Overhaul is coming to an end

Has it ever happened to you that you save your post as a draft and forget to publish it? Well, It did to me. I intended to post the New Year Post and wrote the post down on 31st I had to go to office on both days (Yeah, I know the surprised expression on your faces, well that’s how bad my work is, anyways!); forgot to publish it and never came back, coz I had also mentioned that I wouldn’t be posting until the month end or February! So much for being a computer savvy! And would you believe that I work with computers every other day and help people fix them! Anyways, Belated Happy New Year 2010 to all of you. May be I’ll change that New Year post to something else and post later. I was lagging behind a lot last year and I hope not to be so this year.

(The pair of shoes below is my first project of the year)(The caps and gloves are for my sister and brother in law)(This purse is for a sweet friend from Germany who was generous enough to send me the Strawberry and many other seeds that I'm gonna sow this month)

The first month of January, I was busy crocheting! Yes, I love doing it. I learnt it three years ago and stopped it as my fingers started aching. Recently I realized that it was because I was holding the yarn wrongly and now that I learnt how to hold it right, I was off crocheting gloves, caps, and stuff for my family and friends.

Plantville is almost getting cleaned up and the overhaul is almost done. I finally found that Neem Spray worked really well on mealy bugs that had conquered Plantville. (This is some unknown larvae that seemed to reduce the beautifully flowering Nyctanthes)

Initially I did the mistake of spraying them once a week but observed that the bugs didn’t go away completely. They seemed to hold their stand on the plants.(Can you make out the mealy bugs on the bud on the left)

I later learnt (after a tiresome translation from German to English – of course with the savior, Google Translator) that I should spray it once in two days for two weeks and as the instructions promised, it worked! Thanks to my sis who brought that Spray (CELAFLOR Naturen Schädlingsfrei Neem) from Germany for me a year ago.

(Can you see the aphids?)

Next huge problem was Millipedes! Yeeew! I know you can feel the chill running up your spine when you see them crawling around. They had built mansions in every pot and were eating up some leaves! Thank god I reserved my veggies sowing after the overhaul; if not these crawlers would have eaten them up! Initially I had picked them (Yeeew, I know, but I overcame the fear eventually) and later read somewhere that detergent in water would get rid of them. That seemed to do the trick but not all of them were eliminated. There were still heaps of them around, so I finally got this insecticide which did the magic. I think it was Dichlorvos.

Meanwhile many plants were trimmed, repotted, and cleaned up.

(This is a new addition)(One of the three Oleanders that I planted. This one started flowering soon. The other two are yet to flower - one is a baby pink and other a double/red colored one)

Many started sending forth beautiful blooms as if the clean environment lightened them up!

(After vigorous cutting, and spraying, this hibiscus is now finally healthy and flowering beautifully)

(I wish the Mums bloomed still so beautifully, but its days are over. Though they're blooming even now, the blooms are small)

(It was strange to find this Jasmine flowering in January!)

(I've never seen this Ixora stop flowering... touchwood...)

I’ll soon update you on the veggies and other seeds I’m gonna sow. It’s gonna be an exciting month. Wish me luck!

And yes, I almost forgot, even the parrot population seems to have increased here. Many babies can be seen from my terrace, playing with each other.