October Updates

i finally have reason to blog after some progress throughout october.

let's start with my mother's 5 year old favorite that only blossoms under my care. it had been neglected for quite some time but after starting to tend to it last august, it's been blooming endlessly for the past 6 weeks. does anyone know what this plant is called?

squash progress:

this was the first one i sprouted last september, here it is as of october 9

 

and here it is as of october 31. beside it is another i started a week or so after.

i recently thought i lost my touch sprouting my usuals like papaya and squash and was so excited with the first butternut sprout. turns out i was just impatient and since then i managed to sprout a dozen or so more and gave away a few. i've replanted 3 others around the yard and that should keep me in squash from december until february or march next year. all the same, i'll be sowing regularly from now on so i'll never run out of this personal favorite.

tomato update:

here they are as of october 9. a few died after up-planting from starter cups to milk cartons. that happens and is to be expected so no big deal. that's why we should sow more than we want - we can always give away what we don't have space for eventually.

 

and here they are as of halloween - need to be spaced out as they grow fast - i'm just hoping this batch will be productive.

finally, this is the first one to fruit from the august 15 sowing - took less than three months this time around and i am grateful the seeds i saved from store bought tomatoes weren't duds. hopefully the rest will follow even though most of them are limited to 1 liter containers.

 and this is what i mean - both these were sown in the first week of september and the one in the smaller cup managed to put on almost as much growth despite a container a third of the size. it's quite root-bound but as long as it could get nutrition from the wicking tray, then it will find a way to grow. of course i up-planted the little guy into a milk carton after taking the photos - no sense in restraining growth... or was it among the ones i transplanted directly into the ground? i've managed three direct-to-ground transplants so far and will have to do a few more but it's been rainy since october 28.

and here are two of the potted ones that will hopefully fruit soon too. there are four of five more but i've run out of clay pots so all transplants from hereon will be direct-to-ground.

other new stuff: 

as i mentioned, i try to sow a new batch of misc stuff every week or so and here are the promising ones.

here they were as of october 9

and this is them by halloween

seeds saved from store bought bell peppers. there are a few papaya there too - i thought these would never sprout. there're two or three basil from cuttings and one or two from seed as well.

and here are three starter trays with a few seedlings that got moved into cups on hallow's eve. 

so far, this new season for 2017 has been more successful and speedier than all my previous efforts since i started gardening all those many years ago. much of the progress is from geeking out - watching hundreds and hundreds of youtube videos and reading thru endless message board posts and forums. lots of what i saw i filtered but basically it was concepts of soil care and maintaining organic enrichment thru biochar, urine, wood ash, fermented food waste and lots of well-rotted biomass and compost that made the difference this time. i hope to one day put together a compendium of my favorite sources and give due recognition but it was mainly the living web farms youtube channel and the permies forum which inspired me to put on my garden gloves again.

so there, i will conclude this october installment.  may your garden be more lush than mine.

just tomatoes and not much else

sorry but that's the truth and that's why i haven't been posting lately.

and i want to thank my G+ brother Jim H (Jimmy) for prompting me to update this blog when he asked about my garden. check him and his music out - he's a master guitarist and singer from the pen state and he posted some of his lovely music on his profile.

still, i should be thankful for only 2 fatalities and 3 or 4 slowpokes from the august 15 sowing, the rest have caught up with the majestic twelve

you can also see two squash - the smaller one sprouted just last week.

here are four more with the second batch i sowed early september.

there are 5 more in large pots outside but there wasn't enough daylight left to get a good pic.

 curious who i managed to get so much growth in such a short time? promise not to be grossed-out? it's urine and charcoal: i half fill soda bottles with charcoal and ash and pee into them and let steep overnight. mix 50/50 with water and apply daily after watering.

i've kept up starting lots of flower cuttings but not much luck and only the allamanda have thrived. i also cleared the nursery and started more squash and a new bunch of bell peppers - both from saved seeds of the regular market variety. hopefully some will have germinated by my next post. until then, thanks for dropping by. my your garden be more lush than mine.

