Used to seeing my parents planting at home and also outside the doorsteps but without much sunlight though. And then read online news about the growing trend of farming on HDB flats (another article to read here) and was quite keen from then on since I have my own house now.
Initially, my mum gave me two plants of the same kind (I don't know what it is called) which is easy to maintain as you don't need to water it everyday. Actually was given to us (my mum and myself) by my uncle who works in agriculture/landscaping field. According to my mum, it produces anion which is good for our health. Not sure how true it is but she specifically said to put near television. Anyway, I'm sure there are other plants that works the same too.
So the following photo of the unknown name plant (虎尾兰) from my mum:
With that as a boost to planting at home, the opportunity came when we bought our first plant last year which was a pot of pomegranate (石榴) from pasar malam (night bazaar) near our place for $15. It was a pot of fully grown and tall pomegranate and happily carried back home. It was said that it can shield away evil spirits. And my hub will pluck a stalk of leaves, put in a bottle of water and bring with him to wash his hands and all before stepping into the house if he attends a wake. I think many of you have heard about it from our parents or any elder folks. Call me superstitious but this is like widely known thing. So are cactus too. But I never buy though.
First few days was good. But as days passed, it started to wither. Then I got agitated day by day despite watering it everyday. It just withered. And I started cursing and swearing at the plant. This is it! I think it hates me too and so throw tantrum with each other. Finally, not a thing left on the stalk. So we ignored it and left it there till the last day of 2015 (31 Dec). I organized a family gathering at my house and my uncle came over too so helped me to remove the annoying withered plant and give the remaining soil a new life, which is the beginning of our home planting. Too waste not to make use of the soil because it is so fertile.
Initially, my mum gave me two plants of the same kind (I don't know what it is called) which is easy to maintain as you don't need to water it everyday. Actually was given to us (my mum and myself) by my uncle who works in agriculture/landscaping field. According to my mum, it produces anion which is good for our health. Not sure how true it is but she specifically said to put near television. Anyway, I'm sure there are other plants that works the same too.
So the following photo of the unknown name plant (虎尾兰) from my mum:
With that as a boost to planting at home, the opportunity came when we bought our first plant last year which was a pot of pomegranate (石榴) from pasar malam (night bazaar) near our place for $15. It was a pot of fully grown and tall pomegranate and happily carried back home. It was said that it can shield away evil spirits. And my hub will pluck a stalk of leaves, put in a bottle of water and bring with him to wash his hands and all before stepping into the house if he attends a wake. I think many of you have heard about it from our parents or any elder folks. Call me superstitious but this is like widely known thing. So are cactus too. But I never buy though.
First few days was good. But as days passed, it started to wither. Then I got agitated day by day despite watering it everyday. It just withered. And I started cursing and swearing at the plant. This is it! I think it hates me too and so throw tantrum with each other. Finally, not a thing left on the stalk. So we ignored it and left it there till the last day of 2015 (31 Dec). I organized a family gathering at my house and my uncle came over too so helped me to remove the annoying withered plant and give the remaining soil a new life, which is the beginning of our home planting. Too waste not to make use of the soil because it is so fertile.
For a start, we threw in lots of chilli seeds and a ginger with bud growing out. Trying our luck and days after that, it really grew. Much thanks to the sunshine coming into our service yard which makes it the best and suitable place for planting. Sometimes when you leave your ginger or potatoes on the kitchen top for days, the buds start growing on them without even putting in the soil. So don't scrap away the bud. Cut that area out and put it in the soil.
Don't be like us. We mix all sorts of seeds in a big pot and getting confused which is which in the end. That is what my friend commented when I posted on my FB page. They 'fight' with one another for nutrients. I take that in as a lesson learnt.
Say hi to ginger. The first to grow out of the soil than chilli. Look so sturdy and nice. And another layer a week later shown below. Very fertile right the soil? What a waste if I throw it away together with the withered pomegranate plant!
