ARTICLES FROM July 2011 back to August 2010

JULY 2011

PERFECT FRUIT FOR YOU

HOW TO GROW HEALTHY ROSES

FRUIT TREES NOW AVAILABLE

PRUNING TIME

ROSE PLANTING TIPS

SPUD GROWING TIME

JUNE 2011

WEEDS

GARDENING FADS

RIGHT GROWING CONDITIONS

CLEAN UP TIME

MAY 2011

AROUND THE GARDEN

GETTING THE pH RIGHT

MAY GARDENING

FROSTY WET WINTERS

APRIL 2011

GARDENING FOR WELL BEING

WORMS

WEEDS-THE OTHER PLANTS

ARE YOU READY FOR WINTER?

SAVING PLANTS IN WINTER

MARCH 2011

PLANT HEALTH FACTORS

LAWN PESTS

MARCH GARDENING 2011

FEIJOA

FEBRUARY 2011

SUMMER PESTS

CITRUS CONTINUED

CITRUS

GARDENING IN FEBRUARY

JANUARY 2011

HERBICIDE PROBLEMS

JANUARY GARDENING 2011

BRAMBLES

NEW GARDENING YEAR 2011

DECEMBER 2010

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2010

WATERING PLANTS

NEW FRUIT

HEALTHY ROSES

CHRISTMAS GARDENING GIFTS

NOVEMBER 2010

INSECT TRAPS

HERBICIDE DAMAGE

FRUIT TREE PROBLEMS: LEAF CURL

GRASS PEST PROBLEMS

OCTOBER 2010

TIPS FOR GARDENERS

LABOUR WEEKEND

KNOW YOUR GARDEN PESTS

IMPROVING YOUR GARDENS

PAPER WASP

SEPTEMBER 2010

SLOW SPRING

A NEW BRAMBLE VARIETY

ALTERNATIVE WEED CONTROLS

YELLOWING OFF OF PLANTS MUNDULLA YELLOWS

AUGUST 2010

PASSION FRUIT VINES

RASPBERRIES

LAWN TIME

BUD MOVEMENT

RIPE TOMATOES FOR XMAS?


Next set of articles


PERFECT FRUIT FOR YOU

For a home gardener, what makes a fruit tree perfect?

I can think of a number of things such as; disease and pest free, easy to grow, minimal care, fruit trees that are suitable for your soil type and climate conditions, birds not attracted to the ripe fruit, having fruit that have a good shelf life, having fruit that has good flavour, fruit that contain high levels of vitamins and minerals and fruit that normally are expensive to buy, compared to growing your own.
Thats about ten points and the closest fruiting tree that comes up to 9 of these conditions would have to be the Feijoa.
Its only failing is that the ripe fruit do not have a long shelf life.
I asked a number of garden centre owners what currently are the most popular fruit trees by volume of sales annually. The general answer was citrus, feijoa and plums. Some of the newer types of peaches were also good sellers.
Apples have dropped off the list but pears still have a place.
Tamarillos are popular in summer along with passion fruit.
Persimmons are becoming popular along with a number of newer sub tropic fruiting plants. Nut trees for the farm blocks.
From this I gauge that gardeners are growing the fruit trees that are great to eat and have the less amount of spraying and care needed to obtain a good crop each year.
The two evergreens, feijoa and citrus are tops in the fruit garden stakes.
These can be purchased at any time of the year but are better planted in autumn/winter period rather than summer, as summer plantings will need more watering care.
Everyone should have a feijoa for its ornamental, easy care aspects even if you by chance, don't like the fruit. Its a tree that can be planted in any garden as an ornamental and be rewarded with a crop each year.
Choose a type such as Unique which is self fertile and produces large fruit early in its life. Its perfect for the home garden.
The original Feijoa sellowiana is a very hardy tree, ideal for hedging and screens but the fruit is small.
You can trim them to make a nice hedge and they look great in the summer with their white flowers and bright red stamens.
A larger fruiting type such as Unique, could be grown in a large container as a smaller specimen tree. A bit of selected pruning would make it a great feature amongst other container plants.
With citrus, the lemon and likely the Meyer lemon would be the most sold fruit tree ever.
The real problem with citrus is they resent wet feet and if during winter, or summer for that matter, they are in a wet situation for a period of time, they will root rot. If you have free draining soil that never water logs then no problem. Otherwise make a mound that is amply wide and about 30cm tall and plant into this mound.
This keeps a good part of the root system above the wet soil below. I grow mine in really wet areas by planting them into plastic rubbish tins, with large 6cm holes drilled in the base and around the sides near the bottom rim.
The bin is then planted in the ground leaving the top half above the soil level.
I feed mine with old chook manure and Bio Boost on top of the mix each year and a monthly sprinkle of some Fruit and Flower Power during the flowering period through to harvest.
They don't grow to be a big tree as they would in open soil but become a nice size with ample fruit. You can grow any fruit tree in a container about the size of a plastic rubbish tin or a wine barrel.
Rubbish tins are not expensive but avoid black ones as you can cook roots. Dark green is nice looking.
I use a mix of compost and a little top soil in the containers and add worms to the mix to keep it open. The containers can be sat on the ground or dug into a lawn or garden.
A big advantage is if you shift house you can take your fruit trees with you.
Fruit trees do take a few years to establish however they are planted, so don't be impatient, the good size crops do come with time.
You can speed up their growth by giving them proper, natural foods such as compost, sheep manure pellets and blood and bone. Don't use NPK chemical fertilisers. The natural foods will reduce the instance of disease and pests which reduces your need for sprays.
If you have a problem of any pest or disease then use the natural products that do not harm the soil life such as Neem Tree Oil, Neem Tree Granules, Liquid Copper spray, Liquid Sulphur Spray and Perkfection.
Natures workers and be feed also with drenches and sprays of Mycorrcin and MBL (Magic Botanic Liquid) and produce for you better crops.
Avoid using chemical herbicides around your fruit trees as well.
For most fruit trees you will need to go to your local garden centres.
At this time they are starting to arrive and in many cases half of the new trees are already booked by keen gardeners. Ask about what is coming in and put your name down for the trees you want to grow if they are not already in.
Dual plums, apples, pears and peaches are a great way to obtain two varieties of fruit on the one tree. Where pollinators are needed you find that they are one of the two grafted.
Often the two types ripen at different times which means you have an extended harvest period. There are also triple grafted which can also be good but unless you keep a good balance by pruning, two of the types are likely to flourish to the demise of the other. If you are unsure of this just go for duals.
First year trees will likely produce a number of flowers in the spring and likely a few will set fruit.
You can opt for a small crop if this happens but if you remove any small fruit that form, you will have the new tree put all its energy into growing and this will make for bigger crops faster.
A couple of years of doing this can make a year or two’s difference in obtaining a reasonable harvest in the future.
Fruit trees need plenty of sunlight and do not do well in more shady situations.
Shelter from prevailing winds is a great help and in open ground or a container, a stake can be used to give support for the first year.
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HOW TO GROW HEALTHY ROSES

