Rare Plant Expo and Some Others

On Saturday, our family attended the Rare Plant Expo. Samuel was very excited about the lily pad. It's huge!

Hubby and I almost bought one of these plants. The pitcher plant is the most attractive. But when he told me he would like to put it in the bathroom, I said 'No thanks.' Imagine a meat-eating plant in our bathroom...I am not in for it.

My brave boy went forward to say 'Hello' to Mr Stephen Ryan, the host of Gardening Australia. Mr Ryan even gave him a card with his autograph on it. Samuel was so happy.

My new aquisition - Water Chestnut! I have been wanting to buy this a long time but did due to various reasons. Since it was in front of me at the Expo, I could not resist and bought a pot.

We bought two pots of Clemetis "The President" to replace the juvenile ivy growing on the fence fledging my small gate. I decided that I would pull the ivy out because it is very invasive, despite loving its gorgeous green and white leaves. The Clementis is a perenial but most time of the year, it would be green and flowering. I love the large deep purple flowers.

I also bought two pots of Hellebore Double Red. I have planted them under the Plum tree out of my son's window. Next winter, it will produce pretty red flowers. Hellebores are also called Winter Roses.

Some more yummy strawberries, not many to go.

Harvested a large bowl of red skin potatoes I believe called Desiree potatoes. They came from a single potato. Cooked a pot chicken curry with them.

My 3 Cyclamens decided to green up and flower at this time, just right after they died. I thought they are spring flowering???

This patch of kang kong or water spinach is ready to be cut.

Those in the bed are almost ready too.

Look at my aloe vera. They are growing so well. Better check up recipes on how to boil them for a drink.

A few brown turkey figs are ripening. Can't wait to eat them.

My tomato Silvery Fir plants are having new leaves and flowers. I could not bear to pull them up even though the new fruits probably wont ripen now in autumn.

2 Hours' Work

My work for 2 hours this morning : Potted the largest pot of common mint which I grew from two cuttings. Potted up the citronella (mosquito plant) Divided up the lemon grass into three pots. Fed seasol to those transplanted. Fed Charlie Carp to curry plant, capsicum plants, lavendar, buk choy, bay, hot chilli. Fertilised the orange and lemon trees. Removed weeds surrounding the lemon and orange trees.

The potted on common mint.

The original two cuttings which I propagated.

Two of the chilli padi seeds given by my shepherd have germinated. Not exactly a good time to germinate seeds at this time of the year due to lack of warmth and sunshine. I do hope they can make it and grow. I was able to harvest more purple king beans today and had them for lunch. Crunchy and sweet and turned green when boiled. The capsicum is my first harvest off the capsicum plant on the vege patch. I have a feeling it is a yellow capsicum as there is no sign of any redness. Four more coming!

I cleared the potato plant from the large pot and wow! Digging the potting mix out gave me a surprise of a few egg sized potatoes. This is also first time growing potatoes and I started out too late in the season. I suppose I can do better the next round but potatoes are really cheap! Perhaps just to grow them for fun!

I am propagating some ivy in a pot.

The two citronella cuttings in potting mix.

The divided lemon grass.

The oriental radishes have been thinned out to just one per lot.

More capsicums from the vege patch.

The onion bulbs. I think daffodil bulbs grow this time too.

Melons, Tomatoes, Potatoes and Capsicum

These sunflowers are more than 1 metre tall now, towering over everything. Not sure if I should prune their leaves but anyhow I did, as their large leaves are preventing the melons and tomato bush from getting their share of sunshine.

Tendrils appearing. Providing a support could be good for such a small space but then again if they do fruit, the fruits are going to be heavy to support.

The melons are growing a little close to one another but I hope by feeding them well, they will do well. Lots of yellow flowers and some bees coming but not really sure if there would be fruits. But it is still a joy to have them grown successfully just from pulp! :)

This tomato seedling was actually a sucker broken off from the Mighty Red tomato bush, kept in water for a week or so and it produced a lot of roots. Last two days was horrendously hot so I patiently waited for today to plant it into the large pot I have prepared. In pot was cheap potting mix + seasol + worm tea + blood and bone + crushed egg shells.

Despite the cool weather, morning was a little warm for the well-watered seedling and it went limp. I misted the seedling several times.

When noon came, a sudden idea of shading it with an umbrella came and it worked great. I also nipped off part of the larger leaf to cut moisture loss. When I checked at 4pm, the stem was sturdy and firm, showing that it is doing well. Congratulations to a successful potting! Now I shall see how it will grow in this soil cocktail.

