Flowers: color of patriotism

Suitable arrangement for patriotism!!.... We were at the front balcony one day. The flag hoisted for 31 August 2008 independence day of Malaysia still there, but the color remains as bright .... Blue, red, yellow and white.... we were discussing about a suitable flower arrangement to signify the next independence day which is five months away .......

Malaysian Flag
on the front balcony leaning against the railings

red,
(bitter gourd seeds coating)
red
(ixora)

yellow
(the flower of bitter gourd, i love the wavy look
and it is almost floating in the air)

white
I wish I knew the name of the plant. They were
growing at 7 different location in our plot....
This one is at the base of bitter gourd.
update: Julian says Zephyr lily


blue
Hmm... that's the nearest to blue in our plot,
Kakdah has signalled to add more flowers other than veggies...
Now she is busy looking for plants with blue flowers.
I think that calls for another trip to Sungai Buloh!...
or Lili of Blossom Blooms
may shoot some idea....
and I saw blue flowers in several blogs by; gittan, Kim and victoria, and kewee... and many many others..

The arrangement for 2009

Tomato, the fruits are visible.

Now the five plants are fruiting..... I show few snaps here, and I dare not entertain the imagination how big will these little fruits grow into.... I am still saddened by the departure of the sixth plant, a week ago.

I read somewhere about determinate and indeterminate variety.... I am still in the dark about it ... and so is about pinching the suckers ... to what extent?. So vegetable gardening is quite an adventure ..

tomato

tomato

tomato

The sixth tomato plant
was pulled out due to wilting problem,
so we just put marigold on the empty spot....
We are eager to see how marigold will fare in the same spot, fighting off verticillium wilt syndrome as kate ~ themanicgardener and ~ Cathy pointed out in the earlier post My tomato plant is wilting, but why.? ,

birds
checking our tomatoes....

Knack for herbs...

Do I correctly group these plants as herbs?.... Little plants with certain medicinal properties which can be used as salad or ulam, I find it convenient to call them herbs. So scattered somewhere within our little vegetable garden plot in Putrajaya are, pegaga, kesum, selom , ulam raja, tenggek burung and selasih (basil) .... As for kesum, where I come from, kesum is cendehum ...

pegaga
its really a crawler!

Selom
just 3 days forced to continue living.
Kakdah bought these from Putrajaya Presint 8 Market.
We used some for kerabu salad. We saved some for garden....
6 in pots under the shade of gourds.
6 on the ground at the edge of tomato plants plot.
Selom just need water and water!

kesum
planted on the ground.
Kakdah found an easy way out
by planting the whole bunch from polybag bought
at taman pertanian putrajaya expo.
Two Malaysian Ringgit a polybag I think...


Selasih
(Basil)

They were saying about pinching the would be flowers, to keep the plant bushy. We missed doing that, so there are a lot of flowers and some has turned brown... We opened the dry flowers and collect the seeds for the next adventure into basil germination! ...
Our basil smells a cross between lime and serai ....
The next time Kakdah does her tomyam, she is considering putting basil leaves...

Ulam Raja
(Salad fits only for the King!)
Only 10 of these, small and definitely growing...

Ulam Raja
the bigger one.
The shoots are taken for salad or ulam,
then new shoots will emerge.



Tenggek Burung
Oh these shoots are heaven!! Eaten fresh.


Serai
four in a row, a year old and
some has ended up in tomyam soup, rendang ayam etc
in Kakdah's kitchen adventure!...

Tapioca, roots and shoots.

We took home a few cuttings of tapioca, known here as ubi kayu. It took quite some time for the roots and the plants to spring into action in this unfamiliar soil. In the end they grew and grew, and of course we cut off the shoots from time to time for salad or ulam.... Tapioca shoots has to be boiled first!... Wait a while longer, roots become big, and full of starch ....

6 plants of the long leaved type and 4 plants with slightly broader leaves (ubi kuning to folks here). .......

Broad leaved tapioca

Broad leaved tapioca

long leaved tapioca
as ulam, this is the best.

long leaved tapioca

Bitter gourd, green, yellow and red!

They are green and exotic looking while young, but the moment ripening take place, they turn yellowish. Then the outer flesh become soft and they are melting...... The other day we plucked 3 gourds and consumed two... Over time, the third was more or less forgotten. It ripened in the basket..... green turned yellow and then blood red!!

gourd
still hanging

three gourds
taken in, two ended on dining table,
the third forgotten, and remained in the basket

turned yellow

dissected

blood red
coating of seeds

blood red

Community garden in Putrajaya Malaysia

Community gardening is relatively new in Putrajaya, Malaysia. It was sometime last year when the Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi gave it a boost with Program Bumi Hijau (Green Earth Program). That was the time when food crisis was picking momentum and worried leaders worldwide.

I display photographs here about such community gardening in Presint 9, Putrajaya. This community gardening is not the same as allotments which is popular in some countries, over here is very much a community project. A group of people plan and grow things and they divide tasks among themselves and i suppose they share the produce as well ....

These photopraphs were taken yesterday on my way back from Shah Alam. Nobody on the plot, but rows of beautiful and healthy veggies ... There may be people around, later in the day and at weekends.....

Apartment at the back
If I am not mistaken, the participants come from there.

backdrop
oil palms.

rows
of veggies

Brinjals
I think..

Sweet potato?
or ubi keledek

Sawi?

the red spinach

Nice colour arrangement

I will post photos with participants in it, if I happen to cross the place over weekends.. Not very far from my house, 10 minute drive going through 2 roundabouts and 4 traffic lights!!

Senduduk, an experiment on taming a wild plant.

Senduduk has always been wild. The scientific name is Melastoma malabathricum. If land is cleared, amongs the first plant to grow will be senduduk, with its unmistakenly purple flower. The propagation is definitely by birds. The three senduduk with us now in Putrajaya Home is coming to a year and 4 months old. A rare senduduk with white flowers is said to have medicinal properties. But our senduduk has purple flowers.

I walked the other day around our little housing scheme, I saw a different senduduk in an owner's garden. The flowers and leaves are different and they look very much like a tamed or domesticated specie, the leaves are longer and softer, the flowers are of darker purple and a bit elongated.

Recently, a friend took away fresh leaves , because he said, senduduk leaves has rejuvenating elements if mixed with water and pour down as bath. He used them for his daughter who had just delivered a baby boy.

Our senduduks act as demarcation, separating one section to another in our little vegetable garden. The plants are so tough and hardy, and I never see one wilting anywhere in Malaysia!

senduduk

three in a row
and
we let each plant to have 2-3 stems

The leaves

The row
of senduduks, regularly trimmed

The row
of senduduks , regularly trimmed

The stems
are about the size of my big toe!

The stems

and the scars due to prunings.
These stems are definitely bigger than those growing wild,
now that the are tamed and domesticated.

the flower

the colour I like very much

When senduduks are trimmed, the leaves and branches become mulch!... like they say, earth to earth , ashes to ashes .. or in Bahasa Malaysia, pulang ke tanah jua semuanya...