Updates on my plants. The sadly departed. Green fingers? No?

I have a habit of labelling my plants. Part of the reason is whenever my little nephew comes over on the weekend, it's a lesson in pronouncing the names of the plants and letting him taste and smell the herbs. He no longer eats the herbs but his eyes always open in wonder whenever he smells the rosemary and the basil. He grew and smarten up. No longer duped into eating the herbs but I will always remember the conversations we have about the herbs.

"Ah Yi,  I can eat them?"
"Yes. Does it smell nice?"
Boy nods and chews quietly.
"Is it nice?"
"Not nice", and he promptly spits them out.

Back to my plants, I label them and at the same time, I keep a graveyard of my plant casualties. Some died of poor nutrition and neglect. Others, because of my holidays. Another factor was my gradual shift from a brightly sunlit balcony garden to a shadier one because of the two biggish murrayas that I have. The sun-loving flowering periwinkles and lantanas are gone and in their place are the basil and the rosemary. The hibiscus is still alive but is growing leaves most of the time.

Let's see. What happened?

More buds!

More buds forming. This cluster should bloom by this weekend. There's another flower bud forming on another branch. The branch that was flowering for the last two weeks is still happily blooming. The waiting game begins.

Tried & tested: Neem oil fertiliser seems to be the best

I have tried several fertilisers for my plants. You name it, those gaudy pink or blue pellets, organic chicken poo pellets. So far, this bottle of organic neem oil works the best. Dilute it with water and water the plants. Simple. New shoots will grow rapidly, flower and at the same time, they keep some of the pest away. Am happy. The basil and the murrayas love it.

What is Neem Oil?
Neem oil is a vegetable oil pressed from the fruits and seeds of the neem (Azadirachta indica), an evergreen tree which is endemic to the Indian subcontinent and has been introduced to many other areas in the tropics. It is perhaps the most important of the commercially available products of neem for organic farming and medicines.

Where can I buy neem oil?
I bought my bottle last year at the Singapore garden festival. Can't find the namecard for the company and if I am not mistaken, their shop is at Novena Square. If not, try little India or Far East Flora.

Click here

Glorious frangipani blooms

The bloom 2 weeks ago

It's still flowering. : P

Overlooking the balcony

Thanks to the recent hot weather, my frangipani has finally bloomed after almost 5 years. The balcony does not usually get strong sunlight, only 4 hrs of morning light. I dislike the hot weather but the plants like it.

Waiting for the other stalks to bloom. It should be another week or so. The flowering buds are growing.

Grilled food on a cold wintry night, life's little pleasure

Nothing beats freshly grilled food
with a glass of beer or umeshu

OMG! I am behind on the SQ promotion cheap fares to Tokyo as my brain is suffering from election fatigue. Yup, every other person's status on Facebook is election related, not to mention, it's more news on tv, the internet or booklets stuffed at my doorstep. The plus point is I get to vote after so many years. Frankly, no more election news for me. Come Saturday, I am just going to get dressed, pop downstairs to the polling centre and cast my secret vote. Have already read about what to do and what not to do, cross, not tick in the box and what is a spoilt vote. Plenty of misleading posters around the neighbourhood that tells us to tick...

Back to the SQ mega cheap Singapore to Tokyo fare, it's only S$398 inclusive of tax. That is dirt cheap especially since you can see cherry blossoms around this time. But will I go? Nay. No time and that radiation problem at Fukushima that refuses to go away. I am sure the food that you consume in Tokyo is perfectly safe. Or very safe as I believe the Japanese have great respect for the food they sell and consume. Anyway, you can exposed to radiation in cities like Hong Kong and Singapore too.

Look, dirt cheap, right? At the cheapest in the past
for other airlines, it will be S$640 inclusive of tax.

But if you are going, please do visit this new favourite food haunt of mine in Tokyo. ふくはち Fukuhachi! Great food at affordable prices right smack in the middle of Shinjuku. Discovered it during my last trip to Tokyo. Super yummy.

What do I craved for while on holiday in the midst of winter in Tokyo other than a big bowl of piping hot noodles? Not sushi or tempura but a fresh batch of beautifully grilled yakitori, vegetables or whatever that is available at a Izakaya. Washed down with my drink of choice, pure heaven.

The wait game

 

Not mine but soon, I think the blossoms will be similar to the blossoms above

I am waiting with bated breath for the 2nd round of blooms from my dormant frangipani plant. It has been almost 4 years since it last bloomed. All thanks to the recent hot weather. There are buds on the plant. Hip hip hurray! But mummy always say don't count your chickens before they hatch. So exciting.

Natural warriors: No ants!

My self-concocted 'Bak Ku Teh' mix is working very well as a natural pest pesticide. The ants are not killed but they are avoiding the potted plants with the teabags of roasted spices like a plague. Biological warfare? The ants hated it and they have moved out of their previous home and out of my balcony garden. I have tried all sorts of plant pesticides to get rid of the ants. As I consume the herbs I grow, I would rather not use chemical pesticides. For now, it's a big, big hurray that is is working!

Bak Kut Teh (肉骨茶) is popular soup drank in Singapore and Malaysia. It is made from pork ribs lovingly boiled for hours with garlic, cinnamon, pepper, cloves and star anis. Some shops have also added secret ingredients in their spice mix. The end result is a very tasty soup usually eaten with rice and other side condiments like youtiao (fried dough fritters) and preserved vegetables. My favourite Bak kut teh shop is at Sultan gate (can't remember the name), the one at rangoon road (Ng Ah Sio Pork Rib Soup) comes a closed second, I like Song Fa opposite Central too. Interesting thing to note, most Bak Kut Teh are not sold on Mondays as the poor animals are not slaughtered on Sundays. If the soup is sold on a Monday, frozen meat is used. Not so nice.

Source: Song Fa Bak Kut Teh

About the Bak kut teh plant pesticide, I dry roasted the spices (pepper, star anis, cinnamon, cloves) to release the fragrance and packed them into the teabags. Next, I left them in the pots of rosemary and basil where the ants are nesting. The ants moved out after 1 or 2 days. It has been 3 weeks, they have not been back. Fingers crossed.

The teabags in the pot of basil.