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.

Peaches for Harvesting.

We had a wonderful day of fine cosy weather today. Samuel and I just came back from just sitting outdoors...bathing in the warm evening sun. Even he told me "Yes Mummy, it is a wonderful day!" I did not have much to do today except put out the pots from the mini green house into the sun and mulched my capsicum plants at the vege patch with cow manure and watering it in. That was about it. Spend most time just admiring the plants and their beauty. A few of the peaches came off easily from their stalks and I guess they are almost ready. They smell fragrant.

My naughty doggy cannot resist the peaches and has been plundering some. 'No! No'

Mine Mine...one of the onion bulbs is finally showing shoots! It is a long wait! I think it takes much shorter time to do that in tropical weather.

The dwarf orange tree is fruiting...these are about lime sizes. Given it citrus fertiliser few days earlier.

The calamasi plant. Hope to see more fruiting soon.

A proper look at my newly acquired kaffir lime plant.

A beautiful cayenne pepper chilli in the midst of changing colour.

A Few New Candidates and Update

Citronella geranium (mosquito plant) which I bought

The aloe vera (above) which I have bought and potted on.

A soak with aquasol helps with providing growing nutrients for this pot of thyme (above) which is turning rather woody.

The capsicum flower (above) has opened...the strongest one on the vege patch.

Another flower (above) of the purple king.

Wow! This purple bean pod (above) was only 2cm a few days back and I was expecting to see that yesterday but was pleasantly surprised by how long it has grown!

More flowers are going to open. For this year, I am contend just to collect some seeds for next spring. The heatwave has stolen at least a week's growing time from this purple king. It is a race against time now.

Peaches are growing fine except that birds are chewing off on some. Of course, those attacked cannot be eaten and I gave them to my dog.

The mixed basil (above) are doing fine. I have not used any for cooking. There is only one thai basil in this pot and not enough for cooking use. I wouldnt mind seeing flowers and collect seeds.

I am leaving this tomato to fully ripen and see if I can get any seeds for next spring.

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Botanic Gardens, Potting On

Autumn has arrived. This week has been quite cool, some days a little too cold for my comfort. I wish I had many waterproof cloches of various sizes to house some of the plants that love warm sunshine. Yesterday, our family had a wonderful time at the Royal Melbourne Botanic Gardens, before taking our little one to his surprise Motor Show. Weather was marvellous - warm sunshine and not too windy. I also visited the Herb Garden with Samuel while Hubby lay on his picnic mat doing nothing. Here are a few pictures which I have taken :

Thai basil flowering. Thyme

Common basil

Capsicum

Oregano

Evening gardening work : The curry plant has overcrowded its little pot and I have potted it on using a 30cm pot. I used premium potting mix + 1 spade coarse sand + 5g slow release fertiliser all mixed in. After potting, I watered the pot thoroughly to give it a good soak of seasol.

Tip : Water soil where existing plant is in, thoroughly at least 2 hours, before potting on or re-potting, to soften the soil so that the plant is easily removed from its pot.

Curry plant after potting on.

I bought a netting which covers part of the peach tree. Fruits are getting larger but at a snail pace. I did not get to eat a single pear on the tree...all eaten by birds but do hope to taste the peaches.

The vietnamese mints in the 30cm pot which grew from two cuttings (http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2008/12/summer-warming-up.html) have becoming trailing and spilling over the edge of the pot. Recently their leaves did not look as green and healthy. I left the pot without watering for a while, fearing that I have waterlogged the potting mix. Their leaves were not as limp after several days. Today I decided to turn it out of its pot to check after deliberately watering the mix.

Growth spilling over the edge (above).

The roots are not potbound yet I think, but there are a lot of roots at the base (above). So, I potted it on into a 40cm pot, just with normal potting mix and 20g of slow release fertiliser. Also trimmed off the roots right at the base. Watered the mix to moisten it and I shall add some seasol tomorrow.

This tomato sucker (below) which I had rooted from the parent Mighty Red tomato is sprouting new growth in the vege patch. Of course it is really a little late experimenting this as it is already beginning of autumn. I am really trying to compare growth in either soil or potting mixes (in pots). So far two similar suckers which were potted into potting mixes did not grow. I am still trying to work out the reason.

The vietnamese mint cutting which I have planted in the vege patch is also showing new growth.

Buk choy is growing fine except that white butterflies love to lay eggs on it. Probably a wonderful food for its caterpillars.

Look at how the caterpillars have munched away edges below. I have to check this pot every day :

Photo Update of Garden Babies

Pear sprinkled with cornflour which did not help with curbing pear slugs - experiment failed. Manual squashing with a disposable glove works best. Pyrethrum spray works but not so on windy days. Thyme growing taller - hoping to harvest some soon. Peach tree doing well...no pesky aphids due to good work of ladybugs. Green plum turning yellow and then will go red.

Plums on the tree.

My orange seeds have germinated after a long while (Sept to Dec). :)

Rosemary growing taller.

My friend has confirmed these are either chilli or bell peppers. However they soon died after thinning out and repotting. Should have added Seasol fertiliser during that.

Chilli plants are growing at a slow pace since sowing on 4 Nov 08.

Friend has confirmed these are melons (rockmelon or honeydew). Probably have to space them out when the rain goes and soil is soft.

Sunflowers are doing fantastic since sowing 1st & 3rd Nov 08.

Two types of plums harvested - maroon and yellowish-red.

Spring is here! It's time to grow good healthy greens!

Peaches on the tree Plums Pears

I have been waiting for spring's arrival and have been working on the vege patch even in winter, weeding away and preparing the soil for spring's planting. Some days I was hardworking, somedays I was not really. But slowly and steadily, I got the vege bed ready, at least managed to cover the patch with weed mat to stop the fast growing weeds from returning. Spring is such a wonderful season. Thank God for creating all the seasons! We watched the bare trees sprout crowns of pink and white flowers, and petals falling like snow flakes when the wind blew. Then we watched the young leaves pushing their way out and the trees are now having green crowns. It was such a beautiful sight out of our living room windows! Right now in the garden, I have mint, rosemary, thyme, tomato and lavender growing. They have just been transplanted into larger pots. I have planted another batch of thyme seeds and a batch of chilli and some sunflower seeds. Can't wait for them to grow and flower and fruit. I am discovering that gardening can bring a wonderful sense of achievement. It is good fun watching the plants grow and caring for them. And Samuel has a fine time learning as he watches me do stuff in the garden. He goes around with his toy lawn mower and chasing doggy with it. We also have a few types of fruit trees bearing fruit on this rental property. How exciting! There is peach, plum and pear. Lots of aphids on the young leaves but lots of ladybugs around to clear them out! I did not know ladybug larve look so different from the cute ladybugs haha...how interesting!