Living mulch and self seeding

Finally, I found some time to do a bit of spring cleaning of my upper garden. I was happy to note underneath all the debris, my deliberate action to let to let some herb go to seed and self seed has played off. A blanket of seedlings covered the planting beds. 

Santa Monica Community Garden

Last weekend while my son A was at Lacrosse camp in LA, my husband and I went to the Santa Monica Farmer's Market. The Farmer's Market was a disappointment maybe because it was winter and the selection of vegetable was limited. It was also way smaller in size than I expected. But all was not lost, I was so excited to see the Santa Monica Community Garden across the road. I have always read about community gardens in magazines and on blogs but never actually been to one until that day.

Fruit of the Month - Black Jack Figs

It is that time once again, to drape the net over the fig tree. The birds are pecking at the fruits even as the skin of the fig fruits are starting to split, signaling time to reduce water to the plant. The Black Jack Figs plant is one of the most prolific fruit plant in my garden. It produces 2 crops a year. I rooted 2 cuttings in early spring for my garden in the new house in Temecula. (Incidentally, the wall garden  for my tropical garden in the new house is up !) I was surprised the other day by a delicious purple fig at the top of one of the cuttings. Yes, it is that easy to propagate a fig tree. The Black Jack Fig is a large purple longish purple fruit with a strawberry red flesh - sweet and juicy. Figs in the market is never as good as from your own garden when you can pick it when it is fully ripe. I like to pick it when it almost falls into my hand when I pluck it ..... but as you can see I am not able to wait sometime. The problem with waiting for optimum ripeness is that the birds might beat you to it even with the net over the tree. For me in San Diego it fruits from July through October and sometimes November. The beauty of this plant is at summer end, when all the eating is done, baby embryonic figs form like bumps on branches, letting you know here's your next crop. In spring it swells up with warmer temperature.

I recently read in an Italian cookbook I bought, how the author's mom used to pluck a fig leaf and use it to stir warm milk making a soft cheese. The `milky sap' of the fig tree acts as a renin used in cheese making. I am going to try it soon!

8/7/11 Tree laden with fruits

Fruits of Neglect

A garden is both resilient and fragile at the same time. Luckily for me, although 2011 is probably the year I most neglected my garden in the past 10 years, it continued to reward me with fruits and seedlings. Notably missing this year is my Manila Mango which was setting fruit during the heat wave while I was away. Most of the fruit did not set. However, my garden's rewards is motivating me to steal time form my impossibly busy schedule to get my hands dirty.

Thompson grapes

Flowering despite neglect.........

I realize that I have not posted anything for awhile but I just wanted to share some pictures of the beautiful Dragon Fruit Flower in my garden this morning. I had vaguely noticed that the Dragon Fruit ( Pitaya) plant was sprouting some buds recently. This morning, I took a quick stroll through my neglected garden and was rewarded with this breathtaking display. The plant had actually fallen down during a windstorm recently, and I had yet to upright it. Despite the neglect, it has numerous buds on it. So far, despite flowers previous seasons, it has yet to form the Dragon Fruit. Hopefully, this year will be the Year!

Mud Pies for the Adult Gardener

Last weekend, I finally got out to my garden and PLAYED!!! Spent a glorious afternoon with my hands wrist deep in soil blocking mixture and water. For weeks now, my soil blocker had been calling me. This spring's finicky weather worked against me. I was fooled into direct sowing only to be hit by cold weather and then by scorching heat and freaky cold spells!! As a result the seeds took too long to germinate and  then grew so slowly that they were old before they reached full size. My current plan is give my seedling a fighting chance by starting them in soil blocks. The evening before, I mixed up a batch of blocking mix for my soil blocks. Added water, mixed and let it sit to ensure that mixture was evenly moist.

Two years ago, I bought 2  soil blocker mould to avoid using plastic pots in my yearly seeding starting routine. More than 20 years ago, I read Elliot Coleman Organic gardening book and was immediately attracted to the idea of using soil blocks to start seeds. I had just moved to the US at that time and the idea of spending so much money to buy a contraption to press mud into mud/soil blocks that acts as pot was ridiculous. I was still converting Malaysian Ringgit to US Dollars - $4.50 Ringgit to US $1.00 was tough to swallow. But a good idea will stick with you. When I started being serious about growing heirloom vegetables it made sense that I grew them as green as I could.

