Category: Christine’s garden

Dominated by large trees on a medium sized property, my garden is very shaded. With no “full sun” areas I have to plant shade and partial shade loving plants. I love shrubs and flowers including cammellias and azaleas but bougainvillea and Irises are my favourite and getting these to thrive is a challenge …

Unusual Planters

I love creative gardening – you know, when people do creative things in their gardens with plants and planting vessels. Like these two old boats filled with vegetable plants and the other with Nasturtiums. A friend of mine was in the little fishing village of Paternoster on the Cape West Coast recently and they stopped off for coffee at a little place called “Oep vir Koep”. (For our non-South African readers, “oep vir koep” literally translated that means “open for buying”). Its a very quaint little place and popular because of its uniqueness. Here you can buy local delicacies such as fig preserve, snoek, bokkoms, koeksusters (a sweet pastry) and other local brands.

I would love to get something really unique and different to place somewhere in my garden … maybe an antique wheelbarrow overflowing with some pretty flowers!

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Boat with Veggies

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Boat with Nasturtiums

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Tags boats, Design, planters

Christine's garden Gardening Products

New Plant Stand

I love shopping … and I love buying new plants and gardening things! When I went to Ferndale on Saturday I also bought a plant stand – I’ve wanted one of these forever. I see so many of these in gardening magazines and they look so great when they have lots of lovely plants on them. They delivered it yesterday and within minutes, we started putting our empty pots on it and pots we’ve been collecting for the day we got our “plant stand”. And I added the few “unplanted” plants I have – and look, its already full! Well almost … of course now I want to organise everything properly, get some plants to put in the little pots and make it look pretty! (= more shopping!)

I added my new Tomato Plant to it and I’m going to plant herbs and things in some of the little pots. I have seeds – Coriander, Sweet Basil, Chives and Parsley, so this will be my first attempt at planting from seed. Should be fun!

Here are the “before” photographs:

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Tags plant stand

Christine's garden Fertiliser Gardening Products

Coffee grounds as fertiliser

Post author By Christine
Post date January 16, 2011
1 Comment on Coffee grounds as fertiliser

Last week when I was moaning about the sad state of my gardenias I did some research online about caring for them and came across a video by some garden expert in the USA and he said “and don’t forget to sprinkle your old coffee grounds around the base, the Gardenias will thrive”. I thought I wasn’t hearing correctly … coffee grounds?? I replayed it a few times to make sure I was hearing right and then started googling “Coffee Grounds fertiliser”. Seems this has become a common practise with organic gardeners. In the USA they go to Starbucks who willingly hand over their coffee grounds to anyone who wants them (see photo below of the little “coffee fertiliser” packets they give away!)

So here’s my point … I thought to myself that I have nothing to lose trying it out. After all, the Gardenias can’t really look much worse than they do right now and what harm could some old ground up coffee do? So I did it … all those little coffee pods from my Lavazza machine … we now have a use for them! After one week, my Gardenias look 100% better!! No more yellowing of the leaves, in fact the plants look much greener already – two of them are totally green, a nice dark green with really shiny leaves again. I’m also seeing new growth and one produced two flowers this week, no bud drop! Can it really work that quickly? We will see, I’ll keep emptying the used coffee pods and throwing the contents into the soil!

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Here is what I found on sustainableenterprises.com about why it works:

Coffee by-products can be used in the garden and farm as follows:

Sprinkle used grounds around plants before rain or watering, for a slow-release nitrogen.
Add to compost piles to increase nitrogen balance. Coffee filters and tea bags break down rapidly during composting.
Dilute with water for a gentle, fast-acting liquid fertilizer. Use about a half-pound can of wet grounds in a five-gallon bucket of water; let sit outdoors to achieve ambient temperature.
Mix into soil for houseplants or new vegetable beds.
Encircle the base of the plant with a coffee and eggshell barrier to repel pests.
If you are into vermi-posting, feed a little bit to your worms

And this I found on another site: One of the main ways to use the grounds in the garden is to utilise the nutrients they contain as a fertiliser. Acid loving plants such as evergreen, azaleas, laurels, rhododendrons, camellias and roses will flourish with grounds sprinkled around them. My own rose bushes thrived once the grounds had been added and this manifested itself in some really beautiful roses. However do be careful that when the grounds are scattered they do not touch the bush itself as this can cause burning.

