A Houseplant Primer

 Gardening is a joy and a great way to unwind and get a way from it all. There is no reason that when the outside gardening season comes to an end that you need to forgo this activity, you simply move it inside.

Indoor gardening can bring you pleasure and joy as you experience a new plant breaking the soil and emerging into the light. Indoors you may actually be able to watch the plant develop as you witness each stage.

Indoor plants also bring beauty and will enhance your indoor décor. They can greet visitors when they first arrive and be there when they leave imparting to the visitor the visitor depart with a sense of vitality.

Over the years I have been given plants by people who claim that anything left in their care simply withered away or that they were just not gardeners.

To this I say nonsense. If you follow a few basic rules, such as putting the right plant in the right place, giving it the food and water it needs the plant will flourish.

My enjoyment of house plants began about 20 years ago when we moved into a furnished apartment; it had a number of plants and the owner had left detailed instruction for their care and feeding. I was a bit daunted at first, there were over 20 plants to look after and different watering schedules for some of them. I followed the instructions in the six months we lived there and nearly gave up on the idea that I would keep an indoor garden.

Then we moved into another fully furnished place that also came with plants but this time no instructions. The owner simply said live with them, do a little homework and all will be well.

It was. I went to the public library to do some reading but mainly to identify the plants that were there so I could get to know them. In time, I was getting plants from people who were moving and propagating by cuttings to expand the garden.

Getting Started: Plant Placement

Step One: Light

Know your space; where will the plants live? Windows are the main source of natural light for indoor plants so which way do the windows face? If you live in the northern hemisphere, the sun will move in the southern sky which means that a window that faces north does not get direct sun; while an unobstructed southern window will get direct sunlight all day long.

An east facing window receives morning sun and a west facing window will see sun in the afternoon.

Step Two: Temperature

Plants, for the most part, will require a drop in temperature at night, why/ The nighttime temperature needs to be 8 to 10 degrees cooler than the day as during the day, the leaves of the plant manufacture their food and it is only the lower temperature at night that allows them to distribute it to the roots and other growing parts.

Step Three: Humidity.

House can become very dry especially in the winter time when the heat is on and plants will simply dry out. Humidity is the amount of water vapor in the air surrounding the plant; this affects how a plant transpires. Transpiration is how the leaves and stem of the plant give off water which then evaporates into the surrounding air.

If the air around the plant is dry, the plant will then give off too much water and may wilt.

Mist your plants on a regular basis especially in the winter and you will have few problems.

You can also arrange your plants into groups which will then increase their combined transpiration and humidity which will increase the water vapor.

Soil:

I recommend buying a potting soil, preferably organic to grow your houseplants in; there are specialized soils for African violets and succulents for example.

You now have enough knowledge to get started. There is only one thing more to do and that is determine how much time you have to devote to your indoor garden. There is work to do and if you start too big the chances of failure increase, start small, get used to the garden and then expand. I have seen a room go from 2 plants to be so full with plants that it was necessary to remove a chair and an end table.

This is fine, if you can manage a garden of this proportion but a nightmare if it dominates all your time.

Indoor gardening is a great way to unwind; to slow down and enjoy, do not let your indoor garden outgrow you.

Soil Brings Life

 "Society, like a house, does not start at ground level  but begins quite literally beneath the surface of our planet within the soil." 

Healthy soil, healthy plants , healthy beings.

The quote was written in 1933. The truth of it is relevant to today 

One Seed. Gardening & Self-Esteem

 

It all begins with a seed, one seed. 

If it does not grow, you plant another and watch it grow. You may want to make a few notes the first time you plant a seed to record what you did and this enables you to repeat the same process or to make changes.

What is important here is not whether the first seed springs into life, but that you plant the second seed and the third.

One of the major faults in our society is to focus on mistakes and doing things wrong. We grade people rather than encourage them. We can only learn by doing and if the first time we try something and it does not work and we get a failing or poor grade we are not encouraged to try again.

