To hail or not to hail....

We had ourselves a bit of a hail storm the other day, luckily nothing was damaged. Although I bruised my little toe when I ran out to get some hail...not very bright.

Of leeks and horrid summer

I say horrid summer, because after the mercury has crossed 35 deg C...believe you me.. it is horrid to be gardening outside. Actually, I'd say the perfect weather for outdoor gardening , for me, is between 10 deg C- 20 Deg C. Another 6 months to go for that.
In the meantime, I have moved shade loving plants all over the garden trying to find the best shade spots. The Mulberry tree is very handy these days.
I am using the ground area underneath to transplant the leeks, from the containers ( since last winter) to the soil directly. This way the roots can stretch. I also had to do a mini landscaping to accommodate more leeks. They're in lovely smelling, fertile, dark, airy soil... the kind you like to smooth out in your hands.
I also sowed some.. okay maybe like 60 oregano seeds..I'm waiting to see how many plants come out. The tomatoes are flowering already and I expect fruit by the end of the month. I expect to harvest by about august.
The chillies are happy and are now at least 4 inches in length and about 1 inch in thickness.
The other really spicy chillies, the long thin ones, are just starting to break through the soil.
Remember the 3 cement pots I composted and sowed with seeds? Well, the 2nd Tomato batch is already 2 inches high.

Note: things grow fast when it's 40 deg C!

Next in line for today, if I have any strength left... (heat saps the strength).. is to transplant the onions, go to the nursery, buy another 10 packets of seeds and let my garden go crazy in bloom.
Have not planted any summer flowers.... don't like bees.

I was trying to find one of those seed sprouting thingies.. the black plastic ones? And I hit upon a brilliant idea. Considering the sprouting trays will cost me a bit... I'm just going to :

* Use egg cartons to plant seeds. One seed per niche..and then put the whole thing directly in the ground. So after a while, the egg carton will decompose and become compost.

* buy much much cheaper ice cube trays, drill a hole at the bottom of each ice cube compartment.. and sow a seed!

I have about 40 containers waiting for onions, tomatoes and god knows what!

Maybe Summer isn't so horrid after all. :)

More Garden Central

This is a new bed I'm preparing for the Leeks. I have to transplant them and it's way too hot to place them anywhere except under the shade. This area is always covered, always damp and at least 5 degrees cooler than anywhere else in the garden. The mulberries keep dropping to the ground and I don't bother to remove them because they decompose and act as natural compost . Also, all the clippings and dead leaves I remove from the other house plants, I dump on top of the soil. It acts as mulch, I haven't gotten any weeds in the last couple of months!

, This was an experiment gone wrong. A plastic pedestal , which totally killed all the mint I planted. I'm just going to use it for regular flowering plants now.

My Baby Papaya tree!

The sun is wreaking havoc on my plants. This applies even for the Chillies which love sun. :(

My grand Mulberry tree. Provides beautiful shade and nice fat fruit twice a year.

Preparing pots with compost.... an experiment

This is a bit unconventional, but since I'm still experimenting , I guess it's okay. So I had bought these cement pots ages ago and had a lovely underwater ecosystem flourishing, complete with fish, underwater plants and snails... but despite the thermostat, nothing survived the winter.
So, I decided to use them for my gardening.

What I did was, I used the shells from when I had the fish to line the base....hoping it will act like gravel.

Then , I put in a layer of all the dead leaves and cuttings and vegetable scraps from the kitchen, that we would normally use for compost. I also tend to put in used tea bags before I put the soil, especially for tomatoes, chillies and other Nitrogen loving plants.

Lastly, I put in soil. Planted the seeds, watered it just a bit and that was that!

Organic Me

Finally, pictures of my organic garden!
Enjoy....

Lemon Grass

Leeks

Onions

Celery

Curry leaves... The tree

Organic spread sheet

So this is my excel sheet for all the veggies im growing or going to grow. Have a look.

New Beginings

Life has a way of healing old wounds, and the clotting only makes you stronger doesn't it?
I am , of today, a proud German shepherd rescuer.
After a long two days at the Intensive Care Unit.. caring for my granny, loosing my 3 week old puppy to Parvo and a million other normal life annoyances... I can finally relax and get back to my gardening.

New doggy is called "yana" and was rescued from a breeder. Poor thing has been over bred to death.. almost. So now now, lots of good food, love and pampering is what she needs.
Pictures Later... too lazy right now and also the mosquitoes are eating me alive!