A Quick Update.

9 Nov 2011 -  

Thunderstorms and heavy downpour with light hail overnight.
New kangkong / water spinach seeds germinated
Kangkong seedlings transplanted to patch B.
Coriander harvested. Coriander flowering.
Sown more pak choy, corn, spinach, carrot seeds.
Tung O / Edible Garland Chrysanthemum plant flowering.
Water chestnut plants taking off.
Harvesting rocket, spinach, snow peas, coriander and pak choy.

White flies problem.

Grapevine moth caterpillars on vine leaves.

The snow peas are slow to flower but once they do, their flowers quickly turn into pods and grow to maturity very soon.

So this (above) are unopened grape flowers of my Carolina Black Rose.

And this (above) is the flowers blooming. I could see both male and female flowers.

And this (above) is the cluster of grapes!!!

My pyrethrum daisies are a pretty sight.

They are the daisies which produce this chemical 'pyrethrum' that kills garden pests. I guess no insects will come close to them.

Never be sick of admiring my strawberry flowers - such daintiness, such sweetness in smell.

My hydrangeas are flowering soon but their leaves suffered burns by spring sun.

The lilies look even better this year, more blooms!

The Tung O / Edible Garland Chrysanthemum has flowered. I read that at this time, their leaves will be bitter. I hope the plant will self-sow before it dies.

Coriander flowers - I never knew they would be great at attract useful bug predators to my garden.

I am successful at growing choy sum (above) this round.

The pak choy and gai choy are allowed to flower so I can have new seeds, millions of them. Really enjoyable to watch bees clumber over the flowers out of my kitchen window.

Hooray that my water chestnut plants are growing!!! Hope to harvest some nice fresh crunchy corms in autumn!

Sowing Seeds & Bird Watching.

Yesterday's temperature was 28 deg and accompanied by very strong winds. Then in the evening we had a bit of rain (not as much as I have wished) and lots more even stronger winds. I definitely am not a fan of high winds. It brings a lot of destruction.

I sowed another two pots of water spinach (kang kong) and two pots of bok choy. My focus will be on leafy vegetables this season.

 My Jasmine flowers finally bloomed. I think I could sit all day out in my back garden to enjoy its fragrance.

 My son and I harvested our fat coriander, some spring onions and vietnamese mint/laksa leaves for two dishes.

 We have placed some bird seeds on the front and back gardens in order to attract birds.  I very much wanted to attract lorikeets and galahs but it seems like wishful thinking as we do not have any tall native trees in our garden. So far our grevillea has attracted beautiful honeyeaters.  We also get some noisy nymahs. Today we have two fluffy and cute spotted necked pigeons as our first customers.

 They managed to find the bird seeds and were busy feeding themselves.

 If you look carefully, you would notice a white sticker on one of the birds' leg. My husband forgot to throw this sticker which he has peeled from the new garden edging which we installed on Sunday.  Poor birdy stepped on it and it got stuck to its feet. I wonder how it is going to stand on tree branches if the sticker doesnt come off.

 In the foreground of the picture are two hanging pots of trailing kalanchoe. I hung them out of my kitchen window so I could admire them. Amazing so far, a honeyeater has tried to land on the flowers and then a spotted neck pigeon tried doing so as well. Unfortunately when they saw me peering out at them, they took off. I thought that was very amusing.

Rare Plant Expo and Some Others

On Saturday, our family attended the Rare Plant Expo. Samuel was very excited about the lily pad. It's huge!

Hubby and I almost bought one of these plants. The pitcher plant is the most attractive. But when he told me he would like to put it in the bathroom, I said 'No thanks.' Imagine a meat-eating plant in our bathroom...I am not in for it.

My brave boy went forward to say 'Hello' to Mr Stephen Ryan, the host of Gardening Australia. Mr Ryan even gave him a card with his autograph on it. Samuel was so happy.

My new aquisition - Water Chestnut! I have been wanting to buy this a long time but did due to various reasons. Since it was in front of me at the Expo, I could not resist and bought a pot.

