Friday, December 23, 2011

End Year Container Garden 2011

It has been sometime that I have not posted pictures of our container garden. This is because of the cleaning up of winter plants and waiting for the right moment to sow warm loving veggies made the container garden look very not organise and bare. So now some of the containers has filled up a bit. It probably look greenish now but continuous high temperature will make them look very dreadful later on.
From Container Garden
Orange sweet potato veins at this corner of our container garden. They don't follow orders really well so this summer they have been isolated from the rest of the plants. Experimenting in one of the containers is growing soy beans and sweet potato together. Soy bean plants grow straight right up whilst sweet potato leaves will keep the soil more moist as they cover up the soil.
From Container Garden
Growing "Jack Be Little" pumpkin at this corner and this pumpkin plant actually giving some shade to strawberry plants. The strawberry plants is clever enough to send out stalk for the berries to ripen while keeping it foliage out of the harmful summer sun.
From Container Garden
This summer is our first time trying to grow purple skin and white flesh sweet potatoes. I thought it has purple flesh at first but bought the wrong one. Young seedlings of jicama (sengkuang) and Clemson spineless okra sharing the same container. I had some encouraging result growing them together last year so repeating this combination again. Leek and parsnip growing side by side. Dragon carrot growing together with cherrytime capsicum.
From Container Garden
This is a bit of complex situation because that trellis was intended for bitter gourd. But bitter gourd end up sharing that trellis with volunteer tomato plant. The spagetthi squash is also inching its way to the trellis as well. There are one promising (indicate with arrow) spagetthi squash at the moment. We are excited to harvest the fruit cos this is our first time growing this squash and of course will be our first taste of it. Lenay spied one female bitter gourd flower this week and has pollinated it with male flowers. Hopefully the success for the female bitter gourd fruit to grow won't be deterred by the very warm days we are having for several days.


Last year we did not have that much a problem starting cucumbers early. But this year the cucumber seeds seems to be on strike until end of November when those seeds favor to sprout. Its not only one variety playing hooky but all the varieties of cucumber that we plan to grow this summer. So we probably have late cucumber harvest season this summer compared last year if growing them are successful. This corner we grow cucumber "Suyo Long" in container together with beetroot and Topweight carrot.
From Container Garden
At the back row are orange sweet potato and "Royal Blue" potato plant. In the front, angled luffa growing together with "New Red Kuroda" carrot and jicama.
From Container Garden
Another volunteer tomato growing in the garlic container. This is the only garlic that I have not dug out yet. I probably should since all the leaves dried up. But it was too hot this week I simply don't have the motivation. We also grow white sweet potatoes at this corner here. First time growing shallot and I am not sure when is the perfect time to harvest and cure them. I need some advice; from looking at the shallot in the container, do you think it is ready to be harvested?
Hope you have a joyous moments with your love ones during this festive season.

19 comments:

Sue Garrett said...

You certainly have lots packed in as usual - if we packed as much into our space we'd be able to open a supermarket

Dacey said...

Your plants are really beautiful and it shows that you have very well maintained your garden

Sue Catmint said...

I agree with Sue above - amazing how much you pack in, and i do admire how you experiment with new things and learn all the time. Happy holidays / festive season to you and your family. cheers, cm

Sean L said...

Wah, nice sweet potato leaves. Stir fry with sambal belacan, hehe. The purple skinned white flesh variety have little string and the leaves are also very tender. Can't wait to see you Jack be little pumpkin fruits.

Sunray Gardens said...

Looks fantastic. Can't believe how much you manage to put together in your space.
Cher Sunray Gardens

Mark Willis said...

You have such a wide variety of plants in your garden! Have you ever counted up how many there are?

makcikmanggis said...

Cm pun tanam keledek jugak tapi sayang daunnya berlubang lubang kerana banyak musuh terutama sekali belalang.

Selamat tahun baru buat Diana sekeluarga:)

One said...

Your container gardening is superb. Royal Blue potato? Haven't heard of that. Wishing you and your family a great year-end.

Kate said...

It's nice to see your Summer just beginning. I wish you good luck with your garden experiments and also wish you a happy new year!

Stephanie said...

Other than those cool vegetables you have, your garden is super neat! And they look really happy and healthy. You have a wonderful holiday and great time with your family and friends there as well!

shaz said...

Like the other comments, I am amazed at how much you fit into your containers. And they all grow so well. Enjoy the holiday break, hope the weather is kind to you.

takaeko said...

I believe you are a master of container-gardening!
I wish you and your family a merry Christmas!

Mark Willis said...

Thanks for the seeds which arrived today, Diana!

Kelli said...

I've always enjoyed reading about your container gardening and have learned loads. Thanks!

Gardener on Sherlock Street said...

Your plants looks so healthy and strong!
Have a great holiday.

Lrong Lim said...

Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones... I took the liberty to nominate your blog for an award... would appreciate your dropping by my blog...

Liz said...

Wow your containers look fabulous and the plants look really healthy! What sort of potting mix and fertiliser do you use? Its a shame your cucumbers aren't doing much yet - mine have set a few fruits but are definitely behind last year.

Dani P. said...

Wow, it is stunning what have you done in those containers. Great job, Diana.
I recived the seeds today. Thank you, very much. I am waiting the spring now ...

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Sue~Its much better for us to make it dense in summer to avoid losing water. Plenty of lights in summer here where the plants does much better in partial shade.

Dacey~The plants looks good at that moment, but the extreme heat has causes a lot of damage. Its hard to grow in summer here.

Catmint~Mulching is bit difficult since it attract birds to dig the soil and causes damaged. So dense planting as substitue for mulching.

Sean L~Ah so the white flesh are usually more starchier than. When we don't have any veggies to harvest, I plan to cut some sweet potato leaves. So nice cooking them simple kampung style lah :).

Cher~Only the containers are doing well since it is much more protected from the scorching sun. Had to come up with several ideas on how to maximise growing space.

Mark~Nope, I have never counted them. There are always new plants that we like to try to grow.

Makcikmanggis~Tak sangka pula pak belalang suka makan daun keledek. Si tikus suka sangat sorok bawah daun keledek kami.

Kwee Peng~The royal blue potato look more purplish to me. Very creamy flesh.

Katie~Thank you. Happy New Year to you too.

Stephanie~You have a wonderful holiday too with your love ones. We have lots of 'terbakar' vegetables now due to extreme weather.

Shaz~We were lucky with the weather last Christmas but not so with the New Year. Hope Sydney has more favourable weather during this holiday.

Takaeko~shinnen akemashite omedetougozaimasu.

Kelli~I learn a lot from you too. You have lovely cottage garden flowers.

Gardener on Sherlock Street~Its a different condition now, the plants are barely surviving due to the extreme weather we having.

Lrong~ Thank you so much for the award.

Liz~I use normal potting mix. But I fill in green waste half of the container to keep some moisture. It turns to compost really fast.

Dani~Happy that the seeds have arrived. Spring is just another 2 months for you.