Possums' Visit

Warm morning. 7.00 am. I went out and sat on the steps of the back door, enjoying the company of Smokey and Marco, and watching the sky slowly brighten up and the sun rising. There were also warm breezes and birds chirping. This kind of autumn weather is memorable. I doubt I can do that when winter comes. I do not anticipate its arrival. One thing is lacking - a table and chair and a cup of hot coffee! All the sown oriental radishes have emerged with the first set of leaves. But I would have to wait for the true set of leaves to grow before thinning them out. One of the two spring onion bulbs is growing. 'Hello neighbour, are you sprouting too?' The pot next to this has a peach and nectarine seed buried in it as per my previous entry : http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2009/03/seedlings-of-oriental-radishes.html. Unfortunately, what's left are two holes this morning. That was when I realised that possums have been visiting my yard. The dogs cant be digging such nice holes with their paws just to get fruit stones!

The second purple king pod has grown. I am taking lots pictures because it grows very rapidly.

Glad to find two more pods hidden away under the leaves.

Okay the dogs cant have done this. Smokey eats whole ripe tomatoes even if he jumps onto the patch. The verdict : possums have been gnawing on these unripe fruits. I began to realise that the plastic bags I found on the grass each morning was not the work of my dear Marco, but the possums, which have been picking my peaches. 'Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.' Matthew 6:26 of the Bible. The birds and possums and my dog have been sharing the peaches and they do not need to work hard for them. See how true the verse is?

My dear capsicum at the vege patch, how am I going to protect you from the paws of the possums? I mean, I would love to eat at least one home-grown capsicum.

The capsicum in the pot is a bit slower than those two at the vege patch in flowering and fruiting but they are steadily reaching there. I am proud to announce three flowers and lots more! This capsicum is a true hero because it was dug up from the vege patch and potted (http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2009/02/long-long-entry.html), but it did well under my tender loving care. :) I have to keep fertilising it to give it enough nutrients to fruit well.

My potted on lemongrass are not showing any signs of transplanting shock so far and they have even shown taller growth.

Thyme is also showing healthy new growth. Recently snipped off some for my beef pasta. Fresh home-grown herbs...yum yum!

The aloe vera which was potted on and then re-potted few days (http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2009/03/work-on-cloudy-day.html) after that. In this new pot, it seems happier and has not shown any stress.

My cayenne pepper has put on so many chillies I cannot even count...at least 15? This is one of the groups of chillies I have taken. Today my shepherd has given me some seeds of chilli padis. I have sown them in premium potting mix + composted cow manure + a tiny handful of seedling fertiliser. Hope to see some germination soon. Yippee!!!

Another project in progress : dog poo for compost! I have been gathering the dogs' poo in recycled potting mix (30L type) bags and dog food (15kg) bags. I will have to let the poo decompose on its own at one far corner of the garden. It is a slow process without worms but there are the fungi and bacteria at slow work. Rather than throwing them into garbage bins, the dog poo can be reused when completely composted/aged. It is quite safe to use this as long as the dogs are in good health, not eating rubbish and not on deworming tablets. Anyway by the time the poo is completely composted, it will be safe to use as mulching or organic fertiliser.

7.00 Autumn morning.

Harvesting Worm Castings & Potting On Comquat Calamondin

Hot day. 35 degrees celcius. After corresponding with Lucky about my worm warm, I am finally sure that I can harvest the worm castings. Evening came and I left one tray exposed to light so that the worms will hide. Using rubber gloves, I raked through the castings. Not an easy job even though the worms hid. I still had to pull out worms manually...tiny ones are harder to pull out. I collected a 5L bucket of worm castings, which inevitably contained very young worms and lots of worm eggs. That was just 2/3 of a tray. Then I added coir fibre to the tray to serve as new bedding for the worms. It also serves as a food source. I potted on my comquat calamondin (calamasi), adding the bucket of worm casting and composted cow manure to premium potting mix. Tomorrow morning, I would water the pot with seasol to ease the calamasi from transplanting shock.

