Patch Next to Garage

The three Lilium LA Hybrid plants have emerged and looking quite good. I hope it will survive the not so good soil here.

One of the gladioli plants has emerged as well. I have since fenced up this patch because doggy has been trodding on it and even nipping off some of the plants.

I only got two yellow daffodils this season while the rest all did not flower. They are probably on the way to die down. Hope for a better season next round.

The two candy tuft plants that I have planted are not doing well. There goes my twenty bucks!

Rosemary is also not doing well.

Oregano's not doing too bad at this point of time.

The blue and white daisies are doing just alright.

Sick days.

Okay. I have been sick for two weeks. Coughing really badly especially in the nights. Hardly had the energy to do much. Sometimes when that burst of energy comes, I will be out in the garden doing work...just whatever is required. Noticed that the strawberry delight in the pot has flowered.

Hubby and I worked on this little bare patch a week back - sown some grass seeds and sprinkled potting mix, watered..and the grass is growing. We have many other small bare patches to work on.

This is the second season for my capsicum in the pot. It has gone through one winter and survived it. Now it is flowering and fruiting.

Many things are happening in spring. One of the most obvious is my little bay plant. Many new leaves burst into existence.

Strangely my lemon verbena is having rusty-looking leaves. Not sure why.

My peach (pixzee) has put on a handful of peaches but they are really congested. Not much chance to further develop with that small space. I thinned the fruits.

Despite giving fungal spray in winter, some leaves are having leaf curl. I plucked off and dispose them. More spray next winter.

Just fed my golden sheens with charlie carp and cleared any growing weeds near them. They are doing fine in that good soil.

Apricot (Moorpark) is not doing too well after planting it into the ground. Somehow I already had the feeling that it would not do well. I am too lazy to uproot it again. If it has to die, I will buy a new one this winter.

Been harvesting snow peas recently. Been sick of eating them too. Haha...

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 :