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.
Watercress is in the family of Brassicas like radish and mustard relating to their peppery flavor. It closely resembles the taste of nasturtiums and the name is the same but they are actually distant relatives and they are easy to grow. Watercress is not available in the Philippines when I was growing up so I…
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…
Amaranth Kulitis
Amaranthus is the botanical term for the genus amaranth, a short lived perennial plant that used to be only known as ornamentals and now being cultivated as leafy green vegetables comparable to kale in nutritional value.
I just picked the matured pumpkin (kabocha/kalabasa) today, the one I posted last May 12. But unfortunately I only have two fruits from this vine because some kind of virus or fungus attacked the plant. So I will have to remove everything so as not to contaminate other plants. My cucumber were hurt too but…
The bittermelon plant in my garden really took off so fast because of the recent rains that we had. I actually had been gathering the fruits as well as the leaves which we use in soups like mung bean soup and chicken tinola which locals call Chicken Paraya. I have done a little research on…
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…