There are a number of things that are vital to a healthy plant besides sunlight, food and water and these things are referred to as ‘The Soil Food Web’. Its those micro-organisms and beneficial fungi which not only live in the soil but also ‘in’ and ‘surrounding’ a plant.
Earthworms are also vital to healthy soil and plants; if there are no earthworms or few in number, you have a problem and you cannot hope to have a healthy garden till you have good worm populations.
Plant Diseases are natural and are the garbage removers in nature, assisting in the quicker decomposing of plant material that has done its time, converting it back to humus for other plants to live on. In nature we talk about the ‘survival of the fittest’.
Plants that become weakened for some reason are very susceptible to diseases. Pests also tend to hone-in on weaker plants rather than on the strong healthy ones. Gardens of my childhood, 50 odd years ago, were brimming with life, plants were very healthy, no chemical sprays were used (there was no need for them) It was impossible to put a spade into the garden without cutting a few worms in half.
The soil in those days was been feed compost made from chook manure (everyone had a few chooks), and organic wastes. Other animal manures would be sort after along with sea weed.
All of this feed the soil life and worms, so plants in gardens, radiated health. Vegetables and fruit grown were also brimming with health and contributed to a much healthier society than we see today. So what went wrong?
We introduced chemically made fertilisers into the gardens and these fertilisers, knocked back the soil life including the worms.
Plants lost their healthy glow and diseases began to appear. So problems evolved, which mankind then created chemical sprays to solve. Fungicides may control diseases but they also kills the beneficial fungi that the plants need for good health! We found new chemical poisons for killing the insects which were attacking our unhealthy plants.
These poisons were also killing the soil life and after a time they (DDT, Arsenic of Lead etc) were found to be very dangerous to ourselves as well.
So they were banned. To be replaced by what was considered safer poisons, many of which also became banned.
Most of the chemicals available to the home gardener currently are likely to be banned also in time to come, as they also prove too dangerous to the environment and our health.(many have been already banned in some countries)
Herbicides also knock back soil life and can have long term residues. Weed killers containing Glyphosate are very suspect in my mind and is the most used chemical in agriculture with millions of tons of it going into the planet, worldwide each year.
Well thats the back ground to what has happened to our gardens and why our roses and other plants are not healthy as they should be. What can you do to grow healthy roses and other plants?
Firstly stop using chemical fertilisers and sprays.
Purchase instead organic compost and mulches from your garden centre. Look for the ones that contain animal manures.
Sheep manure pellets was shown by consumer to the best all round garden fertiliser in trials they did a several years ago.
Other products that are beneficial to the soil include, blood and bone, sea weeds, Gypsum, Garden Lime, Pea Straw and any animal manures.
These will help feed the soil life and restore things as nature intended.
You can also fed the soil life with products such as Magic Botanic Liquid & Mycorrcin which assists in repairing the damage done by chemicals.
I was told by a gardener that had sprayed one group of roses with the products for a season. In autumn the roses thus treated were in flower, new buds coming, no sign of diseases and looking very healthy.
Another group of roses not so treated were finished for the season, covered in black spot and rust and not looking happy. The gardener also told me the treated ones all had produced scents that he had not noticed before as they were not scented type roses.
We need to build up the health of the soil and as this can take a season or two, during this time we need to protect our plants from diseases and pests without using chemical solutions that are going to affect the soil life.
Pests can be controlled with Neem Tree Oil. Neem Oil also tends to reduce the problem of black spot.
Diseases such as rust, black spot, powdery mildew and botrytis are controlled by sulphur sprays, not copper.
Copper is best for blights, downy mildew and bacterial diseases along with fruit tree’s diseases.
Thus a film of sulphur over the foliage will give good external protection. Used every 14 days with Raingard added.
For internal protection you can boost the plant’s immune system with Perkfection. Used once a month only.
If your garden lacks a good number of worms, then you need to get worms going again and the best way to do this is buy in bags of worms. Put some into a good worm farm and seed the rest into the garden.
You do this by making a hole and placing shredded wet newspaper and kitchen scrapes into the hole. Place a handful of worms into the hole then cover with wet paper and compost.
Do this in each major garden such as rose bed and vegetable gardens. To keep the worms happy and multiplying, mulch gardens a couple of times a year with wet newspapers covered with animal based compost or mulch. Another method if you don't have a worm farm or chickens is to dig a trench through a vegetable garden.
Kitchen wastes go into the trench along with shredded wet newspaper and a bag of worms. After putting a pile of kitchen wastes into the trench cover that area with a bit of soil. Repeat till the trench is full. The worms will do the rest and gradually expand out into the garden as long as you don't use chemical fertilisers and sprays.
It is also important for both worms and soil life not to water your gardens with chlorinated tap water. Put a filter to remove the chemical from the water.
Roses also need a certain amount of magnesium, potassium and trace elements. These are easiest to supply as Rok Solid plus Fruit and Flower Power. The small amounts required of these will not affect the soil life and be of benefit to your roses. The reward would be perfect shaped roses, lush green foliage a mild to heady perfume and very little if any spraying.
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FRUIT TREES NOW AVAILABLE

Its this time of the year that fruit trees are readily available from garden centres and it is the best time to plant them, as they have the rest of winter and all of spring to establish before they hit their first summer. I love fruit trees and other fruiting plants, having gathered a nice collection of various types, over a period of time.
When choosing what fruiting plants you are going to grow it is important to select the types of fruit that you and your family most enjoy and then to pick the cultivars that are most suitable and productive for your locality. It is a waste of time buying say an apricot that needs a cold winter followed by a warm spring if these climatic conditions don't exist in your region. It is better to buy one that bears well without a real winter chilling. A number of fruiting trees require a suitable pollinator to obtain good crops, which means you need to buy two different cultivars to ensure that you have a good fruit set.
Now days we can find plums for instance that have a double graft, meaning that two varieties of plums will be produced on the same root stock. The varieties chosen for the grafting will often be the pollinators, so only one tree is needed but two types of plums will be harvested.
For a time some nurseries were producing triple or more varieties onto the same root stock. These were more difficult to produce and often one graft would fail in preference of the other two. Even if the 3 did take nicely it would mean some complicated pruning to ensure that the 3 parts preformed equally and in many cases one would ultimately fail.
I not sure if these multi-grafted trees are still available and in many ways they can be a waste of time and effort. Even with a twin graft one has to monitor the two aspects to ensure both are growing equally well without one superseding the other.
In the likes of apples and some other grafted fruit you may have the choice of the type of root stock such as MM106 etc. The root stock type will help determine the ultimate size of the tree and thus the amount of fruit it can bear. These are MM106, 4-5metres MM793, 3.5-4metres and EM9 2.5-3m The later is also referred to dwarfing root stock. This can be a great advantage for people with smaller sections.
Some types maybe labelled ‘Self Fertile’ which means you have no need for another tree as a pollinator.
Others may have their name on the label along with recommended pollinators. These are important aspects to consider when you are buying any fruiting tree. Self fertile will produce good crops but better again if there is a second suitable cultivar or the same species planted nearby. Another tip, because of the lack of feral bees in parts of New Zealand, if you plant your fruit tree down wind (prevailing wind) of your pollinator, you will likely have a better fruit set due to pollen been breeze carried.
Having a small section myself, I now grow any new fruit trees as container plants.
There is many advantages to this, you can grow many more trees in containers than you could ever grow in open ground. The containers restrict the root system making for smaller trees, no matter what root stock they are on. Smaller trees are easier to manage, spray, and been in a container, less loss of nutrients from leaching away.
Crops are smaller but minimal wastage, as you tend to eat all the fruit produced.
They are easier to protect from birds as the fruit ripens. If you move house you can take your fruit trees with you without too much of a hassle.
For those that are interested in this method here is how I do it. Firstly choose the largest plastic rubbish tin you can find. (About 76 litres) Avoid black plastic ones, as they can cook the roots if in strong direct sunlight. If you can find commercial 200 litre plastic drums then they are ideal cut in half.
Drill about 40-50mm wide holes in the sides of the bin about 100 mm up from the bottom for drainage. This leaves an area at the base, for surplus water in the summer.
Some of mine I partially dig into the soil and if I want the roots to enter into the soil I will place about 4 holes 40-50mm wide in the bottom as well as 4 at the cardinal points on the sides. (If you move you can easily wrench the tree and container from the ground) I have used this part buried method, for my citrus trees and passion fruit vines to avoid root rots in winter.
Now for a growing medium to fill the containers, don't waste your money on potting mixes as they lack the long term goodness that a tree needs. Instead use a manure based compost.
There are organic mulches and composts available from most garden centres, that are made of bark fines, composted with animal manures.
Add to this a few handfuls of clean top soil, mixed or layered through. I also add in worm-casts and worms from my worm farm. The worms help keep the heavier composts open and also supply a continuous source of nutrients. You can if you like add in sheep manure pellets and Rok Solid. Plant up your tree so that the soil level is about 100mm below the rim of the container. This allows for easy watering and feeding. I mulch the top of the mix in spring with old chook manure and apply Fruit and Flower Power (Magnesium and potassium) once a month during the fruiting period.
Other foods can be applied as needed. If the roots are not allowed into the surrounding soil, you will need to lift the tree out of the container every 2-3 years and root prune by cutting off the bottom one third of the roots with a saw. New compost and a bit of soil is placed in this area vacated and the tree put back in the container. This is best done in winter when the tree is dormant.
Another interesting thing to try is making a grape vine into a column or weeping vine.
I saw these several years back, where grape vines had been grown in containers and pruned so that they were just a upwards growing pole-like plant (when cut back in winter) These grapes stood about 2 metres out of the containers and had trunks up to 100mm in diameter. The new laterals would appear off the trunk in the spring and with the weight of the grapes made a nice looking weeper covered in grapes.
To achieve this, simply obtain a grape vine that has a reasonably tallish trunk and leader. Secure these to a suitable stake and remove all other laterals while its dormant.
The following winter prune hard back to this original form and repeat every winter.
As mentioned before, garden centres now have their range of fruit trees in. If you cant find a particular specimen there, have a look at http://www.diacks.co.nz/fruit.html on the net.
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PRUNING TIME

