for a while) and became tangled with the bangkwang plants that are growing behind the kangkong plants in the picture. During the dry period in Feb-Mar, the plants didn’t get enough water, and the leaves that we harvested were initially very tough and fibrous, even though we harvested them from the supposedly tender tips of the stems. Now that they are on our radar, they are being watered regularly, and are more palatable. I’m now considering converting an unused outdoor fish tank to grow the kangkong plants in, but in the meantime am happy that we’ve finally had success with a leafy veg!

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