Blocking mixture - soil, perlite and coco fiber

Correct blocking mixture yields perfect soil blocks

Essentially a soil block is a soil pot made of wet soil mixture, shaped and compressed with the use of a soil blocker. A seed is inserted in a depression in the block. The seedling grows uninterrupted, its roots air-pruned when it reaches the edges of the block, creating a strong root system. There is no transplanting shock because it is not in a container.  I love that I do not have seed starting plastic pots to clean and store. It is essential to mist the soil blocks daily to avoid it drying out. I start minuscule seeds in my 15 soil block sets and larger seeds in the 4 soil block sets. If I am working with the soil block in early winter I sometimes start off the seeds in the 15 soil block sets and later pot up  into the 4 soil block set  before setting out the plants in the garden.


I'll keep you posted on how this year soil blocks work out.


N.B. - birds have started to peck out the seeds in my soil blocks. Since the weather is warm, they are flying all over my garden. I covered the soil blocks but the wind blew open the fabric cover. Hopefully they left me enough seedlings!!

Eating from my garden

As May drew to a close and sunny June, despite the June gloom reputation, settled in,  my garden started to take off and provide me with pleasurable eating. I started off eating blueberries with my breakfast cereal, slowly adding blackberries, then came the strawberries. Now, I am in heaven!! I am eating my morning cereal with all those berries and tree ripen bananas from the garden. Imagine!! 

Harvest the fruits

slice the strawberries and bananas, scatter blueberries

Milk Star on blueberry

It has been many years since I have devoured, yes that is the correct expression- DEVOUR- because that is exactly what I do, tree ripen bananas from my garden. Almost every year a banana plant or two would flower. Invariably it is almost Fall when it does so. I half heartedly let it flower but more often that not chop off the flower, sometimes offering it to my Filipino friends. This is because there would not be enough time for the fruit to develop before winter. Somehow last year, the timing was right and I let it develop combs of bananas. Sceptic that I am I never thought it would ripen. It sure took a long time but now I have delicious bananas!! I was going to cut down the whole stalk and let it ripen away from the tree. Luckily for me, my dear husband suggested that I leave it on the tree and enjoy them tree ripen. So each day I can be seen plucking individual bananas and eating them right under the tree. 'Ice Cream' banana does its name proud.

Banana grove

Ripening combs of bananas

Top combs ripening first

The first tomatoes are also on our dinner menu. Speckle Roman tomatoes with fresh basil from the garden, drizzled with balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil makes a fine lunch. Cherry tomatoes are the sweetest fruits in my garden bar none. They are so beautiful with the sunlight shining through them.Olive oil, chopped garlic, pinch of chili pepper flakes, fresh basil sautéed with those cherry tomatoes makes a delightful sauce served with spaghetti. 

Heirloom Speckle Roman

Sliced Speckled Roman, Basil and fresh Mozzarella  Cheese

Cherry Tomatoes glisten like jewels in the sun

Spring 2010 in my garden

I thought I would post some updated pictures of what is happening in my garden. It has been a strange spring. It seems like we had a lot more rain then usual but that also means it was colder longer than normal. Seedlings sprouted but never really grew. I had to pull up Kai Lan, Garland Chrysanthemum/ Tong Ho and Broccoli Rabe plants because they grew too slowly. They were old before they grew of size. Basil plants set out in March are only just taking off as the weather warms up.Next year, I will work on a cold frame structure or hoops to increase warmth of seedlings.

Sh..hhh I LOVE ROBERT

Sh..hhh for almost a year now I have been having a love affair with Robert! I see him almost everyday, if not a couple of times a day. When husband dear is away, I spend more time with Robert. He makes me so happy. He is handsome, hard working, flexible and oh co cute! Everyday, I dream of having more like him.

No, my marriage is not in trouble. Far from it! My dear husband introduced me to Robert. Why just yesterday, he said to go ahead and get more like him. He (husband) will pick Robert and any other Robert look alike I choose, for me.

So who is Robert?? He is slim, cute, flexible and packs quite a shot! Ha, ha. Robert is an irrigation head used for drip irrigation. He is a spot spitter.You make a small hole in the irrigation line and insert the button end of the 1/8" dripline into the irrigation line. The other end is where Robert does his magic! You insert Robert up to the line above the notch end. Water sprays from the minute space between the head and the drip line. The further in you insert the Robert head up the drip line, the less the water flow/ spray.

What I love most about Robert is his flexibility! I can move the Robert head to where I need the water and I am only limited by the length of the drip line it is attached to. As the plant grows or if I replant, I can just move the head to where I need it. If a plant dies and I only longer need water in that location, all I need is to pull out the Robert from ground and reverse the direction. The end without the notch will not allow water flow. So instant stopper! You could not do that with other systems. So flexible. If I need Robert again for new plants, reverse direction of Robert and water flows again.

So ladies (and gentlemen too!), you need Robert in your garden.

