Today's Work.

Strawberries in the pot are growing well. One seems to be ripening but it is a little small. I mulched the two strawberry plants that are on the ground. I use sugarcane mulch as according to the staff at Bunnings, it is excellent in reflecting the sun's light and it returns carbon to the soil.

Out of the three strawberry plants I have, one has not produced flowers until yesterday. And suddenly flowers are popping out of that last plant :

My traps of oil and water was good in catching earwigs (pests). However, there are many more under pots and I had to manually remove the pots from their positions to reveal loads of earwigs scurrying away. Last night, I found an earwig trying to gnaw on one strawberry and another parked on a strawberry leaf!

The three slow growing chilli padis have put on more growth. Yippee! Hope to harvest chilli padis soon!

This morning, I trimmed much of the two smaller pots of common mint.

The large pot which I have trimmed is putting on new growth.

However, I have found lots of caterpillar poop.

Searching got me two fat caterpillars.

This pot of bay has many leaves now. I am going to wait till the leaves mature more before pruning the plant.

Same goes for this pot.

Tomato silvery fir #1 at frontyard is growing fantastic after transplanting.

Tomato silvery fir #2 is also doing great.

This rose shrub which I have spared when I pulled up the rest are producing tiny pink flowers...not too pretty by me.

Potting On Chilli Padis, Lilium LA Hybrid White Lilies & Others.

Today, I removed the cayenne pepper plant from its pot as there was not a sign of life. Surprised to find fat earthworms around its roots. Are they feeding on the roots since they are dead?

I potted up my three chilli padi plants in the cayenne pepper pot :

Hope that as the weather warms up, the chilli padi plants will grow quickly :

I am excited about the many new leaves the kaffir lime is putting on, as well as flower buds :

Did some pruning to my mint pots :

Harvested some snow peas for lunch. Oh they are so tender and sweet :

Planted 3 white lily (Lilium LA hybrid) bulbs in the patch next to garage, right behind the lime mist daffodils :

Strawberry plants are doing well. I could have planted them too close for comfort :

The pretty succulents which I have propagated from their parents at our rental place are growing well and even flowering :

Nice fleshy leaves. Wonder if I should plant them under my golden sheen as groundcover. Still thinking :

This ivy which I also propagated from its parent from the rental place is doing even better over at our new place. However, I am still unsure if I should grow it in the ground for a shady spot. Concern is that it may become weedlike and dominate the whole area and leave me to regret :

Herbs Galore!

First thing I did when I returned home after 2.5 weeks is to take a peek at my precious garden. I was very glad that things were under control (all thanks to my friend Paul for tending to it while our family was away). Great to be back to see wonderful growth of my herbs. The mints in the 50cm and two 30cm pots are so fat. I had to quickly harvest them to give them away : The two rosemary cuttings which I have propagated have also grown bushier :

The mother rosemary plant (which was attacked by powdery mildew previously but won the war) has put on so many new growth and gone bushier. Time for harvest :

Three new cuttings which I have propagated from the mother rosemary are also showing signs of growth :

My lemon verbena has grown but I wish it has grown bushier...there must be a way to do that :

The spring onions from seeds were straggly at first but after 2.5weeks (charlie carp treatment before I left), they are doing well and can be harvested anytime :

My curry plant has gone really really bushy in a neat way with all the trimmings I have done beforehand :

Bay tree put on so many new leaves...wow! :

Thyme was completely chopped off low but returned with a complete bushy hair-style. Time to harvest :

Vietnamese mint is spilling over th 40cm pot with wonderful growth. Time for harvesting again :

Another Pot of Mint, Ivy and Re-potting Cayenne Pepper

It is a gloomy day with light patchy rains. I took a closer look at my cayenne pepper to find the potting mix infested with thousands of ants. I wonder if they are responsible for the horrible state that my cayenne pepper is in. So I re-potted the cayenne pepper with premium potting mix and cow manure and seasol. Hope it helps to re-establish itself before I plant it into the ground in my new backyard. The neglected pot of ivy has produced new light green leaves though after quite a long time. It should grow much better being in the ground. I am thinking of propagating this ivy for planting at a shady stretch in my new garden : I potted on my small pot of common mint as it is already congesting its 10cm pot and wilts quite often. Looks like I am getting lots of mint nowadays and I am seemingly obsessed with it hahaha, four pots in all excluding the two lots growing on the vege patch :

The pot after potting on in a 30cm pot.

Pot of mint (before potting on) congesting its 10 cm pot and often wilts (above) and same pot originating from 3 cuttings (below) I am fighting occasional powdery mildew attacks on these mints (also my rosemary) but if the air-flow around the pots is good, the situation should be under control. The only thing I had better improve is the garden hygiene I am practising. I rarely isolate any problematic plants nowadays and simply pinch off affected leaves. That may send a lot of invisible mildew spores scattering all over the garden. However, it is really not easy since I cannot seem to find proper locations for plant isolation.

One More Month of Winter...How's Are Some of My Potted Ones?

Guess what? I really took a break from my garden this week since giving them charlie carp and seasol last week. Did not bother to open up the covers for my oriental radishes or buk choy. Did not bother to even inspect my plants. It was a rather nice feeling to take a break and let go sometimes. And there is a reward - they are all doing fine! No pests, no night looters. Well, everybody out there in the backyard is doing fine. The only exceptions are those on the frontyard -my lavendar bee pretty is fully infested with green aphids and my nasturtiums which have flowered so much but blown down by the strong winds as if it has a bad hair day. The planted daffodil bulbs have sprouted in the pot. Yippee! At least I can bring this pot to my new house at the end of the month.

Kaffir lime and a small pot of mint are doing fine surrounded by the plastic protection.

Chilli padis growing quite well though very slow. It should take off once spring arrives.

Puzzling to see the tips of aloe vera turning brown but new pups are emerging from the potting mix.

The vietnamese mint/laksa plant is growing from glory to glory...surprisingly able to take the cold winter without any protection...it will look very pretty on my patio (minus the water feeder haha)

Plants are really very affected by strong winds. A week ago, things look bad...My common mint in this large pot is flourishing! Harvest is round the corner.

This pot which almost died in the strong winds and minor aphid attack is back strong and healthy.

After being trimmed because of aphids attack, the lemon verbena is putting on new shoots. Hope the irritating aphids will not return!!! I am not going to bring a aphid-infested plant to my new house. Have to closely supervise and treat it first.

Same goes for this curry plant.

Spring onions sown from seeds still look rather skinny.

Spring onions from bulbs...fat and growing well...this is going to be the 5th or 6th harvest.

Mosquito plant growing well despite ants making its potting mix their home. I am thinking of planting it into the ground at the new house.

This pot should win the championship! Thyme...ever so gorgeous and growing so fine.

Not so the rosemary babies...growing fine but still struggling with powdery mildew. How am I going to stop this powerful powder?!

The mother rosemary has been dumped to one corner of the garden where it can get some sunshine and rain and cold. I am just leaving it to the hands of nature to treat the powdery mildew.

The snow pea seedlings are growing great. Good to invest in mildew-resistant breeds...can grow them in plastic covers without worry of mildew.

My calamondin/calamasi...the prettiest and largest fruit on the mini tree.

My neighbour Jenny came over with a bunch of gorgeous-smelling Daphne flowers. Really strong heavenly perfume.