green leafy vegetables in our little garden.

Leafy vegetables, leafy greens, sayur hijau all refer to the same thing. Plant leaves are eaten as vegetables, either raw as salads or cooked; stir fried, stewed, boiled or steamed.  I love growing leafy vegetables because they do provide exciting view, green, thriving and soothing.  Seeds are cheap and we can grow by hundreds. Most grow so quick that in a matter of weeks they are ready for steady harvest.

bayam

It is always bayam to us here. We can get them cheap at the market, but growing bayam ourselves is something else. It is always nice to have bayam right at the backyard ready to be cut for a lovely lunch or dinner.  Sometimes it is called amaranth tricolour. A friend said, one should buy seeds only once,  then after one should keep saving seeds when the plants flower and produce seeds. The seeds are black in colour, so small that a pinch could contain hundred of seeds.

They are slightly more than two months, and now they are already flowering. That's bayam, at after two months, they are considered old or ancient.

bayam

bayam

ulam raja

We never miss growing ulam raja. It is quite strong against pests and wind. Picking the shoots for fresh salad never kill them, in fact will promote development of side shoots, turning the plant into  bushy ornamental herb.

ulam raja

ulam raja

kangkung

kangkung, or water spinach is known as poor man's veggie. It can propagate by cuttings, but the most usual way is by seeds. And like the above veggies, kangkung will bloom and produce seeds in a short time. This veggie is unique, because once it sets, it will keep growing and crawl where ever it wishes. Heavy pruning will give the plant a fresh start all over again. 

kangkung / water spinach

kangkung / water spinach

water spinach

The three leafy green will always be with us, placed somewhere at the backyard.  I am eyeing at other leafy greens to be included here. The one foot square vegetable bed, will be an adventurous site to trying as many as I can squeeze.

bangchik and kakdah

pasir gudang JOHOR

The story of Amaranth tricolor in our garden

Amaranthus tricolor

or bayam.

young amaranth tricolor 

It all started 2 years ago. Kakdah bought a bunch of tricolor amaranth or simply bayam merah or bayam batik.She picked the leaves for her usual fried menu. I saved the stems as she was about to throw them into the bin. I experimented getting  cuttings of the tricolor amaranth to grow. A few grew.... but they flowered quickly because they were behaving like the original plant which was almost matured. Then our little garden witnessed the most prolific example of reseeding or resowing again and again.

In the kind of weather that we have, and the limited time and space that I have, amaranth has been behaving well in pots and keep producing excellent and healthy veggie.

Amaranthus tricolor is simply the most prolific vegetable that will never leave our garden.

We will soon be heading home, for Raya Holidays. The blog will rest for a week, 
in time to capture changes that may occur 
due the current  active rain spell .

Selamat Hari Raya or Eid ul-Fitr  

bangchik's garden

with amaranth tricolor