Caterpillar Menace

I am still having great difficulties to overcome the mischief of the two dogs (Cocoa and Momo) chewing and destroying my edible garden. Now I have another problem in hand. I have found the pale green caterpillars lurking out at the herb garden and the tree tomato plant. These little menaces have managed to chew off all the young shoots of my basils, sages and mint.

They have to be stoped immediately ! I will drop by at Warehouse on the weekend to pick up Yates Dipel before the caterpillars munch the plants to bare roots.

"Bacillus thuringiensis or BT is a type of bacteria that's used to control the population of caterpillars. When a caterpillar bites a leaf that's covered with BT, the bacteria multiply inside its body, damaging its digestive tract with sharp protein crystals. These substances are extremely toxic to the caterpillar, so it will stop feeding on your plants and die within 20 minutes after its first mouthful. Once the caterpillar dies, its body splits open, releasing more bacteria to protect your garden or lawn. The conditions that are required for BT to multiply are only found in the stomach of caterpillars, so butterflies, bees, earthworms, spiders, beetles, and humans are completely safe from poisoning."

Olive Trees

I bought two olive trees to add into my edible backyard collection. Each plant is no more than 3 feets high, but has started to bear fruits (can't wait for them to ripe !!!). I repotted them in identical terracotta pots, and have found them a spot where they will receive at least 5 hours of sun everyday. I intend to grow them as edible ornamentals as I don't want to use up the growing spaces for edibles with the olive trees. Now I need to learn how to cure and preserve the olives, any suggestions are welcome.

Humble Hoe

I couldn't believe my luck today. I found a proper asian long handle garden hoe at a local flea market. The garden tool might look like a deadly weapon, but it is great for weeding and turning the soils.

Herbs Corner

I use a lot of herbs in my cooking, and nothing can beat the garden fresh. I picked a site next to the kitchen for my herb project. The site was perfect, sheltered and discrete. I went down to Mitre10 and Bunning Warehouse to pick up some herb seedlings: purple sage, sage, roman chamomile, curly parsley, lemon balm, spearmint, rosemary, shallots, spring onions, curry plant, greek oregano and sweet basil.


The spearmint plant thrive at the corner. Like any mint family, the plant is very invasive and spread aggressively. I have to restrict root growth in a container. Laxman and I picked up two wooden planters along river road for $30.00. They are great for growing annual herbs. Here we got sweet basils and spring onions. I absolutely adore basils, especially in my pasta or salad. Can't wait to make my first batch of pesto !

Our Edible Backyard

When we bought the house a few months ago, the backyard was dull, dominated only by a few overgrown (unknown) trees and flaxes. There wasn't any life in there, so to speak. However when looking through the knotholes at my neighbour's fence (peeping tom), there were abundance of edible plants. I knew that instance, I need an edible landscape.

First we needed a plan. I consulted my gardening guides (Yates mostly) and planted my ideas on a piece of paper. We decided to grow fruit trees against the North and South faced fence (espalier training), save space and also cover the unsightly fence.

My parents and me drove to the plant nursery down the road to get some plants. We bought a lot more than what was on the list (they were on special !). Now, we have Valencia orange, passion fruit and pear on the South faced fence, and fig, apple, plum, tree tomato and feijoa on the North faced fence. Mandarin, meyer lemon and sweet bay not far from the patio. Ooh, forgot to mention, I bidded the sweet bay from Trade Me for a good price.



Imagine walking no further into your backyard to pick the fruit straight from the tree...Well, great start, hard work now !!!

Oops ! Forgot to introduce my little helper, MOMO, a Jack Russell cross.