Showing posts with label vietnamese mint. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vietnamese mint. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Strong Winds and Some Rain.

Tuesday. It has been very windy today and will be tomorrow as forecasted. 45km/h. My taller plants such as the calamondin, kaffir lime and cayenne pepper in pots were swaying under the mercy of the wind. I have erected plastic sheets around them to ease the stress. Hopefully this will help preventing any casualty. I had all the pots against the tall wooden fence a while back where they can get sunshine but it proves to be a bad windbreak area.
Calamondin protected by two layers of plastic sheets.
Kaffir lime and a small pot of mint surrounded by a sheet of plastic.
Vietnamese mint covered by a large towel with a plastic sheet on top.
Newly potted apricot Moorpark and fig brown turkey taking shelther in the garage against strong winds, rain and possible possum visits.
Would love to have more rain as water collected from the previous round has been almost used up. However, I do not welcome the wind at all. Gardening over here is rather challenging...up against droughts, heat waves, strong winds and cold weathers. And possums too. Seriously looking forward to moving to my new place. At least I dont expect to see many possums there.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Back from Tasmania

Back from Tasmania! Glorious time I had! I came home to a little bit of nightmare - my purple king bean plant has mysteriously disappeared from its ground without a trace! See here before it was gone. No roots no leaves no beans left, except its stake still standing on its spot. I wonder if possums have done the deed. My spinach and rocket did not take off. Neither did the new snow pea seeds I have sown. Two small pots of vietnamese mints are dying and the oregano and lemon grass are not looking very well. However, things were not as bad as I had imagined. I managed to harvest some stuff - large bunch of thyme, some sprigs of rosemary, chillies and spring onions. What a pleasant surprise I got from my pot of nasturtiums! It has grown so much and so well and are flowering. In Tassie, I have seen beautiful nasturtiums at various locations and was wondering to myself how mine were doing. It was great coming back to a pleasant greeting from them.
My lavender bee pretty is well too. Just on the day I left, I sprayed the potting mix with pyrethrum+white oil mix because I spotted so many ants. Was a little worried about the lavender but came back to a blessing of bushy green growth!
This little small pot of mint is growing so prettily that I can resist admiring it. I cannot even remember how it looked like before I went for my holiday.
My most worried candidates turned out to be doing exceptionally well! The common mints and vietnamese mints all did fine.
My potted capsicum has four developing fruits when I returned.
One of the two at the vege patch has three developing fruits.
The other is have two developing fruits. Wow...three small capsicum plants produce enough for the family for months!
The mint (given by a friend and grown from a bare stem) is doing fine at the vege patch except that I discovered lots of bug?eggs? on the young shoots. All these were cut off and soaked in boiling water to kill them.
Similar things happened to my calamondin shoots and curry plant shoots.
The leaves of my oriental radishes were eaten down to the main stems by some creatures/bugs even though they are under net protection. Under the leaves, I can see the radish growing, still tiny.
The leaves of the oriental radishes

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

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.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Peekaboo!

Writing this to record yesterday's work while little man had his nap. This week has been really chilly and drizzly and the sunshine was intermittent. Day time temperature went as low as 14 deg celsius so I suppose night time temperature could drop even lower. This is my plants' first winter and I am trying to prepare myself as well as them for winter, mainly those that cannot take frost. I am not going to take any risk and lose any of them to the cold. Peekaboo! Cracking my head did some help. I make use of this laundry hamper to house my potted capsicum in the night. Draped a towel over it to cut out the cold and a layer of plastic as waterproofing in case it rains. This capsicum has done so tremendously well despite being uprooted from the vege patch and potted up. It is fruiting now, though later than the two at the vege patch. However, it is actually taller and stronger than the two at the vege patch.
The hamper was just right in size, and deters any possums too. I am contemplating lifting the other two capsicum plants from the vege patch when winter comes. That means they will be in pots. I am thinking of this because capsicums are actually perenial and if I can keep them out from the cold, they can be around for a long time.
My pots of common mint, vietnamese mint and aloe vera are housed in the mini greenhouse at night as they are more sensitive to the cold.
I potted up the kaffir lime shrub with a mixture of premium potting mix, regular potting mix and cow manure. Given it a good soak of seasol.
The tall single stem of the kaffir lime had many leaves on it. I wonder if it is going to grow taller and taller into the sky, so I decided to cut it off and use it to do my experiment and see if I can root it. Anyway, no harm doing it. I just stored the leaves from the stem in the freezer for cooking purpose.
Vietnamese mint does not take the cold and the pot is so heavy to move! So a plastic sheet over them supported by bamboo stems and pegs is fantastic way to keep the cold out.
To reduce transplanting shock, I also used plastic sheet over the kaffir lime for the night.
Finally after more than two weeks, 17 days to be exact, all my four sweet peas emerged.

Monday, March 30, 2009

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.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

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.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Two New Kids on the Block!

Today was a cold day, with light showers in the afternoon. I brought Samuel to a large nursery in the afternoon when the sun came out and rain went away. Bought two coveted citrus : comquat calamondin on the right (calamondins C madurensis or calamansi)) and kaffir lime on the left. Comquat calamondin limes can be used for flavoring chilli pastes, giving them extra punch. I love its juice in belacan chilli pastes and that goes well with many types of seafood especially squids and cockles. Yum! After migrating here, I have learned to cook more Cambodian and Thai dishes, since their ingredients such as thai basil, vietnamese mints and kaffir lime leaves are so accessible. It is a good idea to invest in a kaffir lime shrub - its leaves are so aromatic when rubbed with fingers. They are wonderful in Tom Yam soups and work well with lemon grass.
The first capsicum has popped from the first flower. Really wonder how big it can grow to but I am faithful in feeding it with seasol. Perhaps I should mulch with cow manure as well.
The cayenne pepper is having many flowers like I have said in my last entry. I had to prune it so that existing fruits can develop to maturity. Look at the several chillies at this low level. They are growing from shoots that grew from the main stem.
I am a little puzzled as to why so many of the white flowers are dropping off before shrivelling. Perhaps the recent cold weather has caused this. Anyway, I have lots chillies coming so I do not mind losing these. Hopefully it is not some nutrient lack.
The two vietnamese mints are growing ferociously, greener than ever. I will harvest soon for our ladies fellowship where we will be making vietnamese rolls!
My Mighty Red is nearing its end. Some parts have shrivelled up but there are some new shoots though. Weather is getting too cold for it and soon it will be good bye. The one tomato which I have left on the bush to ripen and collect seeds had been eaten up by naughty Smokey, who jumped onto the patch.
"All that mankind needs for good health and healing is provided by God in nature...the challenge of Science is to find it." - Paracelcus, the father of Pharmcology, 1493 - 1541