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looking up.
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The whole bitter gourd plants are lightweight in nature and look. The two plants climb up and spread at the top of the trellis with the help of flexible tendrils. Tendrils just grab anything in sight, most on the bamboo structure but sometime on their own stems and stalks. The fruits are allowed to hang and by doing so the fruits will develop nicely and proportionately unless beetles choose to bore at some stage of the development. Some branches that has gone out of the way and fall, require our help to put them back where they are suppose to be... going up and rest on the trellis. A branch was more adventurous by stretching far and get attached to the hibiscus nearby. I have to entangle that..
Watering is still twice everyday, morning and evening. Fertiliser is once every fortnight, poultry pellets and liquid fertiliser spray. So far insects shy away from bitter gourd plants. Beetles that have been munching cucumber leaves are very busy there, and have not considered bitter gourds their second home. Yesterday Kakdah took one gourd, and fried the sliced gourd with shrimps. Tasty!
At the moment there are 8 fruits dangling at various stage of maturity.
When ever there is wind,
the fruits will sway sweetly,
welcoming the rare visit of natural friend.
bangchik
Watering is still twice everyday, morning and evening. Fertiliser is once every fortnight, poultry pellets and liquid fertiliser spray. So far insects shy away from bitter gourd plants. Beetles that have been munching cucumber leaves are very busy there, and have not considered bitter gourds their second home. Yesterday Kakdah took one gourd, and fried the sliced gourd with shrimps. Tasty!
At the moment there are 8 fruits dangling at various stage of maturity.
When ever there is wind,
the fruits will sway sweetly,
welcoming the rare visit of natural friend.
bangchik
They look great! I'm going to make it a goal to try them again this year. With a more open mind...
ReplyDeleteThey look so cool hanging on the arbor.. Enjoy them ..
ReplyDeletehugs, Cherry
They certainly are not low-maintenance vegetables, but gourd with shrimps...sounds so yummy!.
ReplyDeleteOh your trellis is lovely, a little piece of art. I love looking at the more usual (to me) things you grow xx
ReplyDeleteI love how the little tendrils grasp onto almost anything :-)
ReplyDeleteBitter gourd plant is tender but it's amazing at how the heavy gourds manage to hang!
ReplyDeleteWendy ~ They seem to be growing I agree, but bitter gourd has leaves of slightly yellowish green. Thus they really lack that healthy green look. But that is bitter gourds... I hope bitter gourds will be kind to you this year Wendy. haha..
ReplyDeletecherry ~ yeap, they look cool hanging that way stretching the branch and the tendrils. Very elastic surprisingly..
Tatyana@MySecretGarden ~ Fried bitter gourd with shrimps is the quickest menu, but not bad a taste. Sometime Kakdah loves to cook it with coconut milk which is called "masak lemak".... and that is exquisite!
Carrie ~ Thanks carrie, for such a compliment. It is the simplest structure, four legs and light beams and little struts at the top. Lightweight structure for lightweight plants.
ReplyDeleteNoelle ~ Tendrils are fascinating element of a plant. First they grab anything in sight, laughable at times when they grab their own stalks and stems. Then tendrils have coils which act like spring, to allow flexibility against the wind and the weight of their own fruits.
Malar ~ Judging by the size of gourds, it is quite amazing how they hang nicely. Upon scrutiny we can see how stems and tendrils are stretched to accommodate the weight.
Cheers, Have a nice day.
~BANGCHIK
What a clever way to grow these gourds. I've never heard of them before, very interesting. :)
ReplyDeleteperennialgardener ~ I have been growing these gourds every year. It will take quite some time to bear fruits therefore i am not too sure if they will grow successfully in 4-season climate....
ReplyDeleteAaronVFT ~ thanks aaron.., we use limbs to climb but they use tendrils..
ReplyDelete