DON'T ANNIE... DON'T!

Around the garden here I'm so used to pinching and plucking chillies.  Thanks to the birds around the island, I do the same too when I come across volunteer chillie plants sprouting in the wild.  

One morning, as I stepped out of my apartment and was on my way to the lift lobby, I caught sight of my neighbour's chillie plant which was covered with red chillies.  

Not that I needed more chillies but out of habit, I walked near the plant and was about to pull out those riped chillies when something in me said "Don't Annie... don't!"

Habits never die. 

People say gardening is a hobby for the retirees and elderlies.  Is it? 

SERIOUSLY WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?

Seriously.  Is something wrong with me?

#1

I get so excited at the mere thought of going to a market or supermarket and just a walk around the fresh produce section is happiness to me. 

#2

If I am at the supermarket, I find myself heading towards the fresh produce section automatically even if I have a list of toiletries on my shopping list.

#3

When family or friends go abroad and asked if there's anything I like them to bring back, they get a little shock when I said "nothing really but I do love some seeds."  No particular seeds just simply seeds that I could sow and grow even if I know they will never reach maturity or even fruit in my lifetime. 

#4

I've taken to experimenting with prickling vegetables and fruits, preserving eggs, making my own juices and things that keep me in the kitchen.

I'm no Domestic Goddess and will never be that's for sure but something about eating stuff that come from your garden and kitchen is pure comfort.

GARDEN RULES & NIGHTMARES

When will I ever learn??

I just love sowing seeds without labelling them.  It's a mixture of 75% laziness + 25% surprises that I live for.

"Oh, I know what seeds I sowed" but when you sowed many many seeds and many many variety of seeds, they become incognito.  So I live for the surprises.  However if the seeds you sow belongs to say the same family but different variety of citrus ie. mandarins, lemons or limes the suspense can kill especially if it cannot be identified from an early stage.

Last week as I was walking the grounds, I noticed this plant that is about the length of a ruler.  I squatted next to it, fondled the leaves and murmured lovingly "oh how much you've grown Sweetheart."  I knew it was a citrus but was unsure if it was a lime, lemon, orange or even a grapefruit. 

That same evening the silly gardener had to mow the lawn and in his haste he chopped off that same plant I was admiring just hours ago leaving behind a stump of about an inch.  When I saw it I was a bag of emotions mostly on the verge of crying and screaming. 

I marched up to confront him as he was putting away the mower but he calmly said "it will grow again."  Off course it has not. 

The worse nightmare is I can't figure out what seed I had sown.   What have I missed?

FIRST HARVEST OF THE YEAR!

What can be sweeter than these to kick-start the New Year!

They're not exactly my favourite but seeing each one bud from flower to fruit is amazing.  They started off a little pale yellow turning a nice shade of purple and finally a little orange to this final crimson colour.

They're really this glossy.  How not to love them when they're as sweet as they look?