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~ "The Best of the Best"

aristonorganic

Category Archives: Gardens

Lemongrass

09 Thursday Jun 2016

Posted by Brigid Jackson in Gardens, Green tips, Growing, Health, Herbs, Honey Bee, Organic, Perennials

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Bee, food, garden, green tips, health, honey bee, Insects, Intercropping, Lemongrass, medicinal herb, organic, tea, Whitefly


IMG_20160609_110518_edit

Sweet Pickled Lemongrass

Lemongrass (Cymbopogon Citratus) , are commonly cultivated as culinary and medicinal herbs because of their scent, resembling that of lemons.

Lemongrass is usually planted in home gardens to ward off insects such as whitefly adults. Its cultivation enables growing some vegetables (e.g. tomatoes and broccoli) without applying pesticides. Intercropping should include physical barriers, for citronella roots can take over the field.

Lemongrass is widely used as a culinary herb in Asian cuisine and also as medicinal herb in India. It has a subtle citrus flavor and can be dried and powdered, or used fresh. It is commonly used in teas, soups, and curries. It is also suitable for use with poultry, fish, beef, and seafood. It is often used as a tea in African countries such as Togo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Latin American countries such as Mexico. Lemongrass oil is used as a pesticide and a preservative. Research shows that lemongrass oil has antifungal properties. Despite its ability to repel some insects, such as mosquitoes, its oil is commonly used as a “lure” to attract honey bees. “Lemongrass works conveniently as well as the pheromone created by the honeybee’s Nasonov gland, also known as attractant pheromones. Because of this, lemongrass oil can be used as a lure when trapping swarms or attempting to draw the attention of hived bees.

Health Benefits of Lemongrass Essential Oil

Analgesic, Antidepressant, Antimicrobial and Antibacterial, Anti-pyretic, Antiseptic, Astringent, Carminative, Deodorant, Diuretic, Febrifuge, Fungicidal, Galactogogue, Insecticidaland Nervine.

A Few Words of Caution: It is likely to irritate the skin and produce other types of irritations too. Hence it should be avoided during pregnancy, and kept away from the eyes.

 

Ariston Elemental Organic Garden History – an end of an era

29 Thursday Jan 2015

Posted by Brigid Jackson in Gardens

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Elemental Organic Garden


Application was made to Cape Town City Council in 2001. A ten year lease was granted  in April 2004. This lease has sadly come to an end as the City require the land to build the integrated rapid transport.

Some of the activities over the years have been :

  • Farmer’s Markets
  • Allotment Gardens
  • Gardening workshops
  • Growing wheatgrass, sprouts for the trade
  • Worm farming
  • Mushroom farming
  • Distilling Lavender Hydrolat
  • Honey Bee farming
  • Compost making
  • Community braais.

A very big thank you to everyone for the support.

Ariston Elemental Organic garden will now be located in the serene Murdoch Valley in Simon’s Town.

Ariston Site plan

Ariston Elemental Organic Garden site plan

Vagrants

Vagrants sleeping under the Syringa

Vagrants2

The Fort children watering the new banana

The Fort children watering the new banana

June Fourie planting the Fever Tree kindly donated by Julia Casciola

June Fourie planting the Fever Tree kindly donated by Julia Casciola

Trying to harness the power of the wind to pump water. The wind proved too strong for this.

Trying to harness the power of the wind to pump water. The wind proved too strong for this.

The first Vegetables growing

The first Vegetables growing

An old bath turned into a worm farm

An old bath turned into a worm farm

The view

The view in 2005

Many types of Butterfly have made the garden their home

Many types of Butterfly have made the garden their home

The Cape Dwarf Chameleon on the Lavender

The Cape Dwarf Chameleon on the Lavender

The first Bee hive

The first Bee hive

the first honey harvest

the first honey harvest

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Dog Rose

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Ariston’s “Best of the Best” in Spring

19 Friday Sep 2014

Posted by Brigid Jackson in Cape Town, Gardens

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Cape Town, Flowers, garden, gardening, home grown, nature, organic, plants


Dog Rose on the fence

Dog Rose on the fence

Pots at the end of Dunluce Ave supplied by Alan Dawson Gardens

Pots at the end of Dunluce Ave supplied by Alan Dawson Gardens

Dog Rose

Dog Rose

Bulbs in pots under the Chevron

Bulbs in pots under the Chevron

Lemon tree flowering

Lemon tree flowering

Nasturtiums

Nasturtiums

The Harfielder's bean are flowering

The Harfielder’s bean are flowering

Workshop garden

Workshop garden

the plants in the ZTL garden

the plants in the ZTL garden

Borage growing wild

Borage growing wild

The pajama bush in full flower (Lobostemon)

The pajama bush in full flower (Lobostemon)

Fennel growing wild

Fennel growing wild

Happy in the garden

Happy in the garden

Kirstenbosch and Roundup

02 Tuesday Sep 2014

Posted by Brigid Jackson in Gardens

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

glysphosphate, herbicide, Kirstenbosch, monsanto, Round Up, South Africa


Kirstenbosch, our National Botanical gardens in Cape Town, South Africa, is being sprayed with Round Up.
Round Up is a product of Monsanto, a broad spectrum herbicide with the active ingredient glysphosphate

Sewefontein – 1878

21 Thursday Aug 2014

Posted by Brigid Jackson in compost, Eco Tourism, Flowers, Gardens, South African Endemic

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

environment, farm accommodation, Flowers, garden, Namaqualand, Namaqualand Flowers, nature, photography, plants, Sewefontein, South African endemic plant, swimming pools, water fountains


Sewefontein (1878) is a tranquil Old World farm accommodation located in the heart of Namaqualand.

