Spring Lawn Treatment

We performed a spring lawn treatment in our garden in the middle of September and 7 weeks later can show the results.

We have Kikuyu lawn in our garden which naturally dies back in the winter.  We watered it twice in winter in order to let it go through this natural process. 

Just after winter

The lawn treatment started by mowing the lawn on the lowest possible setting.  We then followed up with a scarifier to remove the dead thatch.  It seems like such a harsh process as the ground was almost bare at the end of the process.  It is a very dusty job so it's advisable to wear a dust mask and goggles. 



Scarification in progress



Scarification removes organic material from around the base of the grass plants that can prevent dense grass growth and can encourage the growth of fungus and bacteria.  It is best carried out at the beginning of spring so that the grass is actively growing and will fill any spaces created in the process.  If growth is slow there is a higher risk that the gaps will be filled by weeds.



The scarification was followed by aerating the soil.  We performed this manually with garden forks.  If you have a larger lawn area it’s much easier to use a spiked roller.  We then applied an organic fertiliser and added top dressing.  We completed the process with a deep watering.

7 weeks later we have a healthy, green lawn and our neighbours honestly say that the grass is greener on the other side!



7 weeks later



Diascia integerrima (Twinspur)

My garden survived winter and two hail storms and as the summer colour bursts forth at an alarming rate I watch for daily changes as each day greets me with a new blossom.

I’ve discovered one of the most under-rated indigenous plants which had been a star performer in my garden – Diascia integerrima (Twinspur).  The books speak about this plant having flowers throughout summer and autumn.  My collection has given me a constant display of the stunning salmon-coloured flowers since the day I planted them on 25 April 2011.  The plants have also grown and spread to cover a considerable area.  It is certainly a plant that should have a place in every garden and is available in shades of pink, orange and white.

Despite its delicate appearance, Diascia integerrima is a hardy perennial which is low maintenance, drought tolerant, frost resistant and grows in full sun or semi-shade.  It is seldom attacked by pests and is a great filler plants for mixed herbaceous borders.  It is also suitable for hanging baskets, containers and rockeries.  It grows about 30cm high and has a spread of 40-50cm.  It is naturally found in rocky sites and among streamside thickets.

Interestingly, this plant is pollinated by a specialized genus of bee, Rediviva, whose forelegs have evolved to as much as three times their normal length in order to reach into the spurs of the flower, to harvest the fatty oil produced by the glands.  This modification is restricted to the females.  Upon landing on a flower, she will insert her elongated front legs into each hollow spur and probe the ends for the oil-producing elaiophores.

Natural Bonsai

Whilst I admire the skills and creations of those who practice the Japanese art of growing a bonsai, a part of me feels disturbed by the procedure of purposefully stunting the growth and potential of what could be a magnificent tree with many uses.

Two years ago, my husband and I collected seeds from 6 different species of Acacia.  We went through the process of germinating and planting specimens, watching them develop and noting the different growth patterns.

From the onset, we noticed that one of our Acacia sieberiana (Paperbark) saplings was a little different.  He battled to burst forth from the hard casing protecting the seed and, in the process of shedding off the covering somehow got damaged.

We fed and nurtured all the plants with the same treatment.  Whilst all the others grew straight stems at phenomenal a rate, this little one grew very slowly with a twisted trunk.  Despite being weak and warped, he continued growing and developing himself.

Where similar plants grown for commercial purposes would have long ago been discarded, we kept this treasure and now have ourselves a natural bonsai without going through the practice of wiring his trunk to give it an artistically misshapen appearance.

The other plants are now towering young trees up to 3 metres tall and I hope they will grow into
magnificent specimens fulfilling many purposes like providing a home to wildlife, enhancing the air and providing shade.  Incidentally, my garden is far too small to grow a full size Acacia sieberiana , so, whilst I cannot benefit from sitting under the shade of my bonsai, I have the privilege of using him as the centre piece on my patio table.  I still have my view on the practice of creating bonsai, but I can now appreciate one of the advantages of owning one.  Most importantly, I played a part in creating him and did not give up on the joy of watching him reach for the sun.

