Planting and Harvesting Onion

 Sorry for not updating for sometime, I had some problems with my computer last week. My Windows7 wouldn't let me access my computer 'cause I canceled the file-compressing process half way. And I had to be without my computer for about a week. Thank God for a good church friend who happened to be a computer expert, who helped me with helpful advices on how to reboot my computer in an effort to save all my data.....and thank God it worked!!

By the way, I actually want to share about how easy it is to plant onion from onion especially in the tropical weather where Sunshine is abundant! There are three ways of planting onions and for more information on it you can click here. 

As for me, planting onion from the bulb is the easiest. I just burry onions I buy from the market, leave it and it will grow. I mix 1 part of soil with 1 part of cow/goat manure and a generous amount of organic matter, ie. mature compost . And I make sure to keep the soil moist not soggy, because soggy soil will cause the onion to rot(from past experience).

Below, you could see the onions I harvested today. One cluster of onions is bigger than the other. Just keep in mind, if you want to get bigger size of onions, then you have to choose 

the biggest bulb to plant! 

Still, both clusters are edible! :-)

So, when can we harvest the onions? This time I didn't keep a record of the germinating time 'cause in the first place I just wanted to get some spring onions from it, that I mostly needed for cooking. So, it wasn't planned! Therefore, I can't tell you exactly how long it took the onions to grow in order to produce mature onions. It's quite fast though if we plant it from the bulbs, I guess it's just about 3 months or so, however, I'm not really sure.  

But don't worry, there's one hint that can be an indication for us, that is the falling, wilting and drying of the leaves. Once the leaves fall by themselves, just let it wilted and dried. In my case, I left it for about a week to be thoroughly dried before I extracted it, cleaned it from dirt, and dried them under the sun for several hours, before I brought them inside to further hang them for another 2 weeks to be completely dry, so that it will be good for a long-term storing.

I just germinated more onions today, and this time I will keep a record and I will update more details later. Why not planting along with me? It's very easy, and self-planted-organic-onions will soon be available in your kitchen!

Fried Noodle for Breakfast

These are from my absence several months ago, when I was still planting water spinach. 

Just like other normal morning, I was preparing breakfast for my mother and I. And just like what I usually do, cooking from what I have in the fridge!

And the menu that morning was spicy fried noodle with home grown water spinach and herbs. What could be better than that? 

Repotting Mango Tree

After the first fruiting success, I repotted this mango 'Arum Manis' plant into a much bigger pot end of last October. 

It needs more space and energy to grow.

Just within the first couple of weeks, it started to send new shoots.

In our tropical weather, normally mango tree produces fruit twice a year. Thus, I'm waiting in anticipation to new fruting season. I'm not really sure when, maybe around december.

Bougenville

My mother is an avid fan of Bougenville or commonly called here as paper flowers. She had asked me several times to add this plant to my rooftop container garden, though she can't climb upstairs to enjoy their beauty any longer but the thought of it has already amused her. 

 So, I've been adding several varieties of it to my rooftop garden and it has so far adding more colors to it.

Planting Pineapple from the Crown

Nothing is more happier than finding one of 3 pineapple crowns I planted in November last year, has finally started blooming!!! YAAAAY!!! Look at that cute pinkish bloom! 

How long does it take pineapple to bloom and set fruit if we plant it from the crown? The answer is between 16-24 months, depends on whether you plant it outdoor or indoor. If you plant it outdoor, normally it will start to bloom within a year, 

but in my case, only one from 3 crowns has started to bloom. 

I'm not sure why, but they are the same variety and planted on 

the same day.

 

I guess the size or depth of the containers used may play a role in  the health of the plants, as it provides more space for the roots to develop and thus influence the maturity of the plants. I use 

4-gallon pots for each of the two plants and one basin type bucket 

for the other one. 

I wonder if my hypothesis is right. 

Normally pineapple can bear fruit 3 times during their lifetime before we must replace the plant, but indoor potted plant are more likely to produce only one or two fruits during their lifetime because they may not always receive the optimum condition necessary for thorough fruiting.

The mother plant, or the first plant grown, produces a single fruit from the center of the crown. The second and third fruits grow from side shoots off the mother plant, called ratoons. In large containers we can leave these shoots, or suckers, on the mother to continue growing. The suckers are usually removed in smaller pots and transplanted to their own container, where they become a new mother plant. Each ratoon can only flower once, and it itsn't likely to send out its own suckers if left on the mother plant. Although each mother can produce multiple suckers, it's best to remove all but the two strongest. Too many suckers on one plant weakens it and minimizes the chance of fruiting.

