Cantaloupe

Here's the update from this blog where I first introduced this experiment.

Apparently, they were very easy to sprout. After few weeks, I have transplanted some of them.

It was too late for me to transplant them, I guess. As you can see, I can't separate them from each other anymore. This one is starting to turn yellow.

Based on this experiment, every seed will sprout. So you can sow seeds as little as possible. I am not expecting to harvest from my plants. I trust that it is not gonna be that easy, but I surely will try to nurture them as much as I could. I am preparing to turn my Yard of Weeds into a garden-bed, so the rest of my cantaloupe seedlings might end up there (as well as my tomatoes). I do have red soil (unfortunately), I have researched how to amend it, seems that it's a great hardwork. I'm considering doing the-planting-legumes-method, and see what happens.

Have a blast in your garden today!

My Yard of Weeds

After weeks of heavy rainfall, expect a yard full of unwanted weeds. But we have some blooms this time around. Anyone knows anything about these blooms?

This one has a number of cluster of flowers

See the bugs? Should I keep an eye on them?

Correct me if I'm wrong, these are Touch-Me-Not plants. It hurts to walk around them.

Saw some lantana blooms from a blog. Did I just strike a gold?

Someone came to clear the yard for us. But I'm keeping this one.

Tomato seedlings from seeds

More than 2 months ago, I introduced my tomato seedlings. Thinking that only less than 15 of them will ever sprout (and they were very skinny then), I "threw" them away into a planter. But few days after, voila!

 Wasn't able to look after them for more than 2 weeks. Is it too late to transplant them?

Anyway, I finally had the chance to check on them, so I decided to transplant them.

Some remained in the planters.

The rest went to the egg cartons.

Still thrilled to witness the seeds turn into these.

Have you tried growing tomatoes from seeds? Would love to hear your story.

Have a great time in your garden today.

Chives

Why did I start home gardening? Because nothing beats the thrill that you get when you see those small seedlings that sprouted from those little/big seeds that you've sown days/weeks/months before. Whew! And feeling that sense of accomplishment when they start to flower, and of course, when you actually harvest something from them. And speaking of harvesting...

Before harvesting

Photo taken a month ago

They were really easy to grow.

My Harvest

I know it's not that plenty, but it surely feels rewarding.

I had to give them to a friend for her salad. I wanted to show her that you can grow chives from onions that already sprouted in your pantry.

After harvesting.

I read that they regrow. Let's just wait if these will.

"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant."

- Robert Louis Stevenson    

Happy gardening!

The Yard at the Moment

It's been raining everyday for the past week, hence gardening became impossible lately. Thankfully, it didn't turn out to be completely deadly to the plants. Here's an update.

CHIVES

These came from onions sprouting in pantry, which I planted in a small milk carton. They thrived well, it was a no brainer. I wasn't really looking forward to growing them so you can say I left them for dead after that (I'm a monster, I know). I thought it's so easy to grow them that I can just plant them again anytime I want in the future.

I was pretty sure they were dying the last time I checked. But after many days of outpouring rain, surprisingly, they're looking pretty well. I've transplanted them to a bigger pot today.

Well, I take it back. I'm growing them for good. 

Never appreciated the smell of onions, besides when you sauté them, until now.

I'm not sure when to harvest them though. Is it good to do so now? 

I wonder if they'll grow again afterwards.

ALOE VERA

A friend gave these plants to me. I wish I can start growing them from seeds, but well it's impossible for me. Anyway, their leaves weren't green prior to the rainfall, even though I water them everyday. But they surely look much better now. 

Before photos

See how bad they were.

Introduced them in this post before.

Present photos

I have three pots of aloe vera.

These are exactly the same plants as above photos.

They all look pretty healthy for me. 

OREGANO

Read his link to know how I got it, and how it was like before. It surely is looking pretty well now.

There's a lot of leaves, both small and big ones.

I always smell it when watering. The leaves smell really good, though some people don't like it.

Unknown seedling

This seedling is the only one left from the egg carton from my previous post. There was a papaya seedling, but it died because of the rain. Now, this seedling is supposed to be calamondin's, but it looks different from the seedlings that I had before. It looks more like a papaya seedling. Any thoughts? I'd like to confirm what this is.

