Hit & Miss

I have been pretty diligent lately, spending more time at the balcony taking care of the plants and watering a lot more since it has been really hot. 

Monkey pitcher is now sharing the pot with a rogue fern.

Alor Vera from Spain, succulent from Santorini are doing pretty well after much care and fertilizing. 

Bentong ginger isn't doing well - it doesn't need as much water that I thought it'd be. 

My pot of random succulents are looking better. A lot had died as you can see and I've started to fertilize them. See those fertilizers? They stink like chicken poo. 

More basil seedlings popped out on the mint pot. 

Transplanted the hydrangea to a bigger pot with Miracle-Gro soil that used to house the miniature gardenia. Oh the gardenia died after almost week of transplant. 

Desert rose flowering again!

Okra plants are still producing - this time shooting out from the leaves too. 

Okra container is sharing with a single shallot that grew shoot. Those seedlings in the egg box are basil seedlings for my colleague.

Sowed some Japanese kale seeds and they have sprouted the next day. It's sharing container with white turnip (free seeds from the usual site I bought my seeds).

Wild strawberries are growing pretty slow. I have made a mistake by planting them too deep covering the crown. 

The rest of baby Chinese kales that I grew the last time. 

Those aren't evening primrose, they are mints actually. 

My chives are so small! 

Supermarket lemon seedling!

Update on the Locals

A little more than a week away from home saw some plants flourished, some fell back.

Raab rapini flourished but not without a pesy infestation. 

Tomato still growing despite falling back. A new shoot grew rapidly I cut the main one off.

The hydrangea cutting with the strongest root system withered. Quickly stuck them into soil to see if it will help.

Couple of days before leaving, Nancy the hydrangea withered so much I believed it was water-clogged. 

I should harvest the ginger soon.

Adenium grew some blooms surprisingly.

Some baby mother of thousands that I gotten along the street. 

The cactus was probably water-clogged too. Lavender suffered a bit too.

I didn't get to see the gardenia bloom again. Sigh.

The avocado shot up.

The plumeria corner, forever infested with the white stuff.

Up and Down

I snipped the shoot tip of the avocado plant to encourage branching last week and there seem to be 4 shoots growing.

It's been really dry lately I mulched raap rapini planter. The plants look good.

The starfish cactus suffered from the white stuff infested my plumerias. I've finally identified this variety. Some of them rotted and I managed to salvage a cutting and planted it in another pot.

Only 3 cuttings of hydrangea survived thus far. The shoot hasn't rooted yet. One roots the best.

My mini plum tomato still flowers but kept drying out.

It's been quite disappointing lately. None of the seeds I I lost another lavender seedling to dry weather.

I also lost another plumeria, this time Penang Peach. It black-rotted. Don't know what happened.

Little Love for My Gemusegarten

I finally had some little time for the gemusegarten.

What's thriving is my raap rapini.

Ms Hydrangea is doing not bad herself as usual.

Mr. Cordyline has grown quite a bit and may I say a little askew? I'm glad, though, that it got its red hue back. It was very green for a while.

Can't say the same for the independent mint. It is sick and it had to go through a major trimming. I also did a round of fish emulsion watering.

 Ms. Lavendar is doing ok - all over the place as usual but sprouted more.

Basil has grown scraggly and turned woody. Sigh. It also has recovered from some spotty disease.

The lime seedlings are still small.

The portulaca I nibbed illegally when I was at the nursery before I left for Hamburg grew, It's yellow. 

I have also decided to sow some seeds - carrot, mini plum tomato, french bean and snap pea. 

I picked some Sylt rose hips whilst I was there. Probably won't thrive due to the climate but I will give it a try.

Lastly, a little tealight holder I got from Hamburg.

Pictorial Update

 Just when I thought I really sucked at growing edibles and ruined the seeds, I was proved wrong again. The weather could be a factor. My arugula seedlings showed growth. I also added more soil as the seedlings were a bit too leggy. The bok choy (v. Baby White) seedlings germinated on the 2nd day and I have transplanted them to the arugula planter box.

Baby White Bok Choy seedlings that I germinated on cotton pads. I know this doesn't look good.

My Spanish Aloe Vera grew another leaf whilst the cactus grew a new but very spiky shoot.

Many new baby pitchers.

Carrot seedlings also show a little growth.

 Kaffir lime seedlings are fantastic!

My bigger than the rest lavender seedling grew true leaves!

Aster pot. These two seedlings look particularly different - one is of sharper leaves while another have many side shoots. I wonder what they are.

 Bali Hai Gold.

Something different - how a sunset looks like from my balcony.