It has been 3 weeks since I last posted about my dad’s garden, it’s time to updating it for my sisters.  I’m surprised to see that his Banana trees are doing exceptionally well this year, my second sister is thinking about planting some near her fishpond next year, this will be in front of the house.  I think this would be interesting to see, she might have to remove some overgrown bushes that were planted during the time when the house was built.

They’re almost as tall as the house, I had some help from the wind.

My dad’s Pumpkin patch that we thought it would not bear any fruit this year.

I guess I was wrong, you can spot this one right away.

He even has one climbing on the Maple tree.

The Pennywort that my sister Sue planted for my second sister look amazing.

The one in my garden is not doing too well, and I’m convinced that it’s because of her pond that she has here, might be that they like cool and moist area.  I’m thinking about putting a small pond for my Pennywort, perhaps it’d do better.

My dad’s Sugarcane looks very tempting, when I was little in Thailand where it is plentiful, I used to chew on it and it’s very sweet, but to do that now only take the risk of getting my hands cut off, this is off limit!

The Crapapples look yummy, this I can pick because he has plenty. I might try to do some Som Tum Crapapple next weekend, just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

Plenty of chili peppers.

Thai eggplant for next year seedlings.

And lastly, the lemongrass.

It has been a while since I updated my dad’s garden.  I took this picture on June 28th, got up extra early before sunrise.

Things have changed since then. My visit yesterday started out with chasing this butterfly, Lee did most of the chasing.  My dad and second sister never saw it but luckily I was able to capture it with my camera, butterfly is a very fascinating creature to me.

Crape myrtle was one of my mom’s favorite flower trees, we planted some at my dad’s house and they came out earlier than ours, I’ve 3 light pink Crape myrtle trees at my house.

Looks can be deceiving, this might appear to be very fruitful but no pumpkin thus far, my second sister thinks that she is loosing her ‘green thumb’ touch.

My dad string beans have reached the top of his metal trellis.

He still has plenty of cucumbers.

His Thai eggplants still have plenty of flowers, they’re a late bloomer this year because during July 4th of last year, there were plentiful.  Can you see?  Lee is still chasing the butterfly.

As you can see that my dad already harvested most of his corns, the white cloth is his marker for next year seedlings.

They’re the tiny ears of corn that I got seeds from my Hmong neighbor, it’s no more than 5 inches long and very sweet and sticky. My dad is thinking about planting more next year.

His peppers are doing well.

No fruit for his pomegranate tree this year, he thought it might need 2 trees to cross-pollinate so he planted another one next to it, maybe he will have a better luck next year.

Cherry tomatoes are so expensive in the grocery store, so it’s nice to have them in his own backyard.

The stalk of his lemongrass are not as big as mine.  He saves his from year to year and it’s very difficult for them to survive during the winter months, I on the other hand would buy mine from the Asian market and soak the tip of it in water until they take roots, then plant them in the ground.  This saves me a lot of hassle, something that my dad might consider doing next year.

This is definitely not your garden companion, but more like invader.

As we get older, we lost more and more people that we loved, and for some, the father that you loved dearly. I hope this special day, Father’s Day will bring you peace and closure, he was and will always be a part of you.

As for me, I’m blessed to have our dad with us, I think my outlook in life has changed since my mom passed away, life is more precious now than ever.  It’s no longer the quantity but it’s the quality of life that I appreciate more this day.

My dad lives a more simple life this day, he spends a lot of his time in his garden and enjoying the visits from his children and grandchildren.

Updated photos: A Father’s Day cookout.

My specialty, tum maak houng or spicy papaya salad.

Just to update my sisters on my dad’s garden, my oldest sister wouldn’t be needing to see these pictures since she is here visiting with us this weekend, she is looking at the real garden.

This is my second sister’s old fishpond, she has it sat in the back yard to raise her water lily and water Hyacinth since her fish seem to eat the roots of the water Hyacinth, so she rotates them around.  Sue planted some flowers for her, they are perennial flowers so that they’ll come up every year.

I took these pictures on Friday evening, the clouds are beautiful.

Not a lot left on the vines when I got there, my dad picked them earlier and said that I can take a picture of them from the wash bin.

I think some of the squashes are ready to be picked.

As for his Pomegranate tree, it has lots of flowers but they don’t look too promising as they start to fall off the tree, it might not bear any fruit this year.

