New Plantings

This morning I tried to clear one corner of weed mat to prepare ground for my lemon verbena but unfortunately I found lots of pebbles in the soil. I had to postpone digging for the time being. I planted my new Eureka Lemon into the previous camelia spot. It is right outside my bedroom window. Looking forward to a nice view when the lemon grows bigger.

I also planted my new Carolina Black Rose grape vine in the backyard where it will probably use the patio pole as its support.

Also my new pot of lemon grass and Passionfruit Panama Gold.

Calendula Germinates & Patch Next to Garage

My calendula seeds have germinated in their pot. I had to shift the pot away from its spot as my Carolina Black Rose grape vine has arrived from Daley's Nursery!!! Yippee!!! I bought a pack of Gladioli bulbs last week with the plan of planting them at the patch next to garage. Their tall blooms will create contrast with my daffodils and white lily :

I have prepared the soil (compost and lime and rooster manure) and planted them 15cm apart and 10cm deep. As mentioned previously, the soil here is clayey and lumpy, so it is very important to loosen as much soil as possible or the root system will find it hard to establish.

Mulched area is where the 5 gladioli bulbs are planted.

The lone annabel daisy is doing fine after I plucked off some of its yellowing older leaves. It has since opened more flowers.

The two bushes of blue marguerite are doing the best at the patch despite its not so ideal soil.

Some Digging and Planting - Apricot, Kaffir Lime, Egg Plant and Thai Basil.

It has been raining and raining and raining. I am grateful for the rains though not really for the chilly strong winds. The rain softened the ground substantially and provided lots of watering for my new garden. I managed to dig the hole on the front garden for my apricot Moorpark and planted it into the ground. Drainage over this spot does not seem excellent but I will have a go and see if this apricot will establish itself well : As per my earlier entry, after coming back from 2.5 weeks of overseas trip, the pot of kaffir had produced lots of new leaves but at the same time, its potting mix has become home to thousands of ants which I had killed drenching the mix in pyrethrum. Older leaves were falling at an astounding rate and I assumed that the kaffir lime needed nutrients. I fed it with with Osmocote, a slow-release fertiliser with hope of easing its problem fast but soon the young leaves started crinkling. Gosh! Over-fertilising? Poisoning? Last resort : plant it into the ground! :

Crinkling/Shrivelling of leaves (above & below)

Here it goes into Patch 3 (above)

I bought a pot of thai basil and eggplant supreme from IKEA while there to shop for storage solutions. Planted them near the kaffir lime :

Marco my dog trampled on and nibbed off the parsley on Patch 6. Well, I might as well pull them off since I hardly use parsley and there are so much of them. I also bought a pot of coriander and planted it next to the leftover parsley :

Potting On Chilli Padis, Lilium LA Hybrid White Lilies & Others.

Today, I removed the cayenne pepper plant from its pot as there was not a sign of life. Surprised to find fat earthworms around its roots. Are they feeding on the roots since they are dead?

I potted up my three chilli padi plants in the cayenne pepper pot :

Hope that as the weather warms up, the chilli padi plants will grow quickly :

I am excited about the many new leaves the kaffir lime is putting on, as well as flower buds :

Did some pruning to my mint pots :

Harvested some snow peas for lunch. Oh they are so tender and sweet :

Planted 3 white lily (Lilium LA hybrid) bulbs in the patch next to garage, right behind the lime mist daffodils :

Strawberry plants are doing well. I could have planted them too close for comfort :

The pretty succulents which I have propagated from their parents at our rental place are growing well and even flowering :

Nice fleshy leaves. Wonder if I should plant them under my golden sheen as groundcover. Still thinking :

This ivy which I also propagated from its parent from the rental place is doing even better over at our new place. However, I am still unsure if I should grow it in the ground for a shady spot. Concern is that it may become weedlike and dominate the whole area and leave me to regret :

New Leaves and Fruits.

Eversince my aloe vera has been placed under the patio where it gets indirect sunlight, it has gone green and new pups are developing at a faster pace. This concludes why it was very light green and had burnt-like tips whilst in the green house under direct sunlight and heat. It was too much for it. With several new pups growing, I hope to be able to propagate new aloe veras in new pots : My Trixee? Pixee? (just cannot get its name right) dwarf peach is growing well since my fungicide treatment and fertilising in winter. I was even surprised to find lots of peaches growing. However, I will try to stay on the pessimistic side as the branches are so close, I reckon the peaches have not much space for developing. Fingers crossed, none have dropped yet :

Kaffir lime has got lots of new leaves growing but it looks a bit unwell :

Pomegranate (left by its previous owner but I will gladly accept it :)) has put on lots of leaves but I have no clue what I should do with them...prune? :

Apricot Moorpark finally put on leaves. I thought it was dead :

Within 2.5 weeks, the plum tree put on a whole crown of leaves. Lesser plums this year after the recent hair-cut :