The Good Life 2.0

Pumpel is growing

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:34:35 +1100

Pumpel is growing

Looks like my attempts at pumpkin sex may have worked ;)

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:30:20 +1100

Looks like my attempts at pumpkin sex may have worked ;)

Today’s best kept food secret: nasturtium flowers. Many...

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:14:24 +1100

Today’s best kept food secret: nasturtium flowers. Many people know the leaves as great in salads. But the flowers are even better: a honey-sweet burst of scented flavour that ends with a fiery, radish tang.

Beanfence: a new project. One nice new bare fence, a flowerbed...

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:10:00 +1100

Beanfence: a new project. One nice new bare fence, a flowerbed with soil rich from disuse, and five Scarlet Emperor runnerbean seedlings, grown from beans. Watch them climb!

A small red pepper that has been growing all winter

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:04:22 +1100

A small red pepper that has been growing all winter

Timelapse photos: the growth of Curcubit mound over the past...

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:56:00 +1100

Timelapse photos: the growth of Curcubit mound over the past few weeks

I call this “Curcurbit Mound”. Hidden beneath the...

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 17:27:48 +1000

I call this “Curcurbit Mound”. Hidden beneath the lucerne mulch is not a body but a couple of bags of potting compost. On top, guarded by a row of bright-yellow sentry marigolds, is a miniature pumpkin seedling and a few crystal apple cucumber seedlings.

Bright red harvest. I will fry it all up tomorrow with garlic...

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 21:17:27 +1100

Bright red harvest. I will fry it all up tomorrow with garlic and olive oil, and scatter on some fresh basil and lemon thyme I am growing.

Mystery plant - the ferret seems to find it interesting, but I...

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 21:16:13 +1100

Mystery plant - the ferret seems to find it interesting, but I have no clue what it is. It doesn’t look like anything else I’ve planted. It started growing in the pot with the sunflower in, so I just let it grow as the sunflower died.

The first Turkish Orange aubergine harvested - it doesn’t...

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 00:05:52 +1100

The first Turkish Orange aubergine harvested - it doesn’t seem to be quite ripe, as it’s very hard - but some animal has already nibbled a hole near the top.

Drip feed spikes

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 18:56:35 +1100

Given the heatwave, it seemed a good time to try some irrigation gadgets. I bought this tomatoes hanging basket from a market, and it is desperately struggling with the heat and dries out all the time. So I’ve put a gel-spike device in it. It wasn’t very impressive: all the gel started glooping out without even having to pierce the bottle as directed. It doesn’t look like it will last long.

The other thing - and cheaper - is these adjustable spike nozzles that attach to regular water bottles. I will do a few experiments with them, trying out the different settings. I’m not very convinced they will be that accurate or consistent, but so long as they work a bit, it should help.

Ancient herbs

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 18:48:36 +1100

The Pocket Encylopaedia of Herbs contains a lot of fascinating historical information about once commonly-used herbs that are now rare or even unknown today.

I had earlier managed to grow some Salad Burnet, which is supposed to taste like cucumber but doesn’t seem particularly noticeable when I add it to salads. I’ve been struggling to grow various other herbs, such as Lemon Basil which germinates well, then the seedlings die. Also Lemon Balm/Melissa, which never managed to germinate until now.

Then today in a hardware and garden centre, I discovered Lemon Savoury which is in the book, but I’ve never seen before. I also bought some Sage, as I cannot get it to germinate (likewise Meadowsweet and Evening Primrose just will not seem to germinate). I planted them next to the Salad Burnet, in the space where a Borage plant once grew. L-R savoury, sage, salad burnet.

We’ve had a heatwave of unprecedented intensity. It has...

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 18:27:09 +1100

We’ve had a heatwave of unprecedented intensity. It has devastated many plants. In particular the Baby pumpkin which has absolutely collapsed. It’s not dead, but it is nowhere near what it was if you compare these photos from two weeks ago (top) and today (bottom).

Balcony garden 2009

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 09:27:57 +1100

Due to an urgent overseas trip, I had to leave the garden over December and early January. Luckily a good friend watered it for me, and everything was alive on my return.

- tomatoes ripened but lost nearly all of their leaves from the mildew
- Crookneck squash and Jack-Be-Little pumpkin struggled and are half dead
- Sweet Mama red pepper got curly wilting leaves, but has two peppers
- Baby pumpkin was ENORMOUS but no fertile pumpkins yet
- Violet Queen was pretty much dead
- Purple Sprouting Broccoli was ravaged by caterpillars
- Turkish orange aubergine/eggplant was flourishing but pest-ridden
- Rainbow chard/silverbeet just grows and grows, such a beautiful, easy plant
- various herbs continued to grow nicely

It doesn’t have to be vegetables or flowers. The cool...

Sun, 07 Dec 2008 11:34:12 +1100

It doesn’t have to be vegetables or flowers. The cool white star at the top is Sweet Mama red pepper and the flamboyant golden-yellow trumpet below is Baby pumpkin.

The hyssop has finally flowered. Bees are supposed to love this...

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 18:07:05 +1100

The hyssop has finally flowered. Bees are supposed to love this plant.

The Tommy Toe tomato has fine hairs that shine golden in the...

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:09:16 +1100

The Tommy Toe tomato has fine hairs that shine golden in the sun. This is a close up. They actually look like they are glittering, it is beautiful.

These chillies are the second fruiting on a potplant chilli...

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:09:00 +1100

These chillies are the second fruiting on a potplant chilli bought some months ago. It was covered with red chillies, they withered and died, so did its leaves, and it nearly died (being in an office with no sun). Returning it to the outdoors saw new leaves grow, then flowers, then a new batch of chillies. The label says “strictly ornamental” but that can probably be ignored seeing as it’s been organically/naturally fed for the past few months. Or are there varieties of poisonous/non-edible chillies out there?

Pot saucers

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 20:56:42 +1100

Pot saucers are really vital. I didn’t bother to buy all the matching saucers to the pots I bought, but now I have gone back and bought loads. They retain water better, so it is available to the plant even if it has seeped through the potting compost. They keep things more humid so presumably a bit cooler when the sun is very hot. They also stop all the water from running all over the balcony tiles making a mess.

A new Crookneck squash that I am growing on the east side of the...

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 20:53:39 +1100

A new Crookneck squash that I am growing on the east side of the building. The seed was planted on 17th November and the seedling was transplanted today, the 29th November. It will be interesting to see if this grows more quickly than the first Crookneck squash, as it was sown in spring not winter.