TIME TO TAKE IT EASY

At this time of the year we gardeners usually get a chance to sit back and enjoy the fruits or our labour. Apart from watering there is not much to do except for the odd excursion round the garden inspecting the plants and removing the odd dead head on some plant or other.

A few chairs on the patio on a sunny day, a soft drink or two with a few ice cubes and one could enjoy watching the fish darting around the pool and listening to the water splashing from the fountain. Sounds idyllic don't it!

Well unfortunately it doesn't happen here for being the hyperactive creature that I am, the gardening never seems too be completed, and there's always something to be done.

I do stop occasionally and admire something or other, usually one of my new plants that have just flowered for the first time, or maybe it is the antics of some bird or other at the bird table. This week I was kept busy collecting seed. First it was the Lewisias in the greenhouse that needed attention. The seed capsules had ripened and gone unnoticed until the seed started to spill unto the bench. So I had to change the day's plans and harvest the seed immediately. Picking brown seed from the sand plunge with a magnifying glass and a fine pair of tweezers is not really a pleasant job and very uncomfortable on the back.

I was after lunch before I had finished collecting all the seed, writing the labels and putting them all in separate little boxes that I have saved for the purpose. (Film boxes, the type that you get 35mm film in are ideal for storing seed, but you must ensure that the seed is perfectly dry before you put the lid on.) Just as I finished with the Lewisias I discovered that the hardy Cyclamen were performing the same trick and had to be attended to forthwith. The cyclamen seed are much larger than the Lewisias but are covered with a sticky substance which makes them harder to handle, so it took me a full day to collect all the seed from fourteen hundred plants.

The sticky seed are easier to handle if you mix it with a little silver sand and shake for a few moments. Some particles of sand will stick on the seed coat but will do no harm and usually falls away when the seed dries out a little.

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