elderberry – Gardens Botswana

After all the rains, March has started to a beautiful cool spell of overcast weather with spells of sunshine, and a light drizzle the other morning. You can almost feel winter in the air, the mornings are cooler and with all the greenery everywhere I find this month magical.

In the Indigenous garden, almost everything has finished fruiting, and remaining Mmilos are drying on the branches. All except for the Grewias, Morojwas and Bridelia mollis. They are about to come into their own now, and will bring a deluge of barbets, bulbuls, mousebirds and a variety of others too. This morning a lovely White Breasted Robin Chat sang from in the branches of an African wattle and its moments like these that really transform the garden into a place of delight and discovery. Commelinas, Tephrosias, Hibiscus, Hermbstaedtias, Chamaecrista, Grasses, Waltherias, Oxalis and Lantana are all flowering at the moment. Weavers have put their nest for the first time in a Weeping Boer Bean, and most trees are doing really well, although they have to fend off a deluge of grasshoppers and locusts this year.

In the Garden, some new Phalaenopsis orchids are flowering, Verbena, Impatiens, Canna, Clerodendron, Odontonema strictum, Dutchman’s pipe, Aloes and Ruellia brittoniana.

In the Veg garden the sweet potatoes are doing well, Sorrel, Fennel, Peanuts, Maize, Sunflower, and wild Okra are all doing well.

In the Fruit garden, the Custard apples have fully recovered from the frost setback last winter, all prunus – plums peach etc are doing really well, the White Sapote trees, Mulberries, Elderberry, Natal plum, Kei Apple, and Pachira nuts have all grown inches higher in the wet weather. Mangos and Avos too. The lemon tree has about 20 lemons ripening on it at the moment, and the Pepinos have fended off the spider mites and mealybugs that had started in the drier weather. Marulas are ripe and causing a frenzy around the neighbourhood. When I have time I make a bunch into jelly – it’s really easy and tastes delicious!

In the Herb garden the feverfew is flowering, the oregano, gotu kola, nasturtiums are all still thriving.

I think I’m cheating and choosing just the cloudy days to create these posts… but what an incredible rainy season we’re having in the Gaborone area! 70mm to bring in the new year and then another 18mm a couple of days ago; 2mm & 5mm. I’ve never really had to de-junglerize my garden before, but pathways are little more than guesswork now beneath the swathes of plants. Now to end this month off a further 23mm, 5mm, 25mm, 39mm. Amazing!

In the Indigenous garden, the Mmilos are still green, getting larger and juicier; the Grewias have yielded some ripe fruit but largely they’re green too. All the trees, including the wild gardenia, cassia abbreviata and kudu berry which normally struggle a little bit have sprung to life and are sending out new branches. I planted a few marama beans around the yard in the sandier spots to mimic the conditions of further north in the Kalahari where I got the seeds from, and they have sprouted and seem to be liking where I’ve put them for the moment. A few wild cucumber vines have been fruiting, plus a new type I haven’t seen before, which I think is Kedrostis foetidissima.

Foxglove and hibiscuses are in full flower, their tall stems surrounded by a sea of flowering grasses, which is really unusual for January.

In the Fruit garden, the peaches are almost ripe, and the Elder is fruiting for the first time. I’d never tried the fruit before, but it tastes very similar to the garden huckleberry. Pomegranates are ripening, lemons too, and the Buddha’s hand is still flowering off and on.

In the Herb garden, this rainy weather is good for most of the herbs, but rosemary, thyme and sage appear not to be doing so well, whereas catmint, fennel and gotu kola are exploding with growth.

In the Vegetable garden, I have grown peanuts from seed from the first time, and now they’re flowering. Absolutely beautiful. Being nervous on how they’d do, I started them in a pot instead of in a mound of soil in the ground, and so they probably won’t yield lots of peanuts, but I got to see it grow which was lovely.

In the Garden, a new plant that I’ve grown from seed has just started to flower and wow was I disappointed. Verbena bonariensis looks glorious in UK gardens, but the one in my garden looks like a weed. However with the increased shade from all the rains it’s probably in the wrong position, so I will persevere. A couple of the dahlias did really well, but a few got spider mite too. All the begonias are still flowering, a small orchid from Spar is still flowering, the Petunias from Builders warehouse were too irresistably beautiful and are still flowering, and the roses are bursting into bloom at odd intervals. I also got a carnivorous Saracenia plant from Spar, which I’ve never grown before, so will see how that does too.

For a green manure, I managed to grow some sunhemp, which has normally bolted or died in our usual super hot conditions, but in this rainy weather it is doing really well.

Gardens Botswana

Gardening & Landscaping in Botswana

Tag Archives: elderberry

March 2021

January 2021

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