The Curious Gardener | Gardening discoveries in Singapore

Kangkong tangle

Posted on April 28, 2013 by CuriousG

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!

Re-visiting the culinary ginger plants

Posted on April 21, 2013 by CuriousG

When I first planted culinary ginger, I knew it was going to be one of those plants that you’re supposed to plant and then leave to its own devices. As a novice back then, I naturally checked it every day and ooh-ed and aah-ed over every new development. After reaching the first harvest, I’ve managed to curb my enthusiasm and leave it be. I guess the fact that I’ve only posted about it once or twice a year should testify to this.

The lemongrass has overtaken the ginger that was growing in front of it, and was doing the same with the variegated dracaena plant.

The lemongrass has overtaken the ginger that was growing in front of it (see it bowed over in the lower right corner?) and was doing the same with the variegated dracaena plant.

Well, I’ve been doing some tidying up around the garden, and found that the lemongrass had overtaken the main ginger patch. Yes, there were a few ginger stems poking out along the edges, but I figured the rest of it must have died off from lack of light.

The nice cluster of ginger rhizomes that was growing beneath the lemongrass. I see a number of growing buds that I can take to propagate.

Surprisingly, there was more than I anticipated, growing aboveground, perhaps in a quest for more light. I will have to tend to that soon, but have been laid up with the flu, so was not able to do much in the garden this weekend.

The new shoots showing strong growth. It’s a pity they’re located behind a row of okra plants, because that makes weeding difficult. Hopefully you can distinguish the ginger in the foreground from the grass and weeds…

The ginger I had been growing in a pot also had a few rhizomes growing above soil level, which I recently took and replanted in the space behind my okra plants. The okra bed had been reinforced with compost prior to planting, and I thought the ginger would appreciate that. From the way the new ginger has been sprouting, I’d say that they like the soil very much! I had broken the rhizomes into smaller pieces with one or two growing buds on each bit, but the rate of growth seems faster than with the previous plants. Interesting. I learn more with each new planting…

Recycling plant waste in the garden

Posted on April 17, 2013 by CuriousG

My second compost heap in the early stage – a 3-sided cage that our first mini bittergourd vine eventually climbed all over.

One of the things I regret having not done enough over the years is recycling plant waste in the garden. Contract gardeners are very efficient at cutting and clearing so that you’re left with a neat, pretty garden. However, they also throw out all the plant waste – which is a shame when you consider that you then go and buy compost to enrich your garden, when you could have just put most of the plant waste into a compost heap to decompose over time. If you’re a neat freak, you may not want one around – but why throw away what will, over time, be beneficial for your plants and the environment?

Before I reached the stage where I decided to buy compost, I attempted to create a couple of compost sites. The first was a simple brick enclosure that we threw grass clippings into. The contract gardeners understood those instructions and deposited all the cut grass there, and it was a success. The second was a little fenced-in area where I attempted to create a proper “lasagna” compost heap – except that our gardeners thought it was a waste pile and threw most of it away… Argh!

Well, now that we are currently free of external gardeners, I am looking forward to recycling more in the garden, and I finally have some means to reach that goal…

…by using the lawn mower to cut fallen leaves into smaller bits that I can use as a nice, organic mulch that will eventually decompose and fertilize the garden.

It’s a little tedious using the manual lawn mower to shred leaves because you have to repeatedly go over the same patch of leaves in order to cut them down to a nice, small size; however, since this is also part of my new exercise regime, I’m not going to complain!

Fallen leaves are an issue because we have a few fruit trees that shed leaves several times a year. I tried composting them in the past, but they took longer to break down than green waste, and I didn’t consider it a very successful attempt.

Then, when we visited the GreenBack Compost production facility in 2011, I realized how all plant waste could be used – branches, leaves and all – when well shredded. Sadly, I don’t have the means to chip or shred woody branches, but I can at least do something about big leaves now. It would be nice to have a heavy-duty shredder, though, because we regularly prune plants such as the dracaena and Peacock trees, which have thicker stems. Oh well, at least we’re moving in a better direction now.

Bountiful belimbings

Posted on April 12, 2013 by CuriousG

Harvested belimbing asam fruits

The most prolific fruiting tree growing in our garden has got to be the belimbing tree.

What is belimbing? The proper name for this fruit is Averrhoa bilimbi, but we use the Malay name of belimbing asam – “belimbing” means “starfruit”, and “asam” means “sour” – so I guess that would translate to “sour starfruit”.

Our well-endowed belimbing tree.

Interestingly, one of the English names for the plant is “cucumber tree”. This could be because the fruits are similarly – but not identically – shaped to cucumbers. The skin and interiors, however, are like the starfruit’s – waxy skin and very juicy flesh. When I was younger, I discovered that the waxy skin made the fruit very buoyant, so I used to toss them into water at every possible opportunity…

From a distance, the tree looks similar to the curry leaf tree. On closer examination, though, you will see that the bark looks more dry and flaky than the curry leaf tree, and the leaves have a drier texture.

Up close and personal with the belimbing flowers and developing fruits.

The fruits grow on the main trunk as well as the branches. Our tree is about 30 years old, so the trunk is impressively stout. That means it has more surface area to flower and fruit – and it does this several times a year. The fruits grow in clusters, like grapes, and ripen at staggered rates, so if we don’t harvest the earlier fruits fast enough, they can start rotting on the tree before they fall off. Since there are always way more fruits than we can consume, the ground surrounding the tree tends to be littered with fruits.

And even when we give them away, we get them back – in cooked form. Belimbings are great in pickles and sambals, and can be used as an alternative to tamarind. We are always looking for new recipes to use up the fruits, but there’s more joy in sharing the fruits with others who enjoy them – especially when they have the chance to come and harvest them themselves. It brings us back to our “kampong” roots, when folks used to share the bounty from their gardens …or when naughty kids used to help themselves to the bounty!

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