Starting a garden

[jimeve]

2 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

We have a lot of mozzies in morning and evening. So I have been burning coils starting at 6am and again at 4pm. It would be good to be rid of them naturally, if possible...

 The only way I know how to get rid of them is go around the yard and make sure there aren't any stagnant water.

Your Filipino  neighbors should know this and do the same. No water, no mozzies.

[Tommy T.]

35 minutes ago, jimeve said:

 The only way I know how to get rid of them is go around the yard and make sure there aren't any stagnant water.

Your Filipino  neighbors should know this and do the same. No water, no mozzies.

That's a great thought, Jim... I understand the concept.... However it has been difficult to police this since there has been torrential rain virtually every day or night now for over two months... Even now, at 2pm  thunder is growling and a storm is brewing...

The Filipino neighbours simply light leaf fires in the afternoons to try to mitigate the mozzies. So I guess I will just have to keep lighting coils for a while longer?

 

[hk blues]

1 hour ago, jimeve said:

 The only way I know how to get rid of them is go around the yard and make sure there aren't any stagnant water.

Your Filipino  neighbors should know this and do the same. No water, no mozzies.

Yes.  Our problem is that whilst we don't have stagnant water in the garden, right outside there is an open drain from the neighbour's terrace to the street drain - needless to say it doesn't drain effectively.  We do clear it every day (note WE, not THEY!) - this attracts the pesky things.  Our neighbour never use the outside area so they don't really notice/care but I like to. 

[jimeve]

21 hours ago, hk blues said:

Yes.  Our problem is that whilst we don't have stagnant water in the garden, right outside there is an open drain from the neighbour's terrace to the street drain - needless to say it doesn't drain effectively.  We do clear it every day (note WE, not THEY!) - this attracts the pesky things.  Our neighbour never use the outside area so they don't really notice/care but I like to. 

I pour bleach down the drains since I saw some wrigglers (mozzie lava) I also put smoke coil outside the front entrance, they seem to get in side from there.

[Tommy T.]

As I stated before, our gardening is producing mixed results...

The season changed with the monsoon last week and we are not seeing torrential, stormy rains every day or night now. So we think maybe we can plant some things and not have them washed out regularly.

L pulled up what there was of pechay due to insects eating them. I recently received some diatomaceous earth and will apply that to a growing mound and we will try again.

Globe onions, garlic and cucumbers were mostly a bust. Today I planted more cucumbers to see if they will really grow.

But the real winners are the wing beans and tomatoes.

The wing bean plants grow almost like weeds...wonderful! We almost can't harvest them fast enough. And we planted more last week!

I harvested this batch today and tomorrow there will be almost as much.

L had some tomatoes that were really good and she let some go to seed. We planted them and they are doing great!

So many things were washed out in the daily torrential rains and it was demoralizing. So we are trying again now that the weather has moderated.

We planted grass seed a few months ago and that, too, washed away for the most part. We had some left so we are trying that again too.

Now the biggest issue is actual lack of rain, so we are watering plants and grass heavily usually more than once daily because the sun's heat is so intense...

Edit:

I forgot to add that I planted more cucumbers today and also corn, daicon and carrots. None of these really flourished before so now they will have a second chance... If they don't succeed this time, then we will move on and continue to try other crops.

We had some squash before, as earlier reported, and those plants have finally died off. L recently planted some sweet potato and it is looking robust so far...

I started some lemon trees from seeds of a tasty lemon and L started a few avocado plants. For me, it is wonderful to start new things growing that likely will outlast me... I love to see growth!

Edited June 24, 2021 by Tommy T.

[graham59]

Bananas from our garden... nicely ripened... still more on the plant from this bunch. 

.Also, a wonderful garden asset (my Flymo hover mower) put in the balikbayan box by my son in the UK...arrived a few days ago. 

Edited June 24, 2021 by graham59

[Tommy T.]

6 hours ago, graham59 said:

Bananas from our garden... nicely ripened... still more on the plant from this bunch. 

Graham... you will be so tired of bananas soon! L brought four table banana plants from a friend and they are growing quickly... so we, too, will enjoy and then give a lot away.

We also have a volunteer papaya growing and now have seeds for Pink Lady papaya too. Now the "problem" is, where do we plant all these things. Yes, we have a fairly large yard, but it is filling up with all these plants.

[Mike J]

44 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

Graham... you will be so tired of bananas soon! L brought four table banana plants from a friend and they are growing quickly... so we, too, will enjoy and then give a lot away.

We also have a volunteer papaya growing and now have seeds for Pink Lady papaya too. Now the "problem" is, where do we plant all these things. Yes, we have a fairly large yard, but it is filling up with all these plants.

If you have not already, you will want to plant calamansi and also avocado. 

[Tommy T.]

17 minutes ago, Mike J said:

If you have not already, you will want to plant calamansi and also avocado. 

We have not planted calamansi, but rather lemon and also lime trees (the "real" lime trees that will hopefully bear the big, green limes). We have three avocado trees in the ground also. Another friend of L has lovely avocados so we planted those...

[Mike J]

1 minute ago, Tommy T. said:

We have not planted calamansi, but rather lemon and also lime trees (the "real" lime trees that will hopefully bear the big, green limes). We have three avocado trees in the ground also. Another friend of L has lovely avocados so we planted those...

Sounds great, I hope the trees bear fruit.  We tried orange, lemon, and lime trees.  None worked out.  I miss real limes.  You can buy lemons in the store but I have not seen limes.