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Old 31-07-2004, 10:56 AM
Nick Maclaren
 
Posts: n/a
Default Window sill gardening

In article ,
Mark Blewett wrote:

*blush*... I mean 11 feet.


That shows that you are human - on Usenet, only trolls never make
mistakes.

I must admit I've never heard of Feijoa. Doing a quick search
(http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/feijoa.html) seems kind of interesting.


Yes. But I can't speak from any great experience, but signs are good
so far.

But the real question is how hot you keep that room, how much
ventilation it gets and how much sun it gets.


During the summer its a very hot room.. I haven't tracked the temp..
but currently it 28c (21:50 Fri eve).. and thats with the sash windows
open most of today (normally they are fully open when I home, and
closed when I'm not).


Grrk. 30 isn't a problem, 40 can cause trouble for some plants, and
50 is bad news for anything except dry terrain tropicals.

During winter it's a more sensible temperature... but I've never
needed to turn the central heating on in the room.. it's normally 15c+
(maybe a bit less during the night)


Peaches wouldn't like that - they prefer winter chill. You should
concentrate on subtropicals - my experience is that the dry terrain
ones are usually fairly easy, but the humid area ones can be very
tricky.

Sunwise its facing almost exactly south.. there's some trees/bushes
outside to the west, so there's less direct sunlight in the eveing.


Go for plants that thrive in savanna-like climates, and they will
almost certainly do best. That is quite a choice.

I have a kaffir lime
(again from seed, bought as a fruit in Leicester Square, and the
leaves are used in Thai cooking), and can strongly recommend it.


I've just started trying to cook Thai/Malay dishes.. how easy are they
to graw?


Pretty easy. They get attacked by red spider mite and mealybug (what
doesn't), but spraying with soft soap or detergent/meths keeps that
under control. It might be a trifle hot for it in summer, but most
citrus are pretty heat-resistant if there is still some water at
their roots. I.e. you will need a decent-sized pot. And, like most
other citrus, their foliage is attractive.

But citrus don't like overheated or dark conditions.


No chance of dark conditions!.. overheated possibly.


Good. See above about the pot. They can't stand waterlogging, either,
but don't like drying out in hot conditions. Plants that CAN take
that include Strelitzia (bird of paradise), but that is not edible.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.