Monday, November 26, 2012

Society Garlic (Tulbaghia violacea)

 Hello everyone its been awhile. November has been a really busy month and it is almost a month I have not done any postings. The reason being is we moved house. We are now officially not gardening in a dry Mediterranean climate garden but a wet tropical garden. Yes we have safely returned back to Malaysia since 15th of November. We were so exhausted the last week we were in Adelaide so busy with packing and cleaning our rented house. Moreover, a lot of other things needed to be organised and we have a 2 months old baby to care between me and my husband. The garden needed to be cleared and the agent wanted us to get rid most of the plants. So I decided to save or transport the plants that can be easily brought along back with me to Malaysia. It was another separate task we had to do because it will be heartbreaking to chuck the plants into the green compost bin. Most of my container garden polystyrene boxes were given away to friends, made me happy that they have an "instant garden" and a good way to spark gardening interest to friends. We managed to bring back 2 big boxes full of bare-rooted plants safely back . Well actually more than 2 boxes since I add in some plants into our luggage as well. We only brought back plants and Abbiyana stuff back with us by flight, the rest will be sent by sea shipment. I am one very crazy gardener, took me more than a week to transplant all the plants we transported back from our once upon a time Adelaide garden.
 I bought 8 bare-rooted society garlic from online and it was really cheap than buying a pot of plant from the nursery. I was also very satisfied as it was a very healthy bulbous root. The bulbous roots that I bought online came only wrap in a wet newspaper. Society garlic can tolerate a wide range of soil and it is also a drought and frost tolerant plant. The main purpose of me buying this plant is to deter unwanted creature to a certain area as many animals don't like the strong smell of this plant. An organic safe repellent plant. I was reading a forum that even big animal like deer dislike very much to come closer to this plant. If you bruised the leaves, a very nasty stinky smell will waft through your nose so be prepared. I think this work much better to repel vampire compare to garlic. Society garlic flowers are dainty star-shaped mauve in colour .
 The leaves of society garlic are edible so you can use them in cooking- stir-fry or soup or as a garnish whichever dishes you are fond of. Because I bought the bare-rooted bulbous society garlic 3 weeks before we depart, re-potted them until the day before we say farewell to Adelaide.
 I wrapped them bare-rooted again in wet tissues and it stayed more than 7 days in box before I had time to plant them. By that time new roots were growing in the wet tissues and surprise surprise some were producing flower bud! Very cool plant not temperamental plant, they are very hardy.
The plants are about 30cm tall when flowering. Society garlic has a long blooming season. When I planted one bare-rooted society garlic on this site, there were many ants around. After a few days, ants has disappeared from that spot. Hopefully this plant will multiply quickly so I can make new division of plants and allocate to other spots in the garden especially the new veggie patch project not being trampled by turkey and his friends at the backyard. The reason why we have wires around this spot to prevent turkey  or chicken from digging the newly made small veggie patch. We are living at my parents house now near Malaysia capital city as caretakers because my parents at the moment are staying in Borneo island due to my father new working place. We have at least half an acre now to grow food, plenty of space compared to our very very very small Adelaide garden. I have not been reunited yet with my 2 boys Ilhan and Rayyan hopefully early next month. Now that 5 years old Ilhan knew we are back, he wants to fly back here with us but it was so cute hearing him on Skype said "I can't board the aeroplane because I have no money and ticket". I have not finished my studies, hopefully I can focus on finishing up my thesis writing soon.

28 comments:

suka suka said...

nanti nak juga pokok ni .. semut pun tak suka ...pokok bendi kak mar byk afid.. ulam raja dan basil pun tak membantu..

Sue Garrett said...

Good to 'hear' from you again and I very much look forward to watching your new garden grow. The garlic flower is beautiful maybe to make up for the smell!

cikmanggis said...

Haha sweetnya ilhan ckp tk de duit nk beli tiket hihi cant wait to see yr two boys
Wah 1/2 ekar tu luas...jd petani full time hehe

Liz said...

Wow I'm really looking forward to hearing about gardening in the tropics. Loved hearing about taking the plants on the plane - great idea.

Sunray Gardens said...

Must be nice to bring home so many new things and yet still have more to come. Will be interesting following some of them next year.
Cher Sunray Gardens

Mark Willis said...

Welcome home Diana! I'm surprised that you were allowed to take live plants from Australia to Malaysia, but I expect you will soon have your garden looking nice again. I'm looking forward to reading about Malaysian plants from now on...

Daphne Gould said...

I too am surprised they let you transport the plants Customs here grabs everything alive. Many places won't even let you bring in fresh fruit. My mom still tells stories about the time the custom's dog sniffed her out. Her contraband was an apple.

Dani P. said...

Wow ! You had some activity Diana :)
I admire you for your strength. Wishing you all the best and succes with the new garden !

PS - the garlic bloom looks great :)

rainfield61 said...

Welcome back to Malaysia.

A Kadazan girl is now in Kuala Lumpur.

Kate said...

