Another garden update (tak laraaattttt…. :-))

It is quite good sebenarnya when The Little Misses tak payah pergi sekolah ni sebab I can also take leave from tugas pagi2 of getting them ready for school and jadi Mak Supir.

So, boleh lah I spent that time in the garden instead.

But I wasn’t doing anything exciting in the garden pun, only those fiddly chores that you have to do whether you like it or not like weeding, watering and deadheading the roses.

Every time we all water and fertilise the vegetables, I rasa all the weeds pun bersorak gumbira ria jugak kan sebab diaorang pun dapat tempias the water and the food. Luckily lah the weeds bukan jenis yang deep rooted so senang lah nak pull them out tadi. Kalau nak the plants hidup subur, kenalah rajin buat weeding kan, heeee….

Watering pun satu kerja yang I tak berapa suka. Sebabnya we all guna rain tank water which is at the side of the house. Kalau nak water the garden and the pots, I kena hook up the long hose to the raink water tank tap and then tadah the water from the hose into watering cans to avoid water wastage. Then I kena carry the watering cans around the house to water the plants. Penat weh nak tunggu the cans penuh and then nak hangkut the cans! Each watering can boleh isi 9 litres so kadang2 it takes 10 cans to water all the plants so bayang kan lah betapa muscly nya my biceps and triceps after that! hehehehe.

People slalu tanya how come our sayur gumuk2 belaka and semua menjadi.

Actually, banyak jugak yang we all tanam tak berapa menjadi especially yang direct from seeds. I guess we didn’t use the right seed growing soil kot, tu yang semua tak kuasa nak bercambah.

But since we all guna the greenhouse and The Other Half started using coir + really good potting mix as his seed raising soil base, the result is unbelievable. All the seeds dah bercambah and tengah galak bercambah. We are so happy.

The cress, the mustard and the snow pea sprouts. Lepas ni boleh makan salad hari2 .

The marigolds, carnations and sunflowers.

(Entah bila dia jadi Mat Bunga, muahahaha.).

The bok choys and the pak choys.

My most prized possesion (apart from all of the chilli plants ) are these 2 tini bean plants. They are not the usual common garden beans, they are kacang botol. The Other Half pernah cuba tanam them dulu but tak berjaya hidup. These beans I yg tanam and Alhamdulillah, dah bercambah. Happy sangat2!

The Other Half is so happy bila every morning dia pergi jenguk his green house, more seeds have sprouted!

(Now, I yang pening kepala nak fikir nak tanam kat mana lah all those seedlings! We haven’t got any more rooms in the garden for them.)

And another thing, The Other Half ni rajin membaja, he will do it every fortnightly. And this is the baja yang we all guna sejak dari dulu lagi, Seasol concetrate which is 100% seaweed based and Australian made and is really good. Kalau you all nak tau more about it, just go to this link. 

(He bought the 10l bottle and then bila nak guna, he’ll mix it with water to dilute it and then siram. Because it’s a concentrate, you dont need to use much.)

But since it’s seaweed based, every time lepas dia habis membaja, I akan rasa nak termuntah sebab bau hanyir laut+ikan! Urgh!

The good thing with this Seasol, you don’t have to wait to eat your vegetables after fertilising, straight away boleh guna the sayur (but still kena basuh dulu, hehehe).

Lihat lah dunia, my hoa lat chilli finally dah berbuah…

(Kaya lah I lepas ni, hahahaha…..)

The round purple chilli pun dah menunjukkan hasil.

The joi choy. (I rasa macam sama aje dengan all the other choys… heeeee).

Our strawberries are fruiting a bit late this year but I guess better late than never kan.

One of the apple hybrids have started to fruit but I tak tau jenis apa yg ini. Nampak mcm granny smith aje kan.

Now…can anyone guess what flower this is?

First time I tengok bunga ni keluar, so pretty but so tiny!

The names of the flowers, the produce from the garden and the choc in a box

Akhirnya the last day of school went smoothly even though pagi tadi I was a bit kelam kabut nak make sure everything was wrapped nicely.

(dari pukul 5 pagi I dah kat dapur but tak tau lah I buat apa with the time, we got out a bit late for school today.)

Mana tak late nya, masa tu lah I baru terhegeh2 nak siapkan 2 boxes of treats for Miss 12’s teachers sebab dia kata dia nak bagi some gifts for 4 of her teachers. 2 teachers I dah belikan Maltesers gift boxes so 2 lagi tu yg Ikena buat boxes for them.

And then I thought of baking some muffins pagi tadi for the sweet treats hamper for the staff room so tu yang buat lagi lambat. Pastu, pagi tadi jugak I baru nak basuh all the dishes so lagi lah lambat, hahaha…

And then Miss 8 kata dia nak bagi some gifts for her sports teacher, the retiring librarian and her music/ choir teacher so lagilah I kelam kabut pack up a few things for them. Nasib baik all the goodies ada banyak extra so senang lah sikit.

