Sick days.

Okay. I have been sick for two weeks. Coughing really badly especially in the nights. Hardly had the energy to do much. Sometimes when that burst of energy comes, I will be out in the garden doing work...just whatever is required. Noticed that the strawberry delight in the pot has flowered.

Hubby and I worked on this little bare patch a week back - sown some grass seeds and sprinkled potting mix, watered..and the grass is growing. We have many other small bare patches to work on.

This is the second season for my capsicum in the pot. It has gone through one winter and survived it. Now it is flowering and fruiting.

Many things are happening in spring. One of the most obvious is my little bay plant. Many new leaves burst into existence.

Strangely my lemon verbena is having rusty-looking leaves. Not sure why.

My peach (pixzee) has put on a handful of peaches but they are really congested. Not much chance to further develop with that small space. I thinned the fruits.

Despite giving fungal spray in winter, some leaves are having leaf curl. I plucked off and dispose them. More spray next winter.

Just fed my golden sheens with charlie carp and cleared any growing weeds near them. They are doing fine in that good soil.

Apricot (Moorpark) is not doing too well after planting it into the ground. Somehow I already had the feeling that it would not do well. I am too lazy to uproot it again. If it has to die, I will buy a new one this winter.

Been harvesting snow peas recently. Been sick of eating them too. Haha...

Progress in the Garden.

Pot of pretty nasturtiums still flowering. Makes a really pretty entrance statement every time I come home. Lavender bee pretty is also making flowers after the aphids were gotten rid of by intensive pyrethrum treatment. Fortunately my lavender leaves were not burnt by the sprays.

Wise for me to leave the rosemarys out in the open where it got sun, rain and wind. The powdery mildew is well under control.

Daffodils at vege patch will be abandoned by me at the end of the month when I move.

Chilli padis growing well and took a long time to reach this stage.

Oriental radishes growing steadily and too will be abandoned at the end of this month.

Pixee peach is producing flower buds.

Kaffir lime is finally producing new leaves. Purple ones??

Potted capsicum producing new leaves too. Spring, come soon!

Tidying Up the Garden

Today's weather is quite good and after seeing my accupuncturist yesterday, I felt much better to do some work. Plus with the attack of my capsicum, that was the last straw. I am out for some vengence. I cleared the whole cluttered mini greenhouse and relocated it at a more strategic position since the Sun's position has shifted with the seasons. I have my aloe vera, a small pot of vietnamese mint, a small pot of mint, my potted capsicum plant, my hot chilli, my chilli padi seedlings, my repotted oregano, lemon verbena and curry plant all in this house. I spent a few hours in the morning tidying up the whole working area. I also stepped up - wrapping my cayenne pepper, calamondin, kaffir lime, mint, the two capsicum plants from the vege patch in plastic sheets like this :

I also had my lavender and a pot of mint under two laundry hampers. I have left my pot of eaten nasturtiums as a bait. I hope I can locate my torch soon so I can go out for a spot check tonight.

Nasturtium & Capsicum Damage, Chillies

Just as I was getting over some damage in my garden (chilli and oriental radish and snow peas plants being eaten..purple king disappearing...), I suffered another blow. This morning as I was out checking my cayenne pepper, I was glad to find it was not eaten last night after I wrapped a plastic sheet around it. However, I was greeted with worse horror - my capsicum plants at the vege patch was ruined, under the cage! Capsicums eaten half, leaves almost all shredded on one. Fortunately the cuprit left one capsicum plant untouched.These bugs are small enough to get through the holes in the cage. I am beginning to suspect that they were the ones who took my whole purple king, not possums. My new nasturtiums were not spared either. I have since shifted the first pot of nasturtiums to the front yard to avoid further horror.

My chillies seem to be responding to the cold. Not sure really since this is their first winter. The edges of their leaves are turning a little black. I know black on leaves are frost-bites but it is not that cold yet.

Some invaders have been feeding on the leaves of my cayenne pepper and chopping off stems.

