Thursday, March 31, 2011

Mini Jungle

Before my warm season vegetable is over, I would like to show you some of our patch that has become a mini jungle. Because of my laziness to provide a big trellis to support the cucumber plants, Lenay had made zig zag of ropes which has become looking like a canopy by the cucumber plants and shading capsicum plants that are growing under that canopy. Lemon grass that my mother planted  from root after I just gave birth to Rayyan. At the back of the lemon grass is pattypan squash.
There is so many plant on this patch~ capsicum plants, tomato plants, sweet potato plants, snake bean, angle luffa, pumpkin, tumeric and other plants that I have forgotten. More zig zag of ropes to support the snake bean plants.
This have been my favourite flower this summer~ Okra burgundy which will provide delicious pod later.  This okra is surrounded by pumpkin foliage at the moment as natural ground cover.
Dahlia which is still blooming, visit Noel for The Hot, The Loud and The Proud party for exotic things.

I treat our chilies as perennial here. I can't understand why but our chili fruit more in colder month rather than warm season as if it does not want me to treat is an annual. It will undergo its second winter if I let it be, will see. Sweet potato growing near chili plant one of the reason I can't clear up the patch yet for fall planting.

Another patch that we plan to clear up for fall planting but the 2009/2010 summer brinjal plants are just starting to produce more fruit. We don't have much luck with brinjal and chili seedlings this year as it have slow growth due to cooler summer and cool night this warm season. But some brinjal plant from previous warm season that survive through winter have provide some fruits. So glad that I kept some of the plants, if not we will not have any brinjal to harvest. So far new brinjal plants have only gave us about 2 fruit per plant.
Tough decision, should I keep my perennial chilies (second year)? My brinjal?

19 comments:

Sunray Gardens said...

I like how you've combined everything and given it a look of a regular garden. Had to look twice to see all the veggies. I would keep the perennial chilies.
Cher
Goldenray Yorkies

Autumn Belle said...

My vege patch in my backyard looks like this too. Now you make the vege plants look more like wildflowers and I like the way you combine vege with the ornamentals.

Stephanie said...

Your okra burgundy is beautiful! Love the dahlia also. Btw, I would just keep the chilli ;-)

One said...

How long does a chilli plant lasts? 2 years? Why are you considering taking it out? I should be the one removing mine. It's growing into a very big bush and I have a few new ones. I thought they have short lives and so planted a few more.

cikmanggis said...

Semua sayur ada dalam kebun Diana ni:)sebut je namanya semua ada.Bagus betul.Cm paling suka buah petola tu:)

Sue Garrett said...

That okra flower is beautiful

Hafiz said...

Wow.. there are bunch of plants in your garden.. Warm season has already ended here.. we already planted the winter crop now.. and still trying to grow some sun flower.. did manage to grow some the other day but it got eaten by some bugs..

Mark Willis said...

You know how I feel about chillis! These are probably the No.1 priority in my garden these days, BUT, if they are not producing fruit they have to go. Replace them with another type and have another try.
BTW: your pictures show very nicely that it is not necessary to have a big garden in order to produce a viable crop. You manage to get a very big yield out of a small space, for which we should all applaud you!

miruku said...

I'm trying to clear up the veggie beds too, it's so tough to decide whether to keep the plants or to let go! The soil needs a rest before new veggies go in. Maybe i'll transplant those i wanna keep into pots... but no guarantee of survival. Brinjal? My love, keep!

takaeko said...

You literally have "jungle" in your plot. I might get lost there,,,.
Your capsicum is so big!

littlekarstar said...

Oh wow! That okra flower is stunning.

kitchen flavours said...

I would welcome your mini jungle anytime in mine! I have only managed to grow brinjals successfully once! After that, no luck at all. Your petola is simply gorgeous!

p3chandan said...

My pumpkin patch is beginning to look like this combined with the up and coming petola and the sweetcorns beside them...looking like secondary jungle! Gorgeous dahlia!

Jennifer@threedogsinagarden said...

I can see why that Okra flower is a favorite- it is really pretty with that dark accent of burgundy at the center.
P.S. I love the shot of the tiny bee crawling into the big yellow flower in the earlier post.

Kelli said...

What a wonderful garden you have. I like the way the cucumber is happy growing along the rope. It looks great.

Kat said...

I like the look of the plants scrambling over the ropes! I've never seen an okra flower before, they are quite pretty.

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Sunray Gardening~ I have to search more than twice to harvest some veggies that is already ready to be pluck from that mini jungle;-).

Autumn Belle~ Thanks. Zinnia does well as companion planting and attract benificial insects.

Stephanie~ I will keep the chili if it continues to produce. It won't take that much space as it is very small plant.

One~ Chili are perennials. It can at least live for 3 years. Although the produce will get lesser as it gets old. It is getting much colder here and I am not sure whether it will survive through winter again.

CikManggis~ Sekejap je lagi boleh enjoy sayur musim panas. Sekarang ni tengah siap-sedia semai sayur musim sejuk.

Sue, Mrs. Bok, Jennifer, Kat~ It is hard to believe sometime that the beautiful okra flower will turn to pod. It is also exciting to look at okra pods as it is in burgundy colour rather than the usual green.

Hafiz~ Yes, the bugs really love to munch on young sunflower seedlings. I am also growing sunflower at the moment and it only as tall as my knee.

Mark~ Thanks. I did many trials to fully utilise our small space. Some did well,some don't. For summer vegetables there are many that can grow vertically which save lot of space like cucurbits and beans.

Milka~ If you are letting your veggie patch to rest, you can grow some green manure on them and get it nourish back.

Takaeko~ I found some mice and birds hiding in that mini jungle.

Kitchen Flavours~ Brinjal does take a long time to grow before it produce.

p3chandan~Pumpkin does take a lot of space and it has his on agenda where it wants to ramble.

Why I garden~ They do grow so fast on the rope, that you won't notice that there are ropes. I got stuck many times in between the ropes forgetting about them why I can't move forward.

Hughbert said...

My eggplants are also still producing, but getting too cold for them now I think. How do you overwinter yours, do you trim them at all?

How did your late planting of corn go, any success?

I've never grown Zinnias but will have to try them next summer.

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Hughbert~I don't trim at all my overwinter eggplants (not true sometime if it look bad enough just the effected area). I trim them near end winter at the effected branches. They survived well on sunny areas and protected from the wind. If next spring we get night which is not that cold, they will quick to produce again. The corn are still growing and are just about 6weeks old for the first batch. About 2 feet tall. Zinnias are good to provide some shade for the okra and eggplant from our summer sun.