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 :

A Smoky Day...Some Work and Some Harvest...

Today is a smoky day due to the bush fires in some parts of Victoria which left hundreds dead. This morning as I opened the door to the backyard I could smell smoke and I was astonished for a moment, wondering if the reserve behind us was on fire! I told Hubby and he said today would be a smoky day. The tomato sucker which rooted in water and planted into a potting mix with coir fibre, cow manure and seasol as below has been out in the sun. Hope this one takes off and show me some growth as the previous one was stunted due to reasons which I do not know of. Well, I doubt I have much time to see any fruiting anyway since it is already mid Feb/late summer. Gardening is pretty much experimental for me at this stage but I would like to ensure the plants do grow well. Thyme was harvested again today and this is how it looks like thereafter :

The rooted vietnamese mint cuttings were in their green planter. Could there be any other herbs that is as easy to grow as this? They just thrive with nothing much except sun and lots of water and an occasional amount of seasol :

The red skin potato plant is growing well in the pot from a tiny bud :

As I was watering all my herbs, I found a broken vietnamese mint stem in the pot. Not sure how it broke but it was all soft and limp. I quickly put it in a container of water and it was absorbing water so well. Now it is turgid again. I know I need not wait very long before roots appear and it can be planted into the green planter with the other two.

This is how the buk choy look like a few days after harvesting. New leaves are growing already. Buk choy is a cut and come again vegetable. Great to have!

This is the harvest for my kitchen - some tomatoes to ripen as usual and a bunch of fresh buk choy. Also harvested a bunch of thyme, a few sprigs of rosemary and 5 cayenne pepper.

Over these few days, I was pleasantly surprised to see little shoots coming out of the sun-fried purple king bean plant. I thought it was a gone case. Fortunately for it, I hadnt pulled it out of the ground. It seems to be resurreting with new green growth of shoots. Here's a peek at it before the heat wave, after and now :

I do hope it will grow again even though its older leaves were toasted by the scorching heat and have turned as crispy as potato chips.

So In Love with Herbs & Spices!

One of my greatest desires is to grow a lot of herbs and spices in my garden, whether in pots or on the ground. Herbs are such wonderful things to have - good to throw some into dishes, really beneficial for health, nice to just smell them or rub them with my finger tips and give such a glorious view. I can spend a lot of time just admiring my herbs. Currently, I have about ten pots of herbs/spices in my garden - thyme, rosemary, lavendar, vietnamese mint, oregano, thai basil, mixed basil (including lemon, thai and purple basil), bay, mint and chilli. I would love to add the following to my list - coriander, curry plant, curry tree, lemon grass, aloe vera, more types of chillies - some time soon. My revived Lavendar Bee Pretty sitting so prettily. Some flower buds are developing again. Hope that I will be able to see them flower a second time within six months.

Mint producing a few little plants at the base - slowly - I guess being confined in a pot does that to the mint.

Bay tree growing slowly as it is. More leaves but same height, I th ink.

Oregano is producing little shoots from below after the trimming.

Rosemary sprigs harvested one week back see them growing new ones again! :) A little pot like this is actually sufficient for my family's usage.

Thyme was given a boost by cutting back and here they go, shooting up new soft wood stems again. There is so much to harvest and give away.

My Mixed Basil from seeds...Purple Basil, Lemon Basil, Thai Basil...rubbing the different leaves with finger tips and smelling it is refreshing! Even my boy wants to have a sniff at them.

Vietnamese Mint leafing more and more after harvesting one big handful to be dried.

The shallot flowers have opened...

Keeping Check.

Sam and I harvested some more of the greengages. They are quite fragile and since the tree is tall, some fell onto the ground and the impact caused broken skin. Given that to doggy which happily ate them up.

Thought this oregano is fighting space and nutrients with one of the melons close by, as the melon did not seem to be growing healthily and turning yellow, so I have dug the oregano up and potted it. It did amazingly well even in 37-39 deg celsius weather in the potting mix with seasol. I made sure drainage is good by placing the planter box on a sloped ground.

My two beautiful Laksa plants (vietnamese mint) are flourishing, growing taller and having more baby leaves. One thing for sure is to keep watering them :)..at least I am sure they thrive with lots of water!

Rosemary is truly strong, not even showing any fuzz after being repotted in new potting mix! And seems to be growing, having more stems appearing.

The two potato plants in the pot are growing stronger day by day, with new baby leaves growing on the stems, which is a good sign of health. Leaves are also firmer now.

Thyme continue to flourish in the pot. Hoping to see some flowering soon before I cut them back.

All the four Buk choy seeds germinated. I should have placed all four separately instead of pairing them up. :( good lesson learned.

Tip : If soil is dry, water before sowing. Use a watering can which allows gentle watering. Never sow and then water as the soil may form a crust over the seed and prevent entry of water to the seed or even prevent seedlings from breaking through to the light.

The bare lemon mint stem is doing so surprisingly well, growing baby leaves even in the seemingly dry soil.

I have pruned many leaves off the tomato plant and tied drooping branches to supports. Also pruned off some flowers so that the existing tomatoes would get most of the nutrients.

The mint cuttings have rooted well so I planted them into the potting mix yesterday evening, with mulching and kept them indoors overnight, with lots of watering and seasol. They have been taking it in and are out in the sun this afternoon when the sunshine is not so harsh.

Cut the lavendar back and hope that it will grow better from below. Also tested the drainage of the soil. Quite sure drainage is fine. Hoping that the leaves will revive and not continue to turn yellow brown. Not sure if the pyrethrum spray has caused the yellowing and browning of the leaves.

Both purple king have emerged! This morning this one could not be seen and in the afternoon, I was shocked to see that it has come out! Driven two supports into the ground.

This potato plant looked like it was going to die few days back but it survived!

Some Newbies in the Vege Patch.

Vietnamese mints (Laksa plant) seem to be growing well. Give them lots of water. Thai basil not sure. So far all four that I have tried growing arent developing too well. Could be better starting from seed rather than mature stems.

Buk Choy seeds have germinated in their large pots. Given them water and there was a fair amount of sunshine and warmth. Purple King beans have not emerged yet though.

Got these potato plants in large pot but not sure if they will survive very well.

The green gages on the tree are ripening beautifully. But they are already attracting some birds to feed on them.

One of the tomato vines, the largest and first to develop.

Thyme that grew from seeds are doing so well in the potting mix. One of my pride and joy. Could it be Jamie Durie's seeds that did the trick? Rosemary, chilli and mint were doing too well. I hope to come up with some remedy to salvage the situation. I have sown some more chilli seeds in a large pot of potting mix. They have germinated but hopefully wont have stunted growth this time. Or it would mean the seeds are of lousy grade?! Not sure.

Most of my melons are having flowers. I hope they put up a good fight and grow some melons, having been revived after thinning and transplanting shock. :)

Capsicums germinating fast and furious! This time round, since I know they are capsicums, I would just leave them in the ground and forgetting about transplanting! Most of the vege tend to do better in the ground than in pots!

One of the plums which I could hand-pick as it is low enough! How exciting watching it turn from green to yellow to red. I could not wait for it to turn deep red so I plucked it this evening.

The oregano is growing steadily. It is a bit close to one of the melons, being just next door. Thinking about re-planting it.