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!

Seedlings' Update - Spring Onion, Purple Buk Choy, Oriental Radish, Snow Pea.

Possums are a huge problem for me as a gardener since I am renting a house next to a reserve with many tall trees and bushes. They are here every night and I can hear them moving on my roof. While they are cute creations, they are not very welcomed visitors for me. My spring onion seedings have all germinated under partial shade after sowing 16 days ago. Looking forward to spring onion omelette. I love the thin spring onions because they cook easier for omelettes.

My oriental radishes are growing rather slowly thanks to the gloomy weather and thus they have not been receiving much sunshine. I have them protected under plastic containers at night but I am already working on large proper covers for them once they develop more. Keeping my brain juice churning! In my previous batch of oriental radishes, they grew very fast and leafy but their leaves were practically eaten away by some mysterious bugs/creatures when I went holidaying in Tasmania. See their gorgeous leaves here. And when I returned 2.5 weeks later, it was like this.

The snow pea seedlings are getting me a bit concerned. They are growing well. It is just that they could be eaten up again. My whole purple king bean plant was eaten up without a trace. Now that the snow pea seedlings are still small, they are protected as I do with the oriental radishes and buk choy. But when they grow taller and bigger, I have to figure out a way to protect them at night. I cant camp out in the garden. Erecting a scarecrow is another idea but I think whoever visiting in the night is quite clever to see through my plot. I thought of using chicken wire to wrap around the growing pea plants but they prove not very flexible, and with the holes, the pea plants can still be destroyed. Then I thought of plastic sheets. Perhaps I can try that since they have no holes and are very flexible to go around the pea plants. Moreover, my pea plants are a mildew-resistant specie, so I need not worry about this problem with them all wrapped up at night.

The purple buk choys will suffer similar fate as the oriental radishes if not taken care of, so I will probably use covers for them once they grow bigger. They get pest problems such as caterpillars and aphids. I reckon pyrethrum sprays will have to be used on the leaves of the radishes and buk choy once aphids start coming.

Snow Peas and Oriental Radishes Have Germinated.

Yeah! The snow peas and oriental radishes have all germinated successfully at the vege patch. I had them all under protection using cut milk or fruit containers. Now that they have germinated, I daily open up the containers for them to get sunshine. The three snow peas in the pot are doing well too. With the pot in the greenhouse, I need not worry that they will be karate chopped overnight. Till they are well-established, I will figure out a way to protect them from pests.

Oriental radish seedlings

Snow pea seedling

New Buk Choy, Snow Pea & Spinach Seedlings...Daffodil Bulbs.

Recently after my Tassie trip, I planted two purple buk choy seeds. They have since germinated but growing really really at snail-pace. Same goes for my chilli padi seedlings. After the 'demise' of my first set of snow pea seedlings at the vege patch, I decided to grow them in pots for the first part of their life till they are well-established to be planted at the patch. And this round, I planted Digger's seeds instead, which are resistant to mildew. I learn that snow peas pods as well as the leaves can be eaten. Markets are selling at $11 per kg, not mentioning the supermarkets, so I am really keen to grow some, especially when my family does love them. The 3 new ones germinated after ten days in the pot and the pot is usually in the mini greenhouse except during the day.

I have also sown two spinach seeds in a green planter but only one germinated.

One of the few plants left at the vege patch - mint and the avocado below.

I have worked the soil on the left side of the vege patch and added aged cow manure. Planted daffodil bulbs, watered and covered with a layer of water-saving mulch.

Preparing To Go Holiday!

I was looking forward for a good holiday in Tasmania but certainly had concerns over some of my plants, especially the vietnamese mints and common mints. I learnt that they are not cold-hardy. So I cut some stems to stand in water while I was away for two weeks, at least I would have some rooted to grow in case those in the garden die. I also made a topless cloche around my pots of capsicum, lemon verbena, curry plant, chilli padi seedlings and vietnamese mint. This should keep them out from too much cold at night and at the same time, they still can access sunshine.

For this large pot of vietnamese mint, I build a topless cloche around the pot with plastic and stakes.

For some mysterious reasons, my snow pea seedlings have been chopped down overnight. No snow peas for now.

I potted on the small pot of common mint and did the same cloche around it.

My other pot of common mint somehow has developed purplish tinge around some leaves. It is puzzling to have this problem before I leave. I sent this pot to my neighbour so that she can monitor its progress.

Okay. Let go and not think about my garden for two weeks! Hope for no casualty.

Buk Choy, Spinach, Snow Peas

On Saturday, I used skewer sticks to support the four snow pea seedlings. They seem to be taking the support well. When they have grown longer, I hope to bring them to the sunflower stalks behind them.

This new snow pea (above) was sown after those which germinated on 7 April and yet it is growing faster. Strange!

The spinach seedlings have emerged after a mere 7 to 10 days (instructions stated 14 days). I have sown them together with spring onion (which have not germinated) in a large new pot with premium potting mix, compost and cow manure.

The two buk choys left after thinning out the seedlings are not looking good. Somehow there are holes on the leaves and they looked bruised too. I credited that to the tiny black flies (which crawled around on the potting mix). I have sprayed with pyrethrum+white oil mix to curb the flies and hope the buk choy will develop. If not, time for new seeds!