Patch Next to Garage - Fresh Faces.

This challenging patch...with its very clay soil...leaving me clueless on when I should work on it...digging is tough on dry and warm days as the soil is hard like stone...digging is not easy on cloudy wet days as the soil clumps up and hardens into lumps. But with all the effort I have put in, I am beginning to see incredible results.

The tiny pot of annabel daisy has grown 6 times. I keep on with deadheading its flowers which encourages new blooms. So far this daisy is growing faster than any plant here. I hope the space I have designated for it would be sufficient. Compare with http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2009/09/calendula-germinates-patch-next-to.html

The little rosemary bush is also doing well. Compare it with http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2009/10/patch-next-to-garage.html

So is this oregano. Strangely, I am expecting it to spread outwards but it seems to be growing upwards. I would want it to be an edible ground cover here. Compare it with what I saw in the botanical gardens : http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2009/02/botanic-gardens-potting-on.html

The two candy tuft plants are also well. Notice that the annabel daisy, rosemary and oregano have been mulched but not the candy tuft. I was waiting to see if I need to pull up the candy tuft plants in case they did not survive.

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Tip : It is better to wait and see if a plant establishes itself well after transplanting. If it does, then apply mulch. Better to mulch later in case you need to dig the plant up for some reason.

The Lilium LA hybrid plants are budding.

3 of the 5 gladioli plants are growing big. But 2 others have not appeared.

These 3 calendula officinalis plants are the fresh faces of this patch. I have just transplanted them here. So far very good results.

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Tip : During transplanting, minimise root disturbance and maintain potting mix shape. Transfer the whole potting mix with plant over. Water with seasol after that and make sure the plant is hydrated daily.

Here's another new face...my bay tree. It is very tiny now and it is a slow-growing plant. I have planted it in the centre of the patch and it should be the tallest and the focal point of this patch in years to come. Edible too!

Botanic Gardens, Potting On

Autumn has arrived. This week has been quite cool, some days a little too cold for my comfort. I wish I had many waterproof cloches of various sizes to house some of the plants that love warm sunshine. Yesterday, our family had a wonderful time at the Royal Melbourne Botanic Gardens, before taking our little one to his surprise Motor Show. Weather was marvellous - warm sunshine and not too windy. I also visited the Herb Garden with Samuel while Hubby lay on his picnic mat doing nothing. Here are a few pictures which I have taken :

Thai basil flowering. Thyme

Common basil

Capsicum

Oregano

Evening gardening work : The curry plant has overcrowded its little pot and I have potted it on using a 30cm pot. I used premium potting mix + 1 spade coarse sand + 5g slow release fertiliser all mixed in. After potting, I watered the pot thoroughly to give it a good soak of seasol.

Tip : Water soil where existing plant is in, thoroughly at least 2 hours, before potting on or re-potting, to soften the soil so that the plant is easily removed from its pot.

Curry plant after potting on.

I bought a netting which covers part of the peach tree. Fruits are getting larger but at a snail pace. I did not get to eat a single pear on the tree...all eaten by birds but do hope to taste the peaches.

The vietnamese mints in the 30cm pot which grew from two cuttings (http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2008/12/summer-warming-up.html) have becoming trailing and spilling over the edge of the pot. Recently their leaves did not look as green and healthy. I left the pot without watering for a while, fearing that I have waterlogged the potting mix. Their leaves were not as limp after several days. Today I decided to turn it out of its pot to check after deliberately watering the mix.

Growth spilling over the edge (above).

The roots are not potbound yet I think, but there are a lot of roots at the base (above). So, I potted it on into a 40cm pot, just with normal potting mix and 20g of slow release fertiliser. Also trimmed off the roots right at the base. Watered the mix to moisten it and I shall add some seasol tomorrow.

This tomato sucker (below) which I had rooted from the parent Mighty Red tomato is sprouting new growth in the vege patch. Of course it is really a little late experimenting this as it is already beginning of autumn. I am really trying to compare growth in either soil or potting mixes (in pots). So far two similar suckers which were potted into potting mixes did not grow. I am still trying to work out the reason.

The vietnamese mint cutting which I have planted in the vege patch is also showing new growth.

Buk choy is growing fine except that white butterflies love to lay eggs on it. Probably a wonderful food for its caterpillars.

Look at how the caterpillars have munched away edges below. I have to check this pot every day :

Propagating Rosemary and Can-o-worms.

My little gardener with Marco and Smokey.

My Can-o-worm farm parked in the garage is doing well. This a peek at it. Not looking forward to Saturday, where temperature may soar to a 43 deg again. :(

This lemon tree was suddenly in a bad shape. Not sure if it was due to the extreme heat last week or a nutrient deficiency (as I have not done a thing for it before). A lot of leaves yellowed and dropped, as did the lemons, both large and small. I have tried to water it around the dripline and fertilised with less than a handful of citrus fertiliser. Hope that helps!

A strawberry? It is a deformed tomato, due to either too hot or too cold temperature during pollination, and will produce poor quality fruits.

Tip : Misting flowering plants in the early morning provides humidity and this favors pollination from bees.

This surviving Purple King is growing its way up the support without much help on my part. :)

The Rosemary Propagation Mid-Summer Experiment :

5 stalks of rosemary soft wood cuttings in jar of normal tap water.

5 stalks of rosermary hard wood cuttings with soft wood on top in jar of normal tap water.

Some water was poured away after a few days, retaining a little and fresh tap water topped up. Jars are placed near indirect sunlight as window sill. No rooting hormone used.

Result : It took 20 days before I could see roots appearing on any stem.

5 hard wood cuttings rooted. 1 soft wood cutting rooted. Rooting zone : nodes.

Conclusion : Hardwood cuttings have the highest chance of rooting. Contrary to some books which say that hardwood cuttings should be taken in autumn and softwood cuttings to be taken in summer, the hardwood cuttings in my experiment all rooted in mid-summer where else the only one softwood cutting rooted pathetically.

Tip : It is useful to wrap the cuttings and jar in a clear plastic bag to reduce transpiration (water loss through evaporation) from the leaves. In my case, I did not do so but it still worked in this hot summer climate.

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!