Beans

Planted Garden beans today, two rows of them.

Corn

Planted two rows of them today (earlier to mature at 167 days). 

Will plant two more rows of the other variety which matures in 174 days.

Potatoes

I push the dirt over the potato seeds as I walk

On the opposite end is my son doing the same thing

Much of the potatoes we planted 5/28 rotted after being drowned in rainwater.  We had to replant. It's a good thing we still had a bag of potatoes from last year that we were able to use as seeds. We ended up with total of 4 and 2/3 rows.

Japanese Eggplants

I transplanted my miniature seedlings out about last week. I keep checking out Walmart if they are selling the seedlings, just like last year, and that was where I got mine. No luck.

Then yesterday we went to Home Depot and I found big seedlings of the same, as in BIG with some flowers already. $5.99 each. I got 5 plants. Hopefully will have the first fruits by July. They freeze well after blanching.

I transplanted them today, 6/16/2012.

Place the biodegradable pot in a hole

Pack the dirt around

Done transplanting 5 eggplant seedlings.
Don't forget to water to eliminate air pockets around the roots.

Cucumbers - Spacemaster

Planted them today, 6/16/2012.

We will plant the other variety two weeks after.

Sitaw, ampalaya

Yesterday I planted the ampalaya seedlings and sitaw seeds along the side of the pool. 

Today I will plant another packet of the sitaw the rest of the pool side.

Sugar Snap Peas

I planted the today in the big veggie garden. Hopefully, I will be able to plant the sitaw seeds sometime this week.

Second week of June

I planted the sayote directly to the soil. Then the ubi. I also transplanted seedlings started indoors a week ago that consisted of upo (burpee and Thailand from ebay) and eggplants (Japan ichiban purple and thai long purple). 

I also planted indoors seeds of malunggay and upo (thai).

First week of June

We planted potatoes and onions, then transplanted cabbage, broccoli, peppers, tomatoes.

Malunggay and upo

planted seeds indoors. Hopefully will germinate. It is still cold outside and it keeps raining.

Update 6/16/2012
Transplanted malunggay and upo out in the veggie garden.

Update  6/18 - Upo shoots are dying, maybe due to cold nights. Sigh!

Kalamansi Seedling from Ella

Through my Kusina website, I have met, and continue to meet, people from everywhere in the world. One friend has been so fond of me, I guess, (LOL!) so she has been sending me gifts...first was a box of ripe Champagne mangoes, and now, this kalamansi seedling.

Ella, an fb friend, sent me this kalamansi seedling.

After arrival, I immediately took it out of the tall dark box (it was so well-packaged! Almost professionally done!) and transplanted it in a medium pot.

I am sure that by the end of the this summer, I will have to transfer it to a bigger pot.

Thanks, Ella!

A Mole

We had an encounter with a bigger mole this year (I had a post about a smaller one that looked like a tiny mouse, no bigger than my pinkie.) It seemed like it was caught by Lucky, one of our 5 cats, and brought into the house. Good thing that it was still very much alive with no wounds that I could see.

I had to take photos and videos first then I released it back outdoors.

I planted Camote....but...what are these????

I planted camote tubers (cut in half) in black plastic pots indoors during late spring, when nights were still too cold.

One day when it was like summer hot, (though still cold at night) I let them out on the porch to "harden" them prior to transplanting to my veggie garden.

That afternoon, when I was about to bring them back inside the house, I noted holes on the leaves...what the????



Found these golden specks on the underside of the leaves...wow...so beautiful...wish I could use them for jewelries...



A closer look...



I googled and found out they are tortoise beetles...specifically infesting the family of sweet potatoes...(Ipomea? if I remember it right)...apparently they do not last all summer...

Darn...I planted sweet potatoes mainly for the leaves...I miss blanched sweet potato leaves eaten with bagoong isda with some kalamansi juice (I have to sub with lemon), some ginger and onions, tomatoes, plus fried or grilled tilapia or bangus....

oh well.... :(

Clematis

It looks so artificial with all the big blooms it has...but this is real...growing under the shade of an arbor...very eye-catching! It motivated me to buy two clematis plants...I hope they, too, will have blooms as prolific as these!

My Hanging Baskets

I did not make them myself. Instead of planting seeds and transplanting them to baskets once bigger, I opted to save myself some times and effort and frustration (because I do not have the talent/greenthumb) by getting several pretty ones either from WalMart or a nearby greenhouse. The big flowery baskets are the ones I got from the greenhouse.

Fuschia (both the white and the purple) is my favorite. Then the orange begonia. The others are okay, but they do offer contrast in colors. Pretty to look at while sitting at the swing set on the porch. Combined with listening to the sound of water dropping from the fountain, it is so Zen-like at this time of the year.

My Gardening Summer Project for 2009

I had two containers (medium size) that I placed on the porch (they had identical plants).

I had two window boxes that had different plants in it.

My MIL gave me her extra annuals to plant in my annual garden bed. Before I planted them, I had to re-condition the dirt by rototilling, adding compost, and fertilizing it.

Gardening can be a lot of work, but it definitely has its rewards.

Crocus

 

This plant is one of the earliest blooms I have in my garden. As soon as snow melts, they are peaking out already. I have white and yellow, striped lavender and plain.

Spring is Almost Here!

It is that time again when I receive a lot of catalogs for home garden.

I particularly like the Spring Hill Nursery for their selection, which includes hardy species of bamboo and banana. Yeah, aside from bringing a tropical theme into my immediate environment, having these two around will enable me to cook with bamboo shoots and banana leaves (if the fruits of the banana are good for eating or cooking, then that will be a welcome bonus).

I have just ordered some flowers from them with a promo they sent earlier. Now that they sent me a catalog as well, I will order those items and some more flowers. They do have a promo ("Put us to the test") to cut the total price in half after I make my choices from that catalog. Sweet!

Mulching my garden

My SIL and MIL were very kind to volunteer to clean up and mulch my garden. Not only were my husband and I very lost as to how to approach it, I was also breaking out with rashes every time I would attempt to weed...They felt sorry for me.

So one day during a fall weekend, they, together with my FIL, husband, and kids, worked on my flower garden while I was at work. Here's their finished work...very neat!


Am I lucky or what???

A Mole

Our favorite pet cat Midnight thinks she is a mighty hunter (a tiger?) and she always tries to impress us by hunting small mammals such as this vole (see its size relative to my pinkie). Mice, birds, and even butterflies are among the victims. We try to scold her every time, and if the poor victim is still alive by the time we see it, we set it free.