We bought two pots of Clemetis "The President" to replace the juvenile ivy growing on the fence fledging my small gate. I decided that I would pull the ivy out because it is very invasive, despite loving its gorgeous green and white leaves. The Clementis is a perenial but most time of the year, it would be green and flowering. I love the large deep purple flowers.

I also bought two pots of Hellebore Double Red. I have planted them under the Plum tree out of my son's window. Next winter, it will produce pretty red flowers. Hellebores are also called Winter Roses.

Some more yummy strawberries, not many to go.

Harvested a large bowl of red skin potatoes I believe called Desiree potatoes. They came from a single potato. Cooked a pot chicken curry with them.

My 3 Cyclamens decided to green up and flower at this time, just right after they died. I thought they are spring flowering???

This patch of kang kong or water spinach is ready to be cut.

Those in the bed are almost ready too.

Look at my aloe vera. They are growing so well. Better check up recipes on how to boil them for a drink.

A few brown turkey figs are ripening. Can't wait to eat them.

My tomato Silvery Fir plants are having new leaves and flowers. I could not bear to pull them up even though the new fruits probably wont ripen now in autumn.

Lady's Fingers, Eggplant Florianda, Yardlong Beans

I captured a picture of my ocra (lady's fingers) flowers. This plant belongs to the hibiscus family.

Wow...I thought I was having a small eggplant but when I checked today, it was a truckload! At least 10 and I am not kidding. The thing is this plant is really quite dwarf and I wonder where the fruits going to go being so low to the ground already. Perhaps harvest when still young. I am going to do my best to preserve this beautiful eggplant before winter comes. If I can keep my capsicum for 3 years and over-winter my chillies successfully, I am sure I can do so for my eggplant. ;)

My yardlong bean or long bean...I did not expect it to be so so dwarf! It is flowering. Only this plant is so far doing better than the rest. Kind of giving up hope of eating long beans.

Pretty lilac bean flowers.

My poor lilies. They are so fragrant and so pretty but their petals are all smeared with pollens due to the rain.

I captured a few pictures of bees visiting my pumpkin flowers. So cute seeing them covered with pollen when they fly out of the flower.

Tomatoes silvery fir are ripening unevenly. A bunch can have both ripe and unripe tomatoes. How on earth can I have vine ripened tomatoes? It seems impossible as I have to harvest any ripe ones before they become rotten in the rain or burnt by the sun.

Yippee! Another basket of kang kong (water spinach). I am truly excited! This is the second batch from the same plants!!!

Our First Pixzee Peach for 2011 Plus Other Garden Updates.

Today's temperature is predicted to reach 35 deg celsius. Not a big deal as I believe this year's summer will be cooler and I doubt we are going to experience 46 again. Also, the garden is all mostly mulched up so the water retention will be good. Having said that, I spent one hour giving the whole garden water this morning. I have also put up some white cloths on three areas : over the burdock, over the hydrangeas and the ocra (ladies' fingers). I was trying to show my son my dwarf peach (pixzee) tree with its five large fruits. We could smell the fragrance without putting our noses near. One of them felt soft and when my boy reached out to touch it, it fell. We realised that this one was ready and shared it. Yummy, sweet and juicy!!!

This little pot of strawberry delight is producing quite a few strawberries. And the other plants are also having lots flowers.

I germinated some lemon balm recently. It is growing steadily but slowly.

Clockwise from top : bitter melon (bittergourd), evening primrose, watercress and eggplant. I know I am extremely late planting the bitter melon and eggplant. I sowed them with experimentation in mind but all of them germinated.

These are four pyrethrum daisies which I bought from Diggers. They grow so slowly and wilt so easily. I have repotted them into this pretty terracotta pot.

A Vietnamese kinder mum gave me these two Thai Basil plants which I repotted in this large pot. It's been difficult growing this basil probably due to the climate. It flowers too easily which is not good for herbs.

My two burdock plants in this vege patch are easily burnt by the hot sun due to their large leaves. I covered them with white cloth today.

More kang kong (water spinach) growing after the last harvest. This will be one vege I will keep planting every year. The seeds are of very superior quality.

My beloved yellow capsicum plant is in its 3rd year and fruiting!!! What an amazing plant!!!