Six on Saturday: Garden Diary October

As September drifts into October in a blaze of sunshine, albeit accompanied by a chilly breeze, I now curse my tardiness for not going to the local monthly market last Sunday to buy broccoli, lettuce and maybe some cucumber plugs. Why didn’t I go? It rained. A poor excuse, especially since I’ll miss the next one. But then I ask myself, can I be phaffed, especially when the cabbage white butterflies are still on the prowl.

OCTOBER HARVEST

Another year and another fail. We had a bumper yield of olives this year, so Mr P was hopeful he would find some without the dreaded Olive Fruit Fly. No luck. Almost every last olive was spoiled.

Yellow peppers

Today I was surprised to see so many yellow peppers ready for harvesting.

Aubergines

I have several pots of aubergines, and despite the dry, hot summer, they are still thriving and will no doubt continue to do so until Christmas. We will see.

ORANGE AND YELLOW HIBISCUS

When I bought this hibiscus, the garden centre had no idea what colour it would be, so I had to take a chance. I’m pleased I did! When the buds first appeared, they were yellow, but as the flowers opened, they were orange. How unusual!

HIBISCUS GROWN FROM CUTTINGS

I had another nice surprise while hunting for victims for my Six on Saturday post. I discovered that a hibiscus I had grown from cuttings had finally flowered! I am still debating whether to plant this directly in the soil or in a large pot.

If anyone is interested, I used this method.

How to Propagate Hibiscus in 10 Easy Steps

‘HELLO. ANYONE THERE?’

For some reason, I missed the signs. The cry for help! IT was only when taking photographs for Six on Saturday that I realised the plant was dying. I got the moisture meter and tested the soil. DRY. Checked the irrigation wire. Yep that was in place. Checked another plant … oops that was bone dry, too. Finally located the problem. The batteries in the irrigation control meter were flat, which meant that several pots and a whole section of the garden had not been watered for goodness knows how long. Lesson learned. Fingers crossed the plant recovers.

IS THE ORANGE TREE DYING?

Again, taking pictures for Six on Saturday, I stopped to study the orange tree in more detail. It looked fine, but on closer inspection, I noticed the only green leaves/fresh growth were on the edge. All internal branches were brown with no signs of life.

That’s my Six for this Saturday. Do pop over to Jim’s blog to check out other gardening bloggers.