Another Pot of Mint, Ivy and Re-potting Cayenne Pepper

It is a gloomy day with light patchy rains. I took a closer look at my cayenne pepper to find the potting mix infested with thousands of ants. I wonder if they are responsible for the horrible state that my cayenne pepper is in. So I re-potted the cayenne pepper with premium potting mix and cow manure and seasol. Hope it helps to re-establish itself before I plant it into the ground in my new backyard. The neglected pot of ivy has produced new light green leaves though after quite a long time. It should grow much better being in the ground. I am thinking of propagating this ivy for planting at a shady stretch in my new garden : I potted on my small pot of common mint as it is already congesting its 10cm pot and wilts quite often. Looks like I am getting lots of mint nowadays and I am seemingly obsessed with it hahaha, four pots in all excluding the two lots growing on the vege patch :

The pot after potting on in a 30cm pot.

Pot of mint (before potting on) congesting its 10 cm pot and often wilts (above) and same pot originating from 3 cuttings (below) I am fighting occasional powdery mildew attacks on these mints (also my rosemary) but if the air-flow around the pots is good, the situation should be under control. The only thing I had better improve is the garden hygiene I am practising. I rarely isolate any problematic plants nowadays and simply pinch off affected leaves. That may send a lot of invisible mildew spores scattering all over the garden. However, it is really not easy since I cannot seem to find proper locations for plant isolation.

Speedy Winds

The wind speeds today can reach 60km/h and I prayed that none of my new golden sheens would be snapped down. Yesterday morning I discovered that my mosquito plant/citronella geranium had been snapped into two. It has a woody stem and is growing rather tall for its light pot. The previous day it was blown over as well. It was already budding to flower soon. Sigh, I snipped off the broken part and hope it will regrow again :

I trimmed off my thyme as I noticed that they seemed to be budding as well :

The cayenne pepper still doesnt look so good even after feeding of charlie carp or seasol or time-release fertiliser :

Some Gardening Work and a Lovely Feathered Couple.

After several days of rain (free watering for the garden + free water for the containers), days of sunshine was really welcomed and appreciated. I had been quite busy with other things this week and it is nice to spend almost the whole of today doing things in the garden (including playing hide-and-seek with Samuel and playing fetch with Marco). Finally I tested putting the three pots of fruit trees under the garage shelther without any form of protection and it is good! The possums did not come disturb my trees or make a meal out of them. Perhaps I was worrying too much.

The pot of lavendar bee pretty has been pruned quite a lot at the lower sides as the shoots were infested with green aphids. I have killed many of them using pyrethrum. This afternoon, I found a drowning ladybug in the pail and took it to the lavendar, hoping that it can feed on the aphids.

The dwarf orange tree on this rental property has been fruiting and flowering. I think this year the oranges will be likely sour again since I did not really bother about this tree very much. Nice citrus flower smells.

The citronella geranium (mosquito plant) http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2009/03/few-new-candidates-and-update.html has grown much more despite neglect and several broken lower branches. I should repotting it but am running out of larger pots.

The chilli padi seedlings (below) are suddenly growing a bit more since I gave it some vermicompost.

My kaffir lime has been growing a tiny branch? Sucker? Maybe I should pull it out.

Today, I repotted the aloe vera (once again!!!). I bought a new bag of potting mix just for succulents/cacti (Brand : Debco) and think it would love this mix better. Found another new pup growing. Yeah!!!

I also divided the pot of 3 dwarf snow pea seedlings into three pots. Hmmm...customer service at Diggers told me they grow to 60cm tall and a 30cm diameter pot is fine but I found that the seedlings' roots have developed quite extensively. I soaked the seedlings with seasol and hope they will manage alright.

I also pruned the lemon verbena (below) again to cause more bushy development. Looking forward to have more shoots for tea. Yum yum!

This large pot of mint is growing fantastically well. I trimmed off any runners and see if this will channel the plant's energy to producing larger leaves. I have a feeling it would.

I also for the first time after several weeks, removed the netting and plastic covering for my cayenne pepper (below), and pruned it to open up the plant. I have harvested most chillies. Only one is left to ripen.

I have erected some plastic protection for the few dwarf snow pea seedlings at the vege patch. So far so good, havent seen any destruction by pests yet.

I have been noticing this pair of love birds (spotted neck pigeons) frequenting my garden. Very loving couple...preening each other feathers and parking in the sunshine. Marco barks at them to chase them away. I have sprinkled some bird seeds around the area and hope they keep coming. So sweet!

Strong Winds and Some Rain.

Tuesday. It has been very windy today and will be tomorrow as forecasted. 45km/h. My taller plants such as the calamondin, kaffir lime and cayenne pepper in pots were swaying under the mercy of the wind. I have erected plastic sheets around them to ease the stress. Hopefully this will help preventing any casualty. I had all the pots against the tall wooden fence a while back where they can get sunshine but it proves to be a bad windbreak area.

Calamondin protected by two layers of plastic sheets.

Kaffir lime and a small pot of mint surrounded by a sheet of plastic.

Vietnamese mint covered by a large towel with a plastic sheet on top.

Newly potted apricot Moorpark and fig brown turkey taking shelther in the garage against strong winds, rain and possible possum visits.

Would love to have more rain as water collected from the previous round has been almost used up. However, I do not welcome the wind at all. Gardening over here is rather challenging...up against droughts, heat waves, strong winds and cold weathers. And possums too. Seriously looking forward to moving to my new place. At least I dont expect to see many possums there.

So Much Work!

Work at new house : Vege patch D : Work with cow manure and lime. Planted and mulched 3 pots of cyclamens. Hope they will grow well in this shady spot.

Rake up fallen plum leaves.

Place leaves in make-shift netting in backyard to let them turn into leaf mould.

Succulent plants flowering beautifully.

Lavender growing new leaves.

Work completed for patch next to garage. Hope not to see weeds!

Work in rental house : Calamondins not doing well. Fruits attacked by aphids. Treated with pyrethrum.

Lemon verbena growing lots of new shoots after last trimming.

Cayenne Pepper under netting since finding out they were attacked at night.

Curry plant growing more shoots in the new house after trimming off lots of aphid-infested shoots.

Buk choy planted from pot to vege patch.

Treated oregano root ball with pyrethrum as it seems it is attacked by gnats.Repotted the oregano and wonder if it will survive the treatment.

Re-potted the aloe vera into a shallow wider planter. New pups emerging. Delicate...broke one.

Potted the Pixee dwarf peach with aged manure and premium potting mix.

Peach tree is losing all its leaves. (below)

Rake up to make leaf mould.

Tidying Up the Garden

Today's weather is quite good and after seeing my accupuncturist yesterday, I felt much better to do some work. Plus with the attack of my capsicum, that was the last straw. I am out for some vengence. I cleared the whole cluttered mini greenhouse and relocated it at a more strategic position since the Sun's position has shifted with the seasons. I have my aloe vera, a small pot of vietnamese mint, a small pot of mint, my potted capsicum plant, my hot chilli, my chilli padi seedlings, my repotted oregano, lemon verbena and curry plant all in this house. I spent a few hours in the morning tidying up the whole working area. I also stepped up - wrapping my cayenne pepper, calamondin, kaffir lime, mint, the two capsicum plants from the vege patch in plastic sheets like this :

I also had my lavender and a pot of mint under two laundry hampers. I have left my pot of eaten nasturtiums as a bait. I hope I can locate my torch soon so I can go out for a spot check tonight.