What is needed is to change this grading approach to a learn by doing approach; an approach that rewards effort and activity. We must also see the doing as a learning experience that is neither right nor wrong but is education in action. Do this and much else changes.

Our education system, both formal (school) and informal (family, friends), often makes people afraid to step forward and come to the blackboard for fear of being ridiculed and laughed at; this is simply wrong and will not build confidence.

Confidence in yourself is an integral part of self-esteem or how you view you in comparison/contrast to others around you.

When you are confident in yourself you can embrace risk and by doing so learn and grow.

Gardening can assist this process. How?

Gardening is a learn by doing experience that requires the gardener to take a chance and observe and record the results. Careful observation and interaction will allow the gardener to see what works and what does not so that the gardener can learn from the experience and make necessary changes to improve the process.

You cannot fail.

Not all you plant will grow but you will always get positive results if you know your garden, yourself and put the right plant in the right place.

To improve you self-confidence through gardening, start small. Pick three herbs that you like and use in your cooking and pot them up and place them either indoors or out, depending upon where you live and the time of year. Make sure they are placed where they get six hours of sunlight each day and water them as needed.

They will grow.

Make notes of what you did so you can repeat the process or make changes. I always suggest that people keep a garden journal. It does not have to be elaborate. A notebook will do for a small garden. Record what you plant where and when and add regular updates based upon your observations.

You can gradually expand your garden dependent upon your time and available space.

If it is winter where you are when you begin, you can expand you herb garden indoors, or work with houseplants. Keep notes as you go and save seed packs so you know what you plant. The seed pack contains all the information you need to plant your seeds properly.

If you take the first step and plant that first seed and you continue to plant, care for, harvest and record you will notice a often subtle change in your daily behaviour. You have accomplished something and continue to do so on a regular basis.

Over time as you knowledge and skill grows you will also become aware of the wonder of Nature and all that comes together to make a seed become a plant. This is a humbling experience and an essential one as this experience is what prevents confidence from becoming arrogance.

Plant a seed and grow.

Wash Your Hands.

 

Do you remember when your mother used to ask you: have you washed your hands? There is a good reason for her concern.

Hand washing is the single most effective way to prevent the spread of communicable diseases. Now this should sound obvious, but it isn’t, and many people do not do it as well as they should.

Good hand washing technique is easy to learn and can significantly reduce the spread of infectious diseases among both children and adults.

Follow these five simple steps and you will keep your hands clean:

1. Wet your hands with warm running water.
2. Add soap, and then rub your hands together, making a soapy lather. Do this away from the running water for at least 15 seconds, being careful not to wash the lather away. Wash the front and back of your hands, as well as between your fingers and under your nails.
3. Rinse your hands well under warm running water.
4. Pat hands dry with a paper towel.
5. Turn off water using same paper towel and dispose in a proper receptacle.

Technique:

Now you may be surprised to discover that there is a correct hand washing technique, well there is. To get the most from your efforts rub your hands vigorously with soapy water, by doing this you pull the dirt and the oily soils free from your skin. Washing in this way will allow the soap lather to suspend both the dirt and germs trapped inside and are then quickly washed away.

What is the best soap for washing your hands?

Any type of plain soap may be used. However, bar soap should be kept in a self draining holder that is cleaned thoroughly before new bars are put out. Liquid soap containers should be used until empty and then recycled or discarded.

To avoid chapping, simply wet your hands before applying soap; always use a mild lotion soap and warm water; pat rather than rub hands dry; and apply lotion liberally and frequently.

Tools For The Small Garden

 The small space garden will require a different set of tools that a full size garden; however, the difference is not in quality or the need for the tool, but in the nature of the tool itself.

The container garden has the same or similar tool requirements as the small space garden.

The five must have tools for the small space or container garden are:

1- a hand trowel

2- a pocket knife

3- a bulb planter

4- a watering can

5- a pair of shears for pruning.

