My mini carrots harvest

I have been so busy and lazy in the past 3 months, that I didn't get around to posting anything on here!

Busy, being a parent helper at my kid's school, and attending weekly free art classes at a local community centre, as well as working on a series of artworks for the end of year group exhibition!

Lazy... to type up new blog entry. :P

Anyway, I have decided yesterday to dig up the mini carrots that I have planted almost 5 months ago from seedlings! I would have left them in the soil for a bit longer if it's not because they, or the self-watering container they were in, were attracting too many ngats!! A few of the carrot leaf stalks seemed to be drying out as well!

I managed to harvest 8 decent sized mini carrots out of the 10+ seedlings I planted. Though, all of them weren't as long as the shop bought ones, but they were just as wide, around a little finger size. I guess it was due to a mistake I made early on by not watering from the top, and was relying on the self-watering container to do its job; watering from the bottom. :( Not too sure if they would grow to be longer if left in the soil for a longer period.

Propagating Jade Plant Leaf Cuttings

Over the past month or so, I have read on various websites, forums and blogs how easy it is (though a little slow) to propagate Jade Plant cuttings. So, since my parents have a few Jade Plants over at their place, I have decided to try propagating a few leaf cuttings myself!

After taking several leaf cuttings fallen from my parents' plants, I let them sit inside a plastic cup without any water or soil for around a week, before I did anything with them. It was mainly due to my laziness, which turned out to be a good thing! As many had said that the cuttings should be left out of direct sunlight, without much watering, to let the cut ends dry out for around a week to seal the cut and prevent it from rotting. I later let them sit on the surface of some damp soil and left them there without any further watering!

Started with around 13 Jade Plant leaf cuttings

I checked the leaf cuttings every week or so to see if roots have developed. And today, after around one month since I left them on the soil, 7 out of the 13 or so leaf cuttings have developed roots! Yeah! :D I would have to plant them into some cacti & succulent potting mix very soon!

After around one month, 7 leaf cuttings developed roots!

Over the past month or so, I had to throw away a few leaf cuttings that rotted or was showing signs of rot. I now have only 3 leaf cuttings that haven't shown signs of anything yet. Hopefully, they will develop roots soon too!

My half dead Anthurium plants

Since my last update on my Anthurium plants, they haven't really recovered from the Thrips attack. :(

Out of the three plants I have, the biggest one still have adult thrips on its leaves, even though we are now approaching mid-winter!

Hoping this largest one can survive through winter! :(

The good news is that, surprisingly, the other 2 smaller plants are bringing out new leaf shoots...... but in winter?!

This one brought out new shoots before but the thrips got to them before they uncurl!
Hoping this time it would be healthier.

 

This smallest one has a new leaf uncurling as well as another leaf shoot next to it!

Last winter, my Anthuriums were sleeping in the newly bought mini greenhouse, but this winter, the mini greenhouse has been taken over by my new veggie patch. May be it's time for me to get another mini greenhouse, and this time a 3 tier one instead!

My balcony veggie patch!

It's been more than 3 weeks since I bought the Rockets & Brussels Sprouts seedlings, and all these time they were living in their original tiny containers as I haven't got around to get them their own self-watering planter box!
 

 
After 3 weeks in their small containers, their leaves have started to turn yellow and are starting to fall. So, I couldn't delay their transplantation any longer and have to get moving even when it was approaching mid-winter with the weather getting cold, windy and wet! I planned to pick the Rockets leaves quite frequently, so have decided to plant all the Rockets seedlings into the one planter box, and the Brussels Sprouts will be in another. They are now living inside my mini greenhouse together with my Baby Carrots and Spring Onions.

While I was getting extra potting mix for these seedlings, I decided to get another 2 kinds of salad leaves to join my balcony: Mizuna & Baby Spinach! I also planned to pick their leaves for salad regularly, so have planted both Mizuna and the Baby Spinach into one planter box!

I read on wiki that Mizuna is "highly resistant to cold and grown extensively during winter months in Japan." I thought to myself, "perfect timing to plant them then and I won't have to worry about leaving them unprotected on my cold & windy balcony!" But then I also read that their growth is "vigorous"... Oh dear! the mizuna might suffocate the baby spinach that are in the same container! LOL. I guess I will wait and see if I need to relocate the baby spinach elsewhere later.

