Ants in your plants? - Mar 22, 2012
Dear gardening friends
I had a customer bring back a plant last week that had dropped dead. Many plants are dieing at the moment due to root rot but this plant died from lack of water. How could that happen when it is raining almost every day?
When I examined the root ball of the dead plant we discovered it was full of ants. The ants make tunnels in the potting mix so the water drains away from their nest. The plant can’t survive without water so it slowly withers and dies.
We have an Aloe growing in a pot in our car park and I have noticed its leaves are starting to look sad too. Aloes are drought hardy plants that survive in the desert with minimal water. On close inspection I discovered that the ants have made a nest in this pot too.
Applying Wetta Soil to the potting mix may make the ants move house. If they don’t then mix Pyrethrum and a squirt of dish washing liquid in a watering can and water this slowly into the soil. Within days your plant will go green again and it will be happy.
We had a great response to our garlic story last week and have sold out. Austral Garlic is an Australian grown variety so it is chemical free.
We have ordered another 4kgs of loose bulbs and hope they arrive before the weekend. I planted mine on Sunday. They usually take about 14 days to come up. Garlic helps to keep insects away from your garden so that’s another reason to grow it.
Chinese vegetables are becoming more popular probably because they taste great and they grow so fast. I planted Tatsoi and Bok Choi this morning before coming to work. You get so many plants in a punnet its crazy. The seed for these must be cheap. These green stemmed vegetables are great in stir fries.
I planted beetroot on the weekend and there were at least 20 plants in the punnet. I divided them up but it was impossible to keep any soil on the roots. This is where the sugarcane mulch becomes so important. I poke a hole through the mulch to plant the seedling then firm the soil around the roots. The sugarcane supports the plants and stops them just flopping on the soil. The mulch also keeps the moisture in the soil so the plants stay hydrated. If you use sugarcane you almost never loose a seedling. I have also found that the snails hate the dust that comes with the much. This keeps them away for a couple of days. But you must use snail pellets at the moment or your plants will get eaten.
We sold out of Sweet Peas last week. These delicious smelling climbing plants always go fast on a St Patrick’s Day week. They are easy to grow on a wire fence or use 3 tomato stakes to make a tepee. You need to improve the soil first with some cow manure and a bit of garden lime. Sweet peas are available in seeds too and these are easy to grow. Children would have fun planting these.
Talking about fun thing for children to plant you can’t beat bulbs. Winter bulbs have arrived including Daffodils, Jonquils, Hyacinths, Tulips etc. Get the kids to plant them in pots and if they are in a sunny spot you can’t go wrong. Use Tim’s Best Potting mix. If you use that cheap stuff they may never grow.
We had a good response from members coming up with horticultural names for Simon and Sara’s baby to be. Some of the best include
Flora, Prue-n, Blossom, Florence, Rain, Winter and Summer. Simon isn’t saying if these are any of their choices so we will have to keep guessing.
Lisa is back from her holidays so the herb and seedling area is looking loved again. She has been busy ordering winter flower and vegetable seedlings.
Russell our apprentice is off work today. His mother rang to say he had burnt his head under the shower and had blisters. Wow Russell checks the temperature with his head?
I had Alzheimer’s on the weekend. When I arrived at work I was putting my code into the alarm but then the alarm started going off. I was actually putting the code into the telephone next door. Then I got the forklift keys and went out in the carpark. As I walked along I picked up some papers and through them into the huge waste bin. The fork lift keys were no longer in my hands? I had thrown them in the bin too never to be found again. If I smell like rotting bananas now you know why.
Happy gardening
Tim