Waiting!

I have been waiting to harvest my sole winter melon for the past 2 weeks. As this will be the first time, it is no wonder that I am still waiting since I have no idea at all when is the right time. It is something to look forward to everyday as I check on it when I water the garden in the morning.

The winter melon is still growing in girth but less in length although I think it is more than 2 feet long already. The colour is slowly turning a darker shade of green but I think there is still a long way to go. Googling on when to harvest the winter melon yielded a range of advice from waiting for all the surface hair to drop off or for the skin to turn a waxy white or the skin to turn a deep green. I think the winter melon now weighs about 18 kilograms or heavier.





Meanwhile the cucumber vine and the other winter melon plant were attacked by mites and I had to uproot the two plants before the mites spread to my precious winter melon plant. Even now it is iffy - anytime the mites may strike and I will be forced to harvest my winter melon before its time. Keeping my fingers crossed!



Since the diseased plant has been cleared the other plants struggling in the shadows before get better sunlight now and are starting to flourish again - like the chilli and the okra which have grown many new shoots after I fertilized them with more chicken dung.









And the papaya plant has started to flower (above) and I think this is a bisexual flower which means I may get some papaya fruits. I hope :)

P.S. there are 2 new female winter melon flower that look likely to be pollinated and may yield more new fruits if the plant survives disease. I will revamp the garden and plant less densely - guess I was over enthusiastic and inexperienced! :D:D

Today I celebrate ......

.... my first earthworm!


Think me crazy if you will, but seriously, earthworms are to be celebrated and welcomed in a happy garden! Earthworms are garden helpers as they help to aerate the soil when they burrow, and their presence is an indication that the soil condition is healthy. But I wonder where and how this first citizen migrated to my little plot!


The second resident that I found today, the snail, is not so welcomed as snails are considered pests. Exactly why, I don't know!

Two toadstools, different from the umbrella gang, that appeared near the aloe and turmeric are also not welcomed. The bulb-head burst into a wet yucky slimy blob when I removed these two with my garden spade. Yucks!



White spots - on the underside of the chilli leaves are worrying. Guess this is the time to test out Irene's organic pesticide. I sprayed on the spots after I split the seedlings into two and replanted them, giving them more space to flourish. Maybe it was the dense foliage that resulted in the white spots thingy.


Constance's rosemary doing very well and sending up new shoots. I think I will pass it to her next week.


A melon is a melon - the leaves of the rock melon look similar to the winter melon's leaves. I topped up the soil for the rock melon to level it as it was a bit too waterlogged when it rains.




The two creeper plants, old cucumber and winter melon seemed to have settled down and are slowly climbing the fence.


The winter melon leaves look sizably impressive. I like the delicate serrated edges!!


In the picture above, some coiled tendrils ensure anchorage without growing pains for the winter melon.



It was so easy to prepare the lemon grass for planting. After peeling off the outer leaves and shortening the main stem, I soaked them in water for 3 days and voila, the roots and shoots appeared. I hope I have not planted them in the ground too soon but I think they should be all right!



The big bulge at the base of the turmeric must mean that the ginger is growing very well and I suppose I can harvest the tuber if I know what to use it for! Hahaha!



Nice to see these pinto bean shoots racing each other for the sky. I wonder when the pods will appear!



View from the top after I moved the cherry tomato plant to the centre as I felt that it was too crowded out next to the chilli. Hopefully it will do better from now on because some of its foliage have withered :( but there is one tomato ripening for my snack the next couple of days.:p

Mistaken Identity

Gosh! I was watering and weeding the garden this morning when I took a closer look at some seedlings that I thought were papaya as they were growing too slowly for papaya and found to my surprise that they are actually chilli! Must be local chilli because I ever threw some chilli seeds into the ground. I compared it to the chilli plant I bought - the leaves look similar. What a laugh - so much for me being a gardener, don't even know what I am growing, hahaha!



Harvested (I like this word, it sounds so grand :)) some chillies and ONE cherry tomato because I was going to fertilize the plants. Always harvest the ripe fruits or leaves before fertilizing because you don't want to eat the sh*#. Wouldn't you agree that the chillies are really of different species - rounded fat orange vs pointed slim red?

Short-cuts

Bought 1 chilli and 1 chilli tomato plant for $6.90 each from the nursery yesterday (growing them from seeds will take too long - but I will have to junk the first harvest cos they are coated with chemicals from the nursery) when I went to pick up another 20 bags of burnt earth and 4 bags (21L) of compost. The first round of 80 bags burnt earth and 15 bags of compost hardly fill up the plot.

Looks like my garden is safe from the rats for time being and the red radish is shooting up already. The mint is spreading too and I have transfered the 2 aloes from the pot into the corner.

Tomorrow I will have to start working on my compost bin so that in 3 to 6 months' time I can get organic fertilizer for the garden.

Gosh, I am so ambitious - I want to make herb-infused olive oil from my projected harvest from the garden using bay leaves, rosemary, garlic, chilli and tarragon (suggested by Constance). And maybe oregano! I will have to look out for tarragon and oregano on my next visit to the nursery.


Oh yes, my inspiration for this plan to make my own herb-infused olive oil dressing came from 3 nice Cognac XO bottles that look just right for dispensing herb-infused olive oil. 2 of the round one and 1 of Eiffel Tower. They look so nice don't they?

P.S. I wonder what chilli tomato taste like - I asked the nursery man if they can be eaten - he said yes, but people don't normally eat them - they are planted for ornamental reasons :O

P.S. 2. The pineapple plant is a dangerous one. My left arm was scratched by it - tomorrow I am going to trim off all the jagged tips (tips-for-tat HAHAHA!)