GARDENING N REFLECTING....

Looking around my (so-called) garden got me thinking...
About life in general.
How we strive for something and arrive at the result. Sometimes we achieve more ,yet sometimes less than what we expect , regardless of our effort, though  the hardworking ones( or more accurately, those who work smart and disciplined ) will usually reap more.
At other times though, we do not get it at all.
But there are times that we  get what we do not make any effort whatsoever towards it and yet it brings smiles to our lips when it appears. We feel blessed, provided that we are the kind of people who never take things for granted, however small it is...

It boils down to how we are actually totally dependable on Almighty Allah.
We make effort as it is required of us ( and make do'a , of course)...but the end result is wholly HIS.
And HE wants to see how grateful we are to His bounty.
Verily those who are grateful will surely get more...

As I am so much into gardening now, I visit many gardening blogs, gawking at the colourful healthy-looking plants people post on their blogs. And read their notes, learning one or two new things everyday. And comparing them  with my unkempt wild-looking garden. I envy those neat-looking gardens with awesome produce.

 But then, I found many interesting things as well...

I found in my backyard many plants that other people have been tending well and yet are not satisfied with the result. I made a small effort of planting them long ago and they grew so well that now, they have become weeds!! Valuable weeds though, I must add. Alhamdulillah. They are everywhere, providing us with colours, smell and nutrients...
They are almost always there even if the gardener cut them close to ground at an interval. Very resilient indeed. One of them is this sawtooth coriander.

Then, there are those that  crop up just like that...weeds too, but very beneficial. No effort made whatsoever. MasyaAllah...

Bunga telang for nasi kerabu,ginseng leaves for ulam n added into soup,pepperomia for the salad bowl and ulam raja,the all time favourite

In my February posting I wrote about the plants that I started growing. Alhamdulillah, they grew well and were pleasantly  and proudly presented in our meals ( especially those salad leaves), except for one. The spinach. They just refused to flourish as as  well as others and before I knew it, they have started bolting. We didnt get to eat any of them...
But surprise,surprise....
A couple of days ago, I took a close look at some greens that have been growing at the spot where the Pakcik Gardener burns the odds cutting that are too big to go into our compost heap. And, Subhanallah, I found them spinach!!! Healthy green perfect spinach...

As for the compost heap,in the past  we have had tomato cherries and eggplants from it!!They all just grow from the kitchen scraps that we threw in.

But then,I almost never have success with chilli. I fussed and fussed over them. Picking up the bugs that just love to nestle under their leaves with my own bare hands...much to the amazement of Abah! Feed them plants with fertilizer and my home-made enzyme...to no use.
As much as all of us loves chilli in our food, the chilli just doesnt love our soil I guess. Its okay though. Alhamdulillah 'ala kullihaal.

But I will keep trying.

The inedible ornamental plants also behave much the same...
I got these pretty butterfly plants everywhere, after buying one small pot of it in a nursery looong time ago.

 Oxalis triangularis being the proper name.

And this pretty torenia that keeps cropping up  everywhere...

disguising amongst the salad leaves...

This one never fail to delight me...and others too. Toksu, C.Lah and Tok are always happy to receive them and they are good as food as well as in flower bowls.

Just last week we used two fully blossomed ones to decorate fruit basket for K.Long Syida's engagement do.

There are many other exciting plants in our front and backyard that I couldnt possibly upload all..but if you take a walk in my garden, you are sure to feel blessed...at least I DO!!