Urrrrghhh!

I spend one hour in the garden this morning, not exactly intended to do so but was given a shock when I spotted a caterpillar on my growing oriental radishes! The same pesky green caterpillar with a light yellow stripe along its back! The same one which attacked my buk choy! The same one which attacked my nasturtiums!

Caterpillar eggs and some bugs which look like aphids on the underside of radish leaves .

I pulled up the three buk choys because it seemed that one of the leaves still looked chewed on (with many holes) despite having a cage over the whole pot. Inspecting closer, which any organic gardener must always do, I found many caterpillar eggs attached to the underside of the leaves. An awakening! I was reminded by the bunch of buk choy leaves I cut and fed to the worms in the worm farm sometime last week. Few days after that, I kept seeing caterpillars in the worm farm. I realised that the eggs were still attached to the leaves and they were hatching into caterpillars! Also the bucket of water which I washed the buk choy leaves contained dislodged eggs, which hatched baby caterpillars but they were drowned in the water!

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Recalling all that, I decided it was no point keeping the buk choy as the eggs on the growing leaves would continue to hatch! It is a never-ending cycle since I do not want to use pesticide. Anyway, I have harvested several rounds out of these three buk choys. It is time to sow new seeds. This knowledge helped me! I quickly inspected all the under leaves of the radishes and sure enough, three radish plants had loads of eggs attached. I had no choice but to pull up the radishes or I would have a continual flow of caterpillars. Urrrghhh!!! I noted that the eggs were on the smaller radishes and the larger, healthier, stronger ones are spared. I have sown seeds to replace the pulled up ones.

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Next action was to net the whole area! I was already contemplating that a while ago to deter possums which might dig, but now I am detering the butterflies! I managed to do so quite easily, all thanks to my tall sunflower stems! I also placed the nasturtiums under the netting on the radish patch because they do get attacked by the caterpillars too.

Netting over the radishes with support from the sunflower stems.

The pot of lovely nasturtiums under the net's protection now. The three buk choys were pulled up and made way for new ones, under the netting.

The cage was used on the capsicum plants instead against possums.

In the afternoon while the weather was warm and sunny, I potted the kaffir lime stem cuttings in a mixture of premium + regular potting mix and propagating sand after coating them with rooting hormone powder. If this works, it will be a long wait and I have to keep the potting mix warm and moist all the time. I also sowed more buk choy seeds in the same pot where I have pulled out the existing ones.

2 Hours' Work

My work for 2 hours this morning : Potted the largest pot of common mint which I grew from two cuttings. Potted up the citronella (mosquito plant) Divided up the lemon grass into three pots. Fed seasol to those transplanted. Fed Charlie Carp to curry plant, capsicum plants, lavendar, buk choy, bay, hot chilli. Fertilised the orange and lemon trees. Removed weeds surrounding the lemon and orange trees.

The potted on common mint.

The original two cuttings which I propagated.

Two of the chilli padi seeds given by my shepherd have germinated. Not exactly a good time to germinate seeds at this time of the year due to lack of warmth and sunshine. I do hope they can make it and grow. I was able to harvest more purple king beans today and had them for lunch. Crunchy and sweet and turned green when boiled. The capsicum is my first harvest off the capsicum plant on the vege patch. I have a feeling it is a yellow capsicum as there is no sign of any redness. Four more coming!

I cleared the potato plant from the large pot and wow! Digging the potting mix out gave me a surprise of a few egg sized potatoes. This is also first time growing potatoes and I started out too late in the season. I suppose I can do better the next round but potatoes are really cheap! Perhaps just to grow them for fun!

I am propagating some ivy in a pot.

The two citronella cuttings in potting mix.

The divided lemon grass.

The oriental radishes have been thinned out to just one per lot.

More capsicums from the vege patch.

The onion bulbs. I think daffodil bulbs grow this time too.

Really Is An Avocado Plant!

I cleared up the mighty red tomato bush this morning. With only two tiny fruits on it (some looted by possums, some eaten by my dogs), it's not worth keeping it. I have been rather curious with a plant growing in the midst of the tomato bush and after cutting the bush down, I was able to dig a little to check if this was an avocado plant. Right instinct! It certainly was. I think I must have buried one last winter or spring with all the vege scraps from the kitchen. It is already 15cm tall. The large seed was still in the soil. I know avocado trees take donkey years to grow and fruit, say at least 10 years. And I will be fortunate if it ever fruit! So I have shelfed the idea of growing avocados after doing some research and reading forums on it. However, recently I read something by Jackie French, who says an avocado tree can be trained to be in a large pot in-house, where it serves as an ornamental tree due to its beautiful green glossy leaves and expensive look. That is quite tempting, though I always wanted useful trees that produce edible fruits. Pots and pots...Notice the fly screen barricading the vege patch behind the pots? I had resorted to that because recently Marco has decided to venture into the patch due to boredom. Upset is an understatement. He uprooted one of my flowering capsicum, snipped some tomato branches off, knocked over the laundry hamper covering the fruiting capsicum and stomped on my oriental radish seedlings. I only managed to salvage my seedlings. It was a distressing moment given I have put in so much effort.

The avocado plant with seed still in tact. The tomato bush cut down, the avocado plant growing just close by.

Seedlings of oriental radishes growing fine, saved by me after being stomped down by Marco.

My little experiment of growing avocado from seed here on the window ledge. Been waiting for a long time.

Vietnamese Mint roots super fast, within a few days of standing in water.

One Rosemary Cutting has Flowered.

