Gardening in March

The garden gurus at Starke Ayres, West Coast Village share their green gardening tips for March.

• Use environmentally friendly soaps, detergents and cleaning products which will positively improve the quality of your greywater which will be advantages to your garden. Our Better Earth range has a product for almost every application within your home. Switch now to helping us create a greener future.

• With Day Zero predictions being moved even further back let’s not get complacent with our water saving efforts. Keep monitoring your water usage to ensure that you stay within your 50 litre daily allowance. At Starke Ayres Garden Centres, we have all the solutions to assist you with reaching your goal and therefore doing your bit to help stretch our water reserves.

• It is time for Autumn sowing. Sow Starke Ayres Namaqualand Daisies and Bokbaai vygies (Mesembryanthenum) in sunny places in the garden. These varieties are indigenous and ideal for the dry conditions we are experiencing.

• Beat the lack of water to your garden through planting drought-tolerant and drought-resistant plants. Aloes, Succulents, Grasses, Gazanias, Agaves, Lampranthus, Delosperma and other indigenous plant options are well adapted to cope with long periods between watering.

• Flowering bulbs have an important advantage over regular plants: they can store energy from one growing season to the next. When a bulb starts to grow, it uses these stored reserves to develop roots, shoots, leaves and owers. Being so self-sufficient means that flower bulbs don’t have to wait for perfect weather or ideal soil conditions. By nature, they already have what they need to thrive. Start looking our for Sparaxis, Ranunculus, Anemone and the wonderfully fragrant Freezias.

• Work plenty of compost into the soil. Drought brings a general lack of rainfall, which leads to death and decay of matter within the soil. The organic matter no longer keeps the composure it otherwise would have, and its surface area lessens due to drying. The significance of this surface area deterioration is simply this; without a surface area to absorb water, the soil will not be able to maintain its composition during rainfall.

• Control Red Spidermite. Red spider breeds in drought-like conditions when the sap flow is sluggish and more concentrated. The mites suck the sap out of leaves, which fall off and expose the stems to the direct sun. Treat plants with Seizer from Makhro Home and garden.

Starke Ayres, West Coast Village
Tel: 021 554 8450