Mini Bunny Rug

I first attempted to knit a bunny rug last year with some soft fluffy yarn. As a new knitter who only know how to knit and purl before this project, I had to learn a number of new knitting techniques like how to increase stitches by knitting front and back, as well as "make one". I also had to find out how to add stitches in front of a knitted row, and how to decrease at the beginning of a row. It was all good until I DROPPED A STITCH...

My gosh! It was so hard trying to find the dropped stitch amongst all those fluff!! I ended up pulling out all the stitches in frustration and decided to try a crochet version instead, but it was still too hard for me to see where I should put my crochet hook into amongst the fluff! I had no choice but to give up on using this yarn and try something else which was much easier for me to work with.

I was quite pleased when I found a bamboo & cotton blend yarn from the same local craft store that comes in several nice colour mix. It was much easier working with this yarn and I was able to whip up a crocheted bunny rug in no time! :)

For the bunny head, I used Crest-a-lon fibre filling which is supposed to be "resilient, washable & non-allergic". It was a little tricky trying to embroider the eyes and nose on to the crocheted face.

My very first crocheted bunny rug.

A new bunny rug completed last night.

I have also bought the blue mix of the same bamboo/cotton blend yarn and would try it out with the same crocheted bunny rug pattern when I'm done with my dozen or so WIP. :P

Which bunny rug do you think looks better; the red/orange mix or the pink/green mix?

Spring Onions do grow fast!

I am not a spring onion person. I just don't like the taste, but I have decided to plant 2 spring onion ends last week, so that on the rare occasion I need a small amount in my cooking, I won't have to buy a big bunch from the shop! I am amazed at how quick and easy they grow!

The little carrot seedlings seem to like their new home inside my mini greenhouse too!

Carrots and Spring Onions

We have just stepped into Winter here in Sydney, and our Autumn had been as cold as around 10°C during late night/early morning to as warm as mid 20s around midday! The past 2 days or so has been one of those warmer days with midday temperature in mid 20s, so I took the opportunity to do some late Autumn planting!

I read that Autumn is the season for plants to establish their root systems. They do most of their growing under ground. Apparently, vegetables seedlings such as cauliflower, brussels sprouts, broccoli, spinach; root vegetables such as garlic, leeks, onions; and most kinds of lettuce will do well if planted in Autumn. I just hope that mine will still do well even though they were planted at the end of Autumn! :P

My Autumn selection for my part shade south facing 9th floor balcony consists of:

• "Little Fingers" carrots, brussels sprouts and rocket seedlings bought from Bunnings, and
• 2 spring onion ends leftover from a recent purchase from a fruit & vegetable store.

The labels that came with the seedlings say that the carrot & rocket require full sun to part shade, while the brussels sprouts requires full sun. hmmm.... I wonder if the brussels sprouts will grow on my balcony.

Carrot seedlings & spring onion ends in their new home next
to a new addition of the native Kangaroo Paws in pink!

My back was a little sore after planting my carrots seedlings & the spring onion ends, and I haven't decided on a container to plant the brussels sprouts and rockets, so it will have to be another day for those remaining seedlings!

Arm knitted chunky scarf

Recently, I have discovered a fun and very quick way to knit using your arms instead of knitting needles!

So, to try it out, I bought some Moda Vera Clermont yarns from Spotlight. It is 75% wool, 25% polyamide, and comes in 4 colour mixes: Purple Mix which I bought, as well as the Red Mix on the left of the photo below, Pink Mix on the right and a Rainbow Mix not in the photo.

I have read somewhere that you will need 2 balls of the Clermont yarns to arm knit a scarf. However, I ended up with some leftover yarns from the second ball as I didn't want mine to be too long. Here is the video clip that taught me how to arm knit:

My arm knitting in progress...

...and this is what I knitted!

 

I am now a little tempted to french knit different combination of yarns and arm knit them into more chunky scarves!

Saving my mini tomato seeds

Two days after my mini tomato started turning colour, it was fully ripened on the plant.

My mini tomato ripen on plant

After a quick clean and polish with a kitchen paper towel, it was ready for a photo shoot! LOL

A portrait of my pretty mini tomato!

