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

Harvesting Kale or Kailan

I had two rows of kale growing. They were doing fine without any real sign of pest bites. I had a choice, taking one or two plants as necessary for Kakdah's menu, or pull out all of them. Then we decided to pull out all, and shared with neighbours. The closest neighbours are Sharifah, Laili and Mumtaz, each got their share... Kakdah wrapped them with old newspaper and distributed them. She joked with Laili "Akak jual kailan ari ni...."

Kale harvest.

too many kale, some fell off

The two rows of Kale / Kailan... now no more.

Our little garden somehow evolves

 into an interesting social focal point 

around the neighbourhood.  

It's kale now, 

and something else next week

bangchik and kakdah

johor

Three rows of vegetable bed

Kangkung, kale, sweet peas, and peanuts are lining up in the raised vegetable bed. Peanuts had been here for months, seems to stop flowering for a while but busy sending roots right from the stem straight into the ground for the eventual peanuts. Kangkung (water spinach), kale and sweet peas are of the same age, sown together and transplanted on the same day. Kangkung don't seem to pose any problem..., they just keep on growing. Some of the kale are adding the third leaves, some simply wilt and fall flat. Lucky that I have so many extras, which is so handy to replace them.

Sweet peas are real teasers. Their game had been hide and seek. I have been trying again and again, but somehow they are not up to it. They simply dry up and die young..... not even with the first bloom. I guess they hate too much sunlight. Now there is netting for the three rows......

 

 three rows of vegetable bed with netting.

 

three rows of  kangkung

sweetpeas at both ends, 

and three rows of little kale in the middle

peanuts / groundnuts / kacang tanah
far left.

bangchik and kakdah

Tanah Merah, Kelantan

Sowing Kale / Kailan: I never do this before.

We don't have acres of vegetable farm. So, for small vegetable garden around the house, we sow just about enough seeds, ranging between 10 to 20. Trouble with seeds is that they deteriorate over time..... Once a seed packet is opened,  quality of seeds is on the downhill. We should be very frustrated to sow seeds from the same packet  6 months later for new batch of plants, if none sprout. I have come across the frustrating situation a number of times.

We recently decided to give Kale / Kailan a chance. We spread out the whole content onto seeding pots...., with the intention of choosing the healthiest and not willing to keep extra seeds in an opened packet.

Here we are... more than a hundred!

kale germinating in little brown pots

kale germinating in a black tray

 little kale seedling

 little kale seedlings

We may include a little variation with growing kale..... a row in raised vegetable bed, in black polybags using different combination of growing media.  Cocopeat and rice husk. Last night, Mr Noor brought a big sack of rice husk he took from a paddy factory in Pasir Putih, for free..... Noor is also a keen gardener in Tanah Merah.

bangchik and kakdah

Taman Kota Harmoni, Tanah Merah 

Kelantan

Kale: CCA and readiness to flower.

Growing Kale with cut and come again

(menanam kailan dengan teknik potong dan tumbuh lagi)

Kale was introduced into our Putrajaya garden by late July 2010. They were grown in four large containers. When they were three months old, I harvested all using cut and come again (CCA). Two of them were allowed to carry on in Tanah Merah, and the other two containers were emptied for something else.  Three months after CCA treatment, kale shows every indication of readiness to bloom. One plant is allowed to grow until bloom  while the other was regularly cut for dinner.

 the old scar, after CCA.

Kale is not secretive about blooming. 
The stem that grow with long inter nodes and  long leaves is not lying about the imminent burst of yellow flowers.

These are new batch of Kale
ready to replace the aging plants. 

bangchik and kakdah, menanam kailan di kebun Tanah Merah Kelantan

previous post on cut an come again:

Earlier posts on current kale  

30.10.2010 Cut and come again with kale

06.9.2010 Kale is set to sail

20.8.2010 kale strengthening its stem. 6 leaves

14.8.2010 kale is here  5 leaves

06.8.2010 a tale of kale 3 leaves

31.7.2010 Introducing Kale into the garden. 2 leaves

cut and come again with kale

kale 1
Cut and Come Again is a technique to harvest again and again, where the plants bounce back and continue to grow and yield additional harvests of delicious produce. But the soil must be healthy to support such energetic growth. I am trying with kale for the moment. 

kale 2

kale 3a

kale 3b

kale 4a

kale 4b

Earlier posts on current kale  

06.9.2010 Kale is set to sail

20.8.2010 kale strengthening its stem. 6 leaves

14.8.2010 kale is here  5 leaves

06.8.2010 a tale of kale 3 leaves

31.7.2010 Introducing Kale into the garden. 2 leaves

bangchik

Kale is set to sail

kale in four containers

The picture was taken very earlier in the morning.

 kale in four containers
a view from the other end.

container 1

 container 2

container 3

container 4

At this stage after a month since transplanting, the plants are concentrating on making the leaves grow bigger. The stems has increased rigidity and are able to withstand winds.  Growth at this stage is not really about adding more leaves, but enlarging what already there. My attempts a year or two ago seemed to fare better for those grown on bed. This time they became food for the colony of green grasshoppers.  Those in containers survive well to harvest. 

