White Mollies

I gave up on rearing bigger edible fish. I couldnt bring myself to eating them. So now the plan is to keep prolific breeders. The existing guppies have a stable population. The perch arent multiplying coz there are only 2 left, probably the same sex. Added 5 white mollies. I have had experience with mollies in my indoor aquariums before and know that if they survive the first week from the aquarium shop, they will start to breed. They are live bearers just like the guppies. 

Guppies are dark and blend in well with the aquatic plants, enough to survive the early growth stage. The white molly fry may not be able to hide as well as the guppies to survive the adult climbing perch. I am hoping that there are enough hiding places that some make it to adults. 

19Jan2021 update: crossed the first hurdle and that is all 5 survived more than a week after getting them. The perch dont seem to be bullying any of them which is good.

Brinjal seeds

 I didnt see this guy...

Can you see it? Hidden until it rotted and fell to the ground. The seeds look ready to start many new plants...

If they survive the birds etc, they will become 100% my very own brinjals for the first time. 

New red bug

 Fed the whole leaf with its red invaders to the fish.

the flower bud

Each successive tree has yielded less bananas. It might come to a stage when I might stop bananas and give up that area to another plant. Anyway we will deal with that when it comes. For now, this tree (#4) has stopped putting out combs that are growing. So time (slightly overdue) to cut the bud. 

It went to one of our neighbours, the only one who here who knows how to cook it.

Brinjal observations

• We dont get many coz the nutrients from the fish pond arent enough for fruiting plants.
• The ones that we do get are small, for the same reason.
• Strangely, the insects love the leaves but so far, touch wood, have not gone for the fruit.
• The leaves are attacked more than most other plants I have. So whatever fruit that does grow is a blessing.
• I still dont know the optimal time to pluck them.
• I love slicing these up, about half cm thick, and toast them on a hot pan. Just a tiny bit of oil to help it along. Zero seasoning.

benefits of kale

I found this nicely written article re kale. It talks about nutritional composition and cooked vs raw.

Ginger gen 2 100 percent organic

Ginger plant #5

My 1st attempt at ginger was a success. That was started from a piece  bought from our wet market. The source was probably China. So even though the harvest which was all new growth, I guess technically it wasnt 100% free of pesticides or whatever from the ori piece.

So this is a piece of new growth from that ori piece, which makes this 2nd gen attempt 100% organic. 

I left the half dead leaves as is.

It's 12 Dec 2020, and this time, the plan is to leave it in for 8 months minimum and see if any diff in taste. So harvest date will be set at after 12 Aug 2021.

29Dec2020 update: new shoots finally. I was thinking before this that the piece was too small or too young. Luckily all looks well.

The new shoots are ones on the extreme left and right.

Also good to see that what I thought was half dead leaves and on its way out, were still green and supplying food for the plant by photosynthesis.

29 May 2021 update: harvested!

Erosion

A fair amount of loose topsoil gets washed away with heavy downpours. Spent this morning making a barricade with old roof tiles and bricks.

Ran out of bricks.

Mushroom-like flower

 The sayur manis just flowered. Some of the flowers look like little mushrooms.

first ginger harvest

 It's been 5 months.

Couldn't wait for 8 as recommended by most on the web. Some random guy I met while walking my dog told me his took about 4 months. That convinced me to go ahead.

Luckily I planted it above the ground in a bed of new soil surrounded by bricks. Removing one or two of them made it easier to dig the ginger out from the side...

This was growing under the soil...

What an amazing feeling seeing it multiplied. Lots of earthworms in between the bulbs so I had to be careful washing and breaking the ginger apart.

This was what it looked like, semi cleaned. You can see the original mother was a different colour.

Height perspective

 Most of the photos of the banana tree have been by itself. Here is one with me next to it. I am 5ft11in.

cutting grass

Cutting grass day today...

I used to spend heaps of time sweeping up and composting all the cuttings. But now I just sweep whatever is on the driveway only, out back into the garden and let the cuttings break down all over.

Also was time for another dose of Epsom salts. I do a tablespoon to 4 litres of water and just give a little to each plant, every 6 months. I dont overdo it coz there are claims on both sides, some swear by it, some say its useless.  

Tilting tree from the weight of the fruit

 The banana tree will sure fall if we leave it as it is. Just the weight from the start of the fruiting has already caused it to lean quite a bit. 

We have had to secure most of our trees to the wall/fence.

Used a sack to distribute the force on the tree a bit more. Also 2 ropes instead of one. All to lessen the stress on the plant.

Tree looks better/straighter now. 

Red neem water

 The water which I soak neem leaves garlic and chili in has turned from a dark brown to red.