Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2016 i The Gardener Magazine

As Christmas approaches, the garden centres seem to empty as people flock to malls to get their Christmas shopping done. But what to buy? Invariably, we end up getting friends and family yet another set of toiletries or the umpteenth box of choccies to add to the inevitable seasonal weight gain. Why don’t we give a gift that grows something other than waistlines – something that keeps giving back? Could it be that we don’t know how to present plants as gifts? It’s time to get inspired! Why do people really love getting plants as a gift? Plants are among the most memorable gifts you can give. Let’s count the reason why: • They live, they grow, they bloom, and every new leaf or flower reminds your recipient of the…

GET THE LOOK Sunny patios are the ideal place for showing off roses, especially those with fragrance. This built-in plant box that defines the outer edge of the living area is filled to capacity with roses: ‘Amarula Profusion’ cascading outwards and downwards, ‘Garden and Home’ growing upwards, and ‘Garden Queen’ adding a splash of contrasting colour. Other roses that will work equally well are the fragrant ‘Adele Searll’, the ‘Granny’ roses, ‘Deloitte & Touche’, ‘Thank You’, ‘Duncan’s Rose’ and ‘Perfume Passion’. MAKE IT a rosy Christmas It’s time for the second rose flush, but with a little manipulation you can make sure there are roses for Christmas Day, or even delay their flowering until your return from the Christmas holidays. For Christmas Day roses, pinch off a third of the…

FESTIVE TREES You can choose indoor trees like Ficus benjamina or F. binnendijkii or use garden trees that will survive indoors for a while and can then be planted out into the garden early next year. Think about species like a wild gardenia (Gardenia thunbergia), Henkel’s yellowwood (Podocarpus henkelii ), or a thorn tree like a well-branched fever tree (Vachellia xanthophloea). If you are a traditionalist you can trust conifers like Cupressus macrocarpa ‘Gold Crest’. TWO TOP CHOICES Rudbeckia hirta ‘Denver Daisy’ – These cheery, easy-to-care-for compact plants produce large, golden-yellow daisies for months on end, starting in late summer and easily extending into the autumn months. Their heat tolerance and strong stems guarantee success in extreme conditions. They are wonderful in mixed containers and will attract an abundance of…

The sweetest sweetcorn We all know that home-grown veggies taste better than shop-bought ones, but there are two that stand out above the rest – tomatoes and sweetcorn. Sweetcorn should be cooked and eaten within 30 minutes of picking because after that the sugar starts converting to starch. So if you think of how long the sweetcorn you buy has been on the shelf, the taste (nice as it is) is nothing like the real thing! 5 tips for success Grow sweetcorn in blocks, not rows. For cobs to form, the female flowers need to be pollinated by the male flowers. Growing them in blocks allows the wind to more effectively pollinate the plants. That won’t happen if they are planted in a row. Make sure plants grow in full…

Do It Yourself for under R1300 What you will need Cutting list: 4 x 800mm x 44mm x 22mm (Legs) 4 x 480mm x 44mm x 22mm (Table top supports) 6 x 600mm x 94mm x 22mm (Table top slats) 1 x 500mm x 94mm x 22mm (Outer leg brace) 1 x 450mm x 94mm x 22mm (Inner leg brace) 6 x 6mm x 75mm gutter bolts 6 x 6mm nuts 18 x 6mm washers 24 x 4mm x 40mm cut screws Spraypaint – we used Rustoleum Lagoon satin coat Tools Cordless drill, 6mm wood drill bit, counter sink bit, flat screw driver, 11mm spanner, hack saw, tape measure, pencil Steps 1 Drill and counter sink 6mm holes in the legs and table supports as shown in the diagram. Round…

The summer garden is an important part of the festive season for most of us in South Africa. It makes sound sense to select easy-to-grow indigenous shrubs that can contribute to the floral beauty at this time. Shrubs form the backbone of almost all gardens and are also useful in outdoor living areas. Erythrina humeana (dwarf coral tree) This medium-sized shrub or small tree is topped with deep red to orange flowers in clusters. They appear above the lush green compound leaves, which are of varying shapes and have small hooked thorns on the leaf stems and main veins. The bright blooms contrast strikingly against the green foliage, which differs from most other coral trees that flower in late winter before the new spring leaves appear. Plants grow quickly from…

