Betik, Papaya, five lobes. (update no 4)

Someone was saying, a female papaya plant will have more five lobe leaves than  three lobe,  Now I am beginning to see five love leaves emerging....

papaya seedlings

papaya seedlings

papaya seedlings

previous updates

• Growing papaya, different health level (update no 3)
• Growing papaya, the scrutiny ( update no 2)
• Growing papaya, a closer look (update no 1)

• 
  

bangchik and kakdah

vegetable garden

Growing papaya, different health level (update no 3)

It's a habit  to germinate more than required. I suppose it's alright since we can progressively pull out the weaker ones. Now there are more than 30 seedlings growing at the front yard.  Plants are definitely getting stronger now, enjoying the sunlight and the fertiliser ! Each on average has 6 big leaves plus a few young shoots.  Judging by the pace they are growing,  there should not be any problem to transplant in the new Seri Iskandar Home, some 300km north.

papaya seedlings

Papaya seedlings

Papaya seedlings

Previous updates on PAPAYA

• Growing papaya, the scrutiny (update no 2)
• Growing papaya, a closer look (update no 1)

bangchik and kakdah

vegetable gardening

Growing papaya, the scrutiny ( update no 2)

It's easy to throw seeds where we want them to finally grow and leave it to nature to deal with it. That has been the way forests evolve and sustain for million of years. Of course man, animals, rivers, seas and winds help seeds to disperse and grow further away than their mother plants.

It's papaya now. A papaya bought from Putrajaya Presint 8 Market had been peeled and consumed. The seeds then let to dry for a week and germinated in polybags. Some were placed in germinating tiny pots.  Their cotyledon leaves were very pronounced last week (Growing papaya, a closer look (1)),  even though some had pushed out tiny 4th and 5th leaves.

Growing papaya 

At this stage, third and fourth leaves had grown larger. with some showing the lobes.  We placed seedlings into poly bags and wait for them to grow bigger and taller. And at this stage it would not be easy to distinguish the females from the males. Tiny fifth and sixth leaves are quite visible in most seedlings.

papaya seedlings pic1

papaya seedlings pic2

papaya seedlings pic3

papaya seedlings in polybags and spinach seedlings in round pots pic4

We plan to transplant the papaya seedlings into Seri Iskandar Home in Perak  during long Christmas / New Year holidays, some 300 km north.  Hopefully the tiny seedlings will get stronger  to endure the long journey and settle in a new environment.

bangchik and kakdah

vegetable garden

Growing papaya, a closer look (update no 1)

Papaya is betik in our language. It's a short lived plant,  The first attempt in Putrajaya way back in 2009 and 2010 lasted to the end, died due to termites attack. It had given numerous fruits during its healthy life. Another attempt in 2011, of five papaya in Tanah Merah Kelantan was much shorter simply because we moved to Pasir Gudang, but we did enjoy a few fruits...

Now we are germinating papaya seeds for Seri Iskandar home, the house we would eventually settle down soon. We will wait for the seedlings to toughen a little bit with 8 - 12 leaves. We cannot be planting more than 15 seedlings due to limited space.

Now we are baby sitting the little seedlings.....

Papaya seedlings

Papaya seedlings - three leaves

Papaya seedlings - 3 leaves 

Papaya seedlings, 4 leaves

Harvest of the day : KALE

Harvest of the day: ONION LEAVES

Early Sunday morning, we pulled out kale and onions. They looked fresh, and lunch was very much home garden based.

_____________bangchik and kakdah_____________

vegetable garden

seedlings and seedlings

Seeds will be obsolete if stored for far too long especially in the kind of weather we are having in Malaysia.  One eggplant was allowed to grow and grow and finally turned yellow. It was so big. I scooped out seeds, and it could easily be thousands.  I germinated immediately, filling up 104-tray. There is no intention of selling them at all, and the whole process is to satisfy my earlier hypothesis that fresh seeds will germinate better.

