This weekend’s weather doesn’t look good, rain and thunderstorms with more rain next week.

I did manage to get outside on the balcony to take a look at the tomato plants. I trimmed off a lot of the leaves and now it looks naked. The frangipani also only has 3 leaves left, that looks naked too!

A couple of days ago, I started to collect tomato seeds of a Japanese variety called Mokomo. I had bought a punnet from the supermarket and it tasted really good so I wanted to harvest the seed for an August planting.

1. To harvest tomato seeds from a tomato using fermentation method:
2. Select the healthiest looking tomato (if its from your own plant, one from the healthiest plant)
3. Cut the tomato across its equator
4. Scoop out seeds with a spoon into a cup, container or jar and add a couple of tablespoons of water
5. Cover with plastic food wrap and poke a few holes in the top
6. Stir the seed mix once a day for about 3 days
7. Scoop the top layer of junk and wash down the drain.
8. Pour the remaining seed mixture into a fine kitchen sieve and rinse well.
9. Spread seeds out on a piece of waxed baking paper and allow to dry for a week or so.

I ordered some tulip bulbs called “Queen of the Night”, dark burgundy coloured tulips, almost black in colour. Not that I really have room for them… or a pot… or money… but I couldn’t resist! I fell in love with tulips while in Seattle and I want to grow some for this spring. This variety is a late spring bloomer that’s better suited for warm climates. I’m hoping to get them soon as they should’ve been planted back in May. July is a little late for tulip planting, but I hope they’ll still flower.

Got a new photo of the frangipani seeds just popping out of the ground as well.

The seedlings are doing well. It looks like the frangipani seeds are germinating now, their wings are starting to lift off the soil and some are leaning to the side. The lavender and candytuft also look pretty decent and growing happily.

I need to get trimming on the tomato plants. I think there are too many leaves so I’m going to take to the lateral shoots soon. I would do it tonight, but it’s been rather cold, and I’m too comfy under the blanket. It’s also been a very wet week, rain every day, good for the plants and the water level in the dams, but not very conducive to spending too much time on the balcony.

I’m spending more time reading gardening articles and trying to find some winter flowering plants that’s compatible with the gardenias than actually doing any gardening.

Which reminds me, I found an interesting little water saving device, Dripstick.com.au, it’s a drip watering system that looks decent and looks like it’s affordable. On ebay.com.au, it’s selling for $24.95 with $9.50 shipping. If I ever go away for an extended time again, I’ll get a few of those for the gardenias.

You know winter is well and truly set in when the asiatic lily is fading and the frangipani leaves are dropping.

The seedlings in the greenhouse propagation tray seem to be doing well. Lots of lavender seedlings popping up…

and even the candytuft seedlings are coming along…

The tomato plants are growing like weeds but a lot of the lower leaves are starting to turn yellow. I’m not sure if that’s just the natural progression of the plant or if it’s not getting enough light since it’s winter. They get about 4 hours of direct sun and bright filtered light otherwise. The fruits are getting rather large now (well, large for cherry tomatoes) are starting to change colour.

Funny how I’ve had a couple of dreams lately about bright red cherry tomatoes on my cherry tomato plants. In my dreams, they tasted awesome. That would be a nice treat if my tomatoes turn out tasty!

I can’t believe I forgot to blog about the whole seed planting thing. I added the frangipani photo gallery and forgot to actually blog about the planting of them.

Anyway, so I planted a bunch of seeds last weekend, 20 frangipani seeds, a heap of lavender and 10 or so perennial candytuft. I’m keeping them moist but not wet by watering every 2-3 days with a 10 mL syringe.

I know it’s been less than a week, but the first seeds are starting to show some…. progress.

The first of the lavender seeds has germinated.

The candytuft seeds are… hairy? I have no idea why, I’m hoping it’s not fungus! Anyway, one or two of them looks like showing the first signs of roots, but they’re so small that I couldn’t get a good photo. This is a photo of the hairy seed.

