Summer Update - Mid February

Harvesting veges :

Water spinach/kang kong, pak choy green, choko shoots, eggplants, carrots, cucumbers, chillies, spring onions, beans, lady's fingers/okra.

Harvesting fruits : figs, grapes.

The thirty figs on Figgy are not developing well. I am totally puzzled as the fruits were small, hollow and turned yellow before they got bigger. There goes hope of eating more figs this year. The tree is very tall and leafy for its pot, so I am unsure if it was not able to draw up enough nutrients or water from its potting mix.I placed a saucer under the pot and watered daily but nothing seemed to work.

On the other hand, Big Fig which did not put on any figs early this year, has finally grown some. The figs look like they are going to be fine for eating.

Big Fig (brown turkey) with its fruits protected by organza bags which I bought from Ebay. My son says Big Fig 's a boy.

We harvested some carrots. Our first try at growing them. Fantastic result!

Pesky black birds have been trying to go for my Carolina Black Rose grapes even though I have netted my vine. So I resorted to organza bags which is very effective.

These flowers have bloomed. They are called pigface.  Definitely dont look like pig's faces.

The pathetic-looking passionfruit vine outside my garage is finally growing. I think if it survives, it will be really slow-growing, I dont mind as long as it greens up this brick wall.

The other passionfruit vine next to my patio is also growing, but better.

Eggplant Bonita's 2nd fruit and several more to come.

More sweet corns at the patch in front of our garage have all been harvested. I grew lots of corns this season and am sick of eating them already.

Gardening Update

There was a few nice showers last night.
Harvesting pak choy, spinach, rocket, coriander, parsley, tung O/Garland Chrysanthemum, strawberries.

My two pots of thai basil propagated from market cuttings. They started flowering straight away and I had to pinch them off to generate more leaf growth.

Pak Choy Green in a pot and doing so well.

I harvested the pak choy for dishes over the next few days. They are really yummy for soup.

The pot is now home for some lemongrass which I have pulled up from one of the clumps. I am hoping they will grow thicker stems here. I replenished the pot with lots of composted manure.

Three of my strawberry plants which I had propagated have put on lots of flowers.

However, my joy was short-circuited when I found the flowers of two pots eaten up in the night. I highly suspected some animal walking on the fence and eating them.

I cracked my head over what to do to protect more flowers from being eaten. Finally I used some wire mesh, wrapped it over with strong plastic sheet and clamped it over the fence to form a cover over the plants. (above pic) Then I threw a layer of net over as a double layer of protection. I think whatever animal that returns will have a hard time trying to reach the flowers now, since its body weight will probably make it fall over that cover.

My tomato silvery fir plants grow bushy very quickly despite weekly pruning. Both have lots of flowers and also some fruits. This time I am very excited about growing tomatoes cos I have found a new way of eating them - salsa!!! Why didnt I think about doing home-made salsa before? It's yummy!

Rhubard Sydney Crimson is establishing very well. I like the idea that its new leaves are all crumpled and gradually they become pretty flat leaves.

Our little corn patch is doing great! I am already spotting the male corn flowers!

Candy Red watermelon seedlings finally taking off. I wonder if I seriously have time and space to grow some watermelons for Yates watermelon challenge. For the sake of free seeds and free fruits and fun, I will continue to nurture them.

Early spring when I looked at my lemon verbena, my heart sank. It was a dry leafless lifeless twig outside my bedrom window. I pruned it hoping it will spring to life. And it did!! Full of new growth!! Looking forward to making more lemon verbena tea this year.

Today, after thinking so hard and reading up a lot, I improved on how I am growing my water chestnut plants successfully. A new pot is hard to come by even if I have money to buy it.  I decided to use a strong plastic tub, add heavy clay soil (fortunately I kept some from our lawn project last Sept), composted manure and replanted the strongest plant there. I added water and the two goldfish that I bought. My son decided to name them Goldie and Fishie. How original is that hahahaha!!!

The original tub looks bad. The water is murky thanks to me putting in garden top soil which is a true disaster. The mud is also too shallow to accommodate so many growing plants. As much as it was a pain, I had to dig up several plants and dump them to avoid overcrowding. I wont be able to accommodate so many big tubs of water chestnuts as it would be too time consuming taking care of mosquito/algae problems. I read that one or two plants can give a lot of chestnuts, so if I am successful, I should just need two plants.

