Another Big Fat Caterpillar

This is indeed a fat caterpillar

Can you spot it? I could not for the past few days. I know there's something wrong with my plants but I don't really know who or what is the culprit. Then there were droppings !!! Another sign but I still could not spot it. I decided to give my poor plant a trim and that is when I accidentally touched it and it was yucky!!!! Plain yucky and I hate it.

It's green, it's huge and it's fat!! It was like deja vu as I remembered snapping a photo of a caterpillar before. A quick check on my old blog entries confirmed that a similar caterpillar invaded my garden 3 years ago! And size of these vegetarian monsters are getting BIGGER.

Mission: The Garden

New addition to the family

Curry leaves for cooking

Money Plant

I have been working on my garden even since my recent trip to Avillion Port Dickson a few weeks back. I was quite diligent at that, making time to pull out all the weeds, fertilising the plants and grass and watering them every morning and evening. I rediscovered the joy of gardening and it's goooooooddddddd. I even bought a new pot of flowering plant. It has small red flowers and it look nice.



The truth is that I have neglected the garden due to my work schedule and even more after the snake incident. It's good that I am back and hopefully, in no time, my garden will be back with it lushful greenery. The only plant that had survived all the ordeal is my money plant. It's one of those plant which requires minimum maintenance and looks good all the time. 


I intend to plant more of these money plants with different shade of green leaves and to add some flowering plants since my frangipani plants are taking forever to grow. Also, I intend to grow some vegetables as well - that should be fun. Chilies plants will be great, maybe brinjal....no, no.....chinese mustard green plant (or simply "sawi" in Bahasa Malaysia...). And as you can see, I am very excited and I am a woman with a mission........
 

Look What I Found in My Garden

I was watering my plants when I discovered 4 big snails hiding in one of the pots. Yikes, I hate snails.

They are slimy and when I was staying in Cheras, the garden there was full of snails as well and they shit a lot. I just hate them.

New potted plants for new homes

Aunt Jo and my brother Jimmy are in the midst of renovating their homes and both can now see the light at the end of the tunnel (for Jimmy it was after months and months of headache with his contractor).

Both of them have requested for a few potted plants from me which I am more than delight to provide. Am spreading more greens around !!!

Garden: 15 December 2008

My garden has been growing well, in particular, the red-flower plant which I have yet to find out its name. New shoots will grow from its flowers and I usually will transfer them into a new pot once they are mature enough.

Looks like I will have lots of planting to do judging by the record-number of shoots that are coming up!

Gardening: Chop. Chop, Chop

My neighbour's maid helped me clear part of my garden so that my cloths will get direct sunlight and dry faster. So....the green palm have to be trimmed as its the main culprit !!

She used the ladder and chopped off the leaves. By the time she finished, my garden looked bare but neat.

Garden: Over Fertilised

My poor garden have been neglected for the longest time ever. Thanks goodness Auntie Jo is around to water my plants, otherwise, they would have all dried up by now.

Since I'm feeling much better and with some free time on hand, I decided to do something. I had to do something ~ this is a sign that I'm getting back to my good ole' self.

So I tidied it up a bit, rearranged a few pots here and there and finally, fertilised them. I couldn't recall the last time I did that so it must have been eon ago.

I was in a hurry and had given myself an hour to complete everything, just nice before Caitlin's next feed. All went well and I was happy. Four hours later, as I was bringing in the laundry, I noticed dark patches all over the grass. A close inspection revealed that the dark patches are grass which have turned brown as a result of over fertilise. I stared at it in horror.

What have I done? I thought I had organic fertiliser. I checked the intructions and realised that not only I did not spread the fertiliser evenly, I did not water enough and no, it's not organic and yes, over fertilisation will cause the grass to "burnt" and die. Damn....and all I wanted to do was to make the grass healthier.

I spent the next hour watering (flooding) the grass with the hope to salvage whatever I can. Keeping my fingers crossed and this should be a lesson for me.

Fat Caterpillar

We found the culprit who have been happily eating my potted plants. He's so fat .... the leaves must be yummy.

Garden: January 2008

My ginger shell plants have been producing lots of flowers over the last few months and it was indeed a sight to behold.

Project: Growing Hong Kong Choy Sam

Ryan and I started on a project to plant vegetable some 2-3 weeks ago. We went to buy a nice long container, soil and Choy Sam seeds.

Ryan was very excited as he prepared the soil and dropped 3-4 seeds in each holes. Exactly 4 days later, we saw lots of tiny Choy Sum sproutings. I have been watering them but they are not growing as fast as they should.

I think I will have to get some fertiliser for the plant.

Inspiration from Nature

I love plants, big or small and they're simply amazing. With tender loving care and lots of water, they will just grow, grow and grow. There is this plant and at one point in time, it was not doing well. So what I did was I cut all the infected leaves and branches, resoil and fertilised the plant and I remember it looking absolutely horrible. That was then. Now it has blossom; and it's really healthy with beautiful leaves. It's still in my garden and I will always it's amazing recovery.

Ever since, I started gardening at my new home, I will make it a point to water my plants early in the morning before I leave for my work/start my day and again in the evening. When I water my plants in the morning, I feel like I am mentally preparing myself to face the day. The plant with their "water supply" for the day and I, with my "energy" for the day.

The plant need to face the scorching sun in order to grow and I too need to face all challenges for the same reason. And not matter how hot the weather, with plenty of water, soil and fertiliser, the plant will grow. In a way, it's the same for me. No matter what are the challenges, with plenty of love, courage and energy, I will grow. Grow to be wiser, happier and healthier.

Garden: 18 October 2007

Here are pictures of all my plants in front and at the small garden at the back of my house. I moved into the house two years ago and started doing up the garden about a year ago.

I love all the plants and have been faithfully watering them. I should be introducing more colours to my garden and am thinking of getting more flowering plants although flowering plants does require more TLC.

See how it goes. But I will definitely post more pictures of my little garden from time to time.

A pleasant surprise

As I was busy watering plant this morning, I noticed a flower bud in between the leaves of my shell ginger plant. Ya-hoo !!! It finally flower.

When I bought the plant about a year ago, I asked for one which has flowers on it and the flowers lasted about a month before it withered. Since then, I was busy putting fertiliser (for growth and flowering, of course) with hope that the plant will soon bear lots and lots of flowers. Little did I know that it will be a long wait. So after a few months of waiting, I finally gave up on the plant and just be happy with the plant as it. After all, it's full of lush green leaves and look very healthy, minus the flower. So you can imagine my surprise and joy that the plant decides that it’s now the right time to flower.

I will be taking photos of the flowers and hope to post them but before that, I need to hunt for my hubby’s camera cable so that I can download the photos to the computer. If I cannot find the cable when the flowers are full bloom, I will go and buy one (if it’s not too expensive) Until then, just enjoy the photo of a shell ginger flower from the internet.