Magic Seeder winner

RMan picked one of the 5 replies I had to the giveaway, and the winner is:


Magic Seeder winner

Congratulations Jane!

Please could you drop me an e-mail with your address (dani at ecofootprint dot co dot za), so that I can get the parcel off to you.

Actually - I hate disappointing anyone, so Mr H, tffnguy, RobynK and Mad Dogs and Englishmen, please let me have your addresses too - I'm feeling generous :-) 

I think you are all in the throes of spring, so an ideal time to have a gadget to help you plants those seeds.  And if you can't use it yourselves, perhaps one of your friends could use it?

Paying it forward with a difference...

Update:  Your Magic Seeders were posted off today (30/03/2011) - via airmail.  They should be there within 2 weeks.  RobynK - still no address for you... :-)

It's finally Spring time in Cape Town

The lovely warmer mornings, and days, in Cape Town compel one to get out into the garden and to start weeding, and tidying.  And planting...

So I did just that.

But, to keep RMan occupied because he is always fretting that he needs to get to the farm to do this or finish that, and we just can't just get up and go (this is the start of the business' busy time of year), I suggested that we re-do the tiles in our guest bathroom. They were pretty grotty Biggie Best tiles from the early 1980's.

The start of it all...

He liked the idea - so much so that he started removing them the next morning - a Sunday! (Hope our neighbours aren't too mad at the noise - we did wait until 10.30 a.m.) But with all things renovation-wise what starts out as a simple "we'll re-do the tiles" became a "we're re-doing the whole bathroom"! That meant removing all the wall tiles, and the floor tiles, the basin in it's pedastel cupboard (which was rotting underneath and at the back - chipboard!) and the bath - well, it was tiny, hardly ever used (only by my grandson when he comes to visit) and finally, baths are a waste of water! Who baths these days?

So, the renovation has been proceeding at every available spare moment - but I gained something from the stripping down of the bathroom which I have been able to recycle. Apart from the wall tiles, which are great for the base of all my pots which I plant up, the bath has become one of my veggie patches!  And a raised veggie patch at that :-)

The bricks are for me to sit on whilst I harvest the produce - making it easier on my back.  Also you can see the lettuces on the left growing in the two stainless steel bowls I mentioned in an earlier post.

And I went one step further - because the bath is situated in the one spot that gets sun all year round, and is very hot in summer (my lettuces tend to bolt at the first sign of upper 20's heat) I decided that I would fashion a shade over the bath. All it took was some old irrigation pipe secured to short rods in the ground and covered "tightly" with the shade netting - to prevent our pesky snails from having a nightly munch.

I have left the front of the shadecloth loose so that I can lift it up when I need to get inside - afterwards I secure it with an old dowl type rod / support.

In the bath I placed some some lettuce and chives seedlings which I purchased from a local nursery (for instant "growth"), and sowed carrots and celery in situ (with the aid of my Magic Seeder :-) ), as well as garlic and onions. My hubby is still trying to come to terms with a bath in our back garden, but as he is already eating the produce therefrom he can't really complain. I think (and hope) that it is not as disturbing to his eyes as it was when he first saw it?!

Once I started sowing and planting I couldn't stop.

We are located on a hillside and thus have retaining blocks in our garden. I had previously planted them up with flowering plants - but, hey, they get full sun in summer, so this year they are planted up with corn, dwarf beans, parsley and tomatoes. It took me ages to remove all the soil from each block and mix it with compost and organic pellets (mainly chicken manure from the smell of it) but it was necessary. It gave me time to think of exactly what I was going to plant. Nothing more thought provoking than a good dose of manual labour - all on my own - well, the hubby was (and still is) busy with the bathroom :-)

And to finish it off I cleaned out under some hibiscus trees and sowed some more carrot seeds and planted some turnip and rocket seedlings. I have to cordon off the area as it was a favourite summer afternoon snoozing area for our dog - perhaps that is why I had never thought of using it before?