I have a sixth tool that I carry and use mostly for my African violets and other indoor plants, to take stem cuttings, but they are also handy in the outdoor garden but not essential, the exacto knife. The sharp blade of the exacto knife is excellent for taking stem or leaf cuttings as I have said but also do a good job on harvesting cut flowers for the table.

All these tools can fit into a small kit or hand tool belt and are easy to store as they take up little space.

The tool that I have made the most use over the years and the one that I have in some case used for all my gardening needs, is my pocket knife. I use a lock back pocket knife that is kept very sharp. I have planted seeds with this,; it is excellent for making seed rows, I have dug small holes for seedling and small plants with it; I have used it for weeding, harvesting lettuce and other cut and come again greens and many, many other uses.

The hand trowel is the tool of choice for planting while I can dig a hole with my pocket knife the hand trowel does it quicker and easier and is much more useful when it comes to backfilling holes. If you are a container gardener the hand trowel can help you fill the containers quickly and with a minimum of mess.

When it comes to maintenance of container smaller than a foot across, a dinner fork can aerate soil and a dinner spoon can be useful for adding fertilizer, organic, of course. I have not included these two items on the must have list but especially for small indoor gardens, they are very useful.

The watering can makes watering easy for containers as you can direct the water away from the plant’s leaves right to the roots, which is helpful for many plants. You will waste very little water this way. Watering cans can also add to the décor as they can eb quite fancy, get one to match yoru garden.

If you grow bulbs, the bulb planter is a must for the time it will save you when planting those spring and fall bulbs. Planting a bulb at the proper depth can make all the difference between success and failure.

Last but certainly not least are the pruning shears, if you are pruning shrubs, bushes or small trees you will need a pair that is strong and sharp enough to do the job. The grip is important as you will be exerting some pressure when making the cut. Get a pair to match your needs this includes both your personal physical need and the needs of the plants you will be pruning. You can ask a local plant nursery manger for suggestions and be sure to tell the manger what plants you are pruning.

Now you have your garden toolbox in order, happy gardening.

knife

Pepper Planting Tips

 

• Planting. Plant peppers where they will succeed. Peppers want full sun and deep, sandy or gravelly loam–meaning rich and well drained. Add plenty of aged-compost and organic matter to planting beds in advance of transplanting peppers. A pH of 5.5 to 7.0 is optimal.

 • Transplants. Plant transplants with strong stems and dark green leaves. Watch out for leggy or spindly plants; they may not have had enough light getting started.  The root system of a pepper seedling is not strong enough to support flowers and fruit while it is getting started in life. If buying plants, look for those with stout stems, dark green leaves, no flower or fruit, and no blemishes.

• Starter Feeding. Give peppers a good boost at planting time. At the bottom of the planting hole add a handful of compost. Set peppers in a hole about six to eight inches deep and space plants about 15 inches apart–so that the leaves just touch at maturity.

• Watering. Water deeply to encourage deep root development. Too little water can result in bitter-tasting peppers. Peppers want even, moderate moisture around their roots.  Avoid overhead watering especially when peppers are in bloom, overhead water will wash away pollen and any chance of fruiting. Do not overwater. Overwatering will cut off the supply of oxygen to pepper roots.

• Mulching. Mulch with straw or grass clippings around plants. A thick mulch will stop weeds from growing and keep moisture in the soil when the weather gets hot. Use hay, straw, leaves, or grass clippings to mulch peppers.

• Weeding Regular weeding will keep weeds from getting a foothold in the garden. Avoid damaging roots by gently hand-pulling weeds. Most young weed roots will not reach more than an inch deep into the soil.

• Feeding. Feed peppers with manure or compost tea. Pale leaves and slow growth are signs your peppers need a boost. Peppers are heavy feeders so a side-dressing of manure or compost tea a few times during the growing season is a plus

• Harvest. Harvest peppers at the height of maturity. Early in the season pick the first blossoms or set of fruits to encourage the plant to keep bearing and grow larger fruits later in the season. Most sweet and hot peppers require about 70 days from transplanting until the first fruits are ready. From the start of harvest, peppers can take another 3 to 4 weeks for reach full maturity–that is to turn their mature color–usually red, but sometimes yellow or orange. The hotter peppers can require anywhere from 90 to 200 frost free days to reach harvest. Keep in mind that the cooler your growing season, the more time must be added for peppers to mature.