Back from Tasmania

Back from Tasmania! Glorious time I had! I came home to a little bit of nightmare - my purple king bean plant has mysteriously disappeared from its ground without a trace! See here before it was gone. No roots no leaves no beans left, except its stake still standing on its spot. I wonder if possums have done the deed. My spinach and rocket did not take off. Neither did the new snow pea seeds I have sown. Two small pots of vietnamese mints are dying and the oregano and lemon grass are not looking very well. However, things were not as bad as I had imagined. I managed to harvest some stuff - large bunch of thyme, some sprigs of rosemary, chillies and spring onions. What a pleasant surprise I got from my pot of nasturtiums! It has grown so much and so well and are flowering. In Tassie, I have seen beautiful nasturtiums at various locations and was wondering to myself how mine were doing. It was great coming back to a pleasant greeting from them.

My lavender bee pretty is well too. Just on the day I left, I sprayed the potting mix with pyrethrum+white oil mix because I spotted so many ants. Was a little worried about the lavender but came back to a blessing of bushy green growth!

This little small pot of mint is growing so prettily that I can resist admiring it. I cannot even remember how it looked like before I went for my holiday.

My most worried candidates turned out to be doing exceptionally well! The common mints and vietnamese mints all did fine.

My potted capsicum has four developing fruits when I returned.

One of the two at the vege patch has three developing fruits.

The other is have two developing fruits. Wow...three small capsicum plants produce enough for the family for months!

The mint (given by a friend and grown from a bare stem) is doing fine at the vege patch except that I discovered lots of bug?eggs? on the young shoots. All these were cut off and soaked in boiling water to kill them.

Similar things happened to my calamondin shoots and curry plant shoots.

The leaves of my oriental radishes were eaten down to the main stems by some creatures/bugs even though they are under net protection. Under the leaves, I can see the radish growing, still tiny.

The leaves of the oriental radishes

Cayenne Pepper Grand Harvest.

Weather has been cloudy for days with short hours of sunshine. Today we had a fine drizzle. I am preparing to leave for our holidays and had to make sure the whole garden is settled. My neighbours Jenny and Janet have kindly agreed to help me water the plants and look after my garden babies while we go away. I know they will be in good hands as Jenny and Janet manage a one-hectare garden. I harvested 30 over green and fat chillies from my cayenne pepper after waiting and waiting for them to ripen. I think they are not ripening very much, probably due to the cold temperature or lack of sunshine. I did a jar of pickled green chillies and am going to give the rest away.

Also harvested two capsicums (left from the potted capsicum plant and right from the capsicum plant at the vege patch). They too are not ripening but I still can cook them. And a few purple king beans.

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I think my main worry is my lawn at the new property. The mossy patches and bare patches are quite a concern. They just show the lawn is not very healthy. Also, despite weeding the lawn thoroughly, I spotted more tiny weeds sprouting up within a short few days. I really wonder how I can control the weeds. I wish I can get a landscapist to re-do the whole lawn!!! That is a wish but I doubt I can, bearing the fact that I am already spending a bomb getting the pittosporum hedges done! I have sown lawn seeds but it seems a bad time of the year to do so. Anyway, just going to enjoy my holiday!!!!!!!!!

Swelling Capsicums, Glossy-leafed Avocado Plant.

I have had a really busy and tiring week. I had a back-breaking 5.5 hours hoeing up dandelions and lamb's tongue at the new property over two days. My heart practically broke at the sight of the weed patch on the front and left side of the house. Dandelions and lamb's tongue were everywhere!!!

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Armed with a low stool, a mini hoe, a pair of gardening gloves and unyielding determination (well, there were moments of 'despair'), I finally cleared about 200m2 of weeds. Just before the rain came. Yes, I hope that the rain will drench the dry hard earth and soften it enough for me to sow lawn seeds successfully. If grass can grow and fill up the empty patches, then it would make it difficult for the weeds to grow. However for the time being, regular inspection and weeding are essential jobs!

The pots here on the rental property have been relocated to another area along the fence. As it is mid-autumn, the sun's position has changed and they no longer get enough sun. Hence, the relocation to receive maximum sunlight. The beautiful avocado plant at the vege patch. I hope that I would be able to pot it onto a large pot for ornamental purpose but I am really not sure if it will do well in potting mix, compared to the soil.

One of the two capsicum plants at the vege patch putting out three capsicums all at once.

Another plant giving a large capsicum here, after I prematurely harvested a smaller one some weeks back.

The capsicum in the pot has fruits or irregular shape and developing at a slower pace.