New Year Post: International Year Events 2017 & Garden Update

Usually with the New Year’s post I feature the UN ‘international year of’ theme. This year the theme is Sustainable Tourism for Development – aaannndd, I had no idea how to relate that to gardening. So let’s take a quick look at the key features of this year as per the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the UN:

“SDG 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all;

SDG 12: Sustainable Consumption and Production and

SDG 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.”

So I found these a bit vague 😩, but the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) website has provided a bit more clarity on the matter:

“The #IY2017 will promote tourism’s role in the following five key areas:

(1)        Inclusive and sustainable economic growth
(2)        Social inclusiveness, employment and poverty reduction
(3)        Resource efficiency, environmental protection and climate change
(4)        Cultural values, diversity and heritage
(5)        Mutual understanding, peace and security”

I am also disappointed at the infographics and promotional stuff for this year - most of the stuff is in PDF format which does not embed properly in blogger. Instead here is the link to some of the UNWTO fact sheets. Then I had a brain wave 😎. I have been to two of the National Botanical Gardens of South Africa as well as the Montreal Botanical Garden in Canada. Seeing that these would fall under the key areas of 3 & 4 I thought I would share some of the photos I took while visiting these. Each is spectacular in their own right as they cover different biomes and natural habitats. Here they are:

Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens (Witwatersrand, South Africa)

Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden, South Africa
Highveld Biome
2014

Woohoo! Panorama 😂 (oh hello and the new blogger update has given us symbols and emoji ! - welcome to 2017 Google Blogger!). For now on expect copious amounts of them! 😈 Anyways, here I tried to give the general impression of our highveld biome, which is classified as a savannah grassland (sparse trees in a open flat grassland). Walter Sisulu also sports a waterfall!

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden (Cape Town, South Africa)

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, South Africa
Fynbos Biome
2011

Kirstenbosch is a lot more lush, since they have a milder climate than the highveld and aren't to far from the coast which means the area is fairly humid. The fynbos biome is unique to the Western Cape, which includes a lot of plants from the Ericaceae family. The fynbos is well known for its Proteas (right bottom is the Pincushion Protea).

Montreal Botanical Garden (Quebec, Canada)

I was very fortunate to be afforded the opportunity to go to Canada to present some of my scientific work at a conference there. We had a day off from science and I took the chance to visit the Botanical Gardens (it was so worth it! 😄).

Montreal Botanical Garden
Entrance
2016

This is the entrance area - I would say that the Montreal Botanical Garden is twice (maybe three?) times the size of ours. It is huge - I spent a whole day here and I didn't walk all the way through. They had a fantastic Insectarium (unfortunately all the photos are very dark and low quality)... 😞

Montreal Botanical Garden
Biodiversity Centre
2016

Not too far from the entrance is a large glasshouse where each section has exact climate control to promote the growth of biome-specific plants. I remember as you walk into a new section you can feel the temperature and humidity changes as well as all the wonderful plant and soil smells! Top left is the epiphyte section (air plants), very humid and hot. Top right is the tropical and spices section. Bottom left is the arid biome and on the right is the bonsai section... I could meditate in there the whole day 😌

Montreal Botanical Garden
Japanese Gardens
2016

Beautiful! Oh, goodness - happy times 💖 This is across the walkway next to the rose gardens (I no took photos of rose garden... had to prioritise sections and I am not a big fan of roses anyways...). And the Canadian air is so clean! You literally smell the fresh air when you get off the plane! Makes for very clear sky pictures too! Bottom left is the Japanese Tea Garden - another place to sit in the whole day.

Montreal Botanical Gardens
Food, Monastery and Alpine gardens
2016

Lastly. I included the squash vertical garden (left) as well as the Monastery garden (herbs) and the native Montreal Alpine Biome garden. I quite like the rocky, low growing look of the Alpine garden. After all these gorgeous pictures, I am afraid the rest of the post will seem a bit, meh... 😊

Garden Update

The garden had experienced some lingering effects of the drought we have had for the last two seasons. Some of the plots remain bare in the main garden, but the garden in the vegetable cage is doing really well. I moved the squash back into the vegetable cage (since the main garden was mostly planted with tomatoes, carrot and beet) and they are looking fantastic – hopefully we’ll be able to keep the fruit flies off of them this way too. 

