I Love Big Melons

Okay, I couldn't resist that one.  Anyway, I mentioned that I just throw seeds into the ground and various pots just to make sure that something grows.  Well less than a month ago, I threw a couple of melon seeds (after eating the melons of course) into my seedling bed.    Guess what?  Here they are now.  Get a load of those big leaves.  Apparently, once they get going, they grow pretty fast.  Compared to my tomatoes, melons I think grow at twice the pace.  And I don't even give them major attention.  I just water them and spray with soap solution once in a while.   I only hope that enough of them survive to fruit.  Nothing better than sweet melons in your mouth.  ;-)

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White Streaks on Tomato Leaves

I read up on the white streaks I've been seeing on the leaves of my tomato plants.  Apparently, these are caused by leaf miners.  These little insects burrow under the leaves and lay their eggs there.  These streaks won't kill the plant, but will weaken it.  The white streaks can also serve as entry points for fungus and other diseases.  To control these insects, I've been spraying my tomato leaves with soap solution on both the top and under side.  However, I've also read that the best way to control these would be to pluck and destroy the infected leaves and to mulch with plastic.  Hmmm...gotta try that too.

Meanwhile, check out my biggest tomato plant.  There are only three big ones alive.  This one seems to be a couple of feet tall.  Gotta take care of this one although I have dozens of small seedlings now.  I want them to bear fruit.   I'm being careful about keeping the soil moist but not soggy.  Can't have root rot.

Make sure to read my other tomato adventures.  Just search for tomato!

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How to Make Chrysanthemums Bloom 2: The Results

For over a month and a half, I tried to make my mums bloom.  I've read that mums are photo periodic and will bloom as a reaction to shorter days and longer nights.  And so I experimented.  For over a month and a half, I carried my 30-pound pot (estimated when wet) to and from the shed, 30 feet away, daily.  I got tired doing it.  Maybe it'll be easier to figure out how to put a shaded blanket over my mums.  My mums look okay, but haven't shown any signs of blooming.  On to the next attempt I guess.

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Tomatoes and Mulching; Companion Planting; RIP: Upside Down Tomato

I've gone around the various gardening blogs.  There are two things you would typically find that I have not yet talked about: composting and mulching.  Today, I'll talk about mulching.  Basically, that's adding stuff on your top soil either for aesthetics (like when you landscape and add colored pebbles) or for additional nutrients (like when you mulch with wood bark or fallen leaves).    Since I don't have an aesthetic bone in my body, it'll be for pure soil nutrition.  My example today will be my potted tomatoes.

If you look closely, you will not see the soil in either pot.  Instead you would find half decomposed leaves (dark brown to black) and grass cuttings that are still green.  You would also observe that the "soil" level in the pots are very low.  Why so?  Well, I read that it's good to bury the stem of tomato plants because the stem will then grow roots.  That means you'd want to plant your tomato as low as possible in the pot.  Then you can just gradually add soil as your plant grows.  In my case, I figured I'd top of the pot with mulch.  They'll turn into soil at some point anyway and it makes my soil rich too.   Besides, we have more than enough grass growing in our yard to provide an unlimited supply of mulch.   Will it work?  Only time will tell.

Pizza with Sweet Basil, Sweet Basil Fatalities

The past week, I tried a new snack: a homemade pizza!  Yey!  Ever since I was a little kid, pizza has always been my favorite snack.  And it didn't matter what sort of pizza it was.  Whether it was 3M or from the Tulips Bakery in Project 6 (yes, it's a bakery with pizza), I couldn't get enough.   It's still true now.  Recently, I also read that Basil is one of the big three Italian spices (Oregano and Garlic being the other two).  So let's put it all together.

My mom got some pizza dough.  I poured in some Italian spaghetti sauce, grated some Quick Melt Cheese, peppered in some grated Parmesan Cheese, sprinkled it with some dried Garlic and of course topped it off with chopped Sweet Basil leaves and toasted the whole concoction in a basic oven toaster.   It tasted really good!  Maybe next time, I'll put in a couple of drops of Olive Oil to make it taste even more Italian.

Anyway, back in the garden, I saw some Sweet Basil fatalities; even some of those grown in water.  I'm not sure why.  I have a couple of theories.  Three of the plants that died were recently pruned.  When I cut these, I left two very small leaves each.  It may have been a case of over pruning.  I don't really know.  It could be some disease too since about four of these plants died in the same week.  As for those remaining, I cleaned up some of the stems.  I cut out the dead roots (I saw some new white ones sprouting).  I then placed them in another container with clean water.  Let's hope for the best.

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How to Care and Propagate Stevia

Stevia (Stevioside) is useful because it's a herbal substitute for sugar.  It's said to be 3x as sweet without the calories and the impact on blood sugar.  How cool is that? Well I got me a little Stevia plant and I've done a little reading on its care and propagation.  It's actually quite different from other herbs.  Let me tell you why.

