My Green Patch - Gardening In The Maltese Islands

The Challenges Of Blogging About a Passion Flower

2013-06-16T13:55:00.001+02:00

This week I meant to write a long post about the passion flower vine I added to my garden a few weeks ago. I wanted to write about the incredible flowers that are blooming every day now, about its fast growth doubling in size in just three weeks, and about the fact that the vine is slowly but surely trying to get into my house. I meant to write all this, but I didn't.

When blogging about my garden, it is very easy to write posts that have been written and re-written all over the net. I have a few container plants that are quite common, and the simplest thing to do would be to write about how to take care of them, how the changes in weather is affecting them, how they are growing and so on. I have done this in other posts for other plants, and I was planning to do just that with the passion flower, this is a log of my plants after all.

As I was doing my research on the plant, I realized, why do I have to repeat what's out there, what value is my blog post going to add to the reader? The challenge then became, how to write something interesting about the passion flower that the readers can enjoy, without repeating what others have written many times before.

In my search to find interesting posts, one of two things normally happens. An idea may come to me, which I then try to support with good pictures. Alternatively, the garden will show me something interesting, where I take the pictures first, and then I try to explain it in a blog post. It is not always clear which comes first, but I do find myself in situations where I have pictures, but no post, or the other way around.

Coming back to the subject, I have taken quite a few pictures of my passion flower now, but the post still eludes me. What can I write about a passion flower that no one has written about before. How can I look at this from a different angle? Nothing comes to me, I find myself uninspired. It's such a wonderful plant, however, that I still take pictures to mark its progress, and this brings me to another point. Are the pictures any good? Not really.

Summer has come all of a sudden, two days ago, without warning. My garden has turned into a dust bowl, full of soil blowing in from the surrounding fields. With no rain to wash them down, my plants look like they have been abandoned for years gathering dust, even though it has only been a few days. Not the ideal environment to take pictures. I could spend a few hours hosing them down, trying to get the soil off the leaves, letting them dry, and take a few pictures for my blog post, but it's too much work in this summer heat.

So here I find myself with no post, and dusty pictures. I am waiting for the vine to crawl in some unexpected manner, or to do something so outrageous as to warrant a blog post. In the meantime, I check on it everyday, train it, teach it how to crawl in the right direction, talk to it, and marvel at its beautiful flowers. I still take pictures, perhaps they can catch something I missed. Until that day comes, however, my post about the passion flower is going to have to wait.

The Cactus Trio

2013-06-14T19:16:00.001+02:00

This week I have acquired three more cactus plants for my container garden, thanks to my generous aunt. Not much to say about them at this time, but stay tuned for my much needed cactus display!

Fuzzy Cactus - aka Brophyllum

Green Cactus - aka Portulacaria Afra

Spindly Cactus

Happy weekend everyone, hope you have a good one now that summer is on the way. For those of you in the southern hemisphere, hope the weather treats you kindly :)

Aphid Control Using Garlic Pesticide

2013-06-10T20:55:00.000+02:00

Last week I had the unfortunate displeasure of meeting aphids for the first time in my container garden. In hindsight I was the one who introduced them to my garden quite unknowingly. They hitched a ride on my Hoya, and I had no idea they were there until two entire stems were completely covered in yellow. I had noticed the yellow tinge before, but never really took any notice of it. I foolishly thought it was how new stems looked, since the stems were a darker color than the rest of the plant, see the mistake here. All was well until I realized, the yellow tinge was moving, and some of it had wings!

Yellow Oleander Aphids on my Hoya

My first reaction was run for the shears; my second reaction was moving the Hoya away from the rest of the plants. It took me a few seconds to realize that this was useless in my small yard. If the aphids can fly, they don't have to go very far to get to another plant. My final decision was to run inside, and search the net. The source of all wisdom, I was bound to find the answers there, and here is what I found.

To my relief, the yellow aphids were oleander aphids, which are mostly found on Oleander (no brainer that), Milkweeds and the Hoya among others. They are bright yellow indicating high toxicity, and spiders and birds tend to stay away from them. Luckily for me, they were not attracted to any other plants in my garden.

Oleander aphids feed on the sap from the plant terminal. A colony can get very big, very fast and the aphids can cause substantial damage to a plant. Depending on the size of the colony, the plant can suffer a few stems, or it can be killed altogether. A good indication of the damage done comes from the aphids themselves. If they grow wings, then the colony is getting too large, and they are preparing to move on. This could mean that there is not much left of the plant to sustain them, or that the colony was centralized in one place, and they have outgrown it. In my case, all the aphids were congregated on two stems, and the rest of the plant was untouched.

Oleander Aphids - Image Source

Now, how do I get rid of them? In all my gardening adventures I always try to go as natural as possible. The only store bought item in my garden is an all purpose liquid fertilizer, which I don't use very often since I made my own homemade compost. I was lucky that I never had to deal with pests before, so I was quite unprepared for this one. I once again turned to the net. I found all sorts of homemade solutions for getting rid of aphids, and for various reasons I dismissed all of them but one. Garlic.

Garlic is such an incredible plant. I have a high regard for it, and I always try to use it in my cooking. I also found out that it makes a great natural pesticide. It can be used against a whole list of bugs, diseases, fungi all without damaging the host plant. The plant will smell like garlic for up to a month, but it's a small price to pay.

So here is the garlic pesticide recipe:

4 cloves garlic
1 cup of water
1 splash of olive oil (not sure what this does)

Boil the water and add the garlic. As soon as you can smell the garlic, take the water off the heat, and strain it into a spray water bottle. Once the water has cooled down, add a splash of olive oil, give the bottle a good shake to mix it up, and you're done. Please resist the urge to spray boiling water on the poor plant.

With my pesticide in hand I sprayed the aphids until I could no longer see any movement. I sprayed the entire plant with garlic, and the smell was awful. It worked beautifully, however, and I got rid of all aphids in no time at all.

Hoya soaked in garlic pesticide

The reason this works is that aphids are soft bodied creatures, and the garlic will burn them up. One drawback of using garlic as a pesticide is that it will kill beneficial insects and bacteria as well, so it would be best to use it in a localized area, not like I did.

There is a natural predator of the oleander aphid, and it is not the ladybird. The braconid wasp attacks oleander aphids, and kills them in a rather gruesome manner. I always imagine insects killing each other by eating one another, and that is somehow acceptable to my mind. Not the wasp though, the wasp will use the aphids to inject her eggs inside them, sort of like an incubator. The aphids will carry on with their daily life, until the eggs hatch inside them, and the wasp larvae start eating them alive. Once the larvae turn into tiny wasps, they cut a hole through the aphid's body and come out, leaving behind an empty shell. It's like watching a horror movie!

I think I will stick to my garlic remedy, it's better to fry them and kill them quickly. The next day, all the aphid bodies had fallen to the ground, and no more movement could be seen. My Hoya was pest free. I gave the stems a quick wipe, and that was the end of that. My only concern now is that the stems where the aphids were are dark brown, and possibly dead. I am not sure whether I should cut them off, or wait and see if they recover. I think I will wait and see.

