The common thing to do with banana peels is to throw them in the trash, however, there are miraculous uses for these yellow fellows. Here are a few tips on how you can use banana peels naturally in an unusual way in and around your garden.
To grow strong and lush plants, you need three things:
The correct amount of sun(light) – that is sun for the sun-loving plants or shade for the shade-loving plants;
Water;
Soil that has sufficient nutrients.
Plants in containers need even more feeding because the nutrients wash out every time you water the plants.
A banana can help you with that!
Banana peels are a natural fertilizer and a natural pest repellent in the garden. If you compost, you already toss your peels into the compost pile, but have you ever made a banana tea? Using banana peel tea, you create an all-natural organic fertilizer filled with potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen, all well-needed nutrients for strengthening your plants and helping them resist pests and diseases.
But how do I make banana peel tea?
Take a jar (2 litre size), chop your banana peels into pieces, put them in the jar, and then fill with water. Allow the jar to sit for at least 2 to 3 days and use the water for your container plants.
Do not throw away the soaked peels; simply throw them around your plants in your garden and work it in directly into the soil. If you don’t like it in your garden, just throw it back on the compost pile.
Plant a banana peel
When you plant your newly-bought plants in your garden or plant up a new container, pop a banana peel in along with your plants in your garden. This will ensure a direct boost to your plants by improving the soil’s quality and will also attract beneficial worms and microbes to your soil.
Pest control
Working the peels into your soil will help to deter green aphids naturally. You can also spray the banana peel tea directly onto your plants to help repel aphids, and your plants will also absorb the minerals in the tea through their leaves. Air plants primarily benefit from banana peel spray for nutrients.
Hopefully, with these practical tips for using banana peels, you will change how you feel about banana peels. Next time you eat a banana, remember it is a healthy snack for you and your plants.
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Common names: Confetti bush, Aasbossie, Cape May, or Klip buchu
When you hike up Table Mountain in winter or early spring, you will see lots of Coleonema album flowering, and you will smell the sweet-smelling leaves on a hot day. Occurring naturally all over the Cape Peninsula mountains and also in the rest of the Western Cape and Eastern Cape mountains, this shrub is one of the must-have shrubs for your fynbos garden.
Coleonema album forms a dense, much-branched, compact shrub with fine needle-like foliage on slender branches. The leaves are very aromatic. Being from the evergreen Rutaceae family that includes citrus and buchu, essential oils are also extracted.
A hardy plant this confetti bush
Winter rainfall areas are where you will find Coleonema album flourishing. They can also withstand the dry and hot summers. They require full sun for best flowering and need well-drained soil that is well composted. Mulch roots regularly to retain moisture and to keep roots cool in summer. Although established plants are water-wise and can withstand drought periods, the plant will perform at their best if watered moderately during dry spells.
Small star-shaped white flowers appear in the winter and spring in clusters at the branch tips. Prune lightly in summer after flowering to keep bushes neat. This will also ensure masses of flowers the following flowering season.
The Coleonema album is a beautiful addition to the fynbos garden and a good filler plant for mixed shrub planting. It is also a must-have plant for attracting butterflies and birds to your garden. The shrubs can be pruned into tiny hedges and can be used as a windbreak or a screening plant. It is also a good coastal plant and can withstand strong salty winds. Commercially, the flowers and branches can be used for flower arrangements and as a filler for mixed fynbos flower bunches.
The colours of the rainbow
Coleonema pulcellum is the pink flowering confetti bush, and Coleonema Sunset Gold is the compact yellow-leaved with pink flowers that also feature prominently in South African gardens. (Note: Coleonema Sunset Gold yellow leaves burn easily in the Cape’s fierce summer sun, so position them when planting where it will get afternoon shade.)
Coleonema is one of our prettiest indigenous shrubs and really puts up a stunning display at our winters’ end.
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Pruning and winter go hand in hand and play an essential part of a plant’s care whether it is a tree, shrub or groundcover. July in the Cape is rainy, windy and cold outside but this is the time to do pruning to encourage healthy growth, flowers and fruit for summer.
Why do we need to prune?
1. Your first objective is to maintain the health of your plants by keeping your plants free from dead or diseased branches, and encourage new growth and healthy-looking plants;
2. Prune to shape your plant as it grows, especially when it is young to make it bushier or more compact when using plants as a hedge;
3. To prevent a plant getting too large for the space it was originally planted in, or when blocking a beautiful view;
4. Plants can become old and leggy, but you can rejuvenate them by pruning them back, especially fast-growing plants needs regular pruning;
5. Prune to correct some defect like eliminating branches that rub against other branches, or so that more light or water can reach the inner branches or improve air circulation. Pruning branches to correct the balance between the crown and roots promotes healthy plants;
6. If your plant is a flowering or fruiting type, you need to prune to encourage the best conditions for prolific flowering and fruiting. Additionally, this allows air and sun to reach fruit in the centre;
7. To achieve sculptural shapes, known as topiaries, the two-dimensional pattern achieved by pruning and tying fruit trees or shrubs to a frame (known as espalier). The deliberate dwarfing of certain trees or shrubs that mimic the shape of fully-grown trees in a small container (known as bonsai). These are all fashion novelties, and these differently trained or shaped plants are used as an architectural elaboration of your house.
Pruning is more than simply cutting of branches of a tree or a shrub to keep it from overgrowing. Pruning is the key to controlling the size or shape of your plants, their flowers and fruit. It also promotes new life in your garden as well as healthier and better-looking plants.
