Edible Garden - Oki spinach and basil

An Edible Garden is fun as you can eat the fruits of your labour.

I tried to plant Okinawan spinach from one cutting cut into 2 stems. Alas, the first stem died as I had planted it before rooting. I had read somewhere that it could be planted this way. Well, this did not work out for me. The second cutting fared better after some roots grew in the water first.

Okinawan spinach from a friend. Made a salad with some of the leaves.

4 Mar 2018: Two cuttings in water. The leaf-less cutting survived 1-2 weeks in soil before it rotted.

Those leaves at the side of the pot are Indian Borage leaves. I stuck them in there to suck up some water, because I had over-watered on some days.

22 Mar 2018: First planted.

3 Apr 2018

10 Apr 2018

14 Apr 2018

26 Apr 2018

Bought a pot of sweet basil from NTUC supermarket. Cut up the big basil leaves for a pasta. There were about 5-6 plants in this pot.

7 Apr 2018: In the original brown pot, the long roots were growing out of the holes at the bottom.

Placed into a water bath.

Took the basil plants out of the pot and separated them. They cannot survive long in the original pot. Some plants spent a day or two in water, others a bit longer. Only two plants survived. The biggest one ..no, although it looked so strong.

Only two small plants managed to survived.

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Farfalle

Made some farfalle - I was intrigued by the prettiness of the shape. It's hard work though, all for the sake of the jagged edges. I cleaned out my old craft scissors to do the cutting. Now I realised that the commercial pasta only has jagged edges on the ends of the 'bows'. Not the other side! Well, I may not make this again. The middle of the bow is thick, as expected. So, there's more 'bite' there! But the lemon sauce with cheese, spring onions, cherry tomatoes and lemon zest - that was really refreshing. Uneven sizes and thickness but they still look pretty. Simple lemon, olive oil sauce with some cheese.

The old writers

I first noticed these words in a novel. Only the first three lines as the writer was describing a fear and restlessness but not a seeking of the divine. I looked for them later and there they were, in the Service Book in church. Part of the Evening Prayer, it may seem out of sorts for us city dwellers with lights everywhere, all the time. But, the night is still there, darkness still in us. These writers of old, they write so well. Or maybe they just knew their God better. in your mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night

Okinawan Spinach

A friend gave me a cutting of Okinawan Spinach. Yay, new vegetable to try planting. The leaves can be eaten raw or cooked. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gynura_bicolor Gynura bicolor, hongfeng cai 紅鳳菜, okinawan spinach or edible gynura, is a member of the chrysanthemum family (Asteraceae). It is native to China, Thailand, and Myanmar but grown in many other places as a vegetable and as a medicinal herb. Since most of the leaves needed to be removed for the rooting, I made a salad. This was a 'Global' Salad with Okinawan Spinach, Mexican Asparagus, Malaysian cucumber and cherry tomatoes, Argentinian blue berries and NZ salad dressing! In future, if I grow this vegetable successfully, I will stir fry it with sesame oil and ginger. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gynura_bicolor According to Chinese food grouping, Gynura bicolor is a 'cool' food, so the leaves are stir-fried with sesame oil and ginger (both 'hotter' foods) to achieve a balance. After m...

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