The last thing I did was to try and fix the Moses in the cradle. I pretty much cut it back so it’s more compact again, and I stuck the cut bits back into the pot. I hope that works! If it doesn’t, the little bastard’s going in the tip ;o)

Yet another plant issue.

My Moses in a cradle (Rhoeo spathacea or Tradescantia spathacea) was getting quite leggy because I had kept it in a room with very, very little light. I ended up moving it to a much bright room, but the damage was already done and it looks quite sad now.

Now I have a couple of options, I can either dump the poor soul and start over with some other plant, or I could try to get it back into some decent condition which would require pinching and replanting the tips of the leggy bits. I think I’ll try to save it first before giving up all together.

The new outdoor dining set has arrived and it looks rather fabulous. I haven’t taken any photos yet as it’s been raining today, but when the sun comes out again I’ll bring out the camera. It’s taking up quite a bit of room on the balcony, just something to get use to since the balcony is usually rather empty therefore rather roomy.

None of the seeds have germinated yet, but then again, it’s only been 3 days

Uh oh… I got some pest problems with the (sort of) new bamboo palms I got for the office. There’s a couple of types I can see. One is insect like and light brown in colour, the other look like little black blobs. I’m not quite sure what they are, but I don’t like them.

Photo time:

The last 3 photos are some weird looking new shoots from one of the bamboo palms. I have no idea what it is.

I’m not a big fan of pesticides, so I’ll be treating this with Pest Oil which should suffocate the little buggers.

Just a quick couple of notes. Firstly, the asiatic lilies are finally fading, which means I can finally re-pot them in the next couple of weeks (I think).

And here’s an updated photo of the tomato plant size. If you look closely, you can see lots of flowers and quite a few green round blobs of tomato fruits.

Now that I’m back for a little while, I can do a little planning on what to do next in my garden.

First thing would be to re-pot the Asiatic lilies so they’re clumped together in one pot. I managed to secure one more plant just before I left, so I have 3 lilies now. I wanted to plant the Asiatic lilies with perennial candytuft, so I’ll need to germinate a few seeds of those as well.

I also want to get a compact garden shed to store spare pots, tools, potting mix and all the other gardening bits and pieces. There were 2 different ones I was interested in, one was a Keter Compact Shed and the other is a Spanbilt Storage Cabinet with doors. You wouldn’t believe how difficult it is to find compact garden sheds for a balcony! I was ideally looking for a 100 x 60 x 180 cm shed, and these two are the closest thing to it. I have no clue where to buy the Keter Compact Shed, but I found that Bunnings hve the Spanbilt shed, so I may just go for that.

The outdoor dining set I bought on eBay.com.au didn’t arrive before I left. I still have to organise for delivery of the table and chairs. It’s such a neat little set; it’s wicker and there are 4 chairs and 4 stools (8 seating places) that tucks neatly into each other and under the table so it forms a sort of cube. Pictures will be coming soon.

I was away longer than expected and didn’t have much time to write. I’m back now and I’m glad to be able to spend some time on the balcony with the plants.

The biggest news is that the tomato plants are flowering and fruiting up a storm. Even though it’s pretty much winter here and night temperatures are getting down to 9°C, the tomato plants have got some green tomatoes on them. Can’t wait to taste the first one that ripens!

Picture time…

The saddest news is that most of the lavender seedlings didn’t survive. There’s only one seedling out of 8 that looks like it’s going to live, the rest of them are either dead or dying. I’ve already planted new seeds and hope these ones will yield at least 2 more viable plants.

My frangipani is another worry. I bought it in mid March 2007 and re-potted it. I thought I’m doing everything right by this tree, but it’s not growing any new leaves. Mind you, it is quite cool now and the frangipani might be dormant, but then again it hasn’t dropped its leaves, but then again it’s only early winter here. Argh! I should stop obsessing over it. The leaves it has are green and I’m sure when spring comes around, it’ll be ready to show me some new growth.