The farm offers seven fresh water fountains, natural swimming pools in the river, hiking trails, waterfall and canyon, Rock Art, wild flowers, rich animal and bird life.
http://www.nieuwoudtville.com/sewefontein/

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Wordless Wednesday in Namaqualand

20 Wednesday Aug 2014

Posted by Brigid Jackson in Bulbs, Colours, Eco Tourism, Flowers, Gardens, South African Endemic

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

environment, Flowers, garden, Namaqualand, nature, photography, plants, South African endemic plant


Wordless in Namaqualand

Wordless in Namaqualand

Namaqualand Daisies

19 Tuesday Aug 2014

Posted by Brigid Jackson in Colours, Eco Tourism, ecology, Flowers, Gardens

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

environment, Flowers, garden, Namaqualand Daisies, Namaqualand Flowers, nature, photography, Ralph Waldo Emerson, South African endemic plant


Namaqualand Daisies

Namaqualand Daisies

“Nature always wears the colours of the Spirit”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Moon Gardening

12 Tuesday Aug 2014

Posted by Brigid Jackson in gardening tips, Gardens

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

environment, garden, home grown, Moon gardening, plants


Do you Moon garden?

Do you Moon garden?

In ancient times when man had not quite got round to inventing the wristwatch, the most reliable source of telling the time was the sun, moon, and stars. There seems to be several opinions of who came up with the moon planting calendar first. Was it the Egyptians or the Babylonians? It is more than likely that each and every farmer had a planting calendar based on the moon phases, and there would be different variations depending on the geographical location. As their calendars where passed on through the generations they evolved to cover the different crops they tried to grow, and the more productive farming techniques used.

Guide to Moon planting 

The “GREEN” House

27 Sunday Jul 2014

Posted by Brigid Jackson in Cape Town, Flowers, Garden Art, Gardens, Organic, South African Endemic

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Cape Town, flowering plants, Flowers, garden, nursery, organic, plants, shade plants, South African endemic plant, The Green House, traditional garden plants


DSC_0015 DSC_0014 DSC_0018 DSC_0020 DSC_0021 DSC_0022 DSC_0023 DSC_0024 DSC_0026 DSC_0044 DSC_0045 DSC_0046 DSC_0047 DSC_0048The Greenhouse at Montebello is anything but your average commercial nursery. Hidden away in the picturesque Southern suburbs of Cape Town, the Greenhouse is a boutique nursery offering a spectacular array of flowering plants, shade plants and traditional garden plants, arranged in a unique and distinctive style which is at once inspiring and comforting – like taking a walk through an exquisite private garden. The Greenhouse is grown and managed as a completely organic nursery. This means that the ecosystem is in perfect equilibrium encouraging squirrels, frogs and other small creatures to take up residence here.

Mayhem in Ariston

23 Wednesday Jul 2014

Posted by Brigid Jackson in Gardens, Honey Bee, insects

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Bee, garden, Honeybee theft, storm damage, Tree


A huge storm came through last week. The wind blew hard and broke this Syringa tree virtually in half. It fell crushing  the perimeter fence.

this tree has suffered so much damage that it will will now have to be cut down.

this tree has suffered so much damage that I am afraid it is now firewood.

 

I was also devastated to find that we had a robber visit and steal our wild hive of Bees.

These wild bees had made their home in a Tyre which has being lying underneath a pile of wood. All that was left was this empty comb.  They even took the broodcomb

These wild bees had made their home in a Tyre which had being lying underneath a pile of wood. All that was left was this empty comb. They even took the brood-comb. 

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Murdoch Valley South Simon's Town Western Cape South Africa
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“The Best of the Best” Organic Handcream

Ariston Organic “The Best of the Best” Hand Cream is made only from the finest ingredients.

Natural Lavender Hydro-sol

Lavender “Hydro-lat is Mum’s greatest helper”

Lavender Wands

Hand made wands made from fresh Lavender growing in our garden. Available in your choice of color ribbon.

Ariston’s Elemental Organic Gardener’s hand scrub

Ingredients : Olive Oil, Kosher Salt, sugar, Rosemary, Mint, Lemon peel, Fresh Lavender.

Wheat Grass

Order seed or live trays

Sunflower Greens and Seeds

A mere 35 grams of sprouted seeds contains a whopping 22.78 grams of protein!

Red Wrigglers

As long ago as 1881 Charles Darwin wrote:” It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world, as have these lowly organized creatures”

The A to Z of Vegetable Gardening in South Africa

Edible and Medicinal Flowers

Guide to the Aloes of South Africa

People’s Plants

Jane’s Delicious Garden

Cooking and Gardening Projects for Kids

Remarkable Gardens of South Africa

Guide to Succulents of South Africa

Margaret Roberts A to Z of Herbs

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Cape Town Invasive Species

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