Spring Photos - Mulching the Front Vegetable Bed

This morning's weather was fantastic. But when afternoon began, we had wind speed up to 100km/h. It was quite scary! After we mid-morning walk, I hurried to do some work in the garden - staking the passion fruit and my grape vine so that their branches/stem wouldn't break.

Hubby and I put on our masks and starting to level the soil and  mulch the front vegetable bed. I also planted two tomato sweet grape plants.  Finally done!!! :

The grape vine is looking so good! Love the glossy fresh green leaves and the flowers that have appeared. Within a week, the bare vine is covered with lush green leaves! Such is the magic of spring! Even my wisteria has put on a full head of leaves! And the pixzee peach tree too!

Carolina Black Rose Grape Vine in its Pot.

New leaves and new flowers for Carolina Black Rose grape vine.

Parsley thriving in the lemon tree pot :

Flat leaf parsley in the lemon tree pot.

Gai choy or mustard green in the front garden Patch

Another harvest of my gai choy/mustard green.

Okay now an update on my hydrangeas.  These were dug up from my previous garden, planted into pots and now I have found a new spot for them - next to the car port.  They were stricken by powdery mildew but done well after fungicide treatment :

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! :)

Our First Pixzee Peach for 2011 Plus Other Garden Updates.

Today's temperature is predicted to reach 35 deg celsius. Not a big deal as I believe this year's summer will be cooler and I doubt we are going to experience 46 again. Also, the garden is all mostly mulched up so the water retention will be good. Having said that, I spent one hour giving the whole garden water this morning. I have also put up some white cloths on three areas : over the burdock, over the hydrangeas and the ocra (ladies' fingers). I was trying to show my son my dwarf peach (pixzee) tree with its five large fruits. We could smell the fragrance without putting our noses near. One of them felt soft and when my boy reached out to touch it, it fell. We realised that this one was ready and shared it. Yummy, sweet and juicy!!!

This little pot of strawberry delight is producing quite a few strawberries. And the other plants are also having lots flowers.

I germinated some lemon balm recently. It is growing steadily but slowly.

Clockwise from top : bitter melon (bittergourd), evening primrose, watercress and eggplant. I know I am extremely late planting the bitter melon and eggplant. I sowed them with experimentation in mind but all of them germinated.

These are four pyrethrum daisies which I bought from Diggers. They grow so slowly and wilt so easily. I have repotted them into this pretty terracotta pot.

A Vietnamese kinder mum gave me these two Thai Basil plants which I repotted in this large pot. It's been difficult growing this basil probably due to the climate. It flowers too easily which is not good for herbs.

My two burdock plants in this vege patch are easily burnt by the hot sun due to their large leaves. I covered them with white cloth today.

More kang kong (water spinach) growing after the last harvest. This will be one vege I will keep planting every year. The seeds are of very superior quality.

My beloved yellow capsicum plant is in its 3rd year and fruiting!!! What an amazing plant!!!

Cool Summer & Garden Update.

So far our summer 2010-2011 has been cooler than previous years. We had one day of 40 deg celsius but that's it. Other days are cool and sunny or cloudy. So some of the garden crops are growing seriously slowly such as my yardlong beans (long beans) and eggplants. I am certainly thankful for the weather because I dont ever want heat waves. The patch right out of my main door is filling up with foliage and fruits...tomatoes, corns, spagetti squashes and soon, okra (ladies' fingers).

The pumpkin vine has crept onto the lawn and I spotted a little pumpkin with its female flower. So far lots of male flowers were produced.

The one and only gorgeous lemon verbena is thriving outside my bedroom window. The only issue is it is growing out of the garden edge and soon it may sprawl onto the lawn. I want it to grow taller and bushier so I probably have to give it a prune asap.

The peach tree out of my bedroom is laden with peaches. Just waiting for them to ripen!

9 sweet corns are growing on three corn plants!!!

A male pumpkin flower.

I realised I actually have more pixzee peaches than I thought. They are so prettily pink.

Spagetti squashes are growing fast. This is one of the three.

Drooling as I typed. I pickled a big harvest of green chillies.

Here's my gorgeous grapevine Carolina Black Rose crawling both ways on the pergola.

Why gorgeous? Because it looks so from my kitchen window! I will never get sick of this beautiful picture from my kitchen. I know that trellis isnt pretty, but who cares?

Fruit Trees Update

I chopped off the top part of my brown turkey fig tree in winter as the 'trunk' was very long and filmsy. Here a green bud can be seen. I think it will make it to regenerate new life! The Flemings brown turkey fig tree has put on several new buds which should will be leaves.

The Flemings Peach (Pixzee) tree has fewer flowers this year and so expecting either fewer or no fruits.

This peach tree (which I have no name for) is doing so well after being planted here. Putting on lots of new leaves.

However, the apricot (moorpark) which suffered some miserable beginnings is dead. I scraped its trunk and it just showed brown.

When I finally pulled it up, it barely had any roots left. All have rotted away.

Harvesting Peaches, Tomatoes, Eggplant and Buk Choy

My eggplant (supreme) had at least a dozen of flowers but only one eggplant maturing so far. In order not to have too many seeds forming in the eggplant, I harvested it together with a bunch of tomatoes (did not wait till fully ripen this time) and a bunch of delicious crisp green buk choy.

I usually hang out in the back garden and the two tomato silvery fir out on the front do not get enough attention from me. One inspection one evening showed caterpillars tunnelling through the tomatoes. I wonder if they are cornear caterpillars because they do look similar to the other caterpillars I had caught. I left two attacked tomatoes with the caterpillars in a jar and see if I can see any moths forming.

Samuel helped me to harvest one lone ripening tomato :

And I had these harvested as well...more tomato silvery fir (almost ripe ones) and three peach (pixzee). Yummy!

Windy and 43 Deg Celsius.

As the blog title says, windy and 43 deg celsius. Thank God for weather forecasts, I have done all the necessary preparations (putting up shades, watering, weeding...) before today. Besides all the light colour tablecloths, white cloths, I even borrowed hubby's white shirts! This morning I woke up not having the anxiety of a charred garden but leisurely did whatever little things I needed to do. Prayerfully, no casualty when evening arrives.

Back garden.

Front patio and front garden.

Sweet potato creepers taking over the mulching around the golden sheens.

New candidate in the garden. I decided to plant Diggers' Pioneer bean stringless (above pic) in this empty pot of mix (where my daisies used to be). A black pot over them to create a dark environment and moist potting mix saw them germinating just in four days!

Under the netting and shade, my buk choy (purple) and buk choy (regular green) are growing well. One silver beet among them as well and the bitter melon vine on the trellis.

Two more silver beets growing next to the lemon grass and under the shelther of the grevillea tree.

Once again a picture of the four peaches on my peach (pixzee). Just cannot stop snapping a picture of them. Beautiful considering it is its first season!

One eggplant supreme out in sight!!!

Nellie Kelly's hot chillies growing larger and more coming!

One bunch of tomato silvery fir ripening! Very exciting as this year, I managed to get the tomatoes to grow larger and it is really successful considering this one is potted.

I picked this first ripened and large-sized tomato two days ago in case it gets too scorched by the sun.

Also picked a large bowl of common mint yesterday morning. Time for some mint tea and omelette.