I was hoping you could assist me please. I am looking at growing lime trees for produce in Cape Town.

Do you have any idea if:

a) It is feasible to grow them in Cape Town?

b) What sort of conditions are needed to grow them?

c) What areas in Cape Town would be suitable?

d) What type of Lime Tree to plant?

I would very much appreciate any information you could give me.

Many thanks,

Fern

They work with a company called Reliance in Cape Town.  They get the emissions savings accredited and the resulting carbon credits are sold to companies who wish to reduce their carbon footprint.  This company does similar projects in Brazil, India, Mexico and Egypt, and soon in Ethiopia too.  Cool, huh?

Our list of herbs and vegetables are: coriander, basil, lemon grass, tomato (large, rosa and pomodori), sorrel, lettuce (3 kinds), marjoram, oregano, lavender, rosemary, parsley, mint, spearmint, pennyroyal, lemon thyme, celery, rocket, leeks, spring onion, wild sage, wild rosemary, catnip and comfrey. These take up most of our space, but we’ve saved a patch for indigenous species, which we’ve mostly gotten by taking slips from plants growing in and around Cape Town, on wild patches, roadsides and on walks around The Mountain. Some I can identify, such as the daisy-like Compositaes (or Asteracaes, after ‘aster’, a Greek term for star, which South Africans would recognise in the Afrikaans for star, ‘ster’. English too, come to think of it), and Gazanias, which it turns out also belong to the Asteracae family. It’s a big family, the ‘largest family of vascular plants’ according to the venerable Wiki. We also have a couple different Pelargoniums, bulbines, aloes and a dozen or so vygies (Mesembryanthemacae), arum lilies, clivia and portulacaria (spekboom & co). Others, like the beautiful purple-flowering Question Mark plant which grows en masse in any open space here, I have no clue about (and if anyone can identify it from the photo, I’m all ears).

It’s interesting, getting used to the Cape’s climate, and the fact that it’s pretty much bone dry in summer and utterly wet in winter (as opposed to the Durban cycle, which is roughly opposite). To counteract the baking dry heat of this time of year, I put down a thick layer of mulch. This consists of quite a few layers of wood chips from a municipal garden’s timber yard, and grass clippings from a sports club down the road. Amongst the wood mulch, an Yellowwood (Podocarpus Latifolius) has germinated, as has a Weeping Boerbean (Schotia brachypetala).

It’s early days yet, but I think my first Cape garden is doing alright, thus far.

Travis

(Apologies for the low-quality pics, they had to be taken on my phone)

Does anyone know how / where to recycle / safely dispose of old paint & chemicals, sealants etc. in Cape Town? I use abundance recycling but they don’t take such things….. I’m thinking if I take it with my charity box to Nazareth House they might just chuck in the trash, which is not the point. Help?? (have been googling, only to find “get creative with your old paint and decorate your plant pots” hmmm….)

Marian Park-Ross

Tourism Minister, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, has urged South Africans to vote in the final round of the New 7 Wonders of Nature contest to ensure that Table Mountain makes it onto the final list of the seven natural wonders of the world.

Table Mountain is on a shortlist of 28 natural sites from around the globe competing to be named one of the official New7Wonders of Nature. The final seven wonders will be determined entirely by votes from the public, with the organisers aiming to attract more than 1 billion voters across the globe.

In an effort to support South Africa’s entry in the contest, van Schalkwyk was the first person to use a new sms voting mechanism to vote for Table Mountain’s campaign. He  said that following on from the massive success of the 2010 World Cup, South Africans can now focus on 2011 and a completely different contest, “this is a race that aims to preserve the top seven wonders of nature for future generations and which gives South Africa the opportunity to be written into the history books for thousands of years to come…”

To vote for Table Mountain, fans can either register and vote on the New 7 Wonders site or SMS the word TABLE to 34874. SMSes cost R2 each and voters can vote as often as they like. The voting will continue into next year. The world’s New 7 Wonders of Nature will be announced next year in Switzerland’s capital, Zurich on 11 November 2011. – BuaNews