Autumn Gardening Tips

As the seasons change and the air becomes crisp and cool, we tend to move towards habits of hibernation; more time indoors, warm clothes, hot drinks, fires, and our gardens are forgotten. But this is the time to get a head start for Spring by planting the last plants for the season it gets too cold.

Most plants, except those that are susceptible to frost and / or are flowering in autumn, can be planted. With the peak of heat behind us, the promise of good rains ahead and still-warm soil, deep and immediate root growth will occur in the newly planted plants.

Be sure to also feed your existing garden, your lawn, pot plants and new plants with a good fertilization program over the next 2 months, focusing specifically on root growth eg: (2:3:4). This will ensure that your plants are strong, are not susceptible to root rot and are ready in time for rebirth in Spring.

Night sky tidbits - Orbits

Many of us spend a large amount of time outdoors, camping and holidaying and perhaps look up at the night skies, identifying stars and constellations.

How many times have you spotted a satellite traveling across the night sky, but never given thought to these technological contraptions that form an integral part in our modern day lives?

Over the next few newsletters we will bring you little tidbits of interesting information, for you to add to your knowledge base (that will inevitably be tested by your 7 year old inquisitive son or daughter).

When talking about an orbit, one usually thinks of the earths' orbit around the sun or a satellites' orbit around the earth, but this is not the only orbit classified by scientists:

Orbit name	Description	Example
Galactocentric orbit	An orbit about the center of a galaxy	The Sun about the galactic center of the Milky Way
Heliocentric orbit	An orbit around the Sun	All planets, comets, and asteroids, many artificial satellites and pieces of space debris.
Geocentric orbit	An orbit around the planet Earth	Moon or artificial satellites
Lunar / Selenocentric orbit	An orbit around the Earths' moon	Artificial satellites
Areocentric orbit	An orbit around the planet Mars	Mars' moons or artificial satellites

Interesting Fact:
It is estimated that there are over 2,465 artificial satellites orbiting the Earth currently.

Source: Wikipedia

Going natural for house cleaning products

Have we been brainwashed into believing that chemical cleaning products are the only ones that work? What happened to great-grandma's tried-and-tested methods?

Look no further - no more chemical cleaning products needed! All one needs is white vinegar, bicarbonate of soda, water, and a bit of elbow grease.

Purpose	Ingredients	Description / Instructions
General cleaner	White vinegar, bicarbonate of soda, water	It even foams, and cleans just about anything
Window cleaner	2 tsp vinegar and 500 ml water	Spray on windows and wipe dry with newspaper
Oven cleaner	Bicarbonate of soda	Dampen oven surfaces, sprinkle bicarb over surfaces and leave overnight; for stubborn dirt, use steel wool
Toilet cleaner	1/4 cup of bicarbonate of soda into toilet bowl	Let it stand for about 30 mins and then scrub. You can use borax for tough stains (just keep this out of reach of little fingers)
Loo freshener	Water mixed with essential oils	Or just add plants to a room - they act as air filters
Odour-remover	Bicarbonate of soda	Sprinkle it on carpets to soak up smells and then vacuum; place it in a cup in your fridge or cupboards
Mildew zapper	2 tsp tea tree oil with 2 cups water	Just spray on surface and leave
Furniture polish	1/2 tsp olive oil & 1/4 cup vinegar/lemon juice	Wipe on furniture with a rag - olive oil also preserves wood

Source : www.urbansprout.co.za

Communing with nature

About 2 and a half hours drive from Cape Town, about 26km past Clan William, is a world renown spot for hiking and rock climbing. The area is aptly called Rocklands and lies in the northern parts of the Cederberg mountains and nature reserve.

The area is full of vast mounds of large boulders that seem to have been dropped by god-like hands and chips of smooth rock face that seem to have been sliced off a large block of rock cheese.

Unsurprisingly, this area is the backdrop of many international rock climbing videos and is still a great challenge for international rock climbers and bouldering enthusiasts alike.

Small holes and hooks ensure tricky finger holds and fairy light feet work on vertical faces of up to 30m in height. While overhangs on these rock faces and cut-outs in lower parts of the boulders enable even the more experienced climbers chance to push their limits of personal capacity.

A lovely to place to stay at while in the Rocklands area is DePakhuys chalets and campsite. They have different sized chalets suitable for all sorts of families and groups of individuals. Their campsite is plain and simple, and if you choose your campsite in advance you could end up camping right between large bounders of your own.

De Pakhuys also have a few newly opened bolted rock climbing routes on their farm, within easy walking distance, so if rock climbing is your primary objective then these are some really tough but exciting routes to try. For the rest of the family - they can relax... take a nice picture... ride a bike... read a book... look at the rock art site on the farm... go for a walk... go for a swim... have a braai... or just be wild and free...

Visit De Pakhuys for more information or call them on 027 482 1879

Astounding response to Living Matters Newsletter and new website!

The launch of this Newsletter was extremely well received. Feedback from numerous recipients and the statistics from the reports verified an astounding response to our newsletter. Illustrating once again that Living Matter is spot on!

We had an 90% delivery rate and only 2 people unsubscribed.

Items that were very popular:

1. Living Matter's website Launch
2. Beaverlac Campsite
3. Design Indaba

Other popular items of interest:

1. Featured plant - Amaryllis
2. Hedgehogs Specials

Thanks for the great response, and if you have any suggestions, please contact us.

The launch of our new website was just as well received. Positive feedback came from all corners of the industry; clients, suppliers and associates alike.

And to support this, visits to the website went up by 138% during this past month.

15% of the total visitors to the website clicked through from the newsletter, while search engines referred 17%, and visitors typing the website address straight into the browser made up 66% of the total website visits!

Pages that were visited the most included About us, Case Studies, Your Solution and Contact us.

Thanks for the great response, and if you have any suggestions, please contact us.

Family : Lamiaceae

Description : Indigenous spreading shrub to 1.25m with masses of blue-purple flower spikes carried above the foliage

Flowering time : Autumn

Conditions :

• Sun, Semi Shade
• Lots of water
• Enriched and moist soil
• Some frost resistance

i shoot photography

At the end of each project that Living Matter - Landscape Styling and Design undertakes, one of our preferred professional photographers captures the essense of our completed landscape.

i shoot photography is one of our preferred suppliers and has just recently launched their online photographic portfolio of landscaping photographs, weddings and general photography.

Visit their website or contact
i shoot photography for more info
083 78 111 45.

We all love a chance to test our own brain capacity with brain teasers. Try see if you can figure out this one... Hint: It is a familiar saying

Subscribe

Click here to subscribe to our newsletter

Advertise with us

Click here to see what options we have available for advertising or brand exposure.

Contact Cheral:

Cell: 082 82 509 82
Email: info@livingmatter.co.za
Website: www.livingmatter.co.za