Edible Garden Bed - Plans for Patch Front

Now, a look at my front garden (though I am far from posting about the back garden). I shall call this garden bed 'Patch Front'. The photo speaks a thousand words. I find labelling much more efficient and clear. You can click on the photo to see a larger one.

The left side where the fence is is usually shaded. I would love to plant a vine of some sort in that area but a bit more researching has to be done. My faithful Pixzee Peach tree has finally gone into the ground after a few years of being potted.  It has been fungicide-treated and then flowered and now the leaves are coming.  I have driven stakes around the tree for protection in months to come, against my dog and possums. For two years we hadn't eaten a single peach from it because my dog chewed it.

The kaffir lime tree was also planted a few months ago.  However, it did not do very well. I am not sure why and hope it greens up after a while, or I will have to investigate. Next to the kaffir lime, some mustard green vegetables are thriving.  

As I did not know where to plant my grape vine Carolina Black Rose (due to the shifting sun all over my garden and I know grapes need lots sunshine to sweeten), I have re-potted it into a larger pot. Wishing for the same sweet juicy grapes I had last summer/autumn!

Eureka lemon tree, brown turkey fig tree and wisteria remain potted.  Right where my entrance is, I plan on putting Saffron Crocus bulbs.  

Dreaming of an edible garden bed! And a beautiful one too! :)

Patches A, C, D & E

The recent warm and long day time have made growth explode in my garden.

At patch A, the three purple king bean plants and the tomato beef steak plant are growing. I cannot seem to see any tomatoes developing at the moment even though there are flowers. I did not remember having trouble with my Mighty red tomato. Puzzled, I consulted fellow blogger 'Scarecrow' and she gave me this useful link : http://www.grow-tomato-sauce.com/tomatopollination.html

Putting veges and edibles aside, I am feeling really proud of this pot of Annabel daisy. It has grown in size about 6 times.

My beloved capsicum plant is developing its fruits steadily. It is ahead of most plants because this is its second season. Feeling more secure with it in a larger pot.

This is one of 5 calendula officinalis plants I have germinated. They are subject to caterpillars like many of my edible plants in the garden but with much vigilance, I have picked and squashed most of them. This one is budding already!

My strawberry delight at Patch C is doing well in its pot although also subject to caterpillars. Its strawberries are very sweet!

Lemon Verbena at Patch C is also doing well and I have allowed one stalk to flower just to see how the flowers look like.

Wow my lemon grass at Patch C which initially did not look like it was going to make it, has actually gone into growth spurt! Hopefully the eggplant supreme and passionfruit panama gold will speed up in growth as well or they could be overtaken by the lemon grass!

After treating my kaffir lime plant at Patch C with chelated iron (not much organic solutions for this), it leapt into growing beautiful healthy-looking new leaves and more fruits and flowers almost immediately...indeed it was iron deficiency!

Eggplant Supreme at Patch C is also doing well except having its leaves munched on probably at night by some insects. In the day, I cannot find any bugs on it.

This is Patch C : strawberries, kaffir lime, eggplant supreme, lemon grass, passionfruit, lemon verbena, capsicum and pixzee peach. Quite an assortment of plants cramped together.

This is Patch E : coriander and continental parsley both flowering and seeding. I did not care as I am surely alright for them to seed and grow new ones, which means new supply of herbs. There is another clump of lemongrass and my pot of bay plant there.

I was cleaning the dusty leaves of my three cyclamens when I saw this. A search reveals them as the fruits of the cyclamens. I read that using seeds is tough so I am just going to leave them alone. I wonder if there are corms in the soil. Hopefully! So that cyclamens can cover the whole of Patch D and under my pomegranate tree and grevilia. They have glorious blooms! See http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2009/09/golden-sheen-pittosporum-and-cyclamens.html or click on 'cyclamen' label on right side of my blog.

Some Digging and Planting - Apricot, Kaffir Lime, Egg Plant and Thai Basil.