Another one: Used coffee grounds are also said to be good for plants who have a more “acidic” taste such as aforementioned milflores. Other plants include roses, azaleas, avocados and lemon trees.

So, I’ll save some of my coffee pods for you – seems it might be good for the worms and veggies too!!

Tags azaleas, coffee, Fertiliser, gardenias

Christine's garden Gardening Home page features

Controlling weeds in the garden

Post author By Christine
Post date January 16, 2011
3 Comments on Controlling weeds in the garden

Our blog has been going for all of a week and we’ve had our first real gardening question. I set up a Facebook page (The Gardening Blog on Facebook) and a Twitter account (@ourgardens) for our blog and as is to be expected, we’ve had few followers so far. In fact, I recognise only our daughters and ourselves following our Facebook page. But then somehow we’ve already managed to attract a few followers on Twitter and we’ve had a real live question! So Liesel, this post is specially for you … you asked; “@ourgardens thanks for the follow. Tips on how 2 get rid of weeds in garden without gardener?”

In August I had my entire garden “replanted” by a gardening expert. It cost a lot and I was determinded not to let all that go to waste by not taking proper care of my “new” garden, so the ongoing battle with the weeds started. Every day I would do a walk around the garden and pull up any new weeds … and it took a lot of time. I’m very busy with work and other things so I found it quite annoying. I am spoilt – I have a garden service who come once every two weeks, but they are not very good at removing weeds – they get rid of all the leaves (I have so many trees and keeping the garden tidy is a huge mission, so that is what they concentrate on) and they do a general clean up. But weed-removing does not seem to be their forte, so I have the ongoing battle of removing the weeds myself. And because all the plants are new and we are waiting for them to grow, there are lots of bare patches just waiting for the weeds … so it really is an almost daily mission. Or at least, it was!

Once again, Kathryn (my garden expert!) to the resue – At the beginning of December she recommended we lay down bark mulch which makes the soil look more attractive, as well as feeding the acid loving plants and keeping the water in the soil. We did this and an added bonus is, it seems to have totally controlled the weeds! Yes there are still a few stragglers that get through the mulch, but considering that it is summer and prime growing season, the weeds are now few and far between! Another thing I did was plant annuals in some of the bare patches – lots of Impatiens in the very shaded areas and Dianthus in the areas that get more sun. This not only looks pretty, but having plants growing in those areas snuffs out the light so the weeds can’t seem to get through.

I am seriously no gardening expert and am learning as I go along. Experienced gardeners will probably cringe at my advice … but its working for me! The only area I still need to remove weeds from daily is the area outside the property – on the verge – where we did not lay mulch and I haven’t planted anything else. So thats my answer … mulch! You can get it delivered to your house and then you’ll have to throw it down yourself or get a gardener just for a day to do it for you.

On these two photographs you can see how the bark mulch looks in my garden (apologies for the poor quality of the photographs) but it shows that it does look a lot better than bare soil. Click to view the enlargements.

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Tags dianthus, impatiens, mulch, weeds

Christine's garden Miscellaneous

Trip to Ferndale

Armed with my camera, intent on taking photos and doing a proper review for the blog, I headed off to Ferndale Nurseries in Constantia this afternoon. But first I stopped off at Biggie Best because they are having a sale and I saw some nice pots there a few weeks ago … I bought two great pots. I couldn’t believe the prices – I wanted to get one and ended up getting two, plus some other nick-nacks (yes, another candle holder!). The reason for the pot-buying mission is that I’ve been looking at lots of photos lately of beautiful gardens and I notice that often they put a grouping of pots with different plants in them within a flower bed … and I think it looks beautiful, so I want to try that somewhere in my garden. I see they mix different pot types together and it looks good. I’m not sure I can get it right, but I have to try.

So with the two new pots in my car, I headed off to Ferndale and arrived at 3:40pm as they were closing the gates. They close at 3:50 on a Saturday apparantly (why not 3:30 or 4:00 – no, they close at 3:50). But the kind guy at the gate let me in, so I had all of ten minutes to grab a few things. So no “review” and no photographs of the nursery today. But I got my big sprayer (4 litres) which I will put to the test tomorrow. I also bought myself a few plants … I’ve been wanting a Clematis in my garden forever and bought a lovely one – it is Clematis “Nelly Moser”. (see pic).Also bought some pretty ground cover called Big Ben – hypoestes phyllostachya splash red – it’s got variegated leaves with red, I think it will add some interest at the back and it apparantly thrives in partial shade. Great for filling in some blank spaces I have at the back. I also bought two small Agapanthus “new blue”. I don’t know why – I have plently of Agapanthus in my garden but those two called me and said “buy me, buy me”, so they came home with me. They are a lighter blue than the ones I have so they are a bit different. I think these might go into one of the new pots.

