Triumph of the watermelon plant

Mealybugs wreaking havoc on the watermelon plant. That's not them in the background, though; the white things on the ground are part of the potting mix.

Mealybugs wreaking havoc on the watermelon plant. That’s not them in the background, though; the white things on the ground are part of the potting mix.

If you remember, I started growing a couple of watermelon plants several months ago, just to see if the fruits could grow here. The plants have gone through a few ups and downs, probably because they’re new to our garden and the regular critters were curious about them.

First there was the aphid infestation that I thought would kill off the plants. Then the mealybugs came. From having a pair of healthy-looking vines spilling out from a large pot, we went to spindly stems hanging over the rim of the pot, with average looking vines growing on the lawn and plants surrounding the pot.

The plants are tenacious, I’ll give them that. The main stems in the pot have sprouted new growth each time – although that’s still a yo-yo of a battle – and the stems around the pot are still meandering here and there, causing a bit of a headache because we daren’t cut the grass too close to them in case we accidentally sever the stems. In fact, I was having a conversation earlier today with my mum about how wild parts of the garden are looking, when I saw…

From a distance - do you see what I see?

From a distance – do you see what I see?

…the first watermelon fruit!

Our first baby watermelon!

Our first baby watermelon!

Oh yes indeedy, it is the first sighted fruit growing, and it’s already about an inch wide! Of course it’s not guaranteed that it will grow to term, but I’ve finally got my answer that yes, it looks like watermelons can grow here!

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The re-sprouting papaya tree

The neatly cut papaya tree stump. Just look at that nice, straight cut across the top - all from swings of the parang. Neat, isn't it?

The neatly cut papaya tree stump. Just look at that nice, straight cut across the top – all from swings of the parang.

Back in July, I decided to put one of our Red Lady papaya trees out of its misery. It had not been growing well and was constantly infested with mealy bugs. Since it was also about 4 to 5 metres high, it was not easy to treat it, and it made more sense to rid the garden of an unhealthy plant.

Culling it was easier than I expected. The trunk of the papaya tree is soft and pithy, and it took only about half an hour to not only chop the tree down, but to also cut it into smaller lengths for disposal – all with a simple parang or machete. I was also quite impressed with my cutting skills, so I left about half a metre of the stump to be able to admire the nicely lopped top.

One of the new stems growing from the stump.

One of the new stems growing from the stump.

About a month later, I noticed a few spots of green appearing on the stump. It was growing new stems! I was so fascinated by the baby leaves, which I had last seen when the plants had started growing from seeds.

The stump continued to grow several new stems, and I was intrigued, because I wasn’t sure whether this variety could do so, and if it would become a fruit-bearing plant again.

Two months later, the stems were this big.

Two months after chopping down the tree, the stems were this big.

Then, because there were several stems, and because I can be very curious, I decided to break off a couple of the stems and see if they could grow from cuttings.

As with all cuttings, I snipped off the older leaves and kept the younger leaves before potting the stems.

papaya cutting1

The cutting when I first potted it. I kept only the new, youngest leaves.

One died, possibly from overwatering, but the other is still apparently alive. I don’t see any roots growing, so it could be sustaining itself with whatever stored food/energy within its stem. It may take several months more to know whether this will work or not.

The same cutting after 2 months - the leaves seem to be maturing, and new ones appear to be developing - but I still see no sign of roots growing (yes, I pull it up once in a while to check).

The same cutting after 2 months – the leaves seem to be maturing, and new ones appear to be developing – but I still see no sign of roots growing (yes, I pull it up once in a while to check).

In the meantime, the other stems on the stump are continuing to grow. The middle of the trunk is rotting away, though. It looks very crater-like as the soft centre alternately gets wet in this weather and is “cleaned up” by snails, and is getting deeper and deeper. I don’t know if it will rot to the extent that the plant will die off or not, which is why I’m experimenting with the cuttings. After all, I know this is a hermaphrodite tree, which means it doesn’t need pollination from a male tree, which makes it more valuable to me. I don’t have any more viable seeds, and the last few attempts at doing another mass order at the GCS forum didn’t have enough takers (the minimum purchase of seeds has too many seeds for the home gardener in Singapore and is also rather expensive, so it’s wiser to do a group purchase), so I had given up on the idea of getting more seeds and just keep our last 6 metre tree until it falls over.

stump sprouts

The papaya stump looking rather bushy now with several stems maturing on it.

The stump currently has several more stems that I’m eyeing as potential new plant cuttings. I think I will leave just two stems to grow on it, if it survives. Any more than that and I think it would be too crowded to grow in the space. Since the papaya tree seems to be a rather slow-growing plant, I’m going to have to be patient to see what happens next.

© 2013 curiousgardener.com All rights reserved.


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Toad hideaways

As a child, I associated the word “toadstool” with the image of a toad cosily sheltered under a nice, wide-brimmed mushroom. Of course, the fact that you’re supposed to sit on a stool didn’t matter to me then – it was just the picture of it that I liked.

Fast-forward to the current day, and the equivalent of toad shelter is much different. Not too long ago, there was the resident under a tilted box. This week, I discovered another toad haven – under the large bag that the half ton of compost, mostly finished up, arrived in.

