Roots 'n' Shoots

Peppers - Fruit of the Month

noreply@blogger.com (The Shroom) — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 11:04:00 +0000

Pepper stats/requirements at a glance

Ease of Raising:	5/5 – Very easy
Water:	4/5 – A fair amount (mostly during fruit set)
Sun:	5/5 – Full sun, no shade (fruit ripening)
Training:	2/5 – Needs some
Fertilise/Feeding:	4/5 – Monthly (growing) to Fornightly (fruiting)
Time to Harvest:	3/5 – Moderate (green can be picked soon, ripe fruit later in summer)

Uses:	Culinary, Pollinator attractor
Most Problematic Nemesis:	Blossom End Rot, Sunburn
Container Plant:	Preferable

Quick intro

The word "pepper" is used to describe two different families of plants, one is used as a fruit and the other used as a spice (aka your salt & pepper J). ‘Peppers’ is the collective word for bell peppers, chilies and paprika, whereas white/black pepper describes the dried fruits from the Piper nigrum plant, which is used for seasoning of just about everything.

Here I will be focussing on Bell peppers, as I do not grow chillies – don’t like to eat them, so why grow them J - but the tips and tricks discussed here will help chilly growing as well.

History

Now then, I think the history of bell peppers and chillies is quite obvious. It originated in Central and South America (specifically the Caribbean & in Mexico) and has been cultivated since 3000BC. Columbus took these plants to Africa and Asia, where it quickly became a popular and integral part of those cultures’ dishes.

Science Stuff

The pepper genus, Capsicum, is divided into roughly 3 groups; Capsicum annuum ssp. Paprika Longum group aka Paprika, Capsicum annuum Grossum group aka sweet/bell peppers and Capsicum annuum Longum group aka chillies. Another species, Capsicum frutescens, also includes some chilly varieties, which are used to make Tabasco sauce.

Bell Pepper Plant
Capsicum annuum

The Capsicum genus, belongs to the Solanaceae family, which includes other well-known fruiting plants, such as tomato, potato, eggplant and ‘medicinal’ plants, such as tobacco, belladonna, thorn-apple and henbane. For the medicinal plants, one should remember that it is the dosage that distinguished a remedy from a poison. J

Growing Peppers

Peppers are grown as annuals, but they are perennial plants. In areas which do not experience very cold winters, the pepper plants can be left during the winter to flower and fruit early in the next spring. Colder climate areas, will grow peppers as annuals from seeds – or you could protect the peppers from harsh winter conditions by housing it indoors. I have 2 peppers plants going, one remains from the previous season (to flower and fruit early, while the other grows) and one planted newly. After fruiting, the 2^nd season pepper is removed and the newly planted pepper is left to survive the winter. In this way you rotate your pepper plants, so that they do not become too old and scraggly.

Seeds are sown when the last threat of frost has passed or they can be pre-sown indoors and transplanted outside once their first ‘true leaves’ have appeared. Make a 1-2cm hole in the ground, place the seed in the hole and sprinkle soil over, this increases seedling emergence and prevents the seedling from being washed out of the soil.

Capsicum annuum - Bell pepper
Seedling

Peppers require training, not as much as tomatoes, but a little more than eggplants J. The plants should be supported by one stake tied to the main stem. A little gap should be left between the stake and the stem when tied to prevent damaging the plant and allows the plant stem to expand.

A bell pepper plant should be allowed to carry 6 fruits at any time. So if you pick some peppers to use green, allow the plant to set more flowers until the fruit count is up to 6 again. Smaller fruiting pepper plants, such as pepper-dews and chillies, can carry a lot of fruits on one plant. Once a pepper plant has gone into their 2^nd season, they have acclimated (adjusted to your weather conditions) and will fruit like crazy, especially pepper-dews and chillies – you won’t know what to do with them all! I think that you should get away easily with 12 fruits per pepper-dew/chilly, if I have to make an educated guess J.

You would think that these plants won’t require much fertilisation, as the fruits are hollow. But capsicums need a lot of potassium for fruit set, so feed them as often as you would your tomatoes. Once, while growing and every second week during fruit set.

All bell peppers have 3 stages of ripening, unripe = green, ripening = yellow/orange and ripe = red/purple. I have not been able to get peppers to ripen as soon as they have set fruit – even though the tomato is closely related, they seem to follow different ideas about when to ripen their fruit. Fruit ripening starts late summer (so this be the yellow ones J) and will be fully ripe in autumn (this be the red ones).

Bell pepper, setting fruit
Capsicum annuum

Peppers like hot weather, but can get sunburn (our African sun burn holes in the fruit! I first though it was worms, but I have never seen any worms on the plants and the hole seems ‘fallen in’ rather than ‘eaten out’ J). I am still thinking of a way to prevent this, because ‘holy’ peppers can’t be good J.

Other pepper tips

There is a huge variety of pepper colour, shapes and sizes – if you are someone who likes chillies, there is a large variety of easily accessible (you can get hold of them easily J) chillies that also vary in their ‘hot’ factor (I remember the technical term is Scoville heat scale – the amount of water drops needed to neutralise the burning sensation – not that the burning will remain neutralised J, you should drink milk for that). I have a rainbow bell pepper seed mix and have to wait forever to see which colour I get (I want a purple one L!).

Blossom end rot, is a deficiency! (not a disease, as some books have led me to believe!) – It is a problem for most plants of the Solanaceae family (tomatoes and eggplants). This is recognised by the sunken and blackening of the tips of the fruits – you cannot save the fruits once this has happened, so chuck them away! OK, what happens is that a calcium deficiency occurs in the soil when it experiences large fluctuations in water content (wet at night to very dry at midday), this causes a water-linked chemical imbalance in the soil and effects the plant. It is not a disease (is not spread by an infectious/contagious organism). So the solution is two-fold, (1) add some calcium to the soil (to restore the imbalance & return calcium to the plant) and (2) make sure the plant's soil has about the same water/moisture content throughout the day – I fill the saucers of my potted tomatoes, eggplant and peppers with water, as potted plants are more susceptible to this than those planted in the garden… … I was always confused when some books described this being a disease, but it is caused by calcium deficiency, and drought , which also made no sense, - but I found a website that explained that water fluctuations (not drought) causes a calcium deficiency and this defienciency causes blossom end rot, which made sense given the chemical link between calcium ions and water regulation in biological systems J Calcium is also required for normal cellular growth and functioning in plants and their fruits. The ‘disease’ part comes in when the effected area become infected with secondary disease-causing organisms (like fungi and bacteria) – that is why you should remove the fruits that have sunken (and yellowed) fruit tips to prevent the secondary infection from setting in.

The website I found the proper explanation on is a great resource provided by the University of Illinois Extension, Gardener’s Corner - http://urbanext.illinois.edu/gardenerscorner/issue_07/summer_05_11.cfm. They have really great articles there and a huge archive! So go check it out!

Harvesting & Storing

You can harvest your peppers whenever you want, green, yellow, red, unripe and ripe. The fruit should be used immediately, and if you do not use all of the fruit – store it in a plastic bag (vacuumed, if you do not plant on using it soon) with a few drops of water to prevent it from drying out in the fridge – will keep for about 1-2 weeks.

Otherwise you can pickle members of the Capsicum genus in vinegar and add all sorts of other goodies and spices to this. Store them in nice glass bottles makes for cool kitchen decorations as well J.

Seed Saving

Pepper flowers are self-pollinating, do not need pollinators/wind. Different varieties of pepper will cross-pollinate when pollinators are available – to prevent this, pollinate the varieties you want with the same species and then bag the flower.

Developing bell pepper flowers
Capsicum annuum

Pepper seeds are easy to store, fully ripe peppers (completely red) seeds are saved. Scrape them out and dry them on a paper towel indoors for about 2 weeks. The dry seeds are stored in glass containers. Seed viability is 2 years. Fresh seeds take longer to germinate (20-50 days) than dried seeds (20 days). Optimum soil temperature is 21-24^oC (70-75^oF) and seeds should be sown 8 weeks prior to transplanting.

My Bell Peppers

I only have the rainbow seed mix: so I am still waiting to get a purple pepper plant J.

What colour would this one be?
Bell pepper, Capsicum annuum

Create a pepper paradise!

Oregano - Herb of the Month

noreply@blogger.com (The Shroom) — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 10:10:00 +0000

Ease of Raising:	5/5 – Very Easy
Water:	1/5 – Minimal (especially in a container)
Sun:	5/5 – Full sun
Training:	3/5 - Moderate
Fertilise/Feeding:	1/5 – Minimal (at least once per season)
Time to Harvest:	1/5 – Immediate (purchased a seedling) to Soon (from seed)

Uses:	4/4 – Culinary, Medicinal, Pollinator attractor & Predator sheltering
Most Problematic Nemesis:	None, some die-back from over watering
Container Plant:	Yes (preferably grown in the garden rather than container)

Oregano

Quick intro

No pizza is complete without oregano seasoning, hence oregano is used mainly as a savoury dish herb for meats, pasta and tomato dishes. Oregano is more commonly used as a cooking herb, but has important medicinal properties.

History

Oregano is native to Europe. It was an important herb to the Greeks and Romans, who believed it to be a cure-all herb due to its strong antiseptic properties. Oregano, essentially means ‘joy of the mountain’ or ‘beauty of the mountain’, since ‘oros’ is Greek for mountain and ‘ganos’ means joy/beauty.

Science Stuff

Oregano, Origanum vulgare, belongs to that huge aromatic herb family, Lamiaceae. A quick reminder that the Lamiaceae family includes basil, marjoram, mint, sage, thyme, rosemary, savory and lemon balm. P.S, marjorams belong to the same genus as oregano, but constitute a different species – Marjorams are Origanum majorana.

Many oregano cultivars exist, that have different colours and aromas.

Growing Oregano

Oregano is a plant-and-watch-it-grow herb. It loves full sun spots and requires minimal watering and fertilisation. Oregano must not become waterlogged, which is likely punctuated by die-back of some of the tips of the oregano shoots.

They are purchased as small plants, but can be raised from seed although germination takes 10-20 days.

Pruning

Due to the spreading habit of oregano – it needs to be kept in check by pruning it from the side rather than from the top. This can be fun, since the oregano can be cut into different shapes, I keep mine round J - I am sure one can cut it into heart-shapes as well – just cause you can!

On the other hand, it will make a great ground covering plant, especially in a fragrant ornamental or herb garden – like some of Jekka McVicar’s herb gardens – makes me so jealous to see those lovely herb gardens J.

Jekka's Herb Farm in June 2011
Photo: http://jekkasherbfarm.wordpress.com/2011/06/

Other Tips

Oregano is evergreen and hence you will always have fresh oregano. It can be dried, as I know many people prefer the milder taste one gets from dried oregano. Another use for pruning cut-offs is to simply toss it back in the garden as fertiliser (good insects also shelter under the cut-offs) or you can use them as scented mulch around other plants, such as tomato J.

Medicinally, oregano should not be given to pregnant ladies and the essential oil should not be taken internally, as oregano contains very potent antiseptic oils (thymol and carvacrol).

Harvesting & Storing

Dried oregano: Simply save the pruned leaves and dry on a paper/cloth towel indoors for a few days in a dry (airy) place. Once dry they can be stored in glass jars.

Oregano scented oil: Similar to rosemary, oregano can be heated in oil (no boiling, only smoking oil, else the oil is destroyed and become heart-unhealthy J). The oil is allowed to cool a bit (so that you retain heat as the sterilising agent, but not so hot that it will break the glass container you want to store it in J). The oregano leaves are removed and the oil is pour into a glass bottle (the leaves will become mouldy if left in the oil). This oil is especially useful for meat and pasta dishes!

Seed Saving & Propagation

Oregano flowers attract many pollinators, including bees and butterflies. This makes it a good companion plant for vegetable gardens. The flower clusters are harvested when dry and separated before storing in a glass container. Seeds are sown in a sunny position when the soil has reached 20^oC (68^oF). You can raise the seedling from seed, but this takes a lot of determination as I still clearly remember how many times I nearly lost my marjoram seedlings – and they take forever to mature! Also, apparently oreganos raised from seeds do not have a lot of flavour.

They can be propagated by ‘splitting’ large plants and plating them in different locations afterwards – that is to say if you want more than one J. You can ‘split’ large oregano plants because they have a trailing/creeping habit and make roots along their growing branches as they spread sideways – they do not have one main branch which cannot be separated, like basil or rosemary.

My Oregano

Golden Oregano: This variety has a light green colour than the traditional oregano. The new leaves are bight lime green and become darker when they mature. Really good on pizza!

