Early Summer - Newly Mown Lawn & Harvesting a Fig.

5 December - sunny day with strong wind. Had to secure Figgy to stakes in case its branches break.
6 - 7 December - sunny days with mild breezes - 28 deg celsius
6 December - sprayed diluted full cream milk onto grapevine, kao kee, pak choy, hydrangea infected with mild powdery mildew.

I had to water the garden all these few sunny days.  This is  important because we have just mown the lawn and trimmed the lawn edges and I have to keep it from drying out too much in the sun.  The bare patches on the lawn are filling up with new growth and looking beautiful again.

I also dusted some pesticide on the front lawn two weeks ago as we found some African black beetles. They feed on the roots of grass, mainly Kikuyu. We have Buffalo Sapphire but I reckon if they are hungry, they will eat the roots of our grass as well, cause the grass to die and therefore bare patches.

The beetles were good specimen for us to study during homeschool.  We also caught stink bugs on our eggplant, white cabbage butterflies and caterpillars on our pak choy and grapevine moth caterpillars on our grapevine.

I found a few egg clusters on the pak choy this week. I left one cluster in a plastic tub and they hatched into some ant-like insects with wings. I have no idea what they are but I do believe they are good bugs.

I thought I have settled the possum problem for good but I still found nipped off plum tree shoots and peach leaves on our lawn. How frustrating! I am wondering if some flying animal visits our garden at night and did this. Gardening isn't an easy hobby. It takes a lot of brain power. Surely a hobby that helps keep human beings from dermentia.

At least I got to harvest our first fig from Figgy. Very big and sweet but a little dry (due to my under-watering). I was really upset with my dog on Sunday because he toppled my pixzee peach tree and ate one of the two beautiful pink peaches on it. The other peach dropped off and I had to throw it away. They were of good size but not ripe yet. I waited for one whole year and now I don't get a single pixzee peach!

Big Fig on the front garden has finally produced a fig!!! 

And the cut branch has produced new buds and leaves. It is possible to trim deciduous trees in spring or summer.

 We have been harvesting strawberries almost every day.  

This is one of my silvery fir tomato plant. Lots of tomatoes and I sighted one ripening already.

 The golden sheen hedge has been trimmed too. It was a lot of work! The corn patch is doing well. We could harvest sweet corns soon.

The is eggplant hand-grafted bonica which I bought from Bunnings and planted on the front garden. I was impatient waiting for my eggplant seedlings to germinate. The weather was really too cold to help with germination.  I would lose a lot of time. Hopefully I get some eggplants this year. The ladyfinger plants are very hopeless. They are only 5cm tall at the moment.

The Transformation!

Finally! The new lawn is up! Two words for it all - Tough Work! But it was worth it. Hubby and I have not done a huge project of this sort before and it was great! We worked well. Good training before we enter the Amazing Race... Just joking! This narrow strip above is in front of my house. We laid Buffalo Sapphire lawn on both ends of it and keep the middle for planting. We have put up green edging all around the planting area. I am also going to put in some pavers for stepping on while gardening. So far, I have planted pumpkin, squash, lady's finger, sunflowers and long bean there. I have yet to decide on the right mulch to us for the whole garden so at the moment the bare rich soil will probably receive some weed seeds floating in the neighbourhood.

This is the large area next to the path. It looks great in the picture doesnt it?

Here's another shot. I thought it looks gorgeous. Finally a brand new lawn that looks like the one in the botanic gardens! By the way, this lawn is my 10th anniversary present from Hubby...(plus a pair of Skecher shoes and a set of aquamarine pendant and earrings)...We can't wait to have a picnic on this lawn once it gets established. At the moment, I am watering intensively since last Saturday. And I look forward to tomorrow and next week where it is forecast to rain every day. That would save a lot of money on watering bills and labour every morning.

This is the lawn in the back garden. It is reserved for doggy to do his business. Hehe...