The Star: October 19, 2023

The Star Thursday October 19 2023
26
GARDENING
Discover
‘skunk
cabbage’
PERFECT FOR brightening pond
edges, lysichiton americanus is
native to parts of northwestern
America, and thrives in boggy areas,
growing in marshes, swamps
and forested wetlands.
The unfortunate, but more
familiar, common name “skunk
cabbage” refers to its musty smell;
the plant uses its smell to attract
pollinators such as flies and
beetles.
This herbaceous perennial
forms a basal rosette of large
glossy leaves growing up to 1.5m
in length. The spadix, which is
covered in small greenish-yellow
flowers in the right conditions,
can also reach over 1m in height
and is surrounded by a bright
vibrant yellow spathe.
Adult plants take about five
years to seed. You can propagate
by division or from its berry-like
fruit, however these will require
stratification – a technique to
artificially create cool winter
conditions so once sown, the seed
thinks it is spring. Alternatively,
if left alone, this slow-spreading
plant propagates itself by fallen
seed from the wilting spadix.
–ODT
OCTOBER IS an important
month in the garden calendar.
Seeds sown this month pop up
quickly and there are usually few
checks to growth during the early
summer months.
The ideal time to sow seeds is
as soon as the soil is fit to work
after rain but in dry weather,
water the ground well the day
before sowing.
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Sowing the seeds of spring
Vegetables
To obtain successive crops
of peas, sow a quick-maturing
variety and a main crop now.
Novella will produce plump pods
in nine to 11 weeks from sowing.
Greenfeast takes 11 to 13 weeks
so, by sowing them at the same
time, the later crop is ready as
the first tails off.
Peas require only a little lime
and grow best where the summer
is not too hot or dry. Keep the
soil moist by working in plenty of
compost or well-rotted manure.
To offset dry, light soil, sow peas
in trenches of compost with a
layer of absorbent material, such
as peat or sphagnum moss, in the
bottom to hold moisture. Cover
the compost with a thin (5cm)
layer of ordinary soil and keep
the top of the trench 2cm to 5cm
below the surrounding ground.
Asparagus may still be planted.
Two- or three-year-old crowns,
looking rather like small octopuses,
can be bought from
garden centres and give faster
results than growing from seed.
The most important factor in
succeeding with this hardy
perennial vegetable is well-prepared
ground, rich in compost
and ideally with seaweed worked
into it. Allow 40cm between each
plant, place in position 10cm
below the ground, spreading the
roots as widely as possible, then
cover with fine soil. Avoid the
temptation to harvest in the first
year and the reward will be better
crops in the future.
Flowers
Narcissi and other bulbous
plants that have finished flowering
must be left for another
couple of months until their
leaves die away. Until that happens,
leaves are creating food for
the bulbs. If bulbs have to be removed
after flowering but before
the leaves have died down, lift
carefully with the leaves intact.
Lay bulbs in shallow trenches,
cover with soil and lift again
when the foliage has died away.
A widespread curse is the
narcissus fly, which looks like a
small bumble-bee and lays its
eggs in November at the base of
the foliage. The grub hatches and
burrows into the bulb, where it
grows to resemble a large maggot,
turning the centre of the
bulb into brown sludge. Covering
the bulbs after flowering with
fine shade cloth or pea straw
will keep out the flies but is not
a good look. Growing narcissi
in pots, then covering with pea
straw after flowering and putting
the pots out of sight under cover
can be a better option.
Some gardeners say a puff of
household fly spray in the centre
of the bulb helps deter the flies,
while an old English technique
is to place a mothball on top of
each bulb when planting new
bulbs, as the camphor smell
repels the grubs.
Alyssum makes a good edging
PHOTO: GETTY
to the mixed border or pathway.
It flourishes in well-limed soil
and self-seeds freely.
Fruit
Even in a small garden, some
fruit can be grown, notably
strawberries and gooseberries.
Strawberries can be grown in
a ceramic planter or used as a
border to a garden bed, while
gooseberries lend themselves to
being grown as standards in pots.
They also can be planted along
a wire or fence, a simple form of
espaliering that makes the fruit
easier to harvest.
– ODT
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