We’ve gone a little dramatic this month … with black flowers, Delicious Monsters and deep purple-skinned egg fruit.
We’re planting …
This November we’re going dramatic, and this is the perfect plant to add a little black magic to your garden! Angelonia AngelFlare is the only black- flowered Angelonia and it is highly drought and heat tolerant. It will always be a talking point in the garden and looks gorgeous when offset by silvery-leaved lavender, purple shades of alyssum, or golden yellow border plants like Bidens Golden Empire or Blazing Star, even bright yellow and gold Zinnia Zahara Sunburst, Yellow improved or Starlight Rose.
AngelFlare has a V-shaped habit and produces a mass of flower spikes that make it stand out in combinations and in mixed containers. Use a slow-release fertilizer at planting. Water regularly until plants are established then they will thrive in hot and dry conditions. It is not necessary to remove old flowers. In fact, deadheading actually retards the continual blooming characteristic of the plant. www.ballstraathof.co.za
Garden tasks for November
This is the last month to sow summer annuals like alyssum, dwarf marigolds, nasturtium, portulaca, cosmos, dwarf sunflowers and zinnias.
Fertilise flowers and shrubs.
Water annuals and perennials at least twice a week, and shrubs once a week, unless there is sufficient rain.
Plants in containers and hanging baskets should be fed weekly and dead flowers removed to encourage more flowers.
Lawns should be watered and mowed weekly. Don’t cut the grass too low in hot weather.
Many vegetables can still be sown and where it is too late to sow, seedlings from the garden centres can be planted out.
Indoor plant of the month
Always dramatic … the Delicious Monster. This totally benign houseplant can grow into a monster or it can be trimmed to fit into smaller spaces, but for the full effect give them space to grow as a feature indoors or on the patio. These undemanding and easy to care for houseplants are especially suitable for beginner plant parents. They like bright, indirect light but will tolerate medium light. Keep the soil moist and feed with a liquid fertiliser every now and then in summer to maintain bright green, healthy leaves. Because the leaves are so eye catching, keep them clean and glossy by regularly wiping with a damp cloth. www.lvgplant.co.za
Vegetable of the month
Rosa Bianca is an eggfruit with a difference. This gourmet vegetable is an Italian heirloom that produces round white fruit with a rosy hue and mild flavoured creamy flesh. This easy to grow veggie produces harvestable fruit within 85 to 90 days which is earlier than other varieties.
All it needs is full sun, and fertile well drained soil. Water regularly as eggfruit are thirsty plants that need plenty of water, especially when producing fruit. When the first fruit starts to set, fertilise with an organic 3:1:5 or 5:1:5 fertiliser like Vigorosa every three weeks. Plants in pots should be fed weekly with Margaret Roberts Organic Supercharger diluted at half strength. Drooping flowers are a sign of a potassium deficiency.
Don’t leave fruit on the bush because over-ripe fruit tends to be bitter. As soon as fruit loses its glossiness it is overripe. www.rawliving.co.za
If you’re an African spotted tortoise beetle eating your sweet potatoes, charcoal rot on your melons, or black spot on your basil, you need to get a copy of Jane’s Delicious Natural Solutions for Pests & Diseases … a book which is a guide to creating a balanced environment in your edible gardens, and provides detailed advice on what to do when that equilibrium is upset. Jane Griffiths shows you how to identify, tackle and solve both pests and diseases naturally in your organic edible garden. There are five easily navigable chapters – prevention, solutions, host plants, pests and diseases, and quick guides to help identify common problems, detailed indexes which are essential for navigating the book, a useful glossary for those gardeners just starting out, and images that make identifying pests and diseases easier. Sunbird Publishers, R410
Text: ALICE COETZEE & KYM ARGO