Stevia Care:

• Sun - Unlike most herbs (including Lavender, Thyme and Basil), Stevia should be kept in partial shade.
• Water - Most plants appreciate deep infrequent watering.  Stevia has fairly shallow roots and would benefit more from light, frequent watering.
• Soil - Most herbs like poor soil with good drainage.  Sand is usually good.  Stevia appreciates loam soil with lots of organic material as mulch (again because it has shallow roots).  Good drainage is still a must. PH of 4-5 works best (lowest I've seen for herbs!)
• Fertilizer - Low Nitrogen fertilizer works best (important to keep sweetness) 
• Pruning - Pinch of the tips to maker it bushier

Stevia Propagation 

• Best propagated via cuttings since the seeds don't germinate well.  Seed germination doesn't assure you that the new plant will be sweet.  It's kinda the same reason why mangos are better grafted than just grown from seed.
• I'm trying out cuttings in water.  I placed them outdoors but fairly hidden from the sun.  Let's see what happens in a few days.

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How Fast is Smart Bro?

As promised from my last Smart Bro blog post, I'll post pictures to show you the speed of my Smart Bro.   Take note of the green downward arrow which shows download speed.  Holy single digit narrowband Batman!

To help you appreciate the single digit speed, think back to our dial-up modem period.  Remember when we were happy to hear a high pitched handshake?  And when we saw that it was connected at 56K, we were really happy (but 48K was okay too).  That's narrowband for you.

So I have a single digit download speed.  I forget what it's called.  I think it's throughput.  What that means to me is that Smart Bro is not broadband at all.  At best, it's an extremely slow narrowband connection.  I think I'll call their customer support later.  I'll let you know if I even get through.

Check out Globe Tattoo too.  It's as problematic as Smart Bro, but in another way.

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From Globe Tattoo to Smart Bro: Slow and Slower

I have to give it to Globe.  After months of frustration with both my ex-Handyphone and my Globe Tattoo, at least one of these was solved.  I think they finally assigned my case to someone.  A guy from Globe Tattoo called at least 4-5 times (named Ronald I think) to make sure my case was filed correctly.  He tried to troubleshoot too, but I think we all know nothing came out of that.  So then another Globe person, Veng or Beng Gutierrez called me up from a Handyphone number and followed up with my refund request for Globe Tattoo until I finally got it.  I'll give her that.  She made things happen.   But more importantly, she spoke solid English.  If she's not at least a supervisor there, she deserves to be.   My Handyphone issue is still ongoing but I'm too pissed to think about that.

RIP: Petunia, Welcome Tarragon & Cat's Whiskers

Imagine that.  My once lush purple Petunia died. Unbelievable, right?  I don't know why.  Could it be the extreme heat of summer?  It's supposed to like lots of direct sunlight.  Is it because I tilled the soil?  I don't know!  But now it's gone.  I seem to be on a killing spree of flowering plants.  I killed my Aster after one week. I killed Jean's Gerbera after one week.  I killed my recently divided mums (it's a good thing I successfully propagated some cuttings). I just wish I knew why.

Oh well.

How to Care and Propagate Rosemary

As you know, Rosemary is one of my recently adopted herbs.  When I was reading about its care and propagation, it reminded me a lot about Lavender.  Let me tell you why.

They both like lots of direct sunlight.  They don't need much watering (let them dry out between watering) and require minimal feeding (once a month light fertilization). It needs good air circulation.  In terms of soil, it needs good drainage and will do well with sandy soil (slightly alkaline...try crushed egg shells).    With the right conditions, it needs very little care.  And yet, it can grow up to 4-6 feet!  Imagine that.  That's a lot of Rosemary to be used for roasting!

Oh, you might want to prune it once in a while to make the plant bushy.  And you know me.  I love pruning!

If you'd like to propagate your Rosemary, the suggested techniques are cuttings and layering.  It doesn't germinate well from seed.  It doesn't seem to root as easily as mint.  If you try rooting it in water, it takes about four weeks with frequent water replacement.  I'll also try just plugging it in soil and see if that works like it did for my mums.

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Gotu Kola Finally Spreading

I haven't written anything about my Gotu Kola plants in a while.  Basically, I've just been waiting for them to spread (you don't propagate it by cutting). My original Gotu Kola looks mediocre and I'm really not sure why.  My Gotu Kola in the ice cream container full of water died.  The last Gotu Kola I bought however, is looking pretty good. Look at it.

The runners are now 5-6 "plants" long.  They seem to be running away from the main plant. Isn't that cool?   I believe I can cut these runners and they'll become new plants.  But, I'll hold for a while and just let nature take its course.   Weird isn't it, considering I'm giving all my plants the same over nurturing treatment.

