Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2018 i The Gardener Magazine

It’s almost that time of the year folks! The days are getting warmer and summer is almost in full swing, which means that most plants are in full bloom! It’s also time for another kind of celebration. While other countries that celebrate this weird and wacky night prepare for winter, we are fortunate enough to welcome warm lazy nights outside. It’s time for Halloween! Internationally, Halloween celebrations are fast becoming the biggest event of the year, and even here in South Africa it is growing at a phenomenal rate. Why wouldn’t it? Dressing up as your favourite scary villain for one evening and causing a few shrieks here and there, not to mention all the trick-or-treating fun for the kids. Halloween can be good clean entertainment, and you don’t even…

Under ideal conditions gardenias will bloom prolifically, starting in late spring and continuing through summer. The last stray buds on the shrub in autumn may manage to hang on, tightly closed, to bloom early the following spring. If this is not the case with your gardenia, we had best take a look at what they need. Gardenias prefer warm, humid gardens in subtropical regions, but will also grow in cooler climates in pots on patios if they are protected against cold winds and frost. What they need • Direct sun (but not the warmest spot in the garden) or light shade. Morning sun and afternoon shade is ideal. Once in flower, potted gardenias can be moved indoors to a room with plenty of natural light, but once the number of…

Although all pelargoniums are easy to grow and quite tough, some gardeners experience problems. Here are some hints and tips to help them produce lots of blooms: • The right spot: Full sun is best, but morning sun and afternoon shade will also be tolerated. • The right soil: Pelargoniums hate wet feet and heavy, slow-draining soil. Use a good quality commercial potting mix and add an adequate drainage layer of stones or gravel before filling your pot up with potting soil. Before doing anything, make sure that the container’s drainage holes aren’t blocked. • The right food: Keeping these plants hungry for food will cause them to sulk and stop flowering. They are gross feeders and need feeding fortnightly with a water-soluble fertiliser. • The right way with water:…

• Watering deeply is very important. A rose bush should receive a minimum of 10 litres (preferably more) in twice-weekly watering or smaller daily amounts. • Fertilise mid-October with Vigorosa. • Spray every two weeks with Ludwig’s Insect Spray to control aphids, leaf-eating beetles and thrips, as well as light infestations of red spider. • If the weather is hot and dry, check the underside of leaves for red spider. If present, spray thoroughly with Rose Protector or Ludwig’s Insect Spray, making sure to drench the underside of the leaves. • Mulch beds to retain moisture and keep the roots cool. • Do not pick more than 50% of long-stemmed blooms off a rose bush at a time. This reduces the leaf cover and stresses the roots, setting the rose…

Herbs are trending as bridal bouquets. That shouldn’t be surprising, because herbs have always had a special meaning: rosemary for remembrance, lavender for love, and sage for wisdom (which newly married couples need plenty of!). In mediaeval times sage was associated with domestic virtue! When making a bouquet for the daughter of the house, what better place to begin than in the family herb garden. Even if wedding bells are still far off, start now by planting flowering and fragrant herbs that can be used for garlands, posies, buttonholes, favours and table arrangements. In fact, there is no need to wait for that special day. Fill a jug with a mix of flowering herbs and foliage and bring the garden, with all its wonderful perfume, into the house. Herbs for…

Nothing can be compared to the pride you feel when you taste freshly picked tomatoes in a salad or dish, or to eat as a fruit, from your own garden. Tomatoes can be grown from seed or plant seedlings. Do not have a garden? No problem! You can grow your own tomatoes even if you live in an apartment. They grow well in a window box, in a pot or in a hanging basket. Tomatoes need sun and soil rich in organic matter. Seedlings must be planted in deep soil leaving the top four leaves just above the surface. This will help with the development of a strong root system as extra roots will grow out of the covered stems. This will result in stronger, healthier plants. Plant the seeds…

POTTY PERSONALITIES Let kids decorate their own plastic pots with cute faces and then fill them with succulents and indoor plants to resemble funky hairstyles. You will need Plain white plastic pots Succulents or indoor plants Soil Permanent markers Instructions Give the kids their own pots and let them have free reign in drawing faces with permanent markers. Help them fill the pots with soil and their chosen plants. Leave the potty personalities indoors or on the balcony in a good spot and let them take care of the watering (and cutting back if necessary). Get next month’s issue for more projects. TIPS Avoid succulents with small thorns that can stick in little hands. Herbs such as chives, parsley, rosemary, thyme and basil also make for funny-looking hairdos and can…

