This is a short story of how I started my 1st plant (Sweet Potato leaves) on 31st floor of my accommodation in Singapore.
Sometime toward the
end of January 2020, I returned to Singapore to re-join as one of the team
members in a company where I worked to ease shortage of staff.
Not long after I joined the team, Covid 19 became a pandemic in Singapore and Circuit Breaker (others called it a Lock Down) were reinforced in April, so, none of us could fly out of any country freely. Because of that, many were informed to stay home while all non-essential workers were advised to work from home. Many non-essential shops, cinema, sport complex, school etc were closed. Only those categorized as essential were opened.
Many of us couldn’t
get used to the new rules to prevent spread. I tried my best to start a
hobby to keep myself occupied when I was not at work. I missed my garden and the
greens back in home town, Sabah. One day, a friend told me how she tried to
plant the sweet potatoes but unfortunately, they were not successful and died.😭
Friend's project that didn't work
The potatoes rotted and she didn’t have a chance to see any leave sprout.😥 I thought maybe I should also try to grow one myself to kill boredom. Such thoughts motivated me to plant something in a Singapore high rising floor. If you had read my story on how I started my garden, I had mentioned sweet potato as the 1st plant that motivated me into gardening.
Sweet potatoes leaves
belong to the Morning-Glory family. The leaves vary from medium to large and
are heart or maple like leaves shaped. The difference between sweet potato and potato
leave is that the all sweet potato leaves are edible while potato leaves are
toxic.
Sweet potato leave grow on a herbaceous perennial vine (mean they are climbing plants).
7.6.2020 - I began my project by using Japanese sweet potato to initiate “slips”. True enough, they didn’t work and the base rotted.
19.6.2020 - I tried again for
the 2nd time but this time using - Honey Indonesian sweet potato.
27.6.2020 - The slips are matured enough to be detached from the potatoes. They were left in a little container or glass of water.
4.7.2020
After 2-3 weeks, the roots appeared.
4.7.2020 - They are ready to be transferred into a pot of soil.
5.7.2020 - Day 2 after transplanting.
How to find out that the newly transplanted plants are adjusting in the soil? Take a look at the leaves. If the plants stood upright, with the leaves looking greener and shinier, it means the plant was doing well in the soil.
27.7.2020 - Pinch off the tip, to encourage more leaves to appear
29th July 2020
31st July 2020 - more side leaves appeared
"Stir fry sweet potato leave with garlic"
1 small bowl of freshly plucked leaves from the gardening pot... Washed
and drained
2 pip garlic smashed and minced
1 tabsp cooking oil
Saute the garlic till slight brown and fragnant
Add the leaves and stir-fry for 1 min in medium heat.
Add seasoning- salt pepper & soy sauce(according to your taste) and
stir fry another min.
Serve hot with steam rice
Mmm… it’s delicious. Taste better than the Kangkong.
11.8.2020- one day after the leaves were harvested for a dish.
Having a pot of sweet potato plant in our home does not only promote mental health for my mind but also as nutritional health benefits whereby consuming these leaves are proven by researcher to be nutritious to our body.
Because the leaves contain polyphenol which are important antioxidant that helps to reduce risk of chronic diseases.
References:
https://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce/Sweet_Potato_Leaves_11487.php
Benefits of sweet potato leaves
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