Benefits of Mulch



Gazania without mulch 



When we moved into our property, the verge had five clumps of Gazania krebsiana (Gazania) growing at intervals along the wall.  Not wanting to invest too much on this area, I simply added some compost and mulch and instructed the gardener not to touch the area.  He was previously “turning the soil” with a garden fork to aerate it, but not adding any much needed organic material to it.  This was causing the soil to dry out much quickly, and disturbing the falling seeds from the gazanias, preventing them from germinating.





Gazania with mulch



The mulch used is a mixture of dried grass cuttings and dead leaves.  It’s been about 3 months since the gazanias received this new treatment and I now have new seedlings sprouting in the bed, so by January, the entire area should be carpeted in a mass of dark green leaves and beautiful flowers.  For more on Gazania krebsiana, a separate blog will follow soon.



  











Gazania  seedlings



In the meantime, here’s more on mulch...



Mulch is a layer of material – usually organic – which either forms naturally or is applied to the surface of the soil.  Establishing my new garden has involved applying a mulch to mimic a forest floor.  Mulch improves plant growth by:

• conserving moisture in the soil by reducing evaporation;
• providing additional nutrients from easily decomposed organic material;
• modifying soil temperatures (either keeping the soil cool and moist in hot periods or by allowing the soil to warm up more quickly in cooler periods);
• discouraging weed growth;
• preventing topsoil erosion.



Organic mulch can include:-


• Straw
• Leaves
• Grass cuttings
• Nut shells
• Fruit pips
• Rotted compost
• Peat

Mulch should be applied after the ground has been weeded, but before plant growth is well advanced.  The ground should be well soaked before mulching.  Mulch should be spread in a 5-8cm layer over and around the roots of plants.  A well mulched flowerbed should not require heavy watering unless there has been a long spell of dry weather.

Pebbles can be used as an inorganic mulch but I try to avoid this unless it specific to the garden design as it can be quite tedious to maintain.

Winter's tale



Wondering why I’ve been so quite?  It’s been winter and there was very little that I could do in the garden during the month of July.  This is generally a very quiet month for most South African gardeners where the bulk of the maintenance would be applying mulch and compost.  With my garden being so new, with mulch applied during the planting phase, there were no maintenance jobs required.  My only concerns were whether we would get frost and how my plants would handle the conditions.  So far, all my plants are surviving their first winter.  Only a few Chlorophytum comosum (Hen-and-Chickens) lost some leaves to frost but they have already recovered.  I just have a few more weeks to go through until I can say with certainty that the worst is over.



Felicia amelloides



However, I’m already seeing the first signs of spring:



·       Dimorphotheca jucunda (Trailing mauve daisy) have just begun flowering



·       Arctotis stoechadifolia (Trailing arctotis) has numerous buds

·       Felicia amelloides (Kingfisher Daisy) is flowering continuously.



Building Steps

There is nothing more satisfying than facing a successful building project.  I view building as a small miracle - watching a pile of bricks and mortar being transformed into a permanent structure.  However, building can also be quite daunting as it actually requires a fair amount of skill to create a stable structure from a pile of bricks.  So, realising my limited skills as a brick-layer, I chose to outsource my small building projects.

I designed steps for two sections of the garden.  Although I could see the logic of my well thought over dimensions, the builder questioned my decisions.  I stuck to my plans and, only after the job was completed did the builder admit that it actually looked “OK”. 

The main thing about building steps is to ensure that the dimensions are practical.  The tread (where your foot goes down) should be a minimum of 300mm so that the whole foot (of an average person) can rest on it.   The riser (height of the step) should be between 100mm and 175mm.

The first step is off our kitchen door.  The original step into the doorway was 26mm off sloping ground which can be uncomfortable for the elderly or disabled.  This was not really an issue for us until I ran a marathon and my stiff legs battled to lift high enough to enter the house.  I planned a small 450mm x 900mm wide step to make the entry into the house easier.



Kitchen - Before



Kitchen - After



Excuse the messy finish.  This is still work in progress.

The second step is off the patio into the “yellow room” of the garden.  There was a drop of 400mm which was also manageable on good days but totally off-bounds on marathon day.  To make a dramatic entrance into the garden, I designed a 600mm x1200mm wide step.

Patio - Before

Patio - After



Both steps were built with face bricks matching those used to build the house, with concrete pavers on the tread.

Praying Mantis

It’s always sad to lose a friend after a period of suffering.  As an onlooker, you are subjected to a feeling of helplessness.  I experienced this, albeit on a small scale, when I discovered that our beloved praying mantis was reaching the end of his life.