Kitchen Garden 2009

Kitchen garden for 2009 is underway although I have not posted anything on it. I seeded tomatoes and other vegetables over the past few months. I'll try to keep better records next year - but I think I seeded the plants in early March 2009. I used the plastic containers you gets with the apples you buy in Costco. The bottom already had a whole in it, allowing for drainage. I used an ice pick to make another hole at the top cover for ventilation. These made mini greenhouses for the seedlings. The key is keeping the mix moist. I use the soil block maker which I purchased from Johnny Seed last year to make soil blocks. Love them! Put them in flat that I kept from past purchases from nurseries. Reuse everything. Just make sure to clean out and sterilize everything. A little bleach and elbow grease is all it takes.


Costco Reruns!


This year I built bamboo tomato tepees . Love how them turned out. I am hoping for a bumper crop. I'll be ready for those tomato horn caterpillars this year!

See these chrysanthemum flowers ! Well, they are Thong Ho or flowers of the the Garland Chrysanthemums. I discovered you can also eat those flowers. They can be fried tempura style too. As a bonus, they look so fresh and pretty in a vase on the dinning table. The over-wintered and continue to thrive. I let them flower and self seed.

Actually, I am already harvesting and eating from my garden. The artichokes were beautiful and delicious. I am leaving some to flower and grace my garden. And of course, you already knew I had those Broccoli Raab for Mother's Day. The picture shows what they look like on 3/29/09, a little more than a month ago.







I am sharing my fruits with the fellow occupants in my garden. The slugs and the birds continue to demand their 50% of the strawberry harvest. I cannot really blame them. Those strawberries are out of this world when you pick them plump and fully ripe. Sweet and juicy from the warm sun. Heavenly. Those outside the plastic bag have already been tasted and taxed!! I am getting the first of the early blueberries - wonderful in my cereal and will make my dieting much easier!




The beautiful purple flowers adorn the sage plant providing beauty and flavor. Again, I am learning to use these organically grown flowers as a bonus for my cooking. The side garden is a buzz with bees feasting on the lavender blossoms. The persimmon tree has leafed out and fruits are just setting. Spring is a wonderful time in the Lim-Ooi garden.

Bamboo Grove

Mr.Chau our landscaper was here yesterday to thin out my Bamboo Forests, particularly the one at the rear of the house. Our neighbours from behind had come over a few weeks ago to ask if we could trim our bamboo. The bamboo stalks were bending over to their side of the garden unto the roof of their patio. We had told them last year that if ever they grew too much to let us know and we will trim the bamboo.This time they asked if we could trim them back maybe every six months if necessary. I told that to Mr.Chau, who laughed. You see we had hired Mr.Chau maybe 4-6 months ago.He is Vietnamese. He says after he trims the bamboo we do not have to worry about trimming that often. He will eat up all my bamboo shoots!! The clump will not get out of control from now on. Ha, ha. Little did I know the savings I would be making with hiring Mr.Chau.

I would say the upper garden has maybe 40% more sunlight with yesterday's trimming. I am not sure if my neighbors will be as happy as they think they were going to be... You see, their master bedrooms face the back of our garden. Our bamboo grove was shading their room. If our front rooms are any indications, it will be a lot hotter for them now.

Maybe, my tomatoes will do better this year. Talking about that I should start some seedling soon.

P.S. Mr.Chau said he came across a possum in the bamboo grove when he was clearing away the leaves.

I like Mr. Chau- he brings me delicious dragon fruit from his garden.

All things Spidy

Throughout this summer, it seems like I was always stepping through spider webs in my garden. Overnight,huge net of spider webs would appear. I would walk straight smack into them and have to pull the web off my face. So, awhile back I took my camera out and tried to photograph them. It was not the easiest thing to do! I manage to take a few nice shots. I took that opportunity to check out who Spidy's neighbors were. Remember, Spidy, my gardening friend? I will update you on Spidy later but for now Spidy's friends.


I found this spider web across one of my Lavender bush. I tried identifying it from charts on the web. It is one of the Orb Weaver spider. I think it is the Labyrinth Orb Weaver Spider. It was fairly large, maybe the size of a dime and ugly... like how a spider should be.




Then, I found this spider making a web across a Tomato Cage. Isn't the web beautiful? Like pearls glistening in the sun. It is another member of the orb weaver family, I think. It is very much smaller than the spider on the lavender plant. I had to zoom it a fair bit with my camera to see what it looks like. The silk of the web was finer giving it a ethereal look, especially with the morning sun glistening on the dew drops.















As I wander down the lower garden I see this huge web stretched between two trees. Webs of all sizes from spiders of all sizes. I guess Spidy has quite a cosmopolitan neighborhood.

Garden Frontline news.........

I have to confess, I have not been out in the garden for as long periods as I had been. Life has got a little hectic. Of course, I check on whether my seeds have sprouted and water the seed trays. Handle the obviously critical matters but basically left the garden alone.

