Welcome! I am a stay at home mum of two gorgeous boys, proud owner of an online handmade store and an avid gardener. This blog records most of my gardening journey over a few properties. We have recently moved to a new permanent property and it's time to start gardening again! I enjoy time-out in my home garden looking at and photographing birds, insects and plants. It is also a haven for my sons and golden retriever. May you enjoy your visits here. :)
The second Lilium LA hybrid flower has opened. It is gorgeous compared to the first one because it is a single flower. See http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2009/11/sweet-potato-creepers.html for the first Lilium LA Hybrid.
I pulled up the onions which were dying down and revealed four shallot-looking onions. I think I can eat them as shallots in my cooking. See http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2009/07/one-more-month-of-winterhows-are-some.html on how they originally looked like.
By far this calendula flower is the largest bloom and it is produced by one of the calendulas at the patch next to the garage. Great stuff!
One Lilium LA Hybrid flower has opened. Was not as white or spectacular as I had imagined.
I found and bought four sweet potato creepers from bunnings. I thought it is a wonderful idea to grow them on the mulched areas where my golden sheen hedge is. My original intention was to either leave the areas mulched with red gum bark chips or grow some succulent crawlers to control weeds but having sweet potato creepers to do that would be even better. They can weed control when they spread out and they can be eaten too. The only concern would be winter as sweet potato cannot withstand cold. I will have to protect them when the time comes if they survive summer and autumn.
Lemon verbena which I transplanted into the lavender area outside my bedroom window is doing well. It is really a good idea to minimise root disturbance and plant the whole rootball + potting mix in. The plant did not show a single sign of transplant shock.
My sunflower Sun king...5 of them...do not look very fantastic this season. I think the soil here is not very good and I have to improve it after this. I have added more composted rooster manure and watered them with charlie carp today and hopefully they can grow bigger. At least they survived because in the beginning, they did not even look like they were going to make it.
I worked on this mulched area behind our bedroom wall. I removed all four existing shrubs which did not look fantastic nor were useful. The area has a lot of pebbles. I am beginning to understand that the pebbles were added by the landscapist to curb potentially extensive/invasive root growth since the plants were so close to the house. Strange that the lavender area has not a single pebble. Since this area is pebbly and does not get lots sunshine, I contemplate planting aloe vera here.
Two holes around the dripline of the plum tree area were further deepened and I put in a soft drink bottle tube (cut at both ends) each for watering/fertilising purpose.
My three chilli padis are having a growth spurt! I think they will soon overcrowd this pot.
One of them is having flower buds already! Yippee! Chilli padis!!!
One of the capsicums on the plant seems to be ripening. If it does, it will be my first time seeing it ripen as last season, it fruited too late and could not ripen in autumn-winter temperatures.
My strawberry delight has developed a runner. Hmmm....what should I do with it? I have to check with the nursery. I am happy...it means more strawberry plants!
I trimmed down the large pot of mint as the infestations with tiny caterpillars seem out of control. Will net it after feeding charlie carp.
The lucerne seedlings are everywhere on this patch F. I have decided to plant them and use them as either mulch or fertiliser for my garden.
I cleared Patch B of the snow peas...into my compost bin...and the matured pods for seeds.
Irritating weed sprouting up everywhere among the golden sheens.
My tomato silvery fir in the pot.
Tomato silvery fir #1 on the front garden. Got to erect protection over it soon or I will lose the fruits to Marco my dog!
Tomato silvery fir #2 on the front garden.
Here's two tiny silvery fir tomatoes! Looks like once the flowers go, I should see fruits...which is not like that for my tomato beef steak...I am beginning to wonder if I have a sterile plant!!!
One of the five calendula officinalis plants...the leaves really looks like vegetable for soup. I wonder how it tastes like. The plants are all flowering and have many buds, and tiny caterpillars for me to pick and squash too...Obviously the leaves and flowers are yummy to them.
Since my tomato beef steak has no fruits even with clusters of flowers, I bought two cheap pots of bee-attracting flowers to help the situation.
I had a few pots of plants under this makeshift netting which helps with fluttering butterflies (in day) and moths (at night) looking for leaves to lay eggs on. It came a bit late but I never calculated that this property have this particular problem. I did not include the large pot of common mint as there were already eggs and caterpillars hiding somewhere in its leaves. I thought the two smaller pots are safe but sadly, they also showed signs of caterpillar damage. :(
My eggplant supreme is growing well but still the leaves are munched on at night. I must get my butt moving and come out in the nights to look for the culprit...potentially earwigs.
My passionfruit panama gold is looking hopeless as its growth cannot keep up with its leaves being eaten. I am fed up with what has been having it for supper.
The two caterpillars (http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2009/11/todays-work.html) which I caught, fed and cocooned, have turned into moths!!! So they are the ones which laid eggs on my mint!
Physical changes in appearance of leaves can indicate caterpillar invasion like the mint and strawberry pictures show. Usually the caterpillars love young leaves and they can either eat the whole leaf or just the under-surface leaving blotched leaves.
2. Poo on leaves. I can almost 100% find a caterpillar when I notice poo on leaves. They look like tiny black beads. I saw them on my calamondin comquot and I really found a brown caterpillar to squash.
Tiny black poo on my annabel daisy leaves indicate tiny caterpillar while larger poo indicates larger caterpillar.
Searching reveal a small caterpillar which dropped onto the potting mix. Sometimes it is tough finding small caterpillars among the leaves especially for really bushy plants like mint and daisy. I will take note and return the next or following day and I am guaranteed to find fat caterpillars...fat but easy to locate because of their size.