Leonotus, also known as wild dagga, a reference to the mild psychoactive properties of the plant. This popular garden shrub is widepread in South Africa and in addition to it’s many medicinal properties attracts sunbirds to it’s bright orange inflorescences.
Posted in FEATURED PLANTS
Tagged Africa, Eco-friendly, flowers, Indigenous plants, Medicinal plants, Plants, Sustainable
The carrier handle on this wine box makes a good plant tag !
Grass Roof
Succulent Garden
Succulent Garden
Succulent collection
Succulent Nursery
Posted in ORGANIC PRODUCE
Tagged Eco-friendly, flowers, Indigenous plants, Plants, Succulents, Sustainable
Half Drum
1) Take a half drum and drill holes in the bottom for drainage.
Sticks or Stones
2) Place sticks or stones in the bottom to help with drainage. (You don’t want the holes clogging up with muck.)
Leaves
3) Place a layer leaves on top of the sticks.
Bad News
4) Alternately layer newspaper and leaves. Remember to water thoroughly between layers. The newspaper will keep the leaves from drying out and the worms will eat the newspaper.
Worms
5) Add worms. You can dig them up in your garden especially after rain. This is where you recycle bad news into good news !
Kitchen Scraps
6) Add kitchen scraps. Worms will compost most scraps except for citrus peels.
Stand
7) I used this old trolley to stand the farm on, and placed a tray underneath to collect the worm tea.
Worm Farm
8) The worm tea is an excellent compost that can be used directly in the nursery or on your veggies. Remember not to let your worm farm dry out.
Happy Worm Farming!
Posted in ORGANIC PRODUCE
Tagged Bio-degradable, Eco-friendly, organic, Organic farming, Plants, Recycling
Wall Garden
I made this wall garden for a client as a feature to distract from an imposing wall. I recycled some left over and damaged guttering (the square type).
How to construct the wall garden:
I cut the guttering into equal lengths and fitted each length with end pieces so each length becomes a container
Be sure to drill drainage holes before affixing them to the wall
Drill holes for drainage
The gutters are the spaced equally on the wall, marked off and attached by their own brackets.
Fix the gutters to the wall equidistant
The wall was north facing in a hot climate, so I built a screen to shade the wall garden in summer but allow the winter sun to reach the plants. To do this I positioned the gutters vertically but this is not necessary. They could also be arranged in a stepped pattern, for instance.
Screen made from fencing poles
Screen attached to wall
I then cut chicken wire to fit the bottom of each gutter over the drainage holes to hold the soil and prevent the drainage holes from becoming blocked.
Each gutter is filled with soil
I then filled the gutters with first gravel, then finer river sand, then composted ground to assure good drainage.
Water the soil in well and begin planting.
Planting
Water in well
Group plants in each container
Recommended plants:
I recommended smaller hardier plants at the top and plants with more foliage at the bottom to avoid a top-heavy look
Gutters 1-2
Glottiphyllum longum
Echevaria (Desert Rose)
Stapelia sp.
Hawarthia sp.
Sedum sp.
Aptenia cordifolia
Crassula sp.
Gutters 3-5
Senecio sp.
Geranium
Epiphytes (Air plants)
Bulbinella
Nustertium
Gazanias
Strawberries
Lobelia
Posted in ORGANIC PRODUCE
Tagged Eco-friendly, Plants, Recycling, Sustainable, water-wise
John the Farmer
