Saturday, December 05, 2015
How long can a 2 Litre self watering pot last? Using recycled milk bottle
5 December 2015
This bottle was full 5 days ago. Now is day 6, the bottle still 30% water left in it. I think it can last 3 more days. This is a test to see if the pot can stand 10 days without watering. This method is cheap using recycled milk bottle to provide consistent moisture to the chilli pots.
10 Jan 2016 - Returned from holiday and find many of chilli pots still survived. Several rainy days and the self watering milk bottles saved them from withering.
How to grow mint well
Photo: Pot A
Mint grows very rapidly in summer. There is no need to wait for it to grow too tall, like pot A. I use mint leaves in my fruit juice regularly, keep the pot well trimmed like pot B below so that more young leaves could be produced regularly. Consistent daily watering is very important to keep mint in good shape in summer.
Photo: Pot B
Sign of over fertilsing
Yellowing leaves showing sign of over fertilising. How to resolve this: water more, to dilute fertiliser
Saturday, November 21, 2015
Red Stele Root Rot on Strawberries
One of the strawberries pot is suffering Red Stele root rot. The roots are reddish, pinkish as opposed to the healthy green seen in the bottom photo. This pot will eventually wither and die, fruit growth is stunted. I am not optimistic this can be fixed at all. Why did this happen? I am speculating the overly wet weather condition the whole week last week is the cause.
DIY Slow Watering
Another DIY idea. Buried a water bottle (with a hole poked in it) in the pot and filled up the water bottle. Water slowly dripped out, keeping soil moisture throughout the day. A cheap way to achieve consistent moisture level in soil.
Scotch Bonnet Chill Progress 21 November
What can two and half weeks of full sun position and consistent watering do to Chilli? Quite a lot. Thanks to the heatwave in November, both Scotch Bonnet and Bird eye chilli are experiencing massive growth. Both are more lush and taller now, fruiting and flowering amazingly.
I have to say the self-watering pot takes a lot of credits in this amazing growth. Consistent moisture level in the soil is the key to this upcoming fruitful harvest.
The massive size of this scotch bonnet chilli..simply wow!
Splitting Chilli Plants, November 2015
Strong winds during the week caused lots of damages to the 2 seedlings in a shallow pot. I have moved them to bigger pots, added more soil, shall wait and see how they will fare in the new pots.
Saturday, November 07, 2015
Chilli Pots, 7 November 2015
I am starting a whole new batch of Chilli pots in Spring 2015 (November). None of these pots came from germinating own Chilli seeds. They were bought from Woden Magnet Mart for $15.00 for 5 Chilli seedlings.
These 2 pots look like bird eye Chilli but I can't be sure as I have tossed out the label. They still very small and fragile, I am still keeping them in shaded area, avoiding direct sun light.
This pot is definitely bird eye Chilli which has just started fruiting.
In the self watering pot is Scotch Bonnet chilli, also known as Caribbean red pepper. This pot is growing really fast with the help of some high quality soil from decomposing bin containing mostly ground coffee.
Spring Strawberries, 7 November 2015
4 big pots of strawberries created from 2 small seedling pots. They are growing very, very well this spring in full sun position and been given daily watering. They have been given fertiliser about 6 weeks ago.
Fruiting generously
Monday, September 28, 2015
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Winter strawberries
The 2 small strawberries pot I bought from the local supermarket in September 2014 grew so well and so wild I have turned 2 pots into 5 pots now. It's winter in Canberra at the moment, they are still doing well in full sun position. I am expecting a good harvest this coming summer.
How to grow spring onions and get quick success
I feel the easiest to get a pot of spring onions going fast is to plant the roots from a bunch of supermarket's spring onions. I tried growing from seeds before, it just took too long.
This time round I cut off the root parts from supermarket's spring onions bunch, washed them and buried them in a round pot. Make sure to the root part is pointing downwards. With sufficient watering and full sun position, I am able to see good results in 3 weeks.
Brown aphids on spring onions
Spring onions do not normally attract aphids. Its natural odour rebels insects. Strangely this type of aphids does not fear the odour. The pot was disgustingly covered with the little buggers. I had no choice but resorted to using insects spray on my organic spring onions pot.
Summer 2015 Chilli Crop - Minimum watering survival
This blog has been left unattended for a long time. I am catching up, uploading some old photos. I went away for holidays in January 2015, leaving the chilli pots unwatered for 2 weeks. Surprisingly when I returned home they were still alive and fruiting well. Chilli really doesn't need a lot of water.
Aphids and Spider
Spotted a spider crawling about in my balcony garden. I think it's hungry for some aphids snack.
Sunday, March 08, 2015
Sunday, March 01, 2015
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