Golden Oregano,
Origanum vulgare

A pleasure to have…

Beetroot - Vegetable of the Month

noreply@blogger.com (The Shroom) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 13:57:00 +0000

Beetroot stats/requirements at a glance

Ease of Raising:	5/5 – Very easy
Water:	3/5 – Moderate (high heat)
Sun:	5/5 – Full sun, no shade
Training:	1/5 – Minimal (only dead/damaged leaves)
Fertilise/Feeding:	3/5 – Moderate (growing) to Minimal (during root set)
Time to Harvest:	3/5 – Moderate (2-3 months)

Uses	Culinary
Most Problematic Nemesis:	Nutrient deficiencies
Container Plant:	Only ‘short-rooted’ varieties

Quick Intro

Beetroot or beet is a well-known root crop. They are available in many shapes (long, short globe and straight rooted) and colours (Purple, golden, white & candy striped). Interestingly beets are mature before carrots, even though they have a larger root mass. Beets are carefree, with good soil they’ll likely grow just about anywhere.

History

Domesticated beetroot evolved from wild sea-beet, which grows along the seashore of Europe and Asia. It is now widely cultivated in Europe and America. Both the root and the leaves are eaten, some even prefer beetroot leaves to spinach J.

Science Stuff

Beetroot (Beta vulgaris) belongs to the beet or goosefoot family (Chenopodidae) This family includes Good King Henry, Orache & Fat Hen vegetables. This includes the spinach and swiss chard vegetables – so watch out! Your beet and spinach can cross-pollinate! J

Beets contain the nitrogen-containing anthocyanin (red pigment), betanin, which is used as a food colouring (this is what traditionally gave red velvet cakes their gorgeous colour J).

Coloured Beets
Photo: Beetman, Wikipedia

Growing Beets

Beet seeds are planted directly into the garden once the soil is warm enough, since they do not transplant well. Beets can be raised all year round in SA and Zone 7 gardens because the ground stays warm enough during winter and we do not get snow. Beets grown in winter will take longer to set, due to the reduced amount of light and shorter day lengths in winter as compared to summer.

Long rooted and large globe beets should be planted in the garden with soil dug over at least 30cm deep. These are designated as your main crop. Short rooted, small globe varieties or baby varieties can be grown in pots that are at least 20cm deep and will supply beets earlier than the main crop.

Beets in my garden take 2-3 months to set a mature root and lots of extra potassium (potash) added to the soil (as I have savannah soil). Else you will have bottle-brushes instead of beet J. Potash is added in a for-nightly (summer) to monthly (winter) basis. Like carrots, beets can be fertilised during their growing stage every second week, but once the roots have set, do not fertilise, as this will create split roots. Potash can be added regardless of root set or not – which makes for really useful stuff!

Succession Planting

I have explained this in my carrot section. Since then the succession planted roots have matured – and they clearly have their own idea about when to mature regardless of my well planned succession planting. So I am going to revise my succession planting for the beets and carrots to see whether this works better.

I am going to increase my square-foot planning space from 1 square foot to a square as large as 4 square foot spaces. I will plant these out according to my initial dimensions (5 beets per square foot, so 4 times larger would be 20 beets in a square). I am also going to plant these out every month and see whether that gives improved succession of the root crops J.

New succession planting, so 20 beets in 4x 1 foot(30x30cm)-squares, 36 carrots.
Alternating with carrots to reduce mono-cropping and pest accumulation.

If your soil is too cold in winter or if you get snow, I would suggest planting in squares (it still maximises space usage), but do not plant them in succession. Rather store the excess for the winter months.

Other Beet Tips

Some people say to be careful when you harvest the beet to minimise bleeding (and everything being red), but I have found that fresh beets do not bleed nearly as much as store-bought beets.

As with carrots, once the beets start to set their roots – cover the exposed root with soil, this prevents ‘brown shoulders’ on the root due to browning on the top of the root when it is subjected to sunlight.

Exposed beets

Dead and damaged leaves can be removed. Sometimes when it is very hot and the beets are exposed to a lot of sunlight their leaves will get red blotches – this is a defence mechanism of the plant to decrease sunlight and ‘sunburn’ – so do not worry if you see this J.

Red beet leaves to prevent sun damage

If seedlings are grown next to larger crops – just look out for the larger crop leaves not smacking the seedlings on the head! - especially when the wind blows or during rain. Since I’ll be planting in larger squares, I hope this problem will be minimised as well J. Remove any leaves that are in danger of hitting seedlings or is already lying atop seedlings, since this smothers, damages and sometimes kills seedlings.

Harvesting & Storing

Beets are stored the same way as carrots.

Beets are pulled from the ground by grabbing the leaves close to the root and turning the root while you pull it out. Usually beetroots are easier to lift than carrot roots, since the taproot is a lot smaller. But, if the root is being suborn, do not pull too hard or the root will break in half! Rather dig out or loosen some of the soil around the root and then remove.

In mild winter areas the beets can be left in the ground and use as needed.

Long term storage: If you can, beets can be stored in trays/boxes containing sand for winter usage. After washing the beets, the leaves are trimmed to 1cm from the root, then place them next to one another (not touching) in a tray filled with dampened sterile/clean river sand. Layer the sand and beets singly. The tray is sealed and stored in a cool, frost-free (and I suppose dark) place.

More practically, you can blanch the beets. After blanching dry the beets - make sure they are dry (leave for a few hours to dry) and then store in the refrigerator – or else you’ll have mushy beets when you cook them from not-properly-dried-before-frozen beets J.

Sort term storage: Fresh beets can be kept at room temperature for 3-4 days, after 3 days at room temperature or just a day in the fridge, they start to shrivel. Vacuum packing beets with a few drops of water, allows them to keep for up to a week in the fridge. The best place for short term storage of beets, is to just leave it in the ground until needed, especially if you have mild winters. Large beets (and carrots), contrary to popular belief, are not tough – I have had beets larger than a tennis ball (350g) that were still sweet and tender. They become tough from standing on the market shelf for too long J.

Seed Collection & Storage

Beets also flower in their second ‘summer’ in the ground. Now this can be in the same season/year (As our year in SA is flanked by summer and spring – Summer in Jan-Mar and Spring in Sep-Dec). Beets flower after they were exposed to a cold period. The beets stored in sand can be replanted in spring and will flower J. Flowers are wind-pollinated.

Beet varieties will cross pollinate (such as yellow x purple, straight x globe ect). They can also cross-pollinate with some other members of the Chenopodiaceae family, such as spinach and swiss-chard. So cover the flowers with netting/fleece and hand pollinate those you desire or just let the wind do that for you J. The seeds are ready for collection after they have dried and the flower stem has become brittle. The seeds should be harvested in the protective netting or bag used to isolate them from other Chenopodiaceae members, as the seeds easily scatter.

Before planting, the seeds are soaked in water overnight and the maximum germination soil temperature is 29^oC (85^oF) and the minimum is 4^oC (40^oF).

My beets:

Starke Ayres Detroit Dark Red: Large globe (purple) rooted beets. This is a good variety for hot and dry climates.

Detroit Dark Red

Franchi Candy Striped Beets (Chioggia): These are smaller globe rooted varieties with white and pink stripes. The Detroit Dark Red has superior flavour to these, but they make gardening interesting J. These set about a month quicker than the Detroit ones.

Candy Striped Beet

Good Beet!

Amphibians - Garden Critter of the Month

noreply@blogger.com (The Shroom) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 13:01:00 +0000

Toads & Frogs at a glance

Occupation:	Predator
Value to Gardener:	4/5 - Pest Controller!
Danger to Humans:	0/5 - None
Availability:	4/5 – They’ll arrive or you can buy some

Quick Intro

Amphibians include three lineages, salamanders, frogs & toads, and caecilians. They all share the characteristic moist skin and mostly four well developed limbs. They are mostly predators that prey on an assortment of insects and small vertebrates (mice and snakes). I will mostly be focusing on Toads and Frogs from the amphibians, as they more common in gardens.

Science Stuff

So, amphibians have four limbs (some salamanders and caecilians are limbless). All have moist scale less skin that is permeable to both gases and water. The skin contains many mucus glands to keep it moist and thus the skin is termed glandular. The skin allows cutaneous respiration, but this is generally passive. Compounds, such as sodium is actively transported through the skin – this regulates water uptake by terrestrial species. Most breathing is done by the gills (larvae) or lungs (adults). Amphibians can be both terrestrial and aquatic.

Salamaders (Urodeles) have similar body forms as lizards do, with stumpy noses and long tails. The aquatic salamanders are generally limbless. They either live in water bodies (lakes or rivers) or in caves. They catch their prey as frogs do, with a long sticky tongue. They are distributed throughout America, Europe and Asia, but not in Africa or Australia.

Salamander
Photo: Wikipedia, Scott Camazine

Toads and frogs (Anurans) have stocky bodies and well developed limbs. Frogs have smooth skin, webbed feet, long slender hind legs (for swimming & jumping) and bulging eyes – they are generally aquatic. Toads have warty skin, robust bodies with stocky strong legs (for walking) and the characteristic large and easily seen parotid gland.

Frog vs Toad

Caecillians (Gymnophionans) are strange creatures that look like slimy snakes or huge earthworms. Terrestrial species hide underground and aquatic species are cave-dwelling. Their body form is adapted for burrowing (terrestrial, not necessarily blind) or living underwater (external feathery gills and nearly blind).

Caecilian
Photo: Wikipedia, Dawson

Habitat

Frogs are mostly water-bound and will live happily in a pond, especially a pond with different water levels, some reeds, that kind of stuff. J

Although toads are terrestrial, they are still confined to moist microclimates (such as thick vegetation or in a pot that gets water daily J).

Diet

This be all little things that crawl, bite and creep at night. The problem is that it includes good and bad insects, but I have seen that my mantids stay clear of Fred (the residential garden toad J).

NB!

Caution Frogs Ahead!

Globally amphibians are suffering from extinctions and population collapse. This is due to us reducing and intruding onto their homes – most populations are reduced by habitat loss, air and water pollution, and vehicular homicide! Yes, we drive over so many frogs and toads that this is more of an issue than any pesticide you use in your garden! That is why I make emergency stops when a toad hops in front of my car – note, I am still safe about this, won’t go causing accidents or anything J

So please mind the frogs and toads – the main reason why I was so happy to see Fred moving into the garden – Fred has a new friend now too! J it’s a small 5cm baby toad and seems to be of the same species… I hope Fred isn’t a cannibal, because the baby is still bite-sized…

Fred & Company

Fred is staying in the rose bush, where he/she? has hollowed out a hole to chill in, between the fallen leaves. Fred was very skittish at first, hopping away as if its life depended on it whenever we watered the rose. But now, Fred is quite accustomed to watering J The small one is either in the herbs, with the strawberries or under the beet leaves - I think it is checking out for some prime estate to move into.

Now I think I miss-identified Fred the first time (under my Garden Helpers page), as I assumed that all toads you find in SA (especially in your garden) would be the guttural toad (Bufo gutturalis). But after looking at all the photos on google today (and my not-so-wonderful animal ID book) and remembering what the toads look like (as I have seen them a bit more recently) - I think that Fred is a Red toad (Schismaderma carens) – although Fred and the baby aren’t as red as some of the pictures J they're more pinkish, especially on the legs. From memory, they have that dorsal ridge running on the side of their body and the two spots on the back like the Red Toad. Also they aren't nearly as patterned as the Guttural Toad. I dunno, what do you say?

This is Fred, Guttural or Red Toad?
Wanted to get a better picture, but Fred's not home J

Guttural Toad, Bufo gutturalis
Photo: Biodiversity explorer, H. Robertson, Iziko

Red Toad, Schismaderma carens
Photo: sareptiles.co.za, Chris89

The mistaken identity of Fred the Toad J

Rosemary - Herb of the Month

noreply@blogger.com (The Shroom) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 11:30:00 +0000

Rosemary stats/requirements at a glance

Ease of Raising:	5/5 – Very Easy
Water:	1/5 – Minimal (especially in a container)
Sun:	5/5 – Full sun
Training:	2/5 - Minimal
Fertilise/Feeding:	1/5 – Minimal (at least once per season)
Time to Harvest:	1/5 – Immediate (purchased a seedling) to Soon (from seed)

Uses:	4/4 – Culinary, Medicinal, Pollinator attractor & Predator sheltering
Most Problematic Nemesis:	None
Container Plant:	Yes (preferably grown in the garden rather than container)

Rosemary for Remembrance

Quick intro

No garden is complete without rosemary. It is one of the essential herbs for cooking and for aromatherapy. Rosemary is mainly used in savoury dishes, but has various applications such as complementing cocktails and desserts.