The kang kong seedlings which I have planted out a few days ago are doing well.

These carrot plants are home for tiny critters which fly very fast like whiteflies but they also hop and they are green. No idea what they are but hopefully they are not too pesky.

This is the first year our pomegranate tree produce a dozen or more flowers. Will I get to eat some pomegranates?

Caught Mr Spotted Neck sunbathing on my kang kong patch. He is so adorable. I think he comes every morning and coos on our roof. Almost works like a rooster and my alarm clock each morning. Poor guy still no girlfriend in sight. Recently another pair of pigeons also started visiting our garden.

This morning as I was inspecting our plum tree, I found possum poo! Not very good news. I have been suspecting them as the culprits which nipped off a lot of young plum shoots and stealing my plums. Now the poo confirms my suspicion. And I also think they are the culprits which ate my strawberry flowers. I have to soon put up nets for all the fruit trees and vegetables.

My boy and I spent a whole morning in the garden. He stumbled upon a dead bee and we had a great time examining it. We also studied some ants carrying eggs in their tunnels when we overturned a square tile at the vege patch. Lastly, we studied one common brown butterfly which I caught resting on the grape vine few nights ago before freeing it. It was Insects' Day!!!

Edibles Update.

The last three days have been sunny and warm with temperatures between 21-23 deg celsius. So, every day, we spent some time out in the garden doing things. The work really does seem never-ending.

Common Onion Chives /Allium Schoenprasum

Two evenings ago, I went out to the front garden to harvest some chives for a pasta dish. It was then that I realised I have two types of chives growing at the same spot. I did some researching and found some info on http://www.herbsociety.org/factsheets/chives.pdf. The picture above shows the chives used in western cooking. I have grown these from seeds. These chives have leaves which have hollow cylindrical interiors. I did a check and am quite sure that they are called Allium Schoenoprasum or common onion chives.

Chinese or Garlic Chives/ Allium Tuberosum

The chives in this above picture is actually Chinese or Garlic chives, Allium Tuberosum. My friend, Eliada, gave two small pots of these to me. They were given to her by another friend. As the chives looked very similar when young, I thought they were onion chives. Now that they are older, I can actually see that these two tufts are Chinese/Garlic chives. In dialect, they are called Gu Cai. These have flat leaf blades. I am actually very happy knowing they are Chinese/garlic chives, as I use them in Chinese cooking and need larger amounts. Onion chives are used as garnishes and only small amounts required.

Yesterday, I repotted the  Kao Kee cuttings. They have 100%  rooted as each stem cutting is putting on new leaves. Now I will wait and see how they grow.

Water chestnuts! It's been a headache trying to figure how I should grow them. I dont like failed experiments but how can experiments always be 100% successful? The styrofoam tub where I first planted the corms is covered with a layer of algae. After chatting on http://www.daleysfruit.com.au/forum/, I dug out the corms, prepared a few pots (potting mix+fish fertiliser), planted them in, topped up with garden soil, stood them in a tub of water. Here goes the experiment... The corms which I have harvested are really small, about 1 to 2 cm in diameter. I feel cheated by the company where I bought them from. I dont hold much hope that they will grow well.

Here are  some carrot seedlings.  Free seeds from Bunnings Wareshouse. It is my first go at it.

The rest of the seedlings (eggplant, okra/lady'sfinger, capsicum etc) are growing really slowly, even though I put the pots in a styrofoam box and cover well to get as much warmth from sun. I do not have a green house or seed propagator tray, which will speed growth up. At the local nurseries, I could already buy bigger plants.

My white currant plant has put on its green leaves and clusters of flowers too. Looking forward to having white currants. The blackcurrant plant is just beginning to catch up but no flower clusters in sight yet.

The Carolina Black Rose grape vine has produced lots of shoots. It is amazing to see new shoots sprouting every other day. And there are lots of flower clusters. I contemplate pruning off shoots to allow for fewer but stronger flower clusters but did not get down to it in case it is a mistake. I have not seen bees visiting my back garden but thankfully grape flowers are bisexual so they are self-pollinating.