You lose some . . . you win some?

One of the cucumber plants died. My home help told me one seemed to be in trouble. When I went to see, I found the stem of one plant seemed to have been hollowed out. As I looked, I disturbed some tiny black flies, which flew away. The second plant was fine. I sprayed both with neem soap solution but couldn't save the affected one.

 Cucumber -- plant in the foreground is dying

I finally transplanted the lettuce -- the seedlings seemed to have grown large enough. But they are so delicate and languishing. Do hope they will survive.

Lettuce, just transplanted

I have some new additions to the garden-- calladiums and an agave. I will have to put some pebbles around the calladiums until they spread or I find some other ground cover. Otherwise the rain will splash earth all over them and they'll start languishing too.

Calladium

Agave

Some old and trusted friends continue to bloom. The pink hibiscus was trimmed right back to a third of its length but has loyally started flowering again, even though my husband felt I'd been cruel to it. He's a bit like Dogmatix in the Asterix comics. Hates it when I prune plants, even though I've explained that it's good for them. I have to prepare him for the sight whenever I'm going to prune.

Hibiscus

Evening bells

Clematis

Round 2 of vegetable growing on the balcony

I've started my second round of growing vegetables from seed. Tip of the hat to Raj of Organic Kitchen Garden who gave me the seeds for the cucumber, tomatoes and lettuce (and beans, of which more below). He also gave me the poi sag as seedlings, taken from his mother plant.

I planted the seeds and  transplanted the seedlings some time ago. The plants started off well, but with hardly any sun for more than a week now, they are growing more slowly than they should. Keeping my fingers crossed.

I muffed only with the lettuce by transplanting the seedlings too early. They all died. A second lot of seeds has germinated and I will take care to plant them only when they're robust. I took Raj's tip and planted them in a mix of cocopeat and compost (my own homemade compost) so that the seedlings can stay in the pot for some time. I also had bad luck with the beans. They germinated and transplanted well, and were growing fast. But one day I found the leaves covered with a white powdery substance, which didn't go after spraying with neem soap solution or just water. Eventually the plants died. I will plant the seeds again when there's  more sun. If anyone knows what happened to the beans, do let me know.

Cucumber

Tomato-- marmande

 

 Germinated lettuce

Poi sag

The lot below  is from the first round. Some plants from the first round are fruiting again so I'll keep them till the vegetables mature. The plants are showing their age so I will put them to rest after that.

Brinjal

Capsicum --only buds just now

 

 

Chili