Pruning marigolds at Walkway Bed

 Marigolds

At Walkway Bed, 15 marigolds were planted close and compact with diagonal orientation. They grew very tall, coming to three feet. I was discussing with Kakdah one morning about putting the height down a little...... They had become too tall and leggy, with occasional gust of strong winds around here, they swayed too much, and I am afraid they will collapse one day.

Then with a cutter each, we go on pruning the marigolds. We cut a foot off at the central stem. The smell of marigold leaves is very peculiar; sweet, raw and heavy. The point we cut, has lot of little shoots at every nodes, So I guess these little shoots will spring into action in no time. Now we are looking at marigolds with mixed feelings.... How will they handle life with the new "hair crop"..... Are we being too cruel to marigolds?.

cut

cut

the new look of marigold bush
at Walkway Bed.



Has anybody tried pruning marigolds before?

Cheers,
~bangchik and kakdah
Putrajaya, MALAYSIA.

Vegetable bed with spinach, celosia and marigolds

I just thought, grouping these plants together in a bed, is an approach towards self supporting gardening. The aggregate of strength and weaknesses of each will sum up to a positive benefit. I am not too sure, but so far so good. Spinach has been pulled out from time to time for dinner. Celosia is about to end. But marigolds are still growing, and on this bed batas walkway there is no sign of blooming yet while another cluster at the upper end of vegetable bed is painting lovely orange dots all over.

celosia

spinach

spinach

the three,
celosia, spinach and marigolds

marigolds
three short rows, running diagonally across the bed.

We call the bed,
Batas walkway.

Today I found three snails. One big snail almost as big as my fist was still sniffing at our baby veggies in pots. At around 7.30 am, I would think it was a bit far too late for the night out..... The second one was seen crawling on the dry yard, and the third one which was small, happily perched on top of these marigolds looking for young shoots I think. The day before, I put snail poison pellets at several strategic place and I guessed the survivors went on rampaging for a killing spree. Poor snails, I picked them up, put at the side of our compost heap and stepped on them before I got back into the house, ready to go to office.

It is not easy to share the garden with pests.

Walkway bed: sharing space.

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

Marigolds, payback time.

The days of peanuts are over when we pull them out.... On one nice weekend Kakdah served home made boiled peanuts [kacang rebus locally known]. ..... We didnt wait too long and had the empty space filled with marigolds. It is really a payback time for having lost lots of marigolds to snails the last month or so..... We are now drawing guns with snails.... no bullets but just purplish poison baits.

Fifteen marigolds. Three rows of green spinach. Two rows of red spinach. And a blooming celosia in the centre...

Early June 2009

Mid June 2009
Our mulch, thin layer of dry grass

Green spinach,
just sprouting in the same bed.
They really need some thinning....

Peanuts dancing with flowers

Sixteen peanuts are growing nicely within Batas Walkway.... But on Kakdah insistence, I inserted one plant in the middle and now is blooming. The way peanuts are growing, with lots of branches and weak stems, they really dance with the wind. The flowering plant in the middle creates a focal feature. Keen gardener would probably remember the name of that blooming plant, but I cant. Growing flowering plants is my new adventure, therefore not many click in the mind.

photo
was taken very early in the morning, thus giving flower a darker tone

the little yellow flower
at the top right corner belongs to peanuts!

A review of our Batas Walkway

Batas Walkway

A little section, just about 4 by 7 and its a metre away from the pedestrian walkway. The soil is fairly sandy here. We plan it to be like this. We just name this little section as Batas Walkway or Walkway Bed in English.

This sketch was done sometime in March... We were committed with it, and the bed was prepared. We were so disheartened when none of the seeds germinate in little pots. We were lucky when seeds strewn onto the soil germinated. Marigolds among others. We were playing hide and seek with snails over marigolds. We lost most of them to snails. The recently bought poison baits pallets proved very effective in controlling the overflowing appetite of snails. Whats left of marigolds are free to grow, not here where it was earlier planned, but over on other batas or bed, where tomatoes were once blooming and fruiting...

Only peanuts remain as the only surviving mascots for Batas Walkway and another blooming plant.

is this celosia plumosa?

So, shall we agree that even the greatest idea and plan will need some adjustment as we move along implementing them.... haha...