Daffodils Pushing Out of Soil.

Morning weather is good and I did some work in the garden before loads of chores in the house when the forecast afternoon rain comes. Four of the many daffodil bulbs have pushed through the soil at the vege patch. :)

I trimmed all the spent flowers and yellowing leaves of the nasturtiums, added fertiliser and some new potting mix to the top of the existing potting mix. The three pots (lavender bee pretty, nasturtiums, common mint) are bathing in the morning sun on the frontyard. I read that good air circulation and morning sunshine help prevent powdery mildew (which my common mint and rosemary are very susceptible to).

Yesterday, I trimmed off three large bunches of common mint from this pot (below). The bunches were all growing out of the pot and down to the ground.

I put the three pots of propagated rosemary (below) out in the open garden last night. It could be a better idea to do this than to have them under the garage shelther where they kept developing powdery mildew.

Left : Latest pot of propagated rosemary. Middle and Right : Propagated rosemary growing well but treated with fungicide (hence whitish appearance) because powdery mildew developed on their leaves.

The original pot of rosemary seems to respond well to fungicide treatment and now looks healthier than some weeks ago, putting new green shoots.

The three snow pea seedlings which I repotted on 9 July are doing well so far. They look unfazed from the repotting and root-chopping. Hope they will continue to grow well and produce crops of snow peas. :)

For the several snow pea seedlings at the vege patch, I found and bought plastic guard sleeves and used them for protection. So far so good. Several nights have gone by and they are still there, not chopped or stolen by some mysterious visitor.

The 'love birds' are coming regularly now :) thanks to my bird seeds. So pleased to see them coming for the food.

Making Way for Pittosporum Golden Sheens

A cool morning with weather forecast for showers and possible thunderstorm but none happened. Hubby, myself, Samuel and our church-mate Robert went over to our new property to get some work done after our church service. We have ordered our 24 pots of Pittosporum Golden Sheen and we planned to plant them in two weeks' time, so we needed to make way for them.

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Work done : 1. Cleared all existing mulching and weed mats and all the roses and small bushes. 2. Chopped down the oleander shrub (which was huge) and camelia with a chain saw.

Mulching, roses, shrubs and weed mats cleared.

Oleander sawn down to stump.

I was very pleased to spot a huge arum lily flower (above) along the fence. If not for the flower, I would have pulled all the 'unknown plants' up!!! I realised that they are all arum lillies growing...one of my favourite flowers which I had used for my wedding.

Another lot of arum lily plants which I have to either remove or replant them as they are in the way of the Pittosporum Golden Sheen.

Camelia sawn down as well.

1. All the branches of the oleander stacked up at another two stretches of mulching, waiting to be slowly cleared.
   

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   Now we have to just wait for the professional we have hired to poison the stump and dig them up and of course, to dig holes and plant the pittosporum hedge. How exciting to see my hedge up! It will be a very different scenery.

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   Follow up work that we have to do soon :

   1. Raking up the fallen plum leaves. 2. Weeding the growing dandelions and lamb's tongue (as usual sprouting up everywhere) 3. Figuring out how to remove a few existing calla lillies and replant them somewhere else as they are growing on the area where the pittosporum golden sheens are to be planted. 4. Chopping and gathering useful straight stems from the oleander for use as stakes. 5. Pruning the large plum tree (paying a professional to do that).

Some Gardening Work and a Lovely Feathered Couple.

After several days of rain (free watering for the garden + free water for the containers), days of sunshine was really welcomed and appreciated. I had been quite busy with other things this week and it is nice to spend almost the whole of today doing things in the garden (including playing hide-and-seek with Samuel and playing fetch with Marco). Finally I tested putting the three pots of fruit trees under the garage shelther without any form of protection and it is good! The possums did not come disturb my trees or make a meal out of them. Perhaps I was worrying too much.

The pot of lavendar bee pretty has been pruned quite a lot at the lower sides as the shoots were infested with green aphids. I have killed many of them using pyrethrum. This afternoon, I found a drowning ladybug in the pail and took it to the lavendar, hoping that it can feed on the aphids.

The dwarf orange tree on this rental property has been fruiting and flowering. I think this year the oranges will be likely sour again since I did not really bother about this tree very much. Nice citrus flower smells.