Soon thousands of gardeners will be getting out their secateurs and pruning saws and begin the annual pruning of roses and deciduous fruiting trees and plants.
Why do we prune? There are several reasons for pruning, keeping a good shape, removal of dead or spindly wood, preventing woody-ness, shaping so that all of the plant obtains as much sun light as possible, encouraging flowering and fruiting, preventing dense growth, encouraging new growth and removing diseased wood.
On roses we tend to prune to obtain the best from the plant. A Hybrid Tea for instance will likely be pruned hard, leaving a few strong canes to produce a smaller number of perfect blooms. On the other hand a Floribunda which you want a mass display of blooms will have many more canes and not cut back as hard as a Hybrid Tea.
When we prune we are opening up the plant to diseases that may enter the plant through the cuts causing problems, or even resulting in the death of the plant.
In winter the worst disease is Silver leaf which does attack stone and pip fruit, roses, popular, willows and escallonia hedges. The disease turns leaves silver and the leaves become smaller. Infected branches die back and are killed when the fungal mycelium stops the sap flow. Fruiting bodies form on branches soon after they die. These are about 15-30mm across, sometimes larger, and may look like small brackets.
They are likely to appear when the weather is cool and wet. It is during cool wet weather that the fruiting bodies release their spore which can then enter the pruning cuts of host plants. During warm dry weather the spores are not released and this is the reason that summer pruning is done in preference to winter pruning on many fruit trees. This does not help with roses as the main pruning is a winter chore.
There are other diseases such as die-back that can also enter fresh wounds.
In the past gardeners would be always sealing cuts with the aid of pruning sticks or pastes to reduce the instance of disease. But over time many of these products have escalated in price making them an expensive item, especially if you only have a few roses. So many gardeners have stopped using this protection as the cost of some pruning solutions can mean you could buy one or two new roses.
Some have used alternative, cheaper protection such as mixing a copper into either petroleum jelly or acrylic paint and applying this to the wounds. Some will just spray the plants after pruning with copper to give a degree of protection.
You can make up a spray protection for pruned cuts by adding 7 mils of Liquid Copper to a litre of water with a mil of Raingard added and spraying this over all cuts.
Very convenient to use, just squirt a little of the solution on all wounds as you prune.
Another great advantage is that you can spray the solution onto the cutting areas of pruning tools between plants. This will aid in the prevention of transfers of fungal and bacterial diseases between plants. Dead wood can easily have fungus diseases working on the wood to break it down. Sometimes one may have a disease such as silver leaf in a rose or tree and not beware of it and transfer the disease to other plants while pruning.
Silver leaf can be deadly if not treated in the early stages with Perkfection. The solution not only covers the freshly cut wound but enters into the wood in the area of the cut giving both internal and external protection.
The solution will keep well out of sun light with the top firmly secured.
Gardeners can now protect their roses and plants with an affordable home made solution.

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ROSE PLANTING TIPS

Roses can be lost when their roots are not kept moist during and after transplanting.
If you buy roses that are not bagged up or in containers, then you should submerge their roots into a bucket of water as soon as you get them home. Leave them in the bucket for a day and then plant. If you cannot plant them at that time, then heel them into a patch of garden where the soil is moist to wet.
If the roses are in a bag or container ensure that the mix is kept nice and moist till you lift them out of the container and plant them. It is fatal if the roots of roses dry out for any length of time.
Then you dig a hole to plant a rose, before planting, fill the hole with water and leave till most of this water drains away. (If the water table is high and there is already water at the bottom of the hole then don't add more) Sub soil maybe dry even if the top soil is moist and we need to ensure that the soil in the area of the roots is nice and wet.
Likewise for the first year of the rose’s life, in its new location, the rose must have adequate moisture in the root zone. You may like to cut the bottom off a plastic cordial bottle and plant it so the neck of the bottle is in the root zone.
This allows you to water the roots when the top soil is very dry.
Otherwise a new rose will need about a bucket of water a day during drought times or when the soil moisture level becomes low.
New roses have not been pruned, they have been cut back to make transporting easier.
Normally about 4-6 weeks after planting a new rose you would do the final pruning.
The first problem the roses will face in the new season is attacks of aphids on the new shoots and buds. At the first sign spray with Neem Oil and Key Pyrethrum and repeat when new aphids come along. Its easy to tell with these natural sprays, as the aphids are dead within 24 hours from spraying.
A few gardeners have told me that applying Neem Tree Granules to the soil under the roses had helped with aphid control without the need to spray as much.
You may like to try this yourself this season and I would be interested to hear the results.
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SPUD GROWING TIME

Growing your own potatoes may take a bit of garden room, for those with smaller sections, but the advantages of having your own freshly dug spuds far outweighs any loss of garden space.
It is very traditional for gardeners to at least grow a few potato plants so that they can have their own new potatoes at Xmas time.
Those that have larger gardens are likely to grow several rows of spuds so that they have a good supply for most of the year. If you have a new section, then remember that the old way of breaking in new land, before lawns and gardens were set out, was to plant all available land in a crop of potatoes. This would help break up the soil and make for better lawns and gardens later on.
There are several good reasons to grow as many potatoes as possible.
The foremost in my mind is flavor and texture found in home grown spuds when compared to purchased potatoes. I personally have stopped buying cheap potatoes that one finds at some shops. These potatoes more often than not don't keep, have rots in them, lack flavor and breakup easily when cooked. The more expensive ones can also lack in flavor and only be average cookers even if they tend to keep longer.
In fact the only spuds I prefer to buy are certified organically grown, as these spuds are just about as good as the ones I grow. They have good flavor, excellent texture, hold well and are delicious when baked.
I can be paying twice as much for the organic potatoes but they are worth every penny. If you have a source of really good spuds from a grower or retailer then you will know what I am talking about. Potatoes are to our diet, what rice is to some other countries, and seldom do you have a hot traditional meal that does not consist of potatoes, baked, boiled, mashed or chipped.
We are all aware that potatoes are a root crop and many will also be aware that root crops will have in themselves, more of whatever is in the soil, than foliage crops grown in the same area. For instance if soil has been slightly contaminated with lead from old paint, it may still be safe to grow lettuce and cabbages but not so carrots, radishes and potatoes.
Commercial growers of potatoes will be using herbicides, fungicides and pesticides along with chemical fertilisers to grow and care for their crops. Theses chemicals build up in the soil over years of cultivation and so its a logic conclusion that potatoes you buy, that are not certified organic, will have some degree of several chemicals in their flesh.
As we eat potatoes every day, most days, then we could have the possibility of health problems in the future. If this is so, then as we know, babies and children’s developing bodies are likely to have more health problems than adults.
It is not like taking a poison into ones system, that has a reaction immediately or within a short period of time.
Its the gradual buildup in our tissues over an extended period of time, before we succumb to a problem which could be a cancer or other serious illness. When we add up the better flavor and far less chemical content from growing our own spuds (or buying organic ones) it is well in our interest and our loved ones.
I have noticed certified seed potatoes been available in garden centres for a while now, but my feelings to start off too early (in cooler areas), is not much of an advantage. Now we are into July, it is a good time to buy them and sprout them before planting.
There are basically two types of potatoes, early and late (there are mid term which fall in between) Early spuds will mature in about 90 days or less and be ready to harvest when they flower. Late ones, will take about 120 days and be ready to harvest when the tops have flowered and started to die down.
So we are looking at 3 to 4 months from planting to harvest. If it takes the rest of July and a bit of August to have the seed potatoes shoot, and green up the shoots, we are looking for the potatoes to mature about November to December.
Nice timing for Xmas. Very early potatoes maturing in October will leave ground available for summer crops to plant about Labor Weekend.
Perfect. Now for my secret, which I have given to many gardeners, to grow the very best potatoes.
Select whatever variety you prefer, sprout them (the hot water cupboard will speed up the starting of sprouts, then outside into a sheltered spot to green up the shoots in good light but out of direct sunlight) Make your trench or holes for planting about 20cm deep.
Place about a small handful of sheep manure pellets, a desert spoon of Gypsum, a table spoon of Neem Tree Granules and a half teaspoon of BioPhos under each sprouted spud and cover with soil.
As the shoots appear through the soil, cover with more soil and keep doing this till you have a good sized mound. Once you reach the good sized mound size, most danger of frosts will be over. If not spray the tops with Vaporgard.
I have self sown spuds in the garden at this time and their tops have not been unduly affected by the frosts we have had, as they have been sprayed with Vaporgard.
The first time I used the sheep manure pellets and Gypsum trick, I ended up with Cliff Kidneys as big as Ruas with still the kidney shape.
If spring conditions favor blights, you can protect the potatoes externally with sprays of Liquid Copper and internally with monthly sprays of Perkfection. Mycorrcin Plus and Perkfection will reduce problems of rots also.
When you have finished mounding up the potatoes sprinkle some more Neem Tree Granules on the soil to assist in preventing damage to the tubers from the pest called Potato Psyllid.
Crops that are planted later and are still in the ground from November onwards should be sprayed all over with Neem Tree Oil to give extra protection from these new pests.
The frequency of these sprays would likely be about every couple of weeks.
You can also spray the foliage with Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) at the same time which will enhance the crop and put more goodness into the potatoes. Neem oil and MBL can be mixed together.
Ideally don't clear the area before planting with any herbicides and don't use any chemical fertilisers and sprays. Either weed area by hand or even better, dig over first burying all the weeds underground. Do this now so the ground will be ready when your seed potatoes have sprouted.
If you have no vegetable garden you may plant a few spuds in flower gardens or grow them in containers. In containers such as buckets, make up the growing medium from 90% compost and 10% clean top soil.
One third fill the container with the mix, put in the sheep pellets, Gypsum, etc with the seed potato and cover. As shoots come through keep covering as you would do in the garden till the level is just an inch away from the top rim. Potatoes need to be kept moist while growing but not to have wet feet.
If you don't normally grow spuds try a few this season, you will be glad you did.
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WEEDS