I found this giant praying mantis (he measured 16cm) in the garden on 5 April and subsequently saw him on a regular basis.  He disappeared for a while and then returned to our garden two weeks ago.

Last Friday I found him lying upside down next to the garage.  He was still alive but looked weak.  We moved him to the Indigofera jacunda (River Indigo) which always teems with insects, thinking that being closer to a food source, would give him the strength to bounce back to vitality.

Sadly, he was confirmed dead 2 days later.

I’ve recently learnt more about these fascinating creatures which, in memory of our garden guest, I’ll now share with you.

This insect got its common name because of its prominent front legs, which are bent and held together at an angle, suggesting a prayer position. The prayer mantis has a triangular head that can turn 180 degrees to scan their surroundings with two large eyes.  Being a master of camouflage, it blends into the plants on which it lives, lying in ambush or patiently stalking prey.  It feeds on a host of insects which includes moths, crickets, grasshoppers and flies, so is very useful to have in an ecological garden.

The female is notorious for her reputation as a fearsome mate as she will sometimes eat her mate just after (or even during) mating.  Yet, this behaviour does not seem to deter males from reproduction.  Their lifespan is between 10-12 months, so I hope our friend lived to this ripe old age.

Farewell...

Water Feature Installation

Last Wednesday was a national public holiday – Voting Day.  Yes, one whole day was set aside so that the country’s citizens could exercise their right to vote.  This was also an opportunity for the gardener in me to also make use of the day to exercise my right to garden!  Which is precisely what I did.  I made use of the additional labour –my dear husband – and scheduled the installation of our water feature.

I purchased a ready-made feature - a waterfall made up in a concrete mould – and a submersible pump.  I used to think that these fake rock water features bordered on kitsch, but when considering the weight of some of the rocks which we’ve unearthed, I now consider these features very practical because you don’t need excessive manpower to install it.  That’s not saying that the feature is feather weight.  Between the two of us we just managed to lift the two pieces.

I’ve used a lot of unearthed rocks from the garden to edge the flowerbeds so I asked the supplier to match my water feature to the rock colour.  This may sound a little pedantic but, in retrospect, it was definitely worth it so the feature now looks more natural.

We dug the hole, buried the base and completed the installation of the feature in a total of 5 hours (well 6 after correcting a slight error in positioning!).

I’ve planted a Freylinia tropica ‘White’ (White Honeybell Bush) at the back to provide some height and shade for the feature.  As the feature is in our orange section of the garden, I’ve chosen some orange flowering plants – Strelitzia reginae (Bird-of-Paradise), Gazania krebsiana, and Tecomaria capensis ‘Salmon’ (Cape Honeysuckle) which is broken with some finely textured Asparagus densiflorus ‘Meyersii’ (Asparagus Ferns) and Hermannia pinnata.  I interspersed some Dietes grandiflora (Wild Iris) and Crocosmia aurea (Falling Stars) as their strappy-leaves fan out to provide some softness.  I’ve also planted some Zantedeschia aethiopica (Arum Lily) to add a splash of white.

Here’s what it looks like:-

The plants still need to grow to fill up the space, but the birds are already visiting to investigate.  Just 30 minutes ago, we had an Olive Thrush perched and drinking from one of the pools.

Barleria obtusa Leaf Variation

My Barleria obtusa shrubs are doing some strange things. I bought three plants on the same day from one supplier and they looked identical. It’s now about 6 weeks since I planted them and I’ve noticed that one of the three plants looks different. The leaves are darker and bigger. Here’s a comparison with the leaves of the plants.

The odd one’s average leaf size is 8cm whilst the others are 3cm.  I initially thought that the nursery had mislabelled the sleeve, but it has the same flowers as the others. In fact, this odd one seems to have more flower buds than the other plants.  The only difference here could be the positioning of the plants. They are planted adjacent to each other with a 50cm gap between them. The odd one is ever so slightly in a more protected position and receives less direct sunshine.

This is something new to me as the books talk about Barleria obtusa being suitable for both semi-shade and full sun. It is going to be interesting to see how they grow. The shrub grows up to 75cm tall and mine are just 25cm at the moment.

Cat Scare Failed?

