Clearing Vegetable Patch, Mint Cuttings.

This morning is a cloudy and still one. All the pots are still wet with a good amount of rain from the past few days. Hubby saw a portable mini greenhouse in bunnings and bought one for me. It was really affordable and useful to have. So, after morning chores in the house, I got to work in the garden. Hubby set the house up and I just had to place some of my plants in especially those that are still establishing themselves - three pots of mint cuttings recently potted, the original pot of mint, a new pot of aloe vera, a new pot of geranium citronella (mosquito plant), two pots of rosemary cuttings and two pots of vietnamese mints (one salvaged & potted on and one almost died in the green planter but re-potted) I also moved some of the pots of herbs/plants which I have placed on the empty part of the vege patch (space where melons were rooted). I am clearing space to start raking soil, putting cow manure, weeding a little to prepare for growing chinese radishes. I have also stripped the leaves of the three tall sunflower stems so that they will not be photosynthesizing or taking any nutrients from the soil. Well with the roots and stems still around, I reckon some water and nutrients would be used by them but should be neglible. I intend to grow some autumn/winter peas/beans so they can use the stems as supports to climb. Recently I read that sunflower seeds hulls can emit a chemical similar to juglone from black walnuts which can inhibit growth of beans. So I made sure I cleared the hulls which the birds left over.

Lining up the pots outside the patch (above). It is important to ensure the plants are free of pests before placing them so close together, as pests can spread from plant to plant. Also important to make sure they are strong and healthy. Whiteflies are especially expert at locating stressed/weakened/sick plants. I read that plants which are sick/stressed actually emit chemicals that attract pests. Regular fertilising and adding plant conditioners such as seaweed solution, especially for pot plants, help strengthen them.

Part of vegetable patch being prepared for autumn/winter planting. And the stripped sunflower stems.

Three horrors this morning : finding caterpillar chewing on my lavendar and rosemary and the same green caterpillars on my buk choy. It is annoying to find them there. I do not use any pesticide on them and so I have to be very vigilant with regular inspection. My thyme also did not look very healthy and are getting woody. I fed the lavendar and thyme some aquasol.

The three pots of mint cuttings are doing well. Using premium potting mix is a good idea to help establish the young cuttings. The two in the black pot are putting on new shoots. I somehow am not very successful at growing mint in pots but I am determined to try and improve :

The two newer pots of common mint cuttings.

The first pot of mint cutting putting on new shoots.

Harvesting Sunflower Seeds. Sweet Irrigation/Rain From Heaven.

We had a sweet portion of rain fall last night, after a warm windy dusty day. I placed three buckets out to collect rain and had 1.5 cm in each this morning. Not a lot but more than the past rains recently! It was good enough to wet the vege patch and the pots. I am sure the veges and herbs and fruit trees were grateful for it. The coming of the rain last evening was made even more exciting as it happened the same time when I was reading the book 'Plants without Poison' by a Tasmanian farmer and writer, Paul Healy in which he says, rain, especially the slow-falling and fine type, absorbs nitrogen as it falls onto the plants. The plants got a feast from heavenly irrigation! God, thanks for sending rain!!! This morning, I was inspecting the garden as usual and found that the small sunflower's seeds have been half-ransacked. When God says he provides for the birds of the air, he really does! :) Through gardeners like me! The opened husks are lying on the ground and on the ledge of the fence next to the sunflower. I did not wrap up this sunflower and sure enough, the birds were here for a feast. Nevermind, I have lots seeds to spare.

This is the small sunflower with almost half the seeds stolen. The seeds are those under the yellow 'florets'. I fed the florets and shrivelled petals to my worms.

I decided to cut down all the three heads. This is one of the huge ones with full head of seeds.

Samuel and I were busy wriggling and digging out the seeds. Marco was on standby to chew the left overs. He even chewed the whole stem (4cm thick) which I pulled out from the ground. It was tough but his teeth were tougher!

Some of the seeds from the small sunflower. Two large ones awaiting to be worked on. It is not easy work. The birds are seriously better candidates doing this job. Also the sunflowers have since became habitats for many ants when they were growing and I had to wait for the residents to crawl off.

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 :

Those That Are Flowering...

The cayenne pepper has been putting on new stems and leaves, looking greener as ever and I am probably going to see lots of chillies soon as there are lots of flowers coming up. Capsicum and chilli flowers look quite similar as they belong to the same family :

Some flowers of the cayennne pepper.

Cayenne pepper looking greener than ever compared to many weeks back.

This ornamental but edible spicy chilli (below) is producing more flowers and tiny fruits :

My Purple king (below) gave a wonderful surprise this morning! It is flowering! It is amazing how it looked so dead just a few weeks back and now it is flourishing!

Flowering purple king

Check out some of the leftover sunburnt sun-fried leaves and the new green growth on the purple king

The capsicum in the pot is going to flower soon, despite not having extremely healthy green leaves. I have a feeling it is lacking nitrogen and have since watered in quick plant food 'Aquasol'. Yes, giving it some quick soluble food proves to be the solution. It did become greener and bushier, producing more side shoots :

Capsicum in the pot

Comparing with the one in the pot, this one in the vegetable patch has greener and more glossy leaves and also flowering soon :

Capsicum at the vege patch flowering soon.

Collecting Seeds of Thai Basil

Refering to the thai basil (http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2009/02/long-long-entry.html) which was not very successfully propagated from stem cutting and had many flower stalks. I have decided to leave it to flower and see if I can gather any seeds :

The thai basil which produced very little leaves and kept bolting to seeds

Well I did. After many weeks, the white 'seeds' in the flowers have turned 'dark brown/black' (if you click the picture below, look into the leaflets around the middle of the stalk, you are able to see two seeds) :

Click on this picture to enlarge it. You can see two seeds encased within the sepals? leaflets?. There are actually four seeds altogether encased together.

I managed to collect a good deal of dried thai basil seeds. This is just the beginning :). If completely dry and ready, seeds should fall out easily when leaflets are opened, brushed with finger and turned upside down. If not ready, they will still be a little sticky and best left to dry completely before seed collection.

Some of the thai basil seeds collected.