Marta, the wife of a dedicated South African farmer, was more than content with their small farm’s fruit, vegetable and herb production which kept the family of six completely self-sufficient in fresh, organic food. With seasonal preserving to be done, of course, and the extra produce being sold in the local market, she had but one major complaint: one which her husband initially failed to understand.

“The land, under your expert care, keeps us well fed, Hugo,’ she told him, with thanks, on many occasions ‘but, please, even if just for one season, grow something just for ‘nice’.” By this, she meant something purely to please the eyes and not just the palate.

Fruit, vegetables and herbs all have their own, intrinsic beauty, yet, to Marta, they had come to represent endless hard work. She felt an increasing desire to lose herself in nothing more than ornamental beauty and, a full three years after first voicing her request, it was finally granted when a beaming Hugo arrived home with six, huge Hippeastrum bulbs bursting with glorious life.

Thus it is that having repeatedly pushed you all towards organic fruit, vegetable and herb cultivation — and if I have, at times, been overly harsh then I apologise — we will begin this month with a close look at Marta’s “Something just for nice”.

Fruit, vegetables and herbs are important, yet ornamental flowering plants are good to have around the garden

Hippeastrum, often simply referred to as Amaryllis here in Pakistan, bears glorious, trumpet shaped blooms, flowers mostly in spring but established plants can burst into flower at almost any time of year. It is, especially in our climate, one of the few bulbs with which it is difficult to go wrong: the exception to this being, as with many other plants, overly wet growing conditions do kill.

Before going further, let me quickly explain the difference between Hippeastrum and Amaryllis: both are members of the Amaryllidaceae genus of flowering bulbs, which is why the confusion persists. Hippeastrum are spring, summer or autumn flowering, enjoy full sun or partial shade and can carry up to an incredible 12 flowers per stem which results in a massive splash of, often extremely vibrant, colour. Amaryllis are autumn flowering, prefer partial shade and produce far fewer, often smaller and narrower, blooms with pale pink shades predominating.

Garlic chives in flower, Photos by the writer

The huge, scarlet-red trumpets blazing out here at the moment are not Amaryllis but Hippeastrum.

Having hopefully clarified this point, let’s focus on growing Hippeastrum.

These large bulbs — immature bulbs are naturally smaller — are equally at home in clay pots (one bulb per seven-inch pot), or directly in the ground (six to nine inches apart), where, providing soil / compost is well drained, they will multiply to form clumps. Soil / compost should not be too rich. The bulbs produce many leaves but few flowers in rich soil, doing exactly the opposite in more suitable, medium to poor soil.

The top half of the bulb should always be fully exposed to daylight: this encourages flowering. Water very sparingly, except when in bloom during which period an evening watering, every two to three days, will lengthen the flowering display.

Hippeastrum are increased by off-shoots (baby bulbs that form at the base of the parent bulb) which can be separated off and grown on after they are a year old, though they will not attain flowering size until between three to five years of age. They can also be propagated from spring sown seed. Assorted Hippeastrum bulbs can be found for sale on and off around the year — prices vary tremendously and much depends on if they are a named hybrid. The colour range seems to increase yearly as new hybrids, some of them with double flowers and a few of them perfumed, are introduced. You should easily find the ‘common’ scarlet-red, red-white striped, white and pale pink, with apricots, yellows and purples a little more elusive.

The fact that mature bulbs are flowering now will make your colour selection easy.

Some other ‘Just for nice’ which can be started off from seed this month, include the following: Coreopsis — beautiful when grown amongst gypsophila or white ‘corn cockle’; Gompherena, portulaca, gaillardia, rudbeckia — and do get hold of red and chocolaty brown shades if you can; scabosia and — dare I say it as they do have edible uses too — sunflowers, glorious dwarf, medium, tall, gigantic, yellow, lemon, gold, cream, white, crimson, terracotta, orange, blazing orange, burnt orange, chocolate, single or double sunflowers all the way!

And now — with sincere apologies to Marta — it’s back to this month’s fruit, vegetable and herb department.

Vegetables to sow this month, include: pumpkins — a ‘must have’ and, as some of you are well aware, a favourite of mine not only for their beauty but also for their production capacity. Of pumpkins, along with desi, you should — if you can source seed — try Rouge vif d’Entampe for a Cinderella coach affair and green / silver striped ‘Little dumpling’ if you prefer a meal in one sitting rather than having pumpkin on the daily menu for weeks!

You can go for Butternut squash, climbing spaghetti squash, tinda, loki, tori, cucumbers, cabbage, cauliflower, spinach, Swiss chard / leaf beet, aubergines, capsicums, lettuce and tomatoes to extend your salad days and lots and lots of chillies, the hotter the better. And if you are privy to some Bengali naga mirch then please do share your source as that one just has to be the most mind blowing chilli ever!

Herbs for sowing in March: coriander, basil, borage, summer savoury, calendula, nasturtiums in the shade, chives, garlic chives, chervil, lemon balm, lemon grass, plecanthrus, chamomile and agastache.

Move pots / containers of cool climate herbs such as thymus, oregano, marjoram, lovage, hyssop and lavender, into partial shade where, with care, the perennials amongst them will manage to survive the searingly hot summer to come and annual species will last a little longer before giving up the ghost!

Fruit to start off from seed now includes: sweet melons, water melons and Chinese gooseberries. Additionally, the next time you buy a ripe pineapple, don’t forget to twist — not cut — off its top, balance it with its pointed end just touching water in a clear glass container, wait until it has formed a strong root system and then, paying attention to necessary soil conditions, plant it out and grow your own.

Other jobs in the garden this month, although there are countless more, include:

Continue harvesting, drying and storing selected ‘heritage’ seeds of flowers, vegetables and herbs for sowing next time around.

Finish taking cuttings of shrubs / climbers by mid-month so that they have time to develop roots before the heat arrives in force.

Treat all mature trees, especially fruit trees, shrubs and climbers to a hearty drink of organic, liquid fertiliser: homemade being best and most economical.

Next, apply mulch, two to six inches deep, around trees / shrubs / climbers — not actually touching the trunk / stem please — to help keep their roots cool, reduce the need to water and feed them up to see them through the summer months.

Please continue sending your gardening queries to zahrahnasir@hotmail.com. Remember to include your location. The writer will not respond directly by e-mail. E-mails with attachments will not be opened.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, March 1st, 2015

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