Patch Next to Garage - Fresh Faces.

This challenging patch...with its very clay soil...leaving me clueless on when I should work on it...digging is tough on dry and warm days as the soil is hard like stone...digging is not easy on cloudy wet days as the soil clumps up and hardens into lumps. But with all the effort I have put in, I am beginning to see incredible results.

The tiny pot of annabel daisy has grown 6 times. I keep on with deadheading its flowers which encourages new blooms. So far this daisy is growing faster than any plant here. I hope the space I have designated for it would be sufficient. Compare with http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2009/09/calendula-germinates-patch-next-to.html

The little rosemary bush is also doing well. Compare it with http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2009/10/patch-next-to-garage.html

So is this oregano. Strangely, I am expecting it to spread outwards but it seems to be growing upwards. I would want it to be an edible ground cover here. Compare it with what I saw in the botanical gardens : http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2009/02/botanic-gardens-potting-on.html

The two candy tuft plants are also well. Notice that the annabel daisy, rosemary and oregano have been mulched but not the candy tuft. I was waiting to see if I need to pull up the candy tuft plants in case they did not survive.

________________________________

Tip : It is better to wait and see if a plant establishes itself well after transplanting. If it does, then apply mulch. Better to mulch later in case you need to dig the plant up for some reason.

The Lilium LA hybrid plants are budding.

3 of the 5 gladioli plants are growing big. But 2 others have not appeared.

These 3 calendula officinalis plants are the fresh faces of this patch. I have just transplanted them here. So far very good results.

_________________________________

Tip : During transplanting, minimise root disturbance and maintain potting mix shape. Transfer the whole potting mix with plant over. Water with seasol after that and make sure the plant is hydrated daily.

Here's another new face...my bay tree. It is very tiny now and it is a slow-growing plant. I have planted it in the centre of the patch and it should be the tallest and the focal point of this patch in years to come. Edible too!

Patches A, C, D & E

The recent warm and long day time have made growth explode in my garden.

At patch A, the three purple king bean plants and the tomato beef steak plant are growing. I cannot seem to see any tomatoes developing at the moment even though there are flowers. I did not remember having trouble with my Mighty red tomato. Puzzled, I consulted fellow blogger 'Scarecrow' and she gave me this useful link : http://www.grow-tomato-sauce.com/tomatopollination.html

Putting veges and edibles aside, I am feeling really proud of this pot of Annabel daisy. It has grown in size about 6 times.

My beloved capsicum plant is developing its fruits steadily. It is ahead of most plants because this is its second season. Feeling more secure with it in a larger pot.

This is one of 5 calendula officinalis plants I have germinated. They are subject to caterpillars like many of my edible plants in the garden but with much vigilance, I have picked and squashed most of them. This one is budding already!

My strawberry delight at Patch C is doing well in its pot although also subject to caterpillars. Its strawberries are very sweet!

Lemon Verbena at Patch C is also doing well and I have allowed one stalk to flower just to see how the flowers look like.

Wow my lemon grass at Patch C which initially did not look like it was going to make it, has actually gone into growth spurt! Hopefully the eggplant supreme and passionfruit panama gold will speed up in growth as well or they could be overtaken by the lemon grass!

After treating my kaffir lime plant at Patch C with chelated iron (not much organic solutions for this), it leapt into growing beautiful healthy-looking new leaves and more fruits and flowers almost immediately...indeed it was iron deficiency!

Eggplant Supreme at Patch C is also doing well except having its leaves munched on probably at night by some insects. In the day, I cannot find any bugs on it.

This is Patch C : strawberries, kaffir lime, eggplant supreme, lemon grass, passionfruit, lemon verbena, capsicum and pixzee peach. Quite an assortment of plants cramped together.

This is Patch E : coriander and continental parsley both flowering and seeding. I did not care as I am surely alright for them to seed and grow new ones, which means new supply of herbs. There is another clump of lemongrass and my pot of bay plant there.

I was cleaning the dusty leaves of my three cyclamens when I saw this. A search reveals them as the fruits of the cyclamens. I read that using seeds is tough so I am just going to leave them alone. I wonder if there are corms in the soil. Hopefully! So that cyclamens can cover the whole of Patch D and under my pomegranate tree and grevilia. They have glorious blooms! See http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2009/09/golden-sheen-pittosporum-and-cyclamens.html or click on 'cyclamen' label on right side of my blog.

