Monday, May 17, 2010

Bittergourd and balsam

It has been raining alot which is good news for the garden. Everything looks ultra green and fresh now. This morning, I spotted a snail chomping on my sunflower shoots. No wonder the sunflower seeds never had a chance to grow. Uggh! I must have wasted at least 2 dozen seeds. These snails drive me crazy.

One thing for sure, they will never go near my bittergourd plants. I can even smell the bitterness from 2 feet away.

They're growing rather quickly, creeping on anything nearby for support. I hope they don't strangle my plants!

The many balsam plants are finally blooming. Look at the deep purple flowers. Soon there will be balsam seeds, followed by more seedlings. Then they will take over the entire garden. What have I gotten myself into?

3 comments:

  1. Snails don't like bittergourd? Good plant for me. Is the plant invasive, grows crowded foliage and a good climber? I am looking for one good climber that could cover my trellis cum fence.

    My other problem is grasshoppers. They chomped my leaves... even pandan leaves. I catch the small ones and dump them into my pitcher plant ha ha...

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  2. You have to be very careful when growing bitter gourd because they have really strong tendrils that will grasp everything very tightly in their path. Also, growing bittergourd 'contaminates' the soil around the plant. Everything else you grow after that (on the same plot) will taste bitter. I am not sure for how long. Mine is grown in a pot.

    The thing about creepers is they don't have a long lifespan. The leaves at bottom part start to turn yellow as the creeper continues to grow taller, so they may not look very pretty on your fence.

    Maybe you can grow passionfruit instead?

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  3. Thanks for your advice :-D Passionfruit? For me, the flower is scary looking... looks like a big eyes open widely... he he

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