Garden Update April 17

  • Rat problem came  back and they chewed up the flowering broccoli 🙁 dealt with rat baits but i think they are difficult to eradicate totally as i suspect they live next door.
  • Chives are doing ok, had a couple of trims n they go well in wantons and omelettes.
  • Coriander is doing very well….Wish we eat them as fast as they are growing lol.
  • The Malabar Spinach seems to have stopped growing altogether…..some of the tips have dried up and the fungal situation has not improved nor has it gotten worse. They still taste fleshy and crisp despite looking spotty.

  • The climbing beans next to it has also grown and we have been harvesting the beans for the past 3 weeks. Think dwarf beans are sweeter but these are crunchier and bigger.

  • The snowpeas are still affected by the fungus and had to resort to using Multicrop 30g Kocide Blue Extra Fungicide. But the results were temporary and the ensuring rain during this period still makes the air and leaves rather damp 🙁 had to trim off the offshoots at the affected area and kept the main stem to continue feeding the top leaves. They have now grown well over 2.5 metres. :@ However just as i thought the bottom bits have dried up and died, new shoots began to sprout.

  • Strawberries haven’t been growing much and the leaves have withered on the sides. The fruits remain few and small…maybe should change another variety later in the year.

  • The okra seemed to have stopped fruiting too and some of the leaves seemed to be affected by a fungi infection of some kind / maybe its just not growing well with the cooler temperature. Some of the leaves look something like this and the affected leaves and branches drop off after a while..
  • We picked out 2 daikons! Well, kiddo did try to help with the harvest but she wasn’t too impressed with the look of them. Next time, need to make the soil loamy before planting. Made some chaitowkway for both the kid n wife. The leaves though somewhat infested with aphids were mildly sweet and taste like daikon.

  • We also dug up the potatoes which wasn’t looking to good. The yield? 6 baby spuds 🙁 oh well.
  • The bokchoy were mostly harvested. Most had yellow/green aphids on under leaves. When harvesting, they were cut near the base and left the crown….some are showing signs of regeneration and i’m leaving a few bolting stalks to harvest the seeds later.
  • The kailan is still getting some grey aphids but most were trimmed near to the base. Some have resprouted but I had also done some housekeeping by removing some 1/3 (roots and all) from the overcrowding kailan patch.

  • 5/6 of the lettuce were also harvested. They tasted bitter and perhaps that’s why there wasn’t any buggies on them at all.

  • The sugarcane are doing well on their own…have been sprouting new shoots and leaves….hopefully they dun grow out of hand.
  • The cucumber are in a dismal state. Trimmed off most of the dried or affected leaves. They get this black dark green aphids under the weakened leaves. But there are still some malformed cucumbers on the trellis so will just leave them for now.
  • Laksa leaves are wilting…maybe too much rain and not enough sun…need to find them a sweet spot soon….or maybe its just the cooler weather.
  • Main cluster of pepino has been repotted in the largest pot i can get from Bunnings and they really liked the space…within weeks, they have grown a fair bit though their flowers do not stay long enough to fruit. Now enjoying partial sun so maybe they’ll grow better.

  • The dwarf beans were trimmed and repotted. Not sure why the back ones look different and not fruiting :/

  • My backup tomato is growing well in partial shade and has no sign of fungal attack…yet.

  • Have been trying to grow grow onions from chopped bits and pieces of garlic under some of the plants like cucumber, snowpeas and okra. Leaves are out…. guess they doing ok and they should do well over the next 4-5 months before i can harvest them.

  • The mint plant is, well….chugging along…slooooowly…..hope it survives.

  • The sharkfin melon outside is not fruiting…had a coupld of female flowers…and thought they were gonna fruit but sadly they dropped off after growing no bigger than 5 cm wide. 🙁 The bright yellow flowers are pretty though.

Unexpected guest praying mantis. Poor fella didnt last long…and became ant food soon after.