Left is the main garden (top) and insectary (bottom).
Right is the vegetable cage (top) and alfalfa with dodder infestation (bottom).

Most of South Africa has seen a good deal of rain since November, but Roodepoort hadn’t seen much. I think we received the best Christmas gift because since the 24th we have had rain on an off with long stretches of overcast weather– maybe the illusive “La Nina” has finally started? (Read more at The Shoom's Weather report 2015/2016).

Furthermore, the alfalfa (lucerne) patch we started way back in 2013 has grown beyond its initial designated bed and is slowly spreading outwards. The chickens graze on them during the summer and do not care so much for them, but come winter they chickens eat them to the ground – which was the idea since the alfalfa is high in protein (18%) as a supplement for the chickens since insects are scarce in winter. The alfalfa has been mostly looking after themselves, we had to water them during the drought to prevent all of them dying and now it seems the dodder (Cuscuta species) have decided to move into the patch. Dodder is a parasitic plant (that’s why they are yellow, they have no chlorophyll and cannot photosynthesise)  that quickly engulfs whole areas of plants in a yellow tangled mass that reminds me of the ‘Red Weed’ from Wars of the World. I have found that the only way to get rid of it is to cut the host plant to the ground and then chuck the infested leaves on a bare area of soil in the sun (no plants close by) and to let it die there. Some dodder biology below - what a insult: "You're such a Dodder!" LOL! 😅

Dodder (Cuscata species) biology

Other updates include as I mentioned with my B-day post that I will be posting once a month now so that I remain sane as I move towards the seemingly endless stretch of finalising my PhD. The blog holiday was a well needed break, since I have come up with a whole list of new post concepts for the next year. As per usual - stay tuned for more ramblings and garden shenanigans as Roots ‘n’ Shoots moves into its 5th year of article postings!

TTFN

Ta – Ta For Now!

The Shroom

Previous related posts:

Want to see what it looked like last year (2015)? See: New Year Post 2016 & Garden Updates

Want to see what it looked like in 2014? See: New Year Post 2015 & Garden Updates

Want to see what it looked like in 2013? See: New Year Post & Garden Updates 2014

Want to see what it looked like originally? See: About: This Blog


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Please share with fellow gardening enthusiasts via the various sharing buttons at the end of posts/pages! Else you can vote for posts through the Google reactions bar at the end of articles. To stay up to date I have provided several reader and social networking platforms with which to subscribe: Twitter, Pinterest, RSS Feed Reader or Email/Follow directly using the Blog Followers or Follow Your Way widget on the left hand side toolbar. Thank you for reading and please feel free to ask if questions arise - I appreciate comments and ideas too! 😆

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When Termites Fly... cues from Nature

Flight of the Northern Harvester Termite
(Rysmier)
Hodotermes mossambicus
- not the best picture, but the camera doesn't see them LOL! -

"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished" , is a quote from Lao Tzu (Loazi), the author of the I-Ching (Tao Te Ching) and the philosophy of Taoism. I thought that it was especially fitting considering that as vegetable gardeners we are very aware of the seasons  and what this means for our crops each year (farmers even more so). If crops do not enter the soil at a specific time then crop yields are impacted or no crops are available at all. It is not just a matter of the time required for a crop to come into production for timely harvest, but also the amount of water content available in the soil and water table that influences how well crops grow or if they grow at all.

Alates (reproductives) and Soldiers
[You can click on the picture to enlarge]

- the one on the right took a bit of a nose dive upon lift off, they're not the best fliers :)  -

I think that we get swept up (as we do in most of our daily lives) with the time at which things 'need' to be done. With the threat of another drought looming for this year most of us are very concerned about when it will rain in order for us to get food production season going. Roodepoort had received a total of 47 mm of rain during the period of 7-23 October. On the 22^nd the future kings and queens of the termites took to the sky in their masses. Their brief nuptial flight postponed (along with this year's sowing plans) by the late coming of the rain. I remember that they used to fly a lot earlier in the year with the coming of good rain, usually early September. Just short of two months past their due date, a good stretch of rain had triggered their annual cycle once again and ensured the establishment and maintenance of the next generation.