Raised Bed Gardens On Rooftops - Things To Consider

2013-06-05T18:37:00.000+02:00

Roof gardens have always been popular, particularly with urban dwellers, who may not have the luxury of space. A roof garden can cover the entire rooftop with turf and plants, and these are most commonly seen in commercial or public buildings. They are expensive to set up and maintain, and not everyone can install them due to weight restrictions. Another common type of roof garden is made up of containers and raised beds. It is the most affordable option, since containers can be made up of all sorts of materials, including reused old junk. Containers are easy to set up, require little planning, and can be easily moved around until the right location is found. Raised beds, on the other hand come with a few restrictions, and there are a few things to consider before thinking about that vegetable patch on the roof.

Image from uncommonground.com

The Pre-Planning Phase:

Before even planning to install raised beds, it is important to note that if the roof is owned by a landlord, permission should be sought. Raised beds are heavy structures that require a lot of work to set up. It is not as easy to remove them if the landlord or other tenants object. The building code also needs to be observed. It is possible that roof gardens are not allowed on rooftops due to fire hazards. Permission may also be required to lift all the materials on to the roof. Lifting tonnes of soil up to a four storey building is no easy task, and requires some careful planning and organization.

The Planning Phase:

Once permission is obtained, or unnecessary, the first thing to consider before building the beds is weight. Assuming that the raised beds are not going to be built out of concrete blocks, soil, especially wet soil, can get very heavy. A rough estimate for dry soil is around 1,200 Kg per cubic meter, or 2,100 pounds per cubic yard. Depending on the desired size or quantity of raised beds, the rooftop can be put under a lot of strain.

Soil density and weight varies, and the best way to calculate the potential weight is to measure a sample of the soil that will be used, both dry and wet. Then calculate according to the inside measurements of the raised bed. Apart from the soil, the weight of the raised bed itself, the weight of the plants that will grow in it, and any other structures that already exist on the roof need to be considered. If the rooftop has a protective membrane installed it will not take too kindly to harsh materials being dragged on it. An additional layer could be installed to protect the membrane, and this will also add to the weight on the roof.

A nursery or landscape designer should know if the roof can withstand the weight, possibly following an on-site inspection. Alternatively, the building’s architect will be able to offer accurate guidance. The architect should also guide you on providing the rooftop additional structural support if necessary. It is important that an assessment is done properly as structural damage is a real possibility, and can be quite costly to repair, especially if the roof is not your own.

Another consideration that should go into the planning phase is the kind of plants that will be grown in the raised beds. In the case of vegetables or other edible plants, such as herbs, care must be taken to ensure that the material that the beds are made of will not run into the soil, possibly adding unwanted chemicals and toxins that the plants can absorb. It could be bad for the plants, but also bad for human consumption. If the beds are made of wood, it should be water resistant, so that it doesn't deteriorate with repeated watering.

Image from upper-living.com

The Construction:

Raised beds are essentially large containers. They can be made up of anything from wooden boxes, concrete boxes, barrels cut in half, or even old bath tubs. Raised beds are raised off the ground, and they should have sufficient clearing to allow for proper drainage and air circulation. If the beds are not raised off the ground they can cause serious water damage to the roof of the property, as water sits at the bottom and seeps into the stone.

The Environment:

A rooftop, as with a garden, is exposed to the elements. There are, however, certain characteristics that may be unique to a roof garden, not necessarily applicable to normal gardens on land. When selecting the plants for the raised beds, whether the plants need sun or shade will determine the position of the beds.

Sun is unavoidable on a roof top, however, unless shade is provided by means of man-made shelter. Heat on a rooftop is also unavoidable. Apart from heat that is reflected by the sun, the heat coming out of the building, in the form of thermal heat is also present, and can be unbearable in the middle of summer. Proper air circulation underneath the raised bed is essential.

Wind is also a problem for roof gardens. Depending on the position of the building, the position of surrounding buildings and the altitude of the roof, wind can be a killer for raised beds, just as it is for container plants. Since raised beds are normally higher than containers they may not have the shelter of the roof walls, and may be more exposed to wind. If wind is a risk, it may be worthwhile to invest in shelter, either man-made or by means of other hardy plants that can be grown to act as wind breakers.

Image from livinghomegrown.com

The Gardening:

When the raised beds are ready, filled with soil and plants, and sheltered from the elements. Something may become obvious very fast is water supply, or the lack of it! Depending on the size of the raised beds, it is ideal to have a water connection or some sort of water storage on the roof. It can get very tiring going up and down stairs and lifts filling up buckets of water. If there is no water connection, a rain barrel could be installed on the roof.

Space permitting, it would be also a good idea to have a storage unit for all the gardening equipment. Items like watering cans, fertilizer, soil, and gardening tools can be stored on the roof in a small closet and available when needed. Better than to realize that you forgot your fertilizer, and you have to go down three storeys to get it!

The Conclusion:

I think rooftop gardens are a great idea for those who do not have the space for a garden. Raised beds or containers can look great on a rooftop especially with proper design. If the idea is to create a peaceful spot, then it is possible to add a comfortable seating area where one can sit and relax whilst enjoying the view. The sky is the limit in terms of what to you can turn an empty roof space into, it all depends on the budget, and some proper planning. The latter, at least, we have covered!

Image from apartmenttherapy.com

Types Of Soil For Container Gardening

2013-06-01T19:03:00.001+02:00

In this post I would like to talk about the different types of soils, where they are best used. I am no expert in soil, in fact I have recently learnt that I have never used soil in my gardening. I decided to investigate online and the results were slightly confusing, so I will mention all definitions here, and then you can decide what is best. I will mention three types of scenarios, container plants, raised beds and gardens. I will not go into farming, and large plots of land as it is beyond the scope here.

I used to think that soil is soil, you can find it in fields, buy it from nurseries, or get some from generous relatives. One visit to the nurseries, and I suddenly found myself with a dozen different types of compost, peat, fertilizer for vegetables, for herbs, for plants; the combinations were endless.

Nursery Selection

Plants in hand, I asked the person at the nursery what type of "soil" was best for my plants. He got a packet of multi-purpose substratum (even though he called it compost, and really it's the same thing), and I never looked back since.

One day a relative of ours gave us a bucket full of soil from his garden. It was reddish in color (soil in Malta is called 'Terra Rossa' or red earth), and was full of weeds, and bits of pottery! I had just planted half of my basil seeds in my substratum, so I decided to plant the rest of the seeds in this soil to see if it made any difference. The basil that I planted in the multi-purpose compost grew and flourished, the basil that I planted in the soil never even sprouted. I was gutted, thinking, we have some of the best soil in the world, and I can't even grow basil in it. I decided to do some research to understand why this happened, and I now realize that my basil never had a chance.

I would like to mention some types of soil/compost/mix as I found them to be the most commonly used. I hope this helps the humble beginners like myself, experienced gardeners feel free to contribute.

In the Garden

Garden Soil - Image Source

Garden soil is made up of topsoil and subsoil. Topsoil is normally the first few inches of soil and is where all plants grow. This soil is rich in organic matter as all sorts of insects, plants, weeds have lived and died there. Plant roots normally do not go deeper than topsoil and therefore all plants get their nutrition from this soil.

On the other hand, I have also read that topsoil is considered of little quality and referred to as dirt. The lack of nutrition can be rectified by adding compost or other fertilizer to it.

Beneath topsoil is subsoil. This is the soil that is the most dense and compacted, and little plant life can survive or grow in this type of soil. This type of soil does not contain the organic material found in top soil since plant roots do not reach this far down. As a result this type of soil contains little nutrients and makes it unsuitable for growing plants on its own.

