My cactus started to flower.

My cactus started to flower.

A cactus (plural cacti) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae.

In my garden now

Very hot green chillies.

Very hot green chilies 

Chicco fruits

chicco fruit

Red chilli 

Miniature fruits

Love Flowers at this time of year.

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.

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 :)

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

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

Do you know what is this plant ?

Hint (it's edible)