Home Grown Capsicum Seedling

Alas! The photos look shaky.

Side view

Top view

Pumpkin Growth Spurt

Summer heralds vegetable growth. The pumpkin has taken over the patch! The flowers have closed up into early pumpkins. They are in the middle protected from the elements by huge leaves.

This blurry shot shows how the tomatoes are surrounded by pumpkins. Corns are also making an appearance.

I am looking forward to the fruit and vegetable harvesst in 2010. Happy New Year to all readers. Thank you for visiting my blog!

Pumpkin Summer of 2009 - 2010

The middle seedlings grow into pale green pumpkins (Cucurbita pepo or C. mixta) with orange insides.

This is a few weeks later. By the way, the plant to the left are tomatoes and the compost is behind the corrugated iron board.

Luisa Plums Summer of 2009 - 2010

Above are organic Luisa plums that ripens into yellow heart-shaped fruits.

Further Information

Edible Garden

(Almost) Summer in All Its Glory

Flower in hot pink awesomeness!

This is the same flower under thick cloud a few second later due to the fickle weather.

I thought summer passed New Zealand by and we were straight into autumn in November. Now what?

Blueberries

Blueberries (Vaccinium genus) has anthocyanin, a blue pigment high in antioxidant.

There birds get first dibs at blueberries in front of my window.

Source

Blueberries NZ

The One Peach

The new peach tree also in my backyard has a single fruit this year.  I look out the window and see it swaying. Hold on, brave one!

Talk about James and the Giant Peach huh?

I lied. It is about as big as a golf ball in its organic wholesomeness.

Beans

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Above are beans from the backyard ready for harvest.

There is promise of another crop with more flowers.

Thank you bees' knees!

Cactus Flowers

My cactus has several yellow flowers!



These couple of flowers look like the face of Keroppi, Hello Kitty's friend at the Donut Pond.

Keroppi at Sanrio
Keroppi at Amazon

Norman Borlaug

Norman Borlaug was an agronomist who developed a species of high-yield, short-strawed and disease-resistant wheat. Borlaug received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his humanitarian efforts. He later directed an International Wheat Improvement Program to train scientist in research and production methods.

Timeline

1914	Born in Cresco, Iowa.
1937	Bachelor of Science degree and work at U.S. forestry services in Massachusetts and Idaho.
1939	Masters and Doctorate in plant pathology
1942	Microbiologist at du Pont de Nemours Foundation carrying out research on industrial and agricultural chemicals
1944	Genetist and pathologist for 'Cooperative Wheat Research and Production Program' in Mexico
1945	Worked with Mexican scientists on wheat improvement.
1960's	Worked with scientists from India and Pakistan to adapt wheat varieties.
1970	Received Nobel Peace Prize
1972	Worked on triticale, a modified wheat-rye hybrid

He founded the World Food Prize to recognise individual achievement to improve human food quality, quantity and availability.

Norman Borlaug (March 25, 1914 – September 12, 2009)

Reference

Nobel Prize Biography

Nobel Lectures, Peace 1951-1970, Editor Frederick W. Haberman, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1972

Plant - Ethnobotany

Grow Your Own Drugs is a BBC series presented by ethnobotanist James Wong. Ethnobotany is the plant lore of indigenous cultures and the systematic study of such lore.

Fruit

• Goji berry and chicken soup for colds and flu
• Face masks

Flower

• Elderflower throat lozenges
• Lavender bath bomb

Tree

• Ginkgo tea for memory
• Pine for deoderant

Herb

• Thyme breath spray
• Herbal body scrub

Roots

• Valerian hot chocolate for anxiety
• Echinacea ice lollies

Vegetables

• Garlic vinegar footbath
• Cucumber Eye Gel

References

ethnobotany. (2009). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved September 9, 2009, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethnobotany

Carnivorous Plants

Pitchers Nepenthes shown in the photo above are carnivorous plants that catches prey and digests them in modified leaves. Their natural habitats are bogs and fens. Enthusiasts have to accept odours of such environment.The video clip below shows a poisonous pitcher plant capturing insects.

