I have a friend here who also keeps a vegetable garden; sometimes I ask for tips from them on what plants are easiest to grow. My potatoes will be ready for harvest soon, and I have decided to uproot the broccoli which made a huge comeback and flowered no end but at the same time the worms arrived too! So I will have a bare patch ready for planting in this late summer / autumn time.

They suggested snow peas which, apparently, is quite easy to grow too. And I saw their snow peas flowering and bearing pods! It was quite an inspiring sight. And so, beating the winter season, I decided to buy snow peas seeds and planted these in the middle of February.
They looked like this a couple of weeks later:
And they have started developing tendrils to latch on to anything that will help them climb. I created a trellis using some twine and recycled a plastic frame for the snow peas to ascend.
I took these photos yesterday. I hope they are able to grow fast enough before winter time. I placed a couple of seeds in a bucket as well to place in the sun room just in case.
I still have lots of snow peas seeds left so if you are in my neighborhood I will gladly give you some!

Technorati tags: gardening

And so Jo-Lo continues the gaming legacy in our family as we bought a Nintendo Wii last weekend. The Wii is quite a popular console with families here, as we know of three who have one at home. We enjoy playing the Wii so much whenever we visit that I guess it was just a matter of time before we had one. Plus, the attraction of being able to play it as a family is a big plus.

Jo-Lo discovering his talent at bowling

This reminds me of that happy time when I was a kid as well and we had our first ever gaming console, a Nintendo with the game cartridge. We finished Mario World, discovered the secret warp stages, played on, discovered unlimited lives, played some more. We played Contra and learned Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right Select Start, we stayed til late at night playing Tetris and Battle City, our Nanay and Auntie even join in a lot of the games.

I went through a number of gaming consoles and handhelds in my time and I immensely enjoyed being a gamer. Heck, I still enjoy it even now! And I'm sure Jo-Lo will be around to join me in many games to come.

Now, to check out a really good price for Super Mario World Wii...


Technorati tags: gaming

I actually have a blogger's block right now. Too early in the year I know but if you have two projects going head-to-head at the start of the year, you'll understand how my brain would just stop functioning after a day's work. But while taking a ride in the bus (my way of contributing to reducing my carbon footprint) I was sending a text message through and was reminded of the other phones I've had in the past.

It is not uncommon in the Philippines to have at least two mobile phones. In my heyday, I had three: an office-issued phone (Sony Ericsson P800), a Nokia N-gage, and a Siemens S35i. But, through the twist of fate, I could not seem to hold on to a phone for over 2 years. Something always happens to it. It would either get lost in a cab, or I would lose it to a thief, or I would just plain lose it. So having my iPhone which I got last December of 2007 through my tol pare Harry is indeed a world record. And before, I have always kept abreast of the latest phone developments in Nokia (the Philippines being a text-savvy country and it mattered to have the latest phone model as status symbol), but here in New Zealand it doesn't matter as much, so at least I have saved up money in keeping up with the Joneses.

But yeah, that thought just popped up in my mind as I was texting my wife awhile ago that I will be late because of work. At least, some things haven't changed.

Who are the Joneses, anyway?

Technorati tags: musing

I borrowed this book entitled ReadyMade. I'm not really a DIY guy but the way the book was put together was cool and catchy so I decided to give it a try.

It was a book after my heart after all, with tips and tricks for reusing and recycling stuff. And not only does it challenge you to make new stuff out of things around you, it also aims to educate the reader with how things get produced. Take paper, for example. In a precise, easy to understand timeline, the process for making paper is discussed in easily digestible chunks, and along the way we also learn why, aside from the destruction of rainforests, the process of bleaching also produces harmful environmental after-effects.

For this blog post I decided to write about the book and Googled the title. And instead of just the book, I discovered this amazing website that expands way beyond what the book has to offer. Suddenly I found something exciting on the web again! I have just become their fan on Facebook, and will register as a member as soon as I finish this post.... which is right now!

Technorati tags: DIY

So it is indeed true what they say about potatoes: it's so easy to grow! About a month after I planted my seed potatoes, look how big they have grown! Watering the plants everyday has really paid off.

And a couple more weeks later, see how robust they have grown (see below). Some have even started to flower. I read that when the plant flowers, you can already harvest the potatoes. These are called "new potatoes", with the skin being thinner than the older potatoes. As such, new potatoes are usually cooked with the skin on, and is great for boiling and roasting.

There's Jo-Lo helping out with the watering chore courtesy of a water gun :-)

Of course, the potatoes would be a lot smaller too. In my case, I would like to have bigger potatoes so I will let these reach the mature stage. Friends have asked how one knows if the potatoes are ready for harvest: dig it up every now and then? Nope! When the plant itself starts yellowing and the plant withers is the time to harvest. Some people even recommend letting the plant completely die off. Essentially at this stage the skin has toughened up and so the potato will be less susceptible to disease. In like manner, new potatoes will have to be cooked at the earliest possible time because its skin does little protection.

My plants look very healthy, and I sure am excited to harvest the potatoes, hopefully soon!

Technorati tags: gardening