Ban Lee Huat Seed has moved!

Today I was in Chinatown area with Mr B to claim the freebies on my loyalty card when I remembered that Ban Lee Huat is nearby.

Ban Lee Huat is a seed wholesaler who sells loads of seeds at S$2 a small bag. (They do sell in bigger volumes of course, but Grumpy uncle always advises me to just buy a little bit and not let the seed spoil.) Very useful for community gardeners who are tired of buying those horribly stingy sachets of seeds from the supermarket.

However I was horribly disappointed to find a hollow shell where the seed cupboard used to be. Mr B was sure that I was mistaken and told me to walk on along the five foot way before he too realized that I was right. That they had closed down or retired (which is believable, because all the uncles inside the shop were pretty old).

"No no, they didn't close down," reassured the Auntie from the medical shop who was kind enough to come out of her shop to assuage our frazzled nerves. "They moved to Ang Mo Kio."

Really?  Running back to the empty shop front,  I looked up to see that a tiny brochure stuck near the ceiling of the shophouse. Thank you Kind Medical Shop Auntie!

But why the %*@- did the uncles move to freaking industrial park. Argh. Mr B said it was within walking distance from Yio chu kang. Walking distance my foot... well at least they didn't retire. All the uncles look like they were going to play chess and drink the chinese tea that they import from China whenever I visit them.

Lady's fingers (okra)

Uncle C gave me two okra seedlings from the ones he raised using the Architect's seeds. We had all coveted seedlings from her okra plants, because they were the desirable "Japanese" variety and has a more pleasant, delicate bite than the tougher, equally mucilaginous local variety.

They have finally gone into fruiting (mine are actually slower than Uncle C's by a few weeks, and a lot shorter and stumpier, since I am not as generous with the chicken poop as the older folks are), and are producing at least 1 edible finger a day, much to my delight.

Bobo was commenting that by the end of this week, we will have enough for a meal (collected 4 fat fingers so far). So I have been generous with my fertilizer in the hopes of encouraging its fertility.

Also, I found out that the okra behaves like an perennial plant in the tropics where I am, and once it reaches 6 feet in height, I should cut it down to the lower leaves so that it will continue to regrow. Lovely news isn't that?

Torenia reseeded

I was trying to propagate roses when I discovered something else growing in the pot. Upon showing Mr Bear, he recognized it immediately and declared it "Torenia!"

I was surprised because (1) it was not 1 of the pots that I used for growing/layering/transplanting Torenia (2) I didn't expect it to reseed (3) my Torenia died like months ago (the layered transplant I 

gave Mutter was drowned by our enthusiastic helper and the one I gave Mr Bär somersaulted itself onto his balcony floor without success on a windy night).

Luckily I didn't tear it out thinking it was a weed. I transplanted it to another pot so that it would not crowd out my precious rose transplant. Ironically it is growing very well in its new pot now (almost died from the heat in the community garden, so I brought it home and resuscitated it with morning sun and loads of water), whereas my rose plant has kicked its bucket.

Updated!
I was going to reuse the pot where the rose has died to transplant another rose where I notice a baby seedling popping up through the pot. It looks suspiciously like torenia!

The Allotment @ CC garden (week 0)

Mutter and I have been allocated a piece of land at the CC garden (henceforth referred to as the "allotment"), just like the other pairs.

I have come up with numerous ideas for how we would split the allotment. For example, I first thought of splitting the land into 4 raised beds, 1 for corn, 1 for tomatoes, 1 for leafy greens, 1 for turnip.

The Architect persisted in growing her silk gourd on the racks so we couldn't till the entire piece of land until Feb. So on the two tiny pieces of land (Plot A and B) we tilled so far, I transplanted my tomatoes from home on the left. Mutter asked me where should the corn from our earlier growing go?

I said, beside (meaning on the other piece of land), but she ended up transplanting the corn plants next to the tomatoes on Plot A. Sacre Bleu! Lesson #1: Corn and tomatoes should not be grown together because of the tomato fruit worm/ corn ear worm (same stupid worm).

