harvest...

I still haven't watered my plants for obvious reasons: 

1) It's been predicted to rain the next few days. 

2) The weather's been cool. Definitely not a sweltering hot summer here. No need to drown my plants. 

A vast difference from the glorious week we spent in Provence and Cote d' Azur where temperature was always a pleasant 27 deg, dry and breezy. 

When we came home, we found some fruits/veg ready for harvesting. My mom always tells me to snip off dried leaves, wilting flowers and of course, in this case, fruits that are harvest ready. In that way, the nutrients in the soil will be used effectively for the other buds to bloom and thus yielding more fruits. No books there... just some wise words from someone who used to spend her free time in her youth working in a pineapple plantation - definitely not her favourite pastime though. 

The kids and the crops

an experiment in botany...

Question: Will a plant survive when all its leaves are snipped off? 

Before I left for our road trip to Provence, I snipped off the leaves on one of my rose plants. Well, I wasn't exactly doing this for the sake of a scientific experiment, rather there were too many aphids growing on it and I had to chop off the leaves since the pesticide did not work. 

When I came back late last night, rather in the earlier hours today, the first thing I did was to check my balcony of plants that have gone without water since July 5th! (I still haven't watered them this afternoon.) To my surprise, this was what I saw on my rose plant: 

Of course, the picture was taken much later today. It was pitch dark when we came home.

See the young leaves shoots? 

Hey, my rose did not die! 

Now I'm waiting for Lilian to report on her pea plant. Read her post here. 

P/S. Sarah, I don't think I'll try for a spice garden in Sg. The reason why I'm so into gardening here is that I don't have to water my plants every day, nor do I have to check the water on the dish below the flower pots. The flower boxes come with soil which is fertile with pollens from the Botanical Gardens in my backyard, and the plants don't require water every day. They are sort of out in the open! So even when I'm off on vacation, I don't have to bother anyone to help me water my plants. That's why gardening is made easy here! ;) 

of greens, reds and purples...

This will be my last year of gardening. In the beginning, I was overwhelmed by the lavish space for flowers. I really didn't know what to do. We moved in November 2005, and that winter was long and hard. Most of the flower boxes were buried by snow for most part of the winter. But once spring arrived, I was pulling out weeds almost every week. That was when I was "called" to put some plants into the flower boxes.

So here they are... I'm missing them already. I won't be able to move them back to Singapore. And the next tenant will probably "murder" them all. Sniff! Though most of the plants won't survive the winter, my poor lavender and roses perhaps won't live to see the next spring.

Self-harvesting some lavender for the guest bathroom...

ms bean next to Palmengarten...

Hee, I've been inspired by Lilian's post. The question she asks is really quite intriguing, but I guess I can't just sacrifice Kristin's seedlings for an experiment. Hers are doing pretty well since early April.

Oh... I just remember what my mom told me: Don't nip off the shoot though.

Lilian: If you put Sean's seedling here on my balocny, I bet it'll still thrive even without leaves! I told you before, anything and everything grows. I spent two years to get rid of my mint, which, by the way, I tried to eradicate by pulling out leaves, roots and all but somehow some little bits of it were left in the soil and they infested my flower boxes like weeds for two years! They even managed to "strangle" my sage!

first fruits...

I never thought I'd actually like gardening, but with the botanic gardens of Frankfurt in my backyard, it's hard to resist the calling!

When we moved in, our whole patio was surrounded by ready soil in flower boxes! And this soil - I tell you - is so fertile - what with all the pollens swept from the botanic gardens (Palmengarten) - that anything and everything thrives. Else, I would be pulling out weeds on a weekly basis, and the flower boxes will be flooded after a storm. So I was "called" to plant! And gee, I really enjoy it! I don't mean to claim that I have green fingers, but to have my lavenders and roses surviving two winters, it's quite a satisfaction! Of course, for a start, I did fervently choose plants that are easier to care for. Personally, I love lavenders. It's little wonder that my children have learnt to identify these bushes at an early age. In fact, it was pretty impressive when a not yet 3-year-old Bryan stood in front of a painting from the Impressionistic era, exclaiming, "Wow! Mommy, look at those beautiful lavenders!" That did make a few jaws drop!

This year, we've got quite an assortment for our "garden" : tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, rosemary, daisies, rain daisies, carnations, kalanchoe, gernanium, campunala, chrysanthemum etc! Not forgetting our lavenders and roses - still thriving!