Planning Your Winter Garden

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beetroot, borage, broccoli, cabbage, calendulas, carrots, cauliflower, compost, coreopsis, coriander, corn cockle, flowers antirrhinums, herbs, larkspur, leaf beet, lettuce, lovage, manure, mint, onions, pansies, petunias, Planning Your Winter Garden, Queen Anne’s lace, radish, seeds, spinach, spring onions, statice, tomatoes, vegetables, violas

Forward planning is all important in achieving the winter garden of your dreams and right now is the time to start.

Start off by topping up garden beds with plenty of old, well rotted, organic manure and/or organic compost, lightly mixing it in and breaking up any lumps before watering it thoroughly to encourage it to ‘settle’. Leave it to rest for a week or so and then get down to the enjoyable work of sowing seasonal seeds, remembering to pay careful attention to instructions on the packets.

Don’t restrict yourself to only one or two tried and tested varieties; let your imagination run riot and a spectacular garden can be the result!

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Planting Ahead

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antirrhinums, arugula/rocket, B Khan, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, cacti, carnations, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chillies, chives, cineraria, coriander, dahlias, drought-tolerant perennials, egonias, geraniums, hollyhocks, leaf beet, lettuce, malaysia, nasturtiums, ornamental plants, petunias, phlox, radish, recycled household water, salvia, seed trays, spinach, spring onions, statice, succulents, summer planting, Swiss chard, Thailand, tomatoes and melons, yuccas

With a less than an average monsoon on the cards – if the weather pundits are correct – traditional summer sowing of thirsty winter annuals should be approached with a great deal of caution.

This year’s summer planting schedule should, if you are going to be water wise, include drought-tolerant perennials (put a wide variety of yuccas, succulents and cacti on the list) of all sizes depending, of course, on the available space.

Water Grown Veggies

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ants, B Khan, bok choy, bright, carrot, celery, compost, cooking oil, creepy-crawlies, edibles, feathery, garlic, garnish, green onions, green shoots, growth, indoors, lettuce, narrow-necked, omelettes, onions, pots, re-grown, salads, sandwiches, shallow containers, spring onions, stir fries, sweet potatoes, tasty greens, tubers, vine, waste, water, water container, window ledge, wooden toothpicks

Growing food indoors need not mean pots of compost to be invaded, as they often are, by ants and other creepy-crawlies as, you will be pleased to know, compost/soil is not necessary for some plants to thrive: water will suffice.

The simplest edibles to grow in shallow containers of water placed on a bright – not hot – indoor window ledge are those that can be re-grown from vegetable ‘waste’ with the following being ideal.

The bottom one inch of green onions with a little root intact, the bases of bok choy, celery, garlic, lettuce and onions, all grow, usually quite fast. This makes for a nice crop of tasty greens which are perfect for use in salads, stir fries, omelettes and plenty of other dishes too. The top half inch of a carrot sends up feathery green shoots in a matter of days when placed in a shallow container of water, and these are great for salads, sandwiches, garnish and even in raita. Remember to top up the water regularly and, in the case of spring onions, ensure that they do not fall over.

Growing Your Own Salad Greens

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B Khan, celery, chicory, coriander, cress, crunchy, endive, fresh, Healthy, home-grown, kale, leaf beet, lettuce, mibuna, mizuna, mustard, natural light, organic compost, rocket, salad greens, seeds, spinach, tasty, vegetable, watercress

There is nothing that compares to the fresh, crunchy, taste and texture of home-grown salad greens and this is the perfect time to make a start on growing your own.

Salad greens do not simply mean lettuce: they include a wide and varied range of plants grown purely for their edible leaves and you don’t even need a garden to do this. You can grow salad greens indoors or outdoors – which is great news for apartment dwellers.

Plan Your Winter Garden

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antirrhinums, B Khan, borage, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, chives, compost, containers, endive, Flowers, GARDENING, garlic chives, giant red mustard, growing annual flowers, growing positions, herbs, hollyhocks, lettuce, lovage, mustard mizuna, nature, organic compost, overwater, parsley, petunias, Plan Your Winter Garden, plants, pots, Seedlings, tomatoes, transplanted, Transplanting, vegetables

Planning a colourfully productive winter begins right now for forward thinking gardeners as, despite the heat, there is much to be done.

Start out by taking a long, hard look at the area/s you have available for growing flowers, herbs and vegetables directly in the ground, in pots or other suitable containers on rooftops, balconies and anywhere else you can find space.

Next, decide the kind of artistic impression you desire and the percentages of edible and purely ornamental plants to be grown. Then, head for your local seed seller who should, if prepared, already have a decent selection of offerings in stock.

Slow growing annual flowers (these include popular and versatile petunias, gorgeous antirrhinums and ‘reach-for-the-sky’ hollyhocks) should be started off in seed trays/pots right now.

Sweet Dreams Naturally

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anxiety, Chamomile, chamomile tea, dried lavender flowers, exhaustion, good night’s rest, good sleep, insomnia, late nights, lavender, lavender filled pillows, Leila Mahfooz Barry, lemon juice, lettuce, Magnesium, mild sedative, over eating, party season, popular sleep aid, sleep disorders, sleep quality, social engagements, stiletto heels, winter

Winter is a busy time of the year with social engagements and house guests from abroad adding to the daily grind. All the rushing around and late nights impinge on your sleep and eventually exhaust you. While your commitments may not allow for more than a few hours of sleep, consider using these age old herbal remedies to ensure that whatever little sleep you manage to get is restful and refreshing.

Growing Your Own Greens (And Other Colours) At Home

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chemically-grown backyard pots roof balcony, coriander, digging tool watering can hand bottle-sprayer clay pots crates buckets, fresh healthy vegetables, handful of compost, high nutritive content, learned by observing nature constant experimentation trial error, lettuce, Najma Sadeque, never over water, Ordinary clean soil, original farmers agriculture women, plant-based compost seeds, Plants die drowning, soil compost pots, sow seeds below surface soil, spinach, sprinkled soil

The best way to obtain fresh, healthy vegetables with the highest nutritive content (in these days of chemically-grown ones) and discovering new taste experiences, is to grow your own; whether in your backyard or in pots on the roof or balcony.

It doesn’t take much to get started. Ordinary clean soil, some plant-based compost and seeds, a digging tool, a small watering can or hand bottle-sprayer and some clay pots (all available at nurseries), old crates, buckets or any container with a small hole punctured at the bottom to enable excess water to drain out. Mix equal amounts of soil and compost for pots.

The basic lesson is to sow seeds just below the surface of the soil – not deep down – and never to over water. Plants can die by drowning like people can. The tiniest seeds need only be mixed with a handful of compost and sprinkled over the prepared soil and covered with another light scattering of compost.

Start with something easy and year-round; herbs and leafy vegetables such as coriander, spinach and lettuce are the fastest to grow and are ready for harvest in two months or less.

Different vegetables have varying needs and here the nursery will guide you. Many are seasonal, so pick accordingly. If your first try fails, don’t despair! You will soon get the hang of it. But you don’t need a college course; the best teacher is practice.

Remember, the original farmers who invented settled agriculture were women, and they learned by observing nature, constant experimentation, and trial and error – and by never giving up.

Earth Day will be celebrated on April 22.

— Najma Sadeque
The writer is Director, Green Economics Initiative, Shirkat Gah.

First published in the Adbuzzzz Section of The DAWN National Weekend Advertiser on April 17, 2011.