My Lottie/Garden

21 May '06 11:58 am

Well, it's been rainey and gray lately and not much to tell about in terms of garden development. One of the few things blooming at the moment is the Clematis which has grown like crazy since being pruned right back hard last year. It has almost covered the little bird house.
Oh...Jaqueline: a question. When I was last in Malaysia I had what was called "ice lemon tea". The first one that I ever had was in the KL airport. I enjoyed it so much, I drank it the entire time that I was in your country. We can get tropical fruits here in Nederland, and I would like to ask you which jeruk you use to make this tea. There are several types, I realise, but the specific one used for the ice lemon tea had a different taste to all the rest. I believe the type of limes are very small and perfectly round...but I just can't recall the name and neglected writing it down in my journal. Sorry to trouble you about this.

21 May '06 1:10 pm

Yes ,it would be nice if the details of this drink could be shared.I have about 10 varieties of citrus trees ,all coming into fruit now. Some friends from Canada recently spent several hours waiting in the airport at Kuala Lumpur .Being a great knitter ,she had brought her latest project with her to work on - - an elaborate shawl in fine wool .Many of the other passengers,being from hot climates ,had never seen knitting before ,and soon a large crowd had gathered around her .In spite of the obvious language barrier ,there was much excitement and socialising all round !
Dixie.

21 May '06 1:15 pm

Cor, Dixie...what a neat story! heh heh...I can just imagine it.

23 May '06 9:36 pm

Yes, Sjoerd! - this is truly a very refreshing and quenching drink! You just need to squeeze some lime juice into a glass of tea with ice-cubes and you’ll get a lovely cup of tangy, invigorating tea. Add a little more sugar to the tea if it’s too tangy for your liking. The more commonly used lime is 'Limau kasturi' (Citrus madurensis) as it's cheaper, but the other better choice lime I think, is the 'Limau nipis' (Citrus aurantifolia). Hope I got the botanical names in parentheses correct, which I googled searched for your convenience.

Wish you success!! Smile

24 May '06 1:11 pm

Thanks for helping with the limes...I'm pretty certain the what I was thinking of was what I knew as jeruk nipis -- you call it limau nipis...perhaps it's the difference in the two languages, bahasa Indonesia and bahasa Malaysia. I don't know, but it sounds right. I appreciate your trouble very much, I'll have a look around for it now, with summer coming on.[/i]

24 May '06 3:28 pm

specially for you, Sjoerd!...as gratitude for all your postings/sharings to this forum, which I've enjoyed tremendously!

Wink

I got my beloved hubby to buy these 'Limau Kasturi' from the market yesterday morning and photographed last night to present today for your viewing pleasure! This particular lime juice is a great favourite of most Malaysians for its many usages. It's often used to impart a sour tangy taste and added flavour to refreshing beverages, fish/meat dishes, salads, sambal, soups, noodles, cakes, etc. It can be easily home-grown in pots or on the ground.

In fact, my hubby and children prefer this 'limau kasturi' than the 'limau nipis' to be added to the ice-lemon tea, though the choice of taste is really subjective!

Google images of the limau nipis can be found here http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/72748/

Dixie: Just to let you know that the ice lemon tea is without milk, if you hadn't known this already.

24 May '06 10:22 pm

My goodness,Jaqueline! You have really outdone yourself this time, haven't you?
How does one thank you for this trouble that you have gone to. I appreciate it so much...and the fotos of the Limau kasturi really made my mouth wayer...literally. I felt the little glands in my cheeks contract! It took me right back, I can still recall the flavour. I once ate one of these Limaus by itsself. It was sour allright, but to imprint the flavour and smell...it worked! What a delightful foto indeed.
My wife and I travelled all over Malaysia and to a couple of islands in a period of 3, or as it four months...so we've had ice lemon tea throughout. Of course the flavour of this drink varied from place to place. We've had it in every imaginable setting from decent restaurants to small stands in the kampungs(kampong?) Such a delight. When we travelled we did so on a shoestring and got to see Malaysia as most tourists never do...on a much more personal level with the people there. I called ourselves "travellers" then, as opposed to "tourists",...for us there was a distinct difference.
We bought all our food in the markets and made it ourselves when possible. and at other times we just ate in the simplest of places to enjoy and experience Malaysian cooking in it's basic form, I guess you'd say. It was so much fun buying in the marketplaces...haggling for prices and making choices. Making choices...well, Jaqueline, The choices of fruit there is absolutely astounding...and I think that I've tried them all. Wink

The choices of banana sorts alone is numerous. I had two favourites- the small, sweet yellow ones and the "reddidh" ones. de-LISH! As you have gathered, I LURVE fruit.
Well, I see that I am beginning to ramble again, so I shall draw this to a close before I start re-living the entire trip. heh heh heh...
Thank you again, so much!