With the milder autumn/winter we are currently having, has lead to a slow but sure, continual growth of weeds. I was very surprised how the weeds in garden areas had advanced in the last few weeks when I checked the area the other day.
Sufficient rain, along with soils temperatures still reasonable, vegetables are growing nicely, but so are the non wanted plants called weeds.
In my case I don't worry too much about the weeds as I have chickens which need their greens so the weeds become an asset for them. Every few days I will harvest a crop of weeds and toss them to the chooks. Which has lead me to the conclusion it would be a good time to discuss weeds and their removal.
Firstly I do not use any herbicides (weed killers) as they do damage the soil life and worm populations, also as I have free ranging chickens along with my 4 Shar Pei dogs and I do not want these to be affected in any way, from toxic sprays.
Thus all my weeding is done by hand, which I find very relaxing and a good way of relieving any stress from day to day living.
It is interesting to note that a published scientific survey from the UK proved that as little as 20 minutes a day gardening, or being amongst plants made a substantial contribution to ones well being. Two hours a day reduced the chances of heart problems by a good percentage. It can be summed up as; gardeners have better health overall than non gardeners!
Weeding by hand is a little art in its self, you can use a hand trowel or fork type hand trowel, but I find a sharp, long blade, carving knife the best. You slide the blade into the soil next to the weed and slice through the top section of the tap root or root system while holding the weed in the other hand. The weed comes away cleanly with little soil attached to the remaining roots.
This soil (if taken a deeper cut) can easily be tapped off the roots with the same blade. Pulling of weeds by hand often breaks the weeds off near ground level where they will come away again. This happens more so in dry or heavy soils where the roots have a good hold on Terra Firma.
If you wish to dig over. or fork over an area, then the removal of the existing weeds first (as above) makes for a better job. Many dug-in weeds, especially grass weeds, have a tendency of reappearing later on unless removed or buried deep.
For those that do not want to weed by hand there is always hoes such as the Dutch Hoe that can be used to also to slice off weeds just below the surface and then dug in or picked up and removed.
If you want to spray and use organic weed control sprays then you can choose Yates Greenscape or use either a cheap cooking oil or vinegar. For these to work well the soil needs to be on the dry side and the spray applied on a sunny part of the day when the weeds are a bit dehydrated. Then they will further dehydrate the weed’s foliage. Perennial weeds will reappear and require further treatment.
If you don't mind using chemical herbicides then you have a good range to choose from with the glyphosate ones such as Roundup, Zero etc been the most widely known and accepted. Glyphosate’s action works on the growth of the weeds, it is first absorbed by the foliage and translocates to the roots, where it comes back up through the plant with its growth, killing the roots and foliage.
If there is zero growth, (which can happen in winter and during summer drought conditions) there is no kill. If the chemical cannot enter the foliage because of surface tension on the leaf, shiny leaves or hairy leaves then there is no kill.
Thus knowing this you can enhance the weed killer in two ways. Add Raingard to the mixed spray and it will act as a bridge to assist with the chemical to enter the foliage.
Then add nitrogen to the mix by dissolving the likes of sulphate of ammonia or urea in water and adding to the spray.
The nitrogen stimulates growth and speeds up the kill factor. The likes of Roundup is recommended to be used at 10 ml to one litre of spray water. The 10 ml rate is the highest rate needed to kill the hardest to kill weeds (that glyphosate can control) If you doubled the dose to 20 ml you would not get any better results.
By adding the Raingard to the mix you will find that a solution of 5 ml per litre will do a nice job on most weeds that glyphosate can control. Then add to this the nitrogen and your time factor till the weeds are dead will be markinly reduced.
If you would like the dead weeds to disappear faster then you can add either Mycorrcin Plus or Thatch Busta to the spray and either of these two liquids will speed up the decomposition of the weeds greatly.
Basically that is what we want, the total removal of weeds as quickly as possible to make areas tidy. Another aspect of placing the Mycorrcin or Thatch Busta into the glyphosate spray, helps counteract the damage done to the soil life by the chemical, so its a win win situation.
There are hard to remove weeds, or plants that have become too vigorous such as ivy and need to be removed.
This is where some of the chemical sprays certainly cut down on the work involved. For instance with Ivy cut the trunks of the plant coming out of the soil and paint the stump immediately with either Woodyweed Killer or Amitrole.
Then spray the foliage with Amitrole. Bamboo, wandering jew, couch, wild onion, cut off the foliage just above ground and remove, then spray the stumps or foliage left with Amitrole, Raingard and Mycorrcin.
The removed foliage can be placed in a heap and sprayed with Mycorrcin or Thatch Busta to decompose it faster.
Woodyweed Killer can be used similarly for the likes of convolvulus, onehunga, fennel, dock and honeysuckle. Paspalum can be controlled by ‘wiping’ the glyphosate solution over the tops of the weed. Oxalis also can be controlled in a like manner, but don't work the soil afterwards.
Instead mulch the area and spray any new growth as it appears. Alternative is to use one table spoon of baking soda to a litre of water with Raingard and sprayed over foliage.
This will work in certain conditions without harming other plants not related to Oxalis, when the soil is on the dry side and on a warm sunny day. Once again mulch later on and don't work soil, repeat spray new foliage in similar conditions.
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GARDENING FADS

Recently I came across a Silver Dollar tree and that brought back memories of a time when these trees were very popular with lots of gardens having one planted.
The tree was Eucalyptus cinerea. A fast growing specimen that can grow up to 6 metres in a year. This tree's form is somewhat irregular growing almost as wide as its 20 to 50 foot height. Young round leaves are up to 2 inches in diameter which grow longer as they mature. With barely noticeable flowers this tree is usually grown for its attractive foliage. The foliage of nearly all species has a strong pungent odor similar to menthol. Well drained soil is preferable.
The tree was likely popular because of its fast growth but this also was its main disadvantage as the growth was soft and branches would be easily damaged by stronger winds.
I know this as I planted one about 35 years ago in the front of the section of the house I was living in then.
A very old fad that happened in Palmerston North if not in other parts of New Zealand was the planting of Pepper Trees (Schinus) .
The Schinus trees were used as specimen trees where the romantic hanging branches and rosy berries were very ornamental. Because the heads of these trees grow so densely, they make excellent barriers to block neighbors. Both Schinus trees species can take light frost and the Shinus molle can even handle nighttime winter cold into -6 C..
I remember as a boy a good number of these trees around Palmerston North and they attacked the Emperor Gum Moth which produces very large attractive caterpillars. These were collected by us kids and along with ample branches for their food placed into vases to watch them develop then cocoon.
The trees became old and branches became rotten as I found out one time when about 20 feet up the tree an old small length of branch broke and I ended up on the lawn below, very stunned.
Another very popular garden fad was the sheets of black plastic covered with scoria.
This was the first sign of low care gardens where areas between shrubs and trees were covered with the plastic film and scoria was laid over the plastic to hold it in place as well as to hide the plastic and make it look attractive.
Lots of these scoria rock gardens could be seen and tons of scoria was trucked from our volcanic regions such as Auckland (Mt Wellington) and central North Island.
The problem with these gardens was that the soil could not breathe and became sour and aerobic under the plastic leading to the ill health and death of the plants in that area.
One great advantage with the scoria was that birds had problems flicking it off the area in search of grubs. (Likely there were few bugs also as compared to bark mulches these days.)
Another interesting one was plastic cordial bottles filled with water and placed on front lawns to prevent dogs from fouling the lawn.
The idea was that dogs would not poo near drinking water and so the number of bottles on lawns grew to the point that most open lawns sported one or more.
It did not work and the dogs continued to visit the neighbours lawns for their morning toilets. The dog rangers became more effective with their fines for wandering dogs and one seldom sees many dogs wandering these days.
Remember ‘Punch & Grow”? This was an extremely popular method of germinating seeds back about 40 odd years ago brought out by Yates.
It was a plastic box that you punched some holes into it and then watered to keep moist.
Seeds such as tomatoes would germinate and you would then take the seedlings for planting up.
I remember buying the units when living in Te Kuiti for establishing my gardens in the spring each year.
Fads come and go overtime and some linger on such as the gnomes in gardens.
There was the odd case where a student would befriend a gnome from someones garden as a travelling companion then processed to travel around the world.
At every major place such as the Eiffel tower in Paris a picture would be taken of the gnome with the tower in the back ground and then sent to the address where the gnome had come from.
I presume some of these gardeners would start to envy their lost gnome as more and more pictures arrived from all the interesting and exotic places in the world.
Eventually the gnome would likely find its way back home and I suppose with a suitable thank you note for the owner, thanking them for such a good travelling companion.
A current fad which like many fads ends up with problems is the mass plantings of Buxus for those desired box hedges.
It would appear as a result of thousands of these plants been produced in nurseries and planted out by gardeners is a disease has attacked the plants causing leaf drop and death.
Most annoying when it happens to a few plants in a well established row.
The problem is called Box Blight, Cylindrocladium buxicola, which is widespread throughout New Zealand and as it is an airborne disease there is no guaranteed means of prevention, however there are measures which significantly reduce the possibility of severe infection.
The conditions in which the fungus proliferates are damp, shade and poor ventilation, so avoidance of these will help prevent firm establishment of the disease.
It is most important to avoid overhead irrigation as the spores are carried and activated in water droplets and damp leaves provide ideal conditions for the fungus. Water the roots if required, possibly by a soak hose. Buxus do not need foliage irrigation.
Always ensure that all garden tools, particularly shears and clippers, are clean. Do not infect healthy plants with dirty shears. Shears may be cleaned by dipping in bleach or disinfectant mixed in the dilutions indicated on the label for domestic/kitchen use.
Improving ventilation may be problematical, by its very nature Box is often tightly clipped and hence poorly ventilated. With new plantings it is worth bearing in mind ventilation and shade implications.
Removal of dead leaves, plant debris and foliage will reduce the availability of spore releasing material and may reduce any 'resting spores'.
On healthy plants a spray all over with Vaporgard will also offer some protection for about 3 months as the film makes it difficult for the disease to establish.
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RIGHT GROWING CONDITIONS