Loam:

The amount of praise I saw online for this type of soil makes it necessary to give it special attention. This week was the first time I heard about this soil so pardon my ignorance. It is however, apparently the best soil you can use for gardens and farming, being an ideal mixture of sand, clay and silt, contains lots of nutrients, and retains the perfect amount of water. You couldn't manufacture something like that!

All these types of soil are not ideal to be used in containers for the following reasons:

1. They are full of bacteria, bits of rock and dead organic matter that you don't want in a container.

2. The soil is dense and compacted and does not allow for proper air and water flow.

3. The soil retains a lot of moisture causing possible root rot for plants in a container.

Raised Beds - Somewhere in between

Raised Beds - Image Source

Raised beds are neither gardens nor containers, but something in between. They can have a large surface area and are too big to be considered containers, however they are in a container so they are not a garden! The soil used in raised beds is also a mixture of topsoil and potting mix, or compost.

The compost or potting mix helps to aerate the topsoil, so it is not as dense. This helps the water to flow more easily and drain better in the beds. Due to their large surface area, however it is also desirable that the soil retains some of its moisture. The sun plays a big part in moisture loss, so in large volumes it is best that the soil is not too well draining, or the beds will dry out too quickly.

Containers and Small Environments

Containers - Image Source

In my experience I am beginning to see how container gardening can be more challenging that owning a normal garden. You need to create a small world in a container for your plant to live in and flourish. Soil is the basic medium in which the plants will grow so it is important to get it right, especially in a container.

Potting Soil vs Potting Mix

I have seen the terms potting soil and potting mix used interchangeably to mean the same thing. I found, however, a distinction between the two, in Tennille's very informative blog post Potting Soil vs Potting Mix.

Potting soil is a mixture of topsoil and compost as mentioned above used in raised beds. In large containers this type of soil can also be used for the same reasons.

Potting mix is a mix of peat moss, perlite and vermiculite among other things, and does not contain any soil. Vermiculite and perlite are two interesting minerals used in areas such as construction and insulation. When mixed with soil however, they add certain desirable properties.

Vermiculite retains air, moisture and plant food and has a slow release system, so the plant will get the right amount when required. Perlite, on the other hand, retains very little moisture, and is used to prevent the soil from becoming compact, encouraging air and water flow.

Potting mix is what we generally buy from nurseries and use in containers. The 'soil' is normally sterilized to kill off all bacteria, and prevent the chance of disease. It is not recommended to re-use this type of soil for plants after other plants have died in it, although I have done this on occasion, and I did not run into any trouble.

The nutrients in potting mix tend to be absorbed quickly by the plants, and the soil should be replaced once a year, or mixed with fertilizer to replace them.

Compost

Compost is made up of decomposed organic material such as leaves, greens and food if made at home. This material is very rich in nutrients, and is normally used as a fertilizer, so it should not be used on its own when planting container plants. It can however be mixed in with other types of soil to increase the nutritional value, such as mixing with top soil to make potting soil. Compost is not dense, and can be mixed with other soils to create water and air flow in containers or raised beds. In gardens, compost can be placed directly on the ground, and mixed in with the top soil before planting the seeds, or plants.

So there they are, the basics of soil! Many things can go wrong in container gardening. Too much water, too little, lack of food, too much sunlight etc. The wrong type of soil can also prevent the plants from reaching their full potential, so it's a good idea to have at least some basic knowledge of what there is out there. Hopefully this post will help achieve that.

Taking Care Of A Hoya Plant

2013-05-29T18:08:00.001+02:00

My latest addition to the yard is a Hoya. I got to know about this plant only recently through my dad, who has a big one in in garden. I thought the flowers were fascinating, wax like with a pretty pink color. Last weekend I got a cutting from him and decided I will add it to the rest in my yard. My dad was very generous with his cutting and I got a plant which was already over a meter long in some places.

Hoya Basics:

The Hoya originates from the tropical forests in Asia. It's habitat is humid and moist, and it can survive for long periods in rain or drought. The plant is a climber, weaving it's stems around branches of trees as it grows, and makes its way up. I have seen mixed reports on its growth, depending on the variety, it can grow from 4 feet up to 20 feet. Let's just say, it's not a small plant!

At home, the Hoya prefers indirect sunlight, since it's natural habitat is normally filtered light through the forest canopy. It could tolerate shade, but perhaps won't bloom as much. The Hoya can be grown as a houseplant, placed indoors behind a window with filtered light. Outside, it can be grown in hanging containers, allowing the stems to hang down, or else as a climber against a trellis.

The plant is pretty low maintenance when it comes to watering and re-potting. Starting the plant in a container of potting mix is the best idea as it likes rich soil with very good drainage. The compost can be left to dry a bit between each watering. The plant enjoys being root bound, and will produce more blooms this way, so unless it is absolutely necessary, the plant won't need re-potting.

The variety I have is called M.Carnosa and has pale pink flowers with a magenta corona. The plant flowers in Summer and the flowers do not need to be removed once dead, the plant will drop them when ready and can produce more flowers from the same stalk. I have read that moving a plant that has flowers will drop them when placed in the new location. This hasn't happened to me yet, but you never know.

My Hoya Plant

Back to My Plant:

The plant I have was propagated from a bigger plant which is already over 2 meters long (6 feet) in some places. It was placed in full sun, and all the leaves are yellowish, and burnt in places. I am hoping that my yard will be a better place for the Hoya, and the leaves will be replaced with green ones.

Hoya hanging on the wall

The Hoya was planted in soil, just as the original plant was, and I think the container is a little too big for it. I have, however, decided not to move it for the time being. The plant should be flowering by now, and I don't want to disturb it too much. If the container (an old pail) is is too big, or the soil is not rich enough, then I will re-pot it in another container with potting mix sometime towards the end of summer, or early winter. I should be able to tell all this by the amount and quality of flowers that are produced, but since this is my first time with Hoyas, I will probably leave it there a couple of years, unless it is looking really bad.

For the time being, I have decided to hang it against the wall, until I can figure out what to do with it. I am still not sure if the place I chose for it is good enough. It does get some morning sun, maybe a couple of hours. It is very close to the passion flower though, so I will give it some time to settle down, and they make a decision.

Hoya Fowers

I have just two bunches of flowers, which, as you can see from the above picture, did not take the move all that well. They are still hanging in there though. It's another reason why I don't want to disturb it that much, I want to see it bloom so I can see those lovely flowers.

I am sure that after a few months in my yard it will look great. I am tempted to buy a pole/large branch for it to climb. Wouldn't that be a nice feature ?

Hoya

How To Make a Passionate Trellis

2013-05-25T17:49:00.000+02:00

One of the things I have always wanted to do in my yard is to have a trellis against the wall with a vine or creeper to hide the ugly looking pipe works. My biggest obstacle in this project was that I didn't know what plant to choose that would hide the entire wall.

I decided to get some help so we went to the nursery, and the lady there limited my options to three choices (thankfully). For my small yard, with no direct sun, but lots of light, the contestants were, a Jasmine, a Passion Flower or a Stephanotis I love the smell of Jasmine and the Stephanotis, but I thought it would eventually be too overpowering in such a small space. I loved the Passion Flower flowers, so I decided to go for it.

