My father's garden

My father doesn't do things by half measures. Even for a backyard gardener, his little farm is showroom perfect. Before he grows anything, he will spend days preparing the patch, from building raised beds to conditioning the soil. That is the reason why his crops are always so lush and bountiful.

Each time I visit, I find new crops growing in his garden. There are rows and rows of Thai Basil as usual. Some yam plants and sunflowers managed to sneak in there as well.

 A large vine (pumpkin or some kind of squash) is sprawling over the pond enclosure.

 He's growing lady's fingers and brinjal too.

More veggies

The mustard seeds have germinated but they're quite lanky due to the lack of sunlight. Maybe I'll just use them in my salad.

Baby cai xin vegetables growing in a pot.

I am growing Japanese pumpkin at home, not for the pumpkin but for the flowers. Apparently pumpkin flower tempura is really delicious. I can't wait!

Pretty veggie

Look at the pretty xiao bai cai veggies. I don't think I can bear to eat them.

Someone's backyard

This nursery in Choa Chu Kang is currently our favourite hangout. Not only do they have a large variety of plants for sale, they have a backyard full of fascinating plants.

Just look at how productive the passion fruit vines are!

There's a young pepper plant too.


The morning glory trellis is such a sight to behold!

Sightings at Pulau Ubin

As nature lovers, we're always out in the forest during the weekends. Lately Pulau Ubin, which is a short boat ride away, has been our regular hangout.

We hiked a different route yesterday and came across some interesting flora and fauna. This sprawling hoya plant growing by the mangrove swamp is hard to miss.

The flowers are much smaller than the ones we grow at home. Some of the photos below are taken by my son.


Lizard.

Newly molted cicada.


The baron butterfly's caterpillar.

We spotted three hornbills.

Vegetable patch at HortPark

I was at HortPark yesterday and naturally, I got really excited when I reached the vegetable patch. I took so many photos of the tropical vegetables until my camera battery went flat!

This is the tumeric plant. Tumeric root is used in our Asian cooking.

The tumeric flower is really pretty.

This is a small olive tree. I wish I have one in my garden.

Did you know that your favourite cincau drink is made from the leaves of this plant?


In case you've never seen a groundnut plant, here it is.

The ladys fingers here are so fat, they look quite scary.

A very lush winged bean vine.

Close-up shot of the winged bean flower and fruit.

A bolting kai lan vegetable.

The long bean plant.

It is easy to grow radish in Singapore.

Asparagus grows well here too.

In case you're wondering, only the young shoots of the asparagus plant are edible. Can you see a tiny one emerging from the ground?

Brinjal (eggplant).

A large kangkong patch. If you're new at growing vegetables, start with kangkong. It's almost foolproof.

The sponge gourd vine. The dried ripe fruit is the source of the loofah, the kind you use for scrubbing your body or dishes.

Makeover

My sons have given the garden a makeover. Diseased plants were thrown out. Healthy ones were rearranged. The floor had been scrubbed. The garden feels more spacious now.

There is also a larger shelter for the nepenthes. The area under the netting is perfect for my delicate seedlings.