• Cut Don’t Pull. Cut peppers off the plant, don’t pull them. Use a sharp scissors or shears to cut peppers away from the stem.

Happy Gardening.

From My Garden: an Ebook

 From My Garden : Gardening How-tos, Insights and Essays.

Bob Ewing, permaculture designer, garden writer.

Background:

This book is based upon my personal experiences as a gardener, garden writer, workshop facilitator, lecturer and permaculture designer. Most of the gardening I have done has been undertaken in urban environments. I have created small to medium gardens for myself and others on balconies, decks and backyards. I love growing plants in containers.

Container gardening is an excellent way to begin the gardening adventure. It is also a perfect way to maximise use of space. A garden does not need to be large to be rewarding and bountiful.

I do have experience in larger gardens, as well but if left to my own devices a raised bed in a community garden and a few plants on my balcony would be my bliss.

I enjoy community gardens, so much more happens there than simply growing food and herbs.

This book addresses our love of gardening, providing how-to information as well as essays to encourage the reader to step out of the box and create something that reflects who they are.

 Smart Gardening:

Smart gardening involves understanding that repeating the same activities year after year, in a changing environment, will lead to frustration and failure.

The smart gardener knows how to create a garden that is resilient, or, in other words, can withstand any drastic shifts that may take place, locally.

 Growing food, for many gardeners, is often repeating the same actions year after year, even if the previous year was a disaster due to too little or too much rainfall, cooler temperatures than expected, and so on.

The grower continues to plant the same annual plants. The exact location of the plants may be shifted. Tomatoes and potatoes are grown in a different spot than the previous year, but they are still grown.

The use of annual food plants means the beginning of the gardening season can be a busy one. Backyard gardeners are often rushed, trying to prepare the soil and get the plants in on time.

This book will help you design and plant a garden that matches your interests, time and needs.

The last chapter focuses on permaculture design what it is and how it applies to the backyard gardener.

Are You a Social Entrepreneur

 

Social enterprises are revenue-generating businesses that operate with a different bottom line from traditional businesses. A social enterprise may be registered as a not-for-profit or a for-profit business.

However, unlike other business models it has a double bottom line. One is, of course, to make a profit. The other is to generate cultural, social, community economic development or environmental outcomes. Some social enterprise may combine several of these outcomes.

I suggest the most effective business model for the social enterprise is a cooperative. A co-operative is a group of people acting together to meet the common needs and aspirations of its members, sharing ownership and making decisions democratically.

The cooperative business structure lays the foundation for the development of a social enterprise, regardless of the product or service the company is offering. I will use as an example, the cooperative I helped found, the Inspire Cooperative.

The Inspire Cooperative was formed as a worked owned and operated cooperative. The intent was to create an organization that could generate income while operating with a triple bottom line. The triple bottom line is the three Ps people, planet, and profit.

The Inspire Coop provide a range of educational experiences while working with a variety of community partners. The members choose the cooperative business model because it embraces the democratic principles of inclusion, diversity, and cooperation.

The first Coop venture was the Campbellton Community Garden. The Campbellton Community garden was started by the Restigouche Community Inclusion Network. The Garden provides residents of Campbellton, from all walks of life, the opportunity to grow their own food. The Garden also offers free workshops. Gardeners can only use organic products to tend their plots.

In 2016, the Coop became an active partner in the Garden with the goal of taking over the operation in 2017. Since becoming a partner the Coop has started a new program. “Growing Livelihoods in the Garden”. Two of the 40 garden plots will be dedicated to teaching youth how to plant, care for, harvest and market vegetables at our local Sunday market. All funds generated by the community garden are set aside for the Garden's needs.