If you read the blog on the cat scare, I'm proud to announce that no animals were harmed during this exercise. We set the trap for 5 consecutive nights and it did not go off; and, most importantly, we did not see any evidence of the cat. So, I can only assume that he got the message that he was not welcome and has found a new place to deposit his products.

Radish (Raphanus sativus)

Radish (Raphanus sativus) is by far one of the easiest and most rewarding vegetables to grow – it germinates quickly, is a fast grower, is not fussy and adds a little colour and flavour to a salad.

We had our first radish crop this week.  Here’s a picture of one:

Oh, and pests hardly attack them, so they make a wonderful crop for the vegetable garden.  Also, because of the fast germination rate (2-3 days), they are an ideal plant for involving children (of all ages!) when trying to encourage them to develop a green finger.

Hornet Home

We found a hornet nest in an overhanging branch of our neighbour's Polygala myrtifolia.

It was big and looked very threatening especially as we walked past this brach quite regularly.  We were very tempted to destroy it before we got attacked by, but I did some research and discovered that hornets are useful in the garden as they are predators of harmful insect pests including caterpillars.

So, we decided to live with the hornets, but if they stung us, we'd take action.

We had no incidents, but watched as the nest grew weekly.  Fortunately, nature has its way of sorting things  out and the branch hosting the nest was blown down during a storm, with its occupants abandoning their home, leaving us able to work in the garden with one less threat to worry about.

How To Kill A Cat

What do you do when your wildlife friendly garden is attracting the neighbour's cat?


Yes, the neighbour's cat doesn't quite qualify as wildlife especially when I have to deal with cleaning up after it's used a spot in my vegetable patch as a litter box.  This unwanted visitor makes his appearance in the early hours of the morning so I have not been able to catch him in the act.  All I see is the lovely 'package' waiting for me to dispose of every morning.


I've tried sprinkling white pepper over my boundary wall and that didn't work.
I sprinkled Citronella oil on the wall and around the favourite spot of this feline foe and that didn't work either.


Realising my frustration with the situation, my dear husband spent the better part of this afternoon creating a cat scare.  We don't want to make an enemy of the neighbour by maiming her beloved beast, so this has been tested extensively to ensure that no (visible) physical damage occurs.


This is the scene:-

How it works:
We've buried a rat trap on the left - the cat's favourite spot.  (Relax, kitty-lovers - we've modified it so that it will not snap shut and squash the cat's paw or other body part).
Once the trap is set off, the string will pull the balloon toward the acacia thorns, bursting the balloon.  This should scare the living daylights out of the cat, guaranteeing that it never returns to my garden.


Tonight is our first attempt at this so I'll keep you posted on the results.


In the meantime, if there are any other suggestions, please let me know.

Potato Harvest

We gave up the idea of expecting a butternut crop as the fruit were attacked by pumpkin fly.  But, our kitchen garden is not without some stars...

At the end of January, we planted out some potato sprouts.  This was a very low maintenance crop as we just left them to grow and do their thing.  All I did was form a mound around each plant to prevent the tubers from being exposed and going green.

Yesterday whilst doing an inspection of the garden I noticed that the plants were dying back a little - a sure sign that the time is near.

Cautiously, yet with the excitement of a child on an Easter Egg hunt, I dug around the plant to reveal the buried treasures.

Our largest potato was 16cm long.

We couldn't miss the opportunity to have freshly harvest potatoes for supper and they were delicious!  Two large potatoes was more than enough for the two of us.  It was quite tempting to have just potatoes for supper, but I cooked them with freshly picked thyme and rosemary (also from our kitchen garden).

Hypoestes aristata (Ribbon Bush)

A stunning shrub that's brought colour to a section of the eastern border is the Hypoestes aristata (Ribbon Bush).

This small shrub flowers between March and August so will brighten up my garden during winter when  very little else flowers.

The Ribbon Bush (so-called because the petals curl like florist's ribbon) has soft, dark green leaves and clusters of tubular mauve or pink flowers.  Bees, butterflies and other small insects visit the flowers, providing a source of food for insectivorous birds like Southern Boubou, robins, thrushes and barbets.

After planting a grouping of H. aristata we had a Cape Robin-Chat visit, but he just sat on the garden wall, scanning the developments.  After 2 weeks, he ascertained that it was safe to venture closer and is now a daily visitor.  He's obviously getting a good snack off the small shrubs.  This week we noticed that he even brought a friend!

