Mango in the Compost

Sometimes magic happens. I've been making a new bucket of compost and a couple of weeks ago right in the centre, I couldn't have placed it better myself, a small seedling with long soft purple-bronze leaves grew.

I couldn't for the life of me think what it could be. I racked my brains trying to remember what I'd put into the compost; there'd been cut flowers, fruit and vegetable peelings and so on and so on. I scoured my books and images in Google. The problem is that there aren't so many photos of seedlings. Finally, a picture that looked just like my little plant came up - it was a mango, and I had been eating a mango a few weeks back.

The leaves are still soft with a bronze tinge.

The leaves are greener than they were at the beginning.

I'm glad I persevered as it's beginnings are quite different to what it looks like now. Now, it looks like many green seedlings, but in the beginning its three long leaves dark-coloured leaves were very soft and could have you believing that it didn't have enough water. I knew that there was plenty of water, so I thought I'd wait and see.

Sure enough, the seedling's leaves are now sturdy and sticking up as normal leaves do. They've also changed colour to a rich green. Very nice. However, I have to find my little plant a new home in due course as it will grow far too big for my balcony and apparently it likes a deep place to send it's main roots down.

But for now, it's looking very beautiful in my compost.

Lisianthus in the Tropics

One of my readers finally gave me the name of the 'Paper Rose' that I bought a few years back,  Lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum), thank you Tramadol, and I can now research it and find out more about it.

The first thing I found is that it's from the warm regions in the Americas and so is definitely suited to our tropical climate here in Malaysia and South-east Asia. Secondly it is an biennial, so it will die off, but it can give you a couple of years, or seasons, of flowers.

Apparently it's drought resistant, but likes regular watering with good drainage. It likes the sun a lot, but a very wind-sheltered sunny spot might be too hot. To promote flowering you can cut the long stems which are great show flowers and can last 2-3 weeks in a vase.

So, if you are out in Sungai Buloh and you find these flowers, you can rest assured that you can grow them in a sunny spot in your home. I'll put some links below to sites I looked up if you want to know more. However, I mention the main care needs above, and will mention one more word of caution - that they don't like their roots disturbed too much. So either keep them in the pot they came in, or put them into a bigger pot without trying to separate or loosen them.

Have fun with them. They are such beautiful flowers.

http://www.theflowerexpert.com
www.bhg.com 
http://www.dontveter.com

The difference between Tree Tomatos and Tamarillos

Nothing!!

This wonderful sweet and tart fruit apparently originates from the western South American countries including Peru and Chile. People from Naga in Sri Lanka also claim that it comes from there, but as it's part of the nightshade family that originated in South America I'll put my bets on there.

Home Grown

As you can see it's aptly known as tree tomato. It grows into a shrub of about 1.5m tall and will fruit all year round in a warm climate. In New Zealand, it's known as tamarillo. A blend of the Spanish word 'Amarillo' for yellow and the Maori word 'tama' for leadership, tamarillo helps to distinguish it from it's more savory cousin, the tomato, yet it still has a similar sounding name.

Growing up in Gisborne on the East Coast of New Zealand, I got to try a lot of exotic types of fruit as it's got a warm, dry micro-climate to the East of the Raukumara ranges. Feijoa, jack-fruit, paw-paw and so many more. My two favourites were feijoa and tamarillo. Of the two tamarillo was harder to find as it wasn't grown commercially in a big way until the late 80s when they began to grow it for export. I was working for my friend's father in the kiwifruit orchards when we were asked to help with planting out the new tamarillo orchards. I remember the leaves were quite smelly as I had to put my head against them each time I planted one.

I've heard that you can get them here in Malaysia, but only in the highlands as it's a sub-tropical plant rather than a tropical plant. If I'd known that before I went to Cameron Highlands a few years back I'd have been more diligent in looking for a tamarillo plant - or at least the fruit. I miss them so much. I love their slightly sour tart flavour. You can put sugar on them of course and the yellow ones are supposed to be sweeter, but for me it also makes the taste blander.

A link to recipes

If you know of where I can get my hands on a plant. Please let me know.
Resources and Recipes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamarillo
http://www.tamarillo.com/mains/
http://www.nagafoods.com/Tree_Tomato.html
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/tree_tomato.html
http://www.nosygirl.net/2011/09/tree-tomato.html
Books
Berry Bounty: How to Grow Traditional & Unusual Berries
Seeds from Overseas

Lesster's Beekeeping Journal in Malaysia (Kelantan stingless bees)

For some reason I can't find the link to the first of Lesster's Beekeeping videos that I found when I tried to link it to my page - I'll put the link below. However, I found lots of other videos of his and they're all set here in Malaysia.

Lesster's Beekeeping and Honey tasting is in Malay (which I don't speak well - Saya becakap siket bahasa Melayu), but being a video, I could understand what they were chatting about. :)

Malaysian Bees

I've got a rogue tomato plant that determinedly grew up out of my compost and would be almost two metres high if I could stake it. As it is, it grew up through the branch of one tall pot plant and now bends over and rests on others. It seems to be okay and has put out lots of flowers. So of course I'm interested in little pollinators coming in and working on them so I can get tomatoes.

