A Letter To My Sister's White Bitter Gourd Plant ( Momordica charantia )

Dear Momordica,

It was not long ago ....

.... since I last saw you.

A BIG BABY you were then.

Oh, how very fast you have grown!

Could not quite believe my eyes!

You are now ....

.... everywhere ....

.... on the trellis which I have specially constructed for you.

I know how DIFFICULT life is to you these days ....

.... on this seventh floor's balcony ....

That have little daily sun exposure to enjoy ....

.... PLUS .....

.... occasional harsh weathers to battle with ....

.... TORRENTIAL RAINS ....

.... and HIGH WINDS.

I am most grateful that ....
.... despite so ....
.... INCREDIBLY, ....

.... you are thriving!

And are now flowering ....

.... profusely.

I PRAY THAT somehow, some kind insects ....

.... would find your pollens.

And would happily transport them to your stigmas.

So that beautiful, delicious PEARL WHITE GOURDS could form.

And put smiles on my face!

Though ALREADY you have actually ....

.... put them ( smiles ) on my face.

RIGHT NOW. 

With your many cheery, tender yellow blooms ....
.. . everywhere.

And your lush healthy leaves ....

.... that send out heavenly bitter sweet scent ....

.... every time I brush past you.

THANK YOU SO MUCH, oh dear Momordica!
For growing so happily and healthily ....
.... DESPITE all difficulties.
And let me SOAK UP all YOUR GOODNESS ( HAPPINESS )!


Sincerely,
JADE

When you have A CURIOUS VISITOR in the garden...

We were back to Ipoh on September the sixth, and had stayed for about a week or so before we came back to Kuala Lumpur on the twelfth. It had rained almost every day while we were there. Apparently, the plants in my small garden had enjoyed those thorough, natural showers. Every morning, even at a glance, I could tell how very much they had grown, compared to the previous day.

Finally, towards the end of our stay, there were plenty for harvest. Both at my back and front yards. Plenty. But not after Jane, my curious younger sister, had most of them harvested.

Pictures taken after the harvests.

I was still in bed when she did all the harvests. Right before the sun was up. I should have asked her to wait for me before she decides to do anything in the garden. Some edibles were just too new to her. That she inevitably made mistakes.

Out of curiosity, she lifted up my immature Turmeric plant. Only to find that there were no turmerics yet. She planted it back at another spot on the planter. When Fourth Sis found that out sometime later, she was a little upset. The plant was still struggling and yet to recover from the shock caused by the lift before we left for Kuala Lumpur.

The SHOCKED turmeric plant after the lift and relocation.

Having visited a small farm owned and managed by an old Portuguese couple back in the Wales, United Kingdom not long before while she was studying there, Jane had had the taste of fresh peas. Which she had picked and eaten off the plants. So, when she saw my Butterfly Pea vines with lots of pea pods everywhere on them that morning, she was curious what they taste like. Unhesitatingly she picked one, split it open and popped its peas into her mouth right away. The same way she had enjoyed the peas back then.

Gosh! How could she be so unhesitating? What if the peas were inedible or poisonous? Why had she not thought of that possibility? Luckily, they were known to be edible to me. Though no one I knew ever tasted them before, whether cooked or fresh. ( She said the peas tasted just like any fresh peas. Only that they were not sweet. Unlike the ones she had tasted before )

Pictures of the peas and flowers of the Butterfly Pea vines.

There were some right things however, which Jane had done. Like harvesting the Red Stem Malabar Ceylon Spinach, Thai Basil and Sweet Potato greens. ( Though they were all, almost ' bald ' after that. ) And having left my Allamanda, Ginger, Gynura and Radish plants untouched, at least. Thank goodness that she had not mistaken them for some leafy vegetables!

The Radish plants were untouched and not mistaken for some leafy vegetables, at least. What a RELIEF!

I told myself that the next time I have new visitors in the garden, I would give them some briefings first. Before things go wrong!

All Looking GOOD and HOPEFUL

I had been away for more than a week, joining a Buddhist retreat camp with no Internet or phone access at a Buddhist Society near my holiday home in Ipoh since August eighteenth. When the camp ended and while I was on my way back to Kuala Lumpur last Tuesday, I stopped by my home there to see my small garden and took a few pictures. But, having had to rush quite a number of long pending handmade flower orders, I can only, finally sit down and post them here now... After I have had all the orders completed and shipped out this morning.

I was happy to find that .... 

.... almost all ( over ninety percent ) of the Red Stem Malabar Ceylon Spinach ( Basella alba 'Rubra' ) 

and all the Sweet Potato ( Ipomoea batatas ) vines 

which I had started from leafless stem cuttings had grown well with quite a number of leaves each.

.... and most of the Radish (Raphanus raphanistrum subsp. sativus) seeds which I had sown about two to three weeks before had germinated and grown into healthy and strong-looking plants.

Hope they would all continue to grow happily and healthily while I am away. So that by the time I go back to Ipoh again, most probably in a few days time ( with my younger sister, Jane who would be coming back from the UK on Wednesday ), there would be some nice and pleasant, welcoming vegetables in the garden, greeting her as she enters my holiday home for the first time ...