A few weeks ago we talked about getting the pH right in the soil so that plants would grow well.
Gardeners that have been using chemical fertilisers over a period of time will find that things lock up in the soil and a good application of lime may do the trick to get things going again.
Ideally in gardens where alkaline loving plants are grown it is a good practise to lime every 3 to 6 months.
If using super phosphate or fertilisers that contain super then lime the area every time it is applied. (This helps overcome the acidity these chemical have and thus damage to the soil life)
Fertilisers can lock up in the soil for several reasons and when this happens plant growth is very slow as they are not getting the food to enable them to grow.
Drenching the soil with Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) will help release locked up soils and get things moving again.
Sometimes the locking up can be as a result of some element missing that is vital. It can be a lack of Boron which you only need a small amount of to crank up the growth.
Thus a slow release Boron that is only applied every few years is ideal for the home gardener.
The following explains how Boron is vital to your gardens.
Boron is a semi-metallic trace element which is essential for plant growth and the availability of this micro nutrient in the soil and irrigation water is an important determinant of crop yield and quality. Boron does not appear on Earth in it’s elemental form but is typically found as boric acid or as borate (boron oxide) minerals. In these forms, boron is widely distributed in nature and is released into the environment (soil, water, air) mainly via geothermal activity and the natural weathering of clay-rich sedimentary rocks.
Boron deficiency has been recognized as one of the most common micro nutrient problems in agriculture with large areas of the world (including New Zealand) being boron deficient.
Such deficiencies can be corrected with the use of borate fertilizers and in areas of acute deficiency borates can increase crop yields by 30 to 40 percent. However, the management of boron concentrations in soils can be difficult as a narrow range exists between plant deficiency and toxicity.
Traditionally, the most commonly used boron fertilizers are sodium borates (eg borax, ulexite) and they range from 11.3 to 20.5 % boron. However, due to the high solubility of sodium borates it is difficult to maintain consistent boron concentrations in soil. Thus, sodium borate fertilizers are typically applied frequently and in small quantities to avoid boron toxicity.
A new product; OrganiBOR® is a naturally occurring borate mineral (hydroboracite) mined in the Santa Rosa de Los Pastos Grandes valley in Argentina and is made up of a rare mixture of magnesium and calcium borate. Unlike, sodium borates, hydroboracite is not highly soluble and therefore OrganiBOR® releases boron slowly into the soil, at a rate similar to which most plants uptake boron.
OrganiBOR® can, therefore be applied in larger quantities than traditional boron fertilizers and will persist in the soil without the risk of boron toxicity.
One application of OrganiBOR® will last anywhere between 3 and 10 years depending on the crop, soil type and climatic conditions. Thus application of OrganiBOR® is simpler for most growers and gardeners and more cost effective, especially when combined with soil and foliage testing to determine exactly when the next application is required. OrganiBOR® is certified for organic use and is suitable for grapes, apples, kiwifruit, avocados, potatoes, tomatoes and almost all other crops grown commercially or in home gardens in New Zealand.
As OrganiBOR® releases boron into in the soil it combines with water and forms boric acid and plants take up boron from the soil in this form. Boron plays an essential role in a plant’s life cycle. In vascular plants, boron deficiency inhibits leaf expansion, root elongation, apical dominance, flower development, pollen tube growth and, in turn, fruit and seed set. Boron toxicity also results reduced shoot and root growth, with marginal and tip chlorosis and necrosis typically occurring.
While the effects of boron deficiency and toxicity are well documented, the biological mechanisms involving boron which lead to these symptoms are not well understood.
Recently, it was shown that boron cross-links pectins in plant cell walls a process that is essential for cell wall synthesis, structure and function. But in addition to this, boron involvement has been implicated in a diverse range of cellular processes including regulation of gene expression, nucleic acid metabolism, carbohydrate and protein metabolism, indole acetic acid metabolism, membrane integrity and function, phenol metabolism, nitrogen fixation and nitrogen assimilation.
Accumulating evidence also points to boron being important to animals and humans. Boron has been shown to be necessary to complete the life cycles of some higher animals (eg zebra fish and frogs) and boron deprivation has been linked to impaired growth, bone health, brain function and immune response various animal models including humans.
The recent release of OrganiBOR® to the home garden market in one kilo gram containers through garden centres will allow gardeners to safely apply this essential element to the crops.
It is applied at the rate of 100 grams per ten square metres which means the 1Kg container will do 100 square metres for a 3 to 5 year treatment before the need to apply again.
This will be an absolute boon for home or part time growers that in the past have not been able to easily apply boron, unless they really know their stuff. Sprinkle it about every 3-5 years and forget about it in the knowledge that the plants will be getting the correct amount of boron without risking any sort of toxicity. The boron is of course taken up by the plants and distributed into the fruit or vegetables (or flowers for that matter) which are of course in turn eaten by you and me, so not only will your plants be healthier but you will be too.
Ask your local garden centre for the product.
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CLEAN UP TIME

Now that we are into June and heading quickly towards the shortest day, it is a good time to clean up a few things around our gardens, getting prepared for the coming new season.
Deciduous plants such as roses and a number of fruit trees, have either lost their leaves or in the process of doing, so can be greatly assisted with a spray of Lime Sulphur.
This does several things which are an advantage to both gardener and plants.
Lime Sulphur burns and should not be applied to evergreen plants as it will damage the foliage.
It should not be applied to apricot trees or and sulphur sensitive plants either.
The burning action assists in the final removal of foliage, burns disease spores and insect pests harboring over in nooks and crannies wanting for better conditions in the spring to emerge.
If you can greatly reduce both disease and pest problems now, then you will have better results in the spring/summer period with less spraying to do.
With bush and standard roses I suggest that you cut back all the growths to half.
This means if the bush roses are about a metre tall bring them back to half a metre.
At the same time remove any dead or diseased wood along with spindly stems.
Pick up all the bits and debris on the ground and then spray what is left with the Lime Sulphur.
This does two important things, it reduces the amount of plant that you are going to spray and it makes the rose ready for final pruning later in July.
If there are not plants growing under the roses then also spray the soil with the Lime Sulphur to.
If you have had problems last season with diseases then you could, in the beginning of July, make up a solution of Condys Crystals (about quarter a level teaspoon to a litre of water) and spray the plants and soil underneath with this.
With climbing roses just firstly tidy up the plants then do your spraying.
For gardeners that have peaches and nectarines that suffer from curly leaf each season then according to an article I read from England, the Lime Sulphur spray is a must to assist in reducing the number of spores that cause the problem later on.
I would also follow up with the Condys Crystals as well.
With other Deciduous fruit trees (not apricots) spray the Lime Sulphur as best you can (if they are big trees) and do any pruning you want to do next month.
Remember that Silver Leaf disease is about in winter when its cool and damp so any cutting back and pruning should be done only on sunny days when the soil is on the drier side.
Wet times brings about a number of unwanted growths such as moss, moulds, slimes, liverworts and lichens. These growths are unsightly and can in some cases be dangerous where one walks such as paths and steps. ACC might look after you but its not worth the pain and discomfort you have to endure especially seeing a simple spray or two will remove the problems.
Moss in lawns does cause problems for the grasses and should be controlled if you want a nice lawn. Don't waste your money on treatments of Sulphate of Iron as it only burns the top of the moss which soon reappears again.
There are sprays that can be used such as Moss and Liverwort Control that will assist in control of these growths without damaging your garden plants.
Just follow the instructions on the bottle for best control and use.
Winter is also the season that you have more spare time when the weather does not allow you to garden and this non gardening time can be put to good use by planing and studying aspects related to your gardens.
During the season you can be so busy actually doing things in the garden that you don't have the time to research a problem.
There are problems you had last season such as potatoes that did not produce good size tubers, only ones the size of peas. (Potato Psyllid)
You know what your problems were, so now is the time to research them so you have answers ready for the coming season.
Information comes from two prime sources without having to ask someone. Books and the Internet.
I use both when I come across something that I don't fully understand or to research a new aspect that has become a problem.
This is a good lead up to tell you that my first book, Wally’s Down To Earth Garden Guide as been revised and re-published.
It was back in 2006 that I finished writing the book and published it, since then its sold about 6000 copies which I am told is very good for a garden book in New Zealand.
Since that first printing a few things have changed such as some products suggested are no longer so readily available or completely disappeared. New products have replaced them and a few new pests have entered our gardens causing frustrations.
Thus the revised edition takes care of these points to the best of my ability and it has a better index as well. Available from some book shops, garden centres and by mail order.
Every few years garden guides such as Yates Garden Guide get revised so that they are up to date with the latest gardening information.
Do your planing, find out how to overcome any problems that happen in your garden each season and enjoy the relaxing time of winter.
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AROUND THE GARDEN

Last week I wrote about pH and a reader who is far more knowledgeable than myself kindly forwarded an email to explain some of the more technical aspects of measuring pH.
I would like to share this information with you:

Hi Wally,

First thank you for the article each week, now in the last one on p.h. there are a couple of points that I think need to be emphasized :-
1/ you talk about buffers, fine, but what you did not say, & this is important, they do not keep, one or maybe two months then they have to be replaced. A slime will form after that & they are useless.
2/ putting soil in to distilled or de-ionized water (any water come to that) will turn the water muddy, so you must let it stand for a while, out of the light, for it to settle, then test with your p.h. paper in the range you think it is in.
I do not trust p.h. papers as if they get damp the readings can be wrong, but yes a p.h. metre is expensive.
There are other ways to measure p.h. Phenol Red is one, I have used this for years to check my swimming pool.
Another way to get a clear solution quicker after shaking soil with the distilled or de-ionized water is to filter it.
Funnel & filter paper. I hope the above may be of help, I hold a drinking water treatment certificate level C.
Kind regards, Dick Bing.