The wall I wanted to hang it against was about 2 meters by 1 meter so the lady said to buy two plants, and place them one meter apart. I obeyed. She gave me some quick instructions on how to take care of it, and was off. The decision was made. The next problem was a trellis.

The nursery had dozens of fancy trellises made of wood, wrought iron, plastic, but all of them were too big for my wall. In the end I decided to make my own, and I bought a piece of plastic fencing from the local pet shop. I figured the plant should hide the trellis/fencing anyway, so there was no need to go for anything elaborate.

My Trellis

The wall where I wanted to attach the trellis had a small shelf stuck to it which we removed. I relocated the cactus and succulents that were on that shelf onto another shelf. They will not get as much light there, but it will have to do for now. Next we got a few wire clips, and attached the trellis to the wall, cutting off the extra bits to make it fit just right.

Shelf to be removed

Trellis attached

It was time to attach the passion flower to the trellis. This proved harder than I had anticipated. The plant was intertwined with a piece of wire in the pot, that's how I got it from the nursery. To untangle the passion flower was quite a challenge. As I was removing the tendrils, they seemed to have a life of their own, grabbing onto other stems, and leaves as I removed them. As I was untangling it I realized how long the plant was, when I finished it was over 3 meters long already. I couldn't help thinking, this could get me!

The actual attaching to the trellis then was a piece of cake. The tendrils proved quite strong, and it was just a question of winding them round a piece of plastic.

Tendril attached to the trellis

I attached both passion flowers opposite each other. I placed each plant at the edges of the trellis, more than one meter apart, but I will train them to go to one side as they grow bigger. When I finished I had a lovely display already.

passion flower stuck to the trellis

Both passion flowers attached

I hope that as the plants grow bigger I will be able to train them to fill up the entire wall. It might take a couple of years, but it has already made quite a difference to this yard. This space is finally looking better.

Should You Mulch Succulents In Containers?

2013-05-23T19:15:00.004+02:00

One of my latest additions to my container garden is a small bowl of succulents that I created from scratch. We went to the nursery last week, and they always stock a large selection of mini cactus and succulents. They look great stacked against each other, and I always end up buying a few.

I bought a small, shallow pot, and planted all of them next to each other. I used normal potting mix to plant the succulents even though they would prefer sandy soil. I have used potting mix with cactus and succulents before, and I didn't have any problems. I also bought some small gravel from the nursery. I thought it would bring the whole thing together, and make the container look much better. After doing some research though, now I wonder if I should.

My Succulent Arrangement

Placing a thin layer of gravel on soil has many benefits in general. It protects the soil from extreme temperatures such as cold and heat, as it acts like a layer of insulation. It also prevents moisture from evaporating quickly from the soil as it is covered. This is normally called mulching as is used primarily in gardens where you have a lot of soil. When used in containers I am not sure if you can call it mulching as well, but it is used for the same effects.

There are all sorts of mulching material, there is the organic kind such as pieces of bark or wood chips that slowly decompose into the soil. Rocks and gravel and also man made material such as rubber pallets. (Rubber is not really recommended due to potentially harmful run off in the soil).

My question is, should you use mulching with succulents and cactus ? These plants require well drained soil, very little water, and prefer the heat. Covering an already moist soil (potting mix) with gravel may prolong evaporation, which may be a good thing for other plants, but not necessarily for succulents. On the other hand, does a thin layer of gravel really make that much difference?

In our Mediterranean climate it never really gets too cold, and the temperatures are ideal for these plants. In other countries where soil freezes, or gets too cold, perhaps it would be a good idea to cover the soil in winter. In summer I usually let the soil dry up completely before I give my succulents any water. They can always withstand some hardship, with gravel they might even endure some more! This poses another question, do you mulch in a Mediterranean climate?

Succulent Container with Gravel

I have decided to give it a try. I have covered the soil with a single layer, just enough to cover the soil, and make the pot look good. I have also placed the pot in a spot where it will get about four hours of direct sunlight each day. I can then compare them with my other succulents which don't have any gravel, and see which fare the best. I will probably have a new post about this towards the end of summer!

Of Sparrows and Gas Heaters

2013-05-18T15:07:00.001+02:00

The yard where I keep all my plants is also used as a utility area which houses things like gas bottles (we don't have direct gas connections in Malta), and a gas water heater. A couple of weeks ago we noticed that the water heater was not heating as well as it used to, and so my partner decided to take a closer look.

A couple of twigs jutted out of the outer cover, but nothing could have prepared us for what was inside. It seems a couple of sparrows had decided to make the heater their home for Spring. Every cavity was filled with twigs, pieces of hay, pieces of grass, and even plastic. The burners that are used to heat the water are further down, but I can guess they realized that this was a warm place to build their nest in. Not that they need warmth in this weather. The obvious problem for us was that the fumes from the burners could not get to the chimney because of all that nesting material.

Gas Water Heater Nest

As we removed all the twigs and material from the gas heater I could see the male sparrow flying overhead chirping. I can image their disappointment as they saw us destroying weeks of labor in half an hour. We ended up clearing half a garbage bag of the stuff. Next we closed off all possible entry ways with wire mesh.

Entry ways closed off

Since we evicted the couple rather ungraciously, I bought them a bird house, and we hung it right next to the gas heater in the hope that they can make it their new home. It's much smaller than their chosen location, but that's all they get I'm afraid.

Job well done we were ready to call it a day. I stood in the kitchen which leads out to the yard, and then I saw Mr Sparrow flew over to investigate.....

Mr Sparrow assessing the damage done

Mr Sparrow flying down for a closer look

Mr Sparrow accusing me

Mr Sparrow calling out to Mrs Sparrow

Mr and Mrs Sparrow eyeing their new home

Will they go for it? Not yet.

They still come occasionally, but I don't think it will happen this year. We are in peak Sparrow mating season right now with countless sparrows chirping away building their nests and laying their eggs. Some birds are already being born (they sometimes fall out of their nests onto the street :( ) I think it's too late for them to start over now.

Maybe next year.

The Forgotten Compost Bin

2013-05-15T19:51:00.002+02:00

As I was clearing my yard a couple of weeks ago I looked at a plastic box that was left in a corner for almost two years now. This box has been an eyesore for quite a long time now, and I have long wanted to remove it, and throw it away. Laziness prevented me to do it until now. The plastic box was dirty, and full of dust and soil that accumulated over time, it was still transparent enough to see the black contents though.

The Ominous Compost Bin

It was October 2011 when I tried my hands at composting, you can see all the details in this post. At the time I called it a failure, for various reasons that I listed in the post ending it with a promise to throw the contents of the box away, and start over.

That never happened.

What did happen was that I put the box in a corner underneath some other boxes, so that I didn't have to think about it, and I never looked at it again since. Last week the box resurfaced, and I was forced to take it out of its place. I left it in the middle of the yard hoping that some magic will make it disappear. That I didn't have to load it in my car, drive all around the village looking for the appropriate rubbish bin (we have recycling bins all over the place, but none for all the other rubbish one might have), and in the mean time who knows what kind of critters are exploring the back of my trunk.

It was only yesterday that my partner opened the box, asking me why I was throwing it away without checking it first. That was a valid question, and the honest answer would have been, I was too scared to look inside. He opened the box nonetheless, and when I saw that nothing came out screaming I dared to take a peek inside.

