The butterfly effect
Very hungry caterpillars
Monarch butterflies are on the wing seeking out swan plants to lay their eggs. Each caterpillar needs to eat enough to grow almost 3000 times its size over two weeks. That’s a lot of leaves! No wonder swan plants are often stripped bare in no time. We can help by having more plants ready for hungry caterpillars when they start searching for their next meal.
Swan plants are sold in garden centres, but are easy to grow from seed. Plant in seedling trays indoors, or outside if it is warm enough. Transplant outside before they reach 20cm as the roots don’t like to be disturbed. Plant lots!
If you cover some plants with netting to prevent eggs being laid on them, you will have food in reserve by the time the other plants’ leaves have been eaten.
Aphids can be a nuisance. Don’t spray with insecticide as this kills the caterpillars too. Instead, squash with your fingers, blast with the hose or use soapy water.
In the vegetable garden
Buy ku¯ mara runners from garden centres or start your own by sprouting a ku¯ mara in a pot of moist sand. When the shoots are about 15cm high with leaves and roots, remove them for transplanting.
Make a raised ridge or mound of free-draining soil and push the plantlets into the ground gently about 40cm apart at a depth of around 50mm in the shape of a ‘‘J’’ lying down, with the long edge running parallel with the top of the ground and the leaf shoots facing upwards. If you plant vertically pointing down, it can be too cold for the ku¯ mara tubers to form off the nodes.
Most growers like to apply lime before planting because ku¯ mara prefer a pH of 6.0-6.5.
Don’t cut back the runners. Lift them off the ground regularly to discourage formation of surface roots which waste energy that could go into tuber formation. Keep ku¯ mara well watered but don’t fertilise with nitrogen-rich food or you’ll get lots of leaves at the expense of tubers.
It is possible to grow ku¯ mara in the same place year after year, but some form of crop rotation is preferred to help minimise the build-up of soil diseases.
Roses
Visit public rose gardens in your area. Many have special events this month.
Enjoy your own roses too. They may never be this good again! Pick them with plenty of stem length. This will encourage the bush to put out more strong shoots and keep on flowering.
To fight fungi and nourish your rose bushes at the same time, add liquid fertiliser (seaweed or fish is good) to a spray of skim milk and water (half and half). Spray every two or three weeks – though not in strong sunlight as the leaves may burn.