It's a war!
The ants have stormed the termite stronghold!
You can see the termite soldiers trying to fend off both ant workers and soldiers!
Alas termite alates are being captured!

[You can click on the picture to enlarge]

Termite swarming also means opportunity for food. All manner of predator take full advantage of the sudden oversupply and swoop, mob, peck and carry away countless prey. The swallows and bats are the most prominent predators to intercept the termites by wing. Flocks of swallows feast on the early fliers when there is still enough light in the sky, whereas bats take the night shift and any remaining fliers that emerge after dusk. Predatory insects also capture any victims who stray too close and other night time predators collect the now-wingless reproductives from the ground. Some stragglers are still left the next morning when early birds peck them up from the paving and roads.

Termite victims taken to the ant nest.
On the one side I feel bad for the termites,
but the ants have been so desperate lately (they're all over the kitchen!) and
this food will go a long way.

[You can click on the picture to enlarge]

Seeing the whole familiar scenario unfold once more was quite humbling. Taking some cues from nature in the sense that our vegetables will be planted and crop harvested. The produce may not be as bountiful or timely as we would like, but everything happens in its own time and life carries on.

oOo

Some scientific details to supplement my somewhat philosophical piece 

Termites make up their own order, Isoptera. They are not related to ants (from the order Hymenoptera), since they do not have constricted waists or elbowed antennae. The most common species in Gauteng is the Northern Harvester Termite (Afrikaans: Rysmier, translation: "rice ant"), Hodotermes mossambicus. They are not dry-wood termite and, as such they feed on grasses and twigs. They are ubiquitous and form large underground colonies even in very urbanised areas. Parent colonies release eyed, flying reproductives (alates) at dusk after a period of heavy rain. They fly a short distance, fall to the ground and detach their wings. Females produce pheromones to attract males. The pair burrow into suitable substrate and a new colony becomes established after egg laying. New colonies will only produce reproductives in a few years, but once established colonies can last for centuries.

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If you enjoy the content please share with fellow gardening enthusiasts via the various sharing buttons at the end of posts/pages! Else you can vote for posts through the Google reactions bar at the end of articles. To stay up to date I have provided several reader and social networking platforms with which to subscribe: Twitter, Pinterest, RSS Feed Reader or Email/Follow directly using the Blog Followers or Follow Your Way widget on the left hand side toolbar. Thank you for reading and please feel free to ask if questions arise - I appreciate comments and ideas too! 
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Calamondin: How to Grow – Fruit of the Month

Calamondin stats/requirements at a glance

Ease of Raising:	3/5	Bi-weekly check-ups
Water:	3-4/5	Every 2nd day to Daily
Sun:	5/5	Full sun
Training:	3/5	Some, pinching out growth or flowers
Fertilise/Feeding:	3/5	Moderate, monthly
Time to Harvest:	5/5	Forever, 5+ months
Frost Hardiness:	4/4	Very hardy, can’t cope with black frost
Uses		Culinary
Most Problematic Nemesis:		Caterpillars
Container Plant:		Yes, ideal for containers

Kumquat
Citrus japonica
Flora Japonica 1870
Kurt Stober's Online Library

Quick intro

The calamondin is a citrus hybrid bred for frost hardiness. It is a truly fantastic member of the citrus family and is a joy to have in the garden. The little sour fruits make excellent additions to jams, jellies and marmalade (or to eat if you like sours ).

History

Not much information is available for the plant from a historic perspective… Its origin is in China and was first introduced to the US in the 1900s and largest cultivations occur in the Philippines.

Science Stuff

The citrus and its hybrids belong to the Rutaceae family, which includes roses, raspberries, and blackberries. The calamondin is a Citrofortunella, an intergenic hybrid between the tangerine (Citrus tangerina) and kumquat (Citrus japonica). Its exact taxonomic placement and species name are still under investigation; as such it sports multiple scientific names (Citrofortunella mitis, Citrofortunella microcarpa or Citrus madurensis) and common names (calamonding, calamondin orange, calamansi, calamandarin, Philippine lime, Panama orange, Chinese orange, musk orange and acid orange). 

