A month or so ago, this bed was flourished by peanuts. They were gone, replaced by marigolds, a surviving celosia, and rows of green and red spinach. Because the bed is so close to the pedestrian walkway, we just call the bed Walkway Bed.
The soil is rock hard, 8 inches down. So we just be happy with small plants without deep penetrating main roots. Marigolds are definitely surviving, winning the war with snails and slugs. Thanks to the poison pellets. But without occasional encounter with slugs, something is missing in the ruralness of our little vegetable garden. I miss snails trail on the walkway.....
marigolds
3 short rows of red spinach
3 short rows of green spinach
celosia blooms very much visible
celosia is self seeding now..,
I pick 10 seedlings and place them in little pots.
Soon the second generation celosia will be planted.
I am still thinking
where?
and what arrangement?
to treat these little seedlings of celosia.
ptr1341
Good morning!! your marigolds look so happy-- keep the slugs away! I have seen snails and slugs eat marigolds....even though they are not supposed to. (maybe they didn't read the book) Have celosia selfseeding all over in my front garden---for over ten years.
ReplyDeleteIt so happen that snails love marigolds more, and eat them..
ReplyDeleteBut this selfseeding thing is very interesting... Spinach is really prolific, after a year, even when we dont grow spinach in between, self seeding still occur. Seeds just stay quiet in the soil, and wait for the right moment to sprout... What a surviving skill these plants have... Seeds shoulder the responsibility to keep legacy shining... Cheers, ~ bangchik
Our soil is hard and clayey. Do you buy earth to mix into the clayey soil?Or you just grow the hardy , non fussy plants in those tough areas?
ReplyDeleteI'm also at war with the slugs and am using the pellets - they do seem to work for a couple of weeks. Red lettuce is supposed to keep slugs away, too.
ReplyDeleteHi Bangchik & KakDah,
ReplyDeleteThe celosia blooms are really vibrant in colour!
For your questions on where to get the mulberry plants in Klang Valley, I got one of my mulberry plants from the Bandar Harapan Organic Farm in Ara Damansara. You can contact Ivan Ho at 019-3751382 or Saktivelu at 012-3331341 or visit their website on how to get to the farm: http://www.bandarharapan.org/bandarharapan/location_map.html
Or try to contact Danny (Mobile: 016-2785961) who has a plant booth on Sundays at Amcorp Mall. Ask him if he has this plant. He sells many kind of herbs at his booth.
> Keats The Sunshine Girl
ReplyDelete> JGH
> J.C.
I really turn the soil over and over before planting. Yeah, I mix with other soil as well.... humus and poultry pellets
JGH, its lively with snails around, but they have to go when marigolds around... sad.
JC.., thanks, I am really interested. I will check that out.
~ bangchik
It is great to be able to follow a crop with something else especially flowers.
ReplyDelete> Joanne
ReplyDeleteThanks. After a while, we want to see fresh things, flowers, different arrangement, playing around with concepts etc, etc... and textbooks always mention about crop rotation. So there we go...
Cheers
~ bangchik