Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2018 i The Gardener Magazine

Q Is Babylonstoren changing perceptions in South Africa about the potential aesthetic appeal of food gardens? A Yes, absolutely. The focus on food gardens is a world trend, and the garden at Babylonstoren is an example for visitors of how to grow food at home and to do it simply, and beautifully. Here in the Cape we see many private and public gardens, such as the Compagne Gardens in Cape Town, Boschendal and even the ‘middelmannetjies’ of the streets in Stellenbosch making a feature of growing food plants. We get so many queries from people wanting to do the same in new gardens they are making. Our workshops on pruning and the art of espalier, herbs, growing organic vegetables and making garden structures are well attended. Q Apart from being historically inspired…

If you’re looking for real plant elegance, turn to members of Restionaceae, one of the three main fynbos families. Many of the showiest and most popular species will grow happily in different climatic regions far away from their natural habitat. Another characteristic, which can create confusion and make them difficult to identify, is that restios have male and female flowers on separate plants. But that is not a problem for the gardener, as we will simply enjoy double the pleasure if we can have both sexes. When clever researchers at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens found out that plant-derived smoke is a natural stimulant to germinate fynbos seeds, and especially those of restios (previously very difficult to propagate!), they did the horticultural world a huge favour. Large numbers of these once…

Attend Ludwig’s practical demonstrations to find out more on how to prune your roses: • Saturday 23 June at 14:00 and Sunday 24 June at Ludwig’s Star Roses, Assagay, at 10:30. • Saturday 30 June and Sunday 1 July at Ludwig’s Rose Farm at 10:30. • Sunday 1 July at Ludwig’s Roses Pretoria East, Lynnwood Road, Pretoria East, at 14:00. • Saturday 7 July and Sunday 8 July at Ludwig’s Roses Egoli, 97 Lachlan road, at 10:30. • Saturday 14 July at 10:00 and Sunday 15 July at 10:30 at Ludwig’s Roses Winelands, Stellenbosch/Klipheuwel. • Saturday 14 July at Ludwig’s Roses Cape Town, Klaasens Road, Wynberg Park, at 14:00. • Saturday 21 July at Ludwig’s Roses Big Red Barn, M18 Glen Road, between Irene and Clayville, at 10:00. Entrance is…

Many of us start our orchid growing with a Phalaenopsis or moth orchid that we received as a gift from a friend or that we decided to buy as it lasts much longer than a bunch of flowers. These orchids are mostly grown as a throwaway commodity, and in many cases the plants are discarded once they have finished flowering. Some of us who have feeling for plants and a bit of a green thumb decide to not throw away the plant but rather try our hand at getting it to grow and flower again. In some cases this is successful and in others not. There are, however, many different orchids that can be grown indoors with great success. Many orchids will be fine if placed indoors for the period…

Ingredients 15 Brussels sprouts½ cup shredded red cabbage1 Granny Smith apple½ cup grated Pecorino cheese8 dates½ lemon½ cup olive oil¼ cup feta1 boiled eggHandful pecans For the dressing 2 anchovies3 tablespoons of tahini1 tablespoon maple syrup1 teaspoon cayenne pepper2 garlic cloves2 tablespoons Greek yoghurtSalt and pepper to taste Cut the core out of the Brussels sprouts and separate them into leaves. If you find this too time consuming you can just quarter the Brussels sprouts. Cut the apple into matchstick-sized pieces and pit the dates, then cut them into quarters. Roughly chop the pecans, crumble the feta cheese and quarter the boiled eggs. Place all the ingredients beautifully into a bowl of your choice. To make the dressing In a bowl, use a spoon to squish the anchovies to make…

Australian violet Viola hederacea This energetic little groundcover is a quick-growing, flat-spreading, herbaceous, evergreen plant that can form an extensive mat. Viola hederacea reaches approximately 15cm in height, and one little plant can spread up to 1m2 in diameter without difficulty. It has soft, green, round leaves and grows in shade or partial shade in moist, well-drained, compost-enriched soil. Don’t be too anxious if your soil isn’t ideal as they will adapt effortlessly to most garden soils. Keep the ground around it damp in hot summer months to ensure the plant is happy and spreads quickly. Viola hederacea will flower most of the year, the white and purple violet-shaped flowers appearing on stems above the foliage. The flowers are edible and look great when tossed into summer salads. Divide clumps…

1 MELT THE ICE WITH HOT ALOES Winter-flowering aloes like the krantz aloe (Aloe arborescens) grow from sea level to the highest mountaintops and set winter gardens alight with their bright orange-red flowers. Birds and bees adore the nectar-rich blooms. If you need a very dramatic plant for a large container, choose the sculptural and very striking tree aloe (Aloidendron barberae). This aloe is a perfect focal plant for the garden as well but needs space to grow in as it can reach a mature height of 15m. Expect pink flowers in winter. There are also plentiful and pretty new aloe hybrids of all sizes to choose from at garden centres. Don’t miss out on the chance to plant more of these trendy and easy-on-the-eye plants. 2 GREAT BALLS OF…

