JHB West - Dec 20 / Jan 21

Indoor & patio plant of the month
What else but poinsettia? It’s become the festive plant of choice
around the world, with its Santa Claus red ‘flowers’, bright yellow bracts
and lush, green leaves – the colours of Christmas. It’s a showy gift plant
(even for those without green fingers) and for decorating the home.
These indoor plants like a warm position with good indirect light but
no direct sunlight. Keep the potting mix moist but not soggy. To keep
it going past the holiday season, feed with a houseplant fertilizer once
a month, but don’t fertilize when it’s in bloom. After flowering, cut it
down to 10cm and repot into a larger pot or plant it in the garden.
Details: plantimex.co.za
We’re planting ...
Alstroemeria Summer Red is a dazzling summer flower,
especially for gardeners who love bright
pops of colour in the garden over
the festive season. This summerflowering
perennial forms an
upright clump – 60cm high and
wide – with narrow, dark green
leaves. It grows in full sun, likes
fertile soil that drains well and
regular watering. Being compact,
it doesn’t need staking. As the
flowers fade, cut or twist off the
stems at the base, leaving the tubers
in the ground. The foliage dies down in
winter but shoots out quickly in spring.
Prevent slug and snail damage of young
plants with organic Ferramol snail bait.
Details: ballstraathof.co.za
Veggie of the month
What could be yummier than freshly
picked and cooked sweetcorn
smothered in melting butter? Did you
know that sweetcorn is at its sweetest
and tastiest 30 minutes after picking,
which is why shop-bought sweetcorn is
nothing like home-grown? This Golden
Bantam is an heirloom variety that grows
tall and produces multiple 14 to 16cm
cobs filled with sweet yellow kernels,
the first of which cobs are ready for
harvesting within 75 days from sowing.
It needs full sun and fertile soil. For good
pollination, plant in blocks, or two or
three rows, with plants 35cm apart and
60 to 70cm between rows. Plant two
seeds together in each hole. Thin out the
weaker plant later. During the growing
period, water regularly, keeping the
soil moist with mulch and feed with a
nitrogen-rich fertilizer when plants are
knee-high, repeating two weeks later.
Harvest when cobs are plump and
well-filled. Test for readiness by piercing
a kernel. If it’s still milky it’s ready for
eating. The tassels should also be dry and
withered. Details: kirchhoffs.co.za
28 Get It Magazine Dec 20 / Jan 21
December in the garden
In the absence of rainfall, water regularly and
plants in pots should be watered daily. •
Decorate your outdoor entertainment areas
with pots of flowering plants or herbs. • Keep
whitefly and other pests away from veggies
by spraying with organic insecticides. • Feed
annuals and other flowers with a liquid
fertilizer to keep them flowering over the
festive season. • Fertilize the roses mid-month
with Ludwig’s Vigorosa. • Spray the roses with
Ludwig’s Insect Spray and Chronos or Rose Protector to
protect roses from pests and black spot.