As we used up the compost, we had folded the edges of the bag downwards to get to the compost right in the corners. That created a few pockets and folds that I knew snails would probably find their way in to. I certainly did not expect to find a toad, though!

In this impromptu race between the toad and the snail, the snail won because it took a headstart!

In this impromptu race between the toad and the snail, the snail won because it took a headstart!

I discovered the warty visitor when I decided to shake the last bit of compost out of the bag. It was when I was unfolding it – which is not as easy as it sounds because the bag in BIG and the material, a little stiff – when I suddenly saw a big fat toad sitting on the bag in front of me, looking rather stunned at suddenly being in bright sunlight. I think I may have jostled it a bit when I was moving the bag around as well, the poor thing. It was shocked enough to not move for almost 5 minutes, giving me ample time to get the camera and take some photos. Even the snail that I also uncovered next to it got away faster than it! It looked so shocked that I took pity on it and shifted the bag so it was again sheltered from the sun.

That was when I saw the second toad. It was smaller than the first – just a juvenile, I’d say. Rather than traumatize them more, I decided to leave the bag there until it got dark. The toads would have to find other nooks to hide in the next day…

The younger toad looking worried that its shelter would be ripped away. It wasn't. Then.

The younger toad looking worried that its shelter would be ripped away. It wasn’t. Then.

Just to put this into a little more context, I should mention that this bag was sitting right next to the compost heap, which is quite rich in life. There are various insects as well as worms, and I guess it’s a smorgasboard for creatures like the toads. Unfortunately for them, I will be reducing such areas in the garden in the near future, so they will probably migrate again to the areas where the compost will be then. After all, in nature, creatures go to the food sources.

I can’t remember what book I read, about having areas in your garden to attract beneficial creatures, but it did include a point about having a pile of rocks – or was it sticks? – as a hideaway for toads. It looks like they will just find somewhere suitable and set up home.

© 2013 curiousgardener.com All rights reserved.


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Secret seedlings

This happens to the best and the worst of those of us who grow plants from seeds (and I know who will be nodding vigorously on reading this post).

We gardeners start our seeds in pots or other containers indoors so we can keep an eye on them and give them “safe” conditions to germinate in before we plant them out in the great outdoors …except that there are times when we sow the seeds and nothing happens. We watch and we wait, keeping the soil moist and the pots in bright and warm locations, and after weeks of seeing no activity, we may conclude that the seeds were not viable and decide to use the same pots to start new plants. After all, gardeners like to recycle, right?

Then, when the new plants have started growing – horror of horrors – something germinates next to it and you realize you don’t know what it might be because you’ve replaced the old label with a new one for the new plant.

Sound familiar? :)

The first mystery sprout that popped up next to the young pumpkin plant

The first mystery sprout next to the young pumpkin plant.

Well, this has happened to me twice in the last month. I had sown a selection of different seeds in recycled cardboard toilet roll tubes, planning to do another of my easy transplants when they had grown one or two sets of true leaves, only to have several tubes remain barren for almost two months.

Give me some credit – I gave them lots of time to germinate.

Then, when I had my worry about the pumpkin vine needing more siblings to help with pollination, I used two of the “barren” rolls to start new pumpkin plants in. Those germinated within days, and I was satisfied. However, as one of the plants neared transplant stage, a new sprout appeared next to it! With my luck, it was a cucurbitaceae – and you know how all of them have the same kind of leaves…

Surprise, surprise – I can boast here a little, because now that I have some experience under my belt, I could identify the sprout as a bittergourd plant. How did I manage that stroke of genius? Well, there are plants that emit the scent of the fruit they bear when you bruise their leaves, and gently pinching the true leaf of the sprout gave off the unmistakeable smell of bittergourd.

So that was one mystery solved. I transplanted the bittergourd sprout to a recycled cup that had been vacant of plants for some time. I chose it because it was bigger and deeper than any of my other vacant pots at the moment, and it already had soil in it, which made the transplant easy.

Wouldn’t you know it, over a week later, something else started growing in that pot, next to the bittergourd plant, and it didn’t give me any clues as to its true cucurbitceae identity like the helpful bittergourd plant did. It’s not cucumber, snake gourd or bittergourd – I know those three give off their respective distinctive scents – which leaves me to wonder if I’ve finally got a winter melon plant on my hands? I have been going through my stock of seeds rather unsuccessfully over the last few months, and thought that the seeds were not viable any more.

I'm not a fan of unidentified cucurbitaceae sprouts. Their leaves look the same to me! This could be a winter melon, but it could also be a marrow - although I'm fairly certain I didn't sow any recently. Argh.

I’m not a fan of unidentified cucurbitaceae sprouts. Their leaves look the same to me! This could be a winter melon, but it could also be a marrow – although I’m fairly certain I didn’t sow any recently. Argh.

This is also one of those times when I’m happy to have my photo library to look through, because I can look for distinctive characteristics of the young plants that I may not have noticed when they were growing earlier. I’d say the possibility that this is a winter melon is quite high, but I’ll know for sure when the fruits appear. If I manage to get the plant that far. Let’s see.

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