What to do in your Garden this Month

Plant and sow :

• Sow all your soup veggies this month: cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, onions, Swiss chard, spinach, celery, leeks, endives, parsnips, turnips and beetroot.
• Plant leafy herbs like chives, sorrel, rocket, watercress, basil, dill, parsley and chicory.
• Sow or plant flowering seedlings like poppies, stocks, linaria, nemesia, viola, calendula, snapdragons, cornflowers, foxgloves, lupins, dianthus, nasturtiums, asters, larkspurs and pansies.
• Plant fynbos like proteas, ericas, pincushions, buchus and restios after the first autumn rains.

Feed :

• Feed citrus trees with 3:1:5 to encourage fruit development. Water well.
• Deadhead roses and feed with a handful of rose food (8:1:5 Fertilizer) each to encourage another flush of flowers.
• Keep azaleas and camellias well watered and mulched. Treat yellow foliage with iron chelate and feed each bush with a tablespoon of Epsom salts.
• Stock up on general fertiliser for the whole garden. Wait until the first autumn rains and then give your entire garden a good feed.

Indigenous Plant Focus : Strelitzia Reginae

Strelitzia reginae (also known as Birds of Paradise) is in its prime this month. This incredibly attractive shrub is native to the dry, thorny grasslands of the Eastern Cape, but has won worldwide acclaim, including being used as the floral emblem for the city of Los Angeles.

Strelitzia reginae is the most popular variety of Strelitzia found in South Africa. It grows to a height of about 1.5m and is a sturdy, low maintenance plant with bright orange and blue flowers on top of tall stems. The first flowers appear in autumn, before blooming profusely in the winter months, and then providing a few last flowers in spring.

Remarkable Crassulas

Did you know that crassulas have a special way of reducing water loss from their leaves that makes them exceptionally water efficient plants?

South Africa’s National Water Week takes place in March to raise awareness of the vital importance of water. Gardeners can make their contribution by focusing on low water usage plants. Why not plant one or more of the remarkable and water smart crassulas?

Instead of opening the stomata (pores) on their leaves to take in carbon dioxide for photosynthesis during the day, crassulas do it at night, thereby minimising the loss of internal moisture to evaporation. Furthermore, during extremely dry periods they don't even open their stomata at night, and simply re-cycle the carbon dioxide within the cells. As most Crassula species are indigenous to the semi-arid Karoo region of South Africa, this is a highly intelligent approach to ensuring that they survive.

Here comes summer!

Edge a shady border with bedding begonias where their gorgeous pink, white and red blooms will add colour to your summer garden.

Annuals are a winner for every garden as there are so many to suit every situation and garden theme. Delicate and pastel, bold and bright, they make a wonderful show in the summer garden. They can be planted to match a particular colour scheme, brighten a dull spot, or fill gaps in borders and containers.

If you always plant the same annuals in your garden each summer, this is your chance to try something different with new colour combinations and daring colour schemes.

Try these pretty summer annuals :

• Begonia -  These neat bushy plants are happy in a shady spot where they bear beautiful single or double waxy flowers in white, pink and red, and shiny bronze or green leaves.

Caring for Cacti and Succulents

While succulents are native to arid regions and generally thrive in poor soils, this does not mean one should not water them or provide nutrients.

How often should you water?

There is no answer that is universally correct. There is a direct relationship between water, light, temperature, soil conditions and humidity. The higher the light level and temperature and the less humid, the more often watering is required. Most cactus and succulents have an active growing period for about a third of the year. During this active period, watering can be frequent and fertiliser should be applied. The most active time for most cacti is during the spring and early parts of summer. As this period passes, it is best to reduce the frequency of watering as winter approaches. They require very little water during the cold months. A good watering once a week in hot weather and once a month in the dormant period is a good point to start as you learn your plant’s needs.