Container Gardening - Herbs, Chili, Watercress (Update)

Remember towards the end of last summer, I gave a little update on our vegetables, fruits, and herbs? It has been a year (plus a month)! We are now in fall/autumn.

Some plants e.g. Chinese watercress survived through last winter while others e.g. chili, basil did not.

However, in every gardening project, no matter how minuscule, we learn and improve - from choosing the correct vegetables, herbs and fruits to grow; to picking the platform to grow them e.g. raised bed and container gardening, and especially with California drought conditions - how to create a water-smart garden.


Chinese watercress 西洋菜
August last year, we planted Chinese watercress from rooting store-bought Chinese watercress in the City-Picker container (see photo) and it was a success. We have already had at least five harvest from last August batch. With fresh home-grown watercress, I usually cook them in soups e.g. Chinese Watercress Soup and rice congee/porridge.

Chinese Watercress
The Thai Dragon Chili and Thai (Bird's Eye) Chili, unfortunately, did not make it through last winter due to the chilling temperatures. Although they were kept in the greenhouse during winter, the pots/containers were placed directly on the ground during winter and the roots probably could not survive the low soil temperatures (conduction from the cold ground to the soil in the pot) during winter.

The Serrano Chili somehow got lucky and survived! Luckily, before winter last year, all the chili were put to good use either through pickling (Pickled Chili - pairs well with Stir-Fry Noodles) or making chili sauce (Garlic Chili Sauce - perfect condiment with homemade chicken rice).

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Container Gardening - Chinese Watercress 种植西洋菜

With spider mites "visiting" every summer and a planter-bed in a part-shade location, we did not have much good success in growing leafy vegetables such as kale and Swiss chard. Most importantly, how much we grew could not satisfy our rate of consumption.

Top: Aug 2014; Bottom; Feb 2015, in the City-Picker

Just last fall/autumn, we found this shade-tolerant vegetable that has been flourishing beyond our expectations. August last year, we planted Chinese watercress by rooting some store-bought Chinese watercress in the City-Picker container and it was a success. We have already had at least five harvest from last August batch!

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Container Gardening - Herbs, Chili, Watercress

At almost the same time August last year, there was a variety of tomato plants and vegetables e.g. kale and Swiss chard growing in our backyard. After a year, some minor changes have taken place and this is the current garden update.

Due to the lack of full sun for long duration especially at the raised bed location, we have cut down on the growing of leafy green vegetables this year, and shifted our growing efforts to container gardening: fruits such as blueberries and pomegranates, vegetable/fruits e.g. watercress, different types of chili, and herbs such as basil, rosemary and thyme.

Herbs - basil, rosemary, thyme

These basil, rosemary, thyme are not grown from seeds, but bought as potted herbs from the nursery. They have survived and flourished. Herbs such as basil and rosemary have also been propagated successfully via stem cuttings.

For all of our chili plants, we have caged them as what you would do to a tomato plant, and have netted around the cage to prevent birds from eating the chili. The use of a reflective pinwheel also works to minimize pests and to prevent birds from eating the chili.

Thai Dragon Chili - bought as a plant from the nursery without fruits. It is now fruiting nicely and some chili have turned red with time.

Dragon Chili

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Edible Raised Beds and Container Gardening, by first-time novice gardeners

Seriously? No major new inspirations from this kitchen for the past three to four months? When winter lingered with minimal natural day-light, there was no motivation to take any food photo-shoots. And just when spring came by and said hello, I found myself occupied with so many other "things" that I lost touch with my own cooking quite a bit. Well I still cook but I cook the usual, the routine, everyday dishes, thus not much new photo-shoots in that sense. Then comes summertime when we just want to spend more time outdoors, so not much time for cooking (new dishes). EXCUSES.

What "things" was I busy with? Starting up our own backyard BBQ for the first time, inviting friends over for backyard BBQ (which meant I had to go out of my comfort zone to prepare food for more than a-party-of-two), a short visit to Singapore in late May/early June, and most important of all, GARDENING which kick-started when first signs of spring set in during February/March.

Four varieties of tomato (Sun Sugar, Yellow Pear, Sweet 100, Red Cherry) planted in March

Now we are already in August (I cannot believe it is already August, and just a few more months to end of this year!), and these are some updates that I can share. Not a totally successful backyard garden; however we do have our own harvest of vegetables!

Red Russian Kale harvest

In these four months, we have had minor setbacks in the gardening experience but in the process, we also learn and came up with budget-friendly "solutions" to tackle those issues. For example:

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