The traps work by:

• Pitfall Traps - folded leaves holding digestive enzyme.
• Flypaper - leaves covered in sticky stalks
• Snap Traps - hinges shut when triggered.
• Suction Traps - hinged, shaped like a bladder.
• Lobster Pot - twisted tubes with hair and glands.

Examples

Pitfall Traps

Nepenthes maxima from Huntington Botanical Gardens.

Flypaper

Sundews (Drosera rotundifolia) by Sandy Richard

Gnats stuck on butterworts

Suction Traps

Bladderwort or Utricularia nelumbifolia by Don Coyote.

Snap Traps

The first pitcher plant that I learned about was the Venus fly trap. (Photo by Simon Whitaker).

Source:

• Botanical Society of America: Carnivorous or Insectivorous Plants

Rat Terminator

Rats are pests. They are hard to get rid of. Some methods have toxic side effects that makes pets sick or or dangerous to unsuspecting children. Scientists discovered a pitcher plant in the Philippines that trap animals as big as rats and dissolves the carcass with acidic enzymes. The plant was observed nearly a decade ago, with its existence confirmed by Steward McPherson and Alastair Robinson.Original Article by Chris Irvine at UK Telegraph:

Rat-eating plant discovered in Philippines

Nutraceuticals

High blood pressure is related to stroke and heart disease, where blood pressure is more than 140 over 90 mmHg. People at risk from hypertension can use nutraceuticals to prevent the onset of heart disease.Researchers investigated Gingko leaf extract (GLE) treatment for memory loss, dementia and peripheral vascular diseases. Gingko leaves are a vasodilator. The active components are flavone glycosides and terpene lactones.

Reference

Chen, Z.Y., Peng, C., Jiao, R., Wong, Y.M., Yang, N. & Huang, Y. (2009). Anti-hypertensive nutraceuticals and functional foods. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 57(11), 4485-4499. DOI: 10.1021/jf900803r

Feijoas, come one, come all.

The feijoa season is upon us. I had three today! When my family moved to New Zealand, we had never seen feijoa trees before. The neighbours told us how the fruit is ripe when it falls. Now I know it's autumn when feijoas fall. They remind me of the move to New Zealand and guavas in Taiwan.


Whole feijoa and cross-section, by a HortResearch photographer.

Feijoa sellowiana is an evergreen from South America. The green ellipsoid tastes sweet, has a gritty texture and smells sweet due to its methyl benzoate. Nutritional data states the fruit is low in cholesterol and sodium, high in folate and is a good source of vitamin C. If you have interest in growing feijoa, check out the New Zealand Grower's Association in what you need.

Feijoa can be used in (source: Wikipedia Entry):

• Juices and smoothies,
• wine, cidar and vodka,
• yoghurt, jam and ice cream,
• stews and chutney, and
• find more in the Feijoa Recipe Book by Wyn Drabbles (ISBN 0-9582115-3-1)

I pick up the fruit, cut it in half and scoop out the flesh with a spoon. How do you eat your feijoa?

Mangroves

Mangroves grow in saline habitats. The plant generally belongs to the family Rhizophoraceae, or specifically in Rhizophora.



By Christolakis, some rights reserved.

New Zealand mangroves are called manawa. They can be found as far as 38 degrees south, that is, Raglan harbour to the west and ends at Ohiwa harbour near Opotiki. There are many benefits of having mangroves around.

Original Article from physorg.com.

Potted Plants [and Captions]

I grab the last of the summer light to take a few close ups of potted succulents in the courtyard.

Detailed flower from the side. I think I will do an observational drawing of this.

Furry! Have you never heard of stuffed plants? Now you have read about it. Spread the word... If the above is black it would resemble a tarantula.

Survival of the fittest plays out in this crowded pot. Mom has juxtaposed these two for a refreshing colour combination.

So Happy

I am stoked! Logged on to find my project provisional results. I passed. Did a little victory dance. This deserves some celebration. I will break open the vanilla with raspberry choc flake ice cream even though I'm supposed to be on a reduced dairy diet.

Below are sweetcorn harvest for this year.

Here is a close up

A potted little pine tree

The juvenile cone

A series of orange trees yet to be put into the ground.