Africanaussie

It is garden share collective time again!  I hope everyone had a very happy Easter, I had lots of fun with friends and family and even managed to fit some gardening into my four day weekend!  Link up here  for this months gardens. April is a busy time in our gardens up here in the tropics.  Of course we never know if we will get a late cyclone, or if the hot weather is going to hang on and fry everything before it gets established.  I had taken down the shaecloths, but then a dear friend gave me a vanilla plant, and I realized that my little perrenial bed really does need shade full time.  The pepper plant was also showing signs of distress from the hot sun.  The perfect spot for the little vanilla plant was chosen, with a nice trellis to climb.  The small shade cloth was put back up again, and lots of lovely leaf mold and compost spread around. The long green beans are suddenly taking off, but climbing right over the canopy of the bar...

I just watched a film that Kate at vegetable vagabond  posted.  You can view it here -  Seeds of Freedom. I have always been worried about genetically modified seeds, and this answered a lot of my questions. Seed is nature's gift, not an invention.  Nobody should be allowed to patent seeds as far as I am concerned. This amaranth that adds lovely color to my salads pops up regularly in my garden.  It was first planted by a packet of seeds that Kate sent me about 3 years ago.  It adds diversity to my garden and diet and amaranth is one of the oldest heirloom seeds in the world.  I think we as gardeners have a responsibility to make sure that seeds like this never die out. Listening to the dates of when genetically modified seeds were first patented ties in so tightly with the advent of the current globesity and diabetes epidemic I can't help thinking that this is all interconnected. Dill is lovely in the ga...

I have been waiting for the  Harlequin carrots from MrFothergills  to raise their shoulders above the ground,  and then the other day I thought I would take a peek.... wow!  huge carrots, and so straight!   Funnily enough all the purple ones seem stunted and I seem to have lost the straight rows - even though the regular carrots were planted evenly with carrot tape.  This is a great time in the garden - cucumbers are struggling with downy mildew, but there are four different kinds of lettuces - plenty for a daily salad.   I thought the white carrots looked a bit insipid but they have the nicest flavour.  I haven't cooked any -  they make great snacks to munch on - even hubby has been known to do that.  He commented the other day (after I cooked the pumpkin vines) that as long as it grows in the garden I will eat it.  I  said  "well honey I don't eat the grass", but then I thought about the f...

One of the first things I did after returning from three weeks away was to survey the garden.  The lychee tree is full of leaves, and most of the plants underneath it have recovered quite well from the sudden blast of sunshine. Luckily we have had a little rain to ease the way, and my darling hubby has been watering. Of course it also allowed a spate of weeds to grow up everywhere!  Among the weeks are plenty of cherry tomato plants which I have left where they volunteered. They fill in the gaps and hopefully will give us some tomatoes.  This has not been a good year for tomatoes - maybe not enough sunny days to ripen them.  We often have cloud cover and I think they like clear sunny days, or so they tell me!  It is warm though - I have not stopped swimming all through the winter, other than when I was away. The gardens seems quite happy.  In the veggie garden the kale, lettuce and carrots have come along well...

This is a  little bit of this and that, so forgive me as I seem to jump from one plant to the other.... firstly my lipstick plant has seeded!  I heard that they could be propagated by cuttings and have started some off quite successfully, and then noticed these long dangling strips where the flowers had died off.  Well now I noticed they had opened up - I am probably going to have hundreds of tiny lipsticks plants growing up around the hanging basket now.  These cosmos sure attract the butterflies, but I want the zinnia to bloom as well - soon the vegetable garden will be bright with color and that should bring on some pollinators.  I am also letting some of the basil flower for the same reason.  The amazon lily flowers intermittently through the year - I still cant figure out when is the "right" season for it to flower.  Celery, bok choy and lettuces are slowly getting a little...

My bok choy, radish and lettuce are coming up nicely, but seem to have long curved stems before the plant starts.  What could be causing this?  We have had a lot of rain lately and consequently very little sunshine.  Here you can see the detail on the radish stems.  They also dont seem to be developing a bulb. I went though all the bok choy and mounded up the soil around the bases, so they were no longer falling over drunkenly, and removed some and planted them elsewhere so that they have room to grow.  I just left the radish alone, should I do the same thing to the radish?  Did I plant the seeds too close to the surface? I also have a cucumber already - wow they are quick! The garlic chive flowers are so pretty and attract bees and butterflies.