Updates from My Rooftop Container Garden 2015

It's been one and a half year since I started gardening. It feels like a long time already. Gardening has been integrated into my life and routines. The journey started with a pack of tomato seeds but now has expanded into a garden full of plants. 

This is the view out of the door of the second storey, where my rooftop container garden is. 

As you can see, my rooftop has turned into a real garden, full of plants, from fruit and citrus trees, to veggies, flowers, shrubs and ornamental plants.

Some of these local roses plants have not been repotted. I need to to do so soonest possible since they are in need of more nutrients in order to thrive. I have repotted half of the plants though. On the left top and below pots, I propagated pothos in self-watering containers.

This is the right side of my garden last year, where my mango tree was fruiting for the first time. But after a storm ravaged my garden, I had to removed my mango plants to the left side of the rooftop in order to avoid the flow of wind. 

And this is the arrangement today. I mostly placed my ornamental plants and spices like ginger, turmeric, galangal, and onions here. They are not as tall as fruit trees so it wouldn't be dangerous if  the storms hit. 

As it is on the west side, the walls will help protect the fragile ornamental plants from the scorching afternoon sun.

This is the east side of the garden, where I put my mango and lemon trees and some veggies. This part of the garden is a bit shaded from the strong wind, which usually flows in from the back of the garden, which is the North side.

And in the middle, I place mostly the citrus trees (kaffir lime, limes and kumquat), soursop trees and Bougenvilles.

Against the front walls, I place my Amarylis and some ornamental plants, plus 3 veggie beds in self-watering containers, papaya, longan and lemon trees.

Only in a year and a half, my grafted Arum Manis mango tree has grown into this size after the repotting. It is now fruiting for 

the second time.

And this is my Nam Dok Mai mango tree, fruiting for the first time. 

Apart from those, I have done a lot of propagation from new shoots and also cuttings, such as these ornamental plants.

Look at the galangal plants I propagated from the roots I bought from the market. Indonesian kitchen use galangal, ginger, turmeric and lemongrass a lot in cookings. It's always a good idea to have them in your kitchen garden. It's also very easy to plant them. 
And at the backcover, my mother-in-laws tongue plants have multiplied and need to be repotted soon. See, how easy it is to propagate most of the plants. 

From last season, I managed to harvest some red basil seeds. Apparently, red basil do not seed as much and often as my sweet basil, but it's enough to start a new batch of plants. 

These two are soursop trees I propagated through seeds I saved. There are actually 3 plants. I'm very happy to see that germination rate is very high. This is an old picture, I have actually repotted them into bigger pots, still I need to repot them into another bigger pots in the future as soursop needs a deep and wide container to maximize the growth of the its roots. 

This is my passion fruit plant, from the variety of Passiflora Edulis. I also propagated this plant through seeds I saved from local passion fruit, while the same variety seeds I bought from a seed seller from Canada, has not successfully germinated. 

This is the Azalea flower that I propagated through cuttings. I usually propagate plants from cuttings without using the help of growth hormone substance at all. I simply tuck them into the moist soil and place the container in the shade for a week or two and keep the soil moist. Now, I put the pots inside a non-transparent white plastic bag and keep them indoors to root for 2 weeks.

After my first success planting pineapple, I recycled the plant by transplanting the crown, sucker and ratoons. After they root, I will repot them into their bigger and final containers like 

the black one below.

Currently, I'm growing okra, more oinions, kale, swiss chard, yellow flesh watermelons, Marizold tomatoes, and more lemons. I also germinated many other plants which failed to germinate like adeniums, dill, Greek oregano, annonna squamosa, pomegranate,Tobolks tomato, and Pompom Dahlia.

Party Time

One thing my birds anticipate every day is the 'out-of-the-cage time', where they can hop on the laundry rack I use as their perches. I usually let them out for the whole afternoon so they can play together, or just get together. 

