MMad about the garden: 2010

Friday, July 2, 2010

The Carissa Macrocarpa is finally grounded

I started the air layering experiment on the Natal plum - Carissa Macrocarpa on June 2nd 2010.

Original post here Original post and First update here.

After one month exactly today I inspected the soil & definitely the roots have grown more and as the weather is getting hotter I decided to risk putting it into the ground now rather than waiting another 2 weeks.

Soil bag opened for inspection

Roots visible here the bigger ones are white in colour .

I cut the stem at a 45 deg angle just below the soil bag

The cut stem with plastic still attached. I carefully removed the wire ties & the plastic trying not to disturb the roots. Unfortunately I rushed & lost part of the roots.

The Carisa was potted here & staked for support . I removed some of the lower leaves but may need to remove more (depends on how well the new roots hold). Obviously the young plant needs to be kept in shade & protected from wind till it grows more roots.

Hopefully it will do well & grow . I will keep you posted ofc :)

If it does well & will graft a mature fruiting stem on it.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Who needs a nursery when you have your local store

Sometimes it's very difficult to obtain seeds or plants to propagate whatever you like as fruits or vegetables. Also some fruits will never grow true from seed.

Having had success with ginger rhizomes (original post here) I started exeprimenting with more plants purchased from my local store.

Some healthy Garlic ( Allium sativum )

bulbs caught my fancy (well suppsoed to gaurd against vampires no :) ? )

I seperated the cloves from the bulb & planted seperately although as an experiment I planted one whole bulb to see how it will do. Garlic usually needs a sunny spot & regular watering, but as with most plants never soak the plant to avoid root rot etc.

Personally I love beet / beetroot (Beta vulgaris )as it has lots of fibre & vitamins . I planted this big one as is (I could have easily cut 1-2 com from top & planted that alone -see second photo ) . Again I am experimenting. Turnips were a big failure as the green leafy part grew then died back . I am still watering it to see if new shoots will grow.

Garlic after 18 days of plating - 28/06/2010

Beetroot on 28/06/2010 ( after 18 days ) seems to be ok so far :)

Monday, June 21, 2010

Quick update on the Natal plum air layering experiment

I did the air layering on the Carissa Macrocarpa on 2nd Jun 2010. The soil was remoistened on 11 June.

Again I remoistened it the 19th . I examined the plant then guess what , it has actually produced some roots though funnily enough not where I did the cut but below it as it seems the soil slipped down. Oh well it seems to be ok. I will give it a couple of weeks more & then will try to transplant it.

Original post here:

http://megardenlover.blogspot.com/2010/06/air-layering-my-carissa-macrocarpa.html

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Just for fun - Do you know what plant this is ?

Do you know what is this plant ?

Hint (it's edible)

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Air layering my Carissa Macrocarpa

This thorny plant ( Carissa Macrocarpa ) started to grow towards the garden path. Since I will trim it away from the path anyway , I decided to try my hand at air layering technique for propagating plants.

The theory is that if you wound a plant stem it will under the right circumstances try to grow new roots. Once the roots grow , you cut below the root area & transplant somewhere else in the garden,

Tools needed are simple. Sharp knife , plastic bag & some moist compost or clean potting mix. As usual I clean my knife with alcohol to stop spreading bacteria while cutting the plant.

As always be carefull handling any sharp tools. I would recommend wearing gloves when handling any kind of plant as some could be poisonous or causes skin irritation.

Here is the plant is cleared of thorns & leaves where we will cut.

I cut a circular cut around the whole stem then another cut below it approx 3-5 cm below it. Then a vertical straight cut from the top cut to the bottom then started to remove the bark & cambium.

Now I wrapped the plastic bag below the cut area using a wire wrapper. Then started to fill the bag with moist potting mix & shaped it like a ball around the cut area.

I tied the top of the bag with another wrapper & used a stake to support the extra weight.

Hopefully within a few weeks it should start start to root. I will be opening the top of the bag every now & then to examine the progress & remoisting the bag. Some recommend covering the bag with alumunium foil to keep it moist.