FYI: Gotu Kola should not be used by pregnant women because it might cause spontaneous abortion.  If you want to get pregnant, don't use it.

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Do Mints Self Propagate?

If you read about mint care, you would find consistent advice regarding "containing" mints in pots.  Mints are considered "invasive".  Have you ever wondered how that happens?  Do mints spread?  How?

Well, I recently re-potted my Swiss Mint. If it looks a little small, that's because I virtually decapitated it when I pruned it because I want it grow bushy.  When I removed it from its temporary pot, I saw this.  If you see two almost white stems, those are new growths.  They came straight from the roots.  If you imagine that the plant is underground, you will see these as new sprouts from the ground.  I'm not sure if this is what you call a runner, but it's certainly a sign of self propagation. 

So that's two ways to propagate mint.  You can do it with cuttings.  You can also let it spread on its own.

On the side, do look at my mint collection (and some basil).  They're all in bottles of water and as you can see, there's a long line of them now.   I can't wait until I fill the entire hall with my plants.

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If You're Not a Good Gardener...

Time and time again, I've pointed out that I'm a statistical gardener. If I keep trying, something's bound to grow and thrive in my garden.  Case in point: I bought this seedling bed over two months ago.  It was supposed to house my tomatoes.   I've transplanted out a whole lot of those because tomatoes are supposed to be big ass plants and my bed could only accommodate three full grown ones.  Most of them died post transplant.  The ones that remained in the bed also died.  I planted a sweet basil seedling there.  It died.

Enter statistics.  Today, the seedling bed is home to a couple of plants.  I have a Cuban Oregano there, which I think I'm not very fond of.  I will ship that out soon.  I have a Peppermint plant, which is doing okay.  I've also thrown in a couple of seeds there which have grown.  The problem is that I don't know which is which.  The seedlings you see in the pictures could be calamansi, melon or watermelon.  I also have a bunch of tomato seedlings there (new batch).  I really won't know until they bear fruit I guess.   The point is, the seedling bed is full because I keep trying to grow stuff there. Every time I eat something with seeds, I throw the seeds there and in my other newly vacated (read: the plant died) pots.  Statistically, something is bound to grow and succeed.   ;-) 

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Welcome Rosemary, Stevia and Parsley

Oh look!  There are a couple new pets in my garden.  From 12:00 to 6:00 (clockwise), you have a Rosemary (where my dead Gerbera used to reside), a Stevia (where my Lavender was) and Parsley (where one of my dead mums was).   Oh boy, there's so many of them now!  I hope I can still give them personalized attention.  Next time, I'll talk about their care and propagation. 

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Repotting my Giant Malvarosa

I bought my little Malvarosa just over a month ago.   It's a lot younger than my mints or my petunias.  I haven't really pruned it though since I was waiting for it to grow bigger before I started experimenting.  Then yesterday, I just noticed how extremely oversized it was for its pot.  And so I moved it to a much bigger pot.  Yet, it still looks oversized.  Apparently, it grew a lot (almost doubled I think) right under my nose.   I didn't really do a lot with it.  It just grew with a little water and fertilizer now and then.

On the side, I've also been trying to propagate it.  I took one of the little stalks and I left it in water.  After a week, the stalk was still fresh, but there's no sign of any rooting.  It's like my hydrangea cutting that's been in water for almost a month: also fresh but devoid of roots.  Weird, huh?  I think for my Malvarosa, I'll let it adjust to the new pot for a week or so, then I'll give it a major pruning experience and see if I can grow stem cuttings in soil.

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Lavender Care and Propagation 2

So I've been wondering about my Lavender lately.  It's growing quite slowly.  So apart from the occasional tip pinching, I haven't done a lot with it.   I reviewed my initial post about lavender care.  That was the time I took Jean's big Lavender and did some root division.

Here's some additional information that I found:

• Lavender needs well drained soil.  In fact, if you can add sand or gravel, that will be even better.   Poor soil rocks for lavender.  I'm very tempted to plant it in some forsaken corner of the yard.  Maybe that's what it needs. 
• You need a big pot because it spreads (very slowly, but it does) and you need space for the roots.
• I can't find information about making Lavender flower.  There was one entry on adding potassium but for most part, nothing.  Maybe it really just blooms on its own.
• It's not too fond of watering or fertilizer.  It just likes lots of sun.

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How to Propagate Oregano from Cuttings

I have what I think is a Cuban Oregano (different from my Oregano Thyme).   I got it from an empty yard in front of a water customer's house.  I wasn't really ready to find it so I didn't have shears with me.  I just cut of a branch by hand (very crude cut).  Then I just stuck it in the soil of my seedling bed.  Weeks later, it was still alive (stoic but alive).  Just playing around, I took a leaf and stuck it in the soil.  I checked it earlier.  It already had roots.  Absolutely no care was needed.  It's so easy that I'm starting to wonder if this really is an Oregano or just a weed.  Hmmmm....