This second mini tomato of mine didn't have much seeds inside for saving. It had only a dozen or so seeds whilst my first one had about 50! So, I will use photos of my first mini tomato to document the seeds saving method I used instead:

1. Cut tomato in half and scoop out seeds with a spoon into a glass/cup.

Nice & juicy!

2. Add enough tap water into the glass to cover the seeds.

Then cover the top of the glass with cling wrap. 

Place the glass in a warm spot for 2 to 3 days. 

Swirl the glass of water once or twice daily. 

Apparently, the fermentation process on the

seeds will prevent seed-borne disease.

Fresh seeds in tap water

3. Once the water gets a bit moldy, pour out the

murky layer but be careful not to pour away the

seeds too. Drain seeds into a fine-mesh sieve.

 

Fermented seeds after 4 days in tap water

 4. Rinse the seeds in the sieve with cold tap water and use your

fingers to remove any pulp that is still stuck onto the seeds.

5. Spread seeds in a single layer on a paper plate and air dried 

it for a week until they are free to rattle around the plate.

(I used a kitchen paper towel & they got a bit stuck onto

the paper towel as they dried)

Air dried seeds on paper towel ready for storage

6. Place dried seeds into a jar or paper envelope,

label and store in a cool dry place.

I am now waiting patiently for August to arrive as I read that it is a good time to start seeds indoors for (the southern hemisphere's) Spring! I hope the seeds I saved would germinate!

My mini African Violet is doing well

Almost 2 months ago, I blogged about my poor mini African Violet, how I accidentally let it somersaulted from my hand on to the floor and it looked like it was dying. Well, I have been trying my best to save it in the past 2 months and am glad to see that it is growing! :)

I raised its little container up away from the bottom of the external case by putting some plastic scrap underneath, so that I can water from the bottom. While there was still some water at the bottom, I put the plant inside a plastic bag, tied it up and let it sat in a warm spot for a few days without disturbing it.

The plant is a bit off center now, as I was in a rush to put it back into its container after I dropped it. I might wait till it is stronger before I replant it.

A new leaf has come out!

An update on my sick Anthurium plants

My Anthurium plants continue on their journey to recovery from Thrips. The new leaves that shot out recently are looking more regular in shape and appearance.

For the past month or so, I made an effort to check the top and underside of each leaf every day or so for any signs of Thrips, and any adult or larvae I found were removed. I thought I was doing a good job since I haven't seen any adult Thrips for several weeks but much to my dismay, this morning, I found an adult Thrip inside a new leaf that is uncurling! I tried to kill it but it went hiding inside the curled part of the new leaf! :(

I hope I won't find anymore adult Thrips in the other Anthurium plants. In fact, one of them has 4 new shoots and judging by the bright pink colour of the shoots, I am guessing that they are all "flower" shoots! If they are leaves, usually it would be a reddish brown with a tint of green. This is the same plant which had a few sick-looking new shoots that I had to remove. I hope the latest new shoots would survive till they open!

My mini tomato is changing colour!

Finally, after around a month, just like my first mini tomato, my second one is starting to change colour!

I first noticed it yesterday when it seemed to be showing a tint of orange under its pale green skin but I wasn't sure if it was just a play of light or my imagination. 24 hours later, the orange tint is clearly showing through! :D

Yesterday: a very very faint hint of orange.

Today: a darker shade of orange is showing through!

Also, what I suspected to be another developing mini tomato (my third), is becoming more obvious by now. :) Though it seems to be suffering from "blossom end rot"?

My third mini tomato is growing.

People must think I had nothing to do but to blog about the development of individual tomato! How I wish that my plant produces more than one tomato at any one time, so that it is impossible to document each individual one! But no, my tomato plant is an odd one. :P

My Moon Cactus

I bought a yellow moon cactus almost 12 months ago as I liked its shade of yellow/orange, and thought it would compliment the Mini African Violet that I bought at the same time.

I did noticed straight away that it has a couple of tiny buds in pinkish red colour but didn't thought much about it until several weeks later I noticed the yellow part was turning orange/red in colour!!

