Showing posts with label calamondin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label calamondin. Show all posts

Friday, June 26, 2009

So Much Work!

Work at new house : Vege patch D : Work with cow manure and lime. Planted and mulched 3 pots of cyclamens. Hope they will grow well in this shady spot.
Rake up fallen plum leaves.
Place leaves in make-shift netting in backyard to let them turn into leaf mould.
Succulent plants flowering beautifully.
Lavender growing new leaves.
Work completed for patch next to garage. Hope not to see weeds!
Work in rental house : Calamondins not doing well. Fruits attacked by aphids. Treated with pyrethrum.
Lemon verbena growing lots of new shoots after last trimming.
Cayenne Pepper under netting since finding out they were attacked at night.
Curry plant growing more shoots in the new house after trimming off lots of aphid-infested shoots.
Buk choy planted from pot to vege patch.
Treated oregano root ball with pyrethrum as it seems it is attacked by gnats.Repotted the oregano and wonder if it will survive the treatment.
Re-potted the aloe vera into a shallow wider planter. New pups emerging. Delicate...broke one.
Potted the Pixee dwarf peach with aged manure and premium potting mix.
Peach tree is losing all its leaves. (below)
Rake up to make leaf mould.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

First Harvest of Oriental Radishes and Calamondin Progress

My calamondins are growing well in the pot. I recently fertilised with citrus fertiliser and was pleased to find tiny earthworms in the potting mix. The earthworms actually came from my vermicompost which I have harvested from my worm farm. I could not filter all the worms out especially the very tiny ones and had no choice but to put them in the pot together with the vermicompost. It was great to see that they actually survive and are living in the potting mix. So nowadays, besides feeding the worms in the farm, I also bury chopped banana peels in the calamondin pot to feed these little ones. I would have to purchase some mulch to shelther them since I have run out of it.
Calamondins growing larger. Hoping that no bugs will eat them up.
Found a horned leaf hopper on my cayenne pepper plus a tiny snail too. Some bugs have attacking my cayenne pepper but not the horned hopper since it is a sap sucker.
After more than the specified weeks, I decided to pull up my oriental radishes. Not too bad, had them for a dish...sweet and tender. Radishes are best when grown rapidly and I shant wait in case they become too 'mature' and fibrous. Anyway I do not think they are going to grow further since their leaves were all eaten by some bugs.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Update on Cayenne Pepper, Calamondin, Kaffir Lime, thyme, rosemary and Curry Plant.

My boy has gone to kinder to this morning and the sunshine was out in the garden. I spent an hour inspecting my plants. A few of the older lower leaves of the kaffir lime is turning yellow as per above. I am puzzled why, not being sure if it is iron deficiency (as I do not know how to assess that) or if it is its reaction to the cold weather setting in. I read that iron deficiency shows first in young leaves and the veins remain green though the rest of the leaves yellow. But these leaves are older leaves. Moreover, I did feed the plant citrus fertilizer before and after potting on. Lime-induced chlorosis happens commonly in citrus. Even though there may be iron in the potting mix, it may be locked up by an excess of other elements (Antagonism). I needed to research more so that I will not lose this plant.
This is a young leaf of the calamondin plant and it does look a little like what's called iron deficiency - green vein, yellowing young leaves. I have bought a bottle of iron sulphate but has been hesitant to use till the customer service of Richgro replies me on whether is it a natural mineral or chemically synthesized. Peter Bennett's book talks about using alum to rectify the iron deficiency but gosh, I wonder where I can get that from.
The new chillies of the cayenne pepper seem to be shrivelling and dropping instead of developing. I wonder if it is the cold or if it is iron again. The whole plant does look a little lighter green compared to before. I think something seems lacking especially with putting on so many chillies recently!
The young leaves of the cayenne pepper yellowing and falling.
Some of the older leaves of the thyme are yellowing too but I have a feeling it is due to the cold.
It is happening to some leaves of the rosemary as well. More research to be done.
My curry plant has been pruned this morning. I read that curry plants do not take continuous rain well and can grow moldy or get pests due to the wetness. I remove as much leaves as I could to allow air flow between the stems.
The center of the plant is not congested now. I also placed the pot in the mini greenhouse so that it wont get rain this afternoon.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Back From Easter Trip.