Watering still twice daily, fertilizing once a week.

Earlier posts on current kale

20.8.2010 kale strengthening its stem. 6 leaves

14.8.2010 kale is here  5 leaves

06.8.2010 a tale of kale 3 leaves

31.7.2010 Introducing Kale into the garden. 2 leaves

bangchik

on kale

 

kale strengthening its stem.

kale growing steadily in pots

a close up of kale

I love the character of these leafy vegetables. They don't really sit upright, the way we expect them to do.  The close up is showing kale forming a less than accurate, of letter S. The bottom part of the stem will harden and become woody. Before that happens, the whole plant will collapse whenever there is gutsy wind. Almost invisible to the eyes, the plant will rise and get back to the upright position hours later. The bottom part is so small compared to the  fatter and greener part of the stem.

They are no more babies as in the earlier post of  kale is here ,  a tale of kale  and Introducing Kale into the garden. Wait a while longer, then some leaves can be cut for a fried menu.

my little vegetable garden, bangchik and kakdah

kale is here

 Growing Kale

(Menanam kailan)

They are of the same age, but the surroundings, the soil they grow in,  and the amount of sunlight they are getting must have influenced their growth. The two raised beds treat kale differently. The first is in the open, full sunlight with chilies, basil, lemon grass, asin-asin as neighbours. The second bed is a little shaded, with rain lilies, kadok plants and a few potted plants as neighbours. The first bed seem to be generous to grasshoppers. The poor plants are marked heavily..... to the grasshoppers, those bite marks are sign language they are very familiar with, which reads "I was here!". The other shady bed is alright, grasshoppers are not keen, therefore leaves are full . Grasshoppers don't venture out to the pots so far...

Kale in pot

Kale in pot

Kale in shady raised bed
grasshoppers dont like shady area, I guess.
oh, needs weeding!!

kale in open raised bed

grasshoppers show no sympathy! 
dry grass used as mulch to offset the scorching heat. 

Watering is still twice daily, 

foliage spray and organic poultry fertilizers applied weekly.

Earlier post:
a tale of kale
Introducing Kale into the garden.

bangchik

a tale of kale

four pots alongside the house

the picture was taken on a hot sunny noon. The cages were placed on top, to discourage cats from enjoying their poo-time right on the soil. The pots had earlier nurtured the stages of growth for cabbages.

Nine kale seedlings on raised bed on a hot sunny noon. 

Too small to see them, but the shadow of the photographer is big. Is that bangchik?

close-up of Kale

coming to the fourth leaf

another little kale

These are known as kale or kailan, the bluish green leafy vegetables. We grew these few years back. The plant is quite hardy and is able to withstand the hot noons. From the past experience, kale or kailan takes longer time to mature, more than pak choy. But within two months, dinner can be planned with kale as star-menu.

Rains are shying away these few weeks, leaving the ground dry and dry. So watering has to be the standard; twice daily, morning and evening...... The seedlings are now getting used to the new environment after transplanting. The roots will surge and grip hard to provide stronger foundation for bigger and heavier weight at the top. For now, I expect pests to leave kailan or kale alone.......

earlier post: Introducing Kale into the garden.

 

bangchik

An approach in container gardening.

Container gardening is versatile

on parsley

I have been trying to grow parsley from seeds without any success. I have grown parsley with those bought from the store before. Recently Kakdah bought parsley. She cut off the stalks and leaves except for the shoots and keep them in refrigerator. I place the remaining stumps in a container.

parsley

on serai or lemon grass

This is not the way lemon grass is normally grown. Kakdah cut off the usable part leaving a small portion at the base. The top parts are used for her masak lemak tempoyak ikan patin. The remaining portions are placed into a container with the hope that they will sprout little babies.

freshly cut serai or lemon grass

serai or lemon grass

old and new

on chili

Kakdah did an overhaul work at the front porch. She cleans up the place and does some minor adjustment. She took out pots with young chili in and place them under the bushes of marigold. After a while, the pots are forgotten. A month later, I saw these little chili struggling for breath and space to grow. I did total pruning on the bigger one, and leave the smaller one untouched.  Within a week, the pruned chili gear up all its energy to sprout new and fresh looking leaves.

small chili

the new branches and shoots, after a total pruning.

chili

the bottom half

chili

total pruning and undisturbed

on Kale
this is not about kale, but the container itself. I am accidentally into recycling...

cooking oil plastic container recycled with kale

on pennywort

pegaga or pennywort

the container will slowly be filled with water.

a little pond.

bangchik