So, as expected every single seed germinated...... 104!. The most I am going to use is 20 in the vegetable patch over the left side of the backyard.... The rest is for the neighbours and visitors, - kakdah's green giveaways, in a down to earth reply to modern cry - sustainable living. Kakdah may not have the capacity to champion 500,000 strong march down Kuala Lumpur for green living or stop jungle clearing campaign. And all she has is the green pencil to give some colour to the canvas in form of little seedlings giveaways....

eggplant seedlings

two rows of zinnia on the left,  a tray of spinach on the right

After years of  germination attempts,  we can almost gauge what's the outcome, given the age of seeds and weather conditions.  My way is crude, no lab, no meter readings.... just plain layman approach. Like an old fisherman who can tell storm is coming, not repeating weatherman's report on TV but understanding the tingling feeling at ear lobes..... hmmmm...hmmm... haha.

___________________________

bangchik and kakdah

mylittlevegetablegarden

germination for little backyard garden.

It's alright to act small for small backyard garden. I am referring to germinating seeds. It's kale or kailan, chinese celery or daun sup, red okra or bendi merah and pak choy.  I placed a pinch of seeds in each, in an attempt to see at least one seedling appear in each pot.

I am trying something different for a change. A portion of rectangular raised bed is reserved for all these, mixing them up with no particular pattern. It would be fun to see the wild side of vegetables as they try to grow, elbowing each other in a tight space...

red ladys fingers /okra/ bendi merah seedlings

zinnia seedlings

zehneria / timun tikus seedlings

clitoria ternatea seedlings / anak pokok bunga telang

seedlings

seedlings

seedlings

Out of the many, zehneria from cambodia, pak choi, zinnia, marigolds, okra had germinated earliest. Chinese cellery, tricolour amarant had been very quiet without any sign of germination.  I am going to mix them up in one vegetable bed. Call it intensive gardening, square foot gardening, or companion planting, all refer to plants grown closely together. That's the intention for the next project. Okra will give height, the rest will grow below. With zinnias planted together, I am imagining how the vegetable will look like, extremely colourful!

bangchik and kakdah

johor

Rooftop vegetable gardening: chili centil

There is no turning back with Tanah Merah rooftop gardening. They have fixed the date of transplanting, and expected first day for harvest. The rule of thumb with chili centil is, sow the seeds today, transplanting will be a month from now. So the date of transplanting at the rooftop will be 19th of May 2011.  History in the making I would say,  not about growing chili, but the willingness to stretch the dream far and  take calculated risk.

The seedlings are growing well at our front porch...., my new make shift germination laboratory. I need to adjust thinking beyond my normal adventure, enough for household consumption. One thousand seedlings is something else....... and the gap between a part time gardener and full time farmer is getting closer.

chili seedlings in smaller tray (photo1)

chili seedlings (photo 2)

chili seedlings (photo 3)

chili seedlings, the sheer number (photo 4)

chili seedlings (photo 5)

chili seedlings, lower shelve (photo 6)

chili seedlings lower shelve (photo 7)

chili seelings, lower shelve (photo 8)

chili seedlings, lower shelve ( photo 9 )

chili seedlings( photo 10)

germination laboratory (photo 11)

This rooftop gardening entrepreneurial endeavor augers well with the 23 new initiatives on economic transformation program announced by our Prime Minister recently.

I would love to hear comments from you readers, ..., 

what you think of rooftop vegetable gardening with chili, 

opinions and advice 

you can think of about the whole idea, 

and lastly which photo you like best.

bangchik and kakdah, gardening advisory.

Germinating, Lettuce, pak choy, marigold, giant sunflower

I am off for another round of vegetable growing. Some seeds were bought in February this year, and left idle for two months. Giveaway seeds from gardeners/bloggers still not tried out yet. So last Saturday, I decided to try them out.

Germination, in trays. Newspaper on top. 