The citronella geranium (mosquito plant) http://organic-is-better.blogspot.com/2009/03/few-new-candidates-and-update.html has grown much more despite neglect and several broken lower branches. I should repotting it but am running out of larger pots.

The chilli padi seedlings (below) are suddenly growing a bit more since I gave it some vermicompost.

My kaffir lime has been growing a tiny branch? Sucker? Maybe I should pull it out.

Today, I repotted the aloe vera (once again!!!). I bought a new bag of potting mix just for succulents/cacti (Brand : Debco) and think it would love this mix better. Found another new pup growing. Yeah!!!

I also divided the pot of 3 dwarf snow pea seedlings into three pots. Hmmm...customer service at Diggers told me they grow to 60cm tall and a 30cm diameter pot is fine but I found that the seedlings' roots have developed quite extensively. I soaked the seedlings with seasol and hope they will manage alright.

I also pruned the lemon verbena (below) again to cause more bushy development. Looking forward to have more shoots for tea. Yum yum!

This large pot of mint is growing fantastically well. I trimmed off any runners and see if this will channel the plant's energy to producing larger leaves. I have a feeling it would.

I also for the first time after several weeks, removed the netting and plastic covering for my cayenne pepper (below), and pruned it to open up the plant. I have harvested most chillies. Only one is left to ripen.

I have erected some plastic protection for the few dwarf snow pea seedlings at the vege patch. So far so good, havent seen any destruction by pests yet.

I have been noticing this pair of love birds (spotted neck pigeons) frequenting my garden. Very loving couple...preening each other feathers and parking in the sunshine. Marco barks at them to chase them away. I have sprinkled some bird seeds around the area and hope they keep coming. So sweet!

Lots of Showers! Another 300 Litres!

Showers these few days...collected 300 litres again - front and backyards combined! Just right when the previous batch of collection was almost finished! Okay, I dont want anymore rain. The peach tree on this rental property has already put on new buds, dripping with rain water.

Are these clover or chickweeds? They are growing very well. I wish I have a goat. It will surely eat up all these for me.

The two rosemarys grown from some roadside cuttings...doing very well putting on new shoots but this specie has very fine leaves.

One (below) of the three pots of rosemarys propagated from the original plant. This one has not got any powdery mildew and putting on new shoots. Somehow I love propagating rosemarys because I feel a sense of achievement when I succeed as they are challenging to propagate.

I have forgotten to cover my vietnamese mint/laksa plant but well they seem to not mind the cold rain and cold nights. They are the easiest to grow in my garden - root easily, steady-growers, non-demanding and pest-free.

The lone spinach (below) has put on more leaves...slowly.

The snow pea seedlings are getting a little sunshine here and there this morning. With the rain, I can only open up the covers in the morning and replace the covers in the evening.

Likewise for the oriental radishes. I open their covers in the morning.

The three snow peas in the green house are growing well. I have to transfer them to the ground soon. When the rain goes.

My spring onions grown from bulbs have been producing a few rounds of harvest...I am too lazy to harvest cos I am not sure what to do with it...

These (below) are spring onions from seeds...Organic seeds...

The original pot of rosemary and the two babies looking like white christmas trees because I have drenched them with fungicide. Hope the powdery mildew wont return!

The Life of My Nasturtiums

I sowed the nasturtium seeds on 22 Feb this year (2009). When they sprouted, the seedlings looked really pale and sickly and they grew into rather sickly-looking plants. However, today, still in the same pot they have started out, they are producing many gorgeous orange and yellow blossoms. Everything from the plant is actually edible and can be used in salads...but I am not trying...haha

The picture below was taken right after I returned from Tasmania. The pot was growing so well from neglect :P.

I love nasturtiums for their beautiful round leaves. My son and I love dropping water on these glossy waterproof leaves...the water droplets look like silver mercury rolling about on the leaves. We can play game with the leaves...haha...

The picture below was taken before my Tasmania trip. The pot was not doing fantastically well. I had put it under netting as they are prone to aphids attack.

The picture here shows the young nasturtiums doing a bit better after addition of vermicompost from my worm farm.

This picture shows how pathetic looking the seedlings were in the beginning.