Dianthus

Dianthus Romance Pink (Carnation)

I have fallen in love with carnation since my teenage years. I've always loved the delicate pastel colors and the graceful petals when it started to bloom. Each bloom at each season is unique and lovely in their-own way. When I started gardening, carnation was definitely on my growing list. I always enjoy gazing at and taking pictures of them at each growing season.

Dianthus Romance Pink (Carnation)

The church I attend, where I became a believer in high school, always has flower arrangement on the altar table against the wall, where a big wooden cross was hung. Several ladies always take turn in arranging the flowers every Sunday. 

They will arrange different kinds of flowers and style each week. Sometimes they will use carnation too. On special occasion like women/mothers' day the church would also give a stalk of rose or carnation to each of the women/mothers. 

This tradition went on for many years.   

Dianthus Romance Pink (Carnation)

Dianthus Romance Pink (Carnation)

Maybe not many of you know that Dianthus has about 300 species 

in the family of Caryophyllaceae. They have been extensively bred and hybridized for garden use and floristy with a huge variety of shapes and markings. I myself have just found out the fact that there are that many species only until recently when I purchased 

new carnation plants to replace my old ones, which died from fusarium wilt. I like the fact that they are from the same family though Pink Carnation is still my favorite. 

Dianthus Romance Pale Pink (Carnation)

Dianthus Romance Pale Pink (Carnation)

Dianthus Chinensis

Dianthus Plumarius "White Lace"

Sweet William Dianthus Barbatus

Planting Cucumber

Cucumber is one of the vegetable plants that fascinated me much in the process of planting. My first cuke plant is Cucumber Marketer. It started to bloom about twenty male flowers for about a week or so before the female flowers came out.

At first it sets in only one female flower a day and after about a week, two or three.

First day of blooming - Female Flower

Both Male and Female flowers' prime is only a day. It means a day to produce pollen for the male flowers and a day up for a pollination for the female flowers. If we miss it, it will be too late as it withers and falls.

I had hand-pollinated at least 18 female cukes and at first it seemes that they're starting to swell up but then after a while I noticed that they stopped growing, especially after getting soaked from a downpour or suffered from a sun-scorching day. I then started to move them to a shade during the scorching noon and afternoon in order to protect the pollinated female flowers and the leaves from getting sunburnt.

One day as I was going to pollinate a female flower,  I found this one survived, but only this one which was growing... fast. In days it got this big.

So what happened with the others...?

The growth stalled and they're getting yellow―immaturely.

 And sadly I had to remove them...

 I harvested the cuke after it got about 13 cm long and about 6 cm wide.

It's stout and  fleshy with few seeds but the size and form was not like the one shown in the seeds catalog which is longer and not as stumpy as this was. The taste was a bit bland and not as sweet and crunchy as the local breed. I wonder if it's a little too ripe as I had already seen a little crack on the lower skin.

After several days after the harvest, I got some new blooms and had them pollinated but again only one got succeeded. I wonder why I can't have several cukes succeededly pollinated at the same time? Does the plant automatically abort other baby cukes because it has not enough energy for all of them since I plant it  in  a 4 gallons container? (shoulders shrugged and eyes rolled)

Spring Salad

Lettuce Gourmet Mix

 The most rewarding of gardening is when you can harvest some produce from what you've sown! Finally today, after 32 days from germinating, I could harvest some of these lucious lettuce greens....

With some other organic produce I harvested from my own garden, i.e. green and ripe tomatoes, orange and green sweet peppers, and some basil leaves plus an apple, a carrot (shredded), a handful of borlotti beans, and 2 stalks of green onions that I bought from the market I am going to make spring salad for today.

 I add some cubed chicken breast that I seasoned with worcestershire sauce, fish sauce, soya sauce, and a pinch of black pepper for 10 minutes before I sautéd with a little oil until it's cooked.

As for the dressing, I simply used some lime juice, sugar, salt, olive oil and water. And here is the result! Fresh Spring Salad to add to the delight of lunch in a hot day!