The new Husqvarna corded electric range of high-pressure washers caters for outdoor spaces of all sizes. Perfect for users who don’t just want the best-looking lawn or hedge, but the best-looking garden overall! High-pressure washers blast dirt and mud away more effectively than regular garden hoses, translating into a saving of up to 80% of water compared with standard garden hoses. All Husqvarna high-pressure washers come equipped with a long hose for better reach (up to 15 metres), making it easier to clean around the garden. Available at authorised Husqvarna dealerships. www.husqvarna.co.za…

The bright orange to scarlet flowers of coral trees are a beautiful sight, especially when they appear against the brown landscape of winter. And what makes the Erythrina genus so special is that it contains plants of such diversity, each of them special in their own right and all of them fantastic garden subjects. Erythrina lysistemon (coral-tree) The simply named coral-tree is the species gardened with most commonly, and it is thoroughly deserving of its popularity. Growing to a maximum of about 10m, it is one of the best plants you can have in your garden to attract birdlife and other pollinators. The flowers provide nectar and pollen in late winter and early spring, and wood-boring birds such as barbets and woodpeckers often make their nests in the trunks. For…

The lily can be used in many different ways, from arranging in a vase at home, to being the perfect choice for weddings and other special occasions. Lilies are one of the oldest bulb plants known to man and have been found in ancient writings and pictures dating from 2000BC – 1500BC. Lilies can vary substantially in colour and shape. The size of their flowers, for example, ranges from 7cm to no less than 25cm across. Some lilies face outward and are slightly pendulous, some have recurved petals, and their flowers can be trumpet, bowl or star shaped. Lilies are classified into the following groups: Asiatics These trumpet-shaped flowers can reach a diameter of 15cm, and the plants can actually grow to a height of 3m. Each stem bears 4…

I always tell gardening friends that I don’t think that there should be any rules to gardening. It is, after all, your property, your money and your labour that goes into a garden, not true? But although it is okay to do exactly what you want or to allow your own creativity to lead you, it also makes sense to stick to some tried and tested principles that can help you to achieve gardening happiness and contentment. 1. Trees in purgatory It’s exciting to plant a tree, and a lot of hope and dreams are invested in any tree that you bring home from the nursery. But the following stuff can go wrong: The hole is a sump We all know that a large hole should be dug when getting…

There is a reason why winter feels long, dark and cold. With little to do in the veggie garden, it gives us time to plan for spring and summer. Even gardeners in frost-free sub-tropical areas can assess how the season is going and make some changes. Is crop rotation necessary? Hold onto your hats organic gardeners. Talborne Organics’ Jenny Slabber believes that crop rotation as it is traditionally practiced is no longer necessary or practical for today’s small, urban vegetable gardens. Her message is to rather concentrate on soil health and fertility. This can be achieved by moving from monoculture to inter-cropping (mixed planting), incorporating companion planting, making use of green manures and compost, and moving away from chemical fertilisers. As Jenny explains, she and her colleagues have found that…

What you need Shutter ply (for the mould) cut to: 2 x 840mm x 40mm x 20mm1 x 560mm x 40mm x 20mm4 x 250mm x 40mm x 20mm1 x 620mm x 40mm x20mm2 x 525mm x 40mm x 20mm2 x 290mm x 40mm x 20mm1 x 1000mm x 580mm x 20mm1 x 600mm x 350mm x 20mm2 x 30kg bags fine river sand1 x 50kg bag of cement2kg of blue PowaFix cement oxideReleasing agent (you can just use engine or cooking oil)A few fern fronds or other ornately shaped leaves Tools Drill and screwdriver bit, builder’s trowel, wheelbarrow, bucket, spade What you do 1. Make the framework for your cement pavers. Firstly make a rectangle by screwing the 525mm x 40mm x 20mm and 290mm x 40mm x 20mm…

We’re constantly told to download an App to do something simple. The other day, for instance, I was told to fly to Lanseria airport, and then to get myself to Midrand near Johannesburg for our Autumn Garden Show. When I asked our managing editor, Wendy, what my pick-up arrangement at the airport was (since I refuse to drive alone on those roads!), I was told to download the Uber App. So as to not let on that I am a complete doofus who has never used Uber, I reluctantly agreed, but had a quiet nervous breakdown after putting down the phone. I had visions of making a silly mistake and being left standing with my suitcase in the middle of nowhere. So I phoned the kids for advice, as I…

