Nature talk: April magic By Zahrah Nasir

[zaib]

Dawn News
Nature talk: April magic

InpaperMagzine On April 3, 2011

April already, ladies and gentleman and I hear you all moaning and groaning at the swift passing of spring as your gorgeous flower displays begin to shrivel up and burn to a crisp. Hopefully, you are racing around harvesting as many seeds as possible for sowing next time around or, if you have too many, for swapping with other gardeners who grew different species.

Mrs. Ahmed round the corner for example had a fantastic display of old fashioned petunias while you only had the modern, short lived ones but she didn’t have the glorious scarlet larkspur that you grew, which she greatly admired on countless occasions. You have plenty of seed to spare therefore, providing she did harvest petunia seeds meaning that you are definitely in with a chance!

Instead of feeling depressed as colours and fragrance vanish though, turn your mind towards visions of summer and if you haven’t already done so, get straight to grips with sowing your hot weather seeds. If you’ve already conscientiously done this, then search around for a little more space, create some with strategically placed pots and baskets if you can and sow some more stunning sunflowers, zany zinnias and try a few kochias for something a little different.

On the vegetable front there is still time, lots of it actually, for sowing lots of different kinds of chillies. Ordinary green chillies which turn deep red and hotter than ever if allowed to fully ripen are always in demand but, if you can obtain the seed, then opt for varieties including Habanero, supposedly the hottest chilli pepper in existence although the Jamaican ‘Scotch bonnet’ vies for the title, then for those who prefer their chillies a little less volcanic ‘Big Jim’ a Mexican variety with fruits up to 12 inches long and Jalapeno are both highly recommended.

If mild capsicums are more to your taste, then this is the time to plant them and seeds for red, yellow and orange California Wonder are probably the most widely available although, if you cannot find them or they are already sold out, simply purchase a large, ripe, juicy coloured capsicum from the market, take out the seeds and plant them. I did this myself last year and had a wonderful crop!

Things to remember about growing chillies and capsicums: Compost/humus rich, well drained soil is essential for a good crop as is regular watering of the soil surface around the plant roots. Try not to get the plant itself wet as this can result in fungal disease or mildew. Nipping out the main growing shoot when the plant is approximately 12 inches tall will encourage it to bush out and form lots of side shoots to fruit on and this increases the yield tremendously.

Chillies and capsicums flourish in pots with a diameter of 10 inches and more, one plant per pot and are real sun lovers. All chillies and capsicums start off green, turning colour as they ripen. Green chillies and green capsicums are actually unripe and thus harder to digest. Seed for future crops is only viable when collected from ripe fruit. One last point here, the higher the temperature the hotter the chillies.

You can continue sowing aubergines too and don’t just stick with purple ones, attractive as they are but try to get your hands on seed for white ones, purple and white striped, purple and pink striped, green ones and astounding Turkish orange which are so shiny deep orange that they look plastic! Turkish orange aubergines by the way are sweeter than the others and can be eaten raw as well as cooked. Aubergines need exactly the same growing treatment as chillies and capsicums and make extremely ornamental pot and container plants.

This month, the earlier in the month the better, is the perfect time to start off a new batch of caladiums from bulbs which should be available in the market now. These slightly fussy, shade loving plants with gorgeously coloured almost heart shaped leaves are ideal pot plants for shady verandas but, as they do not like air conditioning or even fast moving fans they are not really house plant material as such. It’s a good idea to check over, repot and generally tidy up your houseplants this month to prepare them for the heat and humidity to come.

Anything which is pot bound (run out of root space) can safely be repotted in to a larger pot/container now, take the opportunity to give the plant a tidy up at the same time by removing damaged leaves and, if it has then, separating off suckers and baby plants attached to its roots. When repotting ensure that the drainage hole in the base of the pot/container is kept clear, do this by arranging some broken pieces of clay pot over it, to facilitate drainage.

A good basic potting mix can be made up from one part sweet earth, one part river sand/silt, one part old, well rotted, organic manure/homemade compost or you can, if finances allow, splash out on and buy a few sacks of ready to use organic compost which, thankfully, is finally entering the market in a decent amount. If you are trying to stick to organic growing principles then keep in mind that some organic composts contain poultry manure which, due to things like antibiotics in poultry food, is not actually organic at all.

Leafy houseplants like monsterias and rubber plants (these can also be grown outdoors in many areas) will greatly benefit from having their leaves wiped down with a sponge dipped in a mixture of warm water and milk, the latter helps to give them a healthy shine and, if you can, perform this chore once a month throughout the summer and until temperatures begin to drop in autumn when you should stop again until the following spring.

Back out in the garden once more: Chrysanthemum suckers can be separated off from their parent plants and potted up, seven inch pots are ideal, in good quality compost and placed in a partially shaded spot until they can be either planted out directly in the garden or moved in to 12 inch pots during late September ready for flowering a few weeks later on.

Regular watering of just about everything in the garden comes into play this month, the exact time depending on when temperatures make a further rise but do take care not to waste any precious water in the process. Watering in the evening is far more sensible than performing this chore in the morning as then the plants have all night to drink their fill before the sun comes up and the water begins to evaporate. Watering once the sun is high in the sky is not recommended at all as this is a complete waste of water and wet plant leaves and grass can burn or be otherwise damaged in hot sunlight.

Last but by no means least: Keep your eyes peeled for pest and diseases as both tend to arrive with a bang around now. The sooner you spot trouble and deal with it the less long term problems there will be.


http://www.dawn.com/2011/04/03/nature-t ... tml/print/

[zainab]

i have a question.
did u access this article thru net?
i did go to the e-dawn newspaper,, and couldnt find its images section in which this article of zahrah nasir is published.
please tell me how can i access this article online. thanks very much.

[chickoo34]

the images section is only in the sunday's newspaper....first search the sundays paper then on the fifth page of images section articles of zahrah nasir are published..