We were away on Philip Island for our church's Australia-wide Oceania Convention during the Easter holidays. It was a refreshing time, though there were moments I missed my garden and wondered if the two dogs had destroyed it.
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Fortunately, they did not. And thank God I had discovered the caterpillar eggs under the radish leaves just one day before I left and was able to take measures. Or I would have come back to be heart-broken. The pot of nasturtiums showed great growth after dressing with vermicompost from my worms. And it was peace of mind for me now that they are under the safety of the net. The whole of nasturtiums can be used in salads and I can see why they are easy prey of caterpillars.
The three oriental radish seeds I have sown on 9 April to replace the three uprooted have germinated when I returned on 13 April. Very fast!
My cayenne peppers are fat and long! Wondering if I should harvest them for pickled green chillies.
The tiny calamondin limes are growing steadily. Haha at times they looked like they are going to drop off.
Congratulations to me! The chilli padi seeds have finally germinated and so many are sprouting. They did take a long time to do so, observing only two on 2 April and now about eight on 16 April.
The pot of mint which I have propagated from the original black pot from Kmart has been planted at the vege patch. I have treated it for mildew twice and hope it will do well. So far so good!
One of the two lots of new buk choy seedlings have sprouted when I came back.
Also sown on 9 April to replace the three which were uprooted due to caterpillar attacks. Will thin them once they are bigger.
One of the three existing oriental radishes. Note the little weeds around. Have to do weeding regularly.
Three out of four sweet pea seedlings. As soon as they are big enough, I have to train them around the sunflower stalks behind.
My two wonderful capsicum plants are producing three or four capsicums. Again, great peace of mind with them caged from possible possums' burglary.
The capsicum plant in the pot is not losing the race either, producing three fruits. Somehow the fruits are not as big and do not have a regular shape as those in the vege patch.
Signs of life after the re-potting. Aloe vera seems to grow rather slow in this weather but steadily producing new pups. It has been the mini greenhouse most times to keep it warm.
Vermicompost from my worms works wonder! My curry plant looks very healthy and flourishing after the castings were added.
Same goes for my thyme! Even the stems look thicker.
My divided lemon grass in two pots did not look too good after I potted on last week. Perhaps scorched by the sun while I was away. I have since fed another round of seasol. Not sure of its fate.
The original pot which I bought from Flower Power.
The potted on mint is growing gloriously - potted on successfully! Large leaves and strong. Now I truly believe in Premium potting mixes as Kevin Hendreck mentioned in his book 'Gardening Down-under' - the best gardening book I have ever read so far. It is certainly better to start plants with a good potting mix.
One of the two smaller pots which I have to pot on soon. I have given away the other small pot to my life group mate for her dish.
This is the pot of common mint which I bought from Kmart for $2.50 and since then, I have propagated 5 pots of mints from it. Quite a sense of achievement to me, having failed once from the pot I bought from Ikea when I started out gardening.
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Easter Sunday is not about Easter Bunny or Easter Eggs. It is about Jesus Christ rising from the dead and conquering death so that we are free to connect with God.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Harvesting Worm Castings & Potting On Comquat Calamondin

Hot day. 35 degrees celcius. After corresponding with Lucky about my worm warm, I am finally sure that I can harvest the worm castings. Evening came and I left one tray exposed to light so that the worms will hide. Using rubber gloves, I raked through the castings. Not an easy job even though the worms hid. I still had to pull out worms manually...tiny ones are harder to pull out. I collected a 5L bucket of worm castings, which inevitably contained very young worms and lots of worm eggs. That was just 2/3 of a tray. Then I added coir fibre to the tray to serve as new bedding for the worms. It also serves as a food source. I potted on my comquat calamondin (calamasi), adding the bucket of worm casting and composted cow manure to premium potting mix. Tomorrow morning, I would water the pot with seasol to ease the calamasi from transplanting shock.
"All that mankind needs for good health and healing is provided by God in nature...the challenge of Science is to find it." - Paracelcus, the father of Pharmcology, 1493 - 1541