tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86627566558448315032012-01-10T21:31:26.920+08:00About a tropical garden in Malaysia, South East Asia. Maintained by an amateur gardener and his partner who make their own organic compost, grow flowers and vegetables, and have two dogs.julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.comBlogger511100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-26676774292817221722011-09-29T17:57:00.000+08:002011-09-29T17:57:58.629+08:00

We occasionally get visits from civet cats, (the local variety is the Asian Palm Civet, aka Paradoxurus hermaphroditus). Normally it comes by itself and eats some of the stuff we have in the bowl where we leave material for the compost bin, but one morning there were three little ones (kittens?) in a corner of the roof of the wet kitchen. They stayed there for more than an hour. I suppose they

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-17400854736607535902010-02-01T09:54:00.004+08:002011-09-29T17:29:02.153+08:00

(Source: PHD Comics by jorge cham) Thanks for dropping by :) I am now in the process of writing up my PhD, and will only be able to do very intermittent updates of this blog. Please explore the archives (below right) for our experiences in organic tropical gardening and, if you like, visit my other blog anthroblogia where I will be posting a bit more often.

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-29149111091437155302009-12-20T14:01:00.005+08:002009-12-20T14:30:18.513+08:00

In the previous post I identified the Papaya mealy bug - Paracoccus Marginatus on our papaya.So - I checked out what are the possible organic responses and found some good resources:PAN Germany: Describes the uses of chiliGolden Harvest Organics: A list of insects and pests, and appropriate organic repellentsCanadian Country Woman: Describes various bug spraysThe Urban Gardener, and A Canadian in

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-5208073805250748892009-11-29T14:36:00.005+08:002009-11-29T15:12:16.141+08:00

A while ago, WW noticed some white stuff on our papayas, and eventually I got round to looking closerclusters of foam, it seemed like to me, and I wasn't sure if it was a real problem or not... but it spreadand it was clearly affecting the growth...a closer look revealed what looked like eggsbut I still couldn't see the bugs... I thought I spotted it with this brown beetle-like insect, but it was

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-44660922005145522322009-10-22T10:00:00.001+08:002009-10-29T17:04:54.958+08:00

Apart from the Ptychosperma macarthurii (Macarthur palms), we have a couple of palms that are apparently somewhat uncommon, and I'm trying to identify them. They've grown to about 6-8 metres, and are in a clump like the Macarthur palm, though they don't bend outwards in the same way.The closest I can find is Dypsis lutescens, but even there the trunk is not yellow enough.I also got some photos of

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-28256401478315741172009-10-18T22:27:00.004+08:002009-10-18T22:53:12.292+08:00

Our lawn leaves much to be desired - initially it was laid down with 'Pearl grass', which was a bad idea; it did not survive well in the sun, and grew too slowly to recover from any setbacks. Eventually, the whole lawn became a vast sea of weeds.So, we've laid down patches of Philippine lawn grass - it grows quite fast, is hardy, and looks quite OK.It's done all right, spreading slowly. And now

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-63795055181109638742009-10-08T10:00:00.001+08:002009-10-20T13:58:01.974+08:00

Here are some photos that I've been meaning to use for a long time. WW was trimming the bamboo when she came across thisthe twigs growing out of the interstice obviously make good support for a nest, and being inside the clump of bamboo is surely also good protection for the bird and her chicks (who were no longer there when WW cut the bamboo, in case you were wondering).What's interesting,

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-16040121170456577182009-10-04T11:38:00.004+08:002009-10-04T12:10:58.077+08:00

WW planted some yard-long beans, or Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis, and they have started to flower and fruit.But there is also someone else interested in the flowers and beans...I'm not sure what the identification of the ant is. I suspect it's a fire ant (Solenopsis), because if one of them bites me my foot/hand will swell up. But then again I always react dramatically to insect

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-61538236797598569902009-10-01T12:01:00.001+08:002009-10-01T12:01:03.590+08:00

We have a pink frangipani, aka Plumeria rubra, growing on the patio. There was some hesitation in getting it initially, as the frangipani is associated with cemeteries here in Malaysia; but WW decided that a pink one would be OK, as it's the white ones that are in the cemeteries. It has grown well and produces flowers regularly - an interesting factoid about frangipanis is:"Plumeria flowers are

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-49965865628099008662009-09-27T10:56:00.007+08:002009-09-27T11:54:46.031+08:00