Here's a video from You tube if you are interested.

Some amazing lily photography

Just found this fantastic gardening blog . The lilies photos are simply incredible.

image courtesy http://fairegarden.wordpress.com/

http://fairegarden.wordpress.com/2010/05/31/first-lily-blooms/

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Amazing radish seeds

Planted some Radish seeds yesterday (29th) & they started to grow in less than 24 hours.
( Radish -Raphanus sativus ).

Today they look like this.I used an old shallow tray to plant the seeds. They will be thinned out as usual & planted directly in the ground.

Four days after planting. Maybe I will wait a day or two before moving them to bigger pots.

Once planted have to keep soil moist as summer is approaching fast. Hopefully after a month this is what I should get.

Image courtesy of http://www.umassvegetable.org/

I live in a zone 11 area by the way.

My Radishes after 7 days

I started thinning them & moving them into bigger pots

I gently pull on the plants to get them out of the soil & dig a hole to easily accomodate the roots without forcing them down

I space them at least 5-7 cm apart

Within another 3 weeks they should be ready to eat.

Tip : don't leave them too long in the soil otherwise they become pithy & will start to crack.Don't over water them , just keep soil moist. Plant motre in 10-14 days in order to get a steady supply during the growing season. Enjoy .

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Love it when my seeds start to grow

Just planted some Celosia Argentea flowers which is an annual flower by the way , 3 days back & they started to grow.

I always wash any containers I use as plants can get diseases from dirty pots.

The small plants will be thinned out once they grow a bit & moved to bigger pots. Hopefully they will grow to look like this flower

Image copyright home-and-garden.webshots.com

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Carissa macrocarpa or Natal plum

I finally managed to get a positive identification for a plant that I really like. it's called Carissa macrocarpa.

It's native to South Africa. Likes sun to partial shade. Tolerant to many types of soil . Prefers Sandy soil but main thing is that soil should be well drained. The leaves are nice leathery green colour.

Flower scent is like jasmine. Shrub can be trimmed to make small walls. Had it for two years now & it's grown to 3ft - 1 meter almost. Never had problems with disease on leaves etc.

It produces a small sweet plum edible though some say seeds are poisonous. They use the plum in South Africa to make jam.

Just bought five more plants the minute I saw them at my local vendor.

One thing I don't like about this plant is the prickly thorns but Roses have thorns also .

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Growing your own ginger

Having come across the fact that ginger has Rhizomes I rushed off to my local grocery store to buy some fresh ones to try planting them. Don't forget I am a green newbie gardener :)

Lily Propagation - bulblets, bulbils, scaling

I love this Oriental Lily cultivar Casablanca,( Genus Lilium )

The flower has a fantastic scent & looks great when it blooms summer time.

My Lily has produced bulblets with their own roots, so I will seperate them & move to another pot.

I mananged to get 3 bulblets so I potted them in a seperate container just below the surface. These bulbs will pull themselves down into the soil to protect themselves till they are ready to grow new shoots etc. Again never overwater the new bulbs to avoid root dampening which will cause them to rot & die .

This one had a shoot already so I kept it above the soil obviuosly :)

Very interesting methods to propagate lilies.

Lily Propagation - bulblets, bulbils, scaling

Friday, May 21, 2010

I hate it when my cat digs up my garden

I hate it when my cat digs up my garden & spoils my newly planted seeds .

I've tried small stakes etc to no avail.

Now that she's gotten a new litter of 5 kittens the problem will get worse I think.

Someone suggested using black pepper powder & red chillies powder on the soil. Surfing the net I found this home made recipe which I will try & let you know the results.

mix 1 cup vinegar and 2 tablespoons chili paste with garlic (sold in Asian markets)with 1 quart water. Sprinkle the mixture over the area cats frequent
1 Quart = 946.352946 Cubic Centimeter (cc)

Link to the original site

Monday, May 17, 2010

Citrus trees leaves infested by the leafminer

This is first time I am happy reading about leafminer. According to the link bekow it doesn't kill the Citrus tree & there isn't much we can do about this leafminer :)