TADPOLES IN THE POND

Yeap, tadpoles, countless of them... in the pond...

And it had to be our neighbor to discover that for us...heeeh...

The creatures are still very minute... visible only with concentration in the rather light-chocolate colored pond...

Had been wondering why the croaking suddenly stopped some nights ago...

Nature apparently had it planned all along...

Like the nasturtiums wilting away once they flowered and seeded, the frogs stopped their love-croaking once they goaled-in with each other...

They is no further need to waste energy crooning in the dark...

Smart, eh...

By the way, to keep the nasturtiums flowering, we pick the flowers for our salads...

They look marvelous sitting on the greens and they taste pretty good too, I must say...

FROGS IN THE POND

Wheeeee... finally got the pond dug up...

But, should I or should I not line the pond...

That is the question...

Bought a water lily plant...

Looks perfect on the pond, I must say...

Plan to germinate some lotus seeds, too...

The rains keep on falling these days...

Like the green frogs who found paradise in the pond

I love the rain...

Why not... being a farmer's son myself...

Meanwhile...

The frogs croak on nightly... as I snore away...

ITCHING TO DIVE

Been out of water since since last September...

Aaarrrgggghhh...

Need to top up my nitrogen level... soon!!

Or else, I am going to die!!!

Picture above taken at Pulau Tioman as yours truly was gearing up for a night dive...

Witnessed in full action, a squid zooming in to attack a fish prey...

Aaarrrggghh...

CROP ROTATION

Spent a few blissful days tending the garden...

My 'suweeto-haato' is into roses and herbs... fragrances and colors...

Yours truly is more of a 'cookie monster', delving into 'chewables' like vegetables and fruits...

Just added two mulberry trees to my fruit tree collection...

The mulberries are sweet and sourish... goes very well with my daily breakfast yoghurt...

But still, my gardening failures overwhelm my successes...

Least of all excuses are the 'spoilers' such as slugs, caterpillars, aphids, and cutworms that completely 'cut' off the seedling trunks...

Grrrrr....

Whenever I got hold of any cutworm, I feed them to the ants and watch them wriggle in agony as the ants take them on... * evil, evil Lrong... heh heh heh *

Shall try to up my success rate this season... so, I am experimenting with crop rotation hoping to reduce the likelihood of diseases...

First, 'sliced' up my mini vegetable plot into six segments, labeled CCPPST...

Now, how to remember this strange label...

So, I came up with the following 'smart' hint...

'CCP' pronounced as SeaSeaPea, comes from the nickname of a dear friend, ChowCheePuet...

The 'P' means just that: Pee forever by the roadside...

'ST' is the nick of another dear friend, 'STooi' (not to be confused with 'STool' if you know what I mean...).

Ok, back to the plot... we have 'families' of Carrots, Cabbage, Peas, Squash, and Tomatoes...

And the Perennials...

Each season, the Carrots, Cabbage, Peas, Squash, and Tomatoes rotate around the plot segments, but not the Perennials as they perennially stand by the roadside and Pee...

Carrots click well with 'companions' such as onions, chives, leeks, etc, which help to ward off carrot pests...

The cabbage clan includes stuff like turnips, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower and they nurture well with dill, fennel, etc...

Peas such as snow peas or soybeans may be planted with potatoes or sweet potatoes... peas and beans are soil-builders or 'enrichers' as opposed to tomatoes and peppers, which are more like nutrient 'guzzlers'...

The Squash family consists of folks like zucchinis, melons, and cucumbers... they are to be planted with corn, which allows long beans to cling on to their trunks... together, the squash, corn, and beans form the 'three sisters'...

Tomatoes tango well with cousins like eggplants, peppers, and chilies as they are prone to the same diseases... their best 'companion-friend' is the basil, which helps to repel unwanted pests...

For my Perennials... strawberries, asparagus, borage, thyme, etc...

Uncovered soil invites weeds... so I may sow seeds of marigold, zinnias, and calendulas to accompany the edibles... or, perhaps even some leafy vegetable seeds to fill up the open spaces...

This mixing of vegetables, herbs, and flowers technique is called companion planting, which ostensibly confuses pests, thus further suppressing damage to the plants...

Now, after a few moons, let's see how (un)successful the vegetable plot is...

Heh heh heh...

SEAWEED FROM THE SHORES

Today's the first of May...

Called my mum early this morning before cycling to work...

Her loud voice emitting from the telephone startled my missus...

She is 83 and still sounds so strong eh... murmured my wifey afterward...

On the other side of the line, back in my kampong, my sis-in-law wondered why I am working on first of May...

But this is Japan, I replied...

*** *** ***

While all of Japan goes wild traveling here and there and getting caught up in traffic jams during this holiday season called 'golden week', we decided to stay home and tend the garden...

Just watching at the plants grow and listening to the birds chirping and the frog croaking is heavenly enough...

Hosted a large group of friends last Saturday...

Most of them are respected senior citizens in the local community...

My missus was initially worried about our 'spartan' facilities...

We have but a few chairs, not too much crockery, an insufficient number of glasses and cups...

But luckily, all worked out well...

What more, we did not have to prepare much food as they brought them all...

One even set up shop in our garden, much to our surprise, and began to fry tempura from fresh bamboo shoots and wild vegetables...

Everyone wooh-ed and waah-ed at the fragrance and then, the taste...

*** *** ***

On Sunday, we went to harvest seaweed from the shores...

Almost four big bags we harvested...

We (my missus, actually) have to boil them, and then dry them under the sun for safekeeping...

Had a meal full of freshly harvested seaweed for dinner...

Red miso soup with seaweed, vinegar-ed cucumber and seaweed, braised fresh bamboo shoots and seaweed...

The taste was, I'd say, ooh laa laa... excellento... sooo crunchy and absolutely delicious...