Don't be like us. We mix all sorts of seeds in a big pot and getting confused which is which in the end. That is what my friend commented when I posted on my FB page. They 'fight' with one another for nutrients. I take that in as a lesson learnt.
Ginger
3 Jan 2016
Say hi to ginger. The first to grow out of the soil than chilli. Look so sturdy and nice. And another layer a week later shown below. Very fertile right the soil? What a waste if I throw it away together with the withered pomegranate plant!
9 Jan 2016
See the sunshine? On a sunny day. So no doubt of the sunlight at the service yard right? Sometimes it can shine all the way through my kitchen. No joke about that. My clothes hanging at the yard dried up fast.
Chilli
17 Jan 2016
See the shorter ones? These are the chilli. Grew together with ginger. You can see some seed shells stuck on to the leaves. Grow taller, grow grow! It started to get a little addictive now growing plants at home.
11 June 2016
I verified against my parents' pot of plants and yes confirmed the white flowers blooming here are from the chilli. Actually it has bloomed for a while and only manage a better photo of it now. But why dangling in a way instead of straight up? Not sure but the stems are sure sturdy. So I guess this is the way. How nice to be greeted by flowers in your house? How nice!
Beans
16 Feb 2016
I can't remember when I plant this but maybe during Chinese New Year because only then my dad remembers to pass the beans for me to bring home. They grew them at home way back last year and it is so tall already. Mine wasn't bad. This time I let it grew in one pot on its own. No more mixing with other seeds in that big pot. If not, I'm afraid it will get confused. Haha... Luckily I still have small plastic pots bought from Daiso the last time.
20 May 2016
Can you believe it? My pot of beans grew out a nice long bean (not very long though but made my day). I think I can use the seeds in it to grow again. Why not? You save money from buying seeds. An economical way of planting at home. Grow more please.
21 May 2016
Seriously, I woke up to a beautiful flower from my pot of beans. What a pleasant surprise! Never thought this is possible but we did it! Imagine that morning, the wind keep blowing that small pot down the rack and I was so fed up because I sweep up the soil and clean up twice before I get scolded by my husband for untying it from the bigger pot of plant. But that is all worth it. So long as it blooms beautiful flowers. I can't wait for more to come.
Pomegranate
2 June 2016
So instead of spending money to buy a pot of fully grown pomegranate but die on me after that, I decided to start from scratch. Buy a big pomegranate fruit and ate together with my husband to get the seeds. Imagine the seeds contributed is almost one whole pomegranate (we threw some away because too many to contain in one pot). That night, we had our dosage of antioxidant for sure. Planted on 18 May 2016 and about 2 weeks later, you see it blooming out. Excited. And it costed me less than $10 to buy pomegranate and a pot from Daiso. Pomegranate fruit isn't cheap though. And soil are from my parents. Superb cool.
10 June 2016
A week later, the pot is so crowded. My husband said when it grows taller, this small pot sure unable to contain. Well... we have to find a bigger pot by then. Probably in weeks' time. Now I really believe what the elderly said about growing pomegranate. Must say nice things, no cursing and swearing.
Home planting is so addictive now and it is easy so long as you have the basic stuff like pot, soil, seeds and sunshine. I'm not a very professional gardener but then if I can do it with just minimum knowledge, so can you.
Soon I'm gonna plant lemon seeds once my juice are finished. Gonna be hardworking a bit to squeeze out the juice for my daily consumption and get the seeds for planting. Also bought packets of seeds like sweet basil, mint and coriander from NTUC the other day. Soon my service yard will go out of space as I'm going to get a longer gardening rack from IKEA. Soon.
And I shall continue to give my TLC (Tender Loving Care) to all my plants with patience and nice conversations with them everyday. Water them adequately with sufficient sunlight exposure. And remove withered ones to let them grow properly. Fertilize them when necessary. Do your due diligence by making sure no access water are left on the tray to prevent mozzie breeding. Please... this is very important.
Have fun planting or farming at home now!