Cabbages

Tiga bulan lebih telah berlalu semenjak saya menyemai biji benih kobis. Semalam saya membuat keputusan untuk menuai kobis yang ditanam. Ada yang menjadi ada yang tidak. Tahu-tahu sahajalah cuaca di Melaka amatlah panas. Bagi yang mengeluarkan kepala kobis, ini pun agak-agak je sebab kepala kobis dah terasa sangat padat dan keras.

Saya ingat  semasa menyemai saya letak semaian di beberapa tempat di halaman rumah. Nak tengok tempat mana paling sesuai bagi tumbesaran kobis. Bila dah membesar, di alihkan pada plantter box, lupa nak tagging. So next time mesti efficient sikit. Mesti ditulis semuanya supaya tak lupa. 

Mesti keep track kalau tak macam mana nak improve kan? Be that as it may, I am a happy baby gardener. The harvested cabbages look so beautiful and fresh. Just like I predicted. They are really small. Just a bit bigger than a tennis ball =))

 Selamat dah separuh buat salad.

Aidassecret garden

An unforgetable scent...

Salam hujung minggu...

Cuba lihat gambar-gambar ini. Ini pokok apa?

Jika Lavender yang diteka maka betullah jawapannya. Jumaat lalu saya dan ibu berkunjung ke nurseri greenlane di Sungai Buloh untuk satu tujuan. Mencari pokok Lavender. Mencari nurseri tersebut amat mudah, berpandukan direktori dari blogger-blogger. Pertama kali dalam hidup saya dapat menghidu bunga segar Lavender. Sememangnya sungguh distiktif haruman Lavender. Terus terang saya katakan harumannya kekal di minda dan amat menenangkan.

Seperti anak yang teruja dapat mainan baru begitulah saya apabila membawa tiga pohon Lavender pulang ke rumah. Melalui pembacaan, Lavender memerlukan tanah yang mempunyai pengaliran yang baik serta cuaca yang kering kerana akar dan dahan Lavender mudah reput sekiranya tanah terlalu lembap. Cuaca di Malaysia tahu sahajalah selalu hujan dan sememangnya high in humidity. Kita cubalah ya, mana tahu boleh hidup. Ketiga-tiga pokok dah pun saya pindahkan ke dalam pasu yang luas sedikit. Tanah yang digunakan pun saya guna tanah merah yang kering beserta batu-batu kecil. Mudah-mudahan hiduplah mereka ini :)

Di samping itu saya juga ada menyemai biji benih Lavender. Saja cuba-cuba. Tiga variety saya semai. Lavender spike, English Lavender dan juga Provence Lavender. Setakat ini hanya Lavender Spike sahaja yang germinate. Insyallah nanti saya update lagi mengenai usaha menanam Lavender ini. Mohon kongsi pengalaman jika ada menanam Lavender atau pernah cuba tanam Lavender ye.

Aidassecretgarden

New raised bed

Hello everyone....

Its been awhile since my last post. Final exam is approaching, I have been very busy with students.  Therefore very little time is spent for gardening. Usually early in the morning I will water the plants and only later in the evening I will do some  gardening. 

Currently, I am in the midst of preparing additional raised bed for planting flowers and vegetables. After lots of digging done, I gave up. Not on gardening though. Haha. The soils are just so hard. Some parts are very sandy, while some are clay. So there you go, frustration as well as backache. I did some research. Found the no-dig method and decided to give it a try. I started with laying down some cardboards, then the newspapers, then coco peat and thereafter I poured some organic soil. Since I have no compost, I added a little bit of humus fertilizer. I should be putting mulch as the last layer. Will do that when I am back in Melaka. Really not sure whether I'm doing this the right way. So its more like an experiment. Anyone have tried this? Please share me your experience. 

Aidasecretgarden.

Recent harvest

Greetings from Melaka...

