Granny Mouse Country House & Spa, with its distinctive
“home-away-from-home” feel and serene and picturesque location along
the Lions River, is known for its beautiful garden setting. “The kind
of garden guests would love to roll up and transplant at home” says
General Manager, Sean Granger. “It’s certainly a tranquil hideaway
that’s perfect for soothing away the stresses and strains of daily
life- or for celebrating Garden Day with a garden party.
This Garden Day, why not take a break from the hard work of planting,
watering, weeding, and mulching, and enjoy the beauty of your garden
and everything it has to offer. This could be as small as relaxing
with a good book in your favourite spot to creating a flower crown to
wear. Or for a more social scene, you could invite your neighbours
over for sundowners in the veggie garden, throw a tea party with your
besties, have cake at your closest community garden or simply host a
braai on the lawn. The options are endless.
Before you get cosy in your garden, or send out the invitations, make
sure your garden is looking its best for the summer season:
· Spread a generous layer of compost throughout the garden as
well as areas where new planting will be done. Compost acts as a soil
conditioner as well as mulch, ensuring a nourishing, moist, weed-free
environment to grow happy, healthy plants.
· The days are (slowly) heating up and, for most of South
Africa, the rain should start soon. Good for the plants, yes, but
equally good for weeds. Weed your garden regularly before the weeds
have a chance to take over or go into seed. Mulch as much as
possible. It not only keeps the soil moist and cool, but also keeps
those pesky weeds at bay.
· Keep a lookout for slugs and snails. Spread an organic snail
bait or put out snail traps around and under plants in the early
evening.
· If you have laid down lawn dressing during the early spring
months, your lawn should be looking green and lush by the time October
arrives.
· During the warmer months, let your lawn grow a little
longer, as the length will help shade the roots and this will reduce
the amount of water it will require. If the new growth has a yellow
tinge, then fertilise it with some 5:1:5 and water well after
fertilising.
· If you need a new lawn, look at installing instant lawn
sods. But do not take short cuts when it comes to soil preparation.
Dig the area over to remove all weeds and stones. Add copious amounts
of compost and bone meal and rake until smooth and level. Water the
soil lightly before laying the sods tightly together, filling any
cracks with fine compost or commercial lawn dressing.
· To ensure that your summer garden is full of flowers and
bursts of colour, now is the time to sow seeds and plant seedlings.
Easy flowers to grow from seeds include alyssum, asters, celosia,
cosmos, lobelia marigolds, nasturtiums, zinnias and sunflowers.
· Summer seedlings to plant now include impatiens, begonias,
bedding dahlias, dianthus, gazanias, petunias, salvias and verbena.
Also, to keep your summer-flowering shrubs such as hydrangeas,
hibiscus and fuchsias in good form, it is a good time to fertilise
them now with 3:1:5 or 5:1:5 fertiliser. Be sure to prune back any
spring-flowering shrubs that have faded, and you can also fertilise
these, such as camellias and azaleas, with 5:1:5 to keep them looking
at their best.
· Look at buying tall annuals like aquilegia, campanula, and
delphinium in colour pots to fill up bare spots in mixed beds. Border
your flower beds spectacularly with Carex ‘Evergold’, a clump-forming
ornamental grass with narrow yellow and white, green-edged leaves.
Hot tip: Petunias are insanely popular as a summer bedding plants but
can’t be planted in the same place every season. It is better to
rotate certain annuals to prevent the build-up of dominating pests or
soil pathogens.
· Look at trying out different chilli varieties. They are
always fun to grow!
· This is the perfect time to sow seeds of summer vegetables
into prepared beds, such as carrots, beetroots, beans, pumpkin,
marrows, cucumbers, rocket and radishes.
· For tomatoes, eggplant, chillies, green peppers and lettuce,
it is easier to sow the seeds into seed trays and wait until they
germinate before you plant them into the beddings, or even simpler,
buy already grown seedlings from your local nursery. Putting a thin
layer of straw over the sown seeds will help prevent the beds from
drying out in the warm weather.
· This is a good time to plant annual herbs such as mint,
sweet basil, coriander, dill and oregano. You can also look at
planting herbs that your pets will love, such as pet grass, catnip and
borage. To keep the herbs growing well, pick them regularly and feed
them twice a month with a liquid fertiliser at half the recommended
strength. As mints can be invasive, rather plant them in pots. You can
sink them, pot and all, into the soil as the mint will not mind being
kept prisoner. Plant all the mints for cooling summer cordials.
· It is during October when your roses should be putting on a
marvellous display. It is wonderful to decorate your home with roses
that have been picked from your own gardens, however, remember as long
as they go straight into a vase of cold water, and also remember not
to pick more than 50% of the flowers off any particular rose plant as
this will seriously set the plant back, and can cause root shock.
For those that don’t mind watching nature take care of itself, no
major fuss needs to be put over the aphids that are on your roses in
the beginning – they are not harmful and provide great food for
ladybirds and birds alike. Water your roses at least twice a week in
the warm weather.