Contemplation

Gardening can be a very rewarding experience, especially in terms of relational: relational to God, to the nature and 

other human beings. 

It can improve our mood and pumping new energy for us. 

Gardening is potential to be a collective activity, 

a hobby, a keen interest you can infect others with. 

Many times I bring down my plants just to show to my mother,

for the purpose of simply sharing this journey together 

and to show her all the beauty and natural wonders of 

the Plant kingdom. 

Gardening can even bring healing to our soul and body 

and thus, no wonder some people incorporated gardening into the therapy medication. For those who have been gardening will understand the feeling of witnessing the first shoots and seedlings emerging from the soil, though it's just the cotyledon (false leaf), and experience the fullness of joy when the seeds turn into 

a sweet harvest.

Gardening is magical, enriching and worthwile!

Gardening is transforming! 

It transforms the way you perceive life. It transforms your patience. It transforms your endurance. It transforms your depencency on your own strenght 'cause in many occassions you just can't control anything, let alone everything.

What's growing now

These are some of the vegetables growing in my gardern right now.

Marigold

Marigold may have been gardener's best friend as it is a good companion plant to send away annoying pests. Marigold had been on my planting list last semester. Unluckily, it hadn't been effective to keep pests, in this case aphids, away, but the other way around 
it had been heavily infested with aphids! 

It especially attacked my African Crackerjacks. 

  Until one point, I decided to chop them off and discarded them.

                       Does anyone know why?

Carrot Cake

Growing up with 'Donald Duck' comics, I was always intriqued by the carrot cake he likes to bake for his 3 nephews. Does it sound familiar? Well, in my case I have finally made it myself and tried it just recently, and have made that at least 3 times already.

This recipe is actually taken from the recipe book I copied a long time ago from an American friend. Thus, I believe this must be similar to uncle Donald's original recipe!

The recipe calls for :

Dried ingredients:

3 cups of all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

11/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon powder

1 tsp nutmeg powder

1/2 tsp clove powder

1/2 tsp salt

wet ingredients:

1 c vegetable oil

1 1/2 c sugar

4 eggs

2 c shredded carrot

1 c raisins

1 c nuts (optional)

Method:

1. Mix the dried and wet ingredients. Stir well, pour the mix into a greased and powdered cake tin with a hole in the middle. 

2. Oven at 150°C for 45 mins until it's no longer mushy, but don't bake more than 45 mins because it can quickly dried up and lose its moistness.

Roast Pork Risotto (Chinese Style)

Are you a fan of risotto? Here's the Chinese-style roast pork risotto I made recently. Actually this was my first try 

but everyone in the family liked it!

Ingredients:

3 cups of rice

500 grams of roast pork (chopped)

3 medium size dried shitake mushroom (soaked until soft, slice thinly)

200 grams Chinese Mustard leaves (chopped)

5 cloves garlic (minced)

5 cm of ginger (sliced thinly)

2 Tbsp oyster sauce

2 Tbsp sesame oil

6-7 Tbsp salty soya sauce (Indonesian salty soya sauce "Angsa" brand, you may use any you can find)

1-2 Tbsp sweet soya sauce (Indonesian Soya Sauce "Bango" brand)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 Tbsp salt

And water 

Method:

1. Using a little vegetable oil, stir-fry the chopped roast pork for a while until it turns golden brown and some of the lard melting, thus, brings out fragrance, Add 2-3 Tbsp salty soya sauce, stir well. Set aside.

2. Now with a little vegetable oil, stirfy the Chinese Mustard Leaves and mushroom with minced garlic and sliced ginger. Then, add 2 Tbsp of salty soya sauce. Stir until it all blends. Set aside.

3). Now, with some vegetable oil, stir fry the uncooked rice (that has been washed prior to cooking), add 2 Tbsp oyster sauce, 2 Tbsp salty soya sauce, and 1-2 Tbsp sweet soya sauce. Stir well and move the rice into the rice cooker.

4). Add the roast pork and veggies, stir well, add water brimming over the rice about 2,5 cm higher than the rice  (or I usually dip the first knuckle of my index finger in order to measure the water). Cook the risotto with the rice cooker until, all the liquid dried up.

5). Moved the risotto to the steamer, steamed for 30 minutes or until the rice is well-cooked and tender. Serve with coriander fried chicken, some cilantro and fried onion.