Blast from the past 1: Miniature sunflowers.

Time certainly flies. I can’t believe that this blog is already into its sixth year and that there is still new content to share. Before I took the leap to start this, I actually made a list of things I could write about, and honestly, I’ve hardly had to refer to it because there was always so much going on! My only issue these days is finding the time to post things, because I am usually busy in the garden on the weekends thinking that I should write about this or that, but not having the time for it.

Back when I was thinking of starting this blog, there weren’t as many local resources as there are now, and I wanted to help fill that gap. I wasn’t sure what could and would grow here in Singapore, and it didn’t seem like many people were interested in growing veggies – fruits, yes; veggies, not really. Mind you, this was before I discovered online gardening communities, but I don’t think the local scene was as vibrant then as it is now. It felt like a lonely place to be, but I felt that if I was interested in growing things, others would be, too.

Blast from the past 2: Some of our first long beans

My impetus for actually getting started was a conversation with a friend living in Australia, who complained about how expensive ginger was. I suggested that she grow her own, and started my own plants here to egg her on. That opened the floodgates for me, and once I’d decided on the name of the blog, things started moving.

Of course, I didn’t realise that the name wasn’t as original as I’d thought until after I’d started – but there was no going back by then. Besides the book The Curious Gardener, there are also several Curious Gardener bloggers in other parts of the world – just do an online search and see! It’s all good with me because we share the same aim: gardening. I lay claim to being the Curious Gardener from Singapore, though!

Ginger: the plant that got this blog underway

In spite of all that, I met my goal of being an online resource. Google how to grow certain vegetables like ginger or okra in Singapore and this blog is there on the list. That, however, was not always a good thing, because it made the blog a target of online nuisances. The site was hacked a few times, and I had to take measures to tighten things up, in the process cutting off the comments feature. Yes, fellow bloggers, that is a vulnerable point in a blog. However, it’s not a huge drawback because folks visit for the content. If you are like me, you visit gardening sites for inspiration; some of my favourites are in the “We like” section of the side menu.

Blast from the past 3: First sweet potato shoots

Maintaining this blog made me pay more attention to the things in the garden. We don’t realise how much is going on out there until we start looking. For example, I didn’t think much about the birds until I started taking photos of them and realised that there were so many more varieties around than I thought! And of course when I got a camera with a good zoom function that also had fairly decent video capabilities, well, I had to share those too. That gave rise to my Youtube channel. Since I’m still interested in following the process of how different plants grow from seed to fruit, I reckon this blog will keep growing for a while more.

Thanks for sharing the ride with me!

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