During this time, I feed them with corn and veggies like: carrot, broccoli, bok choy, peas, green beans and homegrown kale and swiss chard. Sometimes I give them some apples, pears or pumpkin, depends on what I have in the fridge. It takes a little time to introduce them to fresh veggies and fruit, since they were only accustomed to seeds feed when they were still in the nursery.

But thank God, now they seem to enjoy every thing I serve them everyday. 

 This is Goldie, a female parakeet, Baby Blue's new partner. She is not very tame yet since I haven't really spent time taming her. I put her in the same cage with Baby Blue since the first day I brought her home and they soon bonded. I am fine with that because they are a good match as Goldie also has similar characters with Baby Blue. Usually female parakeets are more fierce, especially if they're not tame yet. They can bite very hardly when offended/disturbed, but Goldie is different. She is quite gentle. If I insert my hand into the cage, she is not offensive, she just flies frantically all over the  cage trying to avoid to get too close to my hand, until I calm her down and persuade her to stand on my finger. I have won her trust though, but because I don't train her regularly, so it's like starting all over again after sometime. 

This is an old picture of Snowy and Baby Blue which I stumbled upon in my files. One day, I put a box inside their cage, hoping that they would be happy to sleep inside as it would be warmer there. Apparently, they had been traumatized with boxes and darkness because earlier they were put inside a box with small holes acted as ventilation by the seller. And when I put them inside the box to try it they were hysterical! Baby Blue would howl and scream, while Snowy, would frantically struggle his head against my hand trying to escape from the box. To calm them down I cut the the roof off, but still they refuse to sleep there, so finally I had to remove it from the cage for good. 

That's why it's very important to remember this one rule when handling birds. From the very beginning, try your best to avoid additional stresses on your future bird pets. At the time you buy them from a store or nursery, make sure you provide a small cage or a small wooden box with wire netting on both sides to transport them to their new home, so they can see around and are not locked in a dark room. This will prevent them from a long-term trauma and reduce a lot of stress, especially after being separated from their 

fellow cage-mates.

Try to be sympathetic to them as it is not easy to be separated from their familiar environment and friends/partners and be transferred into a new home, a new environment and to be with new friends/partners.

False Lavender

I've been trying to propagate Lavender from seeds I bought online. 

But they never grew. Don't know why. 

So, when I went to a local nursery here, I saw this false lavender plant. The blooms are beautiful, and though it is not as fragrant as the real ones, but it also has a weak delightful scent.  

This purple blooms plant is called Angelonia Salicariaefolia. It has apple scented foliage and if we rub the stem and foliage it will secrete a kind of sticky sap that will stain our hands.

Angelonia Salicariaefolia is a tropical shrub that's very easy to plant as long as you keep the soil moist, otherwise, the foliage will easily turn yellow and dry up. 

Ever since I bought this plant from the nursery, I have never stop harvesting from time to time. I just cut the flowers near the base and leave some suckers to replace the old ones and then applied more compost, and they will bloom again in 2 weeks time. 

It is also very easy to propagate Angelonia Salicariaefolia through cuttings because the stems will send out many suckers. So after harvesting the flowers I just cut the stems (the ones with suckers) and replant them, and put them under the shades and keep the soil moist, and in 2-3 weeks time they will grow. Sometimes I just replant the stems that have rooted in the vase by cutting off the spent flowers near the suckers and replant them. Just that simple! 

Oh, and this plant will thrive better if they receive enough sunlight. And you'll never need to spend money anymore to adorn your house with fresh cut flowers because now they come right 

from your garden! 

My Arum Manis Mango Tree after Repotting

These are the first stage of my Arum Manis mango tree after repotting. Besides applying compost and cow manure, I also sprayed the tree with organic liquid fertilizer to boost the growth of new shoots. And just within weeks new shoots were coming out.

It keeps growing taller and denser each day. And this spring, it has started to flower and fuit again for the second season. And I need to be very careful with the watering this time, as I tend to overwater last season, which made some of the fruit to burst.