A Warrior in my garden

Today is ecstatic Friday. The best Friday in months I'm sure, for today I found warriors in my garden.

The LADYBUG or LADYBIRD is an ally to have if you love your garden. Their main diet is aphids, the sap-sucking monsters that destroy all the hard work one puts in to cultivating a beautiful garden.

Aphids are tiny insects (1/32 to 1/8 of an inch) that have piercing/sucking mouth parts. They infest tender new foliage on both annual and permanent plants, usually in spring or early summer. Aphids ingest the fluids from tender leaf or stem tissue of the plant, robbing it of nutrients. Aphids also spread disease by moving from one plant to another. Even without resorting to chemical methods, they're not difficult to get rid of.

Because I only spray home-grown "chili-padi" enzyme solution on all my plants to keep the baddies away, the Ladybugs survive and complement the defense artillery around the garden. Is it possible they thrive on the "chili-padi" enzyme, who knows? Perhaps they find an affiliation in the red element of the enzyme. I'm hoping that this could be a Ladybug nest.


I know for a fact that almost all my plants are now thriving from this enzyme. The usual recipe for garbage enzyme applies. For example I used 600g red chili-padi + 200g brown sugar + 1 liter water. Roughly blend the chili-padi in the sugar solution. Shake it all up in a tight lid jar, and ferment in a cool dark place for 3 months.

This blend is so potent, be prepared to cough and splutter at the chili-padi fumes. Good stuff.

It started when my Kafir Lime tree just grew and grew, barren without glory. Ant-like locusts made the Kafir Lime tree their home. I retaliated by making up a batch of chili enzyme and spraying on a 10% solution. The ant-like locusts are still there, but they are now subdued and reduced in numbers. In fact, I couldn't find any on the Kafir tree today, only this little spider.


And just look at the fruits in abundance...



Apart from Thai Green Curry and some other local cooking, and the occasional "evil-eye purification" bath, I can't find much use for this gorgeously aromatic plant. So what does one do when showered with abundance? Invest it to create more abundance of course! So I harvested nearly 2kg of the fruits and made enzyme to be used for floor mopping and dish-washing.

I can't wait till April...