Okra Flower

Winged beans or sigarilyas in the Philippines is also known as Goa beans, Mauritius beans, asparagus pea and many other names. I only know this beans as sigarilyas in my hometown. It is a tropical legume native to New Guinea. It grows as a vine 3-4 m. in height. It is a perennial but can…

Banana – (Musaceae) is by far the most widely known fruit in the world and the most cultivated.  The varieties of banana is so wide it is divided into 10 groups from the cavendish type to cooking bananas called plantains but the Philippines also have the cooking banana variety we call “saba” or “popo’ulu” in…

Amaranth – Kulitis ( Amaranthus) is considered a very nutritious leaf vegetable in the Philippines.  The flowers are also edible and when the seeds are formed, the seeds are ground to make a healthy type of flour or eaten like a breakfast cereal.  The seeds of the amaranth is a good source of protein.  The…

Cucumber or pipino as we call it in the Philippines is my favorite salad vegetable. I also make pickle out of it. But I really don’t have luck in growing cucumbers. Last month, a friend of mine gave me some seeds which he said came from Sri Lanka. I immediately planted it and see how…

These was taken 9 days after the seeds were sown. The leaves are much broader and greener.

This is arugula seedlings after a few days of sowing them in the garden bed. They grow faster than lettuce. I like them in salads with different kinds of lettuce to add zing and interest to the palate. It has that distinct peppery flavor almost like radish or wasabi that makes the salad greens more…