Make the most of winter with a colourful garden
Celebrate June 5 World — Environment Day by spending — some time in the garden
Winter has arrived, but luckily our days are still blessed by lovely, lunchtime sunshine in most parts of the country. This is the perfect time for a little midday gardening and a braai.
Make sure you’re the host with the most this winter (when we are finally able to socialise without lockdown restrictions) with an enticing entertainment area by planting seedlings like fairy Primulas for a dazzling flush of colour. Hanging baskets are back and add a wonderful variety of vibrant texture to your patio. When the party moves indoors, dragon trees and delicious monsters are a great choice.
With Friday, 5 June, as World
Environment Day celebrate your surroundings by thinking about the garden’s feathered friends. Birds often find it difficult to source food in the colder months, but we can assist them by putting out bird feeds. Nesting logs will encourage barbets to nest in your garden. You can encourage bats to your garden by building a bat box. Bats eat mosquitoes and also devour midges, caterpillars, moths, gnats, and large flying beetles . ... They also excrete guano (bat poop) which is a valuable garden fertiliser that’s rich in phosphorous and nitrogen.
What to Sow
June is a good time to sow Dianthus spp. also known as pinks, as their flowers are mostly pink, salmon, dark pink or white with bi-colours of lavender, purple and reds also available. Their flowers have a spicy fragrance and they belong to the same family of plants as carnations.
One of the larger Dianthus is the specie we know as Sweet William, (Dianthus barbatus) which has bigger flowers and a spicy fragrance with hints of cinnamon and cloves.
Sweet William is available in both single and double blooms and are biennial (flower in the second year) and self-seeding.
Pinks need at least six hours of sun per day and prefer to be watered on the soil, as water on the leaves may cause mildew spots. Use a slow-release fertiliser in your bed preparation or fertilise regularly for best results. Tip: removing the spent blooms (deadheading) is very important if you want to encourage further flowering.
Continue sowing leafy greens like spinach, lettuce and beetroot, cabbage which are all very easy to grow. They are also a great choice for children to sow as an introduction to the fabulous and fun hobby of gardening.
Spinach is a superfood. It is loaded with plenty of nutrients and is low-calorie to boot! It won’t be long for you to start using the baby leaves for salads. Spinach dips and other recipes are easily obtained online and don’t forget that spinach makes a divine quiche.
Lettuce will be ripe and ready for spring and summer salads if planted now. Lettuce leaves are being used more and more as a carb-free wrap alternative.
Beetroot is gaining popularity as a superfood with the juice being used in an increasing number of drinks. The leaves are hot and trendy as salad greens.
Posh blooms
Ranunculus can be planted from pots if you forgot to buy the claws/bulbs when they were on the shelves with the rest of the spring flowering bulbs. The brilliantly coloured flowers of ranunculus are often compared with looking like a crepe-paper, origami masterpiece.
Bedding besties
Primulas are the queens of the winter and spring-shaded garden. Lucky for us, there are three stunning types of Primula to choose from:
Fairy Primulas (Primula malacoides) are still available in seedling trays, ready to create a splendid display of colour in your shade and semi-shade areas. Primula acaulis, or primroses, are available in seedling trays and pots.
These striking large flowers may be either pastel or brightly coloured with a dark central eye. If you want to add some excitement to your garden, then mix them up in a bed.
They will be to your garden what balloons are to a party – colourful, fun and uplifting!
Primula obconica is a longflowering plant with attractive, large rounded leaves and clusters of flowers that stand clear of the leaves with flower heads that resemble mini hydrangeas.
These Primulas are mostly sold in pots for patio use or garden planting.
Trees
If you have trees and shrubs that need moving, this is the best time to do so. You may want to open your view or separate plants that were planted too close together.
Plants need adequate light and air circulation for good growth. Palms, cycas, cycads and small to medium-sized conifers, deciduous shrubs and trees will have the best chance of success.
Visit your local garden centre to get the correct advice, tools and products that are necessary to maximise your transplanting success.
Trending indoors
Indoor plants are high fashion and are being used to decorate all rooms in the house, especially the living areas and kitchens. Score some points on the trend barometer by going leafy indoors. Large leaf plants are trending in large and medium-sized pots. Here are some hot favourites:
Philodendron selloum, often just called selloums, have large, shiny, deeply lobed leaves. Selloums and their close relative, the delicious monster (Monstera deliciosa) are on trend. Place them in high light areas in the home or patio.
Sanseviera spp. Known also as Mother-in-law’s tongue, is back in fashion.
New varieties are more colourful and eye-catching. They are very contemporary in style, waterwise, and generally as tough as nails.
Stromanthe ‘Tristar’ has large green and white variegated upper leaf surface colours with pink and maroon undersides.
The strong contrasting colours make a visibly interesting and attractive plant.
Tip: Stromanthe love the coastal humidity and are best misted during the day inland. They do well placed on top of, or near a tray of pebbles with water between the pebbles.
Draceana marginata, or dragon tree, is a popular feature plant. It can grow in moderate light conditions and is rather easy to care for. A spot with good airflow will be beneficial.
Rose care
As large shrubs and trees mature, they might start shading your roses too much. Their roots can also start robbing nutrients and water from your roses. June is the best month to move threatened roses to a new, prepared bed in a more sunny spot.
Inland gardening
Paving the way — Winter is a great time to get creative with pathways and paved or gravelled areas.
Now is the time for you to put in practice what you have seen and longed to have – like a beautiful pathway or extend an entertainment area.
Your local garden centre has a range of pavers, pebbles, gravels and plants that can allow your dream garden to become a reality.
Remember to use a weed suppressing fabric under paved areas and to set the pavers on a cushion of river sand so that it is stable.
Tip: It is also the best time to do maintenance in the garden. If its cold outside, put your jumper on and jump to it!
Hot trend alert: Gabion landscaping is all the rage. This makes use of wire and steel gabions, mostly filled with river pebbles or dump rock as the structural, hip element.
They allow for exciting height changes in the landscape, as well as being a fashionable bold feature to contrast soft plantings.
Hot tip: To celebrate and tie in with World Day of Desertification and Drought on Wednesday 17 June, plan to plant waterwise succulents around your fire pit.
Fire pits are fast becoming a regular feature in suburban gardens.
Coastal gardening
Clean up your palms by removing the dry leaves and seed pods. This is especially helpful if your palms are next to the pool and the seeds are clogging up your pool cleaner.
Clean up your climbers: Bougainvilleas are best pruned and kept in check annually rather than letting them get out of hand.
Banksia roses can also grow incredibly fast in just one season. Neaten them up by removing the old, dead or diseased canes/branches first, and then cutting them back to a manageable size. For more gardening inspiration visit the Life is a Garden website www.lifeisiagarden.co.za or join the conversation on Facebook #lifeisagarden