History

Rosemary is native to the Mediterranean and grows well near the sea. It soon became popular in Europe and is surrounded by many medieval legends. It was used for protection at weddings and diseases, but the most common non-culinary use for rosemary was to improve memory and alleviate headaches.

Science Stuff

Rosemary belongs to the aromatic herb family Lamiaceae, which includes just about every other herb imaginable, such as mint, oregano, marjoram, thyme, sage, savory, basil and lemon balm.

Most culinary varieties of rosemary belong to the same species, Rosemarinus officinalis. The varieties of rosemary are distinguished by their different leaves (light to dark green), different flower colours (pink, white, blue) and aromas.

Growing Rosemary

Rosemary is generally purchased as a seedling, but can be raised from seed.

Rosemary is very easy to care for, it loves warm sunny areas. As with lavenders, rosemary requires good drainage and water-logging should be avoided (no water in the saucer). This is due to rosemary being fairly heat & drought resistant, I water mine every second day in the garden (whereas container planted rosemary should be watered even less). This make rosemary useful as an ‘ornamental’ plant in the garden, where it is hot and dry – given that it easily gets up to 30^oC here - the rosemary/lavenders are standing strong whilst the other plants suffer J.

Rosemary does not appreciate temperatures below -12oC and does not like snow – so for those who have this in winter, simply dig out the rosemary and keep the herb indoors until it can be planted outside again (Ina Garten, chef and owner of “The Barefoot Contessa” does this every year with her rosemary). This ensures that you have rosemary all year round, as it is evergreen.

Pruning

I keep my rosemary shrub in check with regular snipping of the top-most part of the growing sprigs (1cm at the top is cut, once every 1-2 months). This is mostly due to me having limited space, but you can give it a good pruning after flowering in summer (reduce the branches by half). This will keep your rosemary bushy and supply you with new growth for cooking. Pruning is a good thing to do with all you shrubs and trees, especially rosemary, sage and mints, as they become scraggly easily with long bare branches and few leaves at the tips.

Other Tips

Rosemary is evergreen, so you really do not need to have copious amounts of dried rosemary as you will always have fresh ones. Give pruning cut-offs to friends and family J

Harvesting & Storing

Rosemary is harvested throughout the year. Some can be dried, if you require a milder taste for certain dishes. Simple pick the leaves, rinse them off and dry on a paper towel inside for about a week. Store the leaves in glass jars.

You can also make rosemary flavoured oils. The leaves are heated in oil (the oil must not boil- that destroys the rosemary essential oils) until smoke comes off the oil. The rosemary leaves are strained while the warm oil is poured into a glass bottle. Unfortunately you cannot leave the rosemary sprigs in the bottle with the oil as it will start to go mouldy (yes right in the oil!) – leaves and other ingredients (peppers …) are left in vinegar bottles as the vinegar acts as a natural preservative, which make them look so pretty as well J

Seed Saving & Propagation

Rosemary seeds can be saved once the flowers have turned brown. The seeds are labelled and stored in a glass jar. The seeds should remain viable for about 1-2 years. The seeds are sowed in soil that has heated to 20^oC and will take 2-3 weeks to germinate.

My Rosemary

Tuscan Rosemary: This is the Tuscan Blue variety of Rosemary. I find it a lot more robust than the ‘usual’ rosemary and it grows a lot better in the garden. It has darker green leaves and a deeper earthy flavour, which I prefer to the normal rosemary.

Tuscan Rosemary
Rosmarinus officinalis

Remember to plant Rosemary J

The Aliens Are Amongst US!

noreply@blogger.com (The Shroom) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:06:00 +0000

*Deep Apocalyptic Tone* Yes, friends… we have aliens that are living amongst us! All those far off stories about government-military cover-ups around alien spaceship landings and conspiracy theories surrounding alien abductions that you have had to suffer through on those long bus rides with the tinfoil-cone-hat-guy sitting next to you each mornin’ … are irrevocably true…

Here I present proof of their infiltration into our gardens, possibly our homes and definitely into our society. Yes, friends, they move amongst us! Unseen and unsuspected by the human race they adorn the appearance of other humans. Now you ask me, “How is this possible? How do they do this?”…

The Aliens are Here!

…By studying us from a vantage point close to our homes… Watching, Listening… They learn our behaviour and gain our speech. After, which they shed their alien skin and take on their new human form. “Why!?”, do you ask. Why, indeed… *Dramatic Pause* We have yet to discover whether it is to cause the extinction of the human race, by gathering information on our social imperfections or our natural flaws, to use against us in our greatest hour of need … or whether it is to ensure their own survival by integrating with our lives and continuing their own race… we will never know before it is too late! … … … Um, and I ran out of nonsense to blabber J Although, I suppose that the speaker and those attending the lecture would disappear off the face of the earth, including all traces of their existence … now you should wonder whether this was due to the aliens or our own government … Hmmm….

It has shed its skin and taken on its human form!

…. J

Clearly I watch too many sci-fi movies and read too many crazy books J, but when I saw the leftovers of the cicada outside the window, I couldn’t help imagining some sort of alien plot. You can literally cue the intro music to the X-files! J Too, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo …

On a more serious note. This is a Cicada of the Platypleura genus, the Orange Wings. It is mostly found in the North of South Africa and is associated with large shrubs and trees, such as Acacia. It has that well-known continues chirring call that can drive you absolutely bonkers at times J.

Eggplant - Fruit of the Month

noreply@blogger.com (The Shroom) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 12:46:00 +0000

Eggplant stats/requirements at a glance

Ease of Raising:	5/5 – Very easy
Water:	4/5 – A fair amount (mostly during fruit set)
Sun:	5/5 – Full sun, no shade (fruit ripening)
Training:	2/5 – Needs some
Fertilise/Feeding:	4/5 – Monthly (growing) to Fornightly (fruiting)
Time to Harvest:	2/5 – Soon (1-2 months after flowering)

Uses:	Culinary, Pollinator attractor
Most Problematic Nemesis:	Eggplant Rust
Container Plant:	Preferable

Quick intro

You either like eggplant or you don’t. I wasn’t a big fan of eggplant, but since eating fresh eggplant from the garden and knowing the best way to prepare it, I do eat it a lot more regularly. Also, there are varieties that are not so bitter than the usual black (purple) eggplant. Eggplants are generally a no-fuss. They do get eggplant rust in spring, but after much experimenting I have developed an enviro-friendly control for it. J

History

Eggplants (aubergines or brinjals, whatever you prefer J) are native to tropical Asia and were first cultivated in India. Its popularity spread during the 18^th century and is now grown in warm, tropical and subtropical areas worldwide. In cooler parts of the world it is grown in greenhouses (glasshouse). Eggplants have many varieties, including small green ones, medium sized white fruits and the large ‘Black Beauty’ we are all familiar with.

Science Stuff

Solanum melongena, as the name suggests, belongs to the Solanaceae Family, which includes potato, tobacco, peppers, nightshade and of course tomato!

Again the purple colour of the fruit is brought on by the bitter tasting Anthocyanin, which can be visualised in a range of colours from red-blue, depending on the pH of the surrounding tissue.

The eggplant is considered a berry in botanical terms and its seeds are bitter tasting due to them containing an alkaloid, known as nicotine J - not enough to do any harm J. Alkaloids are generally produced by plants to prevent herbivores from eating them.

Growing Eggplant

Eggplants are easily raised from seed when the ground is warm enough after the last frost. You can let them germinate and grow inside, and then transplant outside once true leaves have formed. This can be done if the soil has not warmed sufficiently and to get a head start on the growing season J. You can also buy seedlings from the local nursery.

Make a 1-2cm hole in the soil, place a seed inside and sprinkle with soil to cover. You will have a seedling popping out of the soil in about 1-2 weeks. Thereafter, the eggplants grow quickly in a sunny warm spot. It is usually at this stage when they start to get eggplant rust, especially if it rains a lot. See my Pest Control page for a solution to your eggplant rust problem J.

Eggplant Rust - orange aeciospores

Eggplants do need some training, but not nearly as extensive as for tomatoes. They need one sturdy stake tied to the main stem, this prevents any wind damage and assist with the weight of the developing fruits. I can not remember whether I heard this or read this as none of my reference books have it, but do not let your eggplant carry more than 8 fruits at any time. If more flowers develop, simply remove them so that you can get eggplant fruits earlier. If eggplants are removed, flowers can be allowed to set again, keeping the number at 8. Also, only let one eggplant flower occupy the same flowering stem, as illustrated below.

Just snip the smaller flower off

Eggplants do well in containers and this opens space in the main garden for larger and more nutrient hungry vegetables (such as cauliflower/broccoli). Container saucers must be kept full once fruit set starts to allow fruits to swell. Fertilising is also increased from monthly to every two weeks when fruit set starts. They love sun, so put them in a warm sunny spot with 6-8 hours of full sunlight.

Other eggplant tips

Eggplants are perennial and can be kept through the winter (in areas that have a warm enough winter with no snow) to fruit immediately once spring is in full swing. So what you can do is keep one through the winter and then plant a new one during the next growing season and then you can remove the older one from the last season when it has finished fruiting for the second time J. This allows the new one to grow and will you still get eggplants from the old one.

Do not grab the eggplant by its calyx or sepals – the green leftovers from the flower, as they have nasty thorns that can do quite some damage J.

Eggplant
Solanum melongena

The flowers and stigma detached quite well, unlike the tomato flowers that can remain on the fruit during set and will damage/scar the fruit.

Make sure to prepare the containers for the eggplants with a good amount of kitchen waste and pot ash. I feed them Starke Ayres Nutrifeed (monthly and fortnightly), the Cultura 2:3:2 granulated fertiliser (sprinkled every month), see Composting.

Harvesting & Storing

Eggplants are harvested once the fruit has a uniform purple colour. Do not leave the fruit on the plant for too long (exceeding I would say about 20cm in length) as they become progressively bitter. But on the same note, it is better to ‘store’ the fruit on the plant and use immediately as they become bitter after being picked. If all else fails, the eggplants should keep well in the fridge (in a baggy with a few water drops) for about a week. - no freezing away, unfortunately, because the flesh is too tender – so you’ll have to settle for store bought eggplants in winter or just have it seasonally.

Just a few notes on preparing eggplants. If you want proper recipes, it is good to look at Asian cuisine, especially Indian and Chinese – they really know what to do with an eggplant J. Otherwise, we have found that brushing the eggplant with a little bit of oil (rosemary or thyme flavoured oil complements the eggplant really well) and then grilling or roasting it, makes for a fine and sweet eggplant.

Seed Saving

Seeds saving with all fruiting plants remains the same. Leave the last fruit on the dying plant to let it ferment (past eating stage) and ‘naturally’ prepare the seeds for planting for you. The fruit will ripen and go brown, yellow or orange (it really gets nasty J) and fall from the plant. Leave the fruit for another two weeks! Remove the seeds, rub between your fingers to separate and wash in a sifter. The seeds are placed in a little water and those that sink are considered viable and will be saved. The seeds are dried thoroughly on a paper towel for about a day and then store in labelled glass jars. The seeds will last for about 4 years.

The seeds are held in water at 50^oC (122^oF) for 25 minutes before planting to kill any diseases that may remain on the seeds.

My Eggplants

I have Starke Ayres Black Beauty: A very good variety in terms of resistance and fruiting.

And a Rosa Bianca (Franchi seeds, a bit expensive, but save its seeds J): This is a white eggplant and is a good idea to try if you do not like the black eggplants that can be bitter, as its flesh will be tender and not botter. I struggled to it germinated so I’ll probably get to taste it next year J.

Eggplant flower
Solanum melongena

Time to enjoy some eggplant!

Versatility whilst Blogging

noreply@blogger.com (The Shroom) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:30:00 +0000

It was quite the surprise to get the Versatile blogger award after only blogging for a short amount of time, so I want the say Thanx to KL from Beautiful Boonton and A Novice Gardener. It is good to know that the information I provide on this blog is appreciated J. So now onto the nitty gritty…

The rules for accepting this award are:
1. Add the Versatile Blogger Award.
2. Thank the blogger who nominated you in a post with a link back to their blog.
3. Share 7 completely random pieces of information about yourself.
4. Include this set of rules.
5. Forward this award to 15 fellow bloggers, and inform them with a comment on each of their blogs.

