Flowers Update & Mucking Around in the Garden.

Little man and I were admiring the blooming tulips along our driveway when we discovered loads of green juicy aphids attacking the poor tulips. They have been planted here along the shady driveway so this welcomed those pesky creatures. My son and I had fun squishing (sounds cruel) the aphids, esp my son. 

The centre of the tulip is very pretty so I snapped a picture of it.

The little yellow daffodils at the patch next to my garage are slowly blooming, it's 3rd season.

Below the plum tree are the King Alfred daffodils.  They are very tall but not as big and beautiful as I thought they were.

Little man has the habit of putting his hands into his pockets as he walks nowadays.  He was enjoying the fluttering white petals of the plum tree as the wind blew and I snapped a shot of him.

Mid-winter, and all the daisies are flowering their heads away.

 Calendulas too...

The three cyclamens out of my kitchen window are looking glorious. I love the leaves and the butterfly-like bright flowers.

Finally I divided up the very much neglected evening primrose plants.  I threw away a lot and have about 6 pots left.  I wonder how they will end up (I mean in terms of look) 

The star jasmine plant is growing well on this fence and I cant wait for it to flower.  I cant wait to indulge in the killer fragrance they produce.

 I have decided to hang my two pots of kalanchoe out of my kitchen window so I can admire their flowering day and night (since I spend so much time spending in front of the window where my sink is!).

 This is the pot of kalanchoe which I have propagated successfully.  It is blooming beautifully.

Tulips from last year are sprouting up next to the small black gate where my conifer is.  This picture shows the left side of the gate.  Unfortunately only one is sprouting up from the right side of the gate.

Edibles Update

My son and I bought some alfafa seeds and it was really fun watching the seeds germinate and grow from pale seedlings into green leafy sprouts.  I had prawns & alfafa sprouts sandwich for breakfast. My son does not enjoy vegetables (though I do force him to eat) so he just had a biteful of my sandwich and decided to stick with his  toast with orange marmalade & cheese.

On Sunday my hubby helped me to easily dig up my artichoke green globe clump (I could not even drive the spade into the soil!) I divided the three and replanted them. For the last few days the artichoke plants looked good in the morning but were in a wilting condition when evening arrived. I am praying they will survive this dividing and re-planting.

The saffron plants around the peach tree seem to be dying down. They certainly dont look very glamorous.

Those saffron in the planter look like lush grass and not ready to die down yet.

These are baby spinach which my son and I have planted. They have emerged but growing slowly in this cold weather. Well, spinach are cool season vegetables anyway.

 We use fruit containers as mini cloches over the spinach to trap as much warmth from the sun as possible.

 This little pak choy in my fig tree pot is growing very well. Time to harvest for soup.

 These two pak choys have been harvested for soup. Very tender!

 I am still harvesting my chilli fire chillies even though it is mid-winter! What a joy!

 I finally dug up the last of my two burdock plant. It was labourious digging and tugging but I managed to dig up a whole big basket of burdock. I have used them for soup (though I did not eat the root, just the yummy soup). I will be using them for stir fry tonight.

It's a Colder Winter! Back Garden Update.

It's been donkey time I have updated my blog. I have not been planting very much this winter. Thought of resting myself and having more important priorities at the moment. I am still maintaining the garden though and the work never seems ending. My 3 chilli padi plants are still ripening their chillies. This year, the crop is very abundant. At least a hundred chillies or even more.

Arent the leaves of the choko pretty? The vine is growing very well in the pot. Come spring I will find a location in the garden to plant it permanently. I stir-fried two shop-bought chokos few days ago and they are really yummy. The whole family loves it.

The strawberry delight plantlets are doing okay and I would give a few of them away.

Here's the saffron crocus in the pot. Looks like grass. I wont get a crop this year. It will only flower in the next season.

Green Pak choy sprouting in the pot of chilli padi plants and also in the fig tree pot. They were seeds which came from the compost bin. I have thrown empty seed pods to be composted and they still contain some seeds, so when the compost was used as fertiliser, the seeds sprouted. A good thing!

My kaffir lime plant is doing well now in winter. I saw that one small box is sold for $4 in the supermarket! That makes my plant very very expensive!!! I use the leaves a fair bit for cooking. Fragrant!!

This is plot F. Sorry picture was not rotated. I grew some clover and biomustard here to clean and fertilise the soil.

Finally pruned my grape vine. I do hope I have done the right job and hope for some grapes next year.

Also pruned my blackcurrent bush. The new buds are swelling.

This little pot of kalanchoe is flowering. I propagated it from the mother plant and it was successful. Very proud of myself hehe...

Saffron Crocus Finally Showing!

6 of my 12 Saffron bulbs from Tessalaar have finally emerged around the peach tree.

1 of the 2 Artichoke Green Globe has produced 4 new shoots.

The two Clementis The President seem to have taken the soil next to the small black gate fine.

Snow peas growing.

Protected my aloe veras from the coming cold.

Choko, Coriander, Saffron Sativus, Chives, Thai Basil, Poppy, EChinaea (Cornflower) & Strawberry Delight

I planted some flower seeds last Friday outside the garage where there is a strip of soil. Cornflower (Echinaea), Poppy and Foxglove. It rained and rained almost the whole of this week. So far I have not seen the seeds germinated. I also planted some Mustard seeds (Biomulch) and Clover seeds in Patch F. The patch is empty now and the mustard and clover when grown, will be dug into the soil as nutrients for the soil.

My bittermelon plants are crawling up the trellis and have flowers but no fruit yet. I doubt I would ever get one this seaon since they only started growing December.

All 11 strawberry delight plants have done well and growing! They are all in styrofoam boxes which leak which is great because the boxes will not collect rainwater and drown the plants. Yeah more strawberries next season!!!

My thai basil are doing very well even with the cold rains. I hope I would be able to keep them alive through the coming cold winter months.

Chives (Asian type) have survived the dividing and re-planting. All I need is some support as the long leaves are falling all over the place.

The planter of saffron sativus crocus are growing. So far those 12 under my peach tree havent sprouted yet and I am beginning to wonder if I have planted them too dig. :(

Surprise find! Lots of coriander seeds have sprouted where the old coriander plants were. Very happy gardener here!

I decided to invest in a choko few days ago. I love to grow perenial fruiting plants, vegetables and flowers because I dont have to pay money to keep planting new plants. So I thought choko would be a good idea. It has gorgeous leaves, is perenial and bears fruits for dishes. This morning I found the base looking a bit different. Something is sprouting. I guess it could be the root. Many websites talk about choko planting but they never ever mention properly how to plant it. So I chose to place it in a bowl and see it sprout instead of planting it straight into the ground.