update on my garden!

Hello peeps, do you miss me?

It's December!! Wish you Happy New Month!
Here i come with more updates, especially from my little garden. There is a lot of rain here as we are in monsoon season now, i think it's good for plants & the garden! {but not for succulent, so i moved them all into shaded area so they won't get too much rain}
I sow a new batch of basil seeds last 2 weeks, seed I saved from last batch fully matured basil plant. Let's have a peek at my garden!

  I have got a lemon tree in the garden, its from my neighbor - a lovely lady who loves gardening too! She has a lemon tree in her garden starting to bear fruits, therefore she does me a favor and help me to get a young tree from plant nursery she often visit.

 My fuzzy polka dot cactus have developed more little pads, it always grow in pairs~ so more bunny ears now! So cute, right?

 Chilli (Cili Kampung) seedling that just emerging beautifully from the soil, they have grown up to about 5-8 cm in height now, i will need to separate each of them in to a different pots this weekend.

Growing fig tree has always been a dream of mine, because fig trees are pricey, also very rare and it's really hard to get from local nursery, some of them never even heard before! Then the 'growing-my-own-fig-tree' dream came true 2 years ago when i met the owners of a nursery, and he offered the help to find me a fig trees. Although it took sometime, but he managed to find one at the end. Yays!! 

 The little fig tree didn't grow well the first year, almost died; it might be because i don't have experience with the plant. The leaves started to turn brown and fell off one by one. T_T Then i googled for solutions, it says pruning can help stimulates the plant to growth, i think that's the only way to try and giving the tree to bounce back, so i pruned off the top & damage branches. And it will miracle come alive; new growth of buds & leaves after pruning, the shoot will lengthen dramatically and THEN it begin to bear fruits now! Yuhoo!!

My very beautiful mulberry tree and the ripen fruits!

 Claudia sent me some physalis seeds in her previous mail, the first batch of seeds i sow didn't germinate. Then i tried again last few weeks, and they did it this time! Hohoho ~ can you see the little flower pods, they will slowly develops into a little lantern (papery pods with fruit inside).

Thank you so much dear friend!

 

 On-growing healthy sweet basil seedlings, it's a must- have herb to grown in the garden!

 Happy baby succulents, they are taking a morning sunbath!

Wohoo! If you have beautiful vintage or recycle steel tins or cans at home, don't throw it away.

Take some time everything will be beautiful in its way!

Has I introduced them to you yet? Meet Elm, Emma & Rosette, the triplets of my garden! I transplanted them in to a beautiful pot given by a good friend, they seemed to enjoy very much and happily growing in their new home! >_<

HAPPY GARDENING!

good things

Hello!

My long awaited moment of the 'bloom' has finally come! The white clitoria ternatea (aka white butterfly pea flower) i grew from seeds last 6 months have finally bloomed this morning! From the info, white clitoria ternatea is a rare species, its quite hard to find in any of the plant nursery here.
Oh! I was so happy when I saw the bloom, it's hard to describe how excited I am!

 Isn't it gorgeous? Pure white butterfly pea flower, can't stop staring at it! Hope it will bloom some more.

Things I've been doing a lot lately, picking, seperating  soaking & boiling red beans!

Made candied red beans for this - Matcha red bean chiffon cake!

My family will come visiting us this weekend, i will make it again for them ~ I'm quite proud of myself by not giving up & keep trying until I succeed on making a great chiffon cake.

My office will be closed starts tomorrow for a week for Hari Raya long holiday! I bought something i think its nice & yummy for my lovely boss who celebrate Hari Raya, hopefully she will love it.

Just finished wrapping up. Simple packaging, hope she likes it!

 Having lots of fun decorating snail mail envelopes, trying many creative ways with different type of craft supplies - washi tapes, labels, paper doilies, maps, stickers, pretty designed promotional flyers, nice postage stamps...etc!

 Bought a lovely book last weekend, its about recipes, cooking stories & faith in daily life from some Japanese chef & gourmet foodies!

just can't get enough of these cuties!

Hello friends,

I have too much fun to grow succulents myself from the little leaves.
Things i learned from propagating succulents on my own is they need plenty of light & little of water! No special fertilizer, chemicals or rooting hormone are needed for most succulent plants, some even don't even need soil when they first start to grow (develop). Just like magic!
Currently, I have only one type (species) of succulent and these babies are all from the same mama plant! Too happy NOT to share! Hehe.

 I can't get over how cute they are together, chubby & juicy >_< 

aw~ melts my heart.

Can you believe that this is being propagated from a teeny tiny little pink roots?

 Glass jars are ideal for growing succulents & cacti, always remind myself to be extra care not to over water them because glass jars doesn't have drainage holes!

