Showing posts with label ubi badak. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ubi badak. Show all posts

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Unintended companionship, chili and ubi badak

Kakdah must have thrown chili seeds there, just 2 meters away from kitchen door.  When I planted ubi badak early this year... chili seedlings were not there yet. Kakdah fluffed the soil around ubi badak yesterday, and she noticed three chili plants growing and ready to bear fruits!. Flower buds were quite visible, not pest mark, as clean as ubi badak plant. So I thought, ubi badak vines must have chased pests away from chili ,   .the  most vulnerable plants. 


cili and ubi badak

cili and ubi badak


bangchik and kakdah, tanah merah, Kelantan

Friday, April 15, 2011

ubi badak, doing twist

Ubi badak, a luxury, a friend Sofian put it. With purple tuber inside,  ubi badak make it clear they don't wish to hide the royal colour, purple. There is always purple somewhere. The leaves cant help it, the young leaves  have to turn green quick to join with the rest of the green world for photosynthesis.



But ubi badak is good at twist
&
rock and roll too!

Ubi Badak

Ubi Badak

Ubi Badak

Ubi badak

Ubi Badak

Ubi Badak

Ubi Badak

Ubi Badak

Ubi Badak

Ubi Badak


Just wonder how ubi badak put purple all over its body 
and twist its stem at will.

Earlier post on ubi badak 
April 1, 2011: on the ground


bangchik and kakdah
tanah merah

Friday, April 1, 2011

on the ground

We dont have any plant that grows higher than the eye level, not counting kakdah's hanging orchids, and what by the end of the year, the four papaya plants would eventually be. To see flowers is to  look physically down, but flowers remain high in the aesthetic and emotional level. Kakdah will smile, temporarily getting out of whatever is negative and stressful in life, as she walk and lovingly hold the few flowers in the garden.

 flowering plants in clusters, balsam (keembung) and zinnia

Balsam, Malar's giveaways, zinnia from the old Putrajaya garden are flowering. The site is actually reserved for pandan which will soon conquer the area. For now flowerings are grown to fill the empty space.


 basil flowering

 basil getting quite bushy

Basil which is about to be a permanent feature here, is flowering too. The two basil at the back of the house are becoming more bushy after I did a complete pruning of all flower stalks. A few new flowers are coming up and are quite visible.


 a young ubi badak by the fence

 ubi badak, the shoots,
so tender looking.

 ubi itik, another tuber, is a climber too.
I don't know if it will ever produce flower.

 kiwi from seeds, first attempt.
at four leaves, they are growing steady. 
For now, i will let the eventual kiwi fruits grow in my dream.


Hop over to Katarina  to see more.



bangchik and kakdah,

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Ubi Badak, getting out of purple world.

It must be the exciting purple colour that prompted me to grow ubi badak, apart from the ever growing curiosity about local plants. Now there are four of them growing, two with trellis, the other two by the fence. The shoots of ubi badak is everything about freshness.

Arief came over the weekend and made a tour around the compound. He recognised ubi badak at a glance. Six months he said, before ubi badak can be harvested. A few days later Nik, Heim and the rest made a stop here. Nik added another point on ubi badak. Gardeners tale over here mentioned about using ashes to speed ubi badak rooting.

How do I treat ubi badak at this stage?... Ubi badak is like any other climbers. Watering and fertilising is standard for any plant. I will give what they need, I am pretty sure they will reciprocate with big a- few- kilos sized- tubers by the end of the year.

 ubi badak 
(March 2011)
climbing to the top and crawl along trellis.


Thursday, March 10, 2011

Ubi Badak; everything seems to be purple

Ubi badak, the most colourful of all tubers, is ready to be part of our little vegetable garden in Tanah Merah.  We bought more than we can consume, so one ubi badak stayed at the corner until little  purple shoots and roots appeared. A spot is reserved for ubi badak to grow and climb. At least two tubers that I know of, build tubers in the ground but the plants behave like vines, always looking for something higher to climb, one is ubi badak displayed here, the other is ubi itik.

It is nice to see it's rapid growth. Shoots have that beautiful delicate and tender look. I cant visualise how far the plant will grow because I had never seen one, but I was told by the market seller, that the plants behave like vines and require trellis to aloof high up. I am expecting big tuber to be fully developed by the end of the year, and I wonder if the bamboo trellis can stay steady (not rotting) for so long...


Ubi Badak  

the tuber in November 2010


ubi badak, small cuts.
(photo taken in November 2010)

Ubi badak, 
the tuber is about 10 inches long.
(photo taken in November 2010) 




Ubi Badak, 
the latest addition in our garden, March 2011

ubi badak, an early growth 2 weeks ago

beautiful young leaves of ubi badak



Lower leaves start to turn green
just a touch of green - ubi badak
Ubi Badak, such tender leaves
The tip of ubi badak vine
Ubi badak greening or grinning.

Not many have seen ubi badak plant growing, even the kelantanese. There is so much beauty in the way ubi badak letting out roots, pushing up shoots and the leaves changing colour soft purple to green. No wonder the tuber is so beautiful in colour and exquisite in taste.


bangchik and kakdah
Taman Kota Harmoni

Watch out for Blooming Friday post on Feeling Blue, tomorrow.
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