The first layer was twigs and leaves that I had put in there ages ago after pruning some more plants. At the time I knew that there were too many greens in there, but I put them in there just the same. We started mixing it up to see what's underneath, and to my greatest surprise it was compost. At least it looked like compost, and it smelled like compost, so it must be compost.

At the bottom where there was a layer of caked newspapers, almost solid. We broke them down and mixed them in with the rest, hopeful now that they too will turn to compost. This has been such a big surprise. Since I only have a few container plants, this box has more than enough compost to last me quite some time :)

I feel a sense of satisfaction that I have managed to create a box of compost out of nothing, so to speak. I am more confident now, and given more care, and less fear of imaginary animals, I could do this again in less time. First though I need to use it, and I can think of one recovering plant which will benefit greatly from it. I will leave that story for another post though.

A Walk In The Country - Qrendi

2013-05-13T20:09:00.001+02:00

Today I went for a short walk in a small village called Qrendi. Qrendi is situated in the south west of the island, and is mainly composed of farmland. I walked along the outskirts of the village from another small village called Mqabba up to St Matthew's church.

This short walk is one straight road with farmland on one side, and the village on the other, as you can see in the image below. In the distance is another village called Zurrieq. (Yes Malta is that small).

Typical field in Qrendi

Another typical field with prickly pears in the foreground

Walking along the street, a long rubble wall with prickly pears leaning against it is the only thing separating the fields from the traffic zooming by. Prickly pears are a staple plant in the Maltese Islands , and even featured on our national emblem before it was replaced in the late eighties.

Malta's national emblem till 1988

Prickly pears are commonly grown at the edges of fields along stone walls to protect the crops from high winds. As a result of this, the fruit is for anyone's taking.

Prickly pears from street level

Flowering prickly pear

Apart from the prickly pears I also came across these very tall flowers. They must be over ten feet tall, and I can't quite find a name for them. They could be Danish Hollyhock, but they are slightly different. Does anyone know what these are? I have also seen them in people's gardens, and they are cultivated, not found naturally here.

Very tall flowers

Danish Hollycock?

Horses are also a common sight in the streets of Qrendi. I came across four in my short walk, trotting away in the street, oblivious to the cars rushing by beside them. The owners ride them up and down the same street a couple of times, supposedly for exercise, although I have seen a couple racing the horses; they just couldn't resist.

Horse riding in the street

Towards the end of my journey, the buildings start making way to farmland. Most fields have been growing potatoes, and have been harvested by now. Here is a typical farmland setting complete with electricity pole standing in the middle.

Farmland

Freshly harvested field

At the end of my journey I come across the church of St Matthew. This is not the main church of Qrendi, but a small chapel, one of six in a village of a few thousand residents! This chapel, however houses what is most probably the oldest crypt on the island supposedly dating back the the 14th century.

St Matthew's Chapel

The interesting story about this chapel though, is that in 1343 a tremor created a crater, 130 feet deep, right behind the chapel, but it was left standing there unharmed, and remains there to this day. In the image below you can see the church marked in red, and the crater, now full of trees and shrubs behind it. People can see the crater today via steps on the side of the church, but no one is allowed to go all the way down.

Aerial view of the church and the crater thanks to Google Maps

Chapel at the edge with steps going down to the crater

I hope you enjoyed my walk through Qrendi. This short walk and few pictures capture the gist of Maltese farmland. Across the country pockets of land like this still exist, giving us crops that no importer can match. Unfortunately they are shrinking every year as reckless development increases. I only hope that Qrendi will be one of the last villages to be swallowed by the concrete jungle that is turning our island into yet another European metropolis.

Of Mint, Rosemary and Basil - A New Approach!

2013-05-10T21:11:00.000+02:00

The other day my better half went grocery shopping, and came back with three pots of rosemary, basil, and mint. Since we were not going to use the herbs for another few days, and most probably not all at once, I decided to place them in bigger pots in the yard.

I have tried to grow basil and rosemary before with some success. The basil was always grown up on the roof in full sun, and it was always a success, but we had to make sure that we watered it almost every day. Rosemary was not as successful, believe it or not, the summer sun was a little too much for it, and despite watering it regularly, it died pretty quickly.

I have come to realize over the years that when you read, 'requires full sun' on plant instructions, there is a big difference between say, full sun in England (sorry guys :) ), and full sun in Malta. Our sun can be a bit too much, and normally all plants here can live with bright conditions in bright places away from direct sunlight. Imports that come from European countries further north from us especially.

When it comes to herbs, I have always shied away, thinking I don't have enough space in the yard, and it was too inconvenient on our roof top. This time however, I have decided to give it a try.

So here we start with Mint:

Mint

I have actually read that Mint can grow everywhere so I will be pretty disappointed if this plant dies on me. Apparently it requires partial shade and soil kept moist, not too soggy and not too dry. I should be able to enjoy this plant all year round in our climate since we do not have any frost, and our winters are quite mild. The rain might be an issue, but the plant can be taken indoors during Winter.

Next on the list is Rosemary:

Rosemary

I placed the Rosemary in a hanging pot because it is a spot that gets the most sun. This plant should require little watering, and no fertilizer. I read that if you cut sprigs regularly it should keep growing happily without any problems. I did not manage to save my plant past a few months last year, it was however planted together with Sage. I have a feeling that here may have been some competition for resources there. Let's see how well it does in its own container this time around.

And finally, back by popular demand, Basil:

Basil

This plant should also require lots of direct sunlight and as long as the soil is kept moist there should be no problems. We did have success growing basil in full sunlight in the past, let's see how well it does in its current location where it only gets some morning sun.

So there they are the three contenders this Spring. Now for the new approach. We have decided to ignore all the instructions, and planted all of them in compost. We have placed the Mint in a shady spot where it gets bright light, but no sunlight. The basil and rosemary do get some direct sunlight in the morning, but for the rest of the day they only get bright light till evening. We can keep an eye on them, and water them only when necessary (when the soil is almost dry).

We will also take sprigs and leaves when needed. Basil is always in high demand in our household as it goes well with most Mediterranean meals. It is also easy to freeze. We usually use rosemary in Winter with a good leg of lamb or chicken. It does wonders with fish though, so I will definitely use it in Summer. Mint is not a favorite of mine, however it is also great with fish, and to make sauces and dressing, plus who can say no to a refreshing Mojito in summer?

Plumbago Resilient After Heavy Pruning

2013-05-08T18:03:00.003+02:00

This morning I got a great surprise, the Plumbago survives to see another Spring! A couple of weeks ago the Plumbago seemed like a gonner, it was all dried up with no leaves at all, and hardly any good branches left. Usually by this time of year I would be enjoying some lovely purple flowers, but this year it was not to be.

I cut all the dried branches all the way to the bottom of the pot. Where I saw that the inside was the branch was still yellow and supple, not dry and dark brown, I stopped cutting. I watered it regularly, but did not give it any fertilizer, for no particular reason. Perhaps I thought it was no use, and it would not survive the heavy pruning.

Plumbago after pruning

As you can see from the image above the inside of the branches where I stopped cutting look like they have some life in them still, and there were a few green leaves.

The green leaves have now dried up, but this morning I saw new branches, and leaves sprouting out of the branches.

