Lamentations!!!

I wish I have a huge greenhouse for my gardening. Melbourne's notorious weather is wearing me down as I scampered about trying to salvage my plants. I was even on the verge of giving up...first such thought since I started gardening seriously last winter. Today's wind speed went beyond 45km/h and mercilessly beating my plants in all directions. Potting mixes on the surface were being blown away. Plastic protection beaten left right centre. Some of my plants (especially my lavendar and mint at the frontyard) were obviously dehydrated as the wind carried whatever moisture the potting mix had. They looked limp. The first thing I did was to take cuttings of vietnamese mint and common mint to propagate new plants just in case the existing ones die or be destroyed.

This pot (above) of common mint was limp and terrible-looking (did not take pic). After some deep watering (plus standing on a tray of water), the leaves came back looking well. Fewh! I just lost one pot to possums, not another one!

The lavendar came back alive after watering. You should have seen the plant before watering (which I did not have time to take) It does not need water most of the time but the winds are too much for it to bear. I shifted it away from the windy front patio to a more shelthered area.

I think the only potted plant that is still thriving is my thyme!

I re-did the protection around my snow pea plants because the guard sleeves were bashed by the horrible wind. This protection should be better off. My original rosemary plant was in bad shape again - attacked by another round of powdery mildew - the recent dry windy weather provides very good condition for mildew growth.

The Culprit Struck Again!

Middle of the week, we decided that we would move into our new property beginning of September rather than December. I am feeling excited about moving in earlier as I look forward to doing work in the new garden. At the same time, feeling a bit stressed with the impending packing to be done. Also, I will have to abandon the plants at the vege patch (daffodils, snow peas, oriental radishes and purple buk choy). They are growing fine but really really slowly due to the short sunshine now in winter. I know by the time we move, there wont be any harvest of any sort.

Snow pea seedlings at vege patch.

Purple buk choy seedling (above) and oriental radish seedling (below) at vege patch.

I have left my pot of common mint (recently trimmed) out in the open back garden with the other pots of plants and the next day I saw that they have been eaten up. By that same culprit again! Clueless again as to what has done it. Possum? Bat?

Pot of common mint eaten up.

Pot of common mint before the disaster.

Daffodils Pushing Out of Soil.

Morning weather is good and I did some work in the garden before loads of chores in the house when the forecast afternoon rain comes. Four of the many daffodil bulbs have pushed through the soil at the vege patch. :)

I trimmed all the spent flowers and yellowing leaves of the nasturtiums, added fertiliser and some new potting mix to the top of the existing potting mix. The three pots (lavender bee pretty, nasturtiums, common mint) are bathing in the morning sun on the frontyard. I read that good air circulation and morning sunshine help prevent powdery mildew (which my common mint and rosemary are very susceptible to).

Yesterday, I trimmed off three large bunches of common mint from this pot (below). The bunches were all growing out of the pot and down to the ground.

I put the three pots of propagated rosemary (below) out in the open garden last night. It could be a better idea to do this than to have them under the garage shelther where they kept developing powdery mildew.

Left : Latest pot of propagated rosemary. Middle and Right : Propagated rosemary growing well but treated with fungicide (hence whitish appearance) because powdery mildew developed on their leaves.

The original pot of rosemary seems to respond well to fungicide treatment and now looks healthier than some weeks ago, putting new green shoots.

The three snow pea seedlings which I repotted on 9 July are doing well so far. They look unfazed from the repotting and root-chopping. Hope they will continue to grow well and produce crops of snow peas. :)

For the several snow pea seedlings at the vege patch, I found and bought plastic guard sleeves and used them for protection. So far so good. Several nights have gone by and they are still there, not chopped or stolen by some mysterious visitor.

The 'love birds' are coming regularly now :) thanks to my bird seeds. So pleased to see them coming for the food.

Some Gardening Work and a Lovely Feathered Couple.

After several days of rain (free watering for the garden + free water for the containers), days of sunshine was really welcomed and appreciated. I had been quite busy with other things this week and it is nice to spend almost the whole of today doing things in the garden (including playing hide-and-seek with Samuel and playing fetch with Marco). Finally I tested putting the three pots of fruit trees under the garage shelther without any form of protection and it is good! The possums did not come disturb my trees or make a meal out of them. Perhaps I was worrying too much.

