Picking up the threads of gardening - 3

 As Covid receded, we started to venture out and explore our new city. While we knew some nice nurseries by now, we were on the lookout for a place to buy fibre glass pots.

The advantage of fibre-glass pots over plastic pots are that these are more durable in the sun. Plastic pots become brittle easily. In addition, these pots come in beautiful finishes and are sturdy, even in large sizes. Ofcourse, terracotta pots are my favourite, but they are limited in their shapes and sizes. So I buy them for specific plants only.

We found a good shop for fibre-glass pots on Google Maps. We bought two rectangle pots.

Now the question of what to plant? We wanted to place these in our bedroom balcony. This balcony was a utility baclony, so we wanted to plants that would survive without much fuss. But also, they should smell or look beautfiful. This time we went in for some flowering plants. 

I also saw an ad by IFFCO Urban Gardens on Instagram. This was the urban garden arm of IFFCO, who are known for seeds and fertilizers used in agriculture. They had luanched new potting soil and fertilizers for the urban gardeners. I really liked the look of their potting soil as it was a nice mix, designed to be light and airy.

Here's what the baclony looks like now.

Magic Soil by IFFCO

Jasmine

Rose, Wedelia

Sneak peek of spring

August is awesome in Melbourne, full of hope for us who are sun-deprived and heat-cravers! The days get warmer and more consistently sunny. Best of all is the activity in the garden with flowering weeds of Dandelion. These are amongst the first few to flower and are important for the bees who are coming out of hibernation.

Here are some pictures of what's happening right now.

The Virginian stock I planted last year, self-seeded and grew again. It looks awesome now!

Virginian stock

 One pea pod is developing now, lol! That would make a fine stir-fry.

Lonely pea pod

The last of the Hyacinth is flowering now.

White Hyacinth

I love the first leaves of deciduous tress. The pomegranate is showing signs of new leaves.

Pomegranate

The Daphne is spreading it's perfume in the entire garden, and looking pretty good doing it!

Daphne

Jasmine is just starting to flower.

Jasmine

As is the Magnolia. It also has a very strong scent.

Magnolia

The African daisies are really perking up their corner of the garden. On sunny days, the flowers open fully. They are as excited as us to see the sun!

Pink african daisy

Purple african daisy

Orange african daisy

The calendula have really kept the winter cheerful by flowering non-stop.

Calendula

And these are the last of my favourite flower - Jonquil.

Jonquil

How does your garden grow?

Time for a status report of the garden this spring.

Is there a prettier sight than lots and lots of flowers in bloom? The Jasmine has been doing it well the past few years, they look lovely!

Jasmine

The African Daisies, in conjunction with the various fruit trees are a nice sight from the kitchen window.

Oranges, Daisies, Pomegranate, Lime and Hakea

Last year, I planted Calendula in September. They did not flower at all, but did survive the winter. This October, the first sunny flower showed up. It was pale yellow, I did expect it to be more orange-y. But I read that the soil in which grows decides the tone of the yellow-ness.

Calendula

The new flowers this year are from the Pigface succulent. Last year, it almost died, till we replanted it in a better spot. This year, the buds turned into flowers pretty quickly. Each flower lasts about 3-4 weeks. Interestingly, the 'White' Pigface, also had a lone pink flower! I could not figure out how, as the entire plant had only one root. But anyway, I am not complaining.

Pigface

There are not many vegetables to talk of this spring. The Kale and Spinach are still doing well, worth 10-15 leaves per week. However, the Garlic did not develop into bulbs. The peas also did not survive due to the aphid attack. I had sowed some Lettuce seeds that I had collected last year, they are germinating now.

Lettuce saplings

We had planted Daikon Radish, but only got knobby ones. They tasted nice, but I probably left them in too long.

Daikon Radish

We are not planning to sow any new vegetables this year. To utilise the empty areas of the bed, I sowed seeds of Carnation, Calendula and Virginian Stock. The plants have just started to come up.

Virginian Stock saplings

Spring notes

The biggest news this spring is a lone lime in our 4-year old tree! Every year we get excited when we see the white flowers on the plant. Every year we watch in despair as they drop to the ground one-by-one. This repeats the next season. Until now, one lime, which we almost missed behind all the leaves!

Lime

In other news, Carnation was still happily flowering away. They are my favourite flowers! I planted the seeds in a pot, so they are a bit leggy trying to find the sun. But the flowers still looked pretty, even when not upright.

Carnation

Daisies are the really looked-forward to flowers. They turn up almost overnight and are such followers of the sun! We have them in three colours, so its hard to decide which colour is the best.