One of the challenges of an organic garden is getting enough nutrients into the soil, given that you can't use chemical fertilisers. A great way to address this problem, and reduce your waste that will otherwise go to clog up a landfill somewhere, is to compost your kitchen waste.It's very easy: the basic rule is - no animal products (i.e. meat and dairy). This means it doesn't get smelly, and

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-80965724468802510572009-09-24T14:59:00.001+08:002009-09-24T14:59:00.422+08:00

One of the problems with organic gardening is that you can't just give a blast of insecticide or herbicide from time to time to reduce pests. So far, we haven't had any major problem, so touch wood that continues.Often in the morning I cut some organic mint to make some lovely tea - mint tea is very nice for an unsettled stomach, so it's good when you have a hangover too :)When I was picking off

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-23273630487471627122009-09-21T13:36:00.004+08:002009-09-21T14:57:16.494+08:00

Around the front of our organic garden, we have a raised bed (that used to be a long fish pond I think), which has some Calathea lutea planted, and some Heliconia. I'm not sure exactly how to identify them, but I'm pretty sure they are Heliconia psittacorum (usually called 'birds of paradise' here in Malaysia).The Heliconia are invasive, so it's good they're restrained in the bed. At first I

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-51106610005825311962009-09-16T10:23:00.001+08:002009-09-16T10:23:00.307+08:00

When I was a kid, my brother told me that dragonflies would eat their own tails if they could - I found this really gross and since then have been somewhat repulsed by dragonflies.Anyway. I should be happier to see them, as apparently they eat mosquitoes - which is good! They are of the Odonata order, and "the suborder Epiprocta or, in the strict sense, the infraorder Anisoptera" (from Wikipedia)

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-71074834800292877502009-09-12T12:48:00.001+08:002009-09-12T12:48:00.239+08:00

Previously (Palm tree flowers with bees), I was wondering what type of palm we had and was unsure whether it was a Ptychosperma macarthurii - it looks like one, but I had never seen the red fruits on it.Well, now I'm sure that it must be one - see the red fruits!

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-48807330476948936942009-09-08T11:55:00.000+08:002009-09-08T11:55:00.375+08:00

The other day, while harvesting some of our chillies, WW spotted thisIt seems like some member of the Mantidae family went into the wrong neighbourhood...Normally I welcome spiders gobbling up insects, but maybe in this case it's less good, as apparently Mantises can be good for organic farming because they eat other insects, as do spiders I suppose…Another interesting thing is, similar to the

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-56382473716697322062009-09-05T11:45:00.003+08:002009-09-05T11:54:58.226+08:00

This is a photo of a spider with its web spun on the bamboo in the garden. I don't know how to identify spiders, but I think it is a 'true spider' Araneomorphae (check that link for many photos and subdivisions of Araneae).Doesn't look like much right? A lump of dirt or something… but when you see the other side it's quite surprisingTo me, it looks like some Japanese cartoon character or

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-65900047477057127482009-08-21T12:42:00.005+08:002009-08-21T13:15:16.410+08:00

Well - harvesting may be slightly overstating it, when I only got one fruit :) But it's the first one we got off these trees (a previous fruit was taken by someone). The trees are growing well, although the recent dry weather has not helped particularly, and you can see many fruits in the earlier stages, with couple that should be ready soonand some flowers tooThis was the fruit that was ripeI

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-45847374829762288482009-08-14T10:49:00.004+08:002009-08-14T11:15:17.224+08:00

Papaya, or Carica papaya, is a tree that grows very easily. The first ones we had started more or less by accident, with some seeds thrown on the ground. We replanted those on the grass verge outside our house, but the first batch were either knocked over or pulled up by a stupid contractor, respectively.So we eventually planted out another six, of which four have survived till now (though one is

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-27597895123273629152009-08-11T17:02:00.006+08:002009-08-11T17:24:39.236+08:00

Sorry to anyone out there for not posting for ages, I will try to do better from now on. Brief but regular :)Cili padi (bird's eye chili) are a favourite of most Malaysians, but not that easy to grow I find. They need a well drained soil and tend to do better in pots. Most of our previous attempts failed miserably but this time - aided by loving care from WW and perhaps our vermicompost - it's

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-78269498218190397172009-05-14T11:13:00.004+08:002009-05-14T11:30:16.324+08:00

We have two palms at the back of the garden.I'm not sure what type they are, but it is similar to the MacArthur palm (Ptychosperma macarthurii) - the similarties are that it grows in clusters, and has a similar seed thing, but I never remember seeing red seeds on it. I'd say it's definitely some kind of Ptychosperma, but which one I'm not sure...A few days ago, I noticed that the seed/flower

