I sowed seeds of pumpkins (kalabasa) along with winged beans (sigarilyas) and hyacinth beans (bataw) about a week and this is how they look like. The larger leaf is the pumpkin, the ones on the left is hyacinth beans, and the farthest left are the winged beans.
SINGKAMAS- Jicama, Mexican yam, chop suey yam, yam bean. Singkamas or jicama is a very popular summer savory snack in the Philippines.
I just wanted to show how the female pumpkin flower would look like. I had males flower last time I posted and now I am seeing more than one female flowers. I tried to hand pollinate one of the female flower and see how it will react. The flower closed already and now I’m waiting…
Sweet potato leaves are considered as an everyday food in the Philippines. It is served steamed and teamed with a dipping sauce we call fish bagoong. You can also use it as a substitute for “un choi” or “kangkong” in making “sinigang” which is a sour soup. I have this sweet potato planted in my…
This is the pumpkin now after I helped it to be pollinated (notice I have also long beans in the same trellis). Two weeks after I hand-pollinated the female pumpkin flower, it has grown and almost ready to be picked. That’s one of the things that keep me going when it comes to gardening. Patience…
Bixa Orellana Achuete is probably the most important ingredient in the Filipino cuisine. The bright red color that imparts in the food makes the food more palatable and presentable. It is most used in recipes that we inherited from the Spaniards like the dish we call “menudo” or the famous “paella”. Achuete is an evergreen,…
I just started some long beans seeds (sitaw). Not all of them showed up yet but this is what it looks like when they emerge from the soil. It’s not quite ready for transplanting yet. I have to wait for what they call “true” leaves before moving them to the garden bed. I already set…