25 May '06 6:02 pm

Thanks Sjoerd, I’m thrilled that you’re delighted with the picture! It was truly my pleasure really, no trouble at all! I love doing things that interest me. Frankly, I myself was surprised with the clarity of those limes and it also triggered in my mouth the same reactions as yours when I had its image downloaded into my office pc yesterday! And, lucky me....my ‘better half’ (a retiree who’d soon have me ‘breathing down his neck’ 24 hrs…haha!...I’d be retiring in less than a week!) surprised me with a glass of lovely refreshing lime drink made from those photographed limes when I returned home last evening. Wink

Wow...3 to 4 months in Malaysia! From your sweet ‘ramblings’, I gather you and spouse had a wonderful stay here. It’s usually lovely to read travellers/tourists’ perspective, whether positive or negative about one’s country, whose citizens can take it for granted!! Yes, our country can offer a very pleasurable and inexpensive holiday if one is not choosy with accommodation and food! Cities and towns are well developed with highways and byways and well connected by road/rail to smaller towns/kampongs, accommodation ranges from the very posh to the simple basics, and food...glorious food of all kinds (local/global) can be found practically everywhere! Our islands are a must to experience, esp. along the east coast.
Hmm…wondering whether you’ve tried our durians, the king of fruits (locally named)??... many tourists are turned off with its pungent scent!! I love…them!! Rolling Eyes

Oops...off topic again...leading you away from your garden diary with my ramblings!! My apology!

25 May '06 10:14 pm

Well Jaqueline, all you say about Malaysia is true...we thoroughly enjoyed our travels there. As a traveller, one can arrange one's own transportation, and that suited us just fine. This goes for sleeping accomodations and everything else. It is fun to do it yourself and gives quite a bit more freedom.
As for the durian: yes, we have eaten it. It is indeed tastey, but the flavour isn't at all like the odor...which defies description. Ha ha ha. In terms of pungence, suffice to say that if you are staying in a seven storey hotel and they are cutting it open in the kitchens down on the ground floor-- it is possible to smell it at the heights of your room. chuckle. For me, the fragrance is something that I had to consciously "block-out" in order to eat the fruit. Durian is all part and parcel of the experience in the region.
So, today it is raining here again...or should I say "still" raining. Come what may; rain or shine, we must go out to the lottie to water the veggies in the greenhouse.
There is still lots and lots to clean and plant...but this weather is just not cutting us any slack. This year, I am very far behind with everything, and if all the inclimate weather isn't enough, my wife discovered that the plums have a worm infestation in most of the fruits Sad

.
Ok then... I shall take the camera with me today and check the blackbird family out, The young are scheduled to leave the nest today, so hopefully I will be able to make more fotos to add to the blackbird series on my website. Fingers crossed.

28 May '06 12:07 pm

Well, it just won't stop raining. Be that as it may, we had to go to the lottie to water plants in the greenhouse and set up the bean poles for the "Rakkers". There was quite a bit of weeding that needed to be done and a bit more planting as well. We were able to accomplish all this in spite of the intermittant showers.

The carrots and parsnips were weeded and thinned-out...and some additional parsnips were planted today, not exactly under ideal conditions, but them we are running out of time now.

We have clubroot in the soil on our plot, so the growing of brassicas is out...more or less. We have devised an elaborate system of dealing with this problem. basically, it consists of seeding the broccoli at home, and repotting the plantlets on until they are in fairly large pots. We let them stay in these pots until the root ball is quite well developed (we use EM to assist us in this--this year for the first time).

We keep the potted plants under a "gauze" on top of the bed that they will be planted into.When they have grown up and are touching the top of the gauze, we dig an over-sized hole and fill it with comercially bagged garden soil. The broccolis are then planted in this. It seems to work for us and we get large broccoli heads.

One thing that I have had trouble with have been the so-called "Oriental Poppy", it's a permanent one. I have always wanted a red one. I have twice bought plantlets labled as "Red", but they were orange. I have tried using seeds from others, but they didn't germinate Confused

. Last year I bought two at a Geranium show and this year...at last they produce RED FLOWERS. and they are huge...see the foto. I am really chuffed, to say the least.

I have set out some flowers along the front if the fenced-in veggie plot. Up against the fence a special sort of primrose then in front of that some short lavateras with big blooms and in front of them will be Afrikaantjes. All through this bed I have sprinkled poppy seeds..."black" ones, "flag of Denmark" and some lavender-coloured ones.

I have plants Mirabilis plantlets over the whole flower garden...hoping to have their fragrance caught by whichever wind prevails.

I have included some fotos of the developing appearance of the flower garden. Well...enough talk...it's time for action! Take a look:

My Lottie/Garden

Kuala Lumpur

Ice Lemon Tea

Picture of Lime........

Update - 26 May 2006