easiest to grow and maintain in 2021

The easiest veggie to grow and maintain with zero chemical pesticides and fertiliser was hands down the kangkung, followed by chives. 

Kangkung was just plain hardy. Even when ravaged by pests, and I didnt harvest for some time which meant the pest had undisturbed time to do max damage... after pruning heavily the affected leaves, the plant would bounce back like new. On top of that I have yet to add new seeds. This was the first plant I attempted to grow, and it has continued to feed us for years. I have limited it to just 2 small boxes so that we don't have an oversupply. 

Chives was the only plant that didnt get attacked by insects. The only problem was weeds, especially one of the grass species that looked exactly like chives! Who knows, we might have eaten quite a bit of grass over this year. 

Happy New Year

ginger leaves affected by rain

I think its the bad weather we have had. Since the top part of the shoot is dying, I thought I'd harvest earlier.

Also maybe leave a couple of shoots in the ground to see if it will carry on. My finger isd pointing at the point where I broke off a section.

Previously I have harvested completely. This is the ones I pulled out. 

Finally enough for 1 meal

 Finally grew enough plants to harvest for one lunch veggie dish.

This veggie is really good for you but I read somewhere that it's toxic if eaten raw! Anyways all the Chinese restaurants have this in their soups so the cooked version must be healthy.

A drop of water is all it needed

 I left some ulam raja seeds outside to pass to a friend. I didnt notice a drop of water from the rain. This morning the one seed that was wet started to grow.

Chive (kuchai) flowers

 Nice delicate white flowers

yummy ginger leaves

 Yummy for these buggers...

So many leaves gone!!!

This is what it looks like when that caterpillar makes a home...it seals the 2 sides of the leaf...

zero care vinegar

 Pineapple scraps put in water and just let outside to ferment. It worked but because I was not checking it at all, a lot of the water evaporated.

I use this vinegar to add to my pest deterrent sprays. The spray itself is a mixture of neem leaves water. cooking oil, dishwashing detergent and this vinegar.

long beans and ginger leaves attacked

These little fellows look like butterfly caterpillars. Lost quite a few long beans...

and their cousins gobbled up my ginger leaves...

long beans

What a beautiful flower....

market coriander

Used the coriander. Left the roots. Have tried growing them with no success so far. Trying again. Some growth after sitting in water for a day.

Planted in the ground. Will update

bitter gourd bugs

These fellow really have a feast on my bitter gourd plants. If you look carefully you can see 2 generations there.

Only good thing is that they dont fly much so its easier to guide them onto my hand and then feed them to the fish.

predator insect home coming along

 I just pruned some bamboo. Went towards the bee house...

todays gift

Our neighbour's gift to us today...

Will use it for fried rice

please get out

 Please wasp, can you look for a home outside? 

I want these guys around but this is a bit too close

cant afford to neglect checking underneath leaves

The majority if insects seem to love the underside of leaves. 

The top of a chili leaf...

The bottom...

Bigger sift

 Harvest compost time again... I try to do it monthly. The oldest of the 3 bins, lets call it bin1...

Under the sack that is decomposing too...

Harvested only from bin1. Used a bigger holed basket to sift through the compost. I think it will get more out to the garden. 

The stuff that didnt go through the sift goes back into the now-empty bin1. And then bin2...

This goes into bin1 next. Finally the newest of the 3, bin3...

That goes on top of bin1. I managed to fit almost all 3 into bin1 except for a little which went into bin2
 

Distraction

I've been letting the undergrowth grow out a bit, one reason to see if insects will be drawn to something else other than the edible stuff we want. This distraction seems to be working. A thorny plant popped up that is growing really fast and the bugs seem to love its leaves more than the surrounding veggies.

Bee home

I've been trying to attract bigger insect predators that hopefully will feed on the smaller bugs and larvae that have been feasting on our veggies. Started by placing some flowering plants between the veggies.

That yellow flow plant seems to grow quite easily and lots have sprouted in random places too.

Now I am looking for any kind of small cylinders to attract the bigger insects to make it their home. We got lots of bamboo around which will hopefully do the job. I have also been keeping my eyes open for cylinder type waste that will hold the bamboo together. 

Cut each bamboo at its own sections and inserted into a toilet roll as the holder...

I will try placing it in different spots in the garden. I'm sure the insects will have a preference as to how much sun and shade they want. This fence has a good dose of morning sun and is not shaded at all. 

Hmmm...the rain is going to get to the toilet roll very fast. Nevermind, this is experimental, just like the entire garden. 

Also trying bamboo directly to this smaller fence.

 

Fallen chilis

Normally I find maybe one or 2 chilis on the ground at the most. Today lots fell off the plant, no idea why. 

All still useable coz it must have happened overnight. If I miss any and they are on the ground for more than a day, there will be damage.

extra mileage on shop-bought spring onions

 Anything bought that still has roots, I just plant them in the the garden and see if we can a little more from them. These spring onions' roots look quite old but there is a little life still in them. 

Kept them in some pond water...

The next day you can see the plant is still alive with some growth...

Stuck them in the ground...

We wont get much from them, but its just fun to see how much growth there will be before they die out.

harvesting banana #5

 Some creature was getting to the fruit at night,

so before losing the lot, we had to harvest slightly earlier. Chopped all leaves first. Baby #6 just to the right of it....

This was what we got...

The trunk made a nice little picket fence. It will decompose there.

Some video of the day...

Resting after all the morning's excitement...

The only leaf I cant compost

This species is a real problem...

It's easier to identify when I flip it over...