Plumbago taking life again

New Baby Sprouts

They are small signs of life, but life none the less. This gives me hope that even though I pruned it right in the middle of Spring, it will still recover. Since it rained yesterday I have not watered it, and have not given it any fertilizer yet, but I will next time I water it. Who knows I might still get a few flowers for Summer after all.

One thing's for sure, this plant is as resilient as I read it is and it seems like no matter how much you prune it, it will keep coming back. :)

Here's an update just three weeks later!

Plumbago Foliage

The Leaves Seems Bigger!

Spring Cleaning - Clearing Out The Yard

2013-04-20T17:17:00.000+02:00

Here's the state of my yard after more than 6 months of neglect:

This Winter the weather really took its toll on the yard, we never had as much hail, and the succulents were damaged beyond hope by the end of it.

The Plumbago seems to have given up on me this year, and showed no growth whatsoever. I tried to delay pruning it until the weather turned but that didn't happen and we had rain and hail until mid-March. Then all of a sudden it was sunny and warm. It's only now that we are settling in to Spring, but I think now it's too late.

I decided to give it one last chance, I cut off all the dead twigs and leaves. I pruned it pretty much to the ground where I found some good stalks still hanging in there. I'll give it some fertilizer this evening, and we'll see how it goes.

Here are some other pictures of plants which I have now removed and thrown away:

Last year's Basil now a pot full of weeds

Succulents damaged by hail

Here's a look at the yard now all cleared out.

Schefflera Yellow Leaves and Sticky Leaves!

2013-02-08T15:59:00.000+01:00

Image Source

The Schefflera hasn't been doing so well lately. I have been noticing that it is looking rather depressed, hardly requiring any water, the leaves are turning yellow and dropping occasionally, and no new growth is showing. I used to think this plant was very hardy, and required very little maintenance, but I guess this is only true when the right conditions are met.

When I moved my plant indoors in September of last year I placed right next to a big window, so it could get as much light as possible. About one month later I noticed that the leaves were turning yellow, and at first I attributed this to the fact that I wasn't giving it enough water. Scheffleras, however, give out opposite signals when it comes to water requirements, if the leaves turn yellow or have yellow spots it means too much water, whereas leaves that turn blackish in color means that it is not getting enough.

Another thing I noticed was that the leaves at the bottom started falling off. This was definitely a sign of over watering, so I stopped watering the plant altogether. This had little effect, and over time more leaves started going yellow. I was now beginning to panic. This plant was huge and healthy, the only thing I ever did to it was give it a good pruning, and I was starting to fear that I may have over done it.

If this wasn't enough, I then noticed that the green leaves had this shiny coat on them, and were sticky to the touch. Upon further investigation, the floor area around the pot was also sticky. I had noticed this almost immediately, but I didn't think it was the plant that was producing sap.

I did some research, and I found out that the sap could actually be a scale insect infestation. These insects suck the juices from the plant, and then secrete a form of sap on the leaves. Scale insects are brown stubs, like small buttons, that attach themselves to the stems of the plant. Their bodies are quite hard and they can be seen easily with the naked eye. As far as I can tell, my plant is clear. Aphids also produce a sticky substance called honeydew, but I found none on the plant.

Eventually I decided that the best course of action was to take it back outside. I had this plant outside for three years, and it was quite healthy. The moment I took it inside it started growing weaker. A couple of weeks went by and the plant started showing signs of recovery. It dropped the leaves that were too far gone, but those that remained started turning green again. I did not water it at all during this time.

A few weeks later I started seeing new leaves starting to grow, and by now the plant was full of green leaves, and all the sticky substance was gone. It rained a few times, and water seems to have given new life to the Schefflera. I never saw any insects or brown spots that made me suspect that the plant was infested.

I now believe that the problem with the Schefflera was lack of light, and ventilation. We hardly ever open the window where I placed it, and even though it was right next to a big window, the curtains, which are sheers, were still blocking too much light. I'm glad that's all it was, I got a good scare with the results returned online, but you never can be too careful.

A Walk In The Country - Mtahleb

2012-11-18T16:12:00.000+01:00

This morning we decided to go for a walk along the cliffs in Mtahleb. Mtahleb is situated on the west of the island and is mainly garrigue with some grassland. The five kilometer walk took us on the edge of the cliffs from a place called Migra Ferha where we parked our car to Ras id-Dawwara, seen below:

Trail thanks to Google Maps

Migra Ferha

As you can see the weather was pretty overcast. Thunderstorms were forecast today, but not a drop of rain has fallen so far. We have been having a warm November with temperatures around 22 degrees Celsius.

Walking along the cliff side

As we got along the cliff side, the trail was pretty much like this for about half an hour. As we went round the hill you can see in the picture above, we had grassland on one side and the sea on the other.

Ras id-Dawwara

As we went round the hill we could see our destination in the distance. We stopped here for a spot of lunch to enjoy the view. It was quite windy so the sea was a bit rough, and there is nothing more relaxing than to listen to the waves crashing against the rocks.

Cave in the cliff side

As we went around the bend we surprised with this cave in the cliff side. These caves are very common on this side of the island, and have taken years to form due to water erosion. In the distance right above the cliff a group of young people were fishing. I can't imagine how heavy a fish is to lift all that way to the top, they did catch a couple though. Sunday lunch smells like barbecued fish mmm.

Rock Layers

The picture above shows most of the five layers that make up Malta's geology. On top there is the corraline limestone, very hard rock and quite rough to walk on, shown on top of course. Following that is sand and clay which is what we were walking on most of the time. It can get very slippery when wet so in a way it's a good thing it didn't rain. The next layer is the globigerina limestone which is the yellowish rock that most buildings are made of here, you can see it as the bottom layer in the picture. The last layer, not shown here is more corraline limestone which makes up the base of the island if you will.

Ras id-Dawwara

So here we are on top of Ras id-Dawwara. All you can see is burnt outcrops and some grassland. We have not had any rain so far this year except for a big storm in September, and some rain last week. With the warm temperatures the plants are not going to sleep, and we are seeing trees and vines producing buds again!

I will leave you with this now as I put my feet up on the sofa for some much needed rest. I wanted to give you a glimpse of the Maltese countryside, hopefully there will be more to come now as the weather gets colder.

Sunshine After The Rain

2012-11-10T19:02:00.002+01:00

This post is a follow up to: It's Always Darker Before Dawn

This morning I ventured out into my yard again. I was determined to revive the last remaining plants, and get rid of the ones the succumbed to my ruthless neglect. The first thing I noticed as I stepped out was cobwebs! It always amazes me how despite the rain, cobwebs still remain unharmed. In two months, the friendly spiders residing my yard were very busy making it their own.

Once I removed the bits of spider webs from my hair, face and arms, I focused on my plants and the second thing I noticed was the ugly face of death.

The cactus succumbed to the heavy rain

This is what's left of my basil plant

My Plumbago in desperate need of some TLC

The Poinsettia from last Xmas

Yes I was proud of my Poinsettia, it survived all the way till summer when for some reason it found itself outside! This year will be better.

Once again, the most resilient plants turned out to be my succulents. It seems like nothing can deter them from growing. My Kalanchoes are thriving, despite the shock they got in September, and the other succulents on the shelf seem unaware of disappearance and continue to grow without me.

