Africanaussie

The lady slipper orchid is beginning to flower again!  I have a few dichondra in a hanging basket, and like the way this is becoming the "hanging garden"!  I never tire of these beautiful flowers, and the fact that they are growing in my garden fills me with such pleasure.  The vine needs to be cut back so that it doesn't take over the entire garden.  I want light to be able to get in, and it also strains the branches of the weeping tea tree it scrambles over. In other orchid news I cut back the plants around the back fence, letting in more light and neatening it up a bit more.  Often when one does such a thing though it can still look a little messy for  a while until new shoots start to fill in the bare areas.   All my orchids need a bit of TLC, but they have survived the neglect pretty well. My phalanopsis has two flower spikes!  yeah!  They all got a good dunking in some seaweed solution.   This little...

I always look forward to this season, it is cooler, the humidity is gone, and I can grow "normal" vegetables in my tropical garden.  We have had an usual amount of rain this year - it seems as though the wet season is starting later in the year and then continuing on later.  Of course that means it is cloudy a lot of the time, and things need sunshine to grow.  I suppose we cant have it all ways. My cucumbers were the first crop of this season and they are still going strong. I made some pickles last night, and realized I dont have  a pot high enough to water bath them, so they are in the fridge.  How long can you keep them in the fridge unopened? I have noticed a little bit of mildew on the lower leaves, so I might give it a bit of a spray with some milky water.  These are growing on the edge of the asparagus bed.  One thing I add to the asparagus bed that I dont put on the rest of the garden is fresh seaweed, and now I am wondering if that...

I don't know what happened - I just took a break from blogging.  As each of my eggplant turned up their noses and succumbed to bacterial wilt I began to wonder if gardening was really all it is cracked up to be....  This was how I was feeling about trying to grow a few measly vegetables in the tropics.  What with the cost of organic fertilizers, mulches, compost bins, seaweed tonics, etc I was probably paying about 50.00 for each cucumber I got out of my veggie garden!  Then I saw a flower spike on my aloe vera :)  Gosh, I wondered, have any of my loyal readers ever seen an aloe vera in flower (I never have) It is such a pretty flower too - look at those little bell shaped flowers, and it sure is attracting lots of pollinators.  So that one little flower spike has managed to give me back my mojo!   We have been enjoying the cucumber, and even have enough to share with the neighbors. There is also lots of bok choy which I have been ...

Ever since I put the little moon badge on my blog I have been noticing how fast time flies.  I have had all sorts of blog posts forming in my mind, but not got around to posting them... One is about how I cut back and weeded the area alongside the swimming pool.  The lemon grass makes lovely mulch, now hopefully I can keep it looking neat and tidy.  Along with the lemongrass, there are other herbs for use by any of the local residents.  There are a couple of cherry tomato plants, sawtooth coriander, a couple of basil plants, and this plant, mother of herbs, which is a little like oregano, a little like thyme, in fact very much like a bouquet garni, in a  tropical package.  I am hoping it will spread all over as a ground cover, keeping the weeds out of the garden. Then I also thought about writing about the colour in the garden.  this little section always brings a smile to my face. ...

The bugs are quite prolific at this time of year, and I wonder whether growing Asian greens is feasible.  I grew a type of Japanese cabbage Tokyo belkana- I have no idea what it tasted like because it was just reduced to slush by some caterpillars.  Might be cabbage moth as there are lots of little moths flying around.  I dumped it all into the compost - hope they don't breed in there.. ..  the bok choy is also getting attacked, so I just pick the leaves as soon as they are almost big enough - seems to be working. My garlic and chili spray seems to attract them... sigh. I see cucumbers in our future though -  some ready to eat...  I love to pick them right out in the garden and munch on them while I carry on working.  I might have to research the recipe for bread and butter pickles as it looks as though this is going to be a good crop. I also have rosellas!  I ...

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.

My boss has been keeping me supplied with cucumbers for a couple of months now, and I have taken the seeds of some of the older ones and scraped them into a bowl.  I will let these ferment and dry out as this evidently is the best way to save cucumber and tomato seeds.  This creates a barrier that protects the seeds from fungus when they eventually start to grow.  I planted a few of his seeds betwen my pigeon peas and so hopefully soon will have my own home grown cucumbers.  Heirloom seeds, that have been passed down from one generation to the next seem to adapt well to our climate and are quite disease and pest resistant. I was forwarded this useful list - who knew the little cucumber could be so useful!  It came with no credits, so I am also posting it as I found it.  with thanks to the unknown person who compiled the list in the first place. 13 magical uses for cucumbers The humble cucumber is actually a little gem. And not just for its nut...

I keep hoping that the wet season is going to end soon, and over the weekend I tipped out a whole barrel of compost onto the vegetable garden, straightened up the eges, and planted some seeds.  Now I have a nice straight weed free path!  I cut back some of the branches of the pigeon peas (that should spread some nitrogen right into the soil.)  I planted gemsquash seeds on top of the mounds of compost, and then between the stems of the pigeon peas I planted some cucumber seeds.  I am hoping they will grow up the stems and after harvesting the pigeon peas I can cut the final leaves back to allow the sunlight in, while leaving the uprights as living stakes..  at the moment it is still a bit hot, so the light shade should be good for the litttle seedlings. I also have a couple of pawpaw trees that have sprung up in the very front, but I will leave them until I see if either of them are female - they dont like to be transplanted.  My eggplant seem to be a...