Calamansi Watch Update and Other Garden Stuff

It’s been almost a fortnight since the post about my calamansi.

I’m delighted to report that things are progressing really well. All the flowers have dried up to reveal tiny green balls which are the beginnings of the calamansi fruit.

I counted over a dozen of these teeny weenie orbs. I think that’s a pretty good yield. In fact, it’s an excellent yield for a foot-tall shrub. That’s 1+ fruit for every inch.

Just to prove to you that I’m not entirely useless in the garden I’m posting photos of other delights available in my front yard. Yup, they’re not in the back.

Kaffir Lime

What is it with citrus and me? I’ve never been able to make my Kaffir lime fruit, ever! Fortunately though, Kaffir is more prized for its leaves than its fruit. Thai curries and soups just would not be the same without this essential ingredient. It adds a layer of flavour and freshness to the taste that no other herb can provide. A packet of about half a dozen of these leaves can set you back at least AUD$3 (approximately P120). My Kaffir shrub is worth hundreds (if ever I decide to harvest all the leaves).

Lemongrass (Tanglad)

Look at how luscious they are. No thanks to my gardening skills but more to the fact that they are grass. They need less looking after than other plants. Tanglad is central to chicken binakol. And it is the secret to my clean, light and fresh tasting tinola.

Chillies

My chillies seem to thrive without much intervention. I have had capsicums, birds’ eye and other strains of chillies in my yard before. The only one I’m left with now is the siling haba variety which we use mainly for sinigang. This tiny plant also blesses us with leaves which we use for gulay na mais (corn soup), monggo guisado (mung bean soup) and tinola.



Different times of the year you’ll find mint, parsley and tomatoes in my garden. But in the height of summer it is a bit too hot for them to flourish.