Baby Kalanchoe now fully grown

Mummy Kalanchoe still producing little babies

It took me about three hours of clearing dead plants, removing weeds and dead leaves from the surviving plants, and moving containers about to shelter them from future rain. I enjoyed the reunion, and I hope they can forgive me for leaving them like that. In all I had four casualties. I disposed of three of them and I left the basil, hopefully I might get some seeds in there for Spring.

Three casualties

Three empty pots, three empty spaces. This means only one thing, it's time to go shopping :)

It's Always Darkest Before The Dawn

2012-11-10T19:02:00.001+01:00

The last post that I wrote on this blog was mid-August ! It's been three months of complete neglect, to the blog and also I'm afraid to my plants. Life has gotten the best of me and it got to a point where it was I was simply surviving to live the next day. Since then I changed my job and my entire routine so I had quite some adjustments to do. Now I am slowly getting into the new routine, and I decided to take a peek at my abandoned blog again.

Before I go into the road to recovery, this post is about the road to neglect. It all started with a freak storm in the beginning of September. We had over 40 mm of rain in one night, and needless to say the whole country was in chaos. Roads were closed, places were flooded, and countless cars floated into each other, and other people, everywhere.

This is one of many scenes of the day after the storm, just to give you an idea:

Valley Road from The Times of Malta

The scene that I awoke to that morning looked something like this:

Kalanchoes after the storm

The cactus fell right on the new stem

This was kind of the last straw at that time for me. I just removed the small pot and left everything as it was. I was late for work, and I just couldn't be bothered. I did take some pictures thinking I would write a post about it, but as you can see that never materialised.

That evening when I got home I looked out at the plants, but it was dark so I couldn't really do anything. It was however the start towards doing something about the state my life was in. I felt sorry for them laying there on the ground, and I remember thinking, I will not do this anymore, things need to change.

So I'm glad to say, my plants helped me get a move on things, I did not however, help them, and for the next couple of months I left them all to tend to themselves. I had not been in my yard from that day until this morning. Sure I looked at them every once in a while but that's about it.

Next Up: Sunshine After The Rain

Lost And Found

2012-09-10T22:09:00.002+02:00

Today I would like to share a poem with you, not related to gardening in any way, but I think it needs to be shared, so here goes:

Things lost, things found.

Fall face down to the ground.

Start crying, feel sorry.

Consume yourself with worry.

Then let it go.

Things lost, things found.

Open your ears, a sound.

Listen to your fear. Panic.

Drown reaching for the stick.

Then let it go.

Things lost, things found.

Open your eyes, look around.

Look at your life passing by.

Listen to your brain sigh.

Then let it go.

Things lost, things found.

Lift your face off the ground.

Feel the stabbing wounds on your back.

Touch the noose around your neck.

Then let it go.

Things lost, things found.

Sit up on the ground.

Feel your heart console you.

Gather some courage to love you.

Now get up!

Stand up tall and proud.

Look at the jeering crowd.

You have stepped in the arena,

daring greatly. And you have won.

Kalanchoe Marmorata Stem Rot And What To Do About It!

2012-08-18T14:27:00.000+02:00

Lately I had been keeping an eye on an ominous brown spot that appeared in the beginning of July on my Kalanchoe Marmorata. It looked vaguely familiar, but since we are in the middle of Summer, I didn't really think much of it at first. The main stem had a lovely green color, and looked healthy enough.

The First Sign Of Trouble

Yesterday as I picked up the pot from its shelf to water the plant, my fears came true. As I picked up the plant the main stem broke off completely, the end bit was completely rotten. My Kalanchoe Marmorata has stem rot!

Broken Stem With Rotting Base

Kalanchoe Stem That Broke Off

This must be the fourth plant that I lost to stem rot in the last three years, and this time I was determined I was going to try and save it. The stem had not yet gone yellow or brown, meaning that the fungus had not yet started to creep up. I decided to cut off the rotting part, and check out the inside of the stem. When cutting a rotting stem, I try to cut right under a bud or leaf, as it encourages new growth.

Cutting Off The Rotting Part

A Cross Section of The Stem

I cut off some leaves at the base to increase the length of the stem, and placed in a new pot with some potting mix. I put it in a small pot, because I didn't have a larger one, and because I was not going to water it much anyway. Just a bit of water to encourage the stem to take roots.

Newly Potted Kalanchoe

Since the original plant had two stems I decided to do the same with the other stem. I cut it off at the base, removed the rotting stem and root ball, and repotted the stem in its old pot. This may not be a good idea, as the potting mix would be full of bacteria, and disease from the fungus, but I decided to risk it.

I removed all the soil from the rotting stem and roots to see what's going on there. I wanted to see what stem rot was really about. Here's what I found:

Rotten Stem and Root Ball

Excuse The Dirty Fingernails !!

The top part appears brown and rotting. It was soft to the touch and kind of squishy. The rest of the stem and roots however appear to be fine. The other stem was not rotten, which leads me to believe that I may as well have left the other stem of the plant intact. The roots also appear to be just fine.

Another solution could have been to remove the plant from the soil, gently removing all the soil from the roots, and cutting off just the roots, or stem that appear rotten. If I had caught it earlier, I could have left the plant intact, and just cut off some rotting roots. In any case I think I made the right decision to try to save the plant. I did sacrifice the little bud that you can see in the picture above, but I now have three pots of Kalanchoes, and that's more than enough.

Here is what I think happened. The Kalanchoe is a cutting from another plant I have in my container garden. I placed it in a big pot, and soaked it with water. The cutting was quite large, but the roots were still short. Placing the plant in a big pot was not really an issue, the problem was my soaking the entire pot with water. The roots could never have absorbed that much water. Since we are in summer, the topsoil was getting dry as the sun evaporated the moisture, but that didn't mean that the Kalanchoe needed water. I hope to do better with these two now.

Orange Blooms For My Kalanchoe

2012-08-09T20:18:00.003+02:00

My Kalanchoe is finally blooming. I was so curious to see what flowers will emerge, and Donna they are orange flowers too! Here are some pictures I took this morning.

The light is playing tricks on me here, the flowers look pink but they are in fact orange...

I had to support the plant with a bamboo stick because it grew too long and it sort of coiled in on itself. I was afraid the main stem was going to give way. but as it turns out, the main stem is just as thick as the rest so it just bent, and let gravity take over. Now it look much prettier.

It took a lot of juggling to take these last three pictures, so I didn't care much about the light, as long as the plant didn't move I was snapping away.

For some reason when flowers bloom I always feel excited, its like receiving presents on your birthday or Christmas, you just have to smile :)

Here they are in full bloom now:

Kalanchoe Flowers In Full Bloom

A Strange Visitor In The Garden

2012-08-06T20:46:00.000+02:00

I had a very unusual vistor in the garden today, as I was doing my daily round to check up on some plants on the roof I came a cross a rather large brown spot on the wall. I decided to investigate so I took a few confident steps forward, almost immediately followed by a couple of stumbling steps backwards. There infront of me, 'sitting/standing/resting' comfortably was the largest moth I had ever seen. You see, the moths I usually see here are no larger than an inch, this one was larger than two inches as least, maybe three (my memory maybe exagerating a bit here).

