_{My mom, Hive account@lizziesworld who passed away on the 20th June 2020 joined this blockchain community in June 2017. Her blog posts were never long, but almost every single day for three years, she shared her gardening knowledge, tips and adventures. I have now decided to compile a few of these "snippets" randomly every week and re-share them with all of you on Thursdays... because that was "our day"... as most of you know.}

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LIZZIE'S SNIPPETS No. 3

A weekly gardening blog, with content originally written by and now dedicated to the memory of my beautiful mom.

The kiss of the sun for pardon, The song of the birds for mirth, One is nearer God’s Heart in a garden Than anywhere else on earth. - Dorothy Frances Gurney

Getting more out of your plants

Published May 29th 2019

Yesterday, I was looking at the iceberg roses in my son's garden which were full of blooms and I was explaining to him that he should remove the dead heads in order to promote more roses. Many people do not know this and it applies to most plants.

When the faded blooms are removed, you are telling the plant to make more. If the faded blooms are left on the plants, - then the plant puts its energy into making seed as opposed to flowers. - In other words, once there is nothing left but dead flower heads, these will become seeds and no more blooms will appear. In a nut shell, the plant has finished its cycle for the season.

Obviously, the plant will eventually stop making more blooms despite dead heading as it also knows that the season has come to an end, but one can push just a little further and have a slightly longer season with regular dead heading.

Getting rid of stink bugs in the garden

Published March 29th 2019

We all know how much stink bugs are disliked especially if they get squashed ! - the smell, oh my word, terrible and if you get it on your hands it lingers on despite washing them several times.

They also do damage to tomato and pepper plants and many others and need to be dealt with as soon as possible.

Some years ago, I learnt this little trick to deal with these stinky little bugs and so I thought that I would share it with you. Take an old glass jar and half fill it with water. Into this, pour some sunlight liquid soap - just enough to make a soapy solution. Put the lid on and give it a shake to mix the liquid soap into the water. Then, when you see a stink bug on your plants, simply remove the lid of the jar and hold the jar beneath the area where the stink bug is located - do this carefully.. Now, just tap the plant and the stink bug will immediately fall down and be caught in the jar and fall into the soapy solution where it will die quickly. Replace the lid and keep the jar until you need it again. When the jar has numerous bugs in it, you can then throw the jar away and start again with a new one.

This is a no fuss method and you never have to get your hands in contact with the bug. Some people spray their plants with the soapy solution and this will work as well, however, the soapy water then has to be washed off the plant leaves with clean water as the soapy solution dries out the leaves if left on.

Moringa - the Miracle tree

Published May 1st 2019

I heard about this tree some time ago and all the benefits that are derived from it, so you can imagine my excitement when I saw that it was now available in our garden centers here in the Cape. Yesterday, I purchased one and today I shall be planting it in a container and crossing fingers that I can be successful as this tree grows very fast and very tall, but I am told it will grow in a container.

These trees are grown for their leaves which are one of the most nutritious dense plant foods on the planet. The leaves can be eaten raw or cooked or dried into a powder form - some health outlets have the powder available in a capsule form. Cuttings of the tree are successful or one can plant from seeds that appear on the tree - these very long seeds pods are also edible.

The Moringa tree is also known as the Miracle Tree because of the high nutritional content of the leaves. Apparently, there are many different varieties from various countries in the world, so I am pleased that I have found one that has been grown here.
I am hoping that it will survive our winter rainfall and cold, so am thinking of bringing the container indoors when the weather is beastly. If there is anyone that is growing this tree, I would love to hear any advice available.