Gardening in November

Gardening hints and tips from the green experts at Starke Ayres, West Coast Village.

Plant Strawberries directly into garden beds, raise the beds to allow good drainage. Now only R35. Perlite is excellent to help aerate and provide adequate drainage.  Strawberries also grow very well in planter boxes, barrels, hanging baskets and pots, making them ideal for small gardens, decks or veranda’s.

All the summer organic vegetable seedling varieties are now available from tomatoes, green peppers, brinjals, chillies, baby marrow, beans to the fantastic selection of herbs to plant alongside all to grow in the suitable pots or containers. Growing organic vegetables means you can enjoy healthy, tasty food fresh from your garden. For most vegetables, that means full sun (at least 6 hours of direct sun a day). If you have poor soil, amend it with organic matter such as Vermiculite, Perlite, Palm Peat, Compost. Feed your vegetable garden with Talborne 6:3:4 or worm tea for best results.    

Hot on the tables in our Vegetable seedling area, are a variety of chillies. The plants average a height of 30 cm and are ideal for some fresh homegrown chillies in early summer. The varieties are Passion Chilli, Bravo, Durga, Giant Ristra, Bhut Jolokai and Star 6603, Starke Ayres’s very own cultivar. For the seed enthusiast, you can further your selection of Chillies by growing the following varieties from seed. Caribbean Blend, Habenaro Mixed Colours, Long Slim Cayenne, Pepperone Corno di Torro Rosso, Ghost Chilli / Bhut Jolokia, Tracer, Cayenne Blend and Hot Chilli Mix.

What would a summer be without the voluptuous Hydrangea? Try spots against south-facing walls or hedges or under tall trees. Gardeners who have left it late to feed their Hydrangeas should now use Starke Ayres Acid Loving and Hydrangea food to help intensify the blooms. 

Mulch flower beds with a good quality mulch to help with water retention in the soil and keeping root zones cool. Adding a good handful of Gypsum based Golddust, Volco Rock or Zeolite will also improve the drainage and mineral composition of your soil and reduce chances of water evaporation and runoff.

The heat can take a lot of nutrition out of the plants in the garden. Add some nutrients in the form of a water-soluble fertiliser such as Hortisol, Seagro or Multikelp once monthly (particularly indoor plants).

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Starke Ayres, West Coast Village

Tel: 021 554 8450