Sunday, March 13, 2011

A Hibiscus

It is a somber weekend as the world's attention is gripped by the unfortunate quake and tsunami devastations in Japan.

My heart and prayers go out to all those who are directly and indirectly affected.

I would like to dedicated this pretty hibiscus to all the victims - may all those whose lives were claimed be at peace, and may all next of kins and those who survived such harrowing experience be strong in moving on.





Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Growing Cherry Tomatoes

I'm currently hooked on growing cherry tomatoes after my recent success. It all started very simply and without any expectations at all. I had bought a pack of grape cherry tomatoes from the supermarket one day. While most went into the cooking pot, one got split opened and seeds scattered onto the soil in planting pots. A week later, some of the seeds sprouted and I thinned out by keeping 3-4 stronger baby plants. To my joy, the plants grew quite quickly. Within 2 months, they started to produce flowers. A short 2 weeks later, tiny cherry tomatoes had formed. They are so cute and what I like most is that they grow in bunches. I thought they looked just like green grapes before their ripening process. My experience from growing cherry tomatoes is quite different from growing the larger singly tomato (see my other tomato post) which took a longer time to grow, flower and produce fruit.

These are pictures from my 1st harvest of tomatoes that had ripened on the vine. My plants have grown really tall and I keep having to extend the height of the stake to support the plants. Think they've grown to more than 6 feet tall now. From one of these cuties, I repeated the process of scattering the seeds in other pots. They have sprouted and I can't wait to relive my experience in growing these wonderful cherry tomatoes.

I used some of these tomatoes to decorate my onion, bacon and parmesan cheese tart. Please hop over to my food blog for pictures and recipe of the tart.