Ronnie's Garden; Cuttings from the neighbor; etc.

you seen enough of my stuff so here's my friend Ronnie's

I dropped by for more cuttings since i wasn't able to germinate any of the seeds he gave me early last August. Ronnie has a wide variety as you can see here: Moringa, Lemon Grass, Tamarind, Papaya, native Eggplant, Calamansi, Basil and Peppermint. He wasn't around but knowing he wouldn't mind, I took a few cuttings and left him one of the majestic twelve tomato plants.

The other neighbor also has an impressive selection of tropical flora

we're always hi-and-hello/nods-and-smiles but never exchanged names (maybe they're shy). I asked permission to take some cuttings and with neighborly generosity was told to help myself.

I took two cuttings each of the small red-and-yellow flowers and these large yellow ones.  Too bad that was all I could manage since my container was already full of cuttings from Ronnie.

Here at home I finally got all the disparate new tomato seedlings into into individual cups:

 

 Pardon the glass top. Overcast and extremely humid all day today (like yesterday), Rain was imminent and I was rushing to get my cuttings potted. I just managed to finish sticking them down as the falling drops grew larger and more frequent - I'll snap shots tomorrow.

before lunch I also transferred these from cups into 1 liter milk cartons. Just in time as they were getting root bound.

I'm sure the rest of the majestic twelve are close to getting root bound as well and need to be transferred too. The third from the left was what I left for Ronnie - he'll be wondering why a tomato plant suddenly appeared among his plants.



I over-did things yesterday as usual.  Got poor quality sleep as usual. Put in four hours before lunch today (typical). Went to get the cuttings and potted them soon as the sun edged close to the horizon.  I'm tired! Pardon the typos and grammatical errors - I still haven't gotten around to fixing the last entry but at this point I couldn't care less.

Thanks for your interest in my blog - until next time. May your garden be greener and more lush than mine.

New Tomato Seedlings, First Squash Sprouted and More Cuttings

More tomato seeds have finally germinated and seedlings now need to be transferred:

this batch has been haphazard and touch-and-go since i sowed them - new seedling popping up a few days apart.

 I already started moving a few to cups two days ago.



The August 15 batch after four weeks:

 The majestic twelve less two that I've already re-potted.
Really strange how a few will always do better than the rest.
 

 A few slowpokes caught up but a newly transferred one died during the typhoon – just when it was looking so lush and healthy.



First Squash Sprouted:

after reading more, i'm worried though:
"When planting squash plants, try to avoid disturbing the roots as you transplant the seedlings. Cucurbits take longer to get established when transplanting disturbs their roots too much."
http://www.grow-it-organically.com/growing-squash.html

I sowed many in trays and when i transferred the seedling into a mini-pot, i noticed there remained a long part of the initial root stuck to the bottom of the tray. i'm going to have to sow more in individual mini pots.



Propagating Cuttings:
Seen here are misc that have taken root and will hopefully continue to thrive.
 

Propagtaion Lesson reinforced: start more cuttings than you think you should when pruning your flowering plants - not all will survive. In this case, around 40 percent took root after two to three weeks. I kept most of these shady sections of my garden to keep them from baking under intense tropical sun but the rains have claimed many of this batch. Professional growers keep their cuttings under cold frames or cloches for extra protection from the elements, falling leaves and twigs that could smother them.


On a related note: Fewer Hibiscus Blooms this week - so much for the optimism i had last week.

not surprising since i lopped off so many tips when dealing with the ant infestation last week. Same case with the Allamanda yet in comparison,  it had a few more blooms - didn't feel the need to snap and post photos though.


New Buds from this once lush bush that i don't know the name of - the flowers are small and yellow:

I would appreciate if anyone can identify it for me - thanks in advance.



So there - it's been a humdrum week despite the same number of hours i put into my garden. And i constantly reminded who maintaining this blog can be so tedious. I'll try harder next week and will hopefully be more enthusiastic. Sleep has been poor - what else is new? Best wishes for all your gardens.

Blooms, Native Squash, and Tomato

it's been humdrum the past few days with so much wait-and-see and not much to post about.

the pleasant surprise is that i've been getting so many more blooms since i took cuttings from my hibiscus and allamanda. seems all they really needed was lots of careful pruning.