As you can see her water Hyacinth, they look yellowish, not as healthy and glossy green like mine.

I was at my dad’s yesterday and he had a full house, and watching the little ones playing Hula-hoop made me think back of my childhood memories.

I’m not sure who had more fun, me watching them or them playing, the laughter is definitely in the air.  I think there must be a special technique in playing this, look at their hands positions and facial expressions.

While I was there, I took some pictures of my dad’s garden.  My dad looks real good for someone to be in his mid 70s, he was covering his Banana trees area with grass clippings.

My second sister’s Koi fish, talking about big mouth.

A little update on my dad’s garden for my sisters, things have grown since I last posted. My dad built a box area for my second sister’s Water Lily and Water Hyacinth, and we plan to plant some flowers and plants near the top border.

His string beans start to climb the branches.

Pickling cucumber plants.

The plants in the raised beds look a lot healthier comparing to last week.

More blooms on the Pomegranate tree.

The banana cove area looks a lot neater, I helped with the border edge over the weekend.

A little update on my dad’s garden for my sisters.  First, let’s start with my second sister’s water lily, it was in bloom on Saturday.  I missed the ones that bloomed the Sunday before, she called me to see if I wanted to go over and take some pictures but I wasn’t feeling well, I came down with a cold from being out in the rain on Saturday at the Dragon Boat Race.

Her fish pond.

Her fish would come up and open their mouths when it’s feeding time.  She has several huge Koi fish and had someone to offer her as much as $200 for them, but she turned it down.

My dad’s corn, they look very healthy.

String beans, he seems to have lots of bugs problem.  I’ve heard that Marigold flowers help keep these bugs away, and grew some in my flower raised bed, and I think my second sister is planting some in his garden area for him.

Pickling cucumbers.

Squash

His Thai eggplants are not doing well this year, I think it must be in the soil, he mulched the bottom of his raised beds this time.

The chili peppers are doing much better comparing to last week.

He planted quiet a bit of lemongrass.

His Pomegranate tree, hopefully it’ll bear fruit this year.

The crabapple is doing well this year, he went out and covered the tree during the last frost that we had.

It threatened to rain the whole time while I was out there taking pictures.

One of these baby banana plants is mine, but I’ve not moved it to my garden yet.

I visited my dad today to take pictures of his garden, it has been raining on and off, and luckily it stopped whilst I was taking these pictures.  I don’t think I ever posted a picture of Mimi, he is my second sister’s parakeet. Mimi previous owner was a Chinese boy by the name of Jeffrey, so Mimi can speak Chinese some.  Jeffrey’s mom gave Mimi to my sister over 15 years ago, so I’m thinking that Mimi might be around 18 years old.  I learned some of the Chinese’s phrases from Mimi, such as ‘Nee Haw Ma’ means how are you?, ‘Haw’ means fine, ‘Jow Sarn’ means good morning, so I often talk to him when I visit my dad and sister.

The conversation doesn’t get very far, but he can talk for hours, and if we were around and not talking to him, he would get very upset and yell at us. But today, Mimi is in a good mood, he even pose for me.

My dad’s garden is more of a traditional garden, and he is doing something different this year.  I think I might have some influenced, the last months or so, I bought over my library books about gardening and they’ve some neat ideas about boxed or raised bed garden that we both liked.

The plants in rows closest are corns, they’re the Asian kind that I got from my Hmong neighbor last year.

Last year, he didn’t plant them in rows, but this year, the Thai eggplants, chili peppers, lemon grass, onions, and cherry tomatoes are in rows, plus they’re planted in raised beds as well.

His string beans are planted at the same spot as last year, and he has a metal trellis for them to climb.

My dad likes something that would last a long, long time, so instead of a wooden A Frame, he has a short metal trellis for his pickling cucumber plants.

The white flowers that you’re seeing are parsley, they survived the winter months and come up every year.

My dad’s kefir lime, he kept it in the garage during the winter months, and luckily this year the leaves didn’t fall off like the previous years.

His pomegranate tree is doing well, hopefully it’ll bear some fruit this year.

Sugar canes

Banana trees that he kept in his garage during the winter months.

The inspiration of the swing set in my garden came from my dad’s garden, when my mom was still alive, that was a nice spot to sit and watch her work in her garden.

