Catching Caterpillars. Planting Cucumber.

Hot scorching week! Busy watering in the evening and at times in the morning. Several of the plants wilt in the heat including vietnamese mint, annabel daisy, thyme, rosemary, bay... I decided to plant the three gorgeous cucumber burpless seedlings in Patch B (where the existing snow peas are). If they survive, I will put a trellis up.

These three rosemary plantlets are growing but looking paler than normal. I have propagated several rosemary plants and ended up not knowing what to do with them. ;P

This bigger plantlet (or tiny shrub) was grown from a single sprig. I am feeling quite proud of myself hehe...The other one is doing well at the patch next to the garage. Trimming rosemary is important to keep it bushy and stout. That makes it a pretty shrub.

The curry plant and 'mother' rosemary have been root trimmed and put back into their pots to control their growth, so that I need not use larger pots.

A few snow pea pods are swelling as their seeds grow...here is one which is shrivelled and almost ready for collection.

Argh....many plants in my garden are under caterpillar attack, including my tomato beef steak. It seems the same culprit as they are all wrapped up in young leaves and they kind of spin a web.

Strawberries developing steadily in the pot. I need to sugarcane mulch the two strawberry plants on the ground.

Three purple king bean plants doing fantastic since the weather warmed up...they are picking up very fast on their growth and already twining up the supports.

My kaffir lime's young leaves look like that...looks like iron deficiency. How on earth did it take me so long to realise that there is a deficiency?

This is one deficient-looking leaf of the calamondin comquot. It is the young leaves that are looking a bit patchy yellow (mottled if that is the word). The tree is putting on many new fruits and I had better deal with any deficiency before they start dropping off or have poor development. Citrus are indeed hungry feeders as many books and programmes say.

I have potted on this Nellie Kelly hot chilli plant finally after months of neglect. Fed it seasol and hope it be revived. I do see small shoots growing along the branches.

Two New Kids on the Block!

Today was a cold day, with light showers in the afternoon. I brought Samuel to a large nursery in the afternoon when the sun came out and rain went away. Bought two coveted citrus : comquat calamondin on the right (calamondins C madurensis or calamansi)) and kaffir lime on the left. Comquat calamondin limes can be used for flavoring chilli pastes, giving them extra punch. I love its juice in belacan chilli pastes and that goes well with many types of seafood especially squids and cockles. Yum! After migrating here, I have learned to cook more Cambodian and Thai dishes, since their ingredients such as thai basil, vietnamese mints and kaffir lime leaves are so accessible. It is a good idea to invest in a kaffir lime shrub - its leaves are so aromatic when rubbed with fingers. They are wonderful in Tom Yam soups and work well with lemon grass.

The first capsicum has popped from the first flower. Really wonder how big it can grow to but I am faithful in feeding it with seasol. Perhaps I should mulch with cow manure as well.

The cayenne pepper is having many flowers like I have said in my last entry. I had to prune it so that existing fruits can develop to maturity. Look at the several chillies at this low level. They are growing from shoots that grew from the main stem.

I am a little puzzled as to why so many of the white flowers are dropping off before shrivelling. Perhaps the recent cold weather has caused this. Anyway, I have lots chillies coming so I do not mind losing these. Hopefully it is not some nutrient lack.

The two vietnamese mints are growing ferociously, greener than ever. I will harvest soon for our ladies fellowship where we will be making vietnamese rolls!

My Mighty Red is nearing its end. Some parts have shrivelled up but there are some new shoots though. Weather is getting too cold for it and soon it will be good bye. The one tomato which I have left on the bush to ripen and collect seeds had been eaten up by naughty Smokey, who jumped onto the patch.

Work On a Cloudy Day

After a wonderful day of rain yesterday, the land is refreshed. It looked gloomy today but it only drizzled a little in the morning. However, there was a downpour soon after I had finished my work in the backyard. I managed much work after coming back from a wonderful time at church.

The spicy Nellie Kelly chilli blooming and producing more chillies.

Lavendar after harvesting the flower heads. Thyme doing well after aquasol feed. Vietnamese mint thriving and putting new shoots. I expect it to outgrow this pot really soon. Capsicum in the pot putting on several flowers but not opening yet. See the beautiful leaves of the nasturtiums! The three aloe vera cuttings planted in this shallow planter box. The rooted rosemary cutting in this milk container. The curry plant after harvesting seven 5cm stems. One of the mint cuttings which I have planted today. This one has a little powdery mildew. I removed some leaves and covered it with a plastic bag before placing pot in mini green house. Two of the pots of mint cuttings which are doing very well, putting new growth and looking strong. Potted on lemon grass.

Here's what I have done today :

1. Pruned my cayenne pepper. It is shooting so much that I have to sacrifice some flowers and new baby chillies so that the growing can reach maturity. I really hope to get my hands on some chilli padi plants soon.

2. Wrapped plastic around more peaches which are maturing in size. The birds have really been feasting on them and they are horrible as in they eat a little on this peach and a little on another. Looks like the netting did not help fantastically. It cannot wrap fully and they can still enter and perch on the branches to eat. I used pegs to hold the net edges together. Hopefully that will work.

3. Took two bites out of the only pear left on the tree. It has grown to a normal size I find in supermarket and ripening. Gave the remainder to Marco who happily munch it off.