 

these were taken two days ago and there were even more flowers today but i forgot to take photos. pretty sure the blooms will continue so more pics on my next post.

 a few days ago i sowed calamansi or filipino keylime

it's been hit-and-miss germinating citrus in the past and i don't expect things to be any different now. besides, there's a grown calamansi tree at my dad's that he planted many years ago.

today i sowed three trays of native squash (12 seeds per tray)

i didn't take pictures of the trays as it was dark by the time i was finished. there will be lots of photos after they germinate.i've always been lucky growing this and it's one of my favorite veg. technically, it's fruit (seeds being inside and all that).  


here are my squashes back in september 2014:

i transplanted the seedling into this broken pot i sunk into the ground. i've forgotten how much misc crap i had growing in this area - it's all bare now apart from a few pots.

one six feet up as the vine climbed the bougainvillea 

 and here's another i sneaked into the flower bed

this one newly harvested for a puree soup

while we're at it, check out how much i used to grow back in 2015:

i was really hooked on my plants back then and i filled up the yard, i had to move some outside and give away much more. pictured here are my eggplant and squashes.

 these are outside and on the front pavement

a view from the side

august 15 tomato update:

 

in the big horizontal planter are the majestic twelve while the slower lot are in the small one. i could do better but these babies are doing well considering they're in full sun much of the day. i'm always perplexed why in a batch, some do better and why some just are lousy despite extra attention. looking back, i should've potted more of the leggy seedlings from two weeks ago. then again, i'd run out of yard space fast if the slow ones catch up.


i've been dreading the drudgery and i had to force myself to complete the blog entry. i really hoped to have finished this a few hours ago and  i'm really tired after the long day. i'm leaving as is for now - typos and grammatical errors intact, for now i don't care. will fix things when i wake up or whenever else i get back to this.

Monday Garden Blues

things aren't too encouraging today.

the rains have stopped and an experiment didn't pan out (or is taking too darn long. at least there are a few things to smile about.

 i've rescued this unloved and unnoticed plant back in 2012 after seeing potted in a rusted can in my mom's backyard. i took it and transplanted into one of my flower beds and it's grown large. it's also infested with ants and i am studying just how to deal with these pests.

 

 my first proper hibiscus bloom for the second half of 2017.

also making is an appearance is violet Allamanda the the neighbor gave me a few years go.
so far it's my most successful bloomer and i tend to take it for granted.

 well not anymore as i took a few cuttings just as a propagation experiment.

i'm freeing up the nursery
  
because the seeds i sowed a couple of days ago did not germinate. i'm guessing it was the improper medium i used: clay, or maybe the seeds baked under direct afternoon sunlight. still, the never-say-die ethic of gardeners prevails and i banished them to the shady corner under a large tree.

 

 i'll wait a few more days and will sow again if these miscreants don't provide desired results.
 

i realize i'm still a city-boy

fresh coconuts from my folks' recent trip to the province proved challenging. i've seen our tenants split these things thousands of times with their machetes but not wanting to lose any fingers, i went for a blade i had more control of. apparently not enough control this time as i slammed the knife's edge against the kitchen counter twice - i'm lucky i didn't nick my 10" messerling trinity.

worried about further damaging my knife, i resorted to brute force and split the coconut with my bare hands after pouring out the coconut water into a pitcher.

 it was a quite day today

i was too lazy to bring out speakers for background music. still, i forgot to post a few days ago that i found my own garden anthem. one of my earliest heroes, the great hugh fearnley-whittingstall always had baba o'riley as his theme and it's very him.

while i was on binging on sakamoto the other day, i found my own piece of music to celebrate my culinary gardening. from the 1984 opus Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia. here is ryuichi san's masterful collaboration with the great thomas dolby:


ryuichi sakamoto: fieldwork

it's just a vamp going from G to D with a pulsating synth pad and a few well placed slap bass fills. this was pino palladino era sakamoto but i don't think it was him who did the bass embellishment here.