Updates From My Garden January 2023

I have been busy cooking lunch and dinner for the family and for most of the meals I have forgotten to snap photos of the dishes that I have cooked. So, no food post for the time being. Instead, I will update on my garden plants.

Okra or ladies' fingers.

Currently, I have 2 okra plants growing in the same pot.

This long okra was harvested a day late and it was not good for food, hard and fibrous.

Green brinjals / eggplants /aubergines growing in my garden.

This must be harvested before the seeds harden.

Sometimes, it can grow quite long and still is tender.

I sowed a few yellow cucumber seeds and only one is successful.

Cranberry Hibiscus blooming away.

This patch of land which I used to plant green and purple amaranth has been infested with tiny snails and they will eat up all the young leaves. I will try to plant corn instead and see if the snails will attack the corn plants.

Linking to Wordless Wednesday & My Corner of the World.

Like sheep you wandered away from God,

but now you have returned to your Shepherd,

The Guardian of your souls who keeps you safe from all attacks.

(1 Peter 2:25, The Living Bible-TLB)

Split Cabbage Head In My Garden

Before the rainy season started, I had 5 pots of cabbage plants growing in my garden.

This was taken in August, 2022.

This was taken in September, 2022.

This was taken in October, 2022.

The cabbage plants were growing well and healthy.

Here in this photo, the cabbage heads have started to form.

November, 2022.

This cabbage head is getting big.

This is the biggest of them all.

Due to the rainy season, the excess water has caused this cabbage head to split.

The split affected the whole cabbage head.

The insufficient sunlight also contributed to the damage.

Even the figs also split open due to excess water.

This is the curled up flower of the cranberry hibiscus.

Cranberry flowers.

Took this photo on a sunny morning.

This photo of the zebras was taken by a friend who visited the Taiping zoo.

Beautiful stripes on the zebra.

Linking to Saturday's Critters.

But He was wounded for our transgressions,

He was crushed for our wickedness

[our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing];

The punishment [required] for our well-being fell on Him,

And by His stripes (wounds) we are healed.

(Isaiah 53:5, Amplified Bible-AMP)

Growing Cranberry Hibiscus In My Garden

As usual our day started with morning walk

at 6:42am

Sunrise at 7:40am

In March this year about 6 months ago, I received a cranberry cutting from a friend. From  this 1 cutting, I now have 2 pots of cranberry plants. When my friend told me that her plants have flowered, I went out to check on my plants.

True enough, I saw a few flower buds on the plants. Few days later, I started to see flowers.

The first cranberry flower from my garden. My cranberry plants are now about 7 feet tall. I couldn't bring myself to trim off the top of the plants because of the flower buds.

Cranberry hibiscus has greenish purple/red colour leaves and they look like maple leaves. The colour of the flowers are in deep cranberry red. They flower all the year round. They are now exposed to the morning sun. I hope to move them to a place with full sun exposure.

These plants are easy to grow and easy to maintain. It is easy to propagate from stem cuttings and seeds. I have yet to get to see the seeds and I will try propagating from seeds if when available.

Information from the internet concerning cranberry hibiscus:

The leaves and flower petals contain antioxidants, calcium, iron and vitamins B2, B3 and C. Both the leaves and flower petals can be eaten raw in salads and stir fries. The leaves taste tart and sourish like cranberries.

At the end of the day, the flowers will fold up inward and look like the above.

The folded flowers are then collected and the petals removed to be used to steep in hot water or blended with lime juice and sugar.

The tea has the colour of cranberries, taste sweet and tart like cranberries and can be taken hot or cold.

Hibiscus tea promotes belly fat burning, weight loss, reduces fat absorption and lowering bad cholesterol.

As with all herbal remedy, drinking too much hibiscus tea could cause possible side effects as such faintness, drowsiness, and etc. I have not tried consuming the leaves or flowers of the cranberry hibiscus.

Linking to Wordless Wednesday & My Corner of the World.

When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you.

When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown!

When you walk through the fire of oppression,

you will not be burned up - the flames will not consume you.

(Isaiah 43:2, The Living Bible-TLB)