1 SEEDLING NEWSFLASH! Ready-to-plant annuals in seedling trays are the fastest way to turn any garden into a Garden of Eden, and at this time of year you are spoiled for choice. Flower seedlings to plant include petunias, dianthus, penstemons, summer asters, sunpatiens, salvias, verbenas and celosias – all perfect for sunny spots. Seedling success relies on: Compost-enriched soil and regular feeding with a water-soluble fertiliser, so make sure that you stock up on these products as well. 2 BOUNTIFUL FLOWERS Summer-flowering annuals like cosmos, marigolds, lobelias, portulacas, zinnias and sunflowers, as well as most summer vegetables and herbs, can be sown now that night temperatures are higher. Here are some handy tips when sowing in trays: Large seeds: Place a piece of chicken wire over the seed tray to make a…

Deciduous flowering shrubs enhance the seasonal changes that happen so dramatically during spring, when bushes of bare stems are suddenly transformed into a mass of bloom as growing conditions change. In colder climates these types of plants are invaluable and add great character to the landscape. Use them to lend an extra dimension to gardens around the country – especially in cold winter areas. Weigela hybrids These popular shrubs of eastern origin have been hybridised extensively through time. The result is a range of garden plants that perform well in harsh growing conditions. They are upright, multi-branched bushes between 1 and 2m tall. The leaves vary from green to variegated, golden and even purple. Tubular flowers are borne along the stems in mid-spring in a range of colours from white…

Japanese flowering cherries (Prunus serrulata) are hybrids of garden origin that have been cultivated for ages, some for more than a thousand years. These spectacular deciduous trees are grown extensively across the temperate parts of the northern hemisphere in public parks, streets and private gardens. In South Africa they are found growing in the cooler, well-watered parts with some older specimens suggesting that they have been around for a century or more. Most of them are small deciduous trees that burst into bloom during spring. Blossoms and foliage usually emerge simultaneously, presenting a fresh floral spectacle. Some new growth is copper or bronze, adding to the attraction of these beautiful plants. Flowers are borne in clusters and may be single, semi-double or fully double. Individual flower sizes also vary, as…

The Spring Rose Festival from Saturday September 29 to Sunday October 13 at Ludwig’s Rose Farm. Experience thousands of blooms, almost as far as the eye can see in the rose fields. This year’s theme is ‘Rose Rooms’ and the main display in The Rose Shed recreates different rooms with roses. Tractor-train rides offer trips around the farm, with refreshments in The Rose Kitchen or the Rose Deli. Entrance to the festival is free and hours are from 9:00 – 17:00 daily. Rose Bus Tour of Johannesburg’s best rose gardens on Saturday, October 20, leaving from Ludwig’s Roses Egoli, Glenferness, from 8:00 – 13:00. Booking is essential – Petrisia 012 544 0144.…

Like comedians, vegetables can do with a good roasting. It makes them sweeter and more nutritious, and it’s a quick and easy way to serve up something special. One of the challenges of a veggie patch is persuading the rest of the family to eat your harvest with your enthusiasm. Kids are more likely to be won over by crunchy roasted carrots or cauliflower, while discerning palettes can be satisfied with olives, spices, herbs, a drizzled balsamic reduction or a tahini sauce added to the roast veggies. Five best summer vegetables for roasting 1 Sweet bell peppers are best sown in seed trays and transplanted when plants are big enough to handle. Pinch the growing tips when sweet peppers are 15cm high, as bushy plants produce more fruit. Water daily…

It’s a well-known fact that one of the most beneficial insects that can be used in integrated pest management is the ladybird. It’s always nice to see these colourful little beetles milling about in the flowerbed, because you know they are having a banquet on the many pests that are harmful to our plants. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule, and a couple of ladybird species are definitely not the gardeners’ friends. In most English-speaking countries these little beetles are known as ‘ladybirds’, with the exception of North America where they are called ‘ladybugs’. This can be a bit confusing as they are not true bugs, but beetles belonging to the family Coccinellidae. (Bugs have needle-like mouth parts, whereas beetles have chewing mouth parts.) Another area of…