The choc boxes for Miss 12’s teachers. Miss 12 was so happy when she saw these cute boxes for her teachers and she said her teachers loved them as well.

(I know my chocs tak secantik the shop bought ones and tak secantik the pros, hehehe.)

Chocolates are so cheap here especially nak dekat2 Christmas ni and I know it is way easier to just buy the chocolates like Lindt gift boxes, Ferrero Roche and all the other types but I love making these things for them.

Ooh, before I forget, I nak tunjuk kat you all our new hasil in the kebun…

The okra/bendi. Yang tak bestnya about okra ni, cuma sebiji okra aje yg boleh dipetik on each plant at a time because they mature at different times. We all cuma tanam 4 okra plants aje so macam mana lah nak kenyang kan, hikhikhik…

And I masak the bendi tonite for dinner. Terpaksa campur dengan beans to bulk it up, or else memang tak cukup lah nak makan, hehehe.

I masak okra n beans  with coconut stir fry, ikan mullet goreng, daging masak kurma and acar mentah. Korma tu nampak hitam sebab I masak dlm oven so kaer dia jadi lain pulaknya .

The Other Half tak minat kurma sbb dia kata rasa kurma ni ‘bland’ tak menyengat macam vindaloo or rogan josh. I said to him takpelah sekali sekala masak ikut The Little Misses taste yang tak makan pedas.

Miss 12 and Miss 8 makan dengan begitu berselera sekali sebab makan something yang tak pedas yang bukan masak kicap! hikhikhik….

Our eggplants. Kejap lagi, boleh lah we all harvest the fruits kan.

We call these banana chillis/ banana peppers here. And chili ni kan yang orang buat solok lada tu? kalau makan yong tau foo ada solok lada ni, sedap weh .

And before I terlupa lagi, these are the names of the flowers in this jom main teka teki post.

Unfortunately, takde sorang pun yang dapat teka dengan tepat but ada a few yg dpt teka sipi2 aje .

1. Bendi (most people got this right)

2. Terung/ eggplant (again, most people got this right too).

3. Thai basil (ditto).

4. Strawberry (mentang2 lah semua pernah pergi Cameron Highland kan so bunga strawberry ni sangat lah dikenali ramai, hahaha.)

5. Cucumber/timun (senang sangat yang ini ).

6. Celery (no one guessed this. Yang sipi2 guessed parsley.)

7. Apple (No one guessed this either. Kat dalam kebun I ada pokok apple hybrid and one of the hybrids tengah berbuah and berbunga sekarang which I think is the granny smith variety kot.)

8. Green basil.

9. Blueberry

So sorry ye sebab takde sape yg dapat meneka dengan tepat. Takpe, next time kalau I buat teka teki lagi, boleh cuba lagi

Treats for the teachers

Esok is the last day of school for the year.

Then about 7 weeks of Summer holidays. We have a few things planned already so hopefully it’s not going to be a long boring holidays lah for anyone kan .

And as usual, at the end of the school year, I will make something for the girls’ teachers. But this time, I only buat beria2 for Miss 8’s class teachers aje sebab Miss 12 ada too many teachers over the year so tak larat weh nak bagi semua, hehehe. She’ll be giving chocs and a bit of my home made treats for some of her favourite teachers though.

Last year I pening kepala fikir macam mana nak wrap the basket hampers. Tahun ni instead of baskets, I just guna a wicker plate aje so lagi senang nak wrap, hehehe.

I made 6 different  types of sweet treats for the teachers this year, nothing savoury at all macam last year.

I made pudding truffles using this recipe. But I malas nak decorate dengan glace cherries so I just drizzle white choc over it aje. The taste is marvellous (according to The Other Half lah)!

And I made choc fudge using this recipe but I guna almond instead of walnuts. and also buat butternut snap choc tartlets.

Then I made florentine slice but I added a bit of cornflakes and craisins to the mixture. Bila dah masuk dlm goodie bag, tak nampak pulak rupa florentine slice ni, hehehe….

The other 2 sweet treats are cranberry and white choc shortbread, and as usual I tambah pistachios and guna milk choc instead of white choc. And almond biscotti.

And instead of baskets, I guna wicker plate aje lah this year so senang sikit nak wrap esok pagi, hehehehe…

Banyak kerja I nak buat esok pagi…

Nak wrap the hampers, nak goreng karipap sebab Miss 12 nak karipap for her lunch and also nak bagi her friends some and then nak buat guacamole dip for Miss 8’s class party at lunch time.

Each kid can choose what to bring from the list of dishes/food that the teachers have written down. And Miss 8 chose to bring a dip suitable for veges/chips so she wanted me to make avocado dip for her.

