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)

Home Grown Green + Purple Brinjals & Ladies Fingers

During the long rainy season, some of the edible plants that did well are the ladies' finger and the brinjals. Brinjals are also known as eggplants or aubergine.

Long green ladies' fingers.

Green brinjals.

Purple brinjal.

Purple brinjal.

Purple brinjals take slightly longer time to cook than the green brinjals.

On this particular morning, I harvested 2 long green ladies' fingers, 1 purple brinjal and 3 green brinjals.

I usually steamed the brinjals and the ladies fingers. Sometimes, I will add them to the curry dish. This time, I used the brinjals and ladies' fingers together with cabbage to cook with sambal belacan + dried shrimps.

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I saw the following photos when I was holidaying in Penang. I know the 2 portraits belong to 2 members of the Beatles group but I don't know their name. Can you help me with their names?

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Linking to Tuesday's Treasures, Image-in-ing & Happy Tuesday.

If you must choose, take a good name rather than great riches;

for to be held in loving esteem is better than silver and gold.

(Proverbs 22:1, The Living Bible-TLB)

White Bitter Gourd Soup & Steamed Okra + Brinjal

We are still having lots of rain, hopefully no more floods or damaging thunderstorms.

Sunrise at 7:35am.

We usually have sunny morning and rain later in afternoon or night.

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Due to too much water, the bitter gourds were getting yellow tips so I had to harvest them earlier. The only way to consume them fast is either to make stuffed bitter gourd or use them to boil soup.

Since I had soup bones in the freezer, I decided to make bitter gourd soup which happens to be one of hubby's favourite soups.

We also had steamed long green okras and green brinjals (eggplants), topped with chili oil and soy sauce. This was our home cooked dinner for 2 people.

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Hubby likes the colourful Coleus. He has been collecting different types of Coleus from kind and generous aunties that we pass by on our morning walk. The following are the Coleus in our collection.

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These colourful leaves make up for their tiny flowers

Linking to Skywatch Friday & Friday Bliss.

The voice says, "Shout!"

"What shall I shout?" I asked.

"Shout that man is like the grass that dies aways,

and all his beauty fades like dying flowers.

The grass withers, the flowers fades beneath the breath of God.

And so it is with fragile man. The grass withers, the flowers fade,

but the word of our God shall stand forever."

(Isaiah 40:6-8, The Living Bible-TLB)

Okra, Ladies' Fingers Or Bendi

How to grow Okra, Ladies' Fingers.

Okra, known as ladies' fingers or bendi (in Malay) plant is very easy to grow.  It grows well in well-drained soil, in warm weather and exposed to at least a few hours of sunlight.

The okra fruit is high in fiber and has high vitamins and minerals contents. When cut, it will ooze out a transparent slimy substance.  The fresh seeds are white in color.  

Okra can be cooked by blanching in boiling water, or by steaming. It can be stir-fried with garlic or with "sambal belacan" (prawn paste), or can be added to curry or spicy dishes.  It can be slit open lengthwise, stuffed with fish or meat paste and cooked.

These are my okra seeds.  To hasten germination, you can soak these seeds in room temperature water overnight.

I have some recyclable container base (with holes at the bottom for water drainage) filled with garden soil.  I then buried my okra seeds in the soil (1 seed to 1 container).  I watered the soil and kept these containers away from direct sunlight, making sure the soil remain moist.

When the okra seeds sprouted and grew to a height of about 4 to 5 inches tall, I transplanted the baby plants into my flower pots.  From this picture, you can see 2 baby plants which I might have accidentally dropped in 2 seeds instead of 1 for germination.  I do not have the heart to discard one of them, so I let them share the same pot.  They do seemed to be a bit thin and tall.

My okra plants are growing beautifully tall and slender and I have to tie them to a support.  Can you see the buds on the plants?

The flowers are blooming!  Aren't they beautiful?  The creamy yellow petal matched with the dark center is so striking. 

The leaves of this okra plant are also extra large.  It is claimed that the whole okra plant can be eaten. The leaves can be cooked and eaten as normal greens or can be eaten as salad.

Look at the okra fruits growing!  This is the longer okra specie. 

This one is special.  Isn't it cute?  I think it looks like a swan head looking sideway.

This is the first fruit!  My heart is filled with thanksgiving for such a king size fruit.  It is slightly over a foot long.  I managed to harvest it just before it matured. Look at the lumps on the surface of the fruit.  It means the seeds are getting big.  Once it matured, it will be too fibrous to be eaten.  It is best to harvest when the fruit is tender and immature.

This 2 okra plants were over 6 feet tall and fruiting when this picture was taken, 

Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in His ways.

You will eat the fruit of your labor;
blessings and prosperity will be yours,

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house;

your sons will be like olive shoots around your table.

Thus is the man blessed who fears the LORD.

(Psalm 128:1-4, New International Version-NIV)

Isn't this amazing?  Out from the mother plant, came forth a new branch (I didn't know that okra plant can grow branches.  Lo and behold, it bloomed and out came a big fruit!

Can you guess how tall this okra plant is now?  It has grown to over 8 feet!  I have to support it by tying it to a pole to prevent it from bowing down because of the weight of the fruits.

Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,

who finds great delight in His commands.

(Psalm 112:1, New International Version-NIV)