Seedlings of Oriental Radishes.

Another sunny day. I am sure the plants are loving this weather, especially after a good soak of rain a week back. Now that the pots are slowly drying out in the sun, I can use the well-collected 100 litres of water on them. The two strongest capsicum plants are flowering more and see that little capsicum? I wonder if it will turn out to be yellow or red as I have forgotten to label it during sowing...bad habit for a gardener.

The purple king is having more flowers and another pod is coming. I am glad that they are coming out so quickly despite the plant being ruined in the heat wave. This tomato sucker which I grew in the ground actually started out well but somehow it decided to die.

The seedlings of the oriental radishes have emerged, after being sown merely four days ago.

I use plastic take-away containers to cut out pot labels. Labels are not expensive to buy but why not save on it and recycle plastic containers like this? Wooden ice-cream sticks are also equally effective.

Here's how the labels look like. I have eaten a home-grown peach and a supermarket nectarine. Just bury the seeds here for fun. It is autumn and I shall see if either of both will grow. Even if they do, I cannot grow them on my new property because I can only afford land for dwarf versions.

Peaches for Harvesting.

We had a wonderful day of fine cosy weather today. Samuel and I just came back from just sitting outdoors...bathing in the warm evening sun. Even he told me "Yes Mummy, it is a wonderful day!" I did not have much to do today except put out the pots from the mini green house into the sun and mulched my capsicum plants at the vege patch with cow manure and watering it in. That was about it. Spend most time just admiring the plants and their beauty. A few of the peaches came off easily from their stalks and I guess they are almost ready. They smell fragrant.

My naughty doggy cannot resist the peaches and has been plundering some. 'No! No'

Mine Mine...one of the onion bulbs is finally showing shoots! It is a long wait! I think it takes much shorter time to do that in tropical weather.

The dwarf orange tree is fruiting...these are about lime sizes. Given it citrus fertiliser few days earlier.

The calamasi plant. Hope to see more fruiting soon.

A proper look at my newly acquired kaffir lime plant.

A beautiful cayenne pepper chilli in the midst of changing colour.

Two New Kids on the Block!

Today was a cold day, with light showers in the afternoon. I brought Samuel to a large nursery in the afternoon when the sun came out and rain went away. Bought two coveted citrus : comquat calamondin on the right (calamondins C madurensis or calamansi)) and kaffir lime on the left. Comquat calamondin limes can be used for flavoring chilli pastes, giving them extra punch. I love its juice in belacan chilli pastes and that goes well with many types of seafood especially squids and cockles. Yum! After migrating here, I have learned to cook more Cambodian and Thai dishes, since their ingredients such as thai basil, vietnamese mints and kaffir lime leaves are so accessible. It is a good idea to invest in a kaffir lime shrub - its leaves are so aromatic when rubbed with fingers. They are wonderful in Tom Yam soups and work well with lemon grass.

The first capsicum has popped from the first flower. Really wonder how big it can grow to but I am faithful in feeding it with seasol. Perhaps I should mulch with cow manure as well.

The cayenne pepper is having many flowers like I have said in my last entry. I had to prune it so that existing fruits can develop to maturity. Look at the several chillies at this low level. They are growing from shoots that grew from the main stem.

I am a little puzzled as to why so many of the white flowers are dropping off before shrivelling. Perhaps the recent cold weather has caused this. Anyway, I have lots chillies coming so I do not mind losing these. Hopefully it is not some nutrient lack.

The two vietnamese mints are growing ferociously, greener than ever. I will harvest soon for our ladies fellowship where we will be making vietnamese rolls!

My Mighty Red is nearing its end. Some parts have shrivelled up but there are some new shoots though. Weather is getting too cold for it and soon it will be good bye. The one tomato which I have left on the bush to ripen and collect seeds had been eaten up by naughty Smokey, who jumped onto the patch.