Every year, nature provides us with an abundance of colourful autumn leaves. Instead of discarding fallen autumn leaves, use them to make a nourishing fertiliser for your garden. It costs nothing and is easily transformed into a nutrient-rich soil conditioner called leaf mould.
Making leaf mould will take time. Leaves will rot down slowly due to the action of fungi as opposed to the faster-acting bacteria responsible for compost. It’s a slow process, but the nutritious end product is well worth the wait.
How to make leaf mould:
Start by collecting fallen leaves (not green ones) in autumn, and pile them in a shaded corner of your garden. Keep it contained using wire mesh or alternatively simply place them in black plastic bags with holes in. To kick start decomposition, wet the leaves as you pile them into the heap or bags. Moisten them periodically, especially if you have put them in bags. Don’t add too many leaves to your heap as it can slow down decomposition – instead create a separate heap of autumn leaves. Turning your heap about once a month until it is fully decomposed, will speed up decomposition. After about 10 months your leaf mould should crumble easily and be ready for use.
Complement of Christene’s Crafts
Using leaf mould:
You can use it as a mulch around new seedlings, vegetables and newly planted trees and shrubs. You can also use it as a soil conditioner in borders and in potting soil. It improves sandy soil as well as the drainage of clay soil. It is superior soil conditioner!
Leaves of trees like maples and oaks contain a varying range of nitrogen, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron and phosphorous. All these elements are important for healthy plants’ growth.
Leaf mould helps to decrease alkalinity of soil, and turning your garden waste into leaf mould is environmentally friendly.
Complements of DHD Multimedia Gallery
Which leaves to use to make leave mould:
Leaves from deciduous trees, such as oaks and maples, are ideal in making leaf mould. Do not use leaves from evergreen trees or conifers, rather add them to a compost heap as they take longer to decay.
Pine needles are quite acidic, so add them to a separate heap for the use on acidic loving plants like Azaleas and Blueberries.
Leaf mould is a form of compost composed entirely of deciduous shade tree leaves. It is free and easy to make, but keep in mind, just like vintage port, it needs time and patience.
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Common names: Spekboom, Pork Bush, Elephant’s Food
Even if you are not a succulent fan, you have to love the Spekboom. It is proudly South African, and is found predominantly in the Eastern Cape, especially in the semi-arid Karoo region where growing conditions are ideal for this resilient plant.
What is not to love about the Spekboom?
It is a marvellous drought tolerant shrub, and is generally suited to all areas of South Africa.
It is a carbon sponge with the potential to tackle carbon emission like no other plant. This makes it a powerful tool in the fight against climate change.
It is an excellent soil binding plant to help prevent soil erosion.
It thrives even in poor soil, and tolerates both drought and a little frost.
It is easy to propagate and easy to grow, a very rewarding shrub.
It can reach up to 3 metres, but is very easily trimmed into a versatile hedge or screening plant.
Some more amazing facts about the Spekboom
Spekboom can live up to and over 100 years.
They can adapt to their surroundings. During the cool, wet cool months, they photosynthesis like other plants, by opening its stomata during the day to absorb carbon dioxide. In the drier times, they have the ability to open their stomata at night time, to prevent water loss in the heat of the day.
Spekboom is edible with a high nutritional value and is a favoured food for elephants, kudus and rhinos. But even better, we can also eat it! With a slightly acidic taste, its leaves are juicy and full of moisture. Enjoy it in your salad.
It makes a brilliant fast-growing bonsai specimen.
It attracts bees, butterflies and birds to your garden.
Also, is a good container and filler plant.
Suitable for coastal gardens and a good windbreak.
The juice in the leaves is used as an antiseptic and for soothing skin ailments like pimples and insect bites.
The Spekboom can be planted anywhere as long as the soil is well drained. It has no special needs but a little compost will encourage quicker growth and greener leaves. In spring, small star-shaped pink flowers appear, and is followed by tiny, paper, winged fruits. The shrub is exceptionally beautiful in full flower, when it is a mass of pink.
Portulacaria comes in variegated forms, a yellow leaved variety, as well as the green leaves in smaller and bigger leaves.
What is not to love about the Spekboom? It is budget-friendly, hunger friendly, health-friendly and most of all environmental-friendly!
If there is any plant that is a definite must in your garden, this is it!
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One of the most challenging spots in a garden is shade, and let’s be honest, all gardens have shade. The shade you find in your garden is often the neglected areas underneath big trees.
Let’s help you with some helpful tips and solutions for creating an exciting garden in any shaded area, while using some of the best indigenous plants that South Africa has to offer.
Clivia (Complements of Knysna Log-Inn Hotel Gardens)
First Things First:
The term shade is generally used to refer to the condition that results when sunlight is prevented from reaching an area. As plants grow taller and trees mature, they screen out the sunlight making it darker and cooler. Buildings and high boundary walls have the same (immediate) effect.
Different Kinds of Shades:
Dense Shade
This is where no direct sunlight gets through the canopy to the ground
Dappled or Filtered Shade
This is where sunlight reaches plants through the canopy of normally small-leafed trees
Semi-Shade
Here the plants receive sunlight for a few hours a day, either in the morning or in the afternoon
Chlorophytum comosum variegata (Complements of Whiteflowerfarm.com)
Tips for Shade Planting:
Space plants further apart than you would in a sunny spot. This improves air movement and discourage mildew.
Big trees mean massive root systems that deplete the soil’s nutritional elements, and their ability to retain water. Before planting your shade garden, work in a lot of compost and cover it with a fair amount of mulch. Mulching is very important, especially in the Western Cape’s dry summers.
Plant plants in groups together for better impact, and also use plants with different coloured leaves, leave textures and leave size to ensure a beautiful and exciting space.
Crassula multicava (Complements of Plantbook)
Indigenous Shade Loving Plants:
Below is a list of plants that have adapted to tolerate both dry summers in the Western Cape and shady conditions. Some of these have succulent-like leaves, fleshy roots or a bulbous base.
Maintaining a shade garden can be fun and beautiful and also spares the gardener from toiling in the hot sun. And who doesn’t want shade in summer, especially in Paarl and surrounds!
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