The tomato invasion

My apartment is very high up and I have seen some little bees from time to time, but my daughters freak out and want me to chase them away. I've also heard that most mosquito species (there are thousands, of which only six bite and even then only the females) are also pollinators as well as butterflies, moths, lady bugs and so on. So, I became more interested and began some research which brought me to some interesting species of bees. I'll put the links to the pages I've found so that you can read up on them as well if you want to. I'll do other species in later posts.

Where are those bees?

One thing I found is that there are not only the well-known stinging honey-bees here in Malaysia, but also a number of non-stinging types or non-aggressive types - very good news indeed. They are mason bees and trigona bees.

Mason bees are apparently from the Americas and there is only one site in Malaysia that has them, Penang. They are solitary bees which house themselves in small holes, cracks and crevices. Apparently, the male comes out of his pupae stage first, waits for the female to come out, mates and then dies. The female mason bee gathers food in a cavity the nest, lays an egg and closes the cavity up with the food. The female eggs are laid near the back of the nest and the males towards the front. The female will do this by herself all summer finding new nests when she's filled one up. There are no queen bees nor worker bees. They just work by themselves. Their way of storing the pollen and nectar also means that they don't produce a honey that is consumable by humans. However, for an urban garden that wants pure pollinators, I think they'd be very useful. They're also safe for children and pets as they'll only sting if squeezed or stepped on. There are lot of sites where you can find ways to house and keep them. I can't find whether you can buy them here yet and you'd have to get a permit from the Ministry of Agriculture if you want to bring them in.

Although the mason bee is only to be found in Penang right now, the trigona bee is far more widespread through out Malaysia with its own native species called kelulut. The trigona genus is found in tropical and sub-tropical areas around the world with more than thirty species here. They are social bees and have the whole set-up with the queen and worker bees. That means we can also get honey from them. Trigona Bee Farm in Pedas and a propolis bee farm in the Penang Botanical Gardens are doing just that. In Sabah, locals are very active in harnessing and harvesting the sting-less bees hard work. Murphy, who has the blog My Sabah, wrote a really informative blog post on different types of trigona bees and other types over there. Apparently, it's not as sweet as it's more famous cousin's honey is, and it's a little bitter. However, the various sources I've found say that its health benefits are wider.

At this time I can't find a Malaysian site where you can buy trigona bees, but I found some information from an Australian trigona bee site that explains how to transfer them.  So if you find some when you balik kampung you can bring some back with you. However, do get permission from any appropriate authorities/locals in case you are taking them from an area that needs them.

Finally, although, trigona bees may not sting, they do bite, but again - only if you disturb their nest, not while they are pottering around the flowers. So, if you see a little bee working away in your garden compare it to some of the photos you find in the links and you might find you have a little kelulut helping you in your garden.

Taro/Keladi Plant

 I was recently given an ornamental Taro plant, Keladi in Malaysian. It's sent me on a path of discovery as I learn how to look after it. Apparently the one I have is inedible, and it's leaves are a different heart-shape to the traditional variety. The curves are more rounded and the cordate veins in the leaf don't branch off at all. Here's a comparison of the two
My plant:

Ornamental Keladi

A specimen from the website mylittlevegetablegarden:

Keladi/Taro tuberous plant

So what do they like?
- Full sun to partial shade.
- Lots of water. They don't like drying out at all. In fact, they like it quite boggy. They used to be farmed near rivers for lots of irrigation.
- Apparently they don't like fertilizer on their leaves either. They like it near (but not too close) to the tubers. So, leaf sprays aren't good. Pity, as that's my favorite type of fertilizer and most of my other plants like the spray on.

They are a pretty addition to my balcony. Their distinct heart shaped leaves create a lovely contrast to my long leafed spider lily and variegated Dracaena reflexa

With Dracaena reflexa and basil in the background.

Spider Lily - Hymenocallis

Over the last few weeks my spider lily has been putting out spray after spray and it's been delightful. The scent that floats through the house on a calm evening is divine.

When I inherited it, it came in a broken pot and had lots of that white fluffy mite that is so problematic here. After transferring it to a lovely new big pot I set to work trying to get rid of its parasites. This was before I found the recipe for the natural pesticide. The store bought one just couldn't get rid of them. They'd be back in a week! I even tried taking the bulbs out of the soil, washing them in a bucket with the pesticide in the water and soaking them for a while before planting them back into the pot, to no avail.

Three sprays all at once

Then I found the recipe for the chilli/garlic pesticide and it found a new life. It even rewarded me with a new spray of flowers within a few days of the mites disappearing! I just do a systematic spray now and then to keep the mites away and a far more regular leaf fertilizer and it loves it.


My spider Lily is also protecting two baby pigeons! They are very cute, and noisy when it's feeding time. My daughter's a bit worried as the nest is down under the plants and she's concerned that they won't be able to get out when it's time to fly. Thank goodness for google as that's what I'll be researching next. They're definitely sheltered from the rain and storms that regularly come through KL and that's probably why the parents chose the spot.

Two babies eye-balling the weird thing appearing above them.