Syncarpha argyropsis: needs
drought
having your soil tested just so you
can decide on a few garden plants.
Test your plants instead of your
soil
If you’ve got a big planting project
planned, you can always try out the
species you have in mind before
committing. Get just one of each
species you’re planning to use and
see how they do in your growing
conditions before getting hundreds.
There can be other elements other
than the soil itself that will make or
break your plant choices. These include humidity tolerance, disease
resistance and the temperatures you
experience.
Even if you think you know the
plants from experience in other re-
Dodonaea: handles drought but
gets taller when there is moisture
Bauhinia galpinii hates hard frost,
poor drainage
gions of the country, or even just a
few kilometres away, it’s worth doing a few little trials before you go
for a mass planting. I’ve already
seen incredible disease resistance in
regal Pelargoniums, but when I
mass planted them just a few kilometres away from the site they
loved, they didn’t like the heavy
dew, and struggled. The soil was
similar, sun exposure was A-OK, but
the daily moisture on their leaves
didn’t suit them at all.
Garden irrigation timers: yes or
no?
Having irrigation set on a timer can
be very handy when you’re going
away, have a large garden, or when
you have miles of drip irrigation in
Selago purple: tolerates dry conditions once established
Carpobrotus: salt tolerant
place to establish a wind-break, but
you can stand to lose hundreds of
liters of water for nothing if your
irrigation isn’t regularly checked
and maintained.
If at all possible, set your timers for
a time of day when you can physically check if the irrigation is working as it should. One emitter blasted
off its water-feed pipe, or breaches
in the pipe itself can result in a huge
waste of water while plants die of
drought.
Another reason why I don’t really
like timers is that they don’t take
prevailing conditions into account.
Let’s say it rained last night. You
obviously don’t need to irrigate, but
Aloe arborsecens -tolerates heavy
dew