What’s In My Garden?

Six months of lockdown. Whatever you may call it, we’ve reached six months of quarantine.

Home-based small businesses  have suddenly sprouted in the metro and most of them are selling food – cooked  for breakfast, lunch and dinner, you’ll have it here. Even small- scale selling of meat, poultry and vegetables have also suddenly grown. The thing is, as long as we remain in the comfort of our home and we don’t go out unnecessarily, it’s okay. So long as your neighbors in the subdivision deliver for free, it’s okay. For those you can’t buy nearby, there are always vendors who charge for delivery fees and you can just wait for your orders.

Yesterday, I ordered several kinds of dried fish and today my order of Gyoza from David’s Tea House arrived. A few days ago I also ordered several items from Lazada including a desk fan and some gifts for Nissa’s upcoming birthday.  Online transactions are the “in” thing nowadays although I only use cash to pay them all. I am afraid to use my credit card without seeing my purchase in advance. I haven’t been to the mall for more than six months now. Bank transactions are online too except when I need cash and I let Josef  withdraw some money from the ATM.

I am taking photos of my garden blooms almost every day, documenting every bud and flowers worth-capturing.  Gardening has suddenly boomed here. Never mind if some have started a few pots and they call it a garden. I just smile seeing friends suddenly interested in nurturing a few plants. Even if these are not indoor plants, they place them in one corner of their homes. Not all plants could thrive indoors, they need the sun to grow.  There  are indoor plants that help us in lessening the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. There are indoor plants that are anti-oxidants.

Ah, these are my green peppers. I  am waiting for some seeds to mature so I could replant them.

Look, one is about to ripen.

 

We use them for our famous sinigang. They are also called green chilies.

I have transferred my Adenium seedlings to pots several months ago. I have grown them from pods  from my lone Adenium plant. They need the sun so I transferred them to a sunny spot near our grotto.

It’s nice to see these plants thriving well. I wonder if they will bear the same pink flowers later on.

I hope everyone is COVID-free. This pandemic doesn’t choose its victims. I wonder when it will die a natural death. Praying for our safely.

 

Read Full Post »

Those Blooms

I  visited the garden yesterday and early this morning. Took some photos of the flowers thriving there at the moment. Those tiny white blooms are a joy to behold along with the purple and pink flowers.

I am posting some here.

I love the heady and intoxicating scent of this Kamuning plant. Winner!

My dwarf Pandakaki, compared to the Kamuning blooms, they have no scent all.

 

My green Shamrock. I have the purple ones too.

Don’t you just love staying in the garden for a while and admiring those blooms. I do.

Read Full Post »

April Is About To End

I’ve missed so many comments which didn’t show on my tab the past days. That’s one of the things I don’t like about using my tab to check my posts. Unless I open my computer to check everything, I miss a lot. I told you, life has become lazy days too.

April is almost gone. Tomorrow we’ll start another month.

One thing that I am always reminded of every time the month of May sets in is the song by The Bee Gees, First of May. And I silently sing it in my head. Aside from December, May is one of my favorite months – the month of flowers and the month of Mama Mary.

♫♫♪when I was small, and Christmas trees were tall♫♪

April seemed to take a little too long, what with this pandemic, lockdown and all.  Sometimes all you think is what to have and what to cook in your next meal. There are lots of idle times and you have lots to do but you can’t start.  It’s like the days pass by and you just go with the flow. You think, when will this ends? When will we have normal lives again? When will this stop? And you feel helpless, do a lot of prayers and cling to your faith.

I talk to Nissa every day now asking how they are coping. Yesterday, her brother-in-law brought home the remains of their Papa in a sealed urn. It is supposed to stay in a columbarium but the lockdown hinders one to move normally. They take their temperature every day even if they know he didn’t die of Covid.  It’s been more than three weeks now since he got sick and died a week ago. His doctor siblings said it was bacterial and his kidneys were not functioning well. Such is life, surprises (even not good ones) are lurking nearby.

For the last three mornings, I woke up early to tend the garden. I am finally done trimming the carabao grass. The garden hose is new, we had to call the plumber who did the installation of the aircon three days ago to fix it.  My Pandakaki plants and Tagaytay cherry plants need pruning too. That has to wait until this afternoon when it is not too hot. Gardening is really a great way of  de-stressing, a therapeutic activity that does not need too much  expertise but just the love of the soil and all its environs.  It’s more of  experiments really because they say that there are no gardening mistakes, everything that you plant becomes a part of the garden.

I planted some squash seeds at the back garden and they have sprouted. What a joy to see new shoots.

Let’s just hope the month of May will flatten the curve worldwide.

Read Full Post »

It’s All I’ve Got

I’ve tried planting some a few years ago, those crowns that we usually just throw away but I was not successful. Maybe they don’t want afternoon sun although what I know of them is that they are sun-loving plants.

Yesterday, I was surprised to see this. Finally, my lone pineapple plant is now bearing fruit. I planted it along with my Crossandra, getting the touch of the morning sun almost every day.

