Landscaping with vines: sky flower & sun parasols

What are the uses of vine plants in your garden?

Sky flower (bengal clock vine)

White sun parasol

Red sun parasol

In my garden...

Sky flower beautifies space, creates a more natural look and brings life and song to the garden.

White sun parasol grows around and covers up the eyesore with green leaves and beautiful flowers.

Hoping the union of red sun parasol and fence (left) will quickly form privacy screen, sheltering my backyard activities from outside attention.

Companion planting: carrot, daikon, lettuce & marigold

This companion planting is by mere of coincident. I didn't plan what to plant in the raised bed earlier, i just dumped everything in to save space. And surprisingly they grew well together, except that the carrots never fruit, but the foliage was so good. Hmm. Maybe too much nitrogen like what Diana said?

I'm not very sure why these plants like each other and how these plants help each other but you can refer here for companion planting list- See that? Carrots, daikons and lettuces are in one group- how good if i have luck in lottery too haha.

The raised bed

Carrots and daikons

Lettuces, daikons and marigolds at the other side of the bed

Marigolds

I have read many pages on the internet saying that marigolds are famous for companion planting as they exude chemicals from their roots or aerial parts that suppress or repel pests and protect neighbouring plants. I follow to grow them everywhere in the garden for the sayings and to add a touch of colour in the vegetable garden. But so far i'm not aware of any real research were this practice has been proven to be effective?

Do you have anything good or bad to say about your personal experience with marigolds? Are they really a good companion plant? Come let's share with us.

Linking with Kebun Malay-Kadazan girls for Companion Week.

Companion planting: corn & french bean

I only thought of planting french beans when the corns were almost time for harvest- because i was lack of stakes to make a trellis for the beans. French beans wound themselves very quickly around and used the cornstalks (i.e. the natural trellis) as support.

Later when the cornstalks bent under weight of the beans and became crisp, i added in some stakes and a 4-ring support to hold the weight of the beans. This is how the whole thing looks like now.

I read that the combination of corns and beans work well as the beans pull nitrogen into the soil while the corns use the nitrogen. I'm doing this combination again in another raised bed but this time i added pumpkins in to make a Three Sisters planting. This not only can have a real impact on the health and yield of the plants (as per the articles), but will also save me so much space!

Linking with Kebun Malay-Kadazan girls for Companion Week.

Count my rabbits

I just realised i've been collecting rabbits.

Marion's bubble blower in the garden

And Peter Rabbit on her pants too, haha.

Happy Monday!

Herb patch

I'm slowly developing my raised herb patch.

It is small but sufficient right next to the kitchen.

My little herb patch

Coriander

Parsley

Onion- thanks to Diana for the seeds

Basil- I'm not sure how to use this herb but am trying my luck to grow some

I wish you a nice Saturday and a great week ahead!

Carrot & daikon, & my birthday :D

18 February 2011

Carrots 1.5 months, daikons 2 weeks old.

This patch is so romantic filled with marigold haha.

I used marigold a lot here as general (root) pest deterrent.

3 March 2011

Carrots 2 months, daikons 1 month old.

16 March 2011

Carrots 2.5 months, daikons 1.5 months old.

23 March 2011

Carrots almost 3 months, daikons almost 2 months old.

2 April 2011

Carrots 3 months, daikons 2 months old.

8 April 2011

Harvest time!!

I actually wanted to wait a little bit longer for the daikons to be harvested but my little assistant didn't allow me, lol. All harvest done by her.

It would be good if i waited for another month to harvest the daikons. But ok lar the size at this stage... And you're asking where are my carrots?

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Can you see my carrots?

I couldn't believe this, the top parts looked so good but the bottom parts... walamak, we all had a good laugh.

And so the bed is cleared. I buried some chicken manure and some organic fertilizer the same evening. Will start another batch of veggie very soon.

Birthday month

Look at this beautiful nuno felt brooch i received from Terrie. The work is so neat and look at the colour, i immediately fell in love with this beauty. I'm really impressive with all the crafts made by her own. 多谢嗮你啊，Terrie！

I didn't get a bigger saw nor a drill for my birthday. Instead, i got a bouquet of sunflowers and a tea set from my hb- he wants me to enjoy and doesn't want me to work too hard in the garden ;) Thank you honey.

Have a great week ahead!