Rainy Gardening Days

It's been raining a lot in the past few days and it's been hard to figure out whether to add water to the plants or not. Our pocket garden looks like a jungle now because the plants had a growth spurt. 

Well, some plants continue to bloom even though it's raining. My new gumamela plants have been blooming every week. The new marigold plants were fine for a few weeks, but it hasn't adjusted well. I need to read up more about caring for marigold plants.

Surprisingly, the kalachuchi (desert rose) continues to bloom. I thought it would somehow hibernate since it prefers sunny days. I guess the chicken manure I added last summer is still providing it vitamins to make more flowers. The bonsai ones though are healthy but not flowering. 

I'm still amazed by the caladiums that just grew suddenly. We moved some empty pots from Mom's garden and apparently those pots had caladium bulbs in it. They just suddenly grew when it started raining. Not only that, they also grew much bigger than I expected! They are so lovely to look at and I always smile when I see them because it's also called "Heart of Jesus". 

The dark side of the rainy season are seasonal pests. We've been battling caterpillars that have been feasting on our calamansi plants. They had eaten about half of the leaves. The plants luckily bounced back, but the caterpillars keep coming back even though I've been spraying Neem oil mixture twice a week. What has helped is watering the soil with hydrogen peroxide which helps kill larvae. Oh well, we'll just need to be more vigilant.

When the weather clears, we'll also trim the plants. The grow spurt has been exponential with just a week of continuous rain. At least our rain drums are always full. It helps us keep the plants hydrated especially during water interruptions. 

How's your garden doing?

#BeKind #StaySafe

Caterpillars have been Eating My Calamansi Plants

I've been trying to grow veggies the past few years. All the greens I tried to grow are gone. My Calamansi project started in September 2023. It took time for the seeds to sprout and now I have several of them growing in bigger pots. I placed them in two areas of our home to ensure they grow. 

I have so far managed to keep them from dying. I spray Neem oil weekly and feed them fertilizer every other week. Biggest pest for my calamansi are caterpillars. Some grow so big they finish all the leaves! Luckily, the bigger plants survive, but some smaller plants don't, huhu. 

I researched companion plants for citrus fruits. They supposedly help ward off pests. You can plant marigold, basil, lavender, peas, tomatoes, chives, garlic, and fennel. I got marigold seeds, but haven't had the chance to plant them. My basil, lavender, tomatoes, chives and garlic all died. One thing that is left standing are my fennel plants (was sold to me as dill!). 

Plant on the right had fennel in the same pot.
Left plant didn't, so all the leaves are gone!

Anyway, since it's been so easy to grow fennel, I just cut off some and planted it beside my calamansi plants. After a few weeks I noticed that the leaves of the calamansi plants  started growing bigger. Those that didn't have fennel were continued to be pestered by caterpillars. 

Leaves slowly growing back after I added fennel to the pot.

I have since added fennel to the rest of my calamansi in the pocket garden and they are slowly growing new leaves to replace those eaten by caterpillars. Yes! Now I can focus on making sure they are fed well and hope they'll finally produce fruit by next year!

#BeKind #StaySafe #VoteWisely

Garden Notes: Cactus and Succulent Soil, Calamansi Soil, Avocado Soil

I have different kinds of plants and I can't find the notebook where I used to write down notes for my plants. I realized I should have just noted it here in my blog. That's what I do anyway when I need to refresh my memory. It's also why I make cooking videos at "Recipes for My Son". 

It's been hard to keep track of the needs of my plants. There's soil needs, fertilizer, pesticide, watering etc. So I thought I should write down what I use. It's easier to find it here than my (currently) missing notebook. Miggy can also put it to good use one day when he becomes a plantito (haha). 

Okay, so here's what I generally use for different kinds of plants -

Cactus and Succulents - loam soil, perlite, tiny pebbles, a little compost (learned this from Manong at the nursery)

Calamansi Soil - loam soil, compost/manure, rice husk, coco peat

Papaya Soil - loam soil, compost, rice husk, Coco peat

Avocado Soil - loam soil, compost, perlite, Coco peat, rice husk (use when you transfer from water)

Soil to Propagate Gumamela - loam soil, coco peat, perlite, rice husk

Gumamela Soil - loam soil, rice husk, vermicast

Bell Pepper Soil - loam soil, compost, rice husk

Desert Rose/Kalachuchi Soil - use succulent mix

Belly Buddha - use succulent mix

Ginger - loam soil, compost, rice husk

Dill Soil - loam soil, compost, sun drenched coffee grinds, rice husk

Rosemary Soil - loam soil, compost, sun drenched coffee grinds, rice husk, can also add some pebbles

Will update for other plants :)

#BeKind #StaySafe

What Happened to the Calamansi Seeds I Propagated?

Thirteen months ago I bought 2 kilograms of calamansi from a neighbor. They were big and juicy so I decided to propagate the seeds. I know it's easier to graft a piece of a plant, but I like growing plants from seed. It's more exciting for me.

It grew very, very slowly. I grouped the seedlings into several pots since I wasn't sure if it would survive. Every so often caterpillars would eat the leaves, so I had to be consistent spraying it with Neem oil. I also gave it rice water weekly and topped it up with compost when I remember. 

I was surprised to see that most of those I transferred to soil grew steadily. I started to re-pot them to bigger pots this month. They're definitely calamansi because the leaves smell like citrus. Here are some I re-potted earlier this month:

Here's two before I re-potted them.

I now have 7 big pots! I'm going to be so stoked when they start bearing fruit.