Another link

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/longan.html

This link tells us almost everything about longan, from history to nutrition facts. Have a look!

A link about longan.....

http://www.freshmark.com.my/about.htm
The above link is a company website called the Fresh Mark, located in Kedah. The main crops are longan and rose apple. According to the website, their longan trees bloom in May/June and harvest in Oct/Dec every year. This is slightly different from here. There are two longan trees in my Taman and they both just over the harvesting period. If the time taken from blooming to harvesting is 5 months, that means my longan tree started blooming in Feb 2010. Let's wait and see if I can see my longan flowers in 7 months time.

One longan fruit weighs 17.8 gram

I brought my longan fruit to my laboratory today just to check the weight of the fruit and it weighs 17.8 gram. That means 56 fruits make 1 kilogram. My longan tree has had 15 fruits in total when I bought it or equivalent to 267 gram, slightly more than a quarter of kilogram. I will keep a record and see how much I can get for the next session.

Yet Another 5 Plants

I must be crazy that I bought additional 5 plants making the total of tree within my house compound 9. This time, it was two papaya (2'), one mango (3'), one mandarin (1.5') and one lemon (1.5') that came home with me. I bought them because they are cheap (RM5 per plant) and they are from a reliable source: UPM Serdang. Having bought the plants, I spent RM 20 on soil and RM 60 for 2 big pots. One big pot was planted with the mango tree but the other one is vacant. One of the papaya was planted at the back (the setback) of my house. The lemon was planted in a medium pot that I bought from Tesco sometime ago. The mandarin was in a medium big pot that I obtained from a closed down factory FOC.

New Plants

Two weeks ago, I bought three small plants from the same supplier. The plants are two rosemary and a basil. They are still in the pots they came with and I have not used any of them for cooking just yet. I am now planning for a medium tree to be planted just outside my windows in order to block the sunshine from entering my house during the first half of a day.

My Longan Fruits are ready!

I was amazed at how quickly my longan fruits ripened. I am also amazed by the taste of the longan fruits; the taste of freshness, natural and satisfaction. It was slightly more than a month since I planted the longan tree or about a week after my parent came to my house. My mum was right: the best way to tell whether the longan fruits are ready is by smell. Till date, we have had 4 fruits. There are more to come! More importantly, my son loves the it!

My longan fruits are almost ready!

Went to sniff my longan fruits this morning before work and to my surprise I can smell the fragrant of longan! Really excited!

My Parent's Visit

My parent came to my house last weekend. My brother took them here using his newly bought used car; a Honda ???. I can't remember the model of his car as it is not in Malaysia market instead, it was an import from Japan. Even the on board nevigator displays Japan's map!

Back to my parent's visit. My mum was interested in my little garden. I showed her my 4 fruit trees: mango, ciku, guava and longan. Apparently my longan tree is the same species my brother is having in his garden. I told my mum I have no idea whether the longan fruits are ready to eat since they are quite big. My mum said, the best way to tell whether the longan fruits are ready or not is by using our nose. Yes, our nose! Just sniff the fruits, if smell the longan fragrant, they are ready. Simple!