The seedling in question

Basil

Thanks to the rain, here's the only basil seedling left. Guess for my case, germinating the seeds is not the problem, maturing the seedling is. Until now, I'd have to buy basil leaves from the supermarket for my pesto. And they are quite costly. *sigh*

It's so tiny that my phone's camera can't get the right focus.

Tomato

The same case with my tomato seedlings. Guess I'll just sow some seeds again.

I'm still trying to revive them by moving to a bigger pot. They were in a milk carton before.

Let's see what will happen next.

I have quite spacious yard to start gardening in the ground. But, I don't think the ground is fertile enough to start. What do you think? Any ideas how to make the soil healthier? 

This is what happens next when it rains, a weed/grass forest.

And the next thing to do is to cut them. And it's a pain in the back, literally.

How I wish I can turn this into a beautiful, healthy garden.

Cantaloupe

My latest experiment is from the cantaloupe fruit I bought from the supermarket. I collected all the seeds, washed and air dried them. I thought of sowing some of the seeds on 2nd April, Thursday, here they are now after 4 days.

It seems that all the seeds I've sown in each pot have sprouted.

Although I'm not really expecting to harvest fruits in the future (after reading about hybrids), I will still try to grow them.

I still have a bunch of seeds I didn't sow, and it seems that it's not that hard to germinate the seeds.

Happy sowing!

"He that plants trees loves others besides himself."

Basil - Papaya - Tomato Seedlings

And after more than 2 weeks of sowing, here are the results: (drum roll....)

Basil

Sadly this time, the outcome is not as good as before. I only have 1 seedling that sprouted. Oh well, hopefully it thrives and matures this time. Although, it doesn't look that impressive.

Believe it or not, that's a baby basil.

It rained last night, that's why it looks faint.

Papaya

Another average result, my 1 papaya seedling. Similar with the basil, I didn't have the same success as before. But I guess it's better to have one than nothing. I hope this one thrives too.

Here it is, one seedling sprouted out of many seeds from a papaya fruit.

Do you think that using an egg carton is not such a good idea?

Or I just happen to have a bad amount of seeds?

Tomato

Although those 2 were a flop, to my surprise, my tomatoes are not. It is my first time to sow tomatoes, and remember, I directly sow them from the fruit. So to have more than 10 seedlings, I think is not bad at all. Thanks to these little darlings, they definitely made my day.

Look! This is exciting!

Guess I have better luck in using milk cartons than the egg cartons.

1 milk carton for some reason has 1 seedling only.

As of today, there are 14 tomato seedlings.

It'd be great if could say "I have 14 tomato plants" too... someday.

Happy sowing!

"The future - others think it's frightening, but I think it's exciting."

Moving on

Spoiler alert!

     If you're a plant-lover, I won't suggest you to read this post.


For the first time in more than 5 years, I experienced heavy rainfall in Malaysia every single day.
Usually, I wouldn't be so concerned about it. But not anymore. For I had to watch my plants drown in water each day. And this plus no sunlight equals dying plants. And to make the story short, at the end, all of them died. *sob

My balsam, basil, chervil, mint,... all of them. Now, I only have my aloe vera left, and they don't look so good either. And 1 basil seedling that looks pretty well. It took more me than a month to get over that.

This used to be a healthy calamansi seedling.

The only surviving basil seedling. How it survived? Beats me.

My not so good-looking aloe vera.

I'm trying to put them back to life. Hopefully, they'll get healthy.

Now, I finally moved on, and had the guts to start all over again. Starting with:

OREGANO

A friend gave it to me yesterday. I just immediately put them into soil when I got them.

Please, Mother Nature, let it thrive.

PAPAYA

As you can see, I'm using an egg carton. 

I've got a bunch of them, and finally found a way to recycle them. 

I've been storing the papaya seeds for more than a month. Let's see if I'll succeed again. 

*fingers crossed*

CHILI PEPPER AND CALAMANSI

I had plenty of them in the fridge. Some are dried up.

Instead of throwing them away, I thought, why not sow the seeds? And so, here they are.

TOMATO

Removed the seeds, and put them straight to these used milk cartons.

I'm experimenting whether they will thrive this way. What do you think?

Once again, I'll have my fingers crossed and hope that Mother Nature does her miracle. There's been no rainfall lately, so I guess it's been great so far. Wish me luck! And I do wish you luck too. ;)

I'll update you with the results next time. Till then. Happy Gardening!

"Just because you've failed doesn't make you a failure.

Failure only defines those who don't try again."