Buddy Garden

Busy with Farmville

BuddyGarden — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 16:32:19 +0000

I've been MIA because it's been busy farming over at Farmville! In Facebook there's an online game called Farmville and it's a lot of fun! You connect with your friends/neighbors and do all sorts of virtual vegetable farming. You get to farm with your friends and exchange crops as gifts, build a farmhouse and have farm animals. I'm currently at level 24 and saving money to buy a log cabin (something I've always wanted in real life)!

Check out my farm animals:

Not much is happening in my container garden; the temperature has been too cold and windy for me to enjoy gardening. Time to clean up the garden!

Must have: Sempervivum (Hens & Chicks)

BuddyGarden — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 13:22:03 +0000

Another must have for container gardens. The Sempervivum (also known as Hens & Chicks) are very hardy. They like full sun and comes back year after year (Perennial). I have two varieties in this container: Red Beauty Hens & Chicks, and Braunii Hens & Chicks. They change color according to the season.

Height: 3-4"
Spacing: 6-8" apart
Bloom time: Summer (Braunii has stalks of yellow flowers)
Hardiness zone: 3 (-40F)
Water: light (only water when soil feels dry)

You can't beat a container plant that has a hardiness zone of 3 and drought-tolerant!

Kiku in the Japanese Autumn Garden

BuddyGarden — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:00:08 +0000

If you're going to be in the New York area, don't miss the annual Kiku in the Japanese Autumn Garden exhibition at The New York Botanical Garden. They are going to transform the courtyard into a beautiful Kyoto garden. You'll see flowers and trees such as Japanese maples, Japanese black pines, bamboos, ferns, and different colors of chrysanthemums.

October 17 - November 15, 2009
The New York Botanical Garden
2900 Southern Blvd., Bronx (Directions)
The Garden is open year-round, Tuesday to Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Blog Revamped

BuddyGarden — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:04:51 +0000

You've probably noticed my blog has been revamped and cleaned up quite a lot. I was hesitant to upgrade my Wordpress because of the fear of losing all my data, photos, and blog posts. So I finally backed up everything and the process turned out to be painless and straightforward.

I just want to bring your attention to the right sidebar, if you scroll down half way you'll see a section called "Plant Talk", it has many interesting topics and events hosted by The New York Botanical Garden. Also I've added a small slideshow area on the top of the sidebar featuring all my photos in Flickr.

I like this design very much and I think it's very clean and easy to read. What do you think?

Seed saving

BuddyGarden — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 13:18:53 +0000

I've never saved seeds before because seeds are really cheap to purchase. But I want to be a true gardener and try saving seeds as a test. Moss Rose is very easy to start from seeds. I sow the seeds directly outside when the weather is warm enough in spring. Just make sure when you collect the seeds, the seed pods are dry and mature after all the flowers have faded. Seeds must be stored dry in an envelope.

Must have: Japanese Hakone Grass

BuddyGarden — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:03:26 +0000

I'm doing a series of container garden "must haves" because I wanted to keep track of what I want to plant again next year (isn't it sad the season is coming to an end?). Sometimes gardening is trial and error (some plants that works for others might not work for you), and the good thing about container gardening is that you can start all over again if something goes wrong. I've had many errors before but over the years I've became to realize what works for my deck which is half shade and half full sun. To be on my list of must-haves, it must be low-maintenance, drought tolerant, unique and fail-proof. I love travelling so any plants that will survive anything from a weekend or week long tip is perfect!

Hakone Grass (2009 perennial plant of the year)

Hardiness: USDA zones 5-9

Light: Partial shade

What I love about this plant:

- Easy care. The only maintenance required is to cut back the previous season's dead leaves in fall, or you can do this in late winter or early in the spring.

- Unique. Light green bamboo like leaves. All leaves cascades in the same direction.

Must have: Moss Rose (Portulaca)

BuddyGarden — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:36:48 +0000

I love the Moss Rose, also called Portulaca. I started them from seeds. I knew they were very drought tolerant but I had no idea they were so low-maintenance and beautiful. I swear I only watered it less than 10 times the whole season. Put it under full sun and it will put on a show from early summer to fall. No fertilizer needed! The little flowers come in different gorgeous colors and it will guarantee to put on a show in hot and dry / humid weather. This is a must-have for my garden next year.

I didn't have the time to thin it out but I'm sure if I give it more room to grow they will be even happier.

Take a look at this great combination with Purple Fountain Grass.

Vacation checklist Part II

BuddyGarden — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 00:26:52 +0000

So how did my plants do after a week of neglect? The good news is most of the plants survived but some of them didn't do too well.

As expected, the Calibrachoa didn't do too well (Drip-It pro at the back... more on that later). It looks pathetic.

So is the Lobelia:

I just need to repeat this again... Drip-It Pro Watering System does NOT work! DO NOT BUY IT! After a week, the water level is still the same. I've given it a second chance and that's it, they are going into the trash.

The good news is my Earthboxes did a really good job of keeping my vegetables alive. Although I think the water reservoir was close to empty when I got back. Not only did my vegetable plants survived but I got some harvest too:

Plants that had the watering crystals did fantastic and they were nice and healthy. Once again my DIY watering system did a great job of keeping the Mandevilla, Fairy rose, and herbs box alive. Look at the Mandevilla... it's climbing higher than my modified trellis.

From this:

To this:

Vacation checklist

BuddyGarden — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 01:49:48 +0000

I just came back from a week long vacation to my home town in Toronto, Canada. Like many of you I worry about my garden when I go away for more than 3 days. Are my vegetables going to survive in the hot and humid days of summer? What about the Calibrachoa and Lobelia that needs constant watering, are they going to make it? Will the Earthboxes do what they were advertised? I had my fingers crossed and here's my checklist.

Drip-it Pro Watering System - I don't have much luck with these but it's better than nothing. Last time I used them the water level was the same after several days and I couldn't figure out how to make it work.

Fill up the water tank and secure the solar panel for my DIY solar drip water system - this system is setup to water my most water hungry plants - Mandevilla, Fairy rose, and herbs box.

Load up the two Earthboxes with water.

Watering crystals - first year I've used these and they seem to do a decent job. I mix them with the soil and use them mostly for the plants under shade. So far the plants only need occasional watering on hot days. I don't use them for edible plants because I'm not sure if they are scientifically proved to be safe.

And hope for the best! Stay tune for my next post to see what my garden looks like after I come back from vacation.

2009 First harvest

BuddyGarden — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 01:43:00 +0000

Compare to last year, this year's first harvest is two weeks late! I didn't expect to see any eggplants until much later because of the crappy weather we've had the whole season. My japanese eggplants have been doing exceptionally well, I have two eggplants in one Earthbox and each plant has at least 5 eggplants in different sizes. It's best to harvest eggplants when the skin is shiny otherwise the skin will be too tough.

I wanted to make an Asian spicy eggplant dish, so I got two chilies from the Thai dragon pepper plant. I knew it was too soon to harvest the chilies because it's best to let the peppers develop the spicy seeds a little longer to get the maximum scoville count! These peppers were not spicy enough. It's fun to pop fresh peppers in my mouth right from the plant! But only for now when the peppers are still young, I dare not to do that for the older peppers! If you're interested to grow peppers, take a look at the Organic Gardening article about techniques and tips of growing different kinds of peppers.