Welcome home!
I sure hope the Society Garlic helps because it is the nastiest smelling stuff there is.

Anonymous said...

Welcome back and happy gardening.

Gardener on Sherlock Street said...

My goodness you are a busy lady. I'm impressed you saved as many plants as you did considering the distance to transport them. So nice of you to share plants that couldn't move. May they bring joy to your friends.
Oh the frustrations of fowl in the garden. You have a lot of space! I hope the garden is good to you. Enjoy!

africanaussie said...

My, you have been busy - moving with a two month old would have been difficult. I too am amazed that you managed to transport the live plants. Now you are gardening in the same climate as me! I will be watching along as you transform your garden into a tropical wonderland.

Umm AA said...

welcome back abby's mom...
semoga dpt adopt ngan kehidupan lama yg menjadi baru lak nie, jgn berjemur lebih2 ya, nanti demam lagi..haahaha
btw this this my first time heard of society garlic..the flowers look great..take care ya

cookingvarieties said...

hi diana, how have you been, glad to receive your visit. i always called this veggie "leeks" didnt know it's name as 'society garlic'..
it is one of my favorite, even add this to my noodles and fried rice.
noted it's as insect repellent, that's good news.

James David said...

Welcome!
Selamat Datang!
Glad to hear a fellow Malaysian gardener came back to the home soil & still gardening.
Hope you manage to rest & adjust back to the new place.

Stephanie said...

Welcome home! Take one thing at a time. Soon you will have a beautiful garden here. Btw, the flowers from this garlic plant don't last long during rainy days. Happy unpacking and settling down! I am sure you will have lots of new things to discover :-)

Kelli said...

Great article on garlic! All the best wishes for your garden and being home!

donnyien said...

Hai Diana,

Welcome home! hope everything is fine there.. lama tidak baca post baru ko, welcome back..

Norma Chang said...

Going to hunt down some society garlic, hopefully it will repel the deer and other critters that visit my garden.
Best wishes to you and your family as you settle into your home and garden.

Unknown said...

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Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Kak Mar~ Moga pokok ni cepat beranak-pinak. Aphid menjadi-menjadi kalau ada semut hitam kat pokokkan.

Sue~Yeah the pretty garlic flower compensate the stinky smell.

Cikmanggis~ Diana pun terkejut bila Ilhan cakap macam tu hehehe...mungkin atuk nenek yang bagitau dia supaya dia faham lain kali.

Liz~It was really a gamble to see whether I can bring them back rather than they end up being chuck into the green bin.

Cher~It will be a new adventure for us to garden in tropical weather.

Mark~I think it will depend much from which country we departed. All the plants were washed off soil.

Daphne~Malaysia imported many fruits from Australia so it is fine to bring back fruits from Australia as souvenirs. Australia has really tight regulations though, no raw food allowed from over sea and some fruits are also not allowed coming from interstate.

Dani~I have so much support for my husband so I am able to get some things done.

Rainfield61, sm forestgarden, James Missier, Kelli, donnyien~ Terima kasih. Its good to be back.

Kate~ I really hope the Society garlic smells help but I probably need more plants to make it work much better as repellent. Hope the plants that we have now multiply quickly.

GoSS~I hope friends that adopted our plants will enjoy them very much. Most of the space we have are already use to grow big fruit trees. We are enjoying the fruit labour of my parents at the moment :). Fruit season at the moment.

Africanaussie~I will be learning lots from you since you have more experience growing in tropical gardening.

UmmuAidan~Terima kasih. Dulu dekat Adelaide tak de hujan sangat bolehlah berkebun selalu. Sekarang kat sini musim hujan nak kena bawa bersabar...hehehe...

Cookingvarieties~Oh leeks are different, not smelly like society garlic. Leeks stem is much sweeter.

Stephanie~I thought the bloom won't last long too in this rainy season but surprised me it did that it can still last after a week.

Norma Chang~I hope this plant will helped repel the unwanted visitors in your garden,

Etuza~ Terima kasih akan saya lawati juga blog mu bila kelapangan.

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

Oh, you already back to Malaysia, welcome home!

shaz said...

Wah! You angkut your plants home? Glad to hear you are well and settling in, and all the best in your tropical garden :)

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Sonia~Ia sudah balik ;).

Shaz~Angkut mana boleh angkut. Was so tired cause moving house and plus moving garden. Weeds grow so fast here could not catch up leh...

This Stupid Internet said...

Hi Diana! I am so glad to have stumbled upon ur page. May i know where can i obtain these flowers in malaysia? I am a highly interested buyer from Johor Bahru. Do contact me.

This Stupid Internet said...

Hi Diana! I am so glad to have stumbled upon ur page. May i know where can i obtain these flowers in malaysia? I am a highly interested buyer from Johor Bahru. Do contact me.

This Stupid Internet said...

Hi Diana.. I am an interested buyer of this plant from Johor Bahru. I have been searching high and low for this. Kindly contact me. I would gratefully appreciate it.