New mulberry plant in town

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The Tic-tac sized mulberries on my original plant.

The Tic-tac sized mulberries on my original plant.

My yearning is over and I’ve finally got a mulberry plant from Novice Gardener! The reason I’ve been salivating over her plants is because her cultivar seems to grow much bigger fruits than the plants I have. I mean, hello, the fruits I’ve been getting are the size of Tic-tacs! And although I’ve been told that they will get bigger as the plant matures, I just don’t believe that.

Why? Because there’s a mulberry TREE in the neighbourhood and the fruits are still tiny.

So I am now eagerly anticipating the new fruits, which ought to be at least 2cm, from my estimation of what I’ve seen at Novice Gardener’s place.

The first mulberry starting to grow on Novice Gardener's plant. How big will it grow?

The first mulberry starting to grow on Novice Gardener’s plant. How big will it grow?

My first plant seems to have felt threatened enough to suddenly produce a few clusters of fruits, and we’ve enjoyed tasting the first few. However, it will have to produce four times as fast as Novice Gardener’s plant if it wants to compare to it…

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Roselle harvest

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The harvested roselle fruits. In this situation, the outside calyces are the edible part while the seed pod within is discarded.

The harvested roselle fruits. In this situation, the outside calyces are the edible part while the seed pod within is discarded.

You know how plants get the signal that if you don’t harvest their fruits, their job is done, and they die out? Well, we have two roselle plants that have been growing rather well. They’re about 1.8 metres high and have several branches each, all with rows of pretty, dark red roselle fruits adorning them. When one of them started showing signs of shedding too many leaves, I decided it was time to harvest the available fruits so the plants would keep growing.

It was a very respectable harvest of about two cups of fruits. I decided to use them to make the “ribena drink”.

The roselle drink served with lots of ice!

The roselle drink served with lots of ice!

I had several recipes to draw from, and I chose to boil about 2 litres of water and add in the pitted fruits (the calyces only) for 10 to 15 minutes. By that time, the calyces were a little translucent, and the liquid, bright red. It tasted very tart, so I added some sugar, and when it had dissolved, I drained the mixture and let it cool.

The resulting drink was still rather tart, and a little concentrated. Like a syrup, you can dilute it in water, but I’ve found that it’s particularly refreshing when added to a lot of ice.

Some recipes mention that you can use the boiled calyces as snacks or jam, but I think mine were a little old and over-boiled, because there were some fibrous bits while other parts were just too mushy!

The next time I make this, I may try adding mint leaves to make it even more refreshing, or go with the “adult” recipe from Jamaica where you brew the drink with ginger and add rum… ;)

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Chilli surprise

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The unlooked-for but definitely welcome chilli.

The unlooked-for but definitely welcome chilli.

This one caught me completely by surprise…

A few months ago, I sowed a pinch of seeds discarded from a chilli used in the kitchen and got a few sprouts from that. I transplanted them, one each, into tall recycled PET bottles, and two plants resulted. They were placed around the jicama patch where they were eventually engulfed by the vigorous jicama vines – and of course I eventually forgot about them.

Well, a flash of red caught my eye earlier, and I was astounded to see a fully formed, ripe red chilli peeking out from behind all the leaves! Unfortunately, the plant looked like it was dying, so it must have put all its efforts into growing this one fruit to propagate itself. Plant psychology amazes me at these times!

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Inadvertent companions

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The little parsley seedling next to the giant angled loofah not-a-seedling-any_more. May they grow well together, because they're going to be planted out together...

The little parsley seedlings next to the “giant” angled loofah not-a-seedling-any-more. May they grow well together, because they’re going to be planted out together…

I’ve heard this wail from other gardeners, and now I have to be part of it…

Over two months ago, I sowed seeds of several herbs and waited for them to germinate. I waited, but they didn’t do anything. So, when I had new, fresh seeds, I figured I’d stick them into one of the non-performing seed cups.

Within a few days, the angled loofah seed germinated and started growing lustily. I was pleased, to say the least.

But then a few other things started germinating, and I realized they were one of the herbs I had sowed two months ago. The only problem was that I had removed the marker and now didn’t know which herb it was.

We had to wait a few days for the first permanent leaf to identify it, and ladies and gentlemen, we have parsley!

I hope parsley is a good companion plant for the loofah, because I don’t think it will affect the plants well if I try to separate them now, as the loofah plant is already big enough to be planted out.

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