Twins! Emma & Rosette ^_^

i will try my very best to you keep you happy and healthy!

Let's exchange succulent babies anyone? 

We can sending via snailmail, it will be a good happy day! 

{leave me a comment or email me if you would love to}

{snowrabfiona@gmail.com}

Spread & sharing the love!

meanwhile in my garden...

Hihi!

So it has been raining all day lately, but good thing is my plants look happy & healthy because they love rainwater! Why? because it is so soft and has no chlorine, rainwater is preferable for watering plants, read more here.

Here are some happy growing plants in the garden.

i love fiddle leaf fig tree since long long time ago, but large fiddle leaf fig tree are selling very expensive here. The bigger the tree is, the more expensive the price.

I got 2 young (baby) plants with only few leaves 3 months ago at a reasonable price, and the leaves has doubled the amount now.

The one and only stem of lemon balm herb, hope it grows well.

My baby sawtooth herb got a new friend!

Problem here! Lately, there are many of these baby grasshoppers started to threaten and attack my sweet basil & mint herbs, i guess the herb taste good to them too! T_T I may need to trim the tip off and spray some organic insecticides.

My mulberry tree start fruiting again, yum yum!

My wild betel leaf!I grew them from the cutting stems that mom gave me from home last trip. It has pretty glossy heart-shaped leave, the leaves look so green!

My on-growing "slow & steady"broccoli,

Actually broccoli enjoys cool weather, but where i stay is hot and humid all year round, and has summer 365 days a year! Anyhow, i really hope it keeps growing and perhaps blooming!

Oxalis or wood sorrel is a type of wild edible weed, and with little bright yellow flowers, some said it can be eaten raw or used as a salad green or made into a drink! Should i give it a try? Hmm...maybe not! >_<

Sowed some okra (lady's fingers) seeds last 2 weeks and look, they sprouted, grow into larger plant now!

bloom & harvest!

More photos from my tiny garden! Maybe its because its the rainy season, the plants grew really well~ plants in mounds on top of the raised beds! Let me share some more of my favorite here!

 My tiny 'common jasmine orange' bloom this morning {aka murraya paniculata}!

Plant with sweet-smelling flowers, very fragrant ones! Some said it smell close to frangipani, some said gardenia, or jasmine! 

Personally, i think it smells like frangipani.

Can you believe that i grow them from little seeds? The plant nursery owner plucked few of the red fruits from the tree and gave it to me, and asked me to try and grow myself.

Now, this smell like jasmine! hehe ~ my jasmine that bloom once in awhile!

If you have jasmine plant, ill recommend you hand-picking some of the flowers, boil pot of water and make a cup of 
tea with fresh jasmine blossoms. You will know what is the difference! 

 Transplanted some of the basil seedlings into a bigger space - wooden box that i picked up from recycling center! This is the smallest box, i got one in medium and one in large size, they are used for spring onions growing!

Harvest part of my pandan leaves over the weekend, gave 2 bright bunches to our neighbor / another 2 for the grocery store that near my house, initially i'm given it as a gift, but the lady boss said they are going to sell it~ so as the exchange of goods - they gave me some calamansi & pay me another RM1.80 for that 2 bunches! ^_^ How great that can earn some money from what i grow, it made me so happy!

on-growing spring onions! 

  My 'giant' aloe vera plant is growing way too big and has a bit out of control! Hehe, also i have just transplanted them into a BIG pot!

Lately, i am attempting to make DIY aloe vera gel myself and also to cook chinese sweet dessert! The diy aloe vera gel are use to reduce my acne problem & pimple scarring! Been watching lots of related video on youtube and info from the web!

Will share if its really effective. Kids, don't try it yourself as
outer skin of the aloe vera plant can be toxic. Only aloe vera gel at the center part can be consume & use on your skin.

Have you ever try sauté fresh aloe with sesame? I am going to try that!

Enjoy pruning and pinching the butterfly pea plant regularly, it will become more bushy and it will rebloom again and again! 

my favorite succulent plant lately, bought a little pot last year christmas and now i have 2 pots from propagating!

plant propagation practices

hola,

happy new month, hope all goes well! Have been practicing in plant propagation, and i have learned that - patience is always key when it comes to nurturing any living things! I think my little plants are growing pretty well and getting taller. 

I don't really spend a lot on buying plants as young plants are quite expensive here. But instead,  i usually grow them from seeds, or get some 'free' young plants or cuttings from my family/ relatives and friends! I am truly blessed.