Also, I am pretty amazed at the corn plants' survival rate, so far the various batches have survived being transplanted 3-4 times in various phases of growing (though I have my doubts on the quality of fruit). We are regrowing corn again. 

I read up on companion growing, and read that basil (which I have grown pretty well during the previous growing season) is an excellent companion for tomatoes, so I have transplanted some babies onto plot A next to the tomatoes. Also, I have sown marigold seeds as well as transplanted some portulaca at the slope to attract bees and butterflies. Lesson #2: should have sown the marigold earlier, by the time, my tomatoes are harvested, my marigold will still be tiny babies. Guess they will have to catch my next set of tomato plants (probably cherry tomatoes this time).

For the corn, I am growing cucumbers (left over seed from years ago) to climb on the corn. I have been told that it is not a good idea as my corn will likely be harvested long before my cucumbers flower. Well, if that happens, then I will just have to leave the old corn stalks there/ replace them with bamboo poles. 

Fick me hard van achten - Ladybird style

This phrase was taught to me by a Dutch player on CoH (he thought I was a dude anyway) when he was describing how he taught his Filipino girlfriend how to speak Dutch during sex. Lol.

Anyway, stop ****ing ladybirds, and get to munching those horrible aphids on my corn. Thanks very much!

Bougainvillea

We were walking through a pre-war housing estate when we passed by a man pruning his bougainvillea hard. Since MU and CU have spent the entire gardening budget on soil (sigh), I have to exercise a thicker skin and ask for cuttings wherever I can. So far, I have transplanted 3 pots of portulaca (with different colors), a few rose cuttings, some blue daze, mint, 2 lemon balm plants and 2 yellow irises. Most of these are from my own garden.

I personally don't like bougainvillea, as I found it dreadfully common in Singapore growing up. You could always see it lining both sides of the bridges in the past. Nowadays they are less common after National Parks became more creative with their planting. 

The man's bougainvillea was so tall, that it was a tree already. I asked him why was he pruning away all those pretty flowers. He was quite nice, and explained that actually the red flowers are not actually the flower, they are leaves, the flowers are actually the tiny white flower inside the red cluster of leaves. Also, he had to prune as his family would be away for Chinese New Year and if the tree collapses from ill health or lightning strike and hit someone, he could be sued in court.

So I asked him for a cutting and he gave me a super thick stem, saying that I should soak it for roots. MU and CU have a couple of bougainvillea but no flowers. The man said that we shouldn't water it so often. Once a week is enough. 

Of Mice and Men

I was alone at the community garden downstairs, trying to transplant more flowers to make a pretty border along the fence, when I discovered I wasn't alone. A giant ass rat (the size of a kitten) darted around the confines of the fenced garden, just as I was about to retrieve a spade for my purpose.

I wasn't quite sure who was more traumatized, me or the rat. Especially since he also ran across my plot of water convulvus. In my fevered excitement, I sent a message exclaiming the fact to Malay Uncle (MU), honcho of our little garden.

Last Saturday, I popped in the garden (after eating Haagan Daaz while watching a mortifying "Super Size versus Super Skinny") to find MU talking to the uncle living at my block. MU said "don't look down, there is a dead rat next to you."

Of course, I looked. You would, wouldn't you?

It was Mr Rat from some weeks ago. I didn't understand how he could suddenly die, since he could run faster than I could from our encounter some weeks ago.

The town council man showed up to collect the carcass while I continued to dig a trench for my intended herb garden. I was surprised again because usually our building cleaner would do any retrieval of our rubbish. He even took a photo of the carcass before getting down to the nasty business.

It was then I understood that the Town Council had poisoned the rat.

Didn't know what was more shocking.... the fact that I have been an accessory to his murder or he could have been pissing his poisoned rat wee wee all over the garden before he croaked. Suddenly I didn't feel like eating anything from the garden. I discreetly threw away the water convulvus I had harvested....