10 april 2011

 

Some seeds emerged first, the rest still taking their own sweet time. After rounds of germination, we appreciate that some seeds are very impatient, to see the light of day, some prefer to continue sleeping and will wake up a lot later.

 

Pak Choy

pak choy seedlings

14th of April 2011

 

pak choy seedlings

 14th of April 2011

pak choy seedlings

14th of April 2011

 

pak choy seedling - close-up

14th of April 2011

 

Lettuce

 

lettuce seedlings

 14th of April 2011

lettuce seedlings

14th of April 2011

lettuce seedlings - close-up

14th of April 2011

 

 Spinach

Spinach seedlings

 14th of April 2011

 I would go along with Kakdah suggestion to put them in pots. We bought 50 medium size white pots a few months back. These veggies will look nice in them. They will be placed at front car porch, to ease watering, fertilising and of course harvesting! It wont take long for these vegetables to mature...

bangchik and kakdah

Tanah Merah, Kelantan

a little bit ambitious

seedlings

seedlings

Those are many by our standard. The yard is small, hence the little vegetable garden. After years of gardening, I tend to become less calculative. I used to be so exact, meaning I wont germinate more than needed.

Germinating from fresh seeds is so reliable, that we can always guarantee the percentage of success. Leftover seeds pose a little bit of problem. Not all will germinate, and some become so thin. Some died before transplanting. It seems that seeds age over time. But the most wonderful part of seeds survival is shown by spinach, they survive within the wetness of the soil, and they just need that little signal to sprout after staying dormant for a couple of years. Once the bed is cleared, they react!!

To be on the safe side, I germinate more than needed. It does give a picture of me being a little bit ambitious, but the truth is I am trying to be reasonable, calculative and choosy!.. I can choose the best.......

bangchik

Putrajaya Malaysia

Germinating cucumber seeds

cucumber seeds 

Another first attempt, cucumber. As anything else, the first always comes with anxiety, tremendous urge to know more and overwhelmed with anticipation. The seeds look sparkling clean, so very white.  I soaked them for 2 days and yet no sign of roots coming out. Most seeds would have the seed coats broken if soaked for a couple of days. I googled and found this  information at Plant info, pictures and care instructions for Cucumber Garden . DAYS TO GERMINATION ~ Average 8 days | Min 1 days | Max 101 days (186). There is real mystery in germination of cucumber given such a spread on possibility of days of germination, with average of 8 days, minimum of 1 day and maximum of 101 days over 186 observations.

I then change the seeds into little pots to give them a new place. 

 I religiously put a few drops of water 

into the little pots everyday.  

Still no sign after three weeks.

Then one day, I loosen up the soil. 

No seeds, 

all soil...

I am not going to give any guesses... But I definitely am back to the drawing board.

~ bangchik

Some notes:

The seed contains the embryo of the new plant, with a supply of food for the embryo until it has formed sufficient roots and leaves to obtain its own food. The food, endosperm, may be in the seed leaves or it may be outside the seed leaves and be absorbed when the seed germinates. To start germination, the seed leaves absorb water and swell, and the radicle emerges, followed by the plumule. For some seeds, their future germination response is affected by environmental conditions during seed formation; most often these responses are types of seed dormancy.

Water - is required for germination. Mature seeds are often extremely dry and need to take in significant amounts of water, relative to the dry weight of the seed, before cellular metabolism and growth can resume.

Oxygen - is required by the germinating seed for metabolism

Temperature - affects cellular metabolic and growth rates. Seeds from different species and even seeds from the same plant germinate over a wide range of temperatures. Seeds often have a temperature range within which they will germinate, and they will not do so above or below this range. Many seeds germinate at temperatures slightly above room-temperature 60-75 F (16-24 C),

Light or darkness - can be an environmental trigger for germination and is a type of physiological dormancy. Most seeds are not affected by light or darkness, but many seeds, including species found in forest settings, will not germinate until an opening in the canopy allows sufficient light for growth of the seedling.

~bangchik