 Dad gave me pot of - hmm... i am not 100% sure what's the plant called, i have been trying to find out. If not mistaken, the plant named - begoniaceae begonia / rex begonia from the begonia family. It's so pretty, i especially love the star-burst effect, the color of the leaves are very contrast!

My partner's parents love gardening too! But lately, they have been traveling around often, don't really have much time to take care their plants, and many of the pretty plants has dried up, due to lack of watering. T_T sad... Then I quickly take over the ONE LAST stem of the super duper beautiful - 'oxalis triangularis' or you can called it 'purple shamrocks', put them in a small pot, brought it up all the way from my hometown. And look, more stems now, and even flowering! Yays.

 Propagate rosemary herb & cuban oregano from stem cuttings, waiting for the rooting process! I'll share some pics once the roots coming from the bottom the cuttings. Hehe~

Propagating succulents from leaf, and see how well they are growing! They are all from the same 'mama succulent'!

I started / pluck these “mother leaf” off maybe three weeks ago, and few weeks later...

 some miniature white or pink roots sprout out from the tip of the leaves, can you see those teeny tiny baby plant? It will start to grow.

Growing spring onions from shallots. For me, spring onion are very very useful in cooking, specially in chinese home cooking! We used them in steamed fish as the seasoning to get rid of the “fishy” odour / to make spring onion pancake / for garnishing! 

I found that its not worth on buying a bunch of it and spring onions don't store for long in the fridge, so there's a lot of wastage which i don't really want to! 

SO! why not growing my own spring onion. 

 Happy may and a wonderful week ahead!

i am home again!

We celebrated my nephew's first birthday last weekend back in my hometown! Always feels so good to be back home, it is always fun to get together, lots of laughs and good food.

My 'smiles-all-the-time' super duper adorable little nephew has turned 1 year old last Saturday, we got him his first car! Hehe, the kids ride-on BMW and 2 pairs of cute baby sneakers and socks as he begin to learn to walk now! 

Let me share with you all the love i have got from home.

 Look at this handsome boy on his first-ever bmw, how cool!

I love love love this beautiful photo! (em, please ignore my mom behind trying to hang all our freshly washed laundry)

His smile and facial expression, and also every of his cute gestures just melted my heart.

He's really a little angel, keep the happy spirit floating around our house always!

 I made some of "my signature" (food to be proud of) osmanthus jellies and took home for mom, grandma and my partner's parents. They loved it.

Granny's homegrown jackfruit! There was a big jackfruit tree just outside my granny's house.

I remember when we were just a child, my uncle would ask one of us to climb the tree (not very high) and pick some of those large jackfruits. 

I miss my childhood very much, nothing beats childhood memories.

Jackfruit is very sweet, delicious also rich in fiber & minerals; but its difficult to cut open and to eat it.
Jackfruit is very resinous, and the sticky latex/substance is very hard to remove.
Guess I'm just a glutton for food. I managed to cut, trimmed and removed those sticky fibrous strands and finally retrieve all the yummy fruit pods with my bare hands very patiently. Yohoo!

  We happened to pass by Ipoh (capital city of Perak state) to buy some nice foods home!
How can we miss the best chicken rice in town? (Lou Wong Bean Sprouts Chicken)
A must try chicken rice and the best blanched bean sprouts drizzle with the combination of soy sauce, sesame oil, & shallot oil. oh mama mia!

There are many many old bakeries in old town of Ipoh. We went to an old bakery (not so commercialized, not much reno & decor) for these freshly baked egg tarts with piping hot wobbly custard! Oh~ these are really good!

Kompyang is a biscuit popular in my hometown, its like our comfort food! Its made with lard, onions, salt and flour, some with meats, some sweet & soft inside! Best eaten while still hot, but we usually buy more and reheat them with oven.
 

Mom gave me 2 pineapple crowns, they can be placed directly into the ground and yes! i can actually start growing my own pineapple!

From the info, pineapples don’t really have usable seeds, so pineapple plants start from the pineapple itself, it usually propagate from the crown.

Beside food shots, I love taking pictures of plants too! Here are some veggies & edible plants that my parents are growing.

top left - winter melon
top right - calamansi 
bottom left - curious cat that hovering around daily
bottom right - daun kaduk / wild betel leaf / piper sarmentosum 
*(they are widely used throughout SE Asia as a herb in Asian cooking or eaten raw)

My mom usually used them to make otak-otak (fish custard/ dumplings wrapped in banana leaves), or nyonya perut ikan (fermented fish stomach with herbs & vegetable curry). Original recipe are using fermented fish stomach, but my mom substitute it with small prawns and blood cockles.
I know 'fermented fish stomach' sounds a bit weird or scary for you, but trust me~ they taste really good in this nyonya recipe. ^_^