LUT Hive Garden Journal #2

A month has passed since my last garden journal update. And things are starting to move.

The marigold and bak choi seeds I sowed last month are coming along nicely, I sowed lots of marigolds in the white polystyrene box, and kept that and the tray of bak choi seeds in my mini greenhouse.

Then I had a mishap a few weeks ago. One afternoon it was very windy and my greenhouse toppled over. One tray had flipped and landed into the other and some of the soil and seeds got mixed together. I carefully scoped up chunks of the soil and placed them back to a tray without upsetting them too much. The little mishap must have scared my seeds, now I only have 9 marigold seedlings, I should have at least 3 or 4 times more. I've placed an 80 litre bag of soil to stabilise the green house now, previously it was only those 4 bricks 😬

I have about 6 or 7 strawberry plants. Last year the insects nibbled most of my fruits and I only harvested a handful. The plants are starting to flower and there are already a few fruit. I'm looking forward to eat more fresh strawberries from my garden this year.

You'll see me talk about my wolfberry plants all the time because I love seeing how they've grown, and I can actually harvest them. Aphids have started to attack them this year. Last night I sprayed a lot of neem oil on them and this morning the situation seems to have improved. I'm going to do another spray tonight, I think it should kill them all off.

I moved this hotlip from the planter a few weeks ago to give it and the other hotlip and lavender more room to grow. All of them are thriving. The one I moved hasn't flowered as much as the other one, maybe because it's in a more shaded area.

The lemon verbena seems to be growing a little slow. It's definitely not as bushy as last year. I don't know if I pruned it back too much. As long as it's still alive, I'm happy.

Gladioli was my mum's favourite flower. A couple of my nephews and nieces ie her grandchildren have bought their own property last year and they've planted gladioli in their garden in honour of their grandma. I thought that's so sweet. Gladioli are normally tall flowers and best grown in the ground. I found some mini gladioli bulbs online and thought they would be perfect for this planter. I can look down to the planter from my study and and can't wait for them to flower soon.

This fig tree is a year old. It's grown a lot of leaves over the past month, but hasn't grown very tall. I'm not sure if that's normal. I think I need to water it more, as I read online it needs to be watered till the water drains from the bottom. Need to remember that.

The most disheartening thing about my garden is the lawn. Since the beginning of the year I noticed it was starting to go patchy. That's due to leatherjackets ie the larvae of daddy long legs eating the roots. Leatherjackets are a big problem in my area, plus the soil around here is clay based with no drainage.

I really want a lawn in my garden but given the soil condition I'm not sure if it's going to be possible. Most of my neighbours have given up and either have astro turf (fake grass) or patio the whole garden. I am not a fan of astro, it's all or nothing for me. I'm worried if I returf again, it will still be the same next year and that's money down the drain. I'll have to deal with this in the coming weeks. It pains me to think that I may have to lose my lawn😖.