Its always good to further your knowledge on a subject and that has helped my understanding as well, thank you Dick.
Autumn in the garden means that all the deciduous trees will be dropping their leaves and for the keen home gardener they are a free, valuable conditioner for the garden.
I have written several times in the past on this subject so this time I thought I would get another view so I went to on the web and found the following which is about the same advise that I normally give in this matter. http://organicgardening.about.com/od/compost/a/LeafMold.htm

“Leaf mold is an excellent, free soil amendment. It is easy to make, simple to use, and has a huge impact on soil health.
What is Leaf Mold?
Leaf mold is the result of letting leaves sit and decompose over time. It is dark brown to black, has a pleasant earthy aroma and a crumbly texture, much like compost. In fact, leaf mold is just that: composted leaves. Instead of adding a bunch of organic matter to a pile, you just use leaves.
Benefits of Leaf Mold
You may be wondering why you shouldn't just make compost. Why bother making a separate pile just for leaves? The answer is that while compost is wonderful for improving soil texture and fertility, leaf mold is far superior as a soil amendment.
It doesn't provide much in the way of nutrition, so you will still need to add compost or other organic fertilizers to increase fertility. Leaf mold is essentially a soil conditioner.
It increases the water retention of soils. According to some university studies, the addition of leaf mold increased water retention in soils by over 50%. Leaf mold also improves soil structure and provides a fantastic habitat for soil life, including earthworms and beneficial bacteria.
How to Make Leaf Mold
There are two popular ways to make leaf mold, and both are ridiculously simple. The one thing you'll need to keep in mind is that leaf mold doesn't happen overnight. Leaves are basically all carbon, which takes a lot longer to break down than nitrogen-rich materials such as grass clippings.
The decomposition process for leaves takes at least six to twelve months. The good news is that it's basically six to twelve months with very little work on the gardener's part.
The first method of making leaf mold consists of either piling your leaves in a corner of the yard or into a wood or wire bin. The pile or bin should be at least three feet wide and tall. Pile up your leaves, and thoroughly dampen the entire pile. Let it sit, checking the moisture level occasionally during dry periods and adding water if necessary.
The second method of making leaf mold requires a large plastic garbage bag. Fill the bag with leaves and moisten them. Seal the bag and then cut some holes or slits in the bag for air flow. Let it sit. Check the bag every month or two for moisture, and add water if the leaves are dry.
After six months to a year, you will have finished leaf mold. Impatient? There are a couple of things you can do to speed up the process:
•Before adding leaves to your pile or bag, run over them a couple of times with your lawn mower. Smaller pieces will decompose more quickly.
•Use a shovel or garden fork to turn your leaf pile every few weeks. If you are using the plastic bag method, just turn it over or give it a firm shake. This will introduce air into the process, which speeds decomposition.
•If you are using the pile or bin method, cover your pile with a plastic tarp. This will keep the leaves more consistently moist and warm
How to Use Leaf Mold
Leaf mold has several uses in the garden. You can dig or till it into garden beds to improve soil structure and water retention. You can use it as mulch in perennial beds or vegetable gardens. It's also fabulous in containers, due to its water retaining abilities.
Leaf mold is simple, free, and effective. If you're lucky enough to have a tree or two (or ten) on your property, you've got everything you need to make great garden soil.” End

Good web site. I would also recommend also, no matter which every method you use from the above, is to spray the leaves with either Mycorrcin or Thatch Busta as that will greatly speed up the composting process as well.
If you cant be bothered raking up the leaves in gardens where they fall then spray with either of these two products and the leaves will naturally break down much faster.
If you are really keen go down any street with deciduous trees and collect the leaves out of the gutters or off the vergers. This is a good service to the community and helps prevent blocked drains in wet times. You are rewarded with a great soil conditioner.
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GETTING THE pH RIGHT

Every so often I will have a gardener phone and tell me that his pH is too high or too low and what can they do about it.
My first question is how do you know?
They will then tell a story along these lines: I brought this pH metre and then I went around measuring the pH in my gardens. Shock, horror the pH is well out of satisfactory growing range and all the gardens should be looking pretty sick or dead.
Of course that is not the situation at all, the plants are generally quiet well and happy and its only the gardener having heart trepidations thinking the soil pH is all to hell.
The only problem is the loss of money buying a pH metre that gives false readings.
Now if you want a pH metre that accurately measures the acidity or alkalinity of your soil, water or spa pool then you need to buy a unit that can be calibrated with the aid of Buffer Solutions.
The pH readings taken at any time are affected by temperature so you need to calibrate the meter prior to every reading taken.
This is done by placing the probe(s) into a solution that has a known pH and adjusting the dial to that setting. There are two Buffer Solutions commonly used pH 4 and pH 10. It is even better to have a third solution with a pH of 7.
The price of this meter will range from a few hundred dollars to over a thousand, likely a bit too expensive for most gardeners.
If you are concerned about pH then the first thing to realise is most New Zealand soils tend to be a little on the acid side unless you are in Lime Stone country. (Alkaline then)
Over time the soils tend to become more acid and that is why a regular amount of soft lime is applied to vegetable gardens and to areas where alkaline loving plants are growing.
Also if you continually apply manmade fertilisers you will be increasing the acidity of the soil and this will affect a number of plant’s growth. In some cases nothing grows, no matter how much fertiliser is applied.
A simple test can be done using litmus paper which is readily available in kits from places that sell spas and swimming pools.
You also need distilled water which is pH neutral.
Take a small sample of soil and place in a clean glass jar that has a lid. Add the distilled water to the jar covering the soil. Then shake the contents for several minutes.
Then place your litmus paper into the jar and compare the colour it turns to the colour chart supplied.
Now you have a good indication as to what your pH is in that spot where the sample was taken.
Remember that certain factors may have an influence on that spot such as concrete near by, past history and drainage.
Thus you need to repeat the same test with fresh samples etc in other parts of your gardens.
I have maintained for the home gardener in the vegetable garden a easy test can be done by planting two short rows of peas about 30cm apart. On one row sprinkle a soft lime and none on the other row.
If the peas in the lime row grow better then you need to lime those areas where alkaline loving vegetables are to grow. (Not where potatoes and Tomatoes are going to grow)
I keep saying soft lime and there is a good reason for this. Soft Lime is readily available to plants and the soil and if you wet your finger and rub some lime between the fingers, soft lime will make a soft slurry. Hard lime, coming from lime stone, will be gritty.
Hard lime can take up to 10 years to become available to plants which is ok if you have been applying it once or twice a year for the last ten years.
Check the lime you are going to buy to ensure it is soft and thus it will be quickly available to your garden.
If you have a area which is alkaline, or you want to grow acid loving plants then dissolve say about 50 to 100 grams of sulphate of iron in water then add to about 5 litres of water, in a watering can and apply this over the area.
If you find your potatoes have scab then the above will assist in reducing that problem.
The correct pH for plants allows better absorption of elements making for better growth and health.
Plants, like us, need calcium in their diet for their good health.
In plants, calcium once fixed is not mobile in the plant. It is an important constituent of cell walls and can only be supplied in the xylem sap. Thus, if the plant runs out of a supply of calcium, it cannot remobilize calcium from older tissues.
If transpiration is reduced for any reason, the calcium supply to growing tissues will rapidly become inadequate. A more common problem caused by this is blossom end rot in tomatoes.
Without adequate amounts of calcium, plants experience a variety of problems, symptoms of which in crops are often called physiological disorders.
The symptoms of calcium deficiency are: Necrosis at the tips and margins of young leaves, Bulb and fruit abnormalities, Deformation of affected leaves, Highly branched, short, brown root systems, Severe, stunted growth, and general chlorosis.
Chlorosis is a yellowing of leaf tissue due to a lack of chlorophyll. Calcium deficiencies reduces the uptake of some minerals such as magnesium.
It must be remembered that these problems are caused by an inadequate supply of calcium to the affected tissues. These deficiencies can occur even when the soil appears to have an adequate presence of calcium.
Garden Lime (A common supply of calcium) is often derived from lime stone which is hard and can take between 3 to 10 years to become available to plants after application to the soil.
Calcium is found in many minerals in soil, but is relatively insoluble in this state. Calcium is not considered a leachable nutrient. Many soils will contain high levels of insoluble calcium such as calcium carbonate, but crops grown in these soils will often show a calcium deficiency.
High levels of other cations such as magnesium, ammonium, iron, aluminum and especially potassium, will reduce the calcium uptake in some crops. A common misconception is that if the pH is high, adequate calcium is present. This is not always true.
Calcium plays a very important role in plant growth and nutrition, as well as in cell wall deposition.
The primary roles of calcium are: As a soil amendment, calcium helps to maintain chemical balance in the soil, reduces soil salinity, and improves water penetration. Calcium plays a critical metabolic role in carbohydrate removal. Calcium neutralizes cell acids.
Another aspect that is often over looked is that calcium is the fuel that feeds the soil life.
And that my gardening friends, is a very very important aspect indeed.
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MAY GARDENING

