More Photography!

Assalamu Alaikum everyone!

Since Eid is, insha'Allah, the day after tomorrow we thought we would share with you some of the photographs we took throughout Ramadan. As we're sure you already know, we really enjoy photography and often go around our house and garden taking random photos. We take a lot of our cat, and animals in general, because we love them so much and they are all beautiful creations from Allah.

So without further delay, let's jump right in to the first picture!

The first three are of this little cutie, masha'Allah. They were all taken on different days, we can't remember when exactly :).

This one was taken in the morning...

...afternoon...

...and late afternoon.

Here is a picture of one of our meals in Ramadan. It was yummy, masha'Allah!

A spread in Maryam's Qur'an Journal.

Subhana'Allah! Look at this huge moth we found in our garden the other day. What was even more fascinating was that it was a bright yellow colour underneath.

Here is a photo of some little tomatoes Maryam picked this month from here garden, masha'Allah. Maryam has stopped gardening now, because it is starting to get very hot again. Insha'Allah she will start again in the cooler months.

And last but not least we have our cat, Cata. These photos were taken today, afew hours after her shower. Masha'Allah, she is now nice and clean for Eid.

Look at that face, masha'Allah!

Well that is all we have for today. We hope you have all had a good Ramadan and that you enjoy your Eid, insha'Allah.

Love and Wasalaam,

Balcony Garden: Tomato Plants

Assalamu Alaikum!

Maryam here this week. SubhanAllah! I didn't think I'd be writing up this post to update you all on my tomato plant, because I really thought it wasn't going to make it.

Recap: Two months ago I left you all with this photo of my tomato plants from November last year.

I had sown two in September, but as you can see, after 2 months they hadn't grown much and didn't look strong enough to survive the colder months.

But again, SubhanAllah, one came through and this is how it looked in February.

And then it flowered, masha'Allah.

When March came round, I spotted the first little green tomato.

A week later the plant seemed to go through a growth spurt. I woke up to find it bent over (almost touching the ground!) because of the weight of the many forming tomatoes.

So, I had to find a way to string it up without hurting the plant.

Here it is 11 days later, on the 1 April.

The bottom leaves were browning and some looked like they had been eaten. I suspected there might be a caterpillar on my plant so I started to look. Sure enough, I found the adorable little invader! 

Can you find him in the photo below?

Aside from the caterpillar, my tomatoes seemed to be doing quite well, masha'Allah.

Every other morning I would wake up to find new tomatoes growing, and I am still amazed at how many there are!

Three days ago my first tomato began to turn orange!

Yesterday it was a bright red.

I left it to ripen in the sun for another day. This afternoon... I picked it!

I've stored it in a dark place to ripen a bit more. Insha'Allah we will eat it tomorrow. Masha'Allah, I'm so grateful that it grew and, insha'Allah, more tomatoes will be on the way.

I hope you liked this post. Have you ever grown anything? I'd love to know.

Well that is all for this update. See you next week, insha'Allah.

Take care and wasalaam,

Maryam

Balcony Gardening

Assalamu Alaikum!

At the end of the year 2018 I had my first go at gardening and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's therapeutic, rewarding and the fresh food at the end is delicious, masha'Allah. However, this year the experience hasn't been that great.

In late September and early October of 2019 I sowed Carrots, Chard, Tomatoes and Beans.

The Chard wasn't growing in the mini starter pots, so I let the soil dry then scattered it in a large pot of soil and watered it daily. And, alhamdulillah, they started to grow and were looking really happy and healthy.

Then one morning I woke up and found that the leaves had been eaten! I had used all my seeds and so none were left for me to try again. QadrAllah.

The Carrots and Tomatoes were growing, so I transplanted them to larger containers. Once the Carrots started to grow they were immediately eaten by birds, and the Tomato plants were looking weak. I have a feeling I didn't bury them deep enough and so they didn't have a good root system.

Lastly, the Beans. For some reason they didn't sprout?! Only one did from my first attempt and it was looking weird. (I had grown several in 2018 and even got a small handful of long green beans, so I noticed the strange growth.) Soon after, it rotted!

For my second attempt the sprouts got eaten almost immediately! 

SubhanAllah, this year it seems that birds have found my balcony and eaten all my plants. I gave up trying to replant everything, for the third time, in January. The only plants that didn't get eaten were the two, weak looking, Tomato plants. Seeing as they were not going to make it I didn't bother to go out and water them. But I've noticed that one of them is still there, holding on. SubhanAllah! Maybe it will make it through these remaining cold windy weeks. If so I will do an update, insha'Allah. 

Well that is all for this week. Writing this post has made me a little sad that nothing grew this year, but QadrAllah. Insha'Allah the next time I garden I will have more experience, knowledge and nets to protect my plants from the birds! :) .

Until next week.

Love and wasalaam,

Maryam