The clump of capsicum (forgotten the yellow or red) is growing good and I am waiting for them to grow bigger and a good weather to thin them out. Given them worm tea regularly.

One of the 11 or 12 clusters of tomatoes on the bush! 11x 4 is 44 tomatoes waiting to enlarge and ripen!!!

Another cluster!

A little potato plant emerging in the soil in vege patch and growing from the parent plant.

A little potato plant growing from the parent plant in the soil in the large pot of potting mix.

I have fixed up these water feeders or whatever they are called to help feed water to the roots of the plants.

Keeping Check.

Sam and I harvested some more of the greengages. They are quite fragile and since the tree is tall, some fell onto the ground and the impact caused broken skin. Given that to doggy which happily ate them up.

Thought this oregano is fighting space and nutrients with one of the melons close by, as the melon did not seem to be growing healthily and turning yellow, so I have dug the oregano up and potted it. It did amazingly well even in 37-39 deg celsius weather in the potting mix with seasol. I made sure drainage is good by placing the planter box on a sloped ground.

My two beautiful Laksa plants (vietnamese mint) are flourishing, growing taller and having more baby leaves. One thing for sure is to keep watering them :)..at least I am sure they thrive with lots of water!

Rosemary is truly strong, not even showing any fuzz after being repotted in new potting mix! And seems to be growing, having more stems appearing.

The two potato plants in the pot are growing stronger day by day, with new baby leaves growing on the stems, which is a good sign of health. Leaves are also firmer now.

Thyme continue to flourish in the pot. Hoping to see some flowering soon before I cut them back.

All the four Buk choy seeds germinated. I should have placed all four separately instead of pairing them up. :( good lesson learned.

Tip : If soil is dry, water before sowing. Use a watering can which allows gentle watering. Never sow and then water as the soil may form a crust over the seed and prevent entry of water to the seed or even prevent seedlings from breaking through to the light.

The bare lemon mint stem is doing so surprisingly well, growing baby leaves even in the seemingly dry soil.

I have pruned many leaves off the tomato plant and tied drooping branches to supports. Also pruned off some flowers so that the existing tomatoes would get most of the nutrients.

The mint cuttings have rooted well so I planted them into the potting mix yesterday evening, with mulching and kept them indoors overnight, with lots of watering and seasol. They have been taking it in and are out in the sun this afternoon when the sunshine is not so harsh.

Cut the lavendar back and hope that it will grow better from below. Also tested the drainage of the soil. Quite sure drainage is fine. Hoping that the leaves will revive and not continue to turn yellow brown. Not sure if the pyrethrum spray has caused the yellowing and browning of the leaves.

Both purple king have emerged! This morning this one could not be seen and in the afternoon, I was shocked to see that it has come out! Driven two supports into the ground.

This potato plant looked like it was going to die few days back but it survived!

Some Newbies in the Vege Patch.

Vietnamese mints (Laksa plant) seem to be growing well. Give them lots of water. Thai basil not sure. So far all four that I have tried growing arent developing too well. Could be better starting from seed rather than mature stems.

Buk Choy seeds have germinated in their large pots. Given them water and there was a fair amount of sunshine and warmth. Purple King beans have not emerged yet though.

Got these potato plants in large pot but not sure if they will survive very well.

The green gages on the tree are ripening beautifully. But they are already attracting some birds to feed on them.

One of the tomato vines, the largest and first to develop.

Thyme that grew from seeds are doing so well in the potting mix. One of my pride and joy. Could it be Jamie Durie's seeds that did the trick? Rosemary, chilli and mint were doing too well. I hope to come up with some remedy to salvage the situation. I have sown some more chilli seeds in a large pot of potting mix. They have germinated but hopefully wont have stunted growth this time. Or it would mean the seeds are of lousy grade?! Not sure.

Most of my melons are having flowers. I hope they put up a good fight and grow some melons, having been revived after thinning and transplanting shock. :)

Capsicums germinating fast and furious! This time round, since I know they are capsicums, I would just leave them in the ground and forgetting about transplanting! Most of the vege tend to do better in the ground than in pots!

One of the plums which I could hand-pick as it is low enough! How exciting watching it turn from green to yellow to red. I could not wait for it to turn deep red so I plucked it this evening.

The oregano is growing steadily. It is a bit close to one of the melons, being just next door. Thinking about re-planting it.