I searched online for the cause of the colour change but found no information on it, except that the yellow, orange, pink or red variants in these cactus are actually a mutation from their typical green colour. None of the pages mentioned anything about it changes colour during its life span.

I am a little disappointed that my yellow moon cactus didn't stay yellow. If I wanted an orange moon cactus, I would have bought an orange one in the first place... :(

Anthurium - new but deformed shoots

My Anthurium plants continue to recover from a recent thrips attack and are bringing out new shoots, though a little deformed in shape.

Four new shoots from this bigger plant

Am glad this one brought out a decent sized & shaped leaf! :)

Unfortunately, with my third plant, I had to remove its new shoots as they seemed to be drying out, turning dark and remained curled up (possible signs that there were thrips larvae feeding inside the bud?), while new shoots from other plants had uncurled days ago.

I know the soil is looking a bit dry, but I was trying to be very careful not to overwater them. I have already noticed that there were a few ngats flying around the plants or hanging around the soil surface in the past days or so... hopefully it was just a few and they haven't settled into the soil yet!!

Crocheted Scrunchies/Hairties

I love crocheting! Especially when I can custom make a scrunchy that matches with what I wear! :D

My first crocheted scrunchy

Scrunchy crocheted with 2 separate yarns (pink & silver) held together.

The two scrunchies pictured above were made based on a very simple pattern.

However, with the pink/silver one in particular, I split the pattern into two rounds: sc (single crochet) around the elastic tie for the first round, followed by a round of (8 chains, slip stitch into the top of next sc).

My baby tomato is getting bigger!

It's been 2 weeks since I discovered that a second mini tomato is developing on my tomato plant. It has grown so much in the 2 weeks! :)

I was a little surprised that this one isn't as round as my first one. In fact, this second one is a little pointy at the bottom, looking like a chubby short strawberry shape... Will see how long it will take this one to change colour. The first one took around one month!!

My second mini tomato is getting bigger & bigger!

 

Still no sign of these closed flowers turning into more tomatoes yet...

Normally, from the photos I have seen online, tomato plants usually develop several tomatoes at any one time, but mine only grows one at a time... is it because it is under-nourished?? At most, I feed it with liquid seaweed spray every two weeks or so, but since it is now developing fruit, I haven't been doing so as I didn't want anything to go on the fruit.

Another reason for not simultaneously developing several fruits at a time may be because it is not getting enough sun on my part shade balcony??

Or... was it because a previous powdery mildew attack has stunted its growth?

My mini African Violet

Looking at my poor mini African Violet plant, I wondered to myself if I can still save it...

It was only 4 months ago that I was very proud of my effort in providing intensive care to the tired plant. It involved placing the plant inside a sealed plastic bag for around a week. I think it was to increase the humidity around it.

2 weeks after it came out from the sealed plastic bag, tiny new leaves can be seen coming up in the center!
 
Not long after my celebration of success, I stupidly let the plant somersaulted onto the floor, tipping the plant and most of the soil out of its pot and creased a few leaves as well!!! I quickly put the plant and soil back into its pot, but the damage is done. After a few weeks, leaves started to wilt. I tried to save it with the sealed-plastic-bag-intensive-care method, but unlike last time, after a week or so, there was still no visible sign of recovery. :(

Several weeks down the track, this is what my mini African Violet looks like now, suffering from a lack of water as well...

My poor mini African Violet - at least it's still green in the middle.

...and this is what it looked like fresh from the nursery, with its friend the yellow Moon Cactus.

Oh dear, I wondered if I would ever get it back to looking as good as it was. :P

More tomatoes...?

I have been peeking inside my mini greenhouse every morning to check if there are anymore tomatoes coming. Each time, all I could see were flowers that have finished blooming and ones that are about to open, but finally, yesterday I noticed one developing baby tomato! :D

My second mini tomato is coming!

Hopefully these flowers will turn into mini tomatoes too!

Crochet newborn beanies & headbands

I have been busy the past few days and have finally completed my very first newborn beanies & headbands order for a relative!

I made this lot mainly to test my water (and my crochet skill)! Hopefully, I would be selling the improved versions and more styles in the near future! :D

My very first crocheted newborn beanie with flower in wool.

White newborn beanie with detachable flower in cotton.

Newborn headbands in cotton with different decorative pieces.