The Curious Gardener | Gardening discoveries in Singapore

Snail tales

Posted on February 3, 2013 by CuriousG

A garden snail in one of the usual haunts, the spider lily plant patch.

It’s time to talk about garden snails.

Yes, I usually rant about them, but last week when I was out checking on my plants, I felt a bit bad when I realized how many empty snail shells were scattered about. There were several clustered in the leaves of the spider lily plants, that had probably sought refuge in the shady and normally succulent leaves. I guess the start of the dry monsoon season cut down their food sources and they had no choice but to starve and die out. Even the lawn has been drying out rapidly. So for once, my sympathies lay with the garden snails.

If we get these changes that affect the snails so badly, then why do there seem to be so many of them around?

Well, once in a while, I come across a cluster of tiny, round eggs laid under bricks or potted plants out in the garden.

Yes, under.

Did you realize that snails are able to burrow in loose soil? I didn’t until I saw one half buried in one of my planters. I thought it was dead, but it wasn’t!

You probably won’t be able to identify them, so I’ve helpfully circled the baby snails in this photo.

So, this is why my fellow organic veggie gardeners and I occasionally find a whole “plantation” of seedlings or young plants wiped out mysteriously, almost overnight. It’s because there are dastardly snails literally lurking in the soil.

Who’d believe that?

Well here’s more…

Today I was doing a little “housekeeping”. When my potted plants die out, I tend to stack up the unused pots – with soil inside – in bigger pots, waiting for new plants to occupy them. When I moved one small pot, I saw a cluster of little round things that I assumed were snail eggs. I was half-right. They were actually baby snails hiding under the smaller pot! By then time I wandered back with the camera, they had already started scattering in search of somewhere dark and cool. These things are garden ninjas, I tell you! They’re quiet and fast, and deadly to some of our plants…

Rooting the okra plant in water

Posted on January 27, 2013 by CuriousG

As you know from my last post, my burgundy okra plants have been having a streak of bad luck. There’s only one currently growing in the ground, with two more attempting to get their second and third winds in a safe place near the house. One is growing in potted media, while the other is sitting in a small bottle of water. After about a week, this is what the latter looks like:

Just look at those lovely roots that have been growing in water over the last week!

Isn’t it somehow comforting to see how plants have such a strong survival instinct? I had only planned on letting the cutting sit in water overnight, but forgot about it. Luckily I remembered about it, because the water had just about evaporated when I found it!

A closer look at the roots that developed in water.

When this baby grows at least another two pairs of leaves, I’ll put it back out in the garden where I hope it will be able to grow undisturbed until it has lived a proper, long life.

The burgundy okra trials

Posted on January 20, 2013 by CuriousG

This is the third time this has happened with this crop of burgundy okra:

The top half of one of my young burgundy okra plants

In fact, this is the second time this has happened to this particular plant.

It being the rainy season here at the moment, means that the snails are out in full force in our garden. I haven’t complained here much, but I have been at war with the snails over the last couple of months. I thought that planting out my young plants after hardening them off would help, but that has not been the case.

I had three burgundy okra plants – precious because they were from the last of my seeds from Novice Gardener. They were over 20cm tall when I planted them out. By the second day, one plant had disappeared completely, and another had been eaten at the base of the plant. Needless to say, I was horrified to see the top half of the stem lying on the ground!

Looking at the base of the broken plant stem, I thought that it couldn’t hurt to get it into water and see if it could grow new roots

Fortunately, it had been a cool day and the top half of that plant hadn’t wilted much. I figured it could have a fighting chance at rooting again, so I got it into a small pot that I watered heavily, then thought better of things and found a small container that the pot would fit nicely into, and made myself a makeshift self-watering container.

To help the plant a little more, I pruned all but two leaves and made sure that the reservoir didn’t dry out. Within two weeks, the cutting had started growing new leaves and had roots poking out from the bottom of the pot, reaching into the water below. Happily, I planted it out.

Self-watering containers are very useful when you can’t afford to let a plant’s growing media dry out. Here, I’ve settled the base of the pot into an old ice cream cup. When the cup has water in it, the pot won’t tip over. Making sure that the two containers fit securely also means that mosquitoes can’t get in and lay eggs.

In the meantime, a second incident happened to the other plant. One of my dogs was attracted to the scent of the fertilizer I had used, and went digging around the plant, damaging the stem and forcing me to once again cut off the top half to root in water.

The first rescued plant was planted in its place, and I was satisfied that I would still have three plants when all was said and done.

However, the snails decided to shake my sense of security by attacking the replanted plant, and that poor plant is now sitting in water again. I guess this is a sign to me to keep these plants in pots that are well surrounded by snail bait. Thank goodness they root so easily.

Sunflower seeds a-forming

Posted on January 17, 2013 by CuriousG

The giant Mongolian sunflower in full bloom – happily, the flower grew bigger as the days went by. As you can see, there were definitely insects up there, spreading pollen around – during the day, bees were seen, and in the evenings (and presumably during the night), beetles took over.

The giant Mongolian sunflower bloomed for over a week, then began to bow its head after all the disc flowers had finished blooming. Eventually, the top of the plant began to resemble a huge shower-head as the flower drooped even more.

Another hatch of hairy caterpillars practically demolished one of the top leaves before being spotted, and I had to climb up on a ladder to get rid of them. While I was up there, something caught my eye…

The sunflower looking as if it was completely drained of energy, but there was definitely something still going on in there...

The sunflower looked as if it was completely drained of energy, but there was definitely something still going on in there…

As I looked closely at the sunflower, I noticed something very interesting just at the edge of the green bracts…

Look below the green bracts… Do you see the seeds forming there? They’re big!

Seeds! Do you see the seeds? Nice, shiny white-gray seeds!

Yes, I am excited! It always thrills me to see something for the first time.

These photos were taken a week ago, and the bracts and outer petals have closed up more, hiding the seeds from view. I’m planning on harvesting the seeds, so I am watching the back of the flower, waiting until it starts to turn yellow. Some of the seeds will be kept for future planting, but we’re going to use the rest for snacks. It looks like it will be a decent harvest!

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