The pot of lavendar bee pretty has been pruned quite a lot at the lower sides as the shoots were infested with green aphids. I have killed many of them using pyrethrum. This afternoon, I found a drowning ladybug in the pail and took it to the lavendar, hoping that it can feed on the aphids.

The dwarf orange tree on this rental property has been fruiting and flowering. I think this year the oranges will be likely sour again since I did not really bother about this tree very much. Nice citrus flower smells.

The citronella geranium (mosquito plant) http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2009/03/few-new-candidates-and-update.html has grown much more despite neglect and several broken lower branches. I should repotting it but am running out of larger pots.

The chilli padi seedlings (below) are suddenly growing a bit more since I gave it some vermicompost.

My kaffir lime has been growing a tiny branch? Sucker? Maybe I should pull it out.

Today, I repotted the aloe vera (once again!!!). I bought a new bag of potting mix just for succulents/cacti (Brand : Debco) and think it would love this mix better. Found another new pup growing. Yeah!!!

I also divided the pot of 3 dwarf snow pea seedlings into three pots. Hmmm...customer service at Diggers told me they grow to 60cm tall and a 30cm diameter pot is fine but I found that the seedlings' roots have developed quite extensively. I soaked the seedlings with seasol and hope they will manage alright.

I also pruned the lemon verbena (below) again to cause more bushy development. Looking forward to have more shoots for tea. Yum yum!

This large pot of mint is growing fantastically well. I trimmed off any runners and see if this will channel the plant's energy to producing larger leaves. I have a feeling it would.

I also for the first time after several weeks, removed the netting and plastic covering for my cayenne pepper (below), and pruned it to open up the plant. I have harvested most chillies. Only one is left to ripen.

I have erected some plastic protection for the few dwarf snow pea seedlings at the vege patch. So far so good, havent seen any destruction by pests yet.

I have been noticing this pair of love birds (spotted neck pigeons) frequenting my garden. Very loving couple...preening each other feathers and parking in the sunshine. Marco barks at them to chase them away. I have sprinkled some bird seeds around the area and hope they keep coming. So sweet!

Kebbah Using Mint

Today I tried out a new recipe for dinner...Kebbeh...taught by a Brazilian friend from my lifegroup. It is a lebanese dish which uses lots of mint. I love growing mint but have not really used it for any of my cooking. This dish is delicious. Another ingredient is onion...good way of eating it for those who hate it as it is finely chopped. It turned out great. Here is the recipe for sharing :

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250g burghul wheat (available from lebanese shops) 500g mince beef 10 sprigs of common mint (chopped up leaves finely) some cumin 1 tsp of salt some black pepper half an onion or several shallots (chopped finely) sunflower oil for brushing baking pan

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1. Soak the wheat in about a glass of water for minimum of 2 hours to soften it. 2. Mix the beef, black pepper, salt, onion thoroughly. 3. Add to the wheat and mix well. 4. Add the mint and mix well. 5. Form into rolls about 5cm long and 1.5-2 cm diameter. 6. Grease the tin with thin layer of oil. 7. Bake the kebbeh at 180 deg celsius till meat cooks (around 20 mins)

Common mint harvested. Kebbah

When I was preparing the kebbeh in the kitchen, I caught a glimpse of the backyard out of the window and rushed for my camera. The evening sun's was caught on the two tall trees far away. It was a beautiful sight. I would miss this open view, the two fields beside the house and the reserve behind when I move to my new house.

Mint Update

From one pot of common mint costing me $2, I have propagated several pots successfully, with some knockbacks by powdery mildew occasionally.

Pot A cuttings in ice-cream tub. Attacked by powdery mildew and treated with fungicide.

Mint grown from Pot A cuttings which are potted into my previous buk choy pot.

Pot B with 3 cuttings done before my Tassie holiday, looking horrible due to neglect. Pot B cuttings looking great after returning from holiday and recent picture after harvesting once.

Pot C (black) and Pot D (blue) cuttings shortly after planting over from water.

Mint grown from Pot C.

Mint grown from Pot D. Attacked by powdery mildew several times, treated with fungicide.

Another lot of mint grown at the vege patch from cuttings in a soya bean milk container (no pic previously)

Mint given by a friend last Christmas (08).

Same mint at the vege patch June 09. Subject to aphids attack.

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