Most people are familiar with the basic principle of pruning – we cut back branches to stimulate side growth. The most obvious and extreme example is a well-trimmed hedge with dense, almost impenetrable foliage. With bonsai we are also trying to achieve similar dense foliage, except only in selected areas – the foliage clouds or pads at the ends of the branches. Experienced bonsai artists work so quickly with their defoliating scissors that it is easy for observers to assume that they are just chopping away at the material as if they were creating a hedge, but that is not the case. Occasionally we do just cut all the leaves off a tree. This is called defoliating and should only be done to a healthy tree and not more than…

Location, location... Plant runner beans on the southern side of the garden so that they won’t shade other veggies. However, if you are growing summer lettuce, they will welcome the light shade from the beans. The food garden is entering its most productive time and the golden rule is that the more you pick the more the plants produce. Share excess with the neighbours; after all, it’s the season of giving. Don’t let up on pest control, watering or weeding Keeping cool Did you think spring was hot? December to February is even hotter, and while veggies need plenty of sun, they can get heat stressed during these months. Plants need to be watered more often too. Relieve the stress with shade cloth. Whether you use 30%, 60% or 80%…

1 Garden food The perfect gift for gardeners is the chance to get a great green lawn with Seasol Ready to Use fertiliser. Available at leading garden centres and nurseries.www.mangomooncc.co.za 2 Pretty and practical Zinnia ‘Zahara Sunburst’and Rudbeckia‘Denver Daisy’make perfect Christmas presents with easy-to-gift labels. Available in leading garden centres countrywide. 3 For the bird lovers A new range of bird feeders and houses that make ideal Christmas gifts for the birding enthusiast is available in various styles and colours. Contact sales@decorbuzz.co.za for further information. 4 Tanya’s Tools Now you can order your favourite gardening gadgets online.www.tanyavisser.com 5 The Perfect Pesto Ina Paarman’s Pesto’s are also available in a gift pack. The flavours are olive, basil and roasted red pepper. The Pesto range is available at leading retailers. 6 Saucy…

Another option is to turn it into a toping from such as this ring This year some of our best athletes returned home from the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, weighed down with gold, silver, and bronze medals around their necks. In order to celebrate these champions, and also with Christmas in mind, we chose some ‘celebratory’ plants to create two potting recipes for an entertainment area. Such is the versatility of many plants that it is easy to think up any design to play around with! Olympic ring For this potting recipe the following plants were used: Coastal rosemary (Westringia fruticosa) naturally grows near the coast in eastern Australia, and can easily be called one of the toughest, most willing shrubs to grow hassle-free, almost anywhere. It is…

• When in Montserrat, don’t turn your nose up at traditional goat stew – it’s the recognised national dish, also popular in St Nevis and Kitts. • Hold your pose when offered a fruit called vegetable brains. Ackee is a reddish and yellow fruit that originates from West Africa. The red section resembles brains; the yellow section is similar to scrambled eggs. • Rice and beans are often referred to as rice and peas, especially if made with yellow peas or pigeon peas. • In Guyana, basil is also known as ‘married-manpork’, but it is not clear how basil got this name apart from the fact that it has been the main man in the kitchen for centuries. • Local is lekker: The Caribbean has its own delicious fruit and…

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All in all, a good situation if you ask me... I was getting some fish and chips the other day from our local takeaway when I noticed the plant standing on the counter. Once upon a time it was a green-and-yellow variegated hybrid of the ‘impossible-to-kill’ mother-inlaw’s-tongue. But instead of towering fiercely upwards, the normally stiff leaves were a sickly yellow colour and were uncharacteristically trying to ‘cascade’, or flow over the pot’s edge. In the saucer underneath the pot I saw a pool (nearly deep enough to be a koi pond!) containing foul-looking water. This plant, which normally grows in dry shade, is clearly not happy in the humid and oil-polluted environment of a fish and chips shop. My recommendation (if I was asked, of course!) would have been…