I can easily come up with seven pretty random stuff. I suffer from social network impairment, such as facebook and twitter. I do not have any internet persona, except for the blog (which is meant for sharing knowledge J), as I do not really like talking about myself or boring people with my day – also not interested in other people’s daily doings. One of the skills that I definitely want to acquire in the future by some way would be lock-picking and skateboarding… that makes two skills. Hm. Anyways, I also suffer from chronic sinus problems, which has a nasty way of catching me off guard sometimes – like having a massive hayfever attack when I am driving home, so much so that I cannot see the road through all the tears! J … I have always been fascinated by Mythology, there is even a degree you can get to become a Mythologist, but I do not think that there is any great demand for such a thing J. So, on that note my favourite mythology creature is the DRAGON! I am a perfectionist with slight OCD J, combine that with an analytical mind, makes for one pain-in-the-butt scientist at times J. Lastly, I am always doing something weird and unconventional that make people think I am off my hat – that’s the reason why I am usually referred to by other people as “That crazy friend of yours” J. And that makes for 7.

…what was the next thing… Oh! Yes, the other blogging peeps I nominate for the Versatile Blogger award. That be people with practical blogs, people who support good causes and people who just do amazing stuff. So in no specific order:

     1.      Medusa’s Garden
     2.      Whispering Earth
     3.      …the Garden Roof Coop
     4.      Suburban Tomato
     5.      A Bug’s Playground
     6.      Veg Plotting
     7.      Skippy’s Vegetable Garden
     8.      The Pitcher Plant Project
     9.      My Little Vegetable Garden
     10. The School Vegetable Patch
     11.   Heirloom Gardener
     12.    The Cheap Vegetable Gardener
     13.   iGrowVeg
     14.    From Seed to Scrumptious
     15.   Sustainable Garden

So go forth and blog!

Carrot - Vegetable of the Month

noreply@blogger.com (The Shroom) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 12:49:00 +0000

Carrot stats/requirements at a glance

Ease of Raising:	5/5 – Very easy
Water:	3/5 – Moderate (high heat)
Sun:	5/5 – Full sun, no shade
Training:	1/5 – Minimal (only dead/damaged leaves)
Fertilise/Feeding:	3/5 – Moderate (growing) to Minimal (during root set)
Time to Harvest:	4/5 – A long time (3-4 months)

Uses	Culinary
Most Problematic Nemesis:	Powdery mildew or nutrient deficiencies
Container Plant:	Only ‘short-rooted’ varieties

Carrots
Daucus carota

Quick Intro

No dish is complete without carrots. There are many cultivated, wild and sub-species with a variety of shapes (globe and straight), sizes (small to large) and colours (white, yellow, orange, red and purple). Carrots are easy-going in terms of growing, but root set can take a long time in sub-optimal conditions.

History

The ideal deep orange, sweet and crisp carrot that we serve up on the table today was, as with all vegetables, domesticated from a non-so ideal wild carrot. Wild carrots are pale, tough and have small tap-roots. Its speculated origin is in Afghanistan from varieties that are purple. After its spread to Europe, yellow carrots were selectively bred with orange varieties from The Netherlands to give rise to the modern orange carrot.

Science Stuff

Carrots (Daucus carota) belong to the Apiaceae family, which is commonly known as the carrot and parsley family. Apiaceae includes other root, herb and spices, such as, Celeriac, Chervil, Angelica, Anise, Dill, Fennel, Parsnip, Celery, Lovage, Cicely, Coriander, Cumin, Celery and Caraway.

The different colours of carrots are derived from different pigments or lack thereof.

Anthocyanin, is responsible for purple and red colouring of fruits, flowers and roots. The red and purple pigmentation of fruits and flowers attract insects for pollination or attract animals to eat and disperse seeds. Anthocyanin is a powerful anti-oxidant and is found in any fruit or vegetable with purple or dark red colouring. Yellow or white carrots lack this pigment, due to the loss or mutation of the gene responsible, which affects pigment production. This pale characteristic was preferred as these carrots did not colour soups or sauces purple J.

β-carotene or Carotene gives carrots their bright orange colour, which is metabolised in the presence of bile salts to Vitamin A. Eating way too many carrots can make your skin orange!

Carrots of the Rainbow!
Photo: ARS, Stephen Ausmus

Growing Carrots

Carrot seeds are planted directly into the garden once the soil is warm enough as they do not transplant well. Carrots can be raised all year round in SA and Zone 7 gardens because the ground warmth does not fall below that which is required for carrots and we do not get snow in winter. Carrots grown in winter will take longer to set as the amount of sunlight and day length is reduced in winter when compared to summer.

Long rooted carrots should be planted in the garden with soil dug over at least 30cm deep and are designated as your main crop. Short rooted, globe varieties or baby varieties can be grown in pots that are at least 20cm deep and will supply carrots earlier than the main crop.

Carrots in my garden takes 3 months to set a decent sized root, now I do not think that this would be the same for other garden (even Zone 7 gardens) as I have Savannah soil – which is the most challenging soil to grow crops in and is very poor in nutrients, especially potassium. Potassium is essential for carrot root set. My first carrots looked like bottle-brushes with a lot of fine roots that resembled hairs and nearly no tap-root, due to the lack of potassium in the soil. So I always add extra potassium (potash) to my garden in a for-nightly (summer) to monthly (winter) basis. The carrots can be fertilised during their growing stage every second week, but once the roots have set, do not fertilise, as this will create split roots. Potash can be added regardless of root set – which makes for really useful stuff!

Succession Planting

Now, I have not come across any resource that explains how to stagger your root crops. So I use the square-foot gardening principles and adjusted it a bit to limit mono-cropping and replacing quantity with quality.

So, plant 9 carrots in a square-foot (about 30cm x 30cm square). Traditionally this would be 16 carrots for square-foot gardening purposes, but this creates a haven for pests, due to the large amount foliage that shelters aphids and whiteflies. So if your carrots have problems with aphids and whitefly, try not to crowd them too much and/or try my enviro-friendly sprays, see Pest Control. 16 carrots crowd one-another in terms of physical soil space as well and become a heavy burden on soil nutrients.

Before you sow the seeds, first lay out your squares with twine or rocks. Dig into the squares 30-40cm and add kitchen waste, potassium and fertiliser, the benefits of this is explained under my Composting section. Now de-clump and de-rock the soil before returning it to the square. Plant 9 carrots, evenly spaced and they’ll pop-up in about 2-3 weeks. Plant a square of carrots every two weeks to have a succession of carrots throughout the year and alternate every carrot square with a beetroot square (or similar globe root) as this minimises mono-cropping as mono-cropping also encourages pest accumulation.

Carrots - 9 in a square

Beets - 5 in a square

Alternate carrots and beets

If your soil is too cold in winter or if you get snow, I would suggest planting in squares (it maximises space usage), but do not plant them in succession, plant as many squares as you can manage. Store the excess for the winter months.

Other Carrot Tips

When the carrots start to set their roots – cover the exposed root with soil, this prevents ‘green shoulders’ on the root due to greening on the top of the root when it is subjected to sunlight.

Covered carrot

Dead and damaged leaves can be removed along with ones infected with Powdery mildew. The powdery mildew spray I use for Cucurbits has an inhibitory effect on the carrot mildew, so it’s worth a try, see Pest Control.

Powdery Mildew on Carrot leaves

If seedlings are grown next to larger crops – just look out for the larger crop leaves not smacking the seedlings on the head! - especially when the wind blows or during rain. Remove any leaves that are in danger of hitting seedlings or is already lying atop seedlings, since this smothers, damages and sometimes kills seedlings.

Harvesting & Storing

Carrots are pulled from the ground by grabbing the leaves close to the root and turning the root while you pull it out. If the root is being suborn, do not pull too hard or the root will break in half! Rather dig out or loosen some of the soil around the root and then remove.

Long term storage: If you can, carrots can be stored in trays/boxes containing sand for winter usage. After washing the carrots, the leaves are trimmed to 1cm from the root, then place them next to one another (not touching) in a tray filled with dampened sterile/clean river sand. Layer the sand and carrots singly. The tray is sealed and stored in a cool, frost-free (and I suppose dark) place. – I have not tried this yet, but will do so with some of my excess carrots to test whether it works or not.

More practically, you can blanch the carrots. After blanching dry the carrots - make sure they are dry (leave for a few hours to dry) and then store in the refrigerator – or else you’ll have mushy carrots when you cook them from not-properly-dried-before-frozen carrots J.

Sort term storage: Fresh carrots can be kept at room temperature for 2 days, after 2 days at room temperature or just a day in the fridge, they start to shrivel. Vacuum packing carrots with a few drops of water, allows them to keep for up to a week in the fridge. The best place for short term storage of carrots, is to just leave it in the ground until needed.

Seed Collection & Storage

Carrots flower in their second ‘summer’ in the ground. Now this can be in the same year (As our year in SA is flanked by summer and spring – Summer in Jan-Mar and Spring in Sep-Dec). The carrots stored in sand can be replanted in spring and will flower J. Flowers can be pollinated by butterflies, beetles, bees and flies.

Carrot Flowers

Carrot varieties will cross pollinate (such as yellow x purple, round x globe ect). So cover the flowers with netting/fleece and hand pollinate those you desire to be 'pure bred'. The seeds are ready for collection after they have dried and the flower stem has become brittle.

The seeds are then placed in water at 50^oC (112^oF) for 15-20 minutes to kill any seed-borne disease, dried and stored in a labelled glass jar.

My carrots:

Starke Ayres Kudora: Orange, long rooted straight carrots. They produce large roots and are heat resistant with a good germination/emergence percentage.

Rainbow Carrot Blend: From ebay, white, yellow and purple carrots. They all taste slightly different, one is more bland, other more ‘carroty’ … J

Franchi Carrots (#4): These are short rooted, globes carrots. I thought that they would set quicker than the others, but they set in the same amount of time.

I mainly plant the Starke Ayres carrots, because the rainbow and globe carrots’ germination/emergence percentage is less than the Kudora. So I only have one designated square for the rainbows and globes, all the rest are succession planted with Kudoras.

Go and plant some carrots!

SISTAS IN DA COOP!

noreply@blogger.com (The Shroom) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 12:14:00 +0000

So we have finally gotten chickens! I thought over it for some time, then researched chicken keeping to death and we decided that it was economical J and a good idea to get chix for fresh eggs – the eggs we buy (free range, organic and all that) you can’t beat stiff! No matter which trick or additive you try, it ain’t happening!

This is not one of my ‘full’ profiles, since we only have had the chix for two weeks and I am waiting for the mother-of-all chicken keeping book to arrive J.

So during my quest for chickens, many local sites suggested that if you’d like to keep chickens, try and do so with indigenous ones. I did not even know you get chickens indigenous to Southern Africa! J It is hard to find information on these and most of the information is usually cut and pasted (sometimes directly) from two main resources namely ‘South African Country Report On Farm Animal Genetic Resources, Department of Agriculture (South Africa)’ and the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) of SA. So I will provide a combined summary (with no plagiarising J) from both sources. Anyways, the main indigenous and possibly endemic (endemic = only found in certain local areas, like “Fynbos” biome only found in SA) breeds are the Ovambo, Potchefstroom Koekoek, Naked Neck (probably not endemic), Matabele, Venda and Boschveld.

Ovambo

The Ovambo is originally from Namibia and Ovamboland (Northern Namibia). Ovamboes are generally small sized, black chickens with additional streaks of white and/or orange. The obscure colouring and cryptic size purpose is to avoid predators, especially from large birds of prey. They are quite robust chickens and are known for agile hunting small rats and mice. Their roosting behaviour is similar to Guinea Fowl, where they roost in trees at night to avoid predators (small wild cats, foxes…). They are known for their hardiness and ability to withstand harsh conditions (heat, drought, food shortage – typical Southern African problems).

Ovambo Chickens

Photos: ARC: Indigenous poultry breeds of SA

Averages	♀	♂
Weight at 16 weeks (kg)	1.32	1.74
Weight at 20 weeks (kg)	1.54	2.32
Sexual Maturity (days)	143	143
Egg weight (g)	52.5	-
Eggs produces (per year)	129 ± 5	-

Potchefstroom Koekoek

The Potchefstroom Koekoek (Pot-chef-stroom Koe-koek, ‘oe’ pronounced ‘ooh’ J, its Afrikaans, my mother tongue J). It was bred in 1960 by Prof. Chris Marais at the Potchefstroom Agricultural College, by crossing the Black Australorp, White Leghorn and Barred Rock chicken breeds. The name ‘Koekoek’ refers to the spotted ‘guinea fowl like’ patterning of the chicken’s feathers. Males and females are sexually dimorphic (physical feature separating males and females of the same species) at a young age. Day-old female chicks are completely black and males are black with a white spot on the head. This clearly makes distinguishing the two easy for separation and breeding. The Potchefstroom Koekoek was bred to create a more robust chicken to cope with the South African climate and therefore they are good chickies for both meat (apparently an attractive yellow colour) and egg laying (eggs are large and brown). They are good commercially and for household/backyard chickens.