The Coop's second project is the Campbellton Sunday Market. The Market has created one part-time job (15 hours per week for six months) and offers local artisans, crafters and primary and secondary food producers a location where they can sell their wares. The Sunday Market focus is on developing a strong and resilient regional economy.

If you are an entrepreneur with a good product or service idea and have a cause you believe in then take a close look at setting up a social enterprise.

If you are worried that while you have a great product but lack all the skills needed to start and operate a business then take a close look at the cooperative business model.

Onions: Grow Them, Enjoy Them

Onions are versatile. May be used in sandwiches, soups, stews or simply to add flavour to a wide variety of foods. What can be better than cheese and onions together in an omelette or as a grilled cheese sandwich or just plain on a Kaiser? I enjoy a thin slice of Spanish onion with an aged cheddar cheese on whole wheat bread or a bagel.

Know your onions. There are two types of onions, summer onions and winter onions. Summer onions are fresh onions that come in yellow red and white and have a fairly thin skin.

These are the sweet onions, suited to salads and sandwiches. It is their high-water content that makes them sweet.

The winter onions also come in red, yellow and white but have several layers of thick and dark skin. These onions are ideal for storage and what you want on those cold winter nights when you want to add some zest to a stew or soup.

Approximately, 87 percent of the onions that are commercially grown are yellow; white account for five percent and red eight.

Yellow onions are very versatile and are used for just about all types of cooking and are what make French Onion soup so tasty.

The reds are great in salads and sandwiches but can also be delightful when tossed on a grill as part of a kebab for example.

While onions are identified with Mexican cooking, although I have to admit there have been times when a white onion was all that I had and it ended up in my cheese sandwich.

Now if you want fresh onions for your cooking needs then grow your own. You can grow them for both immediate uses and for storage so that you do not run out of these culinary delights during those harsh and sometimes way too long winter weeks.

Growing Onions: Planting Onion sets

Ph:

Onions, pickled 3.70 - 4.60

Onions, red 5.30 - 5.80

Onion white 5.37 - 5.85

Onions, yellow 5.32 - 5.60

The most effective way to grow onions is to plant onion sets. An onion set is a small bulb, to 1 inch in diameter. Onion sets are produced under conditions that rapidly produce a small bulb which, when planted, will grow a larger bulb. You can buy onion sets at the local plant centre.

Onions can handle some frost and, in general, do not mind the cool and wet weather of spring. They prefer soil that is rich and drains well.

You can plant onion sets from two to four weeks before the last frost. Buy bulbs that are less than ¾ inches (19 mm) in diameter.

Space the onion sets approximately 4-6" (10-15 cm) apart, depending on the size of the mature bulb. Make sure that you gently press the bulbs into the soil about an inch (2.5 cm) deep and make sure to plant them so that their pointed tips just break the surface.

Happy Growing

 

Attachments area

An Intro to Perennial Vegetables

 

If you are looking to reduce labour and increase your personal food security, take a close look at perennial vegetables. Rhubarb is a well known perennial food source.  However, it is far from the only one that will thrive in our environment.

Adding one or two of these perennial plants can increase your family’s food security. It is difficult to say what the future weather will be like, so, it is best to be prepared and to embrace diversity in the home garden.

The Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) also known as the sunchoke is native to eastern North America.

The plant was given the name Jerusalem because it is allegedly connected to the Italian word girasola, which means sunflower.   This plant does have attractive yellow flowers. The root is the edible part and the principle reason for adding this plant to the vegetable garden.

The tuber of the sunchoke can be used like potatoes. This plant is a prolific breeder so the grower can anticipate a good yield. However, this plants is prolific and can take over a garden.  It may be best to grow sunchokes in large containers in order to keep them under control.

Please do not ignore this advice, sunchokes will overrun a garden if not controlled from the beginning. What started as a plant o increase personal food security could end up in a garden disaster?

I am considering adding three plants to my community garden box as a test.