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-72883547152859040822009-05-05T10:26:00.008+08:002009-05-05T16:17:15.790+08:00

[No posts at all for the whole of April! Tsk tsk...]I had previously tried growing some organic lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus), which ended in a resounding FAIL! But then a helpful reader (A Canadian in King Parakramabahu's Court) suggested getting the roots going in a glass first before putting it in the ground.So I tried it out - after a few days, the stalks started growing outand there was

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-85676576156158585772009-03-23T09:50:00.003+08:002009-03-23T10:29:01.440+08:00

I have not been updating for a while - not because our garden has stopped growing, but because I'm well busy with thisIt's for my research into the monetisation of Malaysian blogs - I'm doing an anthropology PhD on the Malaysian blogosphere, focusing on how monetisation is affecting blogs, bloggers, and blogging.If you read Malaysian blogs, please take the time (5-10 minutes for blog readers, 10-

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-12668645718986962162009-03-01T08:30:00.004+08:002009-03-01T11:00:26.545+08:00

We have an Elephant's Ear in the corner of our garden under a palm tree. It appeared by accident, but I think it's no coincidence as the Elephant Ear likes compost (according to this useful guide to 'General Aroid Care'), and that's where we put a lot of the larger waste that we can't fit in the compost bins.The official name is Alocasia macrorrhizos, and another name is Giant Taro. As you can

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-56125082736897266042009-02-14T13:46:00.005+08:002009-02-14T14:12:12.024+08:00

Worried about being stiffed with overpriced roses, chemically enhanced and flown in from halfway across the world? There is a solution :)Find a few blooms in your gardenput them on the breakfast table and sayI love you :)Dedicated to WW - my love for ever xxx :)PS: Check out the Organic Consumers Association for more ideas.

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-45071820760945749342009-02-11T09:47:00.004+08:002009-02-11T10:10:30.806+08:00

We harvested our organic sweet potato today (there are a couple of more detailed recipes on that post too). One lesson to be learnt is that it needs a climbing frame - it was crawling all over the ground looking for something to climb up; also, the leaves of one of the plants were all small and not a deep green - I think there was too much shade.We didn't get a lot out of it...I separated out the

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-58897108530035602882009-01-28T12:30:00.005+08:002009-01-28T12:58:21.478+08:00

Well, our organic lemongrass (aka Cymbopogon citratus, or serai makan) has died :(I'm not sure why, initially it was doing great, but then started to wilt and go dry. We may have forgotten to water it, but there was rain and all. It's meant to do well in full sun too, which is what it was getting.My guess is the soil was not drained enough, it seems like the stems just rotted away at soil level.

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-62242896094390661192009-01-23T07:28:00.005+08:002009-01-23T08:05:30.191+08:00

The organic mint I grew from cuttings has progressed very well :) Though it's the pot that I was expecting to do less well that has done better - this may have something to do with interfering dogs though... :)It's important to trim the mint so that it gets more bushy, so I took the first opportunity to harvest some to make some tea. It smells wonderful when you cut it, so fresh and invigorating!

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-49895399679615721352009-01-11T16:15:00.006+08:002009-02-12T07:47:05.171+08:00

Also known as Vietnamese mint, Vietnamese cilantro, Cambodian mint and hot mint - Persicaria odorata is not a member of the mint family, *Edit 12/2/2009*: thanks to the anonymous commenter below (Terima kasih!), I now know it is in fact Thai basil, aka Ocimum basilicum var. thyrsiflora. but you can also grow it from cuttings like mint. It may not be organic when you get it from the market, but I

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-59965395921135101112009-01-06T12:42:00.004+08:002009-01-06T13:16:39.944+08:00

Yummy! Another in the 'From market to garden' series - sweet potato leaf is one of my favourite greens, and it never seems to be in the market. It's normally stir fried with garlic, and maybe some lard (sinfully delicious), and the leaves are thicker and smoother than other greens, and not bitter.Anyway, WW got some sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) and planted them.It grows fast! It took about a

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-85806151177367369842008-12-31T15:25:00.002+08:002008-12-31T15:36:35.140+08:00

Here’s another plant that you can grow from what you buy in the market :)Lemongrass, or Cymbopogon citratus, is used in cooking in Malaysia – though not as much as in Thailand. It gives a spicy lemony flavour to food, and anyone who tried Tom Yam (the Thai seafood dish) will recognise it. It’s called serai makan in Malay (literally ‘lemongrass eat’), distinguishing it from serai wangi (‘