Potchefstroom Koekoek (Potch Koekoek)

Photos: ARC: Indigenous poultry breeds of SA

Averages	♀	♂
Weight at 16 weeks (kg)	1.4	1.84
Weight at 20 weeks (kg)	1.7	2.4
Sexual Maturity (days)	130	130
Egg weight (g)	55.7	-
Eggs produces (per year)	198 ± 8	-

Naked Neck

So, these originated in Malaysia and was likely distributed to the rest of the world through the Dutch East India Company. They arrived in SA in the 17^th century and are popular amongst rural SA farmers, but not commercially. Their patterns vary, but there are two distinguishable ‘nakedness’ for these birds. Homozygotes (carrying both genes for the naked neckness J) or purebred (‘pure’ for a characteristic), have a neck void of feathers. The Heterozygote (carrying one gene for naked neckness) or not purebred, have a few fly feathers on the front of its neck. They do well as meat and egg laying chickens.

Having a naked neck is advantageous to French commercial farmers, because (1) A lot of nutrition/protein is required to produce feathers, thus less feathers = chickens eat less/nutrition redistributed to other areas, (2) they are easier and quicker to pluck for eating and (3) they are apparently more heat tolerant (probably due to increased heat being lost through the naked skin).

Naked Neck
Photos: ARC: Indigenous poultry breeds of SA

Averages	♀	♂
Weight at 16 weeks (kg)	1.1	1.5
Weight at 20 weeks (kg)	1.4	1.95
Sexual Maturity (days)	155	155
Egg weight (g)	55.1	-
Eggs produces (per year)	? ± ?	-

Matabele

They are ‘big and burley’… and that is all I have. Seriously, I can not find more on this chicken, not even a picture. The Matabele (or Ndebele) people are from once Eastern Transvaal or now Mpumalanga province – so that would suggest that the chicken *may* have originated in eastern South Africa and is *probably* a hardy breed such as the Ovambo. Seen as it is ‘big and burley’ it would probably make a good meat chicken.

Venda

Venda chickens are named after the region they originated, the Limpopo province (the northern-most province in SA). These multi-coloured white, black and red chickens were first described by a veterinarian, Dr Naas Coetzee in 1979. Later similar chickens were seen in the Southern Cape and Free State. An interesting characteristic that pops up every now and then, are rose-coloured combs and/or five-toed chickens. The chickens are large and mothers are good brooders. They lay tinted eggs of a decent size and are therefore mainly used for egg production. Apparently more information is being collected about these chickens.

Venda Chickens
Photos: ARC: Indigenous poultry breed of SA

Averages	♀	♂
Weight at 16 weeks (kg)	1.24	1.57
Weight at 20 weeks (kg)	1.4	2.01
Sexual Maturity (days)	143	143
Egg weight (g)	52.7	-
Eggs produces (per year)	? ± ?	-

Boschveld

This is another breed developed in SA. The Boschveld contains contributions from the following indigenous breeds in its genetic pool, which include the Matabele, Ovambo and Venda. Each breed was chosen specifically by Mr. Mike Boschveld (a local farmer) to ensure certain characteristics in the Boschveld. He wanted a chicken that is hardy and can withstand the harsh South African climate (Ovambo) and is (I suppose) relatively large (Matabele). The Venda chicken made their contribution by producing hardy hens that are great mothers and egg producers. – Oh! They seem to be ‘dipped’ less for external parasites as well, so they are more pest resistant too! J They are good meat and (obviously) egg laying chickens.

Boschveld Chicken
Photos: http://www.boschveld.co.za/Chicken.htm

Averages	♀	♂
Weight at 16 weeks (kg)	?	?
Weight at 20 weeks (kg)	?	?
Sexual Maturity (days)	?	?
Egg weight (g)	?	-
Eggs produces (per year)	240 ± ?	-

What I can say is that hens start to produce eggs as 20 weeks of age.

OK, so that covers indigenous breed – phew! Now to our chix. We read that it is a good idea for backyard chicken keepers to get a good selection of different breeds. So, we have 6 chickens, 2 of each – Boschveld, Koekoek and Australorp.

Now, the Australorp:

Australorps are an Australian breed known for their hardy yet docile behaviour and are good meat/egg laying chickens. So there is a lot of info on these – yeah! They have soft feathers, white toenails, black (or rather grayish – we have white Australorps) legs and beak. Chickens come in standard and bantam (small/miniaturised) sizes with a multitude of colours, most recognisable is Blue, Black and White. These have a good egg laying capacity with one hen laying 364 eggs in 365 days!!! They are broody and very instinctual mothers J. They are good chickens for meat and egg laying, and just all-round hardiness, especially to cold.

White Australorps Chicken

Averages	♀	♂
Weight at 16 weeks (kg)	2.5?	2.9?
Weight at 20 weeks (kg)	3.1	3.5
Sexual Maturity (days)	154	154
Egg weight (g)	60	-
Eggs produces (per year)	275 ± 25	-

Point of lay starts at 20-22 weeks.

I just need to confirm these averages with my chicken book J - as most of this I got off of home kept chicken sites J.

We aimed to get chickens that were 4-6 weeks of age, as we have cats and do not want to raise one day old chickies in incubators with cats around J. We got three 6-week chickies and three 10 week chickies. The Australorps were R50 and the rest R30 per chicken, fully vaccinated against Newcastle disease.

We managed to build the coop for under R500, re-using a lot of wood and spare parts in the garage. Only new things was the wire and roofing plates. Not the prettiest coop, but definately functional J

Makes for a sturdy cat proof coop!

Conveniently we have a “FarmCity” just 2km from us, so we got all the chicky supplies there: chicken feeder, waterer, mite/tick dust, grow pellets…

Chicken Water Fountain

Chicken Feeder

Here are the sistas in da coop

I have not given them names yet, still deciding...

They believe the camera to be a monster –
hence the nervous and quizzical expressions J

Since we got them at 6 and 10 weeks, we will have to ‘socialise’ them. So I established a feeding routine and sit every now and then in the coop so that they can get comfortable with humans – Cause when I need to dust them for mites or other ‘services’ they should be calm and not flutter about. J

They were mostly fed pellets at the farm we purchased them from, so I even had to get them used to other types of foods (like some squash seeds, banana, carrot leaves). I introduced the new food one item at a time (not mixing of carrots with apples or such J) and mix some pellets in there as well – they quite enjoy their snacks now J.

I will keep you updated on the chix and properly do a full profile in the future!

Praying Mantis - Garden Critter of the Month

noreply@blogger.com (The Shroom) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:40:00 +0000

Mantids at a glance

Occupation:	Predator
Value to Gardener:	5/5 - Pest Controller!
Danger to Humans:	0/5 - None
Availability:	5/5 – They’ll arrive or you can buy some

Common Green Mantid, Giant Mantid
(Sphodromantis gastrica)

Quick Intro

Mantids are usually large, robust insects with mobile heads and large eyes. Mantids are visual predators that ambush prey with serrated forelimbs. I will be discussing the quintessential giant or common green mantid.

Science Stuff

The giant or common green mantid (Sphodromantis gastrica) belongs to the Mantidea family. These include other common and stick mantids, which are green to brown, but not the beautiful floral mimics (Hymenopodidae).

Habitat

The giant mantid is found throughout South Africa and parts of Africa. They prefer dense foliage cover, such as bushes and trees, where they are camouflaged and await unsuspecting prey. They are common in domestic gardens and undisturbed vegetation. Provide shelter and hunting space in your garden by planting herbs that grow into substantial bushes, such as, Basil, Lavender, Mint and Rosemary. If you are able to purchase praying mantids, the giant ‘African’ (Sphodromantis gastrica) mantid is a huge favourite amongst collectors and insect enthusiasts and will be easy to find. (You can also buy some reallllly exotic ones also J).

Diet

Praying mantids eat anything they can manage, but giant mantids prefer caterpillars (I think mine are at a loss when it comes to caterpillars, so they settle for aphids and beetles mostly J). I have observed mine eating all pest species (aphids, white fly…) and other not-so-problematic insects, such as stink bugs.

Munching a Stinkbug!
Giant Mantid, Common Green Mantid
Sphodromantis gastrica

Another Mantid Tip

When pruning herbs, shrubs or trees that are known mantid hideouts – keep an eye out for them and simply relocate them until the pruning ‘danger’ is over J. Or when pulling out carrots and beets, be sure to check the foliage, they are sometimes in there too!

Now for some interesting Evolutionary stuff on mantids (being a geneticist J)

Mantids can hear in the ultrasound spectrum (usually higher than 20 000Hz, which is the maximum point at which we can hear). This was first thought to have arisen to hear bats, but phylogenetic (genetic relatedness studies amongst mantid species, living and extinct) has shown that this ultrasound hearing capacity evolved before bats (bats evolved around 63Mya and the ultrasound hearing evolved around 120Mya).

Two ‘ears’ or proper insect term for ear, two sets of tympanums are located on the bottom of the thorax between the legs, one at the second and third pair of legs. Mantids respond to ultrasound only in flight, with the males being more responsive than females, as females are reluctant fliers and have reduced hearing.

Figure 1: Mantid tympanum
Patterns of praying mantis auditory system
evolution based on morphological,
molecular, neurophysiological, and behavioural data.D. D. Yager and G. J. Svenson,
Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2008
94: 541–568.

Earlessness is considered to be the primitive or original state of the mantid and that hearing is a characteristic of more ‘newly’ evolved mantids species (newly being a relative term in evolutionary standards J). Some earless species do still exists and some mantids have lost their hearing ability, which is mostly linked to flightless females.

Now the reason to hearing matids. The cricket ear (located in the foreleg), evolved 200Mya and is primarily used for communication. Matids could have used their ears for intraspecific communication (mantids belonging to the same species would communicate differently) or prey location, but this was modified when bats evolved to avoid becoming dinner for echo-locating bats. Some birds also hunt in the ultrasound spectrum and wing movement produces ultrasound. So hearing could be an all round predator avoidance mechanism. But, this is all ‘educated/informative’ speculation and the true function of the mantid ear remains a puzzle.

This summary was compiled from the following research article:

Patterns of praying mantis auditory system evolution based on morphological, molecular, neurophysiological, and behavioural data.

D. D. Yager and G. J. Svenson, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2008, 94: 541–568.

Fun Mantid Stuff

Whilst researching I came upon an origami mantid – so if you are bored fold a praying mantis and stick it in your garden. Who knows it might just scare the aphids away! J J J

Origami Mantid

Happy Mantid Fostering J

Basil - Herb of the Month

noreply@blogger.com (The Shroom) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:26:00 +0000

Basil stats/requirements at a glance

Ease of Raising:	5/5 – Very Easy
Water:	4/5 – A good amount (especially in a container)
Sun:	5/5 – Full sun (can be grown in semi-shade)
Training:	5/5 – Absolutely
Fertilise/Feeding:	1/5 – Minimal (at least once per season)
Time to Harvest:	1/5 – Immediate (purchased a seedling) to Soon (from seed)

Uses:	4/4 – Culinary, Medicinal, Pollinator attractor & Predator sheltering
Most Problematic Nemesis:	None
Container Plant:	Yes (preferably grown in the garden rather than container)

Quick intro

Up for discussion is Basil. Similarly to tomatoes, basil is a culinary force. Known as the ‘king of the herbs’ its uses and benefits are endless. Basil has been crossbred to produce and array of flavours, such as lemon, mint and even chocolate! Basil is a mostly non-fuss plant, but requires a large amount of water and needs to be pruned (not unless you want a monster plant J). It is a must for any garden!

History

The basil herb has its origins in the Middle East (or India). Since ancient times it has been used by the Greeks, Romans and people of the Middle East. No other herb rivals the uses of basil for seasoning of meats, soups, sauces, pasta, breads, salads, and is also used in liqueur (chartreuse). Its medicinal properties includes, a food digestion aid and the juice from its leaves apparently repel mosquitoes when rubbed on the skin.

Science Stuff

Sweet Basil, Ocimum basilicum, belongs to a large family of aromatic and culinary herbs, the Lamiaceae Family. This family includes most of the other well-known herbs, such as, rosemary, thyme, mint, oregano, savory, lemon balm, sage and marjoram.