It has been raining and raining and raining. I am grateful for the rains though not really for the chilly strong winds. The rain softened the ground substantially and provided lots of watering for my new garden. I managed to dig the hole on the front garden for my apricot Moorpark and planted it into the ground. Drainage over this spot does not seem excellent but I will have a go and see if this apricot will establish itself well : As per my earlier entry, after coming back from 2.5 weeks of overseas trip, the pot of kaffir had produced lots of new leaves but at the same time, its potting mix has become home to thousands of ants which I had killed drenching the mix in pyrethrum. Older leaves were falling at an astounding rate and I assumed that the kaffir lime needed nutrients. I fed it with with Osmocote, a slow-release fertiliser with hope of easing its problem fast but soon the young leaves started crinkling. Gosh! Over-fertilising? Poisoning? Last resort : plant it into the ground! :

Crinkling/Shrivelling of leaves (above & below)

Here it goes into Patch 3 (above)

I bought a pot of thai basil and eggplant supreme from IKEA while there to shop for storage solutions. Planted them near the kaffir lime :

Marco my dog trampled on and nibbed off the parsley on Patch 6. Well, I might as well pull them off since I hardly use parsley and there are so much of them. I also bought a pot of coriander and planted it next to the leftover parsley :

Potting On Chilli Padis, Lilium LA Hybrid White Lilies & Others.

Today, I removed the cayenne pepper plant from its pot as there was not a sign of life. Surprised to find fat earthworms around its roots. Are they feeding on the roots since they are dead?

I potted up my three chilli padi plants in the cayenne pepper pot :

Hope that as the weather warms up, the chilli padi plants will grow quickly :

I am excited about the many new leaves the kaffir lime is putting on, as well as flower buds :

Did some pruning to my mint pots :

Harvested some snow peas for lunch. Oh they are so tender and sweet :

Planted 3 white lily (Lilium LA hybrid) bulbs in the patch next to garage, right behind the lime mist daffodils :

Strawberry plants are doing well. I could have planted them too close for comfort :

The pretty succulents which I have propagated from their parents at our rental place are growing well and even flowering :

Nice fleshy leaves. Wonder if I should plant them under my golden sheen as groundcover. Still thinking :

This ivy which I also propagated from its parent from the rental place is doing even better over at our new place. However, I am still unsure if I should grow it in the ground for a shady spot. Concern is that it may become weedlike and dominate the whole area and leave me to regret :

New Leaves and Fruits.

Eversince my aloe vera has been placed under the patio where it gets indirect sunlight, it has gone green and new pups are developing at a faster pace. This concludes why it was very light green and had burnt-like tips whilst in the green house under direct sunlight and heat. It was too much for it. With several new pups growing, I hope to be able to propagate new aloe veras in new pots : My Trixee? Pixee? (just cannot get its name right) dwarf peach is growing well since my fungicide treatment and fertilising in winter. I was even surprised to find lots of peaches growing. However, I will try to stay on the pessimistic side as the branches are so close, I reckon the peaches have not much space for developing. Fingers crossed, none have dropped yet :

Kaffir lime has got lots of new leaves growing but it looks a bit unwell :

Pomegranate (left by its previous owner but I will gladly accept it :)) has put on lots of leaves but I have no clue what I should do with them...prune? :

Apricot Moorpark finally put on leaves. I thought it was dead :

Within 2.5 weeks, the plum tree put on a whole crown of leaves. Lesser plums this year after the recent hair-cut :

Progress in the Garden.

Pot of pretty nasturtiums still flowering. Makes a really pretty entrance statement every time I come home. Lavender bee pretty is also making flowers after the aphids were gotten rid of by intensive pyrethrum treatment. Fortunately my lavender leaves were not burnt by the sprays.

Wise for me to leave the rosemarys out in the open where it got sun, rain and wind. The powdery mildew is well under control.

Daffodils at vege patch will be abandoned by me at the end of the month when I move.

Chilli padis growing well and took a long time to reach this stage.

Oriental radishes growing steadily and too will be abandoned at the end of this month.

Pixee peach is producing flower buds.

Kaffir lime is finally producing new leaves. Purple ones??

Potted capsicum producing new leaves too. Spring, come soon!