Here are just some photos that I would like to share. Sorry there is not much accompanying caption or text to go with the photos; I am doing this post at the very last minutes before I turn in so I have to be rather quick with the posting. Anyway, here they are:

Photos taken at Cameron Highlands:

Two photos of the two important plants I am growing now.

Left: Chinese Kale (Kailan)

Right: Roselle, or Hibiscus Sabdariffa

I have a wishlist of plants to grow. So here it is! I hope I can get my hands on the seeds, or plant, of the following species soon. Of course, I would also hope that I can cultivate them successful. Wish me luck!

And the plants that I would love to be growing are, more will be added, as follows:

1. Catnip

2. Passionfruit vine

3. Blue Butterfly Pea, also known as Clitoria ternatea.

My first real project of 2010 - Update 2

My second real attempt at growing cosmo seems to be failing, yet again. Utmost disappointing, I guess if the sole seedling dies on me again, it's Hobson's choice for me to try again. Unfortunately, my store of cosmo seedlings is running out. I will thus have to purchase the seeds again and really just hope for the best. It appears that my wish to successfully grow cosmo is not coming to pass soon. Time to prepare for the next attempt now! More updates coming soon. Watch this space, i.e my blog.

My small little paradise doesn't seem to be teeming with as much life as I hope yet despite all the new additions and developing seedlings. I certainly hope for a surprise or two. In the meantime, I keep a pair of crossed fingers that my additions of a new Gerbera and a Thai Basil which I bought today will adapt to the new environment. They are both bought at a promotion. I wish them all the best in their new lives here!

I have just repotted some of my plants, one of them being the coleus I bought recently from Far East Flora. Let's see how things go from here. My updates coming soon. Happy Gardening!

My first real project of 2010 - Update 1

This is my first update and I've got both good news and bad news to share. Let's start with the bad news first. Woe betide me, 1 day after I made the post on the project, the fledging cosmo died on me. It had been growing fine for weeks, well, until that fateful day. Most disheartening a thing to happen, it seems that I have to start from scratch all over again.

On the brighter side, my kale seedlings are showing their true leaves, albeit a little slowly I may add. Perhaps the amount of sunlight or nutrients is limiting its growth somehow; according to the information on the packet, it should take approximately 45 days to mature but judging from the looks, I suppose a longer time will be needed for me to see the flowers. Actually, to link this phenomenon back to Biology, this slow growth is known as the lag phase. In this phase of the development model, there will be minimal change in the length or mass of the subject in question and this can be measured accordingly. However, that does not really have anything to do with this post now, does it. I apologise for the digression. My point of stating the lag phase, really, is to correlate what result I have yielded at this moment with what I have learnt and also, to follow up with the log phase, a period associated with a spurt in growth. Normally accompanying the lag phase, the log phase is what I am anticipating now. Indeed, I am looking forward to a profusion of growth from the kale seedlings. With so much anticipation building up, I really hope the log phase will come soon.

More updates to come.

Seedling slightly revealing the first true leaf

A better close-up of the true leaf

I didn't really notice this before. After looking at the pictures carefully, I have come to realise that the first two leaves of the seedlings are cordate. What love!

My plants have always been plagued by mealies, scales too. Recently, I have started a new approach to this mealy bug situation - feeding the vermin to my fish. This new and radical (at least to me) method has been put in force for the past few days and the fish seem to be enjoying the food. I just hope the "food" that I am feeding is not poisonous!