Patch Next to Garage...Spring's Ending.

This patch next to the garage has been a challenging one and I have spent intermittent periods of time working on it. So far so good. Results are slowly getting better. The plants went through a period of establishing themselves in the poor clay soil, looking not too good and then now looking much better. There is still space for more work and more plants. Colour theme here is a mixture of yellow, white, pink, orange and blue (if everything flowers at the same time). View from the back. Daffodils (dying down), Diosma Sunset red, Lilium La Hybrid, oregano, rosemary, blue maguerite, annabel daisy are all mulched with composted pinebark (ornamental mulch).

View from the front. The whole patch is surrounded by strings looking like a boxing ring because my dog would trot on it and even nip off my plants. The two candy tuft plants (front right with tiny white flowers) have bounced back and doing well. :)

This rosemary which I have propagated from the original pot looked really bad some time back but it is now doing well especially with the addition of mulch. I did find one caterpillar wrapped up among its leaves. The same caterpillar which I have been finding among many plants in my garden recently.

Oregano too is doing wonderfully on this soil and has been growing. Also found one or two caterpillars here but all is well besides that.

The two Lilium LA Hybrid plants are doing well and have put on some flower buds. The third one was nipped off by my doggy and will not flower.

I planted one calendula seedling here just to see if it will survive the soil here. As last two days were scorching, it withered in the heat. However, with constant watering and application of Seasol, it is doing fine and will bounce back in the evening. If this one does well, I will probably plant a few more seedlings into this soil.

Calendula Germinates & Patch Next to Garage

My calendula seeds have germinated in their pot. I had to shift the pot away from its spot as my Carolina Black Rose grape vine has arrived from Daley's Nursery!!! Yippee!!! I bought a pack of Gladioli bulbs last week with the plan of planting them at the patch next to garage. Their tall blooms will create contrast with my daffodils and white lily :

I have prepared the soil (compost and lime and rooster manure) and planted them 15cm apart and 10cm deep. As mentioned previously, the soil here is clayey and lumpy, so it is very important to loosen as much soil as possible or the root system will find it hard to establish.

Mulched area is where the 5 gladioli bulbs are planted.

The lone annabel daisy is doing fine after I plucked off some of its yellowing older leaves. It has since opened more flowers.

The two bushes of blue marguerite are doing the best at the patch despite its not so ideal soil.

Patch Next to Garage

Before I left for holidays, I worked on this patch, planting herbs and flowers here with the intention of turning this originally pebble-filled patch with a few straggly succulents and weeds infestation into a display of flowers and herbs of various kinds, colours and heights. This is the look after I returned : The daffodil which greeted me just on the day I left had withered, replaced by another which greeted me on the day I returned :

The sunset red diosma is growing well and flowering more. I am expecting to see it grow up to 1.2 width by 1.2 height. Diosma is a common hedge grown here in Melbourne. It has aromatic leaves and gorgous display of tiny flowers that can cover the whole bush :

One of the large rosemary plantlet which I have propagated from the mother rosemary plant. The soil at this patch is actually clayey (but I still find lots earthworms) but I hope this rosemary can thrive here with the availability of sun. If it does, this rosemary will be contrasting with the other low bushes since it has the potential to grow quite tall :

The oregano which I planted here from its original pot seems to be growing better and happier. This herb is low-lying and tend to spread out. I intended that it acts as a groundcover as seen in the botanical gardens. See http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2009/02/botanic-gardens-potting-on.html

Two Blue Marguerite (Felicia amelloides) with blue daisy-like flowers are also planted. These are small evergreen bushes which are low-lying. The blue flowers will contrast with the yellow flowers of the daffodils :

I also planted one dwarf marguerite daisy 'Annabel' (argyranthemum frutescens) which can grow to 1m width and 0.7m height and produces white flowers. Some of the older leaves look a little yellow :

Candy tuft (iberis sampervirens) is a mat-forming perenial groundcover. I planted two right in front of the patch since it is low-lying. One of the candy tuft died leaving a little left to survive while the other candy tuft is not doing to well. If still not thriving I will replace them with a bulb plant :

It will take a long while before I see the fruits of this patch. For now, I will be faithful to pull up weeds that find their way onto this patch.