What you need: A disc of wood or a chopping board Wire waste-paper basket 3 U-brackets and screws Wood stain Spray-paint Spray-painting tips: Shake the can well before use. Make sure you spray in a well-ventilated area. Use a mask. Hold the can 30cm away from the object and follow the lines of the object in steady, fluid motions. Allow time to dry between coats. There are some spray-paints that have a built-in primer, which makes the job of painting that much easier and quicker. If using a normal spray-paint, first spray a coat of metal primer.…

We all grew up with hints, tips, remedies and sayings used by our grandmothers. Most of us probably also have weird recipes for house-cleaning or medicinal use written down somewhere in old recipe books and diaries. If you spend time on Pinterest you will be amazed at all the suggestions you will find on how to take a shortcut, trick somebody, save money, or how to behave in different scenarios. It makes for fascinating reading, so I decided to share some of the titbits I saw there and heard elsewhere. Many hints are about hair, like if you should find a hair in your food at a restaurant, salt the food heavily before sending it back to the kitchen. This should ensure that you get a new order. To remove…

Our most beloved flowers, pelargoniums (also known as geraniums), spill from the shelves of garden centres at this time of year, and it takes a really strong heart not to fall in love with them all over again! The ivy-leaved pelargonium (Pelargonium peltatum) is normally described as a climbing, semi-succulent perennial that is used extensively in horticulture. What this description doesn’t say is that they give superb flower power in window boxes, hanging baskets and containers. Thousands of pelargoniums are grown each year and new varieties appear regularly. A stunning pot combo Pelargoniums We used two specimens of the new, early flowering ranges of pelargoniums, namely ‘Marcada’ and ‘Tacari’, with a selection of other champion plants in our pot. These pelargoniums are very floriferous, self-cleaning, have a high resistance to…

With our strong summer sun, the roses that show up best and hold their colour are those with blooms in warm shades of orange, yellow and red. This season yields a fine crop of sturdy growers with flowers in glowing colours. ‘Nelson Mandela’ is a fiery orange-red floribunda Eco-Chic rose. It is a tall rose that matures into a stately bush covered with shiny, dark-green foliage that shows up the large semi-double blooms. Initiated by Keith Kirsten in consultation with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, proceeds from the sale of the rose will be donated to the Foundation. Garden uses: It can stand on its own as a focal point in a garden and is ideal for planting as a screen or to hide an unattractive wall or fence. ‘Curro’ is…

The exceptionally long-lasting flower heads of the summer-growing Eucomis species have captivated gardeners around the world for centuries. This small genus of 12 species in the hyacinth family (Hyacinthaceae) is endemic to the southern African countries of South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland, as well as Zimbabwe and Malawi in southern tropical Africa. All of the species are represented in South Africa, and almost all are summer growing, except for E. regia from the winter-rainfall parts of the Northern and Western Cape. The name Eucomis is derived from the Greek ‘eu’ and ‘komos’, meaning ‘beautifully haired’, and refers directly to the beautiful or prominent head (coma) of leaf-like bracts that overtops the flower head (similar to that of a pineapple) and which is a characteristic feature of all members of…

Choose the last quarter moon phase at the start of the month to harvest leaf produce for drying or freezing; to clear spring next annuals; and to trim, weed, and prepare the soil for planting after the New Moon. Note the four best days for succession planting of "leaf" seedlings. The weekend of the 20th and the weekend after the Full moon are the best planting periods for late summer bulbs and root vegetables, also to plant out bagged perennials, mulch with cooling compost and irrigate in dry areas.…

Garden Day Sunday 21 There’s really nothing like the joy of gardening. Connecting to nature, the pride of growing your own plants, flowers, food and the amazing health benefits. It’s also well documented that gardens, no matter how big or small, have the potential to bring people and communities together, which is why on Sunday 21 October the call to action for South Africa’s annual Garden Day is to down tools, and invite neighbours, friends and family around to celebrate your garden together. Enquiries: For more ideas and Garden Day inspiration, visit www.gardenday.co.za and follow it on social media. GAUTENG Saturday 6 October • A Blooming Affair Garden and Craft Market Day Roedean School (SA), Princess of Wales Terrace, Parktown A Blooming Affair is an annual one-day-only event that can…