The flavour and aromas of modern basil (lemon, mint …) are bred into the basil by crossbreeding with other members of the Lamiaceae Family and/or ‘fixed’ in the plant due to selective breeding for a certain flavour or aroma.

Growing Basil

Basil is easily raised from seed, although harvest would have to wait until the plant is a bit larger. Full sun basil does not succumb to any pest, but is not frost hardy and therefore is grown as an annual where frost is a problem.

Basil plants have distinctive round leaves with a mild basil flavour. After a year of growing the basil has essentially ‘matured’. The leaves lose their round shape and become straight. Their flavour increases by threefold! Also they start to flower prolifically. I do not believe it is necessary to cut the flowers for increased leaf growth, since happy basil produces 2L of leaves every two weeks in summer (with regular pruning J). Now that is way too much for anyone to want to encourage more leaves by snipping off flowers.

Pollinators: Basil flowers are excellent pollinator attractors. Mine has flying visitors throughout the day, zealously packing their legs with the crayon-orange pollen. Reliable visitors and pollinators for your other plants (especially fruiting plants) include insects from the following Families:

Collectidae – The solitary membrane bees

Membrane bees,
Collectidae

Apidae – The honey bees

Honey Bee
(Apis mellifera)

Anthophoridae – The bumble, masonry and carpenter bees

Bombyliidae – The hover, woolly bee and mimic bee flies

Woolly BeeFly
(Bombyliidae, Systoechus sp.)

I am sure butterflies will also make their rounds at your basil, but we have never had a large butterfly population in our area. Although honey bees are the best known pollinator, woolly beeflies and bumble bees are also essential (bumble bees are superior pollinators to honey bees, but they cover a smaller area).

Now then, to the Predators: A large basil bush (30cm-1m) will house an array of beneficial predators. These include:

Mantidae – The preying mantids

Common Green Mantid, Giant Mantid
(Sphodromantis gastrica)

Arachnida Class – these are spiders of all sorts (not insects, but arthropods). The spiders housed in the basil will likely be non-poisonous, such as, crab spiders, jumping spiders and even tiny web spinning spiders as big as a pinhead.

Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) caught
by Pink Crab Spider (Thomisidae)

Predatory Beetles – some click beetles, beetle larvae (predatory lady bug larvae)

Nemopteridae – The lacewings (predatory larvae and some adults are predatory)

These predators are excellent garden helpers and assist with Pest control. In South Africa there isn’t commercially available beneficial insects to buy (overseas you can buy yourself a supply of lacewings, ladybugs, mantids even parasitic wasps/mites to control pests). So here, we are stuck on getting them ourselves. I was fortunate enough to have a mantid female lay her egg sac on one of my plant stakes. Now I have a tireless patrol of ~12 mantids throughout the garden (6-7 live in the basil).

The predators use the basil as their home base, and will move between plants, eating pests as they go. Pests readily consumed include, aphids, whitefly, stinkbugs, leafhoppers, spittle beetles, scale bugs, caterpillars and anything else that eats your plants will be annihilated!

Pruning

The basil must be pruned to keep it bushy and under control, else it will smother other plants by growing over them and stealing sunlight J.

The basil is a very forgiving plant when it comes to pruning. Decide on the high you would prefer your basil to be, such as 50cm. Then prune back (simply cut back each and every branch) 10cm under your preferable size (40cm in this case). This allows space for fresh, young basil leaves to grow and, with constant pruning, allows a continuous harvest of only the most tender basil leaves J.

If you are interested in attracting pollinators, leave the basil to flower and then prune it in sections. I do mine in half. About every month, I chop down half of the plant and allow the other half to finish flowering. By the time the chopped have is flowering, the older (already flowered) half can be cut back again. P.S – when pruning, watch out for your garden helpers! Simply relocate them to the non-pruned part of the plant J.

If your basil plant goes beyond 1m in height – I would recommend staking it for support – as the accumulated weight of the leaves and critters might cause it to become uprooted in a heavy downpour due to the additional weight of the raindrops. Or, you can have two basils going – one is pruned and kept under control for leaf harvesting and the other is staked, in a container and allowed to go crazy. This will ensure cooking supplies and garden helpers. Be sure to have the unregulated basil close to the vegetable garden to benefit from the insects it attracts and only prune it in autumn after flowering (so that it doesn’t go scraggly).

Other Basil Tips

When pruning, you will have a mound of basil leaves – to many to use. Either give these to the earthworms or use directly/as dried kitchen-waste compost for the garden. Leave some leaves J on the ground at the base of the plant – this houses a colony of decomposers, especially wood lice. In that way the basil provides its own fertiliser J.

Harvesting & Storing

Basil leaves can be harvested when required. Branches with leaves can be stored in a glass of water for about a week. Else remove the leaves, vacuum pack (with a few drops of water on the leaves) and store in the fridge for 2-4 weeks (maybe even longer). Since you have a constant supply of leaves, you can always give surplus away to grateful friends J. Drying basil is a snap, especially if you want a milder basil taste when cooking. Simply spread the basil leaves on a small towel and leave to dry on a table inside the house (2-3 days in summer). Store the dried basil in glass jars to preserve the flavour.

Seed Saving & Propagation

Basil seeds are ready for saving once the flowers have turned brown. The seeds are labelled and stored in a glass jar.

Basil is the easiest plant to propagate. Snip some branches off (10-15cm) and place in a glass with water. 2-3 weeks later small roots will appear. Leave the roots to become ~5cm long and plant in a pot. Keep the pot fairly moist until the basil plant has established itself.

Sweet Basil rooting
(Ocimum basilicum)

My Basils

Sweet Basil: This is my big monstrosity! It was already 4 years old (container bound) when I transplanted it into the garden – it has been ill-disciplined ever since J. It managed to uproot itself just the other day during a typical Highveld thundershower that lasted 20min. I wanted to cut it down for some time now, so that was the perfect opportunity – shoots re-emerged after two weeks. I moved all the flowers to a large bucket with water, so that the bees still had some food, and relocated garden critters to other parts of the garden.

Sweet Basil
(Ocimum basilicum)

Lemon Basil: Great for adding ‘lemon’ flavour to dishes without adding any lemony sourness.

Lemon basil
(Ocimum sp.)

Mint Basil: Mild mint taste, useful in salads, soups and sauces.

Mint basil
(Ocimum sp.)

Thai Siam Queen Basil: Slight anise flavour and deep pink flowers. Essential for Indian & Chinese cooking! It did poorly in its first season, but managed to survive and is coming around nicely now.

Thai Siam Queen Basil
(Ocimum sp.)

So no excuses for no basil J

Breaking News: Honey Bee - Colony Collapse Disorder

noreply@blogger.com (The Shroom) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:47:00 +0000

A parasitic fly and accompanying pathogens may be one of the causes of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).

Proffessor John Hafernik observed a fly that parasitizes and kills honey bees. This accidental discovery lead to research by Andrew Core and other researchers, from the Biochemistry and Biophysics Department of the University of California, to investigate the impact of such a parasite on honey bee colonies.

The honey bee is infected by the phorid fly, Apocephalus borealis, also known as the ‘decapitating fly’. The female oviposits (lays eggs) within the honey bees’ abdomen. The honey bees become disoriented, abandons the hive and eventually dies as the fly larvae hatch and develop within the bee. The fly larvae emerge from the dead bee to pupate. Up to 13 mature larvae can emerge from a honey bee, increasing the parasite population rapidly after each successful infection. The entire process of infection to emergence of adult flies takes about 2 months.

The fly is a vector or reservoir of several debilitating honey bee pathogens, such as, Deformed Wing Virus and Nosema ceranae, another micro-parasite. The cumulative effect of the parasitic fly, pathogens and other environmental factors may be responsible for CCD observed worldwide.

This leads us a step closer to solving the CCD mystery and hopefully a cure before we are left with no honey bees to save.

Decapitating parasitic fly - Apocepahlus borealis

A New Threat to Honey Bees, the Parasitic Phorid Fly Apocephalus borealis.

Core A, Runckel C, Ivers J, Quock C, Siapno T, et al. (2012).

PLoS ONE 7(1): e29639. Doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0029639

The Scientific Article

A New Threat to Honey Bees, the Parasitic Phorid Fly Apocephalus borealis.

Core A, Runckel C, Ivers J, Quock C, Siapno T, et al. (2012).

PLoS ONE 7(1): e29639. Doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0029639

Related Scientific Articles

Temporal Analysis of the Honey Bee Microbiome Reveals Four Novel Viruses and Seasonal Prevalence of Known Viruses, Nosema, and Crithidia

Runckel C, Flenniken ML, Engel JC, Ruby JG, Ganem D, et al. (2011)

PLoS ONE 6(6): e20656. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0020656

Online Popular Articles

USA Today

The Vancouver Sun

Tomato - Fruit of the Month

noreply@blogger.com (The Shroom) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 15:13:00 +0000

Tomato stats/requirements at a glance

Ease of Raising: 5/5 – Very easy

Water: 5/5 – A lot (especially, during fruit set)

Sun: 5/5 – Full sun, no shade (fruit ripening)

Training: 3/5 – Moderate

Fertilise/Feeding: 5/5 – Monthly (growing) to Fornightly (fruiting)

Time to Harvest: 3/5 – Moderate (1-2 months after fruiting, given training)

Uses: Culinary, Pollinator attractor

Most Problematic Nemesis: Whitefly

Container Plant: Preferable

Quick intro

Tomatoes are the most well-known and widely used culinary fruit (a botanical fruit, used as a culinary vegetable). They are fairly easy to grow, maintain and carry a good amount of fruit. The largest problem with the tomato is its thirsty habit and those diabolical whiteflies love it.

History

Tomato has it origin in South America and is considered to be domesticated, from once poisonous varieties, in Mexico. It was spread into Europe by Spanish traders during the 1600. It became popular in America towards the late 1800, introduced through Europe. No other fruit, except perhaps for the Cucurbits, contains such a variety of cultivars with every shape, taste and colour imaginable. This has been established through selective breeding by farmers, gardeners and researcher alike – we constantly have new varieties popping up, not only beneficial for us to sample, but increases the overall genetic diversity of the tomato genus (yes! GMOs especially, increase biodiversity).

Science Stuff

The tomato belongs to the Solanaceae Family, which includes potato, eggplant, peppers and nightshade! The standard tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum, is thought to have evolved from the cherry tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum var. cerasiforme, through selective breeding for size and taste.

Tomatoes contain Tomatine, which is a non-toxic alkaloid, exceptional for the Solanaceae Family. Tomatine content reduces as the tomato ripens and becomes sweeter, as alkaloids are usually bitter-tasting.

Green tomato with Tomatine

Growing Tomatoes

Tomatoes can be easily raised from seeds or seedlings can be purchased. Sow tomato seeds outdoors as soon as the last frost is gone (usually August for SA), if the seeds fail to germinate it is an indication that the soil isn’t warm enough yet. Thus, trick you seeds into germinating by sowing into pots indoors and letting them become established on a warm, sunny windowsill. The seedling can be planted out as soon as the first set of ‘true leaves’ appear. For all my plants I make a 1-2cm hole in the ground, place the seed in and sprinkle with fine soil to fill the hole – this prevents seedling from being washed out and increases seed germination for my plants.

Tomato Seedling

Tomatoes are indeterminate (grow until the onset of frost or last fruit set) or determinate (grow to a fixed height). I would recommend training both varieties.

The number of tomatoes you grow depends (1) on the garden space and (2) how much you eat, but as a guide I plant two tomatoes of a variety (such as, two standard sized and one/two cherries). These are planted one in a pot so that you have maximum control over their growth, feeding and watering. Before sowing in a pot, dig a 20cm hole, add some kitchen waste and sprinkle a little granulated fertiliser. This allows the seedling to grow and access the nutrients without burning, check out Composting. After sowing add a stake near the sowing spot for plant support. Plant one seed every month for succession harvesting of tomatoes, given training!

Tomatoes like a lot of sun, mine grow in the full African sun, where they receive 6-8 hours of full sunlight. The warmth and sunlight is also important for fruit set and ripening.

Training

Training is very important for tomatoes! This means plant support with stakes, lots of them! I let the tomato grow 3 main branches, originating as close to the ground as possible (for extra support). The main branches then split into 2-3 shorter branches close to the full height of the plant. Then, each main branch is allowed to carry 5-7 tomatoes (standard size tomatoes) or 4-6 trusses (cherry tomato, 7-10 fruit per truss). This gives you 15-20 tomatoes per standard and 40-60 per cherry. (Times two, for two plants, are more than enough tomatoes! J).