Barleria obtusa (Bush violet)

The main picture is currently that of the Barleria obtusa.

I've planted a grouping of this small shrub next to the young Kiggelaria africana (Wild Peach) tree.

B. obtusa grows to a height of 75cm which is ideal as it will eventually be growing under the shade of the Wild Peach tree so it will create just the right amount of bushiness with its spread of about 1 metre.  I've used it for this corner because it tolerates semi-shade as well as full sun conditions; and, its stunning blue-mauve flowers attract butterflies and bees.

This plant flowers between March and May so I've been fortunate to have some flowers on the young plants to instantly brighten the corner of my new garden.

Tree Planting

Most people recommend planting trees in spring so that the plant can grow and settle into its new home and, in the case of Gauteng, benefit from the summer rainfall.  Well, what do you do when you move house in the middle of summer and you're ready to plant in autumn?  We've taken a leap of faith and planted at the onset of autumn.  I stopped feeling sorry for our plants when I read a banner at a nursery advertising their autumn sale:  "Autumn - nature's best time to plant".

Our garden has been designed to create an indigenous area focused at attracting wildlife. 

Since the garden is small, we had to choose our trees very carefully, taking into account their full-grown size.  Despite our love for Acacia trees, we had to accept that our property is too small to plant any of our two-year old specimens which we’ve grown from seed.  After weeks of research and lots of decision-making, we decided to use Heteropyxsis natalensis (Lavender Tree) as our main tree for the garden.  This tree is an attractive deciduous with glossy green leaves which develop rich red colours in autumn. The crushed leaves smell of lavender, hence the common name.  The small yellow flowers bear a fragrance that attracts bees, wasps, beetles and butterflies which in turn, attract numerous insectivorous birds. Flowers are borne between December and March.  We have planted 2 of these trees and at just 1.45 metres tall, they are already serving as perches to the birds visiting our garden.

The H. Natalensis grows up to 6 metres tall with a 5 metre spread as compared to the Acacia xanthphloea (Fever Tree), our first choise Acacia, which is 12metres tall and 14 metres wide. 

Digging the holes for the trees was a huge mission.  Not only do we have to deal with the numerous rocks on the site since we are on the foot of the Krugersdorp Hill, but we’ve also unearthed piles of builder’s rubble which were buried under a thin layer of topsoil with grass laid over.  Here’s an example of the average size of the rocks which we’re unearthing. 

(In case you're wondering, this is a normal hand spade.)

We bought the property with two queen palms in the garden, on either corner of the north side of the garden.  As these are not indigenous, we are replacing them with indigenous trees which will meet our wildlife garden goal.  The eastern wall in the garden borders an internal road in the complex.  There isn’t a high volume of traffic, but we wanted some subtle screening to help create some privacy in our garden.  We selected a Kiggelaria africana (Wild Peach) as the focal plant for the north eastern corner.  This will be our largest tree in the garden and could grow to a handsome 8 metre tall tree with an 8 metre spread.  This will certainly provide the screening as well as shelter to many birds.  The leaves of this plant are eaten by the caterpillars of the Acraea horta butterfly.  “Why,” you may ask, “do we want caterpillars to eat our prized tree?”  Well, cuckoos love caterpillars, so we’re expecting future visits from these summer migrants who travel all the way from Europe to graze delicious African caterpillars.  Besides, the tree recovers quite quickly from this worm invasion and produces new leaves.  Apart from the cuckoos, the fruit of the Kiggelaria africana also attracts Cape Trush, Cape Robin, Cape White-eye, Southern Boubou and mousebirds.  However, not all trees bear fruit as sexes are separate on different trees, with only the female trees bearing fruit.  We bought what we hope is a female tree with the hope that there is a suitable breeding companion close by.

What was so incredible is that this was our first tree that got into the ground and we planted it late one evening.  At sunrise the following morning, there was a great commotion around it.  We had 4 house sparrows perched in its branches to welcome it to the neighbourhood (no doubt with a ceremonial christening!).  It was incredible how they somehow found a place to perch on such a tiny tree.  Here’s a photograph of the tree:

We've kept the palm in place until the Kiggelaria is more established so that it can help protect it from winds and possibly frost this coming winter.