Cold morning. Cosy afternoon. A little drizzle interspersed cloudy and then sunny day. Collected a few drops of rain in buckets ;o. Since the soil was moist and soft in the morning, I did some weeding. The creepy weeds are growing very well at the sides of the vege patch and soon will come near my capsicum and mighty red tomato bush. One of the potted rosemary cuttings has decided to flower instead of growing. Flowering for herbs is not really ideal since it means its energy for growing has been given to flowering. But it is not a bad sight at all.

One dandelion weed growing well in the vege patch. Dandelions are common weeds and their leaves are nutritious for making tea, which can be used to water plants. In fact, shops sell dandelion tea bags for human consumption and dandelion flowers can be used in salads. They have deep tap roots that can draw nutrients from deep in the soil.

My capsicum is growing well, at least with much peace of mind since I am able to protect it from possums. Another on the right of the picture is developing.

One little purple king pod is growing near the ground just close to the very mature pod. I have placed a plastic sheet under it on the ground weighed down by rocks.

The aloe vera is growing two new pups in the centre...one tiny one and a slightly longer one.

The vietnamese mint overtaking the large pot's surface. It is really a sprawling grower. I am ready to harvest some for ladies' fellowship next Monday.

Two of my six lots of oriental radishes. I am now cracking my head on how to protect them from digging possums. Neighbours just told me possums dug their ground and ate their silver beets!

One cluster of chillies from the nellie kelly hot chilli.

Another cluster. So happy to see larger chillies developing before ripening. I have harvested some ripe ones in the past but they were really tiny.

Possums' Visit

Warm morning. 7.00 am. I went out and sat on the steps of the back door, enjoying the company of Smokey and Marco, and watching the sky slowly brighten up and the sun rising. There were also warm breezes and birds chirping. This kind of autumn weather is memorable. I doubt I can do that when winter comes. I do not anticipate its arrival. One thing is lacking - a table and chair and a cup of hot coffee! All the sown oriental radishes have emerged with the first set of leaves. But I would have to wait for the true set of leaves to grow before thinning them out. One of the two spring onion bulbs is growing. 'Hello neighbour, are you sprouting too?' The pot next to this has a peach and nectarine seed buried in it as per my previous entry : http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2009/03/seedlings-of-oriental-radishes.html. Unfortunately, what's left are two holes this morning. That was when I realised that possums have been visiting my yard. The dogs cant be digging such nice holes with their paws just to get fruit stones!

The second purple king pod has grown. I am taking lots pictures because it grows very rapidly.

Glad to find two more pods hidden away under the leaves.

Okay the dogs cant have done this. Smokey eats whole ripe tomatoes even if he jumps onto the patch. The verdict : possums have been gnawing on these unripe fruits. I began to realise that the plastic bags I found on the grass each morning was not the work of my dear Marco, but the possums, which have been picking my peaches. 'Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.' Matthew 6:26 of the Bible. The birds and possums and my dog have been sharing the peaches and they do not need to work hard for them. See how true the verse is?

My dear capsicum at the vege patch, how am I going to protect you from the paws of the possums? I mean, I would love to eat at least one home-grown capsicum.

The capsicum in the pot is a bit slower than those two at the vege patch in flowering and fruiting but they are steadily reaching there. I am proud to announce three flowers and lots more! This capsicum is a true hero because it was dug up from the vege patch and potted (http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2009/02/long-long-entry.html), but it did well under my tender loving care. :) I have to keep fertilising it to give it enough nutrients to fruit well.

My potted on lemongrass are not showing any signs of transplanting shock so far and they have even shown taller growth.

Thyme is also showing healthy new growth. Recently snipped off some for my beef pasta. Fresh home-grown herbs...yum yum!

The aloe vera which was potted on and then re-potted few days (http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2009/03/work-on-cloudy-day.html) after that. In this new pot, it seems happier and has not shown any stress.

My cayenne pepper has put on so many chillies I cannot even count...at least 15? This is one of the groups of chillies I have taken. Today my shepherd has given me some seeds of chilli padis. I have sown them in premium potting mix + composted cow manure + a tiny handful of seedling fertiliser. Hope to see some germination soon. Yippee!!!

Another project in progress : dog poo for compost! I have been gathering the dogs' poo in recycled potting mix (30L type) bags and dog food (15kg) bags. I will have to let the poo decompose on its own at one far corner of the garden. It is a slow process without worms but there are the fungi and bacteria at slow work. Rather than throwing them into garbage bins, the dog poo can be reused when completely composted/aged. It is quite safe to use this as long as the dogs are in good health, not eating rubbish and not on deworming tablets. Anyway by the time the poo is completely composted, it will be safe to use as mulching or organic fertiliser.

7.00 Autumn morning.

Seedlings of Oriental Radishes.

Another sunny day. I am sure the plants are loving this weather, especially after a good soak of rain a week back. Now that the pots are slowly drying out in the sun, I can use the well-collected 100 litres of water on them. The two strongest capsicum plants are flowering more and see that little capsicum? I wonder if it will turn out to be yellow or red as I have forgotten to label it during sowing...bad habit for a gardener.

The purple king is having more flowers and another pod is coming. I am glad that they are coming out so quickly despite the plant being ruined in the heat wave. This tomato sucker which I grew in the ground actually started out well but somehow it decided to die.

The seedlings of the oriental radishes have emerged, after being sown merely four days ago.

I use plastic take-away containers to cut out pot labels. Labels are not expensive to buy but why not save on it and recycle plastic containers like this? Wooden ice-cream sticks are also equally effective.

Here's how the labels look like. I have eaten a home-grown peach and a supermarket nectarine. Just bury the seeds here for fun. It is autumn and I shall see if either of both will grow. Even if they do, I cannot grow them on my new property because I can only afford land for dwarf versions.