You may want to control the amount of the sunchokes you consume, at any one setting, as it is possible a severe gas condition will develop. Others say the nutty flavour is tasty but the sunchoke is not a potato substitute. Which is fine grow them for their own food value and, if desired grow potatoes. Potatoes give you a good food value for your investment.

Remember the intent is to diversify the garden and to add plants that need little care and are perennial, not to replace favourite foods.

Sunchoke tubers should be planted about twelve to eighteen inches apart, about four inches deep. Any part of the tuber with an eye on it can produce a new plant. Harvest the tubers yearly being sure to leave a few in the ground so they will grow the following year.

If you prefer hill the tubers the same as you would potatoes. This is said to increase the yield. Some say it is better to harvest the tubers after the first frost as the taste is better, experiment and decide for yourself when the best harvest time is.

If the sunchoke does not appeal to you, there are a number of other perennial vegetables that might. To find them do an Internet search, or take a trip to the public library.

Composting: What & How

 

Feed the soil: feed the plants. This an organic gardener knows is one of the ways to ensure a healthy, vital and productive garden.

The organic or natural gardener does not tend the plants but takes care of the soil. Follow this advice and you will find that whatever you choose to grow, be it herbs, flowers or vegetables you will produce plants that can withstand the onslaught of pests and disease.

Healthy soil means healthy plants.

How do you keep your soil healthy, well, one of the easiest ways is to add organic material to it on a regular basis. Now you can go out and buy compost, I recommend organic or you can purchase well rotted manure and if this is what you must do then that is fine.

When you are starting out to build a garden, you may have to buy compost. It is worth the money.

Another way to get great organic material for your garden is to compost those food scrapes, not bone or meat, but vegetables. You can add grass clippings to the mix and let that help. However, with grass clippings I suggest you leave the bulk of the clippings where they fall when you cut the lawn.

This will help your lawn.

Composting is an excellent way to recycle material that will benefit your garden but simply take up space in a landfill, especially when placed into a plastic bag which will take a very long time to breakdown.

A perfect mixture of material consists of ½ brown (carbon-based material) and ½ green (nitrogen-based) materials by weight.

You can build or buy a composter; the choice is up to you. I built a composter from a rubber garbage can for use on my balcony. The balcony was located right off the kitchen so this was very easy to use and my container garden was right on the balcony so putting the compost to work required very few steps.

The composter produced more than I needed for the containers and lugging it downstairs and around back was more steps than I needed to take.

Next time, if faced with a similar situation, I would place a worm composter in the kitchen for the balcony garden and a larger one in the backyard for that garden; thereby reducing the steps that I would need to take. Saving energy for other activities is a wise choice.

If you do not have room outside for a composter but still want to recycle to turn your kitchen waste into gold, well black gold, as compost is called, you can set up a worm composter in your kitchen. You can use the end product on your houseplants, containers plants or in the garden.

Composting is how you can complete the growing cycle. You put compost on your vegetable garden to help the plants grow; you harvest the plants for your meals and then put the scarps in the compost which you then put on your garden to help the plants grow.

This closed circuit approach reduces waste and produces healthy food for you and your family.

What can you compost? The following information provides you with a list of items that can go into your compost pile.

From Your Garden:

Leaves (chopped - to speed their breakdown)

Grass (not wet)

Plants & Weeds (without ripe seeds)

Old potting soil

Soft plant stems

From Your Kitchen.

Coffee grounds and filters

Fruit scraps

Vegetable trimmings

Crushed egg shells

Tea bags

Shredded paper

The following items should not be placed into the compost:

Dairy products including cheese

Meat, fish (including sauces) and bones

Plastics

Metals

Fats and oils

Pet waste

Remember that a successful gardener builds soil and compost enables you to do that work.

Container Gardens

 

Where there is a will there is a way and gardeners are among those who lend the truth to this old adage.

If you want to grow something, anything, be it fruit, flowers, herbs or vegetables and have even the smallest space you can do so. It is all a matter of determination, knowledge and design.

A single pot of geraniums on the stairs leading up to your apartment, a community garden plot, a backyard, side yard or front yard garden; containers on balconies, decks and patios; all are ways people express their desire to grow plants.

