Tropical Gardening

We occasionally get visits from civet cats, (the local variety is the Asian Palm Civet, aka Paradoxurus hermaphroditus). Normally it comes by itself and eats some of the stuff we have in the bowl...

http://tropical-gardening.blogspot.com/2011/09/civet-cats-in-kitchen.html

(Source: PHD Comics by jorge cham) Thanks for dropping by :) I am now in the process of writing up my PhD, and will only be able to do very intermittent updates of this blog. Please explore the a...

http://tropical-gardening.blogspot.com/2010/02/on-extended-leave-of-absence.html

In the previous post I identified the Papaya mealy bug - Paracoccus Marginatus on our papaya.So - I checked out what are the possible organic responses and found some good resources:PAN Germany: ...

http://tropical-gardening.blogspot.com/2009/12/organic-mealy-bug-repellent.html

A while ago, WW noticed some white stuff on our papayas, and eventually I got round to looking closerclusters of foam, it seemed like to me, and I wasn't sure if it was a real problem or not... b...

http://tropical-gardening.blogspot.com/2009/11/papaya-mealy-bug-paracoccus-marginatus.html

Apart from the Ptychosperma macarthurii (Macarthur palms), we have a couple of palms that are apparently somewhat uncommon, and I'm trying to identify them. They've grown to about 6-8 metres, and...

http://tropical-gardening.blogspot.com/2009/10/identifying-palm-tree.html

Our lawn leaves much to be desired - initially it was laid down with 'Pearl grass', which was a bad idea; it did not survive well in the sun, and grew too slowly to recover from any setbacks. Eve...

http://tropical-gardening.blogspot.com/2009/10/philippine-lawn-grass-seeding.html

Here are some photos that I've been meaning to use for a long time. WW was trimming the bamboo when she came across thisthe twigs growing out of the interstice obviously make good support for a n...

http://tropical-gardening.blogspot.com/2009/10/birds-nest-recycling-rawks.html

WW planted some yard-long beans, or Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis, and they have started to flower and fruit.But there is also someone else interested in the flowers and beans...I'm not ...

http://tropical-gardening.blogspot.com/2009/10/fire-ant-on-yard-long-bean.html

We have a pink frangipani, aka Plumeria rubra, growing on the patio. There was some hesitation in getting it initially, as the frangipani is associated with cemeteries here in Malaysia; but WW de...

http://tropical-gardening.blogspot.com/2009/10/frangipani-in-morning.html

One of the challenges of an organic garden is getting enough nutrients into the soil, given that you can't use chemical fertilisers. A great way to address this problem, and reduce your waste tha...

http://tropical-gardening.blogspot.com/2009/09/organic-compost-harvest.html

One of the problems with organic gardening is that you can't just give a blast of insecticide or herbicide from time to time to reduce pests. So far, we haven't had any major problem, so touch wo...

http://tropical-gardening.blogspot.com/2009/09/grasshopper-in-organic-mint.html

Around the front of our organic garden, we have a raised bed (that used to be a long fish pond I think), which has some Calathea lutea planted, and some Heliconia. I'm not sure exactly how to ide...

http://tropical-gardening.blogspot.com/2009/09/birds-of-paradise.html

When I was a kid, my brother told me that dragonflies would eat their own tails if they could - I found this really gross and since then have been somewhat repulsed by dragonflies.Anyway. I shoul...

http://tropical-gardening.blogspot.com/2009/09/dragonfly.html

Previously (Palm tree flowers with bees), I was wondering what type of palm we had and was unsure whether it was a Ptychosperma macarthurii - it looks like one, but I had never seen the red fruit...

http://tropical-gardening.blogspot.com/2009/09/ptychosperma-macarthurii-identified.html

The other day, while harvesting some of our chillies, WW spotted thisIt seems like some member of the Mantidae family went into the wrong neighbourhood...Normally I welcome spiders gobbling up in...

http://tropical-gardening.blogspot.com/2009/09/spider-eats-mantis.html

This is a photo of a spider with its web spun on the bamboo in the garden. I don't know how to identify spiders, but I think it is a 'true spider' Araneomorphae (check that link for many photos a...

http://tropical-gardening.blogspot.com/2009/09/spider-mistaken-identity.html

Well - harvesting may be slightly overstating it, when I only got one fruit :) But it's the first one we got off these trees (a previous fruit was taken by someone). The trees are growing well, a...

http://tropical-gardening.blogspot.com/2009/08/harvesting-organic-papaya.html

Papaya, or Carica papaya, is a tree that grows very easily. The first ones we had started more or less by accident, with some seeds thrown on the ground. We replanted those on the grass verge out...

http://tropical-gardening.blogspot.com/2009/08/organic-papaya-tree-growth.html

Sorry to anyone out there for not posting for ages, I will try to do better from now on. Brief but regular :)Cili padi (bird's eye chili) are a favourite of most Malaysians, but not that easy to ...

http://tropical-gardening.blogspot.com/2009/08/organic-chilis-harvest.html

We have two palms at the back of the garden.I'm not sure what type they are, but it is similar to the MacArthur palm (Ptychosperma macarthurii) - the similarties are that it grows in clusters, an...

http://tropical-gardening.blogspot.com/2009/05/palm-tree-flowers-with-bees.html

I had previously tried growing some organic lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus), which ended in a resounding FAIL! But then a helpful reader (A Canadian in King Parakramabahu's Court) suggested gett...

http://tropical-gardening.blogspot.com/2009/05/planting-organic-lemongrass-return.html

I have not been updating for a while - not because our garden has stopped growing, but because I'm well busy with thisIt's for my research into the monetisation of Malaysian blogs - I'm doing an ...

http://tropical-gardening.blogspot.com/2009/03/myblogs-2009-malaysian-blog-survey.html

We have an Elephant's Ear in the corner of our garden under a palm tree. It appeared by accident, but I think it's no coincidence as the Elephant Ear likes compost (according to this useful guide...

http://tropical-gardening.blogspot.com/2009/03/elephants-ear-propagation.html

Worried about being stiffed with overpriced roses, chemically enhanced and flown in from halfway across the world? There is a solution :)Find a few blooms in your gardenput them on the breakfast ...

http://tropical-gardening.blogspot.com/2009/02/organic-valentine.html

We harvested our organic sweet potato today (there are a couple of more detailed recipes on that post too). One lesson to be learnt is that it needs a climbing frame - it was crawling all over th...

http://tropical-gardening.blogspot.com/2009/02/cooking-organic-sweet-potato-leaf.html