Beberapa hari yang lepas husband beli daging segar di pasar. Seperti biasa, favourite husband daging kicap Sarawak. Sesiapa yang biasa masak kicap Sarawak mesti tahu ramuan rasmi yang perlu di masukkan dalam masakan ialah rempah ratus antara lain kulit kayu manis, bunga cengkih dan bunga lawang. So kali ni cuba untuk buat kelainan. Saya tidak menggunakan rempah ratus. Saya cuba masukkan daun lemon basil. Memang not bad. Masakan ada bau 'lemony' skit. Beberapa bulan lepas saya semai biji benih Lemon Basil yang dibeli dari Diana. Sekarang pokok dah besar. Dah cantas daun-daunya dan dah bagi pada kawan pun. Mula-mula tak berapa pasti nak gunakan daun ni untuk masakan yang macam mana.  Akhirnya bila pokok besar, beranikan diri juga cuba-cuba letak dalam masakan bila rasa sesuai...

Daging masak kicap Sarawak yang dah diubah suai. Dah tak boleh panggil daging kicap Sarawaklah kan. Barangkali daging masak kicap Melaka? ;)

Tak lengkap masakan kita kalau tiada sayur. Saya pun harvestlah skit sayur yang ada. Antaranya cili, daikon dan juga kangkung. Dalam simpanan di peti sejuk dah ada Pak Choi. So buat sayur campurlah. Kami berdua sahaja dengan anak seorang. So banyak ni sayur pun cukup dah. Rasanya saya harvest Daikon pun agak awal sikit. Curious sangat nak rasa. Bila dah masak, baru tahu agak pahit rasanya...

Semasa menyediakan bahan untuk menumis, puaslah cari halia. Jumpalah sedikit dalam peti ais. Tetapi agak dah kecut halianya dan rasa macam tak cukup je. Teringat ada tanam halia sebulan lalu. So seperti biasa due to curiosity, koreklah tanah. Suprisingly, dah ada halia. Agak besar saiznya. Teringat satu ketika penah terbaca kalau nak pokok besar dan berbunga serta nak halianya besar lagi, ambil halia setakat yang perlu sahaja dan biarkan pokok terus hidup. So saya pun potong sikit sahaja setakat cukup untuk memasak pada hari tersebut. 

Barulah tahu kepuasan menanam tanaman sendiri. Punyalah wangi bau halia tu...memang fresh sangat. Lepas ni tak payahlah saya beli di kedai lagi.

Alhamdulillah...syukur dengan rezeki yang ada... :)

Gerbera Daisies-My first love

If you could fall in love with flowers, then my first love would be the Gerbera Daisies...

Few months ago I saw them at Jaya Jusco, never thought we could grow them here. The flowers were beautiful with variety of colors. I bought two pots. At first I made a mistake by putting them under the hot sun. The leaves and flowers all were wilted. But I managed to saved them. Few days after I decided to transplant them, on the ground, slightly shaded by the wall. Now, they flowered profusely... =)) Of course, as advised by many gardeners, I deadhead the flowers to encourage them to reblooms. Currently, I have five plants all with different colors...

Aidassecretgarden.

My Vegetables

Happy new year everyone....Hope you had a great celebration!

I have been very busy lately. Today as well, I am busy like a bee. I have class until 7 pm. So no time for gardening :( But managed to take some pictures yesterday :) .

Some of the vegetables are doing well. The cabbages are forming heads. But I am not sure how big they will grow. I anticipate that they will all be small due to the hot weather. But it doesn't matter, I will be thankful even if they grow to a size of a tennis ball. Even, to a size of a golf ball, tak kisah!hehe

The chilli plant also is doing well. Sowed the seeds few months ago. Now it flowered and producing long green chillies. 

My beans however are not doing well. They flowered generously but then most of them dropped. Fortunately  few are forming into beans. But their leaves are turning yellow. I guess its a sign that they are not happy. Anyone can tell why?What are lacking. Is it the sun? The seeds were sowed at the planter box, a bit under the shade as there is a wall beside it. Now that they are growing, I think they get enough sun. But it still looks like they are not healthy as they should be.