Mystery Moth

Hazy Side View From Behind The Doorway

I immediately ran downstairs to get my camera, but the intense heat prevented me from getting very good pictures of it. Curious, I decided to do a search online to see what type of moth this is, but my search returned nothing. The only species that came close, and which also has the distinctive stripe on its wings is the White Lined Sphinx Moth.

White Lined Sphinx Moth

You can see slight similarities, almost like they are coming from the same family, the only problem here is that the White Lined Sphinx Moth lives in Central and South America. A long way away from here. The Sphinx Moth also has lovely pink under wings (if that's what they're called), I was not brave enough to disturb my moth to find out what color his under wings are.

So there we are, I will pop back upstairs tomorrow, and if it's still there I will try to get some decent pictures. In the meantime if you have any ideas on what type of moth this is, and what it's doing on my roof, please feel free to share :)

Who Gardens In A Summer Heat Wave?

2012-07-21T13:45:00.000+02:00

What a month July has been so far. We've both been very busy lately with all sorts of things life throws at you from time to time. Some have been good, some not so good, but to add to the madness of these past three weeks, nature decided to help us out by scorching us with a heat wave that seemed never ending. Needless to say, tempers were on edge, and it was tough to keep up the momentum when all you want to do is lie down on the sofa with the air conditioner on at full blast.

My yard was not a happy yard this month. Temperatures rose to about 36 degrees Celsius (96 F) from 28 degrees almost overnight, and the heat stress index was about 45 degrees (113 F). My plants joined us in our slumber, and everything stopped growing. Now that the temperatures are back to normal I decided to go have a look, and maybe do some trimming here and there.

The plant that got the most damage surprisingly enough was my Jade plant. I still keep this plant indoors on a windowsill, and now I realise it may not have been such a good idea. The leaves have started bleaching and going yellowish in colour, despite my watering it regularly.

Jade Plant Leaves Going Yellow

I have also noticed that some leaves have brown spots on them, or brown edges, like someone concentrated a beam of light on them and burnt them. It's possible that this is due to the window acting like a lens (does that make sense?). In any case I have now removed it from the window sill and placed it on a makeshift dining table near the window, that way it will still get the light, but not as direct as it used to.

Leaves with brown spots

More brown spots and some 'burnt' edges

Outside in the yard, things are pretty much the same. The two Kalanchoes are doing very well, and they seemed unaffected by the heat. I did notice some burnt leaves on the 'Baby Kalanchoe' but nothing too worrying I hope. It still has lots of healthy new leaves.

Mummy Kalanchoe

Baby Kalanchoe growing strong

My Plumbago has stopped flowering altogether these past weeks. Today I trimmed it a bit and removed all the dead flowers. This week I have a couple of flowers in bloom so it looks like it's waking up from its slumber and back to producing those lovely purple flowers.

Speaking of flowers, there are none on my Kalanchoe yet. The buds have increased though, but I'm still waiting.

Still waiting for those flowers

The biggest tragedy of all this month must be my basil. I normally sow a pot of basil each year from seed and keep it on our roof so it can get all the sunshine it needs. It appears however that our sun is a bit too much for the basil, and to add to its misfortune I have not watered it nearly as much as I should have.

Basil Tragedy

I have made it my mission to revive this plant. I have been told to cut it right to the ground and it will revive itself, but I couldn't bring myself to do that. I'm still very careful with the shears, more than I need to be, but I'm still uncomfortable with just cutting off to my heart's content. I brought the pot in to the yard, where it will stay for the rest of its days. I cut off all the dead stems and the flower heads. Any stems which had green leaves on them I left, and I gave it a bit of water.

Basil in recovery

So there's my Summer update so far. Not much action, but that's normal for us here. Hope you are having a more relaxing and cooler Summer, and hope that August does not burn us to a crisp. Fingers crossed.

Kalanchoe Summer Bloomer

2012-07-05T20:57:00.000+02:00

I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since my last post. We're having such a busy month this month we are hardly spending any time at home let alone in my yard looking at my plants. It's just one of those crazy times we all go through I guess from time to time. This morning as I rushed out to water my rather neglected plants I had a lovely surprise. My little Kalanchoe ( I don't know the actual name) is almost in bloom :)

The Kalanchoe has grown quite long in a couple of months

Three lovely buds

I took these pictures with my mobile phone at six o'clock this morning, so they are not exactly first class. This plant has been relatively quiet all year growing little by little. Now, however, it suddenly had a growth spurge, and has grown very long in just a couple of months. Like the rest of the Kalanchoes I don't water this one very often, and it doesn't seem to require that much either. It takes a long time for the soil to dry so I pretty much leave it alone. The soil is very well drained, a bit too much I think, because when I water it, the water just goes straight out of the pot to the ground. It doesn't seem to mind that though.

I am very excited to see what the flowers will look like. This is the first Kalanchoe to make flowers in Summer, the other two flowered in Winter. It's great that despite coming from the same family (of a few thousand different species) they have such great differences.

To Water Or Not To Water In The Sun

2012-06-23T16:14:00.000+02:00

My Portulaca Flowers in a Summer Day Before Closing In The Evening

When I first started out gardening, the first advice I got was to never water plants during the day. It had to be either first thing in the morning, or in the evening. Unfortunately, these times also happen to be when I am most forgetful so I hate to admit it, but I have broken this rule often for the sake of my plants. In the summer heat, this piece of advice comes more as an impostion for me, it is the time when the plants needs most water, but it is also the time when I am hardly around to do that.

So why is it bad for plants to water them in direct sunlight? It was never quite explained to me. This was like a defacto standard around our house when I was young watering my father's plants, no questions asked. This afternoon as I was trimming down my Plumbago I was tempted to water it, and I remembered this rule. I decided to do a little search on the net to better understand this.

It was always my silent understanding that it was bad to water the plants in the sun because the water simply evaporates too quickly. It did not make much sense, therefore, because the plants would not be getting their full share of water, and more water would be wasted in the process.

Apparently, however, there is another debate going on on the Internet. Two conflicting articles written in 2010, one from the Daily Mail and the other from the Daily Telegraph helped in this confusion. The Daily Mail claims that the reason it is bad for the plants, researchers found, is that the tiny droplets of water on the leaves of the plants act like a magnifying glass, intesifying the heat, and could also lead to leaf burn. The Daily Telegraph on the other hand claims that this myth has been 'debunked', and that researchers have proved that this is simply not true. So I'm back to square one.

Another reason I found online is that the plants open up their pores when they are watered, because they think that it is raining. Since it is actually scorching hot, this may damage, and burn the plants. Someone else argued that watering the plants in the morning, or evening allows the water to sit longer in the soil, or plants, which may lead to root rot, or fungus to develop.

As I was thinking about watering my Plumbago this afternoon, a very simple fact made me decide not to. As I opened the tap to fill up my watering can, I realised that that the water was boiling hot. I couldn't even touch the first few litres of water until the pipes cleared. My plants would surely suffer if I gave them that water. If I had to throw away a few litres of water every time to let the cool water run down the tap I would be wasting more water, and money.

After all this, I came to the conclusion that it all depends on the intensity of the sun. If it's too hot, don't bother. Save yourself some sweat, and do it in the evening. If the plants are just wilted with the heat, but they are actually in a shady spot then I guess it won't do much harm. In my case, I guess the water is just too hot for them, best to do it when it's cooler.

What's your opinion? Feel free to share, as always :)