We created a focal point for our bedroom window by planting a Dais cotinifolia (Pompon Tree).  Well, this was also strategically placed to screen off our neighbour’s Bougainvilla, a shrub for which I bear not a singled fond memory – I think I got scratched far too many times trying to rescue tennis balls from one my mother had trained into a hedge.  This is again, a relatively small tree.  I’ve never seen a mature one, but according to the books, it can reach up to 6 metres tall with a 5 metre spread.  The books also say that it only flowers for two weeks in the year, but the one that we got to see daily was in flower for about 2 months.  Apparantly, if they get sufficient water, they flower for longer.



Dais cotinifolia flowers



This is a Dais cotinifolia which we used to pass everyday at our previous home.



We also planted a lemon tree.  We chose to not only provide fruit for the birds, but for ourselves as well.  We were fortunate to find a brilliant supplier who had a fairly mature tree in a 60 litre bag which came with fruit that was ripe and ready to eat.  What better advertisement could they use for their trees?

Lemons



Creating Compost

To gardeners, the soil is not merely a medium in which to grow plants, but the very stuff of life itself.  So it’s so important to ensure that the soil remains balanced with adequate nutrients and organic material.  In the case of our garden, the soil is clayey and lacks organic material.

Since we have chosen to have an organic garden it is only fitting to have a compost heap.

Our garden is small, so we don’t have the benefit of a hidden corner that no one will see to build a compost heap, so we have invested in a composter which hides the mess whilst it is busy being broken down.

We now put all our organic kitchen waste in there so we decrease our contribution to the local landfill site.  I can’t believe how much goodness we’ve previously being throwing away.  It does take a bit of discipline to truly separate the waste, but we’ve been separating our refuse previously so it is a little easier.

As we don’t have an established garden, we do not have any brown material to build the compost heap by the book.  We’re supposed to have alternating layers of brown and green material, each about 20cm deep.  The only brown material readily available is some of the dry fronds from the palm trees.  I just don’t want to remove all the dry fronds as the birds use them as perches.  I have mixed in some mature horse manure to substitute the missing brown material which should speed up the process.

The compost heap has been going for two weeks now and we’re amazed at the fact that all that rotting stuff isn’t smelling.

Butternut Behaving Badly

During the process of moving home, we dropped a butternut.  Not thinking too much about it, we pick it up and carried it off to the new home.  A week later, when we cut the butternut open to cook it, we found that the seeds had started sprouting, so we decided to plant the sprouts in our new garden.  The only readily available spot was under a palm tree which they didn't seem to mind as they very quickly settled in and started to grow.

One week old seedling


We've never grown butternut before, so I had to do some research to find out more about the latest, unplanned addition to our garden.

Cucurbita moschata is from the Cucurbita genus of about 27 species and has squash, pumpkin and zucchini amoung its relatives and it originates from South America.   One plant can produce an average of 6-8 fruits.  This was a scary thought as we have 50 plants.  That's a lot of butternut! 

First fruit


  I got very excited when one month into their growth, I noticed the first fruit.  Everything was looking very promising and little did I know that I still had a lot to learn about my little treasures...

The flower above the fruit opened up and looked absolutely stunning.  The down side to these magnificent flowers is that it only lasts for one day.  So, I missed the photo opportunity on our very first flower because I thought it could wait until tomorrow.  Lesson learnt: whenever I see a flower that I want to photograph - do it now!  


Female flower







All was well until all three of the first fruits started rotting.  I couldn't figure out what was happening.  I thought my plants were happy and getting all that they needed.  The leaves were still looking healthy.  I couldn't find an answer in any book, so I just had to wait it out and see what would happen. 

Rotting fruit



Just days after noticing the first signs of rot, the plants produced more flowers.  But this time the flowers looked slightly different.  These were male flowers.  They had a single stamen and did not have a fruit beneath. 



Male flower





This morning I looked up the rotting problem and learnt that I am not the only gardener experiencing this.   For some unknown reason, the female flowers on my plants developed before the male ones.  The fruit rotted because pollination had not taken place.

Today, I noticed one lone female flower and seven males.  I manually assisted the pollination process by brushing pollen onto the stigma.  While I was doing this I noticed a bee hovering around my flowers so hopefully nature will take over now.  In future I'll have to plant my butternut close to plants that attract bees.

We'll now wait with fingers crossed and watch our fruit daily...