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Clematis “Nelly Moser”

The Nelly Moser Clematis is a flowering vine that can reach as much as 12 feet in length, with off-shoots from the main vine reaching out 3-4 feet. Best displayed on a trellis, arbor, or other climbing fixture, the blooms start in late September and can continue all summer long. Nelly Moser offers a starburst shaped bloom 5-7 inches across with white ruffled edges and pink-colored pedals that grow in profusion. [/one_half]

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Agapanthus “New Blue”

A midsized variety with leave forming a compact mound of 20-30cm. The flowers stand 40-60cm in height. The individual florets are much larger than most other agapanthus. This results in a very nice display of colour despite the individual heads having slightly fewer florets than some varieties. Tolerant of wide soil and water regime variations. Can be grown in full sun or light shade.[/one_half_last]

I hope to get these all in the ground tomorrow.

Tags agapanthus, clematis, ferndale

Christine's garden Home page features Miscellaneous

Gifts from the Garden

Post author By Christine
Post date January 15, 2011

What a way to start the weekend … with a visit from one’s best buddy who arrives bearing a basket of gifts from her garden! Ah! Life really is good!

As you can see from the photograph, said basket looked almost too beautiful to unpack … but unpack it I did because it was so full of yummyness. Firstly, the big bunch of Lavender, from your garden – I put it in the vase-like bucket in my bathroom. The whole bathroom smells of lavender now and it looks just beautiful. Then the gorgeous roses picked from Barbie’s garden which are now in a vase on my dining room table, fresh Rosemary which we will use in cooking this week, although I’ve put one sprig into my Olive Oil decanter where it infuses the oil with a wonderful taste and aroma. Then of course the freshly laid eggs from Barbie’s “Girls”. I Love those eggs – the yolks are so yellow, the eggs taste a whole lot better than even the best free-range eggs one can buy at Woolies.

Then to start me off in my “veg-growing” career, I got a Tomato plant – its too gorgeous, I can’t wait to watch it grow. I’m keeping the seedlings to plant in my “veg-grower” when I get it. I’m just too nervous to plant it in the ground here where the “nasties” will get to them … I think my first foray into planting seeds should be in a controlled environment. So I will wait with that. The last little surprise package in the basket was a pack of Xylitol which I had yet to try – I rushed out this afternoon to buy a nice container to keep the Xylitol in … its the same as my salt container, just bigger. One of those glass ones with the snappy lid type thingy …

I felt totally spoilt by all the gifts … thanks my friend! You are one in a million!

xxxx

Tags eggs, gifts, lavender, tomatoes, vegetables

Bugs & Pests Christine's garden

Bugs and things …

I spent the better part of last Sunday spraying all my plants that had any creepies on them with the organic insecticide I bought and I felt pretty proud of myself afterwards, believing I had rid my garden of all the “nasties”. The spray container I have only holds 1 litre of water which I then add the insecticide too, then pump and spray. With only one litre and many plants to spray, I was running backwards and forwards refilling the container to get all the plants affected done. After that I did some cutting back of plants (to make them bush) etc. etc. All in all it felt like I had worked pretty hard. I’ve been very busy with work this week and have had hardly any time to check on things so Dexter and I did a walkabout now – and I was well rewarded with lots of new leaves sprouting on some plants that got cut back, all the sprayed plants look bug free …

But then … it seems like they all packed up shop on the sprayed plants and moved to one of my Camellias! The whole plant is covered in these things and ants are feeding on them!

Here they are. I am assuming they are Aphids. Can you tell? (you can click on the photos to see the large versions). Whatever they are I think the Ludwigs spray should get rid of them too. Dang, I thought I was through with the spraying for a while …

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Tomorrow I am going to go get me one of these bug sprayer thingys… My specs? It must hold about 5 litres of fluid, be reasonably light and east to use! Going to zap those bugs once and for all!

Tags ants, aphids, Bugs & Pests, camellias

Christine's garden Gardening Home page features

My Bougainvillea she flowers!

Post author By Christine
Post date January 13, 2011
1 Comment on My Bougainvillea she flowers!