It is always lovely to see something that you have diligently watered and it gives you that nice feeling of seeing it bear fruit. Do you know that it usually takes two years for a cutting to mature and bear a flower? Then it would take six months for the fruit to be ready for harvest. I am waiting for it to produce a sucker that I can transfer later.

I am really excited. Counting the days 🙂

Read Full Post »

Gardening Thoughts

Gardening is really a great way of de-stressing, a therapeutic activity that does not need too much expertise but just the love of the soil and all its environs. It’s more of experiments really because they say that there are no gardening mistakes, everything that you plant becomes a part of the garden. Every gardener knows the joys of witnessing a seed waiting to sprout or a bulb opening to light and a bud straining to unfurl.

Read Full Post »

Pretty In Pink (Survivors Of The Storm)

Took a few photos this morning while the sun is up. They are the same plants but the flowers have survived the storm.

 
Our grotto which we had constructed after my treatment ten years ago. We used to have Koi fish here.

I was surprised by this lovely Adenium, the flowers are no longer split.

 

A cluster of pink Vinca. Sturdy blooms.

 

A single-petaled Zinnia.

I harvested Calamansi before the typhoon. The two trees shed off some of the ripe fruits during the storm. I need to transfer my Papaya seedling soon.

Have a lovely Wednesday all.

 

Read Full Post »

Busy Monday

Continued gardening early this morning and around three this afternoon. Except for trimming the carabao grass, I’m done with the garden inside our fence. So happy to have transferred seven pots of Adenium seedlings.  Four inch of growth with established roots, just perfect for replanting. This is my first time to plant Adenium (through seeds). I noticed their robust stems, fat ones that made me smile.  Gardening is always a thrill when everything fall into place, a neat space to spend those idle mornings while watching the sun go up the horizon. I need to pick more calamansi, there are plenty of them.

Maybe tomorrow, I’ll tackle the overgrown grass  and weeds mixed with our dwarf Santan and the Snake plants. Since it is rainy season now, the unwanted weeds grow by leaps and bounds.

A friend sent me this meme. I love it. Some good and inspiring thoughts about life.

Have a nice week ahead.

 

Read Full Post »

Thank God It’s Friday (Again)

Been focused on the local news the last three days. There are so many conflicting reports about the supposedly “fake” and “artificial” shortage of water here in Metro Manila. The Manila Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) has done some presscons and they are telling the people that it is because of the El Nino phenomenon. Though a former employee of  Manila Water said that the agency closed the bypass from the Angat Dam going to La Mesa Dam so Manila Water which supplies our needs can’t get enough of it. This was denied by one of the directors of MWSS, they are the government agency tasked to see that water supply in Metro Manila is enough for everyone.

Come to think of it, and it is puzzling. Angat Dam has enough water to last until the rainy season sets in. And all the dams here in Luzon have enough water except La Mesa Dam where the concessionaire Manila Water gets its supply. The government wants to push through with Kaliwa Dam which will be funded by China at exorbitant interest rates. The people are calling for transparency in dam and other China funded projects. I must say, the president loves China and is beholden to it at the expense of the Filipino people. Nakakasawa na. What has become of us that in three years, the drug problems have become even grievous and such other concerns are not being addressed properly? Drugs are cheaper than water? When one is focused on the mindset of “kill, kill, kill”, this is the result. He has even threatened the priests and the Catholic Church anew by telling people in his speech that priests deserve to die.

I took pictures of the garden blooms early this morning. summer is almost here and my annual and perennial plants are blooming.  The Zinnias I planted from seeds a few months ago are a bloom.

Zinnia

Two varieties of shrimp plants

I don’t want to upload them all here to save on space. Have a blessed weekend everyone!

Read Full Post »

My Latest Blooms

So how was your Valentine celebrations?  I deliberately didn’t blog yesterday because I was so excited to finish a book I’ve found by Danielle Steel. I seldom read a Steel book now except when I like the subject and the synopsis of the story. It was set in Norfolk, England. It was my 29th read actually  (15 books ahead of schedule).

I have just updated my gardening blog Gardens and Empty Spaces.

You might want to visit it. I uploaded several high res shots that I took of my garden blooms late this afternoon.  I don’t want to reduce them so I posted them all there.

Many thanks for visiting the site.

Read Full Post »

Watch Them Grow

Son was on leave so we were able to finish trimming the carabao grass today. And the garden looks clean and lovely.

Our neighbor gave  me some cuttings of  Birds of Paradise plant and he also did the planting outside our perimeter wall.  It would be a nice cover for our fence when it grows and bear flowers. And do you know, the Roselle seeds I planted  a week ago are now showing their happy faces. Five of them have grown to about six centimeters. Success! Even my Kadyos has finally grown.

Tending the soil and planting have their rich rewards. My  white and orange lilies are in bloom. Though the flowers are only there for a few days, they add color to the garden. I tried the  Blue Ternatea flowers in our rice.   By the way, Blue Ternatea is also commonly called butterfly pea. Wow, I love its color and its taste. You have to boil the flowers first then extract the juice to use in cooking rice. Here’s how it looks.

As I didn’t take a picture of it, I got this from Google.

Discovering these lovely plants, experimenting on planting them in my small garden, what bliss!

Read Full Post »