Oh, yeah, I forgot I did on Monday, strip the citrus trees of leaf miner affected leaves- your know the ones where you see a white trail where the leaf miners have 'mined/sucked' out the juices. San Diego is under a citrus quarantine -backyard fruit are not to be transported out of location as Mexican insect have been found in orchards. California is a citrus producing state so the quarantine is very important. Sadly, I finally had to resort to chemical intervention for the leaf miners - one recommended by the Department of Agriculture. I kept it to only my citrus orchard. It should be safe to harvest my fruits (if they were ready) 5 days or so after application. So that is fine as it will still be awhile before I harvest the citrus.

Oh, before I forget, I also ran into another pest. This time on my mango tree. Some kind of borer had decided to attack the trunk of my tree. Remember, I had found one side of the tree dying off when I came back from vacation and never found out why it happened? Well, I guess the borers must already have been at work but not visible. Again, Agriculture Department recommended a Bayer Tree and Shrub product that was safe. I am prepared to forgo a season of fruit although they said I do not have to. Ha, ha. I am agreeable as there is no flowers on the plants and unlikely until next spring!! Hey, I love my mango so I am glad I do not have to make a hard decision.

Finally, the tomato horn caterpillars have reduced. I still find one or two a week but not the numbers I used to. The tomato plants are finally coming back and are flowering. Little tomatoes are also visible. It is so sad that almost two month for the surviving tomato plants to come back to fruiting. Another plant that is finally thriving is the pea eggplant (terung pipit).

Spidy at Work

I was right! Spidy is definitely my hero. But before I go on, I want you to know that I went through a whole day yesterday where I could not find Spidy. I was really upset that all the plant trimming and removal of one of the Terung Pipit plant may have been too much for Spidy. Spidy's plant was just trimmed, not removed...yet! My plan is to remove all 3 plants and free up the space for other vegetables. Now, I have to come up with a plan on how to move Spidy. I really want to keep him happy if I can.

More about my hero, Spidy. This morning as I climb up the stairs, who did I see but Spidy. He had chosen another leaf at eye level for his new perch. What do I see in his hands??? None other than a small Tomato Horn Caterpillar. Whie my birds in the garden had not been able to `eat' those darn high caterpillars, Spidy is trying to catch them while they are young. Nothing like taking care of problems early!

I know is kind of strange my relationship with Spidy. My relationship with Spiders go along way back... back to Kuala Kubu Bharu. Yep, to before nine years old. I use to hunt for spiders among leaves of plants. My favorite plant to find `good' spiders was along the lily plants with their strappy long leaves. Two leaves would be `glued' together, by spider nest, white, wooly and sticky. I would catch spiders and keep them in matchboxes. I use them to fight my friends' spider. Okay, I was a tomboy, generally these friends were boys! I was known to be quite the champion.

Ha, ha. Over the years, my relationship with spiders have been less happy. Since moving out west, black widow spider and hugh spiders have made me a little squemish. Finally, with Spidy, I have come a full circle to having a spider friend. At least I think we are friends.......

Spidy is back!

About the time that I came back from my summer vacation and to the destruction by the Tomato Horn caterpillars, I discovered a friend. SPIDY! My very own Spidy, my hero. I found him on my Terung Pipit plant ( pea eggplant). At first I was not sure if he was friend or foe. But I thought more likely a friend since he did not eat my plants but the insects that visit it. I would walk up the steps and see Spidy's silhouette on the leave. Slowly, I would come to be eye level with him as I reach almost the top steps. Thus became my routine each morning. I would check if he was still there and what he would be doing. It almost seemed.... that he would be waiting for me, too.He would stay on the leaf even when I would pull on the leaf to get a better look at him. I would say hello Spidy and have my little chat with him. Yeh, I know the insane gardener who has been in the sun too long.

Over the weeks I would watch him at work.Sometimes, he would have an insect in his legs. I would watch him take the insect to the underside of the leaf to his web. It felt like we were both working in the garden. Him with the pesky insects and me hunting for the Tomato Horn Caterpillars who have reappeared. This time, seemingly on the Terung Pipit plants.

Anyway, those Terung Pipit plants were growing enormouss and taking over most of the first planter box. It showed all signs of growing into much larger plants. Besides, with the caterpillar problems, I only had 1 eggplant among 3 plants! It is a bad return for the valuable planter space. They were also shading out the other plants. I decided to move them from the bed. This morning, I trimmed the plants, being careful not to hurt Spidy's web. However, when I looked for Spidy he was gone! I check his web and all the leaves but could not find him. Periodic check during the day did not yield my friend.

Finally, before nighfall, I checked on my garden again. And there was Spidy!! I hope he is back to stay.