The year rolls around so fast and here we are just a month away from the shortest day.
Predictions suggest that we are in for a warmer winter than normal with some cold snaps to keep us awake.
Winter is a cruising time in the gardens with just enough things to do to get us cracking on those nicer days. Growth is slow and the need to water just about nil except for container plants, not getting enough rain on them and plants in glasshouses for those gardeners that are fortunate to have one.
Make sure you have used Vaporgard, spray on, frost protection over your more tender garden plants so you do not get caught out if there is a frost.
With wet soil it is a good time to clean up weed s in gardens. This can be done by pulling out the weeds and shaking the dirt off the roots or even better with a sharp knife cut any weed tops off just below soil level.
The roots stay in the soil to rot away and the tops can either be composted or laid on bare soil to break down. If there is still roots attached to the tops do not lay them on the soil as they will likely root up again during winter. (In summer they would shrivel up and die)
Your pest weeds then become a free fodder crop.
For those gardeners that use chemical weed killers still, then to make sure you get a good kill in winter add some dissolved sulphate of ammonia to the spray along with Raingard.
This promotes growth which causes death and the Raingard aids the spray to penetrate the foliage better resulting in a 50% better result.
It is the time to order fruit trees and roses from your garden centre if you have not done so yet.
I was recently given a new NZ fruit book to review which on first glance appeared informative and well presented.
It is a revised book as the original was recalled because of plagiarism pointed out by the gardening writer Abbie Jury.
I would presume those plagiarism aspects of the revised book have been removed. I looked up Abbie’s original article on the book and noted her comment: ‘Her gardening credentials are very limited and it shows in this Penguin publication sponsored by the Tui garden products company.
There is nothing wrong with using a researcher to pull together a comprehensive book as long as the editor/publisher ring-fences her with an expert panel to review the information. There is no evidence that this was done. Alas, being a keen home gardener on the North Shore is not sufficient.’
I see that the revised book also has some glaring mistakes such as the depth to plant a fruit tree.
The universal recommended planting is at the same level as in the planter bag. To plant deeper can result in the rotting and ring barking of the tree causing premature death. The book shows diagrams planting 10 to 20cm too deep thus covering the trunk in that area. Very poor advise and hopefully one that is not followed.
I noticed that Waimea Nurseries had inputs into the book and the information this excellent nursery gives is very good.
One of the biggest problems gardeners have in growing various fruiting plants and trees is insect pest and diseases that effect the crop. The information on control and preventing of these problems is scarce and does not even mention curly leaf or brown rot both of which hold a great interest for myself.
Plenty of information on what cooking/preserving methods can be used for the harvested crop which says a cook wrote the book not a knowledgeable gardener.
The book is a promotion of Tui and its products which is a interesting way of advertising but unlike Yates Garden Guide, which is predominately gardening information with product promotion secondary.
Ideal book for those coffee table gardeners and those that would like some fruit recipes.
The best book written on fruit trees in NZ has to be The New Zealand Fruit Garden, Growing fruit in your own garden by Colin Hutchinson. The book is out of print now but if you can find a copy then you have a real gem.
Talking about fruit it is now coming up the time to start thinking Strawberries.
New seasons plants normally start coming available in May/June period.
If you have your own runners from exist plants then these can be used to replace old plants that are no longer so productive, have disease or to start a new bed.
I highly recommend making a strawberry trough to sit on the top rail of a iron fence or similar.
It should be on a fence that gets a good amount of sun and not in a too shady situation.
There are a number of advantages growing strawberries in this manner such as:

The berries tend to cascade over the side of the trough which makes them easy to pick (no bending) and difficult for the birds to get them.
It means you can plant a lot of strawberries without taking up any gardening space.
I made a new fence trough last winter using 2 planks 25cm wide, the first one was screwed to the top rail of the fence and then a plank 13cm wide screwed to this above the rail to give the trough a depth of 13 cm. The second 25cm plank was screwed to the edge of the one screwed to the rail, at level to make the 13cm deep trough complete once ends were also used.
You may like to screw a few blocks to the top rail to give more support to the trough above.
Next the tantalized wood was painted inside the trough with acrylic paint to seal in the chemicals.
Later the trough was filled with a mix of chicken manure, Bio Boost, purchased compost and sawdust.
The strawberry plants were planted up and as the length of the trough I made was 5 metres long it took from memory about 48 plus plants.
Using Mycorrcin as a spray to increase the crop I was able to obtain about 40 kg or more of ripe strawberries half of which went into jam and the other as deserts. Everyday when I watered I would have a feed of strawberries.
Bird problems were minor and with a couple of lots of Bird Repeller Ribbon the crop was not touched.
The Mycorrcin kept the plants and berries healthy and the occasional spray of Perkfection prevented dry berry getting a hold.
Overall a great result.

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FROSTY WET WINTERS

Over the next three months we can expect a number of frosts and wet weather, both of which has their advantages and disadvantages for our gardens.
The advantages is the killing off of some insect pests and wiping out a few disease spores. The disadvantages are possible loss or damage to plants that are susceptible to winter’s chills and ills.
There are a few things that you can do to help prevent damage and losses, making life a bit better for your plants.
Firstly the problems of excessive water, causing root rots in a number of plants in your gardens such as citrus etc.
If you used mulches in the summer to conserve moisture then these mulches should be raked away from the root zone of any plants that detest wet feet.
This allows the soil to breath and water to evaporate faster. Mulches can be deadly in a wet winter.
If your section suffers from ponding then a submersible pump would be a good investment.
Make a hole in the area where ponding is the worst and place a suitable size plastic container into the hole.
Drill large holes in the bottom and sides of the container and place your pump inside of this.
Place a few planks of wood or similar over the hole to prevent accidents.
The outlet of the pump can be directed to a storm water outlet or out to the street drains.
The pump will turn on automatically when the container fills with water and turn off again when its empty.
Simple and effective. Sprays at this time of Perkfection, over your garden plants, will fortify them against wet weather diseases. Spray again a month later. A couple of sprays in the spring will also be to advantage.
Next obtain a bag of sulphate of potash and sprinkle that around your gardens.
It is very good value in assisting plants to harden up, making them more robust in handling frosts, wet times and winter winds.
The more cold sensitive plants will need further protection and the first step of this is to spray their foliage now with Vaporgard.
The commercial product called ‘VaporGard’ is available to the home gardener and this product has a multitude of uses including a spray-on-frost cloth.
Very simple to use, mixing 15 mls per litre of warm water and then sprayed over plants for good coverage.
In cold weather place your bottle of VaporGard into a jug of hot water for about 5 minutes to assist in making the fluid easier to pour. VaporGard is organic and it provides a long lasting (2-3 months, longer in winter) film over the foliage which protects down to 3 degrees C.
New growth requires further applications but as there is very little growth through winter, this is not needed till the spring.
Note; for the full protection that Vaporgard can give against frost and chill damage it takes about 3 days to come into effect.(see below in regards to UV protection)
Putting on frost cloth and taking it off is a chore and more often or not, one either forgets or you get caught out. VaporGard overcomes these problems and becomes an all winter, first line of defense against the chills.
In areas where you have harder frosts than 3 you will still need the extra protection such as the traditional frost cloth (Good quality frost cloth protects down to 5), combine the two together and you will have increased protection. Note, several frosts in a row will result in damage still.
If you have a second frost within a day or two of the last frost then frost cloth should be used over the Vaporgard protected plants.
VaporGard has as mentioned a multitude of uses, it can be used to advantage on transplanting seedlings and established plants as it reduces moisture loss though the foliage and thus reduces transplant stress or shock. This factor can be used to great advantage in summer on your container plants when they start to suffer through drying out. Just spray the plants and they will require far less watering.
In a glasshouse, or on very hot days in summer, plants such as tomatoes and curbits can droop during the day. At that time they have stopped growing. Just spray with the product to reduce this problem also.
Another interesting aspect is, VaporGard develops a polymerised skin over each spray-droplet which filters out UVA and UVB. Providing a sunscreen for the chlorophyll, which is normally under attack by UV light.
This results in a darker green colour of the foliage within a few days of application. The chlorophyll build-up makes the leaf a more efficient food factory producing more carbohydrates, especially glycols giving stress protection from moisture loss and extra fuel for better growth and faster maturity.
The film also offers some protection against some fungus diseases. Sprayed on fruit it will give your fruit better colour, reduce splitting problems, increases sugar content and earlier maturity. The picked fruit will store for longer also. This aspect also applies to vegetables, potatoes and pumpkins, sprayed before or after harvest they will keep longer.
You could also use this for keeping cut flowers longer. A magic product that has uses all year round. A few don'ts through; never put chemicals in the spray mix if using on food crops as the harmful chemical will still be present when you harvest.
Safe products such as Neem and Perkfection can still be used. Do not spray blue conifers with VaporGard as it will turn them green for about a year.
Otherwise no other problems just advantages.
Note: when bottle is empty pour some warm water into the bottle to get the last approx 5 ml of the product out. Made up spray should be used within 24 hours as it may not keep. Store your VaporGard bottle out of direct sunlight.
If you have sprayed plants with Vaporgard and you want to say spray them with Perkfection then simply add Raingard to the new spray and it will merge with the Vaporgard film allowing the Perkfection to pass through.
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GARDENING FOR WELL BEING

