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.

Herbs Galore!

First thing I did when I returned home after 2.5 weeks is to take a peek at my precious garden. I was very glad that things were under control (all thanks to my friend Paul for tending to it while our family was away). Great to be back to see wonderful growth of my herbs. The mints in the 50cm and two 30cm pots are so fat. I had to quickly harvest them to give them away : The two rosemary cuttings which I have propagated have also grown bushier :

The mother rosemary plant (which was attacked by powdery mildew previously but won the war) has put on so many new growth and gone bushier. Time for harvest :

Three new cuttings which I have propagated from the mother rosemary are also showing signs of growth :

My lemon verbena has grown but I wish it has grown bushier...there must be a way to do that :

The spring onions from seeds were straggly at first but after 2.5weeks (charlie carp treatment before I left), they are doing well and can be harvested anytime :

My curry plant has gone really really bushy in a neat way with all the trimmings I have done beforehand :

Bay tree put on so many new leaves...wow! :

Thyme was completely chopped off low but returned with a complete bushy hair-style. Time to harvest :

Vietnamese mint is spilling over th 40cm pot with wonderful growth. Time for harvesting again :

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.

Update on Cayenne Pepper, Calamondin, Kaffir Lime, thyme, rosemary and Curry Plant.

My boy has gone to kinder to this morning and the sunshine was out in the garden. I spent an hour inspecting my plants. A few of the older lower leaves of the kaffir lime is turning yellow as per above. I am puzzled why, not being sure if it is iron deficiency (as I do not know how to assess that) or if it is its reaction to the cold weather setting in. I read that iron deficiency shows first in young leaves and the veins remain green though the rest of the leaves yellow. But these leaves are older leaves. Moreover, I did feed the plant citrus fertilizer before and after potting on. Lime-induced chlorosis happens commonly in citrus. Even though there may be iron in the potting mix, it may be locked up by an excess of other elements (Antagonism). I needed to research more so that I will not lose this plant.

This is a young leaf of the calamondin plant and it does look a little like what's called iron deficiency - green vein, yellowing young leaves. I have bought a bottle of iron sulphate but has been hesitant to use till the customer service of Richgro replies me on whether is it a natural mineral or chemically synthesized. Peter Bennett's book talks about using alum to rectify the iron deficiency but gosh, I wonder where I can get that from.

The new chillies of the cayenne pepper seem to be shrivelling and dropping instead of developing. I wonder if it is the cold or if it is iron again. The whole plant does look a little lighter green compared to before. I think something seems lacking especially with putting on so many chillies recently!

The young leaves of the cayenne pepper yellowing and falling.

Some of the older leaves of the thyme are yellowing too but I have a feeling it is due to the cold.

It is happening to some leaves of the rosemary as well. More research to be done.

My curry plant has been pruned this morning. I read that curry plants do not take continuous rain well and can grow moldy or get pests due to the wetness. I remove as much leaves as I could to allow air flow between the stems.

The center of the plant is not congested now. I also placed the pot in the mini greenhouse so that it wont get rain this afternoon.

Cases of Powdery Mildew Attack!

Recent weather has been warm and then cold and then warm and then cold with scatter rains. Some mornings were wet and cold and followed by warm afternoons. I had to do a bit of work moving pots of more delicate herbs/plants into the mini green house and out into the sun and vice versa.

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The curry plant has been growing quite well but I was surprised that it has invited unwanted guests such as tiny caterpillars. There were also clusters of webby tiny black eggs mainly towards the ends of stems where the shoots are. Most of the stems which are strong and healthy but exposed to air did not have these webby eggs. The eggs were found in areas where the stems were very congested and hidden. I had to snip off several stems as a result. Guess I learnt a lesson : prune the plant on a regular basis to allow better air flow between the stems.

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My pot of mint which was potted on last Friday has got powdery mildew. I think placing it in the green house with all the condensation has caused this. I removed several leaves and sprayed a few infected areas with Mancozeb Plus. And quarantined the pot in another area of the garden. Will have to do a re-spray after 10 days. I have successfully gotten rid of powdery mildew on two other pots of mint but not the vine which was growing under the shelther. The condition was so bad that the vine is already succumbing to its invader. The common mint which was potted on last Friday.

White powdery mildew on its stem.

White powdery mildew patches on one of the mint leaves.

The grape vine is almost dead due to powdery mildew.

Powdery mildew patches on one of its leaves.

The oriental radishes are looking stronger and bigger. Hoping to harvest some crunchy yummy roots soon.

The purple king bean plant has leaves that are turning yellow. I am assuming that it is due to the colder weather coming as it does not survive winter. This bean plant is really running behind time due to the heat wave in summer. It has put out a lot of beans and I am going to let some of them stay on the vine to mature for seed collection.