My sister’s water hyacinth survived the winter months, she kept hers in the crawlspace of the house, and she gave some to me today.  When I visited the nursery last weekend, I saw that they were selling it for $4.99 each.

Climbing flowers near my dad’s front porch.

Lots of photos, this is mainly for my sisters that live in NYC, they wanted to know what my dad is up to this day.

It has been raining some lately, that’s a good sign for gardeners since the ground will be softer and easier to dig, I know it’d be for me.  In the last week or so, it appears that we’ve pollen rain, it is especially bad for those with allergy, even though it doesn’t bother me much, but I could feel it in the air, and this spring rain helps wash away the pollen dust in the air.

The plan for my garden is coming along, I checked out more books from the library, this time some about the water garden, the librarian asked me if I want to join the pond society, I was a bit amused by her eagerness to tell me more about it.  I’ve a very small area to work with, and one of the vegetables that I like to grow is cucumber but was concerned about not being able to plant many since I have a small area.  My dad planted several last year, but it took up a large area and crawled everywhere, also the cucumbers lay on top of the dirt and grass, this can absorb all kinds of disease from the ground, this was one of my main concern.

One of the books that I checked out was ‘Vegetable Gardening with Derek Fell’ and I thought this is a unique way of growing cucumbers or squash or anything that can climb.  Below is a picture of A wooden, or A-frame trellis which helps support disease resistant cucumbers.  This is ideal for a small garden, it seems easy enough that I can do this myself.

Photo from 'Vegetable Gardening with Derek Fell' book

As for the string beans, my dad’s trellis works well for him, but his is made out of a metal frame.

I’m thinking of doing something similar, but would use wood instead, and found a nice picture of trellises that support vegetables such as string (or pole) beans, tall peas, and even cucumbers.  These vegetables can climb up by themselves, you don’t have to assist them by tying them to the pole or anything like that, and growing plants up would allow me to make the most of my tiny area.

Photo from 'Vegetable Gardening with Derek Fell' book

The next week or so will be a lot of ground work for me, my younger sister and dad are giving me some of their perennial plants, this will save me a lot of money since I don’t have to buy, and it’s great that they come up every year.

• Return to Innocence by Enigma

You’d think that some of these photos were taken during the summer months, but it was yesterday, certain things are still green in the autumn.  I’ve been chasing butterflies all summer long, finally caught up with one.

Then it took off.  My dad’s banana trees are tall, but no bananas this year, and no kidding, take a look for yourself.

Sugar canes and lemongrass

This image above looks very familiar to me, made me think of the plain of jars in Laos, which I’ve never seen in person, but only in photos.

Pain of Jars photo by Mart.shannon

According to Wikipedia, The Plain of Jars is a large group of historic cultural sites in Laos containing thousands of stone jars, which lie scattered throughout the Xieng Khouang plain in the Lao Highlands at the northern end of the Annamese Cordillera, the principal mountain range of Indochina.

Archaeologists believe that the jars were used 1,500–2,000 years ago, by an ancient Mon-Khmer race whose culture is now totally unknown. Most of the excavated material has been dated to around 500 BC–800 AD. Anthropologists and archeologists have theorized that the jars may have been used as funeral urns or perhaps storage for food.

Lao stories and legends claim that there was a race of giants who once inhabited the area. Local legend tells of an ancient king called Khun Cheung, who fought a long, victorious battle against his enemy. He supposedly created the jars to brew and store huge amounts of Lao lao rice wine to celebrate his victory.

The jars lie in clusters. The largest one near the town of Phonsavan, known as Site 1, contains over 250 jars of varying sizes.

…and finally, the color of autumn, absolutely beautiful.

This post is for EVERYONE , my dad’s garden is at its prime, and I’m thinking that this might be my last post on this year’s garden. The string beans are a success; he has them in two areas, one at the garden area, and another by the deck. My dad ties white clothes on the beans that he is saving for next year’s planting, otherwise we would pick them first because they are ones of the best-looking beans.

Updated 7/26/2008: I updated more photos at the bottom of this post on my section of garden and fishpond, water garden.

Another row of string beans by the deck.

Below photos are from my garden/backyard: My string beans are not doing too bad this year, I’m thinking about moving the planting area to a different part of the yard next year.

