NIMBY - N = IMBY
July 15th, 2006 | by Loretta |Ever since we had a backyard, my dad has been the greenthumb in the family and each summer, the small plots of soil are filled with healthy eats. In the past we’ve had chili peppers, strawberrys, some Chinese gourds, bitter melon, winter melon, tomatos, kidney beans, string beans, peppermint, basil, Chinese basil and peaches just to name a few.
Mom said to take a few pictures so we can show a few family friends tomorrow. I felt thrilled, as this was my first “assignment” to take still life photography for my parents. Finally, all this practice with food would be put into use.
With all that green, it’s like finding Waldo. I know. And I’m sorry, but it’s hard to take pictures in strong sunlight, because the display screen is difficult to see, if it can be seen at all. (In retrospect, I should have just used the view finder.) But in the lower left hand corner is a bitter gourd or bitter melon (names are interchangeable.) Yes, it’s actually quite bitter, but very good for you. I recently read it’s especially good for people who have diabetes, because it does something like mimic insulin? Not sure on this.
I love the palmate leaves…which my parents decided to try to make a tea/soup out of to go with dinner tonight. Let me tell you, bitter has never tasted so bitter.
We have other plants that grow like the bitter melon. I don’t know what they’re called in English, but I’ll dub them bottle melons or bottle gourds for now. They’re shaped like a traditional Chinese bottle. My dad tells me they grow upwards first, and when they get heavier, they hang from the vines. Both bottle and bitter melons grow on very tender, green vines with big simple, lobed leaves.
It’s a little bottom-heavy. (Must have an office desk job.) Essentially, it’s still pretty much hanging in the air facing up.
When they get a little more mature, they’ll hang down more. What a figure.
We also have a small tree of Korean/Asian pears. My dad pointed to where some were, and I didn’t catch him as I was busy fiddling with my camera.
It didn’t take long for me to realize there were pears pretty much everywhere on the treet. They’re very small right now and would fit in the loops of your fingers if you did an OK sign.
We were lucky this year, I think. Squirrels usually attack the tree and eat the fruits. Maybe they look like unripe nuts? I don’t know. Oh and if you’re wondering where we got such a great tree (it’s about 6′ tall now!) my dad brought it home from Seattle years and years ago. I think since then, he might have used grafting as a means of vegetative propagation by attaching a branch to an older, smaller apple tree we once had.
Wait, there’s more!
We have a variety of mints. I don’t know what the purple-leafed one is called, but the other is Chinese basil…maybe. The leaves are smaller than European/sweet basil, fo’ sho’.
The little plants that you see in the upper right hand corner of this picture are chili pepper plants. Hooray! (They had trouble growing last year. But I guess they’re on the rebound. 
)
We have a taro plant. I think there was one time we decided to take a chunk of taro and do hydroponics using a baking dish, gravel and water.
The leaves kinda look like elephant ear lobes. I’ve heard that every part of the taro plant–leaves, stems, roots– can be eaten. How utilitarian!
Finally, I could not resist taking a picture of one of my dad’s Jade plants. He has so many (from just replanting parts of one or two, I believe) that I’ve lost count of how many there are.
And that completes the mini tour of what’s In My BackYard.