I also took a cutting and placed it in a glass of water.  It also grew roots.  So there you have it.  For this alleged Cuban Oregano, crude cuts, leaf cuttings, stem in soil, stem in water...they all work. 

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How to Propagate Tomatoes with Cuttings 2

Just over a week ago, I wasn't able to help it.  I cut my growing upside down tomato to find out if it's easy to clone tomato cuttings in water.  Here's what has happened so far.

The Existing Upside Down Tomato - It hasn't grown a leaf since I cut it.  It still looks alive but I'm a bit worried.  Uh oh.  But here's an interesting tidbit: the stem curves upward towards the sun, right?  I saw a dead spider on the curve.  Could it have been my tomato attempting to fertilize itself? 

The Tomato Cutting in Water -Within a week, small roots have started growing out. However, the bottom part seems to be rotting.  It's still 50-50 I would guess.  I noticed though that roots grow out from all over the submerged portion and not just on the joints.  Interesting.  I'll take pictures for next time, when the roots are more convincing.

Here's the drawback of using a cut two-liter bottle. It sliced the tomato leaves.  Mental note: keep the leaves high enough above the container to prevent leaf contact against the edges.  Here's the drawback of using shredded paper as the stem holder if the container is located outside in the garden.  When it rains, it compresses the paper.  Doh!  Oh well.  As long as learned something.

So what do I do?  Maybe I'll wrap some tape around the container edges so they don't cut my plant leaves.  And I'll keep the container out of the rain.   But how do I maximize the sun?  Hmmmm...

Hey, remember when I started my tomato adventure?   If my computations are correct, I need about two more months before it starts fruiting!  I better see a growth spurt soon.

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2007 TOYOTA INNOVA FOR SALE

* RED (PICTURE TO FOLLOW)
* J GAS TYPE
* MANUAL TRANSMISSION
* 38,000 KM
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You may call me at 5772085

Unlike my Sentra, this isn't mine so I have absolutely no sentimental value attached. ;-)

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Globe Telecom Tattoo: The Tradition of Bad Customer Service Continues

Remember my problems with Globe before?  Guess what?  It's still not over.  Sigh.  You know, back when I was supporting Xbox, we had a term called "Hot Mail": that's when a customer e-mails a high ranking Microsoft employee directly.  Those issues are given supervisor level priority.  Hmmm...gotta find me one of those for Globe.

So here's my mea culpa: I keep patronizing them.  Kick me please.

Growing Siling Labuyo and Bell Peppers

The last time I talked about my siling labuyo (Capsicum Fructescens), I was trying to make them grow on other trees.   It seemed like an interesting experiment.  But they all died.  One of these days, I'll try again.  Nevertheless, it's very easy to grow siling labuyo  (hot chili peppers - left picture).  In fact, I even tried growing Bell Peppers (Capsicum Annuum - right picture).  Basically, I just dug a hole on the ground, threw in the seeds (no drying or cleaning) and watered the hole every day.  Within a week, the seeds started germinating. I'm sure not everything germinated, but then again, one fruit has so many seeds.   The siling labuyo here is probably around 1 1/2 months old; the Bell pepper is about a few weeks younger.  But as you can see, even with my second rate treatment, they're still thriving. 

Hydroponic Basil and Foliar Feeding

A couple of days ago, I talked about hydroponic mint and foliar feeding and how it seems to be working out just fine.   Will the same treatment work with Basil? That is, will Basil also grow and thrive in a pure water medium?  Let me give you a roundabout answer.

Petunia Propagation: Work in Progress 2

Over the past months, I've tried various means to propagate my petunias: seeds and cuttings.  I'm still zero.  The seeds didn't germinate and the cuttings dried up.  And so I read that honey can be used as a rooting hormone and I tried it. The cuttings dried up AND had loads of ants.  So back to the drawing board right?

Lately, I've noticed that my purple petunia has been struggling.  Just look at the before and after photos. It looks like the world has turned and for the first time, my red & white petunia is doing better.   So I took a couple of cuttings from the purple one (you know, just in case the mother plant dies) and I stuck them in soil.  Statistically, something has to succeed and root, right?  I placed two of the cuttings in small pots and covered them with a plastic container.  Maybe moisture conservation is the key.  We'll see in a week or two.

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Hydroponic Mint and Foliar Feeding

I finally did it!  I managed to put jargon in my title.  Today, I'll talk about another chapter of my mint adventures.  First of, let me tell you about the multiple varieties I now have:  my original Chocolate and Japanese mint, my Jean donated Peppermint and Lemon Mint, my new Swiss Mint and my Sua donated Spearmint.   Whew!  It's a good thing I've become somehow familiar with their leaf shapes and scents.  Otherwise I'd mix them up.