Cucumbers, Brinjals, Long Beans & Cauliflower From My Garden

Today's post is a mixture of bits and pieces or mish mash of photos I have taken.

Passing by 2 pigeons on one of our morning walk.

Waiting for this home grown plant to bear cauliflower.

Cucumbers hanging from the vine in my garden.

Green brinjals or eggplants harvested from 3 plants.

The above were harvested one day earlier.

One of the long beans is more than 25 inches long.

Every now and then, I have to check for these mealy bugs that hide under the brinjal leaves. I have to cut them off to prevent them from spreading to other leaves.

These black ants love to feed on the mealy bugs and also help to spread the mealy bugs to other plants. Someone recommended using washing dishes liquid detergent and water solution to spray on them which I have yet to test it out.

One evening I found this dragonfly clinging on the edge of a wooden frame on the wall.

It was showing its belly or the underside of its body. I tried to catch it to release it outside the house but it flew away and I couldn't find it. I found it dead on the floor the next morning. If it didn't fly away, I could have saved it.

Linking to Saturday's Critters.

A witness who tells the truth saves good men from being sentenced

to death, but a false witness is a traitor.

(Proverbs 14:25, The Living Bible-TLB)

Glutinous Rice Dumpling, Roast Pork & Blanched Malabar Spinach

I almost forgot the 2 glutinous rice dumplings that were in the fridge. So instead of steaming rice, I steamed the glutinous rice dumplings to go with the dishes for dinner.

Steamed glutinous rice dumplings in their wrapping.

Hubby came home from his meet-up with a friend gave hubby a packet of roast pork which I used to stir fry with onions, chilies, and sauces.

Blanched Malabar spinach, drizzled with garlic oil, oyster and soy sauce.

This was our home cooked dinner. Some may think it is weird to eat glutinous rice dumpling with these dishes but it is fine with us. We kept the leftover roast pork in the fridge.

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Pests found on the seed pods of my Water Jasmine plant.

I was watering my plants when I noticed these pests clinging on the seed pods.

I googled and found that these are common milkweed insects. So far, they haven't done any damage to my plants.

I sprayed water with my garden hose to get rid of them and until now, there is no sign of them on any of the plants.

So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives,

and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts,

for it has the power to save your souls.

(James 1:21, New Living Translation-NLT)

Pests In My Garden

My bitter gourd plants were doing well and fruiting. Then the leaves of the bitter gourd plants started to change from the healthy green to those as shown below.

I knew this was not good but I didn't know what causes the leaves to become like this until I spotted the culprits as shown in the following photos.

These look like the Ladybird beetles but they are not. Ladybird beetles are friends of our garden. Upon checking closely, there were many of them feeding on my bitter gourd leaves.

Straight away, I cut down all my bitter gourd plants and removed them from my garden.

They not only feed on the leaves, they also feed on the bitter gourds.

Green bitter gourd damaged by the pests.

From now on, I will be on the lookout for these beetles.

Here is another pest that has been feasting on my plants. This one seems to like the taste of my hibiscus plants.

And look! It has been enjoying the hibiscus flower bud too!

Look what happened to the flower bud! Now I know who was behind all the damage to my hibiscus leaves and flowers.

So also the tongue is a small thing,

but what enormous damage it can do.

A great forest can be set on fire by one tiny spark.

(James 3:5, The Living Bible-TLB)