Calamondin flower buds
Citrofortunella mitis or C. microcarpa

Growing Calamondins

Most citrus grow well in Mediterranean-type or subtropical climates, they do not fare well in very humid climates and will require additional watering in more arid environments. The increased frost hardiness and moderate drought-tolerance of the calamondin (and other Citrofortunella) is a big advantage in arid or inland regions that are prone to frost.

The plant produces new growth in spring followed by flowers. The fruit develop and remain green for most of the year and all the fruits will ripen towards late winter for one large batch of calamondin fruits. Once the tree has acclimated and established in the garden it is a decent producer, ours produced a kilogram worth of calamondins last winter.

Calamondin flower
Citrofortunella mitis or C. microcarpa

You can fertilise the citrus about once a month or when the water in the pot saucer runs clear (this is usually a good indication for some fertilisation, because brown pot water is indicative of nutrients in the water). Some minimal pruning will be needed to keep the general shape, clear out dead or damaged parts and to promote new growth.  

Pests and disease

Citrus swallowtail caterpillars can be a problem – just be on the lookout for black and orange caterpillars on your plant, they will eat both leaves and fruit rinds. You can dispose of them or collect them to feed for the birds or chickens! Here is my full Pest Profile on this caterpillar (and some others).

Citrus Swallowtail Caterpillars (immatures)
Papillo demodocus

Other Calamondin Tips

I grow a ginger mint in the same pot as the calamondin – it was a bit of an experiment to see whether the scale (or their ant farmers) would want to be in a pot full of strong smelling mint. I haven’t had any scale problems on the calamondin thus far, whether this is because of the mint or the resistance of the plant I am not sure, but I thought it would be worth the mention .

Harvesting & Storing

The plants produce perfect and imperfect flowers which have a lovely strong aroma. The fruits are harvested once fully coloured (light orange) and we eat them peel on, but the peels come off very easily. The rind can be bitter and the fruit is more sour than sweet and they have a very aromatic flavour to them akin to the flower, making them ideal for adding flavour to desserts (icing). The fruits will keep for a while (about two weeks) once picked, but it is better to leave them on the plant until needed and picked well before spring. 

Calamondin fruits from development to harvest
Citrofortunella mitis or C. microcarpa

Propagation

The calamondin as most other citrus can be propagated through grafting or cuttings in spring and autumn. Seeds can be unpredictable and some take up to a month to germinate – I am not sure whether the calamondin seeds will be fertile considering that they are a hybrid.

My Calamondin

My calamondin has been in the garden for two years now, producing flowers and fruits during its first spring. It produced a handful of fruits and followed the second season with nearly 1 kilogram of fruits which were used to make a mixed citrus marmalade. It is a very easy going plant and when in flowers it fills the garden with its amazing smell. 

Calamondin tree

Citrofortunella mitis or C. microcarpa

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Please share with fellow gardening enthusiasts via the various sharing buttons at the end of posts/pages! Else you can vote for posts through the Google reactions bar at the end of articles. To stay up to date I have provided several reader and social networking platforms with which to subscribe: Twitter, Pinterest, RSS Feed Reader or Email/Follow directly using the Blog Followers widget on the left hand side toolbar. Thank you for reading and please feel free to ask if questions arise - I appreciate comments and ideas too! 😆

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Roots 'n' Shoots: Birthday (Blogiversary) Post #5

Moldava stamp
Amanita muscaria
1996
Wikimedia Commons

... *Drum rolls please* ...

Roots 'n' Shoots has been up and running for 5 years! I started the blog waaayy back in 2011 when I was still a neophyte with regards to gardening - the vegetable garden had started in the backyard a year before. I decided that the South African gardening community (especially those in the High Veld biome) should have an information central that gives clear and comprehensive how-to's on gardening (also including information that you 'pick up' as you go, which many books fail to record as well as any other practical hints and tips). Since the blog's initiation I have been writing this special edition birthday post (or blogiversary... well B-day works either way! LOL!) in which I just blab out whatever comes to mind, rant and rave about whatever is problematic at the time (either in the garden or the blogosphere) and if it ends up being a whole bunch of non-informative hogwash then so be it! Bwah ha ha!

