bitter gourd ripens fast

I couldn't see to the garden for 2 days and this was what I harvested from the bitter gourd vine. Thank God no insects got to it.

Luckily it wasn't mushy, just slightly on some parts. Most of it was still useable. Did the usual coat with salt for an hour, then rinse. I chucked it into a hot pan, then added garlic. A bit of soy sauce and (homemade pineapple) vinegar for flavour... I like the mix of 3 flavours... bitter, salty and sour. And finally when dry/fried enough, scrambled in an egg. 

losing nearly 50% kangkung to white flies

These tiny white flies suck the life out of plants. and they multiply underneath the leaves which make them tough to spot. They seem to love kangkung and chili leaves.

You can see clear evidence of them here...

making way for banana tree #5

 Just finished chopping down and composting tree #3. Tree #4 is relatively straight.

I will choose which shoot to allow to grow into #5 once #4 puts out the final leaf with the fruit. 

Too many split bananas

Too many split bananas. I was hoping it would ripen from top to bottom but it's all happening at the same time. Time to harvest it all. As we removed each comb, starting the top-most, we found more and more damaged fruit hiding below. 

Most went into the compost, some went into a fertiliser tea.

The tree was smaller than the earlier ones and we didn't expect to get as many fruits this time. True we had less fruit but they were definitely fatter. Sweetness... I think the first tree was the best, but this one was still sweet. 

The harvest today. Total haul about 7 combs, no make that 8 coz we cut one a couple of days back thats not in this pic.

Artificial vinegar with a SCOBY!

haha just kidding. I placed my 1st attempt at ACV in this old vinegar bottle. 

The ACV was not as strong as I wanted so relegated it to washing veggies and cleaning. It grew a healthy-looking SCOBY though.

Mixed salad

 An assortment from the garden for today's lunch... mostly leaves with some damage

That long funny odd shaped leaf on the top right is one of the newer greens I have started. There is also a small curly leaf kale plant that I completely uprooted coz it was small and yellowing before I could harvest any mature leaves. A tiny brinjal. Bottom left was a  Malabar spinach shoot that popped up between some other plant. It was far from any climbing surface so removed it. The flat kale on the top left were mostly leaves with browning tips. Oh yeah and some tomatoes from our dying plant that just keeps on giving!!

banana tree #3 starting to ripen fruit

I should have cut this comb earlier. 

After realising one fruit was overripe and had split, I cut the whole comb and ...F*&@!!! discovered I had lost 4! 

My fault completely for not removing it earlier. 

The smell was so sweet and strong. So dumped them into the compost with a brick on top of the lid in case it attracts big-ish pests like squirrels, bats, whatever.