If you haven’t visited Babylonstoren near Franschhoek yet, put it on your bucket list. I doubt there’s a more stylish food garden in the land, nor one that is doing as much to change perceptions about the aesthetic appeal of food gardening. When you enter the garden through the thick, old, white-washed walls of the Cape Dutch werf, one of the oldest and best-preserved farmyards in the country, you enter a world of abundance that’s literally there for the taking. In front of you lie elegant allées of beautifully formed fruit trees, intersecting others in an intricate geometry of squares that make up quarters of larger squares, going on as far as the eye can see. Reach up and pluck a succulent plum as you pass, or lean down and…

There is so much colour that can be planted in July. Most of it will keep flowering through to November, and maybe even longer. Spring flowers like petunias and gazanias that are planted now start flowering in August, giving them a much longer flowering season. Even working in the garden is pleasant, once the sun takes the edge off the morning chill. Here is our pick of sun-lovers that will cheer up you and your garden: Alyssum (Lobularia maritima) exudes a delicious honey-scented fragrance, and can be tucked into beds, between paving stones, and as a filler with pansies or violas in windowboxes, hanging baskets and containers. Be careful of overwatering. Trim off dead flowers to encourage new blooms. Calendula (Calendula officinalis) is in full flower, offering instant colour for…

What do you expect from your roses? Do you want large, perfect blooms for picking or do you prefer masses of blooms that provide a show? Do you enjoy pampering your roses, or should they just look after themselves? Every gardener is different and wants different things, which means there is no right or wrong way to grow roses. Varieties also differ. Those like ‘Cora Marie’ and ‘Andrea Stelzer’ that produce very long-stemmed blooms can be tamed by light pruning. On the other hand, varieties like ‘Duftwolke’, ‘Egoli’ and ‘New Zealand’ tend to sprout from too many eyes if lightly pruned, resulting in many short-stemmed blooms as well as many blind shoots that don’t form a terminal bud. All this needs to be taken into account before you start pruning…

Kids will get a kick out of completing these tactile, all-season activities that merge imagination, creativity, botany and a little bit of practical magic. You also don’t need acres of garden to dig in – if you have a sunny windowsill, you’re good to go. With an emphasis on upcycling and sustainability, each of these easy projects is designed to encourage children to engage with nature, not tech. As well as the fun of getting their hands dirty, the bigger reward lies in watching something grow that they have nurtured themselves, thereby encouraging them to care for and appreciate all forms of life. STALKING ON EGGSHELLS This cracking idea recycles eggshells, transforming them from kitchen refuse into nutrient-rich eco-containers for growing flowers from seed. You will need • Cleaned and…

A new healthy-eating trend is ‘souping’, and what better time than winter for adding wholesome, veggie-and-herb-rich soup to the daily menu? Don’t believe everything you read on the internet. Souping is not the magic bullet for weight-loss or detoxing. Responsible nutritionists, however, do say that nutritional, high-fibre soups are good for us if eaten as one daily meal or instead of snacks like pizza, chips and other take-aways. The benefits of eating soup on a regular basis, says Victoria Seaver of the Eating Well website (www.eatingwell.com), is that it ups our intake of a variety of veggies and fibre, and because of the water content helps us to feel satisfied. For a nutritionally balanced soup she recommends adding a filling protein like beans, lentils or lean meat. Being low in…

The chemical and geological composition of soil is a very complex subject, one about which I am not qualified to talk about. What I am going talk about, though, are the various life forms (fauna) that live in it, and who give it its fertility. If we strip all the plants from an area of soil, what you appear to be left with is a barren stretch of ground that in time becomes dry and dusty. In fact, if we could miniaturise ourselves, we would actually find a rich array of fauna ranging from microscopic bacteria to large complex organisms such as earthworms. It is said that, depending on the type of soil, 1m2 can be home to a quarter of a million individual organisms of varying sizes. Each organism…

What you need 5 x concrete pavers1 x 500ml set of Sikadur-AP all-purpose epoxy adhesive1 x 1L Sika Cemflex submersiblewaterproofer and bonding agentSika Cemflex waterproofing membrane500ml Water1.6kg cement Tools Paintbrush, epoxy applicator, clamps, bucket, rubber gloves What you do 1. On a piece of scrap wood or tile, thoroughly mix equal amounts of each tub of Sikadur-AP epoxy. Mix only enough to use immediately. 2. Apply the epoxy around the edge of the one of the largest paver (if using the ones from in the previous DIY, on page 61. Press the next paver into position, fern pattern facing out. 3. Apply epoxy the sides of the pavers, and the edge of the bottom paver, and glue them all into position. 4. Clamp them, not too tightly, and remove any…