Abort and Re-do

I had to pull the zucchinis for they were diseased - white fungal stuff growing on the leaves so I'm sowing grey zucchini instead. It's very unfortunate that I've only harvest 1 zucchini so far! They were many fruits forming but they rotted in the end!

Japanese cucumbers that I'm letting to seed. They are attacked by insects too.

A rogue snow pea plant growing. 

Tiny carrots.

Scrawny lettuce slowly fattening up.

Tomato and white radish seedlings.

Very tiny Autumn Beauty sunflower.

2 rogue strawflower seedlings growing among columbine seedlings.

Bauhinia Phanera is flowering in time for my upcoming wedding.

Broken

Mosquitoes broke me. I no longer could enjoy gardening. I had to keep my action haste and it's giving me grievance.

Other than that, I purchased more annuals yesterday: zinnia, cosmos and marigolds. I also bought a pot of bird eye chilli.

Odyssey dug out the cosmos and peach zinnia 5 minutes after I planted them into the ground. God damn it.

As you can see, the dual-colored balsams are reaching their end. Hydrangeas are growing pretty slow.

I'm quite disappointed to see this rose variety has such a small bloom.

The Prince (David Austin variety) has arrived. It's quite different from what I have expected.

 I very quickly transplanted tomato and white radish seedlings to this plot. I got dizzy few times from getting up quickly to get the mosquitoes off me. ARGH!

Jee Petch looking extra pretty today!

Oops I've Been Lazy

Lazy to do write an entry here anyway. Well I'm not as productive as I wanted to do also on gardening.

Anyway.... this is the progress of Rae's happiness is a plot. I'm contemplating if I still need to make a fence so Odyssey won't be able to take over the plot.

Seeds that I've sown since last week: African Marigold 'Fantastic Gold', Autumn Beauty Sunflower, Edamame, Snow pea, red okra, kohlrabi, red bowl salad lettuce, raab rapini, Canton pakchoy, chinese kale (Kailan) and carrot.

I also added mugwort into my edibles. I purchased saplings from Carousell and turned out that there's some growing out from a heap of compost the previous tenant left. 

My herb garden. What didn't survive - the parsleys and lavender. 

My dwarf plumeria was so water-clogged that it rotted bounced back and bloomed.

Also sowed the remaining of bachelor's button, balsam and evening primrose (primrose didn't germinate)

It's either lemon or mandarin.

My very cute maidenhair.

My adenium is a prolific bloomer and still suffers the same curse.

There are 5 mulberry bushes/trees on the compound and they suffered curled up shoots (fungal infection?) so I decided to prune them. Plus pruning encouraged them to fruit. 

My lowland hydrangeas show growth which is a great sign.

The heirloom tomatoes that I sowed turned out to be red zebras. A few split and I'm unsure if it's getting early blight of just too dry as the leaves are dried up. I had some for lunch today.

The jasmine-like plant that I rescued has paid back to me by flowering for me.

I'm very happy that I didn't kill the portulacas left by the previous tenant and they have started flowering. They are some planted in the pot and I'm thinking to move them to ground.

I actually also have a hibiscus growing close to the veggie plot although it's not doing so well lately. This was taken earlier this month.

I have also invested in a compost bin. Oh YAS.

 Just a random shot of the dogs enjoying the late noon.

Seed Saving

I couldn't find the heirloom tomatoes anymore so I bought heirloom beefsteaks instead. The orange one is overripe but it's the yummiest. The biggest one was the fleshiest and the red one wasn't yummy. The seeds weren't as many surprisingly. 

We decided to rent out the other apartment and the new tenant doesn't want to care for the green wall (plus it's quite neglected) so I have changed them to artificial plants.

It doesn't look too bad for a DIY.

One Step at A Time

I did quite a lot for the past few days. I hired gardeners to prune the rambutan tree which hung too low. The grass around the area would benefit a lot too. The plot's quite bald. 

Finding the lowland hydrangea has been quite a challenge. I finally got of 2 from an online seller in Johor. I thought I needed 4 of them but turned out 2 was just nice for the plot under the Kauka Wilder. 

Impatient as usual, I transplanted them during the hottest of the day, so they withered. 

This is 2 days later - they looked happy. 

Odyssey dug herself a little hole and rested herself in while watching me digging holes for the hydrangeas.

A quick look at my heirloom tomatoes. Heavy rain pelted one of my tomato plants and broke the stem so all of them droop to the ground. I noticed the stems are growing nodes which could be aerial roots. 

The tomatoes love it here I must say. I am going to have quite a harvest (compared to my previous attempt). 

A random jasmine-lookalike plant previous tenant hid among bird of paradise bush(?). I got her out and gave her some fertilizer. She seems to have a flower bud.

My plumerias with lemon/mandarin seedlings.

I've transplanted my tuberose and amaryllis to the ground. They don't look too good and occasionally walked upon by Odyssey. 

Our driveway is flanked by ruellia and ruellia isn't really my favourite. Odyssey loves to walk over them since she was young. And she did the same here so they went all over the place and messy which I really hate. So I pruned them to the ground on one side of the sideway and stuck some cuttings into the sparser area (they need to be dense to support each other). I don't hope to work so I can grow sunflowers here. The bigger plumeria is my Kauka Wilder and the shorter one to the left is a dwarf variety that was water-logged and isn't doing too well now. I can't remember the other one. We have the best sun here so I wouldn't have to wait too long to her bloom.

I brought my epiphyte gang out for a water and tanning session. 

But will you look at my Chinese kale! I harvested some yesterday for dinner.

My backyard that has a pergola made out of PVC pipe by previous tenant is intended to be my herb garden. I've acquired most of the herbs I wanted except dill and Thai basil. Actually, I don't really need to Thai Basil but....

A close-up of the neglected hoya. Fertilizer has been given to her, hope she bounces back.

Clockwise from 12 o'clock - rosemary, coriander, thyme, Italian parsley, bird's eye chilli (cili padi), Vietnamese basil (according to the nursery lady) and 2 pots of lavender.

My own basil, gingers, aloe veras and mint which also go into that plot.

Let' not forget kaffir lime, curry plant and chives!

I also scored these - maidenhair fern and Platycerium Superbum.

I pinched this but it doesn't seem to survive when I looked at it this morning.

Here it is! Now I just need to observe how the sun works on this plot to see if I need to put the black netting up for more shade. I'm growing mint in the existing styrofoam box to control its crazy evasive nature.

 I will add that the rosemary I acquired isn't the common rosemary you'd find at the supermarket. The leaves are tinier and denser with purple flower, instead of white. This particular plant also is growing aerial roots that I cut one stem to propagate. Let's see if it works. 

I plan to kokedama this maidenhair and feature her in the dining area.

  

I'm very surprised to find the nursery selling platyceriums and a variety that isn't that common. A platycerium group member confirmed that it's a Superbum.

My dinner last night.

I really can't remember what this is called. I'm thinking if I should remove birds of paradise and just let this be. **It's called Heliconia, False Birds of Paradise**

When your neighbour's plumeria game is strong. This Penang Peach is so pretty. She also has Rangoon Creeper creeps all over her.

My wall! 

My huperzia beside my lounging chair.

Oakleaf fern outside the maindoor.

And more in our dining area.

This Bifurcatum resides in our bedroom.

After dark orchids at the kitchen windowsill.

This is how my magnolia lily is now. 

What the heck is this!?