Okra and mung beans companionship

Okras were planted  middle of December last year. I purposely planted mung beans alongside, because mung beans are the easiest to grow and will remain healthy till all seed pods turn black.  Okras on the other hand are plants with  tender stems. Over the years I have been growing okras,  they will always surrender to winds and bow to the ground. But somehow when we prop them up, they will continue growing.

I just hope, mung beans will take away some of wind pressure, allowing okras to wobble a bit through wind but remain upright.  It's a bit windy after 5.00pm over here till sunset, i notice one two bend a little bit, but the rest remain steady.

One interesting observation is that whatever insect that finds okra leaves so tasty never touch mung bean leaves.  Mung beans cant distract those insects away from okras . I will try other companions the next planting. For now, I am happy with mung beans taking away a portion of wind pressure and probably do nitrogen fixing to improve the soil too.

Okra's little buds.

Okra's little bud

Okra with ulam raja dry branches as support

Clean mung beans leaves against Okra leaves with holes

Clean mung beans leaves against Okra leaves with holes

bangchik and kakdah
garden: presint 8, putrajaya

Sorghum, I am counting.

SORGHUM

picture from  How a Sorghum Plant Develops

www.soilcropandmore.info

There are 3 types of sorghum, namely grain sorghum, sweet sorghum and broom corn. I am currently growing grain sorghum which will produce tall panicles. The first trial was with 20 plants. They are doing well right now.  Fourteen of  them had heads towering high. The rest are queueing, within a week all heads will appear.

The next stage is to keep watering when weather is hot, and wait for plants to dry up for harvest.  From far sorghums look very much like corns, except for flower and grains appear at the top, nothing in between leaves.

Sorghum grains 

Two rows of sorghum

bangchik and kakdah
Garden: Presint 8, Putrajaya

Papaya can tell stories.

We can see a gap between the lower  fruits, and the upper fruits. The gap is due to last year's  dry season which was particularly hot and dry.

So papaya can really tell stories with precise evidence.... hmmm.

Papaya: a gap in between hanging fruits.

BANGCHIK AND KAKDAH
Garden: Presint 8,  Putrajaya.

sunn hemp, I can see seed pods.

Sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea L) is a tropical legume. Traditionally, sunn hemp is grown for fiber. Nowadays, some farmers grow them as green manure and nitrogen fixing. I bought seeds from ebay and grow them for seeds production. Now there is a glimpse of hope.

The intention is to collect enough seeds for the next crop here and my Seri Iskandar home. I hope luck is with us...

sunn hemp flowering

sunn hemp flower

sunn hemp seed pods

sunn hemp seed pods

sunn hemp seed pods

sunn hemp seed pods

sunn hemp towering to a height of about 8 feet.

bangchik and kakdah
Garden: presint 8 putrajaya

It's Okra, but some call it lady's finger.

The seeds came from one matured  okra or lady's finger. There were so many seeds from a single fruit. I germinated all, and spread them at two locations. I know soon harvesting  is going to be bucketful....

Okra are slender at these stage, and can easily topple with slightest wind. I put 3 sticks around each plant. Sticks are old ulam raja branches. Mung beans were sown at the same time, along outside edge and the middle. There are two rows of okra here.  It's nice to see them packed closely, supporting one another and almost completely cover the soil. With expected drier spell over two months, this companionship of okra and mung beans will reduce evaporation, and keep the soil moist.

okra with mung beans (bendi dengan kacang hijau)

Okra and mung beans

Update 17.1.2016 - It rained at sunset for a few hours so no watering tomorrow. I managed to transplant a few balsam near the row of leucaena and 5 sunn hemp seedlings to close the gaping gap. In replace of cassava pulled out yesterday, only two cuttings were planted at the far corner of backyard garden.



bangchik and kakdah
garden: presint 8 putrajaya

Gardening at Presint 8 Putrajaya

We have been here since March 2015. Space for backyard gardening is quite big. When we came in it was fully turfed, without any large trees.  Gardening is more of "little by little", so we decided to start off with a few landmarks, like papaya, banana , cassava and moringa. The rest will fit in as time goes. There would be vegetables, flowering plants and new plants that i would like to try out...

Presint 8 backyard garden, viewed from Izwan's room

Backyard garden viewed from kitchen back door.

Update 15.1.2016 - sky is cloudy.



bangchik and kakdah
Bakyard Garden Presint 8

Growing Sorghum in Putrajaya Malaysia.

I have tried planting different crops again and again. Now its SORGHUM, with seeds bought through ebay. I germinated a few, and quickly got them in the ground November last year. Monsoon was just starting then.  Sorghum grew with nature, with regular monsoon rainfall.  Now, weather is moving towards drier period, so we have to water them twice , morning and late afternoon.

Sorghum, 6 inches apart

Sorghum flowering

Sorghum

Update 14.1.2016 - The weather wasn't too hot as yesterday, with cloud forming later half of the day. It drizzled  around 8.00pm. It's my day off today. I managed to plant 16 marigold seedlings in between okras. I hope they become companions. The rest of sorghum were planted too, completing the second trial of 18 seedlings. The first trial, are almost at the final stage, with 7 stalks of sorghum flowers swaying under the hot sun.

Bangchik and kakdah

Putrajaya Presint 8