Everyone would know by now that I do not have green fingers. Most everything that I planted would all die eventually. People told me how easy it would be to plant cangkuk manis – just stick the stalks in the ground, they said and I did just that but nothing happened. They just dried up and died.
Well, it so happened that one fine day, I decided to stop by my friend’s shop to buy some organic fertiliser for whatever was growing around my house and my missus was attracted by the little packets of flower and vegetable seeds that they were selling…and she ended up buying one, ladies’ fingers’ seeds and she insisted that her sister-in-law had some of those at their house and it was so very easy to grow. Hmmmmm!!!! Isn’t that what everybody says all the time?
Over the next few days, I saw the packet on the table…and everyone would know by now how I just cannot stand seeing things sitting idle in the fridge. I guess the same applies here as well so I took the seeds and planted them. I did not know how to go about it so I just poked a hole in the ground, put three seeds in and covered it with soil…and by George, they sprouted in no time at all!!!
There were three seedlings growing out of each hole so I pulled two out and planted them separately. The stalks were very flimsy and fragile so I used those disposable chopsticks…
…that I could find in the house for the much-needed support.
Yes, they grew and grew and were quite big already…
…when I saw one of them flowering…
What? So soon? Does that mean I will have my own ladies fingers to lightly boil or steam for my ulam…
…or I can fry with sambal belacan (dried prawn paste) and hay bee (dried prawns)…
*Archive photo*
…to enjoy?
Incidentally, that was my first ever harvest of my ulam raja leaves. I got two seedlings from Peter, the nice boss of Payung Cafe, but they were attacked by birds and I only managed to salvage a sprig less that two inches long and thankfully, it survived and has grown into a full grown plant. Yes, the birds are still at it, I think, but never mind! There’s a lot to spare.
Back to the ladies’ fingers, I am not getting my hopes up too high as I saw the ones planted by my girl’s colleague around his quarters at their school in the jungle…
My! My! They are huge!!! At least three or four times the size of mine and even the flowers are big…
…and look! The ladies’ fingers…
…are growing really well, I must say.
I guess I’ll just have to wait and see what happens eventually as far as mine is concerned and in the meantime, I can be glad that my ulam raja is doing all right and I also transplanted these…
…that I found growing out of the cracks in my driveway and they are looking good and are flowering some more.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 