Our typical harvest on a single day, at least three times a week!

Our little slap-and-dash trellis has definitely done its job. I set it up to support a volunteer mini bittergourd plant that started growing just under the canopy of one of our peacock flower trees, and did my best to direct the plant away from the tree, lest it grow upwards and beyond our reach. That was two and a half months ago, and since then, the vine has flourished. Besides covering the entire length of the trellis, it has branched out multiple times and is thick and healthy, and oh so bountiful!

One of the “little monsters”…

To our delight, it is a different variety of small bittergourd from what we’ve been growing. The fruits tend to be more stout and cylindrical, and can be bigger than what we’ve grown before. There have been a couple of little monsters around 10cm long, and we have a lot of fun going on “treasure hunts” on a daily basis just to see what is growing and how big it can grow!

Just one of several clusters of bittergourds on the plant.

At the moment, the plant is producing lots of fruits. We can harvest six to ten or so fruits a day, up to three times a week. The flesh is nice and crisp, and remains so even when we eat it in a stir-fry. I’m grateful for whichever bird that deposited the seed in our garden. After all, this was how we first started growing bittergourds way back, about seven years ago!

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