Fill your garden with crunchy garden peas, pansies, poppies, petunias, primulas and gorgeous Gullivers.
Garden tasks for April
• Plant the Four P’s: Pansies, poppies, petunias and primulas. • Scatter sow seed of Namaqualand daisies, alyssum, lobelia, Virginian stocks, and winter scatter pack mixes. By sowing batches of Namaqualand daisies two or three weeks apart you will have flowers right through to September • Plant spring bulbs after Easter. • Fertilise the lawn as well as spring flowering shrubs and perennials. • Wait until after Easter to plant out spring flowering bulbs. • Water once a week. • This is the last month for sowing beetroot, cabbage, carrots, lettuce, leeks, peas, Asian greens, parsnips, spinach and Swiss chard, spring onions, turnips and radishes.
Veggie of the month
Garden peas are sweetest when eaten straight from the pod, which is a good way to convert the kids to snacking on veggies. Garden-grown peas are certainly tastier, crunchier and more nutritious than any frozen version. Kirchhoffs ‘Greenfeast’ is a climbing pea that needs staking/support, and produces a heavy crop of large, well-filled deep green pods. Plant in deeply dug, fertile soil enriched with compost and well-rotted manure. Water well at the base of the plant throughout the growing period and especially when flowering. Garden peas are an excellent source of plant protein. Besides being eaten raw they can be steamed, added to salads, stews, stir-fries and soups.
Details: kirchhoffs.co.za
Ctentanthe ‘Golden Mosaic’ is a green and gold variegated indoor plant; yup Springbok rugby colours if you are in the mind to support the team. Besides silently supporting our national team, this indoor plant’s other attribute is that it has anti-pollutant characteristics. It is ideal if you want to breathe fresh, clean air indoors. Place in a position that receives medium to bright light, in a warm, moderately humid room. Keep the soil moist by watering once the top layer of soil feels dry. Fertilise with a diluted liquid fertiliser once a month in spring and summer. Keep the plant looking neat by cutting off dead leaves at the base of the plant. Details: lvgplant.co.za
We’re planting … Bacopa Scopia ‘Gulliver’ Compact Rosa because it is a hardy indigenous groundcover, that shows off even better as a compact, semi-trailing plant for hanging baskets, containers and window boxes. It is covered in a myriad of pink flowers that are somewhat larger and darker than other pinks in the bacopa range. As a garden filler it likes well-drained soil and full sun, but as a container plant morning sun and afternoon shade is preferable. It flowers abundantly and will go through to summer as it is heat and drought tolerant. Details: ballstraathof.co.za
Text: ALICE COETZEE