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My favourite houseplants aren’t actually that unusual or exotic. The plants that make me happy are, and you have guessed right, yes, it is succulents! I love to use them in my house, not only as houseplants but also in informal flower and plant arrangements. Succulents remind me that beauty can be found in the ordinary and that not everything has to be structured in life.
The surprising variety of sizes, shapes and colours makes them stunning decorative houseplants. Miniature varieties such as Haworthia will fit on the narrowest windowsill, and trailing types such as Senecio (Curio), provide striking displays in hanging baskets. They are among the easiest of plants to grow indoors and are every bit as beautiful as they are rewarding. Anyone interested in foliage house plants should consider growing succulents indoor.
Growing Succulents Indoors requires 3 basic rules
Start with the right soil and container
If you are planting your own succulents, buy and use a fast-draining cactus mix. If you can’t get hold of a cactus mix, make your own by using 4 parts potting soil and 1 part either coarse sand or perlite. Also, ensure that your pots have enough drainage holes as good drainage is vital. Because succulents grow slowly, they seldom need repotting.
Watering your indoor succulents
Killing your succulents by overwatering them is far more common than underwatering them. Succulents like it when the soil dries out between watering. You must know that indoor succulent plants require a certain amount of neglect. They need little watering since they have the ability to store their own water supplies within their fleshy leaves, stems and roots. If you water small pots once a week and large pots about every second week, it will be sufficient, but always check and feel first if the soil is dry. Remember they need less watering in winter than in summer.
PS. If you were lucky to receive a succulent houseplant in a container without drainage holes, you have to water even less.
PPS. In addition to watering, fertilize every spring with a liquid fertilizer.
Light
The trend of modern architecture towards larger windows and open interior spaces, as well as the use of air-conditioning for heating and cooling, provide excellent growing conditions for indoor succulents. They grow best in bright light, and even a few hours of direct sunlight will help to develop their best foliage colours. Just imagine how Sempervivum tectorum, Euphorbia triculli and the Euphorbia milii will flower in bright light. NB: please remember Euphorbia species are poisonous and caution should be taken when using indoors. Portulacaria afra, Senecio ficiodes, Cotyledon orbiculata and flanaganii, Crassula ovata and muscosa, Aeonium arboreum, and Echeveria elegans will get leggy if not in bright light. East, south or west windows that get a few hours of direct sunlight, is the best position for succulents. Sansevieria trifasciata and Aloe vera are the exceptions and they will tolerate fairly low light levels.
Succulents, given the proper conditions and a minimum of basic care, will provide pleasure for years.
Please send us some photos of your indoor (or outdoor) succulents. We will love to see them!
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Succulents are surging in popularity for several simple reasons. They are:
water wise
nearly indestructible
beautiful
adds colour and texture to your garden
easy to grow
easy to find especially those indigenous to South Africa.
They also include some well-known medicinal plants. Even if you’re not a
huge enthusiast when it comes to natural remedies, chances are you’ve heard of
some of the health benefits of Bulbine frutescens and Carpobrotus edulis.
Bulbine
frutescens
Common names: Cats tail, Burn jelly plant, Balsem kopieva
Bulbine frutescens occurs widespread
throughout Western Cape, Northern Cape, Eastern Cape, Free State and Kwazulu
Natal. It has great value in the home garden where it is a useful first-aid
remedy for children’s everyday knocks and scrapes. Fresh leaves produce a
jelly-like juice, squeezed and frequently applied, is amazingly effective to
take care of a wide range of skin conditions and wounds. The list is
endless: acne, burns, blisters, cold
sore (even in your mouth), cracked lips, nails and heels, insect bites, mouth ulcers
and sunburn. Also, very effective for treating wounds, sores and rashes on both
human and on animals.
The healing effect is likely due to glycoprotein,
which is also present in the leaf gel of the Aloe species. In Limpopo Province,
plantations of Bulbine frutescens have been established where innovative
commerce skincare products are being produced. Some commercial shampoos include
it as a moisturizer.
This easy to grow succulent for full sun
and beautiful orange or yellow flowers in spring and summer is really one of
nature’s finest medicinal plants. Used externally, Bulbine species are
reasonably safe – just be sure to check for allergic reactions. Use with
caution internally.
Carpobrotus
Carpobrotus
spp.
Common names: Sour fig, Suurvy, Vyerank
Carpobrotus spp. are a superb water-wise plant, indigenous and frequently used as a sand binder, dune and embankment stabilizer, and also as a fire-resistant barrier. The yellow or pinkish flowers in spring are followed by edible fruit and is a very powerful remedy for constipation. The fruit can also be used for cooking jam.
Leaf juice is astringent and mildly
antiseptic and if mixed with water and swallowed, it can treat diarrhoea and
stomach cramps. It also can be used as a gargle to treat laryngitis, sore
throat and mouth infections. Simply by chewing a leaf tip and swallowing the
juice will help to ease a sore throat.
A crushed leave is a famous soothing cure
for blue-bottle stings and, being a good coastal groundcover, it is often on
hand when needed. The leaf juice is also used as a soothing lotion for burns,
bruises, scrapes, cuts, grazes and even sunburn. It can be applied to cracked
lips and to cold sores on and around the mouth.
Bulbine frutescens and Carpobrotus spp. are both useful plants to have
in the garden, not only for its remarkable medicinal values but also for its
ability to survive almost anywhere with minimum attention. With very little water and care, these plants
are a must for every garden.
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