Tomato Plant

I decided to grow cherry tomato, and here is my tomato plant. I don't put much effort. Just plotted with two seeds, and kept the stronger seedling. The fruits are plenty. They are so heavy until they pull the stem down and some tomatoes are touching the ground.

The fruits have started to get ripe. The weather has been very hot. I water twice a day, and perhaps the soil was not wet enough, the tomato skin is quite thick. They don't taste very good, but I just eat them raw.

Planting Ladies Fingers/Okra at my backyard

I have recently grown Ladies' Fingers on two pots at my backyard.  It is really easy. Just get a pot, some good soil, and good seeds, sunlight and water

With two plants, I get to harvest everyday, just after one month of growing from seeds.

Sometimes I harvest one, sometimes two, and yesterday three. They can grow long very fast. During the day time, they can grow about one inch!

Because Ladies' Fingers grow very fast, when it is about 5 inches long, just harvest it, or else it will get old, and the fibre becomes too hard to bite on.

Last week I steamed stuffed Ladies' Fingers with minced meat, made some gravy to go with it. 

A few days later, I cooked curried chicken rice with Ladies' Fingers.

Today, I shall steam Ladies' Fingers tops with oyster sauce and fried scallot.

Raising hens for eggs

These were my last two chickens which I raised for meat at backyard.

A hen and a cock. I had 15 of them for this batch. These 2 chickens were about 4 months old. 

When I opened the cavity of the hen, these dropped out!

Lots of eggs! Perhaps I should have kept the hen for another week, then I would continue to keep the hen so that I have organic egg everyday!

Growing Papaya

This papaya tree grows by itself next to my chicken coop.  I attempted to grow papaya trees a few times but never succeeded. I think the easiest way to grow papaya tree is to throw the seeds around at my backyard and wait for it to grow by itself if the seeds find the right soil. This is the second papaya tree that grows fruits at my backyard. I had a few papaya trees before but they always die reaching about 5 feet tall.

I have had 3 papaya from this tree. The skin doesn't look very nice but the flesh is good. The feeling of eating own grown fruits and vegetables are really good.

Growing Vegetables Choy Sam

I am growing Choy Sam using planter's pot at my backyard. This is the second time I successfully grow them. The first batch was in November when I decided to invest in planter's pot and buying soil from the fertilizer shop in November. I tried planting the vegetable on raised floor bed before but it was really difficult with the weeds and snails. Furthermore, I can't squat for too long to weed the grass and the snails just kept coming.

A few advantages with planter's pots:

1. portable. I bring one pot indoor to wait for the seedlings to grow big enough to transplant them. I can place the pots on table so that I don't have to squat. After transplant, I leave the pots indoor with sufficient sunlight for 2 to 3 days before I slowly expose them in full sunlight.

2. reduce weeds. Controllable weeds in the pots. If I grow on raised floor, the weeds just come out from everywhere.

3. avoid snails. I can move the pots away from areas where the snails are plenty. I can also put snails poisons around the pots so that the snails don't have a chance to come into the pots.

Kangkong

It is about time to weed the grass at my backyard. I found kangkong at my backyard.

It is more than enough for one plate stir fry kangkong.

Harvested the kangkong for my dinner.

 

Washed. How nice, rest assured of organic vegetable as it grows at my backyard.

Stir fried with garlic.

Sick Little Chick

This chick is another casualty. I found it sick and lying while the other chicks kept "accidentally" stepped on it.

I moved this poor chick away in a shoe box lined with newspaper. It didn't move much, trying to drink water and eating some feeds with great difficulty. Its head shaking. When I looked at it, it looked just like a baby, helpless. Several time I thought it was dead, but I could still see its body breathing. Poor little chick. It didn't even know who its mother was. Factory incubated chicks do not have the right to own their mother to take care of them from birth.

Another batch of chicken

We bought another 10 chicks on 24th June 2014. This species grow very fast. 30 o 45 days are big enough to slaughter. The chickens we raised have less fats in between the meat, and we can grow until they are mature enough to slaughter. As for those sold in the market, I think they are only slightly older than 30 days.

Day 1 on 24th June 2014

Day 2

Day 11

We lost 3 chicks. 2 chicks died because my husband didn't realize that there were 2 chicks covered by the newspaper while doing cleaning. LOL. While one disappeared into the long grasses as we have not asked people to lawn the backyard for quite sometime.

Chicks

After 2 weeks, the chicks have grown bigger. I put the chicks under my mango tree during day time as the chicken coop is not ready yet. They enjoy the morning sun.

We made a chicken coop at the backyard. The chickens prefer to stay outside the coop during day time. They walk around, looking for sheds when the day is hot.

Having the chickens at the backyard adds life to the quiet backyard. I would say they are cute.

One of the chicken hen always run after us. I like to see the chickens around, but I dislike them dirtying my backyard.

Protecting my mango from bats

This photo dated 20th June 2010

In the previous mango season last year, bats came to enjoy my ripe mangoes at night leaving behind the mango skin with the flesh gone. This year I wrap the fruits about to ripe with plastic bags. This way keep the mangoes away from the bats. The birds like to poke on the fruits as well. I just couldn't wrap every fruit so let the birds enjoy the fruits together with me.

My Mango Tree

This photo was taken on 20 June 2010.

 

It was mango season. I have an apple mango tree just in front of my house. It shapes like apple, and we name this species "Apple Mango". The flesh is smooth and sweet and juicy. 

Yummy! When comes mango season, I eat at least 2 to 3 fruits everyday. This is also the season I find myself a few kilos heavier.

Mangoes are usually given to my family members and guests. Everyone loves my mangoes.......

Bougainvillea

This Bougainvillea was given by my sister in a pot. The root has grown pass the pot. It is healthy, but do not flower. There are two species in this plant. White and purple colour. 

I wish it can bloom one day. Anything that I need to do to let it flowers?

Pot Plant

What plant is this? I was given this plant about 3 years back in a small pot. This is suppose to be a pot plant. I placed it next to the fence and it grew up very well. Having a plant nicely grown in my backyard is rare. I just let it grow to add some greenery scene to my backyard.

Avocado Plant

Got some avocado from my hubby's auntie two years back when she came to KK. As usual, if she dropped by my house from Tenom, she would give me fruits.

I like to eat avocado with honey. Normally I'll cool the avocado in the fridge before I scope it out to eat with honey or sugar.

I threw the seed at my backyard and it grew into about 1 foot tall. My hubby helped me to dig it out and grew it somewhere in the middle of my backyard. It grew very well up to about 7 feet. The leaves were vividly green. I just like to look at the tree to see it grow.

After several days of heavy raining, I noticed the leaves drooping. It seemed as though the leaves had no strength to lift up their happy faces. In a few days, the leaves became brown, the tree is dying.

My part-time Indonesian maid asked me why the tree dies. I don't know. I can't grow papaya at my backyard as well. After a certain height, the papaya tree dies just like the avocado tree. I suppose the root is rotten with the soaking water underneath.

It's quite sad to see a healthy growing tree suddenly dies away.