What’s going on in your garden (2026)?

To protect the houses we've got "termite things" in the ground that keep them at bay. The bug guy shows up once a year and replaces them. Whatever they are they work since the first house on the property was built in 1903 and it's fine.
Only thing that works here somewhat is termidan. But I prefer not to use it.
My house has a steel frame. That's termite proof ;)
 
Here is another photo popped up yesterday, same exact date last year I picked some Meiwa Kumquats, they are much sweeter than the Nagami kumquat. Sadly, I had to move this tree to my front yard to deal with the invasiveness of a jujube(the root broke through the pot after an atmospheric rain), it has not recovered, it’s not dead, but it has no fruit.

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I’m too nervous of myself watching all these tropical nurseries, they might tempt me buying varieties that I’m not quite desire, so I just texted one nursery lady to see if I can get Dark Dragon wax jambu. She has it, a bit pricey but I said to my husband I’m ready to spend my portion of Costco Rewards check, my fun money, he can do what he wants with his half, haha.
I’m running out of space and getting so many cheap plants might not be a good idea.
So after my Hawaii trip. Stay tune.
 
Today I moved one fig tree, this is Calderona variety to a bigger container.
I moved a David Austin rose to a small pot.
Then I realized I forgot to tell my husband to put a watering stick to my Sihanouk cherimoya, I put something there temporary until my husband can get to it.
Trim more roses.
Removed a lot of fig bags, they just look ugly hanging on the tree.
The best part is I removed all the bamboo sticks and put them in the original storage place.
The garden certainly look better than when I first started.
But more to do tomorrow.
 
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I've more or less got the garden up the top looking decent, so it was time to see if anything needed doing in the front garden.
We've got an ucaro tree and we'd simply planted some green bromeliads around the outside, but that was years ago. Along the way, a staghorn fern appeared, all on its own, and that single plant has now produced about a dozen more. Time for a clean up.
Removed all the plants from the base. Dug out loads of pebbles/small rocks we'd put there, which had sunk into the earth over time. Cleared all the weeds. Thinned out the green bromeliads ( I actually dumped a huge pile of them), added a few more for colour, and relocated all the pebbles.
3 hours work, but fairly undemanding because I was sitting on a stool most of the time.
Before and after:
Tree 1.jpg
tree 2.jpg
tree 3.jpg
tree 4.jpg
 
I did remove one nasty rose, it’s supposed to be very desirable, but it’s a bramble and very thorny. The name of the rose is Mel’s Heritage, the breeder is still online at the rose forum sometimes.
When I get back to California, I’m going to remove the roses and the figs in that area. The main reason is my husband and I have been scratched, our skins are getting thinner. Figs have BFF, a pest for figs, the pest buried in the ground.when they emerge this Spring, they have nothing to infect them with. I will try to graft the fig cuttings from these trees to different fig trees, some trees are affected, some don’t.
In their place I will replace with tropical fruit trees, but only in container, however I need to make them look pretty, that’s the whole point of edible landscaping. Not sure if I will succeed.
 
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I did remove one nasty rose, it’s supposed to be very good, but it’s a bramble and very thorny. The name of the rose is Mel’s heritage, the breeder is still online at the rose forum sometimes.
When I get back to California, I’m going to remove the roses and the figs in that area. The main reason is my husband and I have been scratched, our skins are getting thinner. Figs have BFF, a pest for figs, the pest buried in the ground.when they emerge this Spring, they have nothing to infect them with. I will try to graft the fig cuttings from these trees to different fig trees, some trees are affected, some don’t.
In their place I will replace with tropical fruit trees, but only in container, however I need to make them look pretty, that’s the whole point of edible landscaping. Not sure if I will succeed.
You will succeed. ✅
 
Not quite there garden but I redid the frames for my vanilla orchids today.

The old ones were tiny and the orchids are growing quite happily, so it was time to get something bigger in place. They're they're 2 totally green orchids closest to the window.
I managed to only lose 3 leaves in the process, so I was quite happy with that achievement.

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I have just raided the veg plot, which is somewhat overgrown. There has not been a proper summer, so the shading has forced the tomatoes to grown lanky and leggy.... somewhere in there there are green tomatoes but I am going to have to wait for them to turn red before I can find them!

I have also picked the last of the raspberries, picked the first of the blueberries, spotted pomegranets starting to grow and also seen that we have some courgettes growing as well as cucumber. the veg plot needs watering but it is going to be full sun today, so it will have to wait until this evening.

Sadly the high winds from the storms that flooded Sydney and elsewhere but gave me only 3mm of rain, have split a really old rose, tearing it down the middle of its very old trunk. It is a beautiful climbing rose, that is a mass of small yellow fragrant flowers just once a year. I hope it lives. I will have a look at it tomorrow morning and trim back what I can to see if I can save it. I have once managed to get a striking from it, so I do have a spare of it, but if it dies, I will need to rip it out of the ground completely and then basically dig out all of the gravel and crap soil and get fresh into it. I may ask my landlord for help with that - he has a bobcat which will make life a lot easier. I should know by the weekend how much we can save if at all, because it is already starting to wilt in places.
 
I have just raided the veg plot, which is somewhat overgrown. There has not been a proper summer, so the shading has forced the tomatoes to grown lanky and leggy.... somewhere in there there are green tomatoes but I am going to have to wait for them to turn red before I can find them!

I have also picked the last of the raspberries, picked the first of the blueberries, spotted pomegranets starting to grow and also seen that we have some courgettes growing as well as cucumber. the veg plot needs watering but it is going to be full sun today, so it will have to wait until this evening.

Sadly the high winds from the storms that flooded Sydney and elsewhere but gave me only 3mm of rain, have split a really old rose, tearing it down the middle of its very old trunk. It is a beautiful climbing rose, that is a mass of small yellow fragrant flowers just once a year. I hope it lives. I will have a look at it tomorrow morning and trim back what I can to see if I can save it. I have once managed to get a striking from it, so I do have a spare of it, but if it dies, I will need to rip it out of the ground completely and then basically dig out all of the gravel and crap soil and get fresh into it. I may ask my landlord for help with that - he has a bobcat which will make life a lot easier. I should know by the weekend how much we can save if at all, because it is already starting to wilt in places.
Pomegranets, you are so lucky. Really healthy and so pricy here I just keep walking. 🧃
 
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