Nasib baik she chose an easy peasy food so senang lah I nak buat .

Summer rain

It’s raining cats and dogs here at the moment.

It was really heavy with a little bit of hail earlier in the evening which was a lot of fun to watch.

We all pulak, bila tengah hujan or bila the BOM predicts nak hujan, we love to see the radar view at this BOM link. It is so fascinating to see the progression of the rain cells and also the intensity of the rain.

Masa we had that really heavy rain and the hail tadi, our area was covered with the colour red on the radar.

And The Other Half pun will look at this radar every morning before he cycles to work. Kalau nampak yg hujan lebat giler will be coming soon, dia terus lah tak jadi nak naik beskal pergi kerja, terus lah naik public transport. He said he doesnt mind a little bit of rain when he cycles but bila hujan lebat giler, he can’t see anything sebab his glasses will be so wet and fogged up, hehehe.

And masa hujan lebat beria tadi, The Other Half said, “You should take a photo of this flooding.”

Macam ni dia panggil flood, hehehehe…..

(kalau kat Msia, ini namanya lopak air which is normal after setiap kali hujan, heeee…).

And bila hujan, mestilah asik rasa lapar aje kan so I masak loads of baked potato for dinner tadi.

I parboiled the whole potato first, then cut them in half and put them on an oven tray. I drizzled some olive oil, sprinkled some salt, paprika, cumin powder and turmeric powder on the potato halves.

Bake them in 200°C oven until they are brown and tender about 30-40 minutes. And then sprinkle some grated cheddar/ colby on the potato and bake them again until the cheese has melted.

Serve the baked potatoes with salsa, sour cream and sweet chilli sauce.

A little bit of meat on the side wouldnt go astray .

And then kalau still lapar lagi, boleh makan Summer fruit salad with a little bit of yoghurt.

Summer because ada cherries, watermelon, mango and bananas.

Garden update which normally follows the weekend

Our house has a front yard and a back yard (and the sides as well).

I guess that’s what all bungalows are like kan, hehehe.

In the front garden, on the left side of the driveway is the grassy lawn area with rose bushes along its 2 edges.

(saje je tayang some of the rose bushes, hehehe.)

On the right side of the driveway pulak is a small strip of tanah/ garden area.

The previous owner used to plant roses here but we all cabut cos there was just too many roses, tak larat we all. So, we gantikan and planted seasonal veges there.

Last year, we planted capsicum and zucchinis there.

This year, we put a bed of dried grass on it and planted some watermelon seedlings in a pot. Once the seedlings dah membesar, hopefully akan menjalar atas the grassy bed lah.

Our watermelon seedlings.

Along the same strip, we have lemongrass bushes and lavender.

And in the back garden pulak, we have 2 separate main areas of vegetable gardens/bed. Separated by a patch of lawn.

Kalau ikut The Other Half, dia nak aje penuhkan the back area ni dengan raised garden beds along the back wall….

The main vege patch yang dah sedia ada masa we all bought this house.

The main vege patch dah penuh dengan tomatoes, sugar snap peas, silverbeets, capsicums, different types of chilli plants, okra, eggplants (the lebanese and the big varieties) …..

and also daun kesum yang we all tanam inbetween the vege patch and the back wall (sebab dah tak tau kat mana lagi nak tanam the kesum, hahaha).

Punyalah happy nya daun kesum to get a big space all to itself.

The second vege area where we put the 2 no-dig garden beds and also the raised garden bed(against the back wall), the greenhouse, all the pots and planters and a table for The Other Half to do his semaian.

Our grape plants pun tengah galak berdaun sekarang ni. Every so often The Other Half has to tie them to the shaded roof woden bit. Hopefully in a couple of years time, the grape will cover the whole area lah, redup sikit kan .

Tengoklah our cucumber plants ni, sampai dah ke lantai diaorang menjalar, hehehe….

His greenhouse with all the hasil semaian. I have no idea kat mana lah we all nak tanam all the seedlings ni sebab I rasa our backyard ni dah jam-packed dengan plants.

(We keep the seeds in here masa Summer ni just so tak hilang moisture sebab Summer kat sini sgt lah kering nya).

Can’t wait to use it fully masa Winter nanti so bolehlah I semai benih chilli, cucumbers, zucchinis awal2.

The raised garden bed (against the back wall) yang dah ada blueberry, redcurrant, 2 chilli plants, a row of snow peas and a row of joi choy (I have no idea which one joi choy ni). At the back end of the bed tu, in that balck pot is our mint.

And last but not least, our latest penyeri in the back garden. It’s just behind The Little Misses’ rooms so when they open their blinds at night time, they can see them…

Solar-powered dragonfly lights. I think they are so comel!