Here are some illustrations:

These are a rough and simplified guide, just to get you started on training the plant. Training and a little pruning is essential to early ripening for tomatoes after one month of fruit set. Untrained plants grow erratic; produce too many tomatoes that do not ripen and the few that do ripen only do so in 3-4 months after fruit set!! (That is February for SA). Training, along with succession planting and replacing already harvested plants, allows a continuous supply of tomatoes. Other plants can also be trained in this manner, such as eggplants and peppers. (When tying the plants to the stakes, leave 1-2cm of space between the plant stem and the stake – it still secures the plant without damaging it.)

Other Tomato Tips

Tomatoes can be wind pollinated, but insect pollination is best – so make sure to have some bees around for this (plant some basil J). When the flower has been pollinated and is dying, be sure to remove all the petals (yellow coloured leaves) and style (the long appendage attached to the developing fruit). This ensures proper fruit development as I have noticed that sometimes these structures do not detach and then ‘pull’ over the developing fruit, scarring the fruit. Do not tug on the dead flower, if it does not come off easily, leave it for one/two more days – else you rip out the developing fruit J.

Tomato flower

Make sure that the containers you grow them in always have water in the saucer.

I feed the tomatoes Starke Ayres Nutrifeed (monthly and fortnightly) and the Cultura 2:3:2 granulated fertiliser (sprinkled every month), see Composting.

Tomato Problems

The biggest problem is the regular visit from whiteflies, which left unchecked become a large cloud of white when disturbed. Use my environmentally friendly whitefly recipe for Pest Control.

Another problem, which I mainly have with the Brandywine, is that the fruit cracks whilst ripening. This is due to the heat and does not affect the tomato.

Cracked tomato

If birds peck at your ripe tomatoes, put a little gnome or human-like figurine in plain sight. This should scare them off! Else try windmills or shiny objects, described in my Pest Control page.

Mr. Garden Gnome on the watch! Atop the tomato stake

Harvesting & Storing

Tomatoes are ready to harvest once they are full coloured and slightly soft when poked. They can be left on the vine until ready to eat or pick them when ripe and place them on a counter at room temperature (they’ll keep for about 3-5 days). For fridge storage, put them in a bag or sealable container with a few drops of water to prevent them from shrivelling in the dry fridge.

Seed Saving

If you would like to save the seeds of your tomatoes – simply leave one/two small tomatoes to die with the plant, after the plant has died remove the tomato and leave to rot. Wash and collect seeds afterwards. The seeds require the fermentation process to become robust and viable. Dry the seeds on a towel in a dry area for 2 days and store in glass jars/containers with a label, photo and a description of the tomato.

My Tomatoes

I have Starke Ayres tomato seeds:

Money Maker: A red standard. This is a very good producer and is somewhat heat resistant.

Gold Nugget: A yellow cherry. Loves the African sun J - not so heavy on water.

And imported seeds from ebay:

Brandywine: I have a rainbow seed packet. This season produced a ‘golden’ tomato, sweeter and finer taste than the common tomato – I do not like tomatoes, but this one I managed to eat J

Brandywine Tomatoes

Pineapple: The pineapple tomato simply did not cope with the African heat. I am going to try to plant it elsewhere and see whether I can get some pineapple tomatoes out of it J.

Prosperous Tomato Growing!

Gardening Aims & Vegetable Gardening Success Stories

noreply@blogger.com (The Shroom) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:18:00 +0000

I have successfully raised the following edible plants:

Baby Lettuce (Red & White)
Baby Spinach
Beets (Red & Candy striped)
Bell Pepper
Broccoli
Bush Beans
Bush Peas
Carrots (Orange, white, yellow, purple & globe)
Cauliflower
Celery
Chinese Cabbage
Cucumber
Eggplant
Fig (White)
Granadilla (Purple)
Herbs (Borage, Lemon Basil, Sweet Basil, Mint Basil, Thai Siam Queen Basil, CatNip, Comfrey, Cotton Lavender, Dill, Golden Oregano, Lavender, Marjoram, Myrtle, Pepper Mint, Rose pelargonium (geranium), Pineapple Sage, Thyme, Tuscan Rosemary, Lemon Verbana & Wormwood)
Onions (Red, white, spring & chives)
Potatoes
Radish (Globe, long rooted, yellow, purple & red)
Silver Beet
Squash (Butternut, Gem, Zucchinni & Patty Pans)
Strawberries
Swede
Swiss Chard (White, red, pink & yellow)
Tomatillos (but won't be planting them again)
Tomatoes (Regular, red & yellow pear cherry, Brandy Wine)
Turnip

I am attemtpting to raise:

Avocado (from seed, has not set fruit)
Baby Cabbage
Hubbard squash
Kohl Rabi
Okra
Parsnip
Salsify
Sweet potatoes
Watermelon
Persimmon
Red Currant
Raspberry
Apricot

Other things on the would-like-to-do list:

Harvest & store my own seeds to use for the next season
Increase production & provide continous food supply with sucession planting
Store fresh vegetable produce for extended peroids without flavour loss

December Garden Update

noreply@blogger.com (The Shroom) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000

The monthly garden update again:

The main garden – full on production, succession planting is coming along nicely

The Pumpkin Patch:

Butternut, Gem Squash & Zucchinis!

Hubbard squash & Sweet Potatoes

Makin’ Weeds of Pumpkin Seeds

noreply@blogger.com (The Shroom) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 16:38:00 +0000

Lately I could not understand why I had pumpkin seedlings springing out everywhere I had not planted them. I have recently been doing research on saving your own seeds and came to the realisation that I was actually to blame J. I made calabash insect homes in spring from calabashes that have been sitting around the house for five years and I added the insides (seeds and all) of the calabashes to the soil along with some other kitchen waste as compost. I really believed the seeds were dead... to save cucurbit seeds, you leave the fruits to dry and these seeds can keep for up to five years if stored properly. Only realising now that in my ignorance I have made a weed out of pumpkin seeds J

An evil conspiracy is brewing amongst the pumpkins - to take over the world! One garden at a time...

November: My Garden Update

noreply@blogger.com (The Shroom) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 11:25:00 +0000

Again, on a monthly basis and update on the changes in the garden J

The main garden:

October: My Garden Update

noreply@blogger.com (The Shroom) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 11:28:00 +0000

06 October 2011

An update on my garden’s status. It finally rained on Saturday (1 Oct), which meant a full rain tank – yay! But Sunday night it hailed as if the apocalypse was upon us! Given the marble to litchi sized hail, most of the garden remained intact (the herbs had the least amount of damage), although the patty pan and other cucurbits seems to have gone through a paper shredder… not pleased, as the larger ones are at least three weeks old L… but one good thing about the hail is that it brings a lot of nutrients with it, so they won’t take too long to regrow.

Moved all the fruit trees out into the area opposite the veggie patch for some more sunlight… those were the first to be rescued when I dove into the hail that night (bare feet and all J). The fruit trees are all a bit bare, except the avocado.

Hail damage on my tomatoes. Sis!

Shredded patty pan L Photo does not show how bad it really is…

Had a bit of a garden spruce up with some “On Sale” trellises and locally-produced obelisks for all the trailing plants and to open up space with vertical gardening. Trellises for the peas, beans and okra plants, the obelisks for the larger butternut, gem-squashes and the like. Trying to attract more pollinators and predators to the garden. I have planted a few flowering (but still useful) plants, such as roses, cotton lavender (which is not a lavender at all), geraniums and the old favourite, borage. Still in the process of making predator and pollinator homes, collecting old pieces of wood and placed a few calabashes stuffed with dry leaves around the garden. If anything, the calabashes look really adorable.

The Pumpkin Patch:

This is the garden (our first garden before moving to the one I use as the main one now) that is situated on the other side of the house. It is mostly a shade spot, but last year the cucurbits and eggplants grew well here … growing over the wall into the sun … so I have converted it into a pumpkin patch, with butternuts, gem-squash (trailing – hence the robust obelisks) and I think one stray Caserta (that grows more shrubby rather than trailing).

Got Shrooms?

noreply@blogger.com (The Shroom) — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 15:30:00 +0000

A section on Mushrooms!!! I think that mushies (and other fungi) are the most fascinating organisms on this planet. If I had gotten the mushroom grow kit sooner it would have been the first page on my blog, rather than the Insects J

Biology

Mushrooms or Cap Fungi

Fungi have spores that are either blown by the wind or dispersed by water. The spores germinate (similar to plants except light isn’t a requirement) in favourable conditions (warm and moist – not wet for Cap fungi). They form a mycelium (the growth and structural part of the fungi). The mycelium is a fine fibrous structure that grows throughout the substrate (food) and extracts nutrients and water. After a few days they will ‘fruit’ (mushrooms are not plants and do not carry fruit, so here it means that they form their reproductive structure). This is the Mushroom structure we are familiar with, the cap will mature (usually darken in colour, and for true mushrooms, the gills are visible). Within the gills are the spores, which will be released when mature and fall to the ground.

So that is Mushroom biology 101. Now we move on to the fun part – growing them!

If you have spores available then I can give a few pointers as second-year university mycology gave a few tips on how to grow them from scratch, but I only managed to get a kit. The people who cell spores in SA ask a fortune for it (except for magic mushrooms. If there is one thing you stay away from, it is magic mushrooms – I know this from theory not experience J) and those who sell spores overseas, do not ship to South Africa L.

Anyways, so I have a kit from a South African company, mushroomfactory.co.za. They have white and pink oyster mushroom grow kits at the moment, and the kits are technically more expensive as per weight of the mushrooms than buying them directly from the grocer. So I am likely only going to by the kit once, just to say I grew some mushies.

I have the pink oyster mushroom kit and have taken photos of the growth process over the past few days. Now, a word of advise when it comes to mushroom growing: You have to work sterile. Working sterile is not difficult, it is more that you have to be aware of it. As a molecular biologist it isn’t a new thing for me, but for those not trained in laboratory protocol, here are a few things you’ll need:

70% Alcohol (Ethanol or isopropanol, but most will do)

Paper towels

Scalpel/Sharp knife

Plastic Bags

Straw and used tea leaves and/or coffee beans (for growing from scratch – sterilised, in some way, probably steam it in some way J)

Now, do not drink the 70% alcohol!!!! Seriously it is very dangerous and really stupid to do so…

-Can’t find 70% alcohol? Make ur own J-

30ml of Water (Tap or boiled)

70ml of 100% Alcohol

100ml of 70% Alcohol

23ml of Water

77ml of 90% Alcohol

100ml of 70% Alcohol

In a spray bottle, mark it as 70% alcohol and write dangerous and/or flammable on it! Put it where children and stupid people can’t find it! J

Ok, so any instrument and surface where you are going to work with your mushrooms should be sprayed/wiped with the 70% alcohol. The blade, plastic bag (spray inside and let air dry), and wipe table/counter surface.

Growing from Scratch

Keep the mushrooms in a protected area, where they won’t be handled much. Keep them moist (good spray with water 2-3 times a day) and they’ll grow happily. Mainly for indoors mushroom growing, there are two methods. Both are suitable for all mushrooms, but the long stalked ones can outgrow the container height.

Method 1: Plastic bag for ‘long stalked mushrooms’ (Oysters)

1) Sterilise all equipment, table tops and mushroom substrate

2) Place the substrate in the plastic bag (20 diameter, any length you can manage)

3) Cut a generous amount of holes into the plastic bag and stick a spore or two in each cut

4) Suspend the plastic bag from a string or prop it upright somewhere

5) Mist the plastic bag, the cuts and the emerging mushrooms with boiled water

6) Watch the mushies grow and have them in pasta when mature J (very nice in stew also!)

Method 2: Box for ‘short stalked mushrooms’ (Buttons)

1) Sterilise all equipment, table tops and mushroom substrate

2) Place the substrate in a box with 20cm depth or other sturdy, closable container (here you can add some sterile well matured compost to the substrate)

3) Sprinkle the spores on the surface of the substrate and cover with a thin layer of extra substrate (straw or compost)

4) Mist regularly and keep container closed

5) Watch the mushies grow and have them on pizza when mature J

Kits

So I am going to place the instructions for my kit here with photos of the Mushrooms progress.

Photo: Mushroom kit. The Mushrooms Factory

Photo: Instructions for the Mushroom kit. The Mushrooms Factory

Ok so with the kit you basically get a sterilised bag with sterile substrate already spored J. Just cut some holes, place in the bag and mist.