Ingenuity will see you through.

Your first step is to get to know the space where you garden will be; in particular, how much natural sunlight does it get none, all day or somewhere in-between? Once you know that you can start to develop a plant list selecting plants that thrive in the amount of sunlight that yoru have available.

Now how big is that space; room for one container or can you set up a small backyard market garden?

Garden design is one of the places where it pays to be honest with yourself. You may have space to grow enough food for a family of four but are you actually going to invest the time that is required to do this or is a small kitchen herb or cutflower garden more stable for yoru lifestyle?

If you have a small space and that is our focus here, then the process is easier, similar but also simpler? How much light does the space get; how big is it and once you know the answer to those two questions, what do you want to grow?

Containers are a highly effective means to grow your favourite plants in very tiny spaces. Fruit trees, vegetables, herbs, tomatoes, cutflowers and many, many vegetables will do well in a container. The main rules are make sure the container is big enough for the plant tog row and be sure that there is drainage so the plants roots do not get overly wet and rot.

Be sure to place something under the container that will catch any runoff; this may be particularly important on balconies and stairs where there are other people living below you.

Anything can be a container; anything that can hold soil and some water that is. I have used a pair of old work boots to grow Johnny-jump-ups and put them out on my balcony. They brought more than a few favourable comments and drew peoples’ attention to what else was growing there.

Visits to garage sales and flea markets can uncover some intriguing containers that may add a distinctive design touch. Make sure to match the container to the surrounding elements.

My favourite small space, single container garden consists of one Camp Joy Cherry tomato plants plus two basil plants. The Camp Joy is a heritage plant and a good producer. Tomatoes and basil are natural companions both growing in the same container or cooking in the same dish.

This combo is ideal for deck or patio and is be perfect on a backyard patio just near the kitchen door so the plants are right at hand when needed; as long as that spot get 6 hours of sunlight each day, they will provide you will tomatoes and basil to add fresh flavour to your meals.

African Violets

 African violets have an honoured place in my memory, I can’t remember my parents home without at least one brightening up a windowsill or plant stand. The same goes for my aunts’ homes and in later years mine and my sister’s.

African violets are members of the Gesneriad family.

The African violet is relatively easy to care for and will reward your attentions with many years’ of beauty. The African violet (Saintpaulia species) may well be one of the most popular houseplant and one that grows and flowers under light conditions found in the average home or under artificial light. Many different varieties, types, and flower colors exist.

When placing your African violent avoid direct sunlight. The appearance of a plant will indicate whether light levels are too high, too low or just right. If light is too low, leaves are usually thin and deep green, and appear to reach up for light. The plants may grow, but will flower poorly or not at all. In such instances, supplemental artificial light will help promote flowering.

Some suggest that the African violet should be repotted every two years, and only when the plant looks really overcrowded. It is also best to use shallow pots, and try to maintain the overall rosette of leaves by removing leaves pointing towards the centre of the plant whenever necessary. The accompanying video will take you through the replanting process.

It is important that the potting soil is well drained. You can use a soil mix that contains

- one part soil,

- two parts peat moss and

- one part perlite or vermiculite or coarse sand.

The African violet’s roots are tender and juicy and have difficulty pushing through heavy soil

You will find happily that generally speaking insects are not a problem. If you find mealy bugs you can dab them with alcohol. For thrips or cyclamen mites you may want to take a deep breath and chuck the plant.

A firm spray with tepid tap water will help with white flies but eb sure to dry the leaves after. If you discover botrytis or powdery mildew you will pick off and destroy the diseased parts.

You can propagate your African violet either by suckers that are removed from the mother plant or, my favourite, by leaf cuttings.

You insert both suckers and leaves into moistened vermiculite. Be sure to check, now and then, to see if roots have developed from rootless suckers or watch for new leaves emerging from leaf cuttings.

Use two inch pots and time your activities for spring or summer when the hours of sunlight are longer.