Garden in M'sia (Day 59)
Above: The sunny outlook of the garden.
Previously...
Updates from Whatsapp between Day 38 and Day 59
-My parents sheet mulched the small kitchen plot.
-They planted pumpkins (Cucurbita pepo), chilli (Capsicum annuum), peanuts (Arachis hypogaea), mung beans, black-eyed peas and the ornamental Japanese Rose (Portulaca grandiflora)
-Cool insects including a Nyctemera moth and a ladybug.
-Sunflower teasing the opening of its flower.
I can say that the garden is teeming with life right now. From the plants to the animals, I saw so much I could hardly contain my excitement. Everything about this trip was great (Well, except for the ant stings).
Most humans would grimace at the sight of bugs. But I'm bug boy. So naturally, when I was greeted by a couple of hoverflies (Family: Syrphidae) upon entry into the garden, I crept after them to get as good a photograph I could get of them. I was mesmorised for a good ten seconds by their hovering flight movements, that I did not even notice what a normal human would have noticed first in the garden: the yellow beauty in the main picture. It wasn't until my father exclaimed that the sunflower had finally bloomed that I diverted my attention to the stunning, gorgeous flower at the left edge of the garden; the plant that had been teasing me with its bud for weeks.
Above: One of the hoverflies that drew much of my attention.
Anyways, back to the hoverflies. Hoverflies are pollinators of flowers, and are attracted by yellow and white flowers mainly. Their larvae may be predaceous upon aphids and mealybugs. Their presence in their garden would indicate the presence of their prey, or plenty of flowers, or both. True enough, a number of bean plants (Vigna radiata and Vigna unguiculata) were heavily infested with black aphids (I presume legume aphids, Aphis fabae?). Oh yeah, and apparently the black-eyed peas (Vigna unguiculata) were thriving all along, they just weren't flowering on my last visit.
Above: An aphid-infested bean pod. Hopefully this will attract more predators like lacewings, ladybugs and hoverflies.
Aphids are agricultural pests that are often one of the prime targets of a farmer's chemical warfare. These persistent pests form a symbiotic relationship with many species of ants; the ants protect the aphids from natural predators in exchange for the sugary excrement, known as honeydew, secreted by the aphids as they feed on the host plants. Due to my inquisitiveness for the effectiveness of biological pest control, I decided to leave the aphids be, hoping that natural predators would prevent them from destroying all the plants.
While there were many insects in the garden that would be considered pests, such as aphids, mealybugs, fruit flies, a sharpshooter leafhopper (Bothrogonia sp.) and a couple of seed bugs (Alydidae, Riptortus sp.), there were tons of beneficial animals too. I spotted hoverflies and their larvae, jumping spiders (Salticidae), wolf spiders (Lycosidae), at least three Asian ant mantids (Odontomantis planiceps), countless millipedes (3 species, including Trigoniulus corallinus, Anoplodesmus saussurii and another Polydesmid millipede), butterflies, several long-legged flies (Dolichopodidae), a ladybug larva (likely from the tribe Scymnini) and a Scymnus ladybug. There were many beneficial animals in the rows of Hibiscus just outside of the garden, including a crab spider (Thomisidae), lynx spider (Oxyopidae), ladybug larvae (2 species, including the aforementioned Scymnini), woodlice and centipedes. I brought a centipede, some woodlice, and two ladybug larvae into the garden. The voracious ladybug larvae almost immediately feasted on the aphids when they were placed onto infested plants. Biological control at work. Let's hope they survive the regular mosquito fogging in the area.
Above: A juvenile Asian ant mantis (Odontomantis planiceps). It bears a striking resemblance to an ant.
Below: A hoverfly larva (Family: Syrphidae). Its plumpness is proof of its voracious appetite for the aphids around it.
Above: A hobby that would make typical humans faint. Here I am collecting some detritivores (woodlice and Trigoniulus millipedes) to add to the garden. They were flushed out of their home as the clayey soil surrounding the garden was flooded by the heavy rain.
Some cool videos of ladybug larvae eating aphids: Wolf in sheep's clothing and Voracious Coccinellidae.
Now, onto the plants. The beans, specifically the mung beans, were producing like mad. We harvested the dried pods of the mung beans and black-eyed peas, and removed the individual beans from their pods. It was a pretty tedious task, and it has made me appreciate how much time and effort is required to grow and especially harvest the beans.
Above and below: Our yield of beans. So much hard work for this amount of beans that would probably be worth less than a dollar in the market. Goes to show how much we have to value our food.
The soybean plants were no longer flowering, but they had plenty of unripe pods. A few peanut plants had sprouted, most notably in the kitchen plot. Ants were building nests on a few aphid-infested mung bean plants. Butterfly peas (Clitoria ternatea; a white one and a blue double-petalled one) were flowering, although their flowers appeared to not be fully opened. An okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) plant was spotted growing among the sea of beans, so we cut some of the beans around it that had began twining their vines around it. I spotted what appeared to be a seedling of the Indian snakeweed (Stachytarpheta jamaicensis), although I cannot be certain. Seedlings of tomato and chilli were also spotted throughout the plots. The pumpkin and Japanese Rose were also doing okay, back in the kitchen plot.
Above: A half-opened white butterfly pea flower (Clitoria ternatea). The blue ones are more commonly cultivated.
Below: Possibly an Indian snakeweed seedling (Stachytarpheta jamaicensis)?
Above: A peanut plant (Arachis hypogaea) growing in the kitchen plot.
Below: The lone survivor of okra or ladyfinger (Abelmoschus esculentus).
I do want to start planting some other plants in the main plot soon, such as a tree (most likely the drumstick tree, Moringa oleifera) and some groundcover plants like joyweed (Alternanthera sessilis), laksa leaf (Persicaria odorata), mock strawberry (Potentilla indica), gotu kola (Centella asiatica). I would also like to add some plants that I had previously seeded but had not grown, like sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) and sweet corn (Zea mays).
We also have plans to grow a row of potted plants along the windows, although we will have to get the proper potting mix for those plants. Perlite, in particular, would be very crucial for outdoor potted plants, as the constant rain might otherwise prove a huge problem. Some plants we have in mind for potting up include Indian borage (Plectranthus amboinicus) and wild pepper (Piper sarmentosum).
Let's end this entry with some pictures:
Above and below: Overview of main plot.
Above: Overview of main plot.
Below: Overview of kitchen plot.
Above: A long-legged fly (Family: Dolichopodidae). These common metallic beauties feed on smaller flying insects like fruit flies, making them beneficial to the garden. The cryptic larvae are thought to feed on decomposing organic matter.
Below: A flower of the black-eyed pea (Vigna unguiculata).
Above: A cool beetle (possibly Chrysomelidae, the leaf beetles?).
I hope to visit the garden again soon. Especially to monitor the aphid infestations, as I am very intrigued by biological control. And I am a bug freak.
Above: Sayonara. Until we meet again!