Out With The Old

I have always believed that plants were immortal. That given the right conditions and absence of disease, they will live forever. A few months back, someone expressed amazement at the fact that our tomato plant has survived for so long. Since the seeds were the type you can get commercially for under RM2, it is believed that they have a limited life span.

Initially I found it hard to believe. Then suddenly one by one the branches started drying up for no apparent reason. Adding more organic soil or fertilizers did not help at all. Eventually it was no more. So I guess there may be some truth to it (either that or I messed up somewhere... its easier to blame plant genetics in this case).

Immortal or not, there's one thing that I'm pretty sure is finite - real estate. So the tomato is gone and another plant has been groomed to take its place.

I don't exactly know what plant this is yet. My wife brought back some seeds one day and we just planted it. It is definitely a fruit bearing plant, that much I am sure. Oh we'll find out in a couple of years...

Happy Hour

The heat wave that we had some time back seems to be replaced by days and days of rain. It was not too long ago that Facebook was filled with countless status updates about how people will die if they do not have rain soon, how their brains could not function in the heat and so on (and even if it did rain there will be multiple updates to say its not the kind of rain that they wanted). I actually loved the heat wave. I was thankful for it because it meant a couple of months doing easy gardening.

Everything in my garden wilted and died...except for the plants that I chose to shower my watery mercy upon. And this was excellent! Suddenly I had lots of time to do other things. However, good things never last. A brief spell of rain and...

Opportunity cost = 2 hrs on the PSP

Its never easy to nurse a plant you want to fruition, but these undesirable shrubs hardly need any encouragement. If I remember my high school biology right, pollens are like plant male sperms. And they need to travel somewhere to fertilize the female component. They normally can't copulate on their own and they need to rely on some trigger to move them about physically. As I did the gardening last weekend it occurred to me "Damn! I'm facilitating plant sex!"

Inter-species copulation

Goodness! I was like a bartender handing out free drinks in a singles (and desperate) only bar! The birds and the bees were probably putting in their fair share as well but I think I was the only one that realized that I had been sucker-punched. Well the bees get a kick out of doing it - they get nectar for their efforts, I get allergies.

There is a way around this problem. The plans include building a concrete wall around the perimeter of the house (reducing the weeds and shrubs from growing through the porous green fencing at the moment) and getting some professional landscaping done (low-maintenance carpet grass). This costs money.

Not wanting to pile on more debts, this is a solution that can only be achieved later rather than sooner. So I'll let the weeds win for now. One day lah...you watch out. When the laborers are doing the concrete wall and the landscapers busy with their work, I'll make sure I blast Semisonic's 'Closing Time' over and over again, especially the part before the chorus 'You don't have to go home but you can't stay here!' If talking and singing to plants make them grow better, this is psychological waterboarding.

Till then, come get your free drinks! Last call is still a long way off.

Food Chain Haiku

In this game called Life

Nature conveys its bias

Lucky predators!

Power clouds judgements

As moss ravages concrete

How the tables turn!

Harvest

A couple of months back, it was struggling to survive. And now...

Tadaa! Fresh from the harvest! I was expecting the tomatoes to sport a darker and deeper red than this, but it tastes just fine. As for the chili, it produces so much that we have to give a lot of it away. Just let me know if you want any, the next batch is coming soon. A word of warning though, it is VERY SPICY.

Wire-gra™

My tomato plants were growing up very well on its own until it started doing this.

Before Wire-gra™

Normally a male will be well beyond his fifties before something like this happens. I guess in tomato years, my plant is an old man.

After doing some research and discovering that tomato plants need support, I decided to build something to help it. I also made a mistake when I sowed the seeds, shouldn't have dumped it all in one place. It may look fine now but it will hinder the growth of the plant eventually.

The tricky bit was separating them. The saplings are really fragile and flaccid. Half of them died in the transplantation.

Tomato on Wire-gra™

Ta-daaa! I admit it looks hideous now but I'll do something about it once it grows more substantially.

I'm Turning Green

Don't make me angry... you wouldn't like me when I'm angry! I'll feed you with cili padi till your skin melts. Yes I'm really turning green. Or red... Last weekend I decided that I've had enough of looking at weeds/grass only every time I look out of my window.

Honestly I don't know why I got this chili plant. My wife and I aren't chili masochists and we don't eat chilis on a regular basis. I do know that my mom loves them though and she will probably get lots from us in the near future.

We also got ourselves a mini christmas tree... heheh. Small in size but has the potential to be a giant one day. This little fella will provide our garage with shade from the morning sun...oh well, in a few years time.

For those of you who are familiar with where I live, please be informed that there is enough space under that christmas tree for a PS3 or a Wii gaming console should you decide to be generous this coming..oh I don't know, say the night of 24th December? *winks*

And some good news, my two-faced plant is doing very well and even sprouting new flowers! There was a drastic change when we replanted the pot in a more nutrient rich soil and a bigger pot (since it was outgrowing the old one).

Next on the list will be to get a fruit bearing tree... I'm thinking maybe a papaya tree and a durian tree. I was told to look for a hybrid durian tree that doesn't need 10 years to bear fruit and will come with easy plucking abilities... anybody can shed some light on this?

My Two -Faced Plant

I bought a plant some time back in an attempt to make my house look a bit more 'organic.' After a week, I bet the plant was regretting that it ever met me...

Argh... someone please put me out of my misery!

The leaves were drooping, the flowers didn't look like flowers anymore and if you listen closely I think it was trying to commit suicide. A discussion with the Mrs led to us watering it more, changing its soil and moving it to a different location (cause we thought that maybe...just maybe...the conditions were to harsh in that particular spot) but it still looked the same. And no, I was not about to start talking to the plant in a last ditch attempt to show some TLC.

Now normally I don't notice the plant much in the morning as I normally rush to get to work but a while back, I noticed that it seems to be looking better in the morning.

Morning

Night

Hmmmmm....so its just circadian rhythm at work after all. However, the flowers are still non-existent. Any suggestions? Fertilisers?