Yours in Green

Yours in Green is a garden blog for not-so-green thumbs and keen gardeners alike. It's written in layman’s terms with a dash of humour thrown in.

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Posts with Tag: blooming

30 March 2011 ,15:27 African violets

By Jody Rigby

I can't resist an African violet in flower. The lure of those crystalline petals, the soft frilly margins and the unadulterated hues of girlie pinks and purples. They are after all the perfect window sill plant, rewarding us with a great display of colour for a well lit position inside.

You may notice they are potted into a very water-holding, peaty mix. This is because they like to stay moist. Moist but not wet, so the best set up is with them sitting on a saucer of water and allowing them to absorb from the base up. I've even seen 'wick' systems where a wick is placed into the soil and comes out of one of the drainage holes to then absorb water as needed. Quite simple but ingenious.

African violets or Saintpaulias (their botanic name) are often cast away after flowering or allowed to dry out, resulting in an unhappy plant. But with a little tlc you should have them blooming often. Keep them out of breezes, keep them moist during the hotter months and you can drop that back a little over winter and of course to keep the blooms coming, use a liquid fertiliser like the popular Ken Rose food. With the amazing singles, doubles and even tie-dye on the market now its hard to stop at just one.

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Jody Rigby
Jody Rigby is a well-known horticulturist and TV presenter.

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A constant learning curve, gardening is all about trial and error. Knowledge grows from sharing information between friends, passing down through generations, or just getting it wrong a few times before you get it right. It's about getting grubby outside and aching from digging too much, but then feeling that fall away when you get your first flower or prize fruit off a new tree... and getting so excited you need to tell everyone.

Yours in Green is everything I’ve learnt so far - what to do when, how to do it right the first time, and of course, some frustrations along the way and how to remedy them.

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