Wild flowers at Bukit Timah

Growing vegetables @ office

Now that my home patio space is fully utilised, I'm growing vegetables at our office balcony. The space here is ideal because of the amount of sunlight we receive during the day.

We sowed a handful of lady's fingers seeds a week ago and they have all germinated. The pot is overcrowded, we've got to transplant them soon.

We put two brinjal seeds in the soil and they both germinated as well! All the seeds are quite old and we're really surprised by the good result.

The spinach seedlings are growing steadily. Just a week ago, they were so tiny, but they seemed to have shot up over the weekend.

Today, we added another new vegetable in our collection. I hope they'll do well in our balcony. Will keep you posted.

Easy peasy

You will be surprised to know that growing vegetables can sometimes be as easy as this. My parents grow the Malabar Spinach vegetable in their backyard. After harvesting the leaves for eating, I poke the stems into a box of soil and now I have my own tiny patch growing in the patio. So simple!

I seem to get quite a few of the wild spinach growing in my garden. These must be the work of birds who leave their droppings behind. I'm not sure these can be eaten but I usually throw them out as they grow too quickly and become a nuisance.

More vegetable seedlings

Encouraged by the robust growth of chye sim in our office balcony, we started sowing more vegetable seeds. The kang kong seedlings proved to be the fastest grower.

These spinach seedlings are so tiny! So far, spinach that I've grown in containers tend to grow very slowly. They stay stagnant for weeks, sometimes even months, before shooting up suddenly.

On the other hand, those grown by my dad in his farm (on fluffy soil) mature much faster. I can only conclude that spinach is more fussy and will do well in well drained soil.

Pride of India

I couldn't resist taking pictures of the gorgeous flowers of the Pride of India tree (Lagerstroemie Indica) while walking my dog one day.

The flowers are so delicate, they don't stay fresh on the tree for long. I was lucky to be there at the right time.

Vegetables love sunlight

Many people who have never grown tropical vegetables have asked me about the amount of direct sunlight needed. Well, at least 6 hours a day. In fact, the more the merrier.

If you're thinking of growing chye sim or bai cai indoors, you can forget about harvesting them. The seeds will germinate but without enough sunlight, the seedlings will grow up weak and spindly.

In my patio garden which is bright and warm but seriously lacking in direct sunlight, I have difficulty growing tropical vegetables. Only the rocket (which is not a tropical plant) is doing well.

On the other hand, at our office balcony where the sun is so harsh that our lantanas were quickly fried and killed in the heat, the vegetable seedlings are thriving.

Both pots of chye sim and bai cai seedlings, sowed in early May, are exposed to full sun all day.
They seem to enjoy the heat as they're growing up rapidly. They look so lush and healthy too.

Green Cafe!

I had lunch at this cafe in Bishan Park last week. While the food was nothing to rave about, I love how 'green' the building is. Just look at the lush greenery growing on the rooftop!