CROP ROTATION

Spent a few blissful days tending the garden...

My 'suweeto-haato' is into roses and herbs... fragrances and colors...

Yours truly is more of a 'cookie monster', delving into 'chewables' like vegetables and fruits...

Just added two mulberry trees to my fruit tree collection...

The mulberries are sweet and sourish... goes very well with my daily breakfast yoghurt...

But still, my gardening failures overwhelm my successes...

Least of all excuses are the 'spoilers' such as slugs, caterpillars, aphids, and cutworms that completely 'cut' off the seedling trunks...

Grrrrr....

Whenever I got hold of any cutworm, I feed them to the ants and watch them wriggle in agony as the ants take them on... * evil, evil Lrong... heh heh heh *

Shall try to up my success rate this season... so, I am experimenting with crop rotation hoping to reduce the likelihood of diseases...

First, 'sliced' up my mini vegetable plot into six segments, labeled CCPPST...

Now, how to remember this strange label...

Anyway... they represent 'families' of Carrots, Cabbage, Peas, Perennials, Squash, and Tomatoes...

Each season, the Carrots, Cabbage, Peas, Squash, and Tomatoes rotate around the plot segments...

Carrots click well with 'companions' such as onions, chives, leeks, etc, which help to ward off carrot pests...

The cabbage clan includes stuff like turnips, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower and they nurture well with dill, fennel, etc...

Peas such as snow peas or soybeans may be planted with potatoes or sweet potatoes... peas and beans are soil-builders or 'enrichers' as opposed to tomatoes and peppers, which are more like nutrient 'guzzlers'...

The Squash family consists of folks like zucchinis, melons, and cucumbers... they are to be planted with corn, which allows long beans to cling on to their trunks... together, the squash, corn, and beans form the 'three sisters'...

Tomatoes tango well with cousins like eggplants, peppers, and chilies as they are prone to the same diseases... their best 'companion-friend' is the basil, which helps to repel unwanted pests...

For my Perennials... strawberries, asparagus, borage, thyme, etc...

Uncovered soil invites weeds... so I may sow seeds of marigold, zinnias, and calendulas to accompany the edibles... or, perhaps even some leafy vegetable seeds to fill up the open spaces...

This mixing of vegetables, herbs, and flowers technique is called companion planting, which ostensibly confuses pests, thus further suppressing damage to the plants...

Now, after a few moons, let's see how (un)successful the vegetable plot is...

WILD SAKURAS

The hay fever season is not over for me as yet...

For the past few days, my nose was (and still is) blocked up much like the traffic jams during the golden week holidays...

Poooh... kurushii... (torturous)

This picture of the wild, hill sakuras was taken in mid April...

I continually thank my lucky stars that these scenes can be enjoyed from my 'strategically located' garden...

WHITE PLUM FLOWERS

Before the advent of the sakuras...

The plum flowers take the center stage...

There are three plum trees in the garden...

Two white and one red...

See related story here...

APPLE SEEDLINGS

Went shopping for apple seedlings last weekend at the local DIY...

Saw some palm trees for sale...

Eyes almost shot out of their sockets upon seeing the prices...

Almost US$150.00 for one palm tree...

Oh man... to think that I had just lopped off three of those palm trees in my garden some weeks ago...

Rugi again...

Bought two apple tree seedlings...

One Fuji and the other, Tsugaru...

They are supposed to bear fruits in about five years' time...

Meanwhile, see some fruits from my garden...

CHILLIES FROM THE GARDEN

More 'fruits' from the garden...

The chillie plants are still productive even as the November temperatures slide...

From top... everyone probably know the long beans...

Got the seeds from my mum in the kampong...

Taste very good with fish curries...

The three green ones are the regular bell peppers...

On their left are some Bhutan chillies...

Thick flesh and hot enough to burn my lips and cause me to hiccup while eating it...

Below the Bhutan chillies are some Japanese chillies...

Pretty hot but not as 'terror' as the Bhutan types...

The king of hot chillies could very well be the yellowish-orange colored habanero...

Bringing it close to the nose is good enough to experience its hot-ness...

Woooh... and I have it in my garden...