A Quick Update.

9 Nov 2011 -  

Thunderstorms and heavy downpour with light hail overnight.
New kangkong / water spinach seeds germinated
Kangkong seedlings transplanted to patch B.
Coriander harvested. Coriander flowering.
Sown more pak choy, corn, spinach, carrot seeds.
Tung O / Edible Garland Chrysanthemum plant flowering.
Water chestnut plants taking off.
Harvesting rocket, spinach, snow peas, coriander and pak choy.

White flies problem.

Grapevine moth caterpillars on vine leaves.

The snow peas are slow to flower but once they do, their flowers quickly turn into pods and grow to maturity very soon.

So this (above) are unopened grape flowers of my Carolina Black Rose.

And this (above) is the flowers blooming. I could see both male and female flowers.

And this (above) is the cluster of grapes!!!

My pyrethrum daisies are a pretty sight.

They are the daisies which produce this chemical 'pyrethrum' that kills garden pests. I guess no insects will come close to them.

Never be sick of admiring my strawberry flowers - such daintiness, such sweetness in smell.

My hydrangeas are flowering soon but their leaves suffered burns by spring sun.

The lilies look even better this year, more blooms!

The Tung O / Edible Garland Chrysanthemum has flowered. I read that at this time, their leaves will be bitter. I hope the plant will self-sow before it dies.

Coriander flowers - I never knew they would be great at attract useful bug predators to my garden.

I am successful at growing choy sum (above) this round.

The pak choy and gai choy are allowed to flower so I can have new seeds, millions of them. Really enjoyable to watch bees clumber over the flowers out of my kitchen window.

Hooray that my water chestnut plants are growing!!! Hope to harvest some nice fresh crunchy corms in autumn!

Bird Watching & Flowers

Recently, my son and I have gone more into bird-feeding and bird-watching. We have scattered some seeds around the grevillea tree (back garden out of the kitchen window) and also under the plum tree (front garden out of my son's window)

So far we have attracted two spotted-neck pigeons which come regularly.

And two non-native mynahs. Here is a picture of all four under the grevillea tree feeding.

One of the mynahs decided to take shelter on my neighbour's toilet window when rain poured.

Then yesterday we had two honeyeaters feeding on the grevillea flowers.  I only managed to take a rough shot of one as the other decided to fly off.  They are fast-moving birds.

I have many flowers in bloom now but I want to highlight a few here :

This is my pyrethrum daisies in a rough terracotta pot.  I bought the seeds from Diggers' Club. They did not flower last year but this spring they have rejuvenated and are putting on flower buds. Fortunately I was patient enough not to throw it out.

I harvested my first proper artichoke green globe flower  for salad last Saturday.  Not bad testing especially the heart. I ate it with whipped mayonaise and white balsamic vinegar.

 This is a picture of my edible Chrysanthemum (Tung O) plant. It survived winter very well and growing taller. It also started to form flower buds but I had to remove them in case flowering affect the leaves.  The leaves are what I harvest for soup (esp in steamboat/hot pots) or miso soups.

Some of the leaves have a funny curvy track on them.  I reckon it is some leaf miner?? Not a big problem as I removed most of the affected leaves.

 My two 'rescued' Tomato Silvery Fir are getting stronger and are having flowers.

Here is an inedible flower.  My first few Dutch Irs Bronze Perfection from Tesselaar have bloomed. Pretty things!

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!!!