The year has been very hard on the garden, I can see it in the way the plant respond to the change in seasons and their growth.  As the year was moving towards the end of summer all of the plants went into their Autumn phase a lot sooner. The El Nino was hard on the insect population too and I think that a lot of the coming season will probably go towards the re-establishment of the plants and insects. I lost a few plants, some not as important as others, but I do have a sneaky feeling that the Apricot and Tamarillos have perished - not due to a lack of watering from my side... I just noticed that around the same time the other plants went into the early Autumn phase, the Apricot and the Tamarillos seemed to have given up the fight. I wasn't too concerned about the Apricot as it had always been a bit sickly, but it was a shame to see the Tamarillos go, but at least I had the good sense to save some of their seed each year - so I'll start on the new seedlings this season.

Tamarillo flowers
Solanum betaceum

I had to do some serious maintenance during mid-winter, the garden had a lot of dead and not-so-healthy plant material to get rid of.  The Nectarine and Peach are looking fantastic as I removed all their blooms last season in preparation for the El Nino - so that they focus on getting through the summer and conserve energy for next seasons fruit production. The blooms on them are a bit earlier this year than I'd like (especially during our windy and frost month!), but I am hoping that they set fruit before any bad weather and being under the shade netting will also protect them. I can see signs of spring in the other plants too; the comfrey is coming back from its dormancy, the solitary bees have joined the honey bees at the basil flowers and the previous season's clover seeds are sprouting. This prompted me to do some good all round fertilisation of the garden with slow release and liquid feed to give the plants a good boost for the coming season. I will be planting a bit later this year as I am going to be overseas on training for the next month and will only start planting once I am back. Until then the copious amounts of homemade compost will be sitting on the garden beds, ready to be directly sown into once I am back.

Nectarine (Sunlight) Blooms
Prunus persica var. nucipersica

I want to re-organise the way I do blog posting, especially seeing as I have taken up new hobbies as well as having revived old ones. I just find that lately I feel like a slave to my computer - I am in my 'data analysis' stage of my studies, which means a lot of computer work. Then the last thing I want is to be in front of the computer over the weekend, which means that my blog posts tend to lag behind (and me feeling like a bad blogger...). I still enjoy posting, but my eyes and wrists generally want nothing to do with computers over weekends so much so that I often end up with headaches and sore hands (regardless of the fact that I do have an egronomic keyboard, mouse and chair!). So blog posting need a re-organise and I am still working out some of the kinks... Also I want to revisit some of my older posts, even though I loathe repetition, there are a few fruit and vegetables that I have improved on growing, but have already been covered. So I was thinking about rewriting the entire post (80% of information will likely remain the same) and adding new photos. Definitely new photos, some of the older posts' photos make me twitch - not that they're terrible, but I have become a better photographer since (upgrade in equipment also helps); not to mention a better writer as well.

Alright I think I am just about fresh out of nonsense... my luggage is literally standing in the doorway and I am flying out tonight (~30 hours & 2 stop-overs! Yikes!) - I will reply to all comments once I am back again :)  and I'll get up to speed with the blog, garden and life in general! Stay tuned for another year of gardening adventures and advise; here on Roots 'n' Shoots!

Lastly; a shout-out to all my readers! Roots 'n' Shoots would not have grown to its current size without your support! Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts!

TTFN: Ta-Ta For Now!

- Me Out -


Related Posts:

B-Post 1#
B-post 2#
B-post 3#
B-post 4#

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If you enjoy the content please share with fellow gardening enthusiasts via the various sharing buttons at the end of posts/pages! Else you can vote for posts through the Google reactions bar at the end of articles. To stay up to date I have provided several reader and social networking platforms with which to subscribe: Twitter, Pinterest, RSS Feed Reader or Email/Follow directly using the Blog Followers or Follow Your Way widget on the left hand side toolbar. Thank you for reading and please feel free to ask if questions arise - I appreciate comments and ideas too! 
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The Shroom’s Weather Report 2015/2016

*Cue music*

… da da da dum dum…

*Serious reporting voice*… Good morning and welcome to The Shroom’s annual weather report for the period of July 2015-2016.

