Air layering my Carissa Macrocarpa

This thorny plant ( Carissa Macrocarpa ) started to grow towards the garden path. Since I will trim it away from the path anyway , I decided to try my hand at air layering technique for propagating plants.

The theory is that if you wound a plant stem it will under the right circumstances try to grow new roots. Once the roots grow , you cut below the root area & transplant somewhere else in the garden,

Tools needed are simple. Sharp knife , plastic bag & some moist compost or clean potting mix. As usual I clean my knife with alcohol to stop spreading bacteria while cutting the plant.

As always be carefull handling any sharp tools. I would recommend wearing gloves when handling any kind of plant as some could be poisonous or causes skin irritation.

Here is the plant is cleared of thorns & leaves where we will cut.

I cut a circular cut around the whole stem then another cut below it approx 3-5 cm below it. Then a vertical straight cut from the top cut to the bottom then started to remove the bark & cambium.

Now I wrapped the plastic bag below the cut area using a wire wrapper. Then started to fill the bag with moist potting mix & shaped it like a ball around the cut area.

I tied the top of the bag with another wrapper & used a stake to support the extra weight.

Hopefully within a few weeks it should start start to root. I will be opening the top of the bag every now & then to examine the progress & remoisting the bag. Some recommend covering the bag with alumunium foil to keep it moist.

Here's a video from You tube if you are interested.

Some amazing lily photography

Just found this fantastic gardening blog . The lilies photos are simply incredible.

image courtesy http://fairegarden.wordpress.com/

http://fairegarden.wordpress.com/2010/05/31/first-lily-blooms/

Amazing radish seeds

Planted some Radish seeds yesterday (29th) & they started to grow in less than 24 hours.
( Radish -Raphanus sativus ).

Today they look like this.I used an old shallow tray to plant the seeds. They will be thinned out as usual & planted directly in the ground.

Four days after planting. Maybe I will wait a day or two before moving them to bigger pots.

Once planted have to keep soil moist as summer is approaching fast. Hopefully after a month this is what I should get.

Image courtesy of http://www.umassvegetable.org/

I live in a zone 11 area by the way.

My Radishes after 7 days  

I started thinning them & moving them into bigger pots

I gently pull on the plants to get them out of the soil & dig a hole to easily accomodate the roots without forcing them down 

I space them at least 5-7 cm apart

Within another 3 weeks they should be ready to eat.

Tip : don't leave them too long in the soil otherwise they become pithy & will start to crack.Don't over water them , just keep soil moist. Plant motre in 10-14 days in order to get a steady supply during the growing season. Enjoy .

Love it when my seeds start to grow

Just planted some Celosia Argentea flowers which is an annual flower by the way , 3 days back & they started to grow.

I always wash any containers I use as plants can get diseases from dirty pots.












The small plants will be thinned out once they grow a bit & moved to bigger pots. Hopefully they will grow to look like this flower

Image copyright home-and-garden.webshots.com

Carissa macrocarpa or Natal plum

I finally managed to get a positive identification for a plant that I really like. it's called Carissa macrocarpa.

It's native to South Africa. Likes sun to partial shade. Tolerant to many types of soil . Prefers Sandy soil but main thing is that soil should be well drained. The leaves are nice leathery green colour.

Flower scent is like jasmine. Shrub can be trimmed to make small walls. Had it for two years now & it's grown to 3ft - 1 meter almost. Never had problems with disease on leaves etc.

It produces a small sweet plum edible though some say seeds are poisonous. They use the plum in South Africa to make jam.

Just bought five more plants the minute I saw them at my local vendor.

One thing I don't like about this plant is the prickly thorns but Roses have thorns also .

Growing your own ginger

Having come across the fact that ginger has Rhizomes I rushed off to my local grocery store to buy some fresh ones to try planting them. Don't forget I am a green newbie gardener :)

Lily Propagation - bulblets, bulbils, scaling

I love this Oriental Lily cultivar Casablanca,( Genus Lilium )

The flower has a fantastic scent & looks great when it blooms summer time.

My Lily has produced bulblets with their own roots, so I will seperate them & move to another pot.

I mananged to get 3 bulblets so I potted them in a seperate container just below the surface. These bulbs will pull themselves down into the soil to protect themselves till they are ready to grow new shoots etc. Again never overwater the new bulbs to avoid root dampening which will cause them to rot & die .

This one had a shoot already so I kept it above the soil obviuosly :)

Very interesting methods to propagate lilies.

Lily Propagation - bulblets, bulbils, scaling