4. Fertilised the small orange tree as its fruits are growing to sizes of limes.

5. Harvested some sprigs of rosemary, curry plant and stalks of lavendar flowers.

6. Inspected my worm farm to see if worm castings are any ready to be collected. I am still very confused with this worm farm thingy. I had better seek help soon!

7. Filtered the dandelion tea. Stinking liquid but alright, not too bad.

8. Sown some thai basil seeds. Hope it works!

9. Applied seasol to all the plants that have not been given it since a month ago, based on my gardening records.

10. Repotted my aloe vera as it did not seem to be growing well at the tips (browning and shrivelling). Perhaps my potting mix was too rich (as I have added some composted cow manure). Hope it works this round with premium potting mix + coarse sand + small pebbles (for drainage).

11. Planted three aloe vera pieces which I have harvested from the main plant.

12. Potted on the lemon grass into a 30cm pot.

13. Planted more rooted mint cuttings.

14. Planted another rooted rosemary cutting.

15. Sown oriental radish seeds at the prepared vegetable patch. 16. Squashing irritating caterpillars from my buk choy! Find new ones almost every day. I ought to get down doing the wire cage...I have so many things to do. :P

Budding Lavendar

My Lavendar Bee Pretty has put on new buds! For now, I am not going to fuss around this plant and will leave it as it is. I think the more I fuss about lavendar, the more it suffers. :P

I bought this small pot of common mint from a nursery. Just could not resist the smell of mint and I love putting some of its leaves into teas. The pot has been standing at the kitchen window ledge. I have prepared 3 cuttings out of the larger ones and waiting for them to root, one is already doing so after 5 days in water. Just needs to do a plastic cloche to house it once I re-pot it as mint is very susceptible to white flies and caterpillar attack (the previous pot I got from IKEA not only had white flies and caterpillars but also rust). This time I am more prepared about this subject on transplanting.

The Purple King has indeed survived the burning heat (http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2009/02/damage-in-heat-wave.html ) is producing new leaves and shoots! I am looking forward to collecting some beans. Hopefully by mid-autumn, it will produce some. At the moment, I am just giving it lots of tender loving care. :)

Remember the cayenne pepper which had leaves like the above? Yellowing spots along the veins...(http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2009/02/long-long-entry.html). Well, I have worked out that it was not over-fertilising. It is some kind of nutrient deficiency. I gave it some quick soluble plant food 'Aquasol' on 10 Feb and it seems to be getting better. Aquasol contains trace elements and probably the cayenne pepper is lacking in one or two of them. Lack of several elements can cause yellowing like this, though there may be different specific yellowing patterns for each lacking element. The yellow spotting is going off and the plant is putting on new shoots at the side of the main stem. Leaves are also greener now. :) See below :

The tomato bush is almost reaching its end. Remaining tomatoes are ripening constantly and I harvest on a daily basis. Up to date, I have harvested about 40 tomatoes :

A new chilli which I bought...really spicy one...gives some kick to the food we eat :) Will be potting it on once it is ready.

Finally! I lay my hands on this pot of curry plant from Bunnings. A new addition much coveted. Smells like curry definitely and I thought a little like a bitter chinese herb called Tung Kway too. Looks a little like Lavendar but has silvery felty leaves. This little pot needs potting-on soon.

Another Hot & Scorching Summer Day.

Another scorching hot day! I had put up some form of defence system today for my plants - umbrellas! And lots of watering. Set up 3 umbrellas and amazingly, those plants under them are not scorched down. Those which did not have umbrellas certainly bore the grunt of the heat and sunshine. Fortunately, towards evening winds were strong and there were no casulty. Caught another grasshopper (pests)! Wonder what I can do to deal with them. They hop about and I had to be really quick in catching them. Spotted a yellow bug on the sunflower and it seems like a lady bug. My newly repotted rosemary is producing new soft growth, a good sign. I reckon I would have to change it to a larger pot soon as I read that their roots grow quite deep.

A picture of the remaining batch of greengages.

The tomato sucker which rooted standing in a jar of water for more than a week and planted into potting mix with blood and bone, seasol and crushed egg shells.

A new pot in my garden - cayenne pepper. A birthday pressie from Fina. What a pleasant surprise!!! :) I have tried unsuccessfully to grow chillies..twice the seedling stunted after being 1 inch tall. I have concluded that the problem must be the quality of the seeds.

Photo Update of Garden Babies

Pear sprinkled with cornflour which did not help with curbing pear slugs - experiment failed. Manual squashing with a disposable glove works best. Pyrethrum spray works but not so on windy days. Thyme growing taller - hoping to harvest some soon. Peach tree doing well...no pesky aphids due to good work of ladybugs. Green plum turning yellow and then will go red.

Plums on the tree.

My orange seeds have germinated after a long while (Sept to Dec). :)

Rosemary growing taller.

My friend has confirmed these are either chilli or bell peppers. However they soon died after thinning out and repotting. Should have added Seasol fertiliser during that.

Chilli plants are growing at a slow pace since sowing on 4 Nov 08.

Friend has confirmed these are melons (rockmelon or honeydew). Probably have to space them out when the rain goes and soil is soft.

Sunflowers are doing fantastic since sowing 1st & 3rd Nov 08.

Two types of plums harvested - maroon and yellowish-red.