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-39981896863285771342008-12-16T12:34:00.001+08:002008-12-16T12:37:45.207+08:00

Sorry for the long hiatus – got a lot on my plate at the moment…Here’s an update on the organic mint cuttings. The ones I put in the water have failed miserablythere was one leaf valiantly hanging on when I took this photo, but it soon went too. Maybe I should have changed the water? Or used clean water originally? I dunno…Anyway, for the other ones I planted most of them died, but some survived

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-42824879235552842982008-12-03T08:01:00.004+08:002008-12-03T08:09:34.151+08:00

Just a short one. There will more pictures of the my parents-in-law's blossoming Tiger Orchid, or Rossioglossum grande later on, but the other night there were two dragonflies on it for some reason. And I found out that a flash at night can have a useful effect sometimes (the black background).

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-38397371993654813012008-11-30T07:10:00.005+08:002008-11-30T07:47:48.502+08:00

Well, I love to have fresh mint tea, and some fresh mint can really improve some dishes, so I've been meaning to grow some for a while now. Typically I buy a bunch like this from the pasar malam (night market) There are many types of mint, but I think this kind is spearmint, or Mentha spicata. It will cost about RM1.50 (apprx. 40 US cents), but the problem is that mint quickly wilts and goes

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-62795103806696713132008-11-24T19:19:00.000+08:002008-11-24T19:21:42.405+08:00

I just harvested the organic vermicompost from my worm bin after leaving it for about eight weeks.There’s a lot I have still to learn, but I’m not displeased with my first harvest – perhaps a kilo of vermicompost. It’s not all dry and in little pellets as it would be if you bought it (e.g. Worm Castings - 30lb), but that’s because they usually sieve it, and so on. I will spread it under my

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-83923361209616119432008-11-20T16:57:00.003+08:002008-11-20T17:04:54.428+08:00

I garden to take time off from a world where everything moves too fast; I garden to learn more about the earth I’m standing on.This is for the Blotanical competition :) If I get one of the books, it's going to my mum in Belgium as it wouldn't be much use to me here in Malaysia...

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-87930057806534214932008-11-20T10:41:00.003+08:002008-11-20T10:46:10.929+08:00

This is another plant spotted on the sidewalk in Vientiane, Laos. I can only guess at what it is – the reddish bamboo-like stalks reminded me of the Zingiberaceae (ginger) family, which is surprisingly large as I am finding out recently – there are more than 1300 species, and even turmeric is part of the ginger family (which I should have guessed, having seen fresh turmeric root on sale in the

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-81263975272880802492008-11-18T11:48:00.003+08:002008-11-18T11:54:55.209+08:00

Just to continue on the ornamental grass theme – here is an example of how common they are (photo taken somewhere near Kasi, Laos). You can see the white heads spreading all along the field here.Here is a closer shot of the right-hand side of the above scene. I think that they are of the Pennisetum genus, possibly the Pennisetum alopecuroides. Though I wasn’t close enough to be able to see them

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-65261081045134952002008-11-10T09:57:00.003+08:002008-11-10T10:01:34.775+08:00

(hope this post goes up, the previous one doesn't appear on the blog for some reason...)I got up for the sunrise this morning, and managed to catch this photo of some ornamental grass (at least that's what it would be called in a garden setting, I suppose) with the sunrise.

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-38560671543466091702008-11-09T14:48:00.003+08:002008-11-09T14:54:30.307+08:00

Well, I think they are hibiscus. What struck me first about this tree was that there seemed to be flowers of different colours on the same plant - but now I think of it, it's probably two plants intertwined.Anyway, I thought it looked very nice :)

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-47542043505320736022008-11-05T23:25:00.002+08:002008-11-05T23:30:27.795+08:00

I'm in Laos right now, so I'll try to post some photos of garden related things. I won't be able to look them up and give their proper names and all that though.Here are three lovely lilies (? I think) I saw in some pots outside a small hotel. The photos don't really do them justice, their colours were so clear and sparkling they almost looked like artificial flowers.