Updated 7/26/2008: I finally learned how to use the manual mode on my camera, a tip from Digital Photography School (DPS,) the photo of the string beans below is taken in a manual mode, it was impossible for me to take with auto focus because the strands of string beans are too thin, making it impossible to focus, and it kept wanting to focus on the pepper bush in the background. DPS is a place I hang out a lot this day.

The Ginkgo tree is a lot taller this year.

and yes, lots of “Chi” energy from this puppy.

Updated 7/26/2008: This is what is called a water garden, and in comparison to last year, I think this year fishpond is very healthy, as you can see the beautiful floating water plants that’s practically covered the surface of the pond; a good water quality is the foundation of life in my fishpond, and aquatic plants help to keep my fishpond in balance by removing nutrients away from the green algae, but water pump is still needed to clean and keep the water moving, circulating oxygen enriched water to keep fish and pond filter bacterial alive, the filter makes sure the water remains clean and healthy for the fishpond, also you certainly don’t want this to be a breeding ground for mosquitoes. So far, I have had 2 sets of babies Koi fish, the first set didn’t make it, but this time, it seems like they’re growing, I’ve spotted 2 baby Koi fish, one orange, and one black.

This post is for my oldest sister. It has been raining a lot lately, but mostly passing storms that bring welcoming rain to Dad’s garden, see his garden now in comparison to my last post. One of the reasons that Dad’s garden is looking very good is because his land used to be a horse farm. The owner of this farm sold part of the plot, and now it’s a subdivision, but part of the horse farm is still there, right in front of Dad’s house. I’m very fortunate today to see the horses outside; one walked right up to me and strikes a post.

My water plants look real healthy, and other vegetables are coming along, I grew my a bit late.

My younger sister redone her fish pond, and their garden is looking real good.

I came from a large family, 7 sisters total and 6 are here, some from NYC visiting, but one couldn’t make it. It’s kind of sad really, I was shocked to hear that last weekend, whilst my brother in-law was checking his SUV, changing the brake pad, and everything, then a freak accident happened. His driveway sits on a slope, and he must have worked on his car at the very spot for over 10 years, his hobby is fixing car but not a mechanic by trade, and after he changed his brake pad, put his car on park, but forgot about the hand brake and/or emergency brake, then he removed the ramps, the car started to roll towards him and pinned him to the garage of his town home, his neighbors came out, almost 10 men couldn’t push the SUV up his driveway, then there was a guy that was visiting his sick aunt, he got in the car and drove forward and freed my brother in-law, needless to say, he has several fractured ribs, and luckily that it was not life threatening, and when I heard of his accident, I thought of many out there that might have done something similar, an accident just waiting to happen, please be careful out there.

So they are not here visiting with us, but my dad still has a full house, and lots of food, but don’t worry, we didn’t eat all in one meal.

This potbelly pig belongs to my dad’s neighbor, good thing that we didn’t run out of food, and beyond the fence are horses, it’s good to know.

My dad’s garden is not producing vegetable fast enough, I’m fortunate to get photos of his string beans, trust me, it was gone as soon as I finish taking the pictures. It’s nice to have a family get together, you can call it a family reunion.

This post is for my oldest sister. This is my last post before you’ll finally get to see Dad’s garden next week; everything is looking very good, as always. I think dad takes good care of his garden, everything is blooming or bearing fruits comparing to 10 days ago.

My second sister has 2 water lilies in bloom, one in pink, which she has not seen this one herself because it only blooms at noontime, and she was at work.

I also have one in my pond that is real pretty.

The rest of Dad’s garden,

Crabapples

This post is for my oldest sister. Dad’s garden is looking very good, comparing to last week, this week many of his vegetables are in bloom, and some even bear fruits or should it be called vegetables.

Second sister child proof her fishpond, in preparing for the little nieces coming for July 4th week.

Little niece, she loves posing for photos, we put her to work, she picked sunflower seeds for grandpa.

Today is a special day, father’s day, so we had a get together, as always there was plenty of food.

Dad asked me to make spring roll this time.

It was real nice, but I kind of miss mom for not being here, one of dad’s neighbors’ tree, the Mimosa tree made me think of her, she loved this tree because it reminded her of ‘Tun Ga Tin’.

Mimosa Tree Flower photo by Jim AR at Flickr