Orange daisies

Purple daisies

Pink daisies

Other flowers at this time are the Magnolia and the Eternal Fragrance Daphne. The Magnolia has such a strong perfume that even our next neighbour can smell it in her house! The flowering season does not last too long, only 2-3 weeks. The flowers itself are pretty delicate and the petals fall off with the wind.

Magnolia

The Eternal Fragrance Daphne lives up to its name. The first flowers bloom at this time of the year for about 3 weeks. Once they die down, the plant gives out new leaves and extends its scope. The next set of flowers will bloom in November, just in time for outdoor sitting season.

Eternal Fragrance Daphne

A little overshadowed by its neighbours, the Cherry Leaf Lilly Pilly gives out new leaves at this time. The leaves are a dark red in colour, giving the tree (or bush?) its name. The Lilly Pilly is quite small, only about 3 feet high compared to the other one that we have.

Cherry Leaf Lilly Pilly

The Hakea is quite tall now and successfully blocking our neighbour's from viewing our kitchen! In the spring, there are tiny feathery flowers all along the stem. In the tall tree, they look quite spectacular.

Hakea

And finally, a previously unknown succulent is standing quite tall! This was given to us by my parents when they visited us in April 2012. It came in two little tea cup sized terracotta pots. In the pots it got water sparingly. When we setup our succulent bed, we planted some cuttings. There it got water 2-4 times a week. Judging by the height, it obviously does well with water!

Update Jul 2016: This is Variegated Crassula sarmentosa

Variegated Crassula sarmentosa

P.S. The Jasmine is starting to make an appearance with some flowers. More later!

Jasmine

Back from a break

Every year, I take a break from gardening during the winter months. The shorter days mean that I leave for work in darkness and come back by darkness. The only time I get to see the garden is from the window on the weekends. I am glad now that our garden is mature and is geeen all year round.

Come August and the plants start to get restless. The oranges are already starting to change to the right colour and the Daphne is flowering.

Daphne

Orange

The Jonquils are the first of the bulbs to flower. I can see them from the kitchen window, it's such a lovely sight.

Jonquil

Last September, I planted Carnations. They are pretty slow to grow, but finally a  bud appeared in July, followed by another soon after. They are such delicate flowers!

Carnation

Carnation

The vegetables I planted in March are doing ok without any love from me! The kale and spinach have been giving enough leaves every week for me to use them in our salad.

Kale

Spinach

The garlic is also growing well but still a long way away from harvest. There are a couple of flowers on the pea plant but the plant is starting to dry out from the base up. Unfortunately my veggie patch was infested with aphids while I was on holiday. I came back too late to save most of the peas.

Garlic

Pea flowers

And finally, nothing cheers me up more than the promise of new flowers and leaves! The pomegranate is my favorite in this respect. As the tree has matured, the leaves have started to arrive earlier in the month. The jasmine is also showing new buds.

Pomegranate

Jasmine

The surprising new entry is this cutting from Tibouchina. I pruned the plants in autumn as they were getting too leggy and used the cuttings to provide support to the peas. Now it looks like one of them has set root! This will be fun to watch.

Tibouchina stakes

Fragrance in the garden

I love fragrant flowers. To me, the fragrance completes the beauty of the flower. Having said that, I do not like Rose but love Carnations!

Anyway, we thought fragrant flowers would be perfect for planting around our outdoor seating area. I wanted a mix of flowers that would lend their fragrance all year round. Most fragrant flowers flower in spring, so I had to do a bit of research.

Daphne Odora was the most popular choice for winter flowering. It flowers in the cold winter months when everything else in the garden is feeling a bit low! However, it is a fussy plant and needs lots of care. We bought ours in 2011, but it took two winters for it to flower!

Daphne Odora

Daphne Odora in flower

There is another hybrid Daphne called Eternal Daphne which flowers in spring and spot flowers during the rest of the year. This one is bred to be more tolerant of sunshine. We picked this one to be right next to our seating area.

Eternal Daphne in flower

Magnolias are fragrant too, but deciduous. I am not a big fan of deciduous trees, so luckily we found a fragrant Magnolia that is evergreen. It was also going to provide us with some more privacy is the garden.

Magnolia

Magnolia in flower

Another typical summer fragrance is from Gardenias. They love shade and have white flowers that give out a very powerful perfume. My only grudge with it is that they look ugly when they finish blooming (usually 2-3 days for each flower). Constant deheading of dead flowers is required to keep the shrub looking clean.

Gardenia

Gardenia in bloom

Finally, we wanted a climber to cover the trellis which demarcated our sunny area of the bed from the shady area. Jasmine seemed like a very good option. It climbs well and has fragrant flowers in the summer.

Jasmine

Jasmine flower