Pruning My New Apricot Moorpark.

Another gloomy day. Not as windy but forecast to have storm and hail later part of the day. My boy is attending a holiday children's programme organised by my church these few days. I did a bit of the sponsorship job behind the programme and it was rather challenging. Hope that the programme will truly impact the children in a positive manner.

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Now it is time for me to have a break without much distraction. I have some time alone doing work without having my maternal instinct switched on, always being on the lookout in case he trips and falls here or there. I miss him and hope he will not wander out of the hall without any supervision. Did not want him to go at first as he is not even 4 yet but I decided that I would let go and trust God for his safety. I repotted the aloe vera again. Even though Hubby has drilled more holes in this green shallow planter, the drainage still did not improve. Then I remember Kelvin Hendreck's book saying that the height of containers/pot depth make a lot of difference to the wetness of the potting mix. Average wetness is greater when it is in a shallow pot than when it is in a tall pot. The aloe vera has grown definitely but now it has this slight purplish tinge on it....strange by me. Hope it will not die on me especially when I saw several pups developing. Some gardener says they thrive on neglect...I wonder!

This is the Apricot Moorpark before pruning.

I bought a pair of cheaper pruners yesterday and after reading on this topic, experimented on the large already bald peach tree and then went for the apricot tree. Haha I was procrastinating pruning the apricot tree for fear that I will damage it but I did prune it after all! It was not too bad. Now only time will tell if I have indeed done the right job!

Another branch after pruning.

My poor rosemary plants are still having powdery mildew. Perhaps the fungicide prepared a while back has lost its effectiveness. I prepared a new bottle and practically drenched the plant with fungicide. It is so strange since I hardly water them and do not practise overhead watering. Wont be eating them for a while!

New Purchases & Rosemary Treatment

Haiz...my two capsicum plants from the vege patch did not survive the recent potting after an overnight attack. They were rather withered and I decided to pull them up to free up the pot for other things.

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I went to Bunnings after my BSF (bible study international) this morning. Shopped for quite a while and finally brought home a Brown Turkey fig tree, a Pixee Peach tree, a Moorpark Apricot tree and 3 pots of cyclamens. I had wanted another fig type but only Black Genoa and Brown Turkey are available and they are good as well. I will have all of them in pots first (going to use large pots pinched from existing herb/vegetables). I am eyeing the chives/purple buk choy pot and perhaps my vietnamese mint pot (since they are so prolific and I have not been using much of it anyway). The trees can be in pots for up to a year so I will send them to the ground when I move to my new place. For now till potting, I will have them in the garage at night as possums are up and about nightly (evident by their droppings on the fence, on the front of the house and even in my pots!)

Pixee Peach (dwarf 1.5m tall max), Morepark Apricot (best variety for home gardeners) & Brown Turkey Fig. Three pots of cyclamens for a shady spot in my new house.

In the afternoon, I also applied fungicide to my original rosemary plant and its two plantlets which I have propagated. They have all somehow developed mildew. It is so puzzling. Hopefully the fungicide wont burn too much of their leaves! My lavender is growing very well except that its luscious leaves have attacted green aphids. I have to figure out how to treat this problem. Previously I have applied pyrethrum spray for white flies and it worked, but almost killed my lavender!

Two plantlets (left & middle) and the original pot of rosemary are attacked by powdery mildew and treated with fungicide.

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.