Growing grapes along Singapore HDB corridor
Yes, these 'Singaporean' grapes -- fruits that we associate with the verdant hills of France or Australia -- are real. And they can be grown in our tropical weather and concrete jungle.
Alex Ng, a 42-year-old baker, has managed to cultivate grape vines that produce fruit "all-year-long" along the corridor outside his ninth-floor HDB flat in Yishun.
The plant grows in a pot and creeps along bamboo poles 2m long and 2m tall. The corridor does not get direct sunlight except for the evening sun "a few months a year", Ng told Yahoo Singapore. His biggest harvest since he started growing the plant in 2011 is a collection of "17 bunches of various sizes", and he also keeps several seedlings, and a secondary plant which he grew using a stem cutting from the plant.
"Some of my friends ask me why I post pictures of fake grapes on my Facebook page. I had to tell them that they are real grapes!" Ng said with a laugh.
What's the secret to growing grapes in Singapore? "Lots of water. I water this plant two or three times a day."
