The Curious Gardener | Gardening discoveries in Singapore

The Dahlberg Daisy

Posted on April 4, 2011 by CuriousG

The small but eye-catching Dahlberg daisy

I’ve finally got pretty yellow Dahlberg Daisies in bloom! They’re tiny little things – only 10-15mm across – but they’re bright and quite eye-catching, with leaves and stems that have an unexpected citrussy scent.

Of course, my excitement is because the seeds took forever to sprout – months and months sure seemed like forever to me, anyway! – and once they started, more and more seemed to pop up where I thought there weren’t any more seeds.

Such are the surprises when you grow things from seed…

So, since I had a few sprouts growing, I decided to let them share bigger pots with my young brinjal plants. The eldest daisy plant displayed a tendency to fall over and spread out, which is what I wanted for those potted plants. I had planted the young brinjal plants in bigger pots, in anticipation of their needing space to grow. However, each time it rained, wet soil would splatter and coat the small brinjal plants. I wanted something to provide ground cover, but not overpower the brinjal plants, either. So the daisy seemed apt. Whether I’ve made the right decision remains to be seen. For now, though, the Dalhberg daisy plants are growing steadily, spreading out and starting to bud, and I can’t wait to see what they look like when they reach their full potential!

What’s inside a papaya flower

Posted on April 2, 2011 by CuriousG

The partially exposed papaya flower I found below the tree

My Red Lady papaya tree is still losing flowers. On the off-chance that it’s not just a mischievous pest that nibbles on the stems and causes the flowers to drop, I’ve been rotating a variety of fertilizers. However, the flowers still somehow end up on the ground.

Fully exposed, and you see what I think is the ovary of the papaya flower

I found one such fallen flower that had been partially eaten, probably by snails. What was interesting was that the inside was exposed, and there was what looked like a tiny fruit at the base of it.

I stripped away the remaining petals to find this rounded, radish-like thing inside – the flower’s ovary, I guess. What a shame to think that, given time, this would have grown into a big, ripe papaya.

And yes, I believe that it would have grown into a fruit because, based on the cylindrical shape of the flower buds, this is likely a hermaphrodite tree. So, no pollination from other trees would be necessary.

When will we have a complete countdown and have blastoff with these flowers?

Aphids on long bean plants

Posted on March 30, 2011 by CuriousG

Tight cluster of black aphids nursed by ants.

I’m beginning to get a sense of dread whenever I see excited ants clustered on my plants. First it was the black ants all agog over the mealy bug infestation on my fastest-growing Red Lady papaya tree. Yes, I know the insects secrete a kind of nectar that the ants enjoy, but I sure didn’t reciprocate the enjoyment at all. The infestation was so bad that I got rid of the plant just to get rid of the mealy bugs.

So, when I saw large orange ants (thankfully not kerenga fire ants) in a cluster along the stem of one of my long bean plants last week, my pulse rate faltered then sped up. What now? They were way more excited than they normally are when the plants begin to flower.

Up close and personal with black aphids. They're that fat because they've fed off sap from the plant stem. :(

Closer inspection revealed something black that had a very lumpy surface. I did not like that one bit. It turned out to be a colony of black aphids that seemed to like the home provided by the rough strands of the twine that the long bean stem was wound around, and that their food – the stem – was so close at hand. My protective streak overrode all else, and I got the insecticide and sprayed, carefully, the twine, so that it soaked up the liquid to make it less attractive to the aphids. The ants dispersed hurriedly once they got the scent, but the aphids just stayed there. Mindful that the plant does need other insects to come by to pollinate the flowers, I didn’t spray a lot, just hoping that the dose I’d given would make them lose interest, or at least die a slow, painful death.

Early the following day, I found that there were still some aphids left, so I mentally braced myself and removed the soft, squishy insects by hand. I did not enjoy that experience at all.

Little ladybug on the underside of a brinjal leaf

A few days later, there were a couple more clusters on the next vine. Again, I sprayed the twine.

Note to self: better stop using twine if it attracts aphids!

Again, the following day, I removed the remaining aphids by hand. While I was doing that, something caught my eye. I have a few potted brinjal plants growing just in front of the trellis. There, on the edge of the underside of one of the leaves, was a bright red dot … a ladybug!

This is the first time that the principle of beneficial insects coming to the garden because the pests (their food) are there has happened to me! At least, I assume it was there because of the aphids. I’ve been adding other flowering plants in the vicinity as an invitation to beneficial insects, but they’re not in full bloom yet. It had to be the aphids that brought it there, right?

I immediately put the insecticide aside. Hopefully, it won’t chase off the ladybug, or worse, harm it. Of course, this means I have to be hands-off where the aphids are concerned, and leave their management to the ladybug(s). If the ladybug was there because of the aphids then I can say I’ve never been so happy to have aphids around!

Beanie babies

Posted on March 28, 2011 by CuriousG

From little beans come yardlong beans!

My long bean plants seem happy – they’ve wound their way up the vertical supports, and I’ve been training them to grow onto the horizontal surfaces. The thing about these plants is that they just want to keep growing upwards, and they can sense there are higher surfaces around, and keep reaching for them. I foresee a constant battle with them on this issue. Somehow, I doubt they care that the higher things are big fruit trees and a shed roof; they’re just conditioned to grow higher and higher.

That said, I think I’ve done better this time with the higher trellis. It’s taller and has more growing area than the last one. I quite like the sight of the bean plant stems winding their way from ground to about 1.7 metres up, with the stalks of triple leaves poking out at regular intervals. As the growth gets thicker, I expect to see a nice vertical wall of green.

Over the past week, new growth has emerged from many of the leaf nodes, especially those higher up. Yup, it’s the flowers starting to form, and today I finally saw the first bean babies! As last year, the beans appeared in pairs (I’d love to have those that appear in bunches!), looking very much like some kind of super hero rearing up and roaring – as they should, because these tiny, less than 2cm long beans have the potential to grow 3,000% to 60cm or more. Wow. I can’t wait to eat these fresh from the garden and not have to buy them to eat them!

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