Since the establishment of a mechanical weather monitoring system at The Shroom’s vegetable garden premises during July 2013; several observations of extreme weather have been made and empirical data collected of these events with regards to precipitation (mm) and temperature (^oC).

Weekly temperature data was collected of maximum daytime temperatures during the peak hours from 11h00 to 13h00 and precipitation was measured in mm, or more accurately, the amount of rainfall in millimetres on a flat surface.

The results were as follows...


*Ahem*

I have been tallying the temperature and rainfall of the vegetable garden for three seasons! I will summarise here the average monthly temperature and rainfall for the past season (2015/16) as well as making comparisons to the previous two (2013/14 and 2014/15).

Hailstorms were a massive problem this year as well as very hot weather with irregular rainfall:

1) The rainfall was on time (September), which gave us hope for the growing season but soon dried up for October-November, which resulted in plant loss as well as the rainwater tanks reaching 30% - Yikes!!

2) Droughts were widespread and severe throughout the country leading to loss of crops and animals, including little to no production from our own summer vegetable garden. See my Gardening lessons from Drought post.

3) Winter is still too warm for winter vegetables, but some smarter plantings resulted in an improved harvest for the winter garden.


Here are the graphs on average (mean) temperature and rainfall as well as a discussion about some of the problem areas for the year.

Temperatures overall were a lot higher than usual, especially for the Aug-Dec period. This resulted in quick initial growth of the garden, but come Oct-Dec all the plants were suffering due to the heat. Crops were poor and coupled with no rain resulted in mostly hand-watering, which only provided enough water to survive not thrive. At least we had loads of tomatoes! April was warmer than last year (which was already 5^oC higher than 2014), May saw a drop (and us being more hopeful for a colder winter) but alas June temperatures are even warmer than last year. This is reflected in the growth of the winter garden = lots of initial good growth, stagnation and no crops… only beans, which can grow well in larger temperature ranges and planting the leaves in the shade resulted in some leafy crops as well. No peas, no broccoli, cauliflower or any other cabbages are cropping properly, in fact they have all stagnated and remained small immature plants.

Despite the fact that the rainfall tally this year is 709 mm (17.5% more than expected average of 600 mm p.a; where 2015 was 594.3 mm and we had 877.5 mm in 2014) its dispersal was atrocious. We had good rain in Sep, alarmingly less rain in Oct & Nov. The rain dump in March mostly went to filling the rain tanks as no vegetables are active during this time and a very late (yet welcome) rain in May have skewed the rain measurements for this season. Read more on the specific impact of the rain distribution in my Gardening lessons from Drought post.

If the extreme temperature and lack of rain during crucial growing seasons weren’t bad enough a freak hailstorm on the 9th of January decimated my vegetable garden as well as causing structural damage to my vegetable cage. Read more on my Gardening lessons from Drought post for the full story.

The investment in rainwater tanks was well placed, especially during this drought year since we did not only use it for the garden. Thankfully the El Niño system has started to dismantle and we surely hope for improved weather conditions during the next season.

After keen weather watching for three seasons we can summarise observations as follows: floods in 2014, dust in 2015 and droughts in 2016 - what will our crazy and unpredictable weather throw next at the backyard gardeners of South Africa? Well, you will have to stay tuned for another update next year!


*Serious reporting voice*
…Keep well and good night…

Related Post:

Drought Gardening Lessons from El Nino
Winter Blues Wires cross & signals lost 2015

Season Lore For the Southern Hemisphere
South Africa Climate & Hardiness Zones  

The Shroom's Weather Report 2014/2015
The Shroom's Weather Report 2013/2014


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Please share with fellow gardening enthusiasts via the various sharing buttons at the end of posts/pages! Else you can vote for posts through the Google reactions bar at the end of articles. To stay up to date I have provided several reader and social networking platforms with which to subscribe: Twitter, Pinterest, RSS Feed Reader or Email/Follow directly using the Blog Followers widget on the left hand side toolbar. Thank you for reading and please feel free to ask if questions arise - I appreciate comments and ideas too! 😆

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