Mulberries for pixies

A nice cluster of ripening mulberries.

If I were a pixie living in my garden, I’d be really thrilled at the sight of the mulberries ripening on the plants. They’re slowly forming and starting to change colour from the pale green to a blushing pink. With time, they’ll change to red, and then almost black.

As a human, however, I look at the fruits wistfully and consider that it would take about 10 of them to make a small mouthful, and maybe 1,000 for a pie, if I planned to make a pie. The fruits are woefully tiny – not even 1cm long. I thought that the size might have been limited by having the plants growing in pots, but the plant that had rooted itself in the ground also has tiny fruits. So, either I keep propagating this plant so I have many little plants producing fruits, or I just keep a couple as novelty plants. Hm. This is one time I wish I could be a garden pixie, then I’d be the right size to pluck a fruit, take a nice munch out of it, and still have a few munches more to look forward to.

© 2012 curiousgardener.com All rights reserved.


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Waiting for little winter melons (phase 3)

Female winter melon flower bud forming.

It’s been one false alarm after another. I knew that the first female winter melon flower bud to appear would be unlikely to develop into a fruit. Nevertheless, it was an exciting couple of days watching as it grew and finally bloomed. It was a cute little thing – green, oval and covered in the same bristly hairs that cover the stems – with the same yellow petals that the male flowers sported. As there were already several ants excitedly visiting the male flowers, I decided not to interfere and leave the pollination to Mother Nature’s creatures.

Male winter melon flower on the left, female on the right. Just look at that miniature fruit so full of potential!

As expected, that first fruit aborted. However, another 5 or 6 male flowers up the stem, another female bud appeared – and it was bigger than the first. In fact, as the vine ascended the trellis, the male flowers began to get bigger and bigger, too! So I was more optimistic about this female flower – but it wasn’t time yet.

Another 5 or 6 male flowers more and a new female bud is growing. It, too, looks even bigger than its predecessors. Will it be the First Fruit? Possibly. However, I’ve noticed that further back along the vine, new developments are taking place – it’s starting to branch out, and I believe I see at least 2 developing female flower buds. So my fingers are crossed that the winter melon vine will finally start being fruitful.

The winter melon vine grew upwards and to the right, then looped to the left. So, you see a new leaf on the left and can compare it to the much smaller old leaf on the right. What a difference, eh?

See Phase 1 and Phase 2 of growing winter melon plants.

© 2011 curiousgardener.com All rights reserved.


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Mealy season

We’ve had a preview of a white Christmas and it’s no thanks to mealy bugs. They took over one of our roselle plants…

Horrible, horrible sight - the worst mealy bug infestation on a roselle plant. Looks like styrofoam, doesn't it?

… and are trying for dominance with the papaya trees as well.

This is how it starts - a few white blobs here and there, and if you don't do something about it, they will cover everything!

They’ve also been trying to populate the aubergine plants, but I’ve managed to control that with regular squishing so far.

This is a mealy bug infestation at its worst on a papaya leaf - the underside of the leaf is covered with white mealy bugs (not in view) and the black mildew has worked its way through the leaf, killing it slowly but surely.

No thanks to the rainy weather, I’ve been unable to check the troops as frequently, so the mealies had a nice head start. The most infested roselle plant had to go, because I didn’t want the bugs spreading to other plants.

Worse, the papaya trees were so infested that black mildew, which is a side effect of mealy bug  infestations, had spread to many leaves. I had a very bad experience with mealybugs and black mildew with the first of the Red Lady papaya trees a year ago. The infestation was so advanced that I had to get rid of the entire tree because at that time I hadn’t known about mealy bugs and what they can do. This time, I pruned and disposed of the diseased leaves immediately, leaving two of the trees looking awkwardly tall and naked. More disappointingly, I decided to sacrifice several fruits that were covered with horrible white mealy bugs. The less infected leaves got a good spraying of white oil, that I hope will control the rest of the mealy bug  population.

I don’t like this tropical version of a white Christmas! :(

© 2011 curiousgardener.com All rights reserved.


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Wild pink lilies

Pink lilies sharing a pot with an aloe vera plant.

These little pink lilies grow wild in our garden. By that, I mean they choose where they want to grow. When not in bloom, they’re impossible to spot. Their long, narrow leaves blend in perfectly with grass.

A few years ago, we tried planting a few bulbs in a single pot. Just searching them out amid the grass was quite a feat, because as I’ve said, they’re practically invisible when they’re not in bloom. The plants seemed to die out, so we stuck a young aloe vera plant in the flower pot instead. Why waste an unoccupied pot, right? Then, of course the lilies started growing again. We didn’t have the heart to separate them, so the two plant varieties have co-existed in the same pot ever since.

The bulk of these lilies grow haphazardly around the garden. They’re only noticeable when they bloom, and then I wonder how the single plant found its way to the shade under the curry leaf tree, or to whichever part of the lawn it shows up in. They scatter themselves so well!

Every so often, the lilies start blooming. Then, we get brilliant surprises like this:

The biggest unplanned cluster of wild lilies growing in our garden.

The above patch is totally unplanned. When I see them like this, though, I want to dig them up and make a patch of them – but I’ve tried that a few times before and they stubbornly refuse to grow for me. I guess they choose where they want to grow…

Don't they just look so cheerful?

I have no idea what the proper name is for these lilies, but they have been around since my grandparents’ time and I like them!

© 2011 curiousgardener.com All rights reserved.

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