More carrots to the left, beetroot and rocket

I have also sown broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and turnip seeds in the empty loo roll holders I have been saving all winter - you'd be amazed how many loo roll holders one can save once you start. Sowing seeds in the holders allows one to transplant them straight into the ground when they are large enough, and once they are there they help prevent attack of the roots by cutworm, etc.

This last week I harvested 2kgs of sweet potatoes, which I had grown in a 20lt bucket, two small cabbages, +/- 200gms of peas and too many lettuce leaves to count - not to mention fresh herbs - rosemary, sage, basil, parsely and chives.

I can't explain it but these were amongst the best sweet potatoes we have ever eaten

I love it!!  Salad has never tasted as good!

It took me a full week to complete all of this, and just as I settled back yesterday evening to enjoy the view who popped by but this friendly Robin - almost saying, "Thanks for digging up all these insects, and I like what you've done with the place".

Can you spot him - he's checking out what I've done from the top of the rake

Well, Roger Robin, I like it too - very much!

Magic Seeders and April in Cape Town

Our grandson is coming to visit us for 10 days - he arrives on Monday 29th March.  Can't wait!  Although we Skype him at least once a week, having him here, in person, is what we need - hugs anytime of the day, bedtime stories, answering countless 'why' questions, walks along the beach looking for treasure which may have fallen off passing ships, and for me, getting him into the kitchen to help me prepare the evening meal.  He loves cooking, and at 7 years old, confidentially and happily makes scrambled eggs for breakfast at the weekends.

Also, the timing is perfect, as he can help me plant up my Stack-A-Tub "veggie patch" which should be delivered on the 1st April (available from http://www.growingstacks.co.za/).  I've given up on my veggie patch here in Cape Town as I've discovered that no matter how much compost I add to the beach sand which makes up the soil in our garden, I'm going to lose the battle.  Two years ago I personally dug up approximately 4 mtrs of garden soil to a depth of 1/2 mtr, lined the area with plastic to try and retain whatever water I supplied and to prevent intrusion from the nearby tree roots, and then I worked in 8 bags of compost - last weekend I re-dug the area and discovered that all the compost had sunk down to the plastic.  And the nearby trees had burrowed through the pastic to get at the water!!  Absolutely useless for the vegetables I was trying to grow - no wonder all I succeeded in growing was tomatoes, onions, rocket and carrots.  But at the end of last year I planted some seeding potatoes into deep tubs / buckets and this week we had the first of our baby potatoes!  Absolutely delicious.  We are going to grow potatoes in old tyres on the plot - they will take up less space and be far easier to harvest.  And we will be re-using worn out tyres.  Perfect!

Lemon tree saplings

So I've converted a part of the old veggie patch area to a nursery for the lemon pips which have sprounted into saplings - at last count I have 27!  And two naartjie plants too - only two of the pips which I saved from some delicious naartjies (mandarin oranges) we purchased at Woolies last year took - hopefully the fruit they eventually produce is as good as the original!   It is also housing all the cuttings I've taken -  all of which we want to plant on our plot in Rietkuil.

What I did with the pips was to save them in a half shell of lemon peel (to keep them moist), and which I stored in the fridge for a week.  Then I planted them in some potting soil and ensured that the soil stayed damp.  Lo! and behold! green shoots started appearing about 7 weeks later!!  Very chuffed I am too!  Patience is the key - and keeping the soil moist.

I have recently been awarded the distrbution rights for Southern Africa for the Magic Seeder - a seed dispersing tool which facilitates the control and sowing of seeds smaller than 2mm. This seed dispenser is unique in this country. It won the award for Best New Retail product at the 2004 South West Regional Growers Show in England.

The Magic Seeder

It is an established horticultural product, used by the Royal Horticultural Society, and which, with just a bit of practice, is simple to use and is an efficient hand held seed dispenser.

For more information, please click on The Magic Seeder page at the top of this blog.  And if anyone would like to purchase one, please contact me via e-mail at dani (@) ecofootprint (dot) co (dot) za.

It really does work well!