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-66835735753867543592008-10-25T11:01:00.005+08:002008-10-25T11:49:53.682+08:00

Well, I thought that it would take a lot longer, but after only four days, one of the Zephyr lilies has bloomed already :) I measured it approximately, and it grew about 20 cm in four days! I’m impressed.Maybe our vermicompost helped :)

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-8347041607805771872008-10-22T07:42:00.005+08:002008-10-22T07:51:52.649+08:00

We got these flowers from our aunt in Pontian, and they have kept alive but not always thrived – with no help from Gambit as a puppy, who liked to dig up everything! They have got better recently and started to bloom more often.I managed to identify the variety quickly in Plants for Tropical Landscapes, which is one of the books I have. It’s a good one as it has pictures for all the plants, and

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-45002716919489218042008-10-16T09:24:00.003+08:002008-10-16T09:48:14.696+08:00

Our latest kacang botol (goa beans, winged beans, Psophocarpus tetragonolobus) plant has started to produce (for photos of growth stages see this earlier post).This was seven days agoThis was todayand this is what we got out of itIt's enough for one dish, and would sell in the local market for RM1-2 (USD 0.25-0.5), so it's not like we're saving loads of money, but... it's organic, it will taste

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-59910993273759818912008-10-14T18:34:00.004+08:002008-10-14T18:44:18.327+08:00

I only knew that this was a kind of Calathea, and after much searching, I finally got the right one (tip – try Google Image instead of all the taxonomic databases!). It’s a Calathea lutea. There are some photos from a Malaysian here, and A Neotropical Savanna has some detailed information – apparently it is native to South/Central America (for example, Costa Rica), and the leafs can be used to

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-13666649307024972532008-10-11T18:07:00.006+08:002008-10-11T18:52:47.587+08:00

WW has kindly allowed me to take over one of her worm bins, and I fed them for the first time a couple of days ago. Vermicomposting is an easy way to turn your kitchen scraps into great organic compost. We made our own worm bins but, if you want a more fancy setup, the cheapest 'Worm factory' on Amazonis US$66.95, and they also sell wormsby the pound.Another option is to check out

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-5857876568303078252008-10-08T08:57:00.005+08:002009-04-09T17:28:58.757+08:00

Here are a few photos taken after we had started our attempt to reclaim the lawn. We cleared an area and laid down some sods of Philippine grass (as it’s called here) – it’s almost impossible to find grass seeds here for some reason.I’m not sure what the exact name of the grass is, it seems to be some kind of Cynodon I think, because it creeps along the ground, propagating via stolons and

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-29695833451272855102008-10-06T09:38:00.004+08:002008-10-06T10:05:54.820+08:00

It's called 'kacang botol' here, which means 'bottle bean' literally - but there may be some other meaning I'm not aware of; it's also known as the 'four angle bean'. Its Latin name is Psophocarpus tetragonolobus, and is also know as the Winged bean, or Goa bean. IAnyway, I didn't know all that before, and nor did I know that it's a very good nitrogen fixer and you can eat the leaves and

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-17955416361348261572008-10-03T16:46:00.004+08:002008-10-03T16:55:43.915+08:00

A real one too, not metaphorical... ;)Unfortunately for the snake, it's dead :(I think it's a Common House Snake, aka Common Wolf Snake (which sounds more exciting). The Latin name is Lycodon capucinus. They eat frogs, so I guess that's what is was after in the garden, as we always have a couple of them. It was about 40-50cm long.The Singapore Snakes Blog has a much more detailed post.For

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-80102886891248801062008-10-01T09:53:00.005+08:002008-10-01T10:01:01.855+08:00

Well, insects eating leafs are not always my favourite sight, but the methodical planning of this one struck my eyeEating around the edge firstbefore, 8-9 minutes later, starting to tuck into it properlyI think it's some kind of hemiptera. The plant is a weed

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-12602688305310264172008-09-30T13:24:00.006+08:002008-09-30T13:47:15.960+08:00

Okra, also known as lady finger or bhindi is officially called Abelmoschus esculentus. The name 'okra' comes from West Africa, as someone told me when I worked in Nigeria, and it's popular for thickening the stew that goes with garri.Anyway, we planted some and found that they grew easily. In the full sun with not a lot of care or attention needed. The only problem is that each plant does not

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8662756655844831503.post-63687097735517053652008-09-26T13:43:00.000+08:002008-09-26T13:57:53.922+08:00

I find my lotus - in a pot in a heavily sunlit area - flowers about once every 3-4 months. It works in cycles, with it dying down and most of the leaves dying, then the leaves come back and then the flower comes. I use a fertiliser recommended for lotus and always try to keep the water full. Usually there is only one flower at a time, but once I had two.Here is one lotus blooming. From start to

julianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09995954836400807202noreply@blogger.com4