Summer Update - End January

Since my birthday mid-January, we have not got much rain fall. The weather was dry and warm and we did have a few hot days. Finally we had a bit of rain fall last night and today, to freshen up the plants and the lawn. I love the rain because it has this magical power of making the lawn look really really green.

Out of the few seeds of yellow capsicum I have sown, two emerged and after re-potting twice, they are doing fantastic.

My little experiment to root market cuttings of sweet potato plants (even after placing in the  vege compartment for two days) worked. I planted four of the rooted cuttings into a large pot (50cm wide x 50cm deep) with loads of cow manure and potting mix. Last few days were hot and I shaded the pot with white cloth. They survived each day and are growing!

These are the same sweet potato cuttings and they are putting on new growth. I could not wait to tell hubby he was going to have sweet potato leaves for dinner soon!

I harvested our first cucumber (burpless). It is about 35cm long. It has a few bite/beak marks which I believe are from birds.

I decided to take my eureka lemon tree  out of its pot (where it was dying)  and planted it in my back garden along the fence. If it survives, I will try to espalier it onto the wooden fence. Amazingly after several rounds of watering on warmer days, it seems to be alive. It is throwing up lots of flowers and growing a few new leaves. Fingers crossed, I still have my lemon tree alive.

I commented about my galangal ginger plants in one of my previous blogs. Here is the picture showing new shoots coming out of the ground.

Gorgeous looking pak choy keeps giving us a constant supply of leafy green.

I am so happy to have homegrown cut flowers - sunflowers and white lilies.

These gorgeous white lilies have fragrance that permeate my house. It was almost bewitching! They last much longer when cut and put in a vase. Out in my garden, they wither within two days.

Woohoo! My Carolina Black Rose grapes are ripening! As the ripening is  not very consistent, I pick the ripe ones off the bunch rather than harvesting the whole bunch as grapes do not ripen once picked.  

When ripened especially by lots of warm sunshine, the grapes are really sweet.

Very happy to say that about 9 pomegranates are developing on the tree after loads of flowers.

New Lemon Eureka.

I planted about 20 daffodil bulbs under the mulching around the plum tree. Hoping to see beautiful yellow blooms out of Samuel's room in spring/summer 2011.

We bought a new Lemon Eureka from Dandenong Market. I hope it will take off.

Here's the peach tree from my friend Andy. I planted it right outside our bedroom window. I look forward to seeing glorious pink flowers out of my room in spring!

The last harvest of sweet potatoes. How wonderful!

Fruits of My Labour.

The four peaches (after doggy picked off the rest) on my peach (Pixzee) have turned reddish. They are still gettting bigger and not ready to be picked yet. The chilli (fire) which I bought from bunnings is really doing well after I treated it with fertilisers. Its leaves have gone from pale green and sickly-looking to dark green and it has put on flowers too.

My Lemon Eureka has grown taller as well and putting on lots of new leaves. The recent two tiny lemons have dropped off without getting bigger.

I planted the passionfruit (panama gold) right in front of my shed after working the soil and raising the area. So far no earwigs or weevils have found their way to eat its leaves. Hope that it will establish itself well here and grow :

Stir-fry Black Pepper Beef (Recipe)

Still about yesterday. Son was using the computer while I had a look out of my front garden. The rain was a cool refreshing change. The patch where there is a rose shrub and dying-down calla lilies...that still requires further work. I plan to plant hydrangeas or kangeroo paws and some other flowers. It is too boring at this moment. However, hubby wants me to take my time as I am burning up my budget every month! The pittosporum golden sheens are doing well but I wish they would grow bushier faster and taller! The sweet potato creepers among the sheens are doing great :

The two white nettings are where my other two tomato silvery firs are planted. Doing great. In the foreground are my sanorita and vietnamese mint in pots.

Two conifers flank the small gate. My eureka lemon in that square patch.

The yellow capsicums harvested and spanish (red) onions ready for my beef stir-fry.

Two slices of blade beef steak sliced into thin pieces.

Onions and capsicum fried in ready-to-use black pepper sauce (which I bought). Add beef. Fry till cooked. No need to add water.

Miscellaneous.

I have been doing some miscellaneous work these few days - sowing, planting, potting on, weeding, pest control, soil improvement...etc. Fig (brown turkey with its beautiful leaves).

Sown some mixed basil seeds and passionfruit seeds.

Planting two tomato (silvery fir) in the front garden.

My trailing kalanchoe is under attack! Could be due to stress of no watering. I had to manually squash caterpillars wrapped up in its leaves. Also found similar caterpillars wrapped up in young leaves of strawberry plant, common mints and pomegranate. I have to be extra alert.

Sown some cayenne pepper seeds again. Last year's batch germinated but stunted.

The bitter melon germinated!

Potted on my precious pot of capsicum. A larger pot and hopefully the fruits will develop large.

Potted on my tomato (silvery fir).

My kaffir lime plant is still dropping leaves. The new fruits also dropped off. There are a few bunches of new flowers. Suddenly the young leaves look to me like they are lacking some kind of deficiency - light green leaf background with dark green veins especially on all the young leaves. I checked it up. It was quite confusing at first but I decided that it is iron deficiency. Time to go Bunnings!

The french lavender bush is blooming. Really gorgeous.

The sunflower seeds which I have harvested last season have sprouted :

Here is one of the first sunflower Sun King seeds which I have sown, growing slowly but steadily :

My big pot of vietnamese mint has yielded lots of sprigs for friends but sadly I found that a lot of tiny caterpillars have actually attacked it. I had to remove all affected leaves. Perhaps failing to water it on time and wilting on a few occasions have caused stress and invited pests :

This is one of the fatter caterpillars which I have spotted...really luminous green. I put several of the coiled up leaves (meaning existence of caterpillars) in a jar and shall see what they become :

Some yellow capsicum seeds have finally germinated. I recognized the seedlings as soon as they emerged :

Several strawberries emerged :

This native (I believed...left by previous owner) is having cute candyfloss flowers. Interesting to look at out of my kitchen window :

Eggplant Supreme is growing slowly. I have remove the tree shield around it and mulched the area. The holes on the leaves are most likely caused by European earwigs :

I have prepared a simple trap of vege oil and water and overnight it drowned a few earwigs. They are indeed the culprits :

My Peach (Pixzee) are growing well for now and I have to remove those leaves affected by leaf curl. Give me at least two full size peaches this season please! :

The coriander I bought from Ikea is growing fine. Harvested a little for a dish :

A pot of lemongrass given by my fellow gardener friend Nancy is planted at Patch E where the parsley and coriander are :

I removed more grass from around my Eureka Lemon and applied mulch :

This is a protea (Special Pink Ice). I like the beautiful flowers so I bought it for $17 bucks! Burnt a hole in my pocket :

Yet another hole in my pocket. Senorita...I saw very similar plants in Tasmania and really hope to have both of them...saw them in Bunnings and bought them. :P :

The rose bush which I spared has put on many many buds. Almost flowering. Wonder if the roses will be an achievement :