Now I will follow up with the photos of my Mushrooms’ growing process. I misted about 4-5 sprays, 3 times a day, some on the mushrooms and on the plastic bag. I placed a small cup of water inside the bag to add to the air moisture.

Day 1-5:

Waiting and patience required. The mushrooms are growing mycelium throughout the substrate during this period.

Day 6:

Photo: Small nodules appear within the packet – everywhere except at the holes

Day 7:

Photo: Nodules expand and is pressing against the plastic sheet – so against the kit instructions I first cut some extra holes where nodules were and a day or two afterwards I just simply removed the whole plastic sheet. I do not know how they expect the mushrooms to grow if the spores are dispersed throughout the bag and pop out everywhere except at the cuts. Anyway, to prevent mushroom damage or loss I removed the entire plastic panel, because the mushies aren’t plants they won’t grow towards the cuts – they’ll simply keep on growing into the plastic.

Day 8:

Photo: They start to bend upwards due to them sensing gravity and growing in the opposite direction (gravity tropism).

Day 10:

Photo: Mushies are growing very rapidly from now on.

Day 11:

Photo: The familiar cap of the mushrooms are developing

Day 12:

Photo: I removed the original bag, placed the box in a crate and wrapped the crate with plastic to give the mushrooms more room to grow.

Day 13:

Photo: Their getting very big now!

Day 15:

Photo: Almost ready...

Ok, now I was waiting for the mushrooms to become pink, so I waited and waited... And by the time I realised that the company had placed white spores into the bag instead of pink - the mushrooms where already too 'old' according to their website, but we ate them anyway cause there was nothing wrong with them (the 'lips' were turned up slightly - so bon apetit! :)

I thought they were done-for because I waited too long and that the first flush had sucked out all the nutrients out of the kit. But the second flush came, half the yeild as the first. So after the second I took the bag out and remixed the kit's contents with a new batch of sterile compost. I placed it into a proper sealable container and hopefully that will maximise the last yeild from the spores left in the kit - will update whether it worked or not :)

-Got Shrooms then Get Growing :)

-18 September 2011-

August: My Garden Update

noreply@blogger.com (The Shroom) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 13:00:00 +0000

My Garden

25 August 2011

So here I will be posting monthly updates on my garden’s status. My garden is less than a year old (started last year late February).

Here in South Africa, August is a transition month from winter-spring with longer warm days and cold nights. Also, it is the windy month, where the wind howls around the corners of the house and blows everything a mess.

It only starts to rain well into September (which is officially spring by calendar standards J), so no water in my rain-collection tank.

My garden is a 10m x 2-2.5m rectangle. Or the main one at least J. Here the garden gets full-blown SA sun for 12-16 hours a day (minus approx 4 hours for the plants against the side walls). We have another smaller plot (about 5mx1m), which is mostly a full-shade spot where we plant the larger and/or trailing plants (Gem squash, patty pans, Caserta squash and butternut). When the plants are fully grown, they have overgrown the plot boundary and their leaves are in the full sun for about 10-12 hours.

Photo: The main garden, at the back of the kitchen. The door on the opposite side leads to the rest of the lawn. Frost netting is up, as August is prone to frost (rarely black frost). The netting has been removed a day after I took the picture as the wind tore one J. So I’ll just take my chances with the frost.

Photo: So over here we have:

1) Cauliflower, Swiss Chard Spinach and Brussels Sprouts. Behind these is open ground with beet, onion and carrot seeds in the ground J

2) Lots of Swiss Chard (too mush actually), red baby lettuce and some carrots.

3) Rows of alternating beet, carrots, a row with a white radish, globe radish, rainbow radish, a turnip and an onion.

4) A potato.

5) Some more potatoes

6) Onions, carrots and a celery plant (that has recently been halved)

Photo:

7) The herb plot: Rosemary, Pineapple Sage, Marjoram, Thai Siam Queen Basil, Sweet Basil, Mint Basil, Thyme and Oregano.

8) Cucumber (trailer), patty pan and gem squash.

9) 3 Bush Peas and Broccoli.

Photo:

10) The strawberry green house.

11) A Brandywine tomato.

12) Eggplant.

13) Pepper.

14) Pineapple tomato.

Now we can go for a more detailed tour (just this once, to get a good idea of the layout I work with).

Photo: The cauliflower! (It is a lot bigger now than when I took the picture J)

Photo: Cauliflower, Swiss chard Spinach and Brussels sprouts. Open ground with beet, onion and carrot seeds.

Photo: Swiss chard, red baby lettuce and some carrots. The Swiss chard is a bit sad – it is midday that’s way, but they’ll pop up during the afternoon again.

Photo: Rows of alternating beet, carrots and radishes.

Photo: Potatoes

Photo: Onions, carrots and a celery plant

Photo: Potato in the pot. Needs a little ‘earthing’ up.

Photo: The herb plot: From the top right - Rosemary, Pineapple Sage, Marjoram (under the huge sweet basil), Thai Siam Queen Basil, Sweet Basil, Mint Basil and Oregano.

Photo: The herb plot: Sweet Basil, Mint Basil, Oregano and Thyme.

Photo: Cucumber (trailer), patty pan and gem squash.

Photo: 3 Peas and broccoli.

Photo: A discombobulated strawberry J First few are always a bit wacky.

Photo: My Avocado, rose from seed J To the right side of the big Sterlitzia in the topmost photo.

Photo: The 1000L rain-collection tank. Connected to one of the gutters.

That is basically the main garden. The others do not have much going on in them now. The house has an open-conservatory area (not the best place for plants as one would think) where I have a few fruit trees and ornamental plants.

The fruit trees are still dormant at the moment. I have three Persimmons, a nectarine, a granadilla, one white and one red fig and two lemon trees in the garden outside.

Non Celebrity Insects

noreply@blogger.com (The Shroom) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 14:20:00 +0000

19 August 2011

Now then, I could have posted my first article as “tools for the garden”, but that is a bit boring to start off with. So I decided to do insects.

Generally when we think of insects we envision small green bugs attacking our plants, but that is because the pests are the only insects that we notice as they kill off plants that you have spend a good few months caring for.

Thus, I will start off with the more unmentioned and uncommon beneficial insects in the garden (or at least mine J in SA).

Pollinators:

(Reference book: Picker, M., Griffiths, C., Weaving A. 2002 Field Guide to Insects of South Africa. Struik Publishers. pp 284-285)

The bee comes to mind. But as busy as the bees are, they aren’t the only ones assisting in the fruit and seed set of the plants. Regular visitors to my garden are fuzzy flies from the Bombylidae family, the Bee flies.

One of the regular customers is Notolomatia pictipennis, the Woolly bee flies. The photo below illustrates one of the colour varieties, the ones in my garden are pale yellow and black.

Photo: Woolly Bee Fly.

Picker, M., Griffiths, C., Weaving A. 2002 Field Guide to Insects of South Africa. Struik Publishers. pp 285

It is still technically ‘winter’ here, so I am working from memory, but spring is less than a month away – so I’ll try and get some photos of my own. The bee flies were mainly at the Sweet Basil and Borage flowers throughout the day and some visited the tomatoes that were planted behind the Basil.

They seem to prefer the Basil/Borage and I haven’t seen them pollinate any of the other herbs or vegetables. The bees frequent the basil and borage as well, but at least they don’t forget about the other plantsJ.

Predators:

(Reference book: Picker, M., Griffiths, C., Weaving A. 2002 Field Guide to Insects of South Africa. Struik Publishers. pp 62-63, 174-175, 262-263,287, 297, 405 )

The garden attracts a lot of predatory insects, which is really good as they eat all those irritating aphids and pests. Not so nice, but I’ll survive, is they are very good hiders and regularly give me a heart attack when I am busy with the plants and one happens upon my clothes or is 2cm from my face J, especially the Prey Mantids.

The not so scary predators are the lacewings (Neuroptera Order). The most common one is the Green lacewing (Chrysoperla) and the other I see regularly is the Dusty-winged lacewing (Ceratochrysa antica). THEY EAT APHIDS, MITES, SCALE INSECTS AND OTHER PESTS. Do not squish them, especially the Dusty-winged lacewing as to the untrained gardener it can resembles the White fly pest.

Photo: Green Lacewing. Not a mutant Aphid!

Picker, M., Griffiths, C., Weaving A. 2002 Field Guide to Insects of South Africa. Struik Publishers. pp 174

Photo: Dusty Lacewing. Not a mutant white fly!

Picker, M., Griffiths, C., Weaving A. 2002 Field Guide to Insects of South Africa. Struik Publishers. pp 174

Their larvae are pretty nifty too. You call them “Ant-lions”. They make these little whirl-pools in sandy soil, the ant comes by, falls in and a really nifty (but nasty looking) lacewing larva grabs and pulls it underground to devour J

Photo: Ant-lion Dens.

Picker, M., Griffiths, C., Weaving A. 2002 Field Guide to Insects of South Africa. Struik Publishers. pp 179

Photo: Lacewing larvae or Ant-lions.

Picker, M., Griffiths, C., Weaving A. 2002 Field Guide to Insects of South Africa. Struik Publishers. pp 177, 183

The more exotic looking lacewings are the silky and moth lacewings (Psychopsidae Family), but have yet to see one.

Photo: Silky or Moth Lacewing.

Picker, M., Griffiths, C., Weaving A. 2002 Field Guide to Insects of South Africa. Struik Publishers. pp 185

Then we move on to another fly family, the Syrphidae, the Hover flies, your own pest patrol! They are often confused with bees as they are mimics of bees. They have the classical yellow and black stripes, but they do not have a constricted abdomen, which are a characteristic of bees, and they are able to hover for extended periods of time in mid air (hence the name) that bees are not capable of doing.

They are pollinators and predators, patrolling the garden like little helicopters J The larvae eat aphids – yay! – and the adults pollinate the flowers, although I am sure some adults eat aphids too (find them eyeing the plants with aphids on J) or maybe they are checking for a place to lay eggs J.

Don ‘t have a picture of one in flight, I’ll take photos of them in my garden.

Photo: Hover Fly.

Picker, M., Griffiths, C., Weaving A. 2002 Field Guide to Insects of South Africa. Struik Publishers. pp 287

Photo: Hover fly larvae eating aphids.

Picker, M., Griffiths, C., Weaving A. 2002 Field Guide to Insects of South Africa. Struik Publishers. pp 287

--- The difference between a fly and a bee ---

Flies have one pair of main wings and a second halter pair (little yellow structure in the photo), which are used for balance during flight. Also flies do not have a ‘constricted’ abdomen or waist like bees and wasps do.

Photo: A Fly (Order: Diptera).

Picker, M., Griffiths, C., Weaving A. 2002 Field Guide to Insects of South Africa. Struik Publishers. pp 297

Photo: A Wasp (Order: Hymenoptera). Clearly see the "waist'.

Picker, M., Griffiths, C., Weaving A. 2002 Field Guide to Insects of South Africa. Struik Publishers. pp 405

------

I want to dispel a big myth about the next insect, the Hangingflies (Bittacidae Family). (You didn’t know there are so many good flies right! J) These are not mosquito males! I do not know where this assumption started, but we must not squish the flies when we see them. (FYI: Mosquito males are the same size as females, except the males have ‘fluffy’ antennae – check it out next time and then smack them J)

Hangingflies catch and eat the other not-so-good flies or other flying insects.

Photo: Hangingflies.

Picker, M., Griffiths, C., Weaving A. 2002 Field Guide to Insects of South Africa. Struik Publishers. pp 263

A last note on Ladybugs, some ladybugs eat aphids (good) and others eat the plants (bad). I do not know how to tell the difference, but I suppose if you catch one munching away at your plants – it should be removed.

I think that is about enough for now…

Introduction

noreply@blogger.com (The Shroom) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 06:17:00 +0000

18 August 2011

Our information era has provided us with a multitude of resources that are easily accessible, yet we suffer from an 'information overload'. This implies that there is so much information available that you spend the majority of your time shifting through it to find relevant and good information.

The gardening books available in the bookstores all follow a similar pattern and you can research all you want, the real experience and knowledge of gardening involves getting your hands dirty. You simply grab some seeds, stick them in the ground and offer sacrifices to the garden fairies in an attempt to make them grow :)

I am a self-learnt gardener and I started this blog as a practical guide to gardening. I will post hints and tips not found in your usual gardening book. So in this blog I will post articles or comments on the 'things' you pick up whilst gardening, trying something and seeing how the plants react to your efforts.

If anybody has some gardening tips and hints of their own to share - feel free to do so J

Under Construction

noreply@blogger.com (The Shroom) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 19:20:00 +0000

Information coming soon...