Davita

Gardening in the tropics must be easy.
In the late 1950s I took some kids on a friends boat around Singapore...we drifted to a sand bank opposite Keppel and decided to have a picnic and wait for a higher tide.
The afternoon was a delight, the kids made some sandcastles, and we left some food and fruit for the local birds, but packed everything else out.
Many years later I overheard Singaporeans call this jungle paradise-oasis as Sentosa.

PoolieAbroad

The recent windy nights have done some shredding but they are protected on one side by the house. So they escaped the worst of the wind that particular night. I was worried the things were going to blow over.

I have a frangipani on the other end which is doing quite well. Only recently I realised the soil is pretty rubbish and a good dose of fertilser is needed every few weeks!

Xizzles .......Singapore is indeed tough to get some land at any price and we are indeed very lucky in Malaysia that the land price is still reasonable.
Mind you its a warm job cutting the stuff each week!!
Somehow it never quite looks like a really nice lawn. I blame the rotary type grass cutters that are no where near as good as the old trusted cylinder models.

ex reg

In Singpore many of the HDB estates have a small area, maybe 25ft by 15ft which is set aside for residents who want to garden a bit. Mainly vege but some flowers but I think you have to get permission to garden there.

JC3

Hi fellow gardeners.

Have you seen these before? They are the seed pods of a bastard poon tree. Love that name!

Strung together like a rain chain they make attractive mobiles. A friend who saw one I'd made said the single shells looks like an elephant's face and ears. I hadn't noticed that, but it's true. Just need to draw on the eyes.

JC3

JC3

Hi,

Photos of your garden taken with a digital camera or mobile phone camera may include the GPS coordinates.

If you want to know more about this please read this thread:-

http://britishexpats.com/forum/site-...cation-859499/

JC3

columbine

Out of curiosity I looked up the bastard spoon tree, its also called the stinking dung tree
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=98&artid=22952

"Peenaa'ri (Sterculia foetida) is a timber tree of the tropical rain forests. It is a native of tropical Africa, southern South Asia, Southeast Asia and northern AustralAustralia
Peenaa'ri (Sterculia foetida): The blossoms of stench

The names of this tree in various languages have either come from the faecal stench of its flowers or from its edible, oil-producing seeds.

The Latin botanical term, Sterculia foetida itself means, ‘stinking dung’ (stercus – manure; foetida – stinking). The tree is known in English as Javan Olive, Skunk Flower, Hazel Sterculia, Wild Chestnuts, Wild Indian Almond and Bastard Poon Tree."

bakedbean

Just for anyone who may wish to know, there seems to be a Penang Gardeners Group (a closed group) on Farcebook, for sharing tips and tricks of gardening in the Tropics. So, if you're interested, you know where to look.

JC3

Love gardening?
Don’t miss the Penang Floral Festival from 28 May to 5 Jun 2016 (9am - 7pm) at Penang Botanic Gardens. This popular event attracts thousands of locals and foreign visitors to its stalls selling plants and gardening equipment, along with workshops, contests, exhibitions and classes on floral related topics.

JC3

bakedbean

I went to this last year, just to have a nose, and was surprised that it was not actually part of the Penang Botanic Gardens. It was held at some grounds on the approach road to the Botanic. The friend I went with (Penang born) said it's not as good as it used to be. Not so many stalls now. What do you think JC3?

Pity that the Botanic does not get more involved in it?

columbine

The Penang floral show is more like a flower vendors show. It used to be lots bigger, but last few years it's really dwindled. I went to my last one a few years ago, it was lots smaller, according to the vendors they didn't get much support and publicity from the organizers and in fact that show was cancelled and many were not informed. So the vendors were very disappointed but did the stalls themselves since they had transported the plants to Penang.
If you like a good floral show, go all the way to the annual one in Putrajaya.
Royal FLORIA Putrajaya 2016

Royal Floria PutrajayaRoyal FLORIA Putrajaya will bring the concept of a family holiday to a new dimension beyond imagination when Magical Gardens themed components kicks off the holiday season that is from 27th May to 4th June 2016 at Anjung FLORIA, Precinct 4, Putrajaya.
http://www.floriaputrajaya.com.my/press-release-royal-floria-putrajaya-2016

JC3

I think that's probably true - not as good as it was - but I missed it last year unfortunately.

JC3

JC3

How to ripen bananas - gradually?

My first banana tree was a gift from an old Chinese Malaysian ‘auntie’ who kindly allowed me to dig it up from her garden, right on the beach at Tanjung Bungah in Penang. “This is no ordinary banana tree” she promised – “this is a Raja – king of the bananas, hard to find now”. Fast forward two years and I now have a small clump of banana trees.

Yesterday I cut this stalk of banana hands. They look nice and plump, but are not yellow yet. There’s about seven hands of 10 bananas each.
I thought I had better harvest them now before the monkeys spot them, or the bats, birds and squirrels beat me to it.

My question is what next? How best to ripen them, so not all 70 are ready at once (the problem I had this time last year).

I have hung the entire stalk on a screened verandah to ripen out of harms way. But I am now wondering whether I should cut the stalk up into hands now, cover the bunch with a plastic bag to hasten ripening, or what?

Can any BE gardeners give me some tips? I think a few of us are newbies to this.

Many thanks.

JC3

Davita

My wife, not a gardener but a great cook, says she doesn't know how to hasten ripening bananas but, to keep them from going black, she plastic wraps and puts in the freezer.
Another hint is an under-ripe avocado can be wrapped in tinfoil and put in an oven at 200deg for 30 mins to soften.

Maybe try a banana the same way and see the result...maybe mushy banana slurpy ...yummy!

InVinoVeritas

In France they put them in a 150C oven on a baking sheet for 40 mins. The bananas go black so are not very presentable but the flesh is OK.

It seems that other methods require the banana to already be a little yellow which yours clearly aren't.

bakedbean

Going to need a huge freezer to put all those in