Talk about a long wait! I bought two little bougainvillea plants just under a year ago and planted them. One has dark green leaves and the bright pink / crimoson flower bracts, the other has pale green leaves ands white flowers. They were both in flower when I bought them. Iplanted them and they prompty dropped all their flowers and stopped flowering.

Then someone offered to make me a trellis to tie them to so that I could train them upwards against the wall and over our garage roof – which I gratefully accepted. When the trellis was put up against the wall we managed to tie one little branch – just the tip of it – to the new trellis, and I wondered how long I would have to look at the trellis before my Bougainvilleas covered it from view.

I then dutifully watered my bougainvilleas. Every day. I fertilised them. Often. They grew. And they grew, and they grew. But they never flowered. Not even once, slightly in almost a year. The trellis is almost no longer visible – in under a year they have grown a LOT!

And then I started buying gardening books and read up about bougainvilleas. Aaaah … big rookie mistake – all the watering and patient fertilising resulted in prolific growth and no flowers. According to all my books and internet searches, I’ve discovered that … “These plants flower best under stress. Keep the plant slightly on the dry side. Water thoroughly, then allow to become moderately dry between waterings. They respond extremely well to stress, such as drought and heat, and reward you with excellent bloom”. So I stopped “caring” for them, ignored them completely and my reward?

My Bougainvillea has finally rewarded me with a flower …

I am continuing to”ignore” her … in the hope that she rewards me with more flowers. The branches of the white bougainvillea are mingling with those of the crimson one, so one day … we should have a lovely show of crimson and white bougainvilleas cascading up the wall and over the garage roof, onto the pergola …

Tags bougainvillea, flowers, watering

Christine's garden Gardening Home page features

My Pandorea Jasminoides

We planted Pandorea Jasminoides “Charisma” against the wall around the pool against the trellises in August. When they were planted they were these small plants that are apparently going to creep up the trellises and give a fabulous display. One Day. When they were planted they looked pretty enough – variegated leaves, nice creeper. I left it at that and forgot about them.

One day when I was going through one of my plant books I came across a creeper I thought looked absolutely stunning – variegated leaves, clusters of little white or pale pink flowers – very pretty and the book says they are fast growing and sounds ideally suited to the areas described above – against the trellises around the pool. So I was on a mission and thought “I gotta get me some of those”. And then I had a look – they are the exact plants Kathryn chose to plant … against those trellises – around the pool! Now if they will just GROW!! But I am excited because one of them has at last decided to flower. Looks very pretty, I love these plants. Here are some photos for you to see …

Pandorea Jasminoides Photos

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My Pandorea Jasminoides

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When it grows up …

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Some notes about Pandorea Jasminoides:
Pandorea Jasminoides or ‘Bower of Beauty’ are a tough native evergreen climber. Pandorea flower from early summer through to autumn with nice pink flowers with a red throat and attractive green foliage. Full sun to semi shade is best for Pandorea Jasminoides where it will develop into a dense screen and is ideal as an evergreen climbing screen. Pandorea or ‘Bower of Beauty’ also comes in a variegated form. Pandorea Jasminoides is susceptible to heavy frosts, water well when establishing but pandorea jasminoides is generally drought tolerant once established.

I can’t wait for mine to be growing full and wild like the ones I see on Google when I do a search for “Pandorea Jasminoides”. They look stunning! I wonder how long it will take?

Time-line photographs of the three creepers

December 2010:

April 2011:

October 2011 (with new Lavender):

27 November 2011:

28 February 2012:

Tags creepers, pandorea jasminoides

Christine's garden Gardening

New Lavender plants

Post author By Christine
Post date January 11, 2011

I love Lavender – and I am so envious of your Lavender bushes (hope you take some photos and publish them soon!), but apparently the type you have is not going to grow well in my garden because of all the shade. So I have to compromise and plant Lavender that will tolerate some shade. Last week I was a Ferndale Nursery in Constantia (Again!), and I saw lavender – marked as Lavender Stoechas. According to one of my books it will tolerate part shade, so I bought two small plants for planting in the one fairly sunny bed in the front. I took a photo so we can “watch it grow”. I planted them last week – so far so good. They look happy.

I did a search on Google now to get some more information about Lavendula Stoechas and … some sites say this is French Lavender and some say it is Spanish Lavender. Would really like to know what it really is. All very confusing.

New Lavender Plant Photos:

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My new Lavender

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Google search

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(Click to enlarge!)

Tags lavender, plants