It has been a couple of weeks now since I returned home to New Zealand, after spending 3 weeks travelling around Islands in the Philippines.
As a retired nurseryman it was incredible to see so many different tropical plants growing wild and cultured in landscapes, plants that we struggle to keep alive as house plants growing profusely even when potted into old paint tins.
Philippines is a third world country and having never visited a country as such it was a definite ‘Culture Shock’ and a reminder about how lucky we are here in New Zealand.
I met people that were employed grossing $60.00(NZD) for a 6 day working week. (Less after tax) With a minimum wage of $10.00 a day of more than 8 hours. With the relatively low cost of living, these are the luckier people. With a population of over 100 million people living on over 7000 Islands it is a interesting place to visit.
While I was travelling I finished reading a book I had started to read in NZ called ‘The China Study’ by Dr. T. Colin Campbell. The book was recommended to me by a reader and I would like to recommend the same to all of you.
From the web site http://www.thechinastudy.com/

we have the following information about this fascinating book;
The science is clear. The results are unmistakable. Change your diet and dramatically reduce the risk of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and obesity.
Respected nutrition and health researcher, Dr. T. Colin Campbell reveals the truth behind special interest groups, government entities and scientists that have taken Americans down a deadly path.
Even today, as the low-carb craze sweeps the nation, two-thirds of adults are still obese and children are being diagnosed with Type II diabetes, typically an "adult" disease, at an alarming rate. If we're eating healthier, why are Americans stricken with heart disease as much as we were 30 years ago?
Drawing on the project findings in rural China, but going far beyond those findings, The China Study details the connection between nutrition and heart disease, diabetes and cancer. The report also examines the source of nutritional confusion produced by powerful lobbies, government entities, and opportunistic scientists. The New York Times has recognized the study (China-Oxford-Cornell Diet and Health Project) as the "Grand Prix of epidemiology" and the "most comprehensive large study ever undertaken of the relationship between diet and the risk of developing disease."
"After a long career in research and policy-making, I have decided to step 'out of the system'. I have decided to disclose why Americans are so confused," said Dr. Campbell. "As a taxpayer who foots the bill for research and health policy in America, you deserve to know that many of the common notions you have been told about food, health and disease are wrong."
"I propose to do nothing less than redefine what we think of as good nutrition. You need to know the truth about food, and why eating the right way can save your life."
Early in his career as a researcher with MIT and Virginia Tech, Dr. Campbell worked to promote better health by eating more meat, milk and eggs -- "high-quality animal protein ... It was an obvious sequel to my own life on the farm and I was happy to believe that the American diet was the best in the world."
He later was a researcher on a project in the Philippines working with malnourished children. The project became an investigation for Dr. Campbell, as to why so many Filipino children were being diagnosed with liver cancer, predominately an adult disease. The primary goal of the project was to ensure that the children were getting as much protein as possible.
"In this project, however, I uncovered a dark secret. Children who ate the highest protein diets were the ones most likely to get liver cancer..." He began to review other reports from around the world that reflected the findings of his research in the Philippines.
Although it was "heretical to say that protein wasn't healthy," he started an in-depth study into the role of nutrition, especially protein, in the cause of cancer.
The research project culminated in a 20-year partnership of Cornell University, Oxford University, and the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, a survey of diseases and lifestyle factors in rural China and Taiwan. More commonly known as the China Study, "this project eventually produced more than 8000 statistically significant associations between various dietary factors and disease."
The findings? "People who ate the most animal-based foods got the most chronic disease ... People who ate the most plant-based foods were the healthiest and tended to avoid chronic disease. These results could not be ignored," said Dr. Campbell.
In The China Study, Dr. Campbell details the connection between nutrition and heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, and also its ability to reduce or reverse the risk or effects of these deadly illnesses. The The China Study is not a diet book.
Consumers are bombarded with conflicting messages regarding health and nutrition; the market is flooded with popular titles like The Atkins Diet and The South Beach Diet. The China Study cuts through the haze of misinformation and delivers an insightful message to anyone living with cancer, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and those concerned with the effects of aging. Additionally, he challenges the validity of these low-carb fad diets and issues a startling warning to their followers. End

In the book it shows how a fruit/vegetable/nut/grain diet will greatly reduce the possibility of many major health problems and even reverse some conditions. Protein from vegetables etc with their high fibre content clean out our bodies as opposed to filling us up with problems.
Health problems can be greatly reduced in your own vegetable garden, by growing as much fruit and vegetables as possible, using natural gardening methods to ensure optimum nutritional goodness.
A saying that I have is ‘Healthy Soil, Healthy Plants, Healthy You’ and that is very true and most important to your well being. The China Study is available from book shops or on line from Amazon at a better price. (Try your local Library also)
After reading the book you can put more effort into growing more of your own food which will not only improve your health but also your budget.
Gardening is definitely the way to go.
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WORMS

It is a fact that earthworms are the greatest garden helpers that you can have.
The more worms you have in your gardens the healthier the plants will be.
Sadly many gardens lack in earthworms and the reasons for this are often because water soluble fertilisers have been used such as Superphosphate, General Purpose Fertiliser, Rose Fertiliser, Nitrophoska Blue, etc. These fertilisers create acidic making conditions that the worms detest. Chemical sprays and weed killers, including the Glyphosate ones, are also harmful to worms.
When you don’t have good worm populations you also have low counts of other soil life forms, collectively called micro-organisms. The health of the soil is easily gauged by the number of earthworms found when turning over the soil.
An acre of good soil will contain about one million worms. This works out to be about 23 worms per square foot. Recently Ag Research stated that on good natural pasture the weight of the stock grazing the grass would be equal to the weight of all the earthworms in the soil on that paddock.
Big worm populations make for great healthy gardens and plants. Here is a few facts on worms; Earthworms make contributions, such as adding calcium carbonate, a compound which helps moderate soil pH.
Each day, they produce 60 percent of their body weight in urine, which contains high levels of nitrogen. Worms can eat their own weight each day. Worms live where there is food, moisture, oxygen and a favorable temperature. If they don’t have these things, they go somewhere else. Worms tunnel deeply in the soil and bring subsoil closer to the surface mixing it with the topsoil.
Slime, a secretion of earthworms, contains nitrogen. The sticky slime also helps to hold clusters of soil particles together in formations called aggregates. Although they have no prominent sense organs, earthworms are sensitive to light, touch, vibration, and chemicals. Incidently earthworms have 5 hearts.
Earthworms do not like dry soil and in dry times they will burrow deep into the soil and wait till the rains come. (not a good time to gauge worm populations) If you have good populations of worms, they will do the bulk of your digging of gardens for you.
If you dig a garden or rotary hoe it, after leveling off the soil with a rake, you should put a layer of compost over the soil. Digging can disrupt the worm’s food supplies. The compost will put matters right. Even better, before spreading the compost, layer the ground with newspaper a few pages thick and wet down. Cover with compost. Worms love newspaper (hence the term bookworm) and the inks used these days are ok. Don’t use glossy paper.
There are ways to make your gardens ‘worm friendly’ and build up their populations.
Drench gardens with MBL (Magic Botanic Liquid) This cleans up chemicals from the soil and other contamination. Give the garden a liberal dressing of soft garden lime such as Hatuma Lime. Hard limes made from limestone take too long to be of immediate advantage. Don’t use any water soluble fertilisers or chemical sprays including weed killers. Use natural foods such animal manures, blood & bone, sheep pellets, sea weed, sawdust and straw.
Gardens with low or no worm populations can be restocked with worms after making them ‘worm friendly’ The fastest way to achieve good worm populations is to breed worms in a Worm Farm.
This is a specially designed container that you place kitchen scraps into along with a starter bag of worms. The worms fed on the rotting material, converting it to vermicast (rich soil).
The ideal conditions that a Worm Farm should offer, allows the worms to reproduce until their numbers reach what can be called the worm population limit. They then stop actively breeding until their numbers reduce. By removing some of the worms every so often, they will keep producing a never ending supply of worms. When harvesting the vermicast you are taking a number of worms out unless you carefully pick out the worms and put them back into the worm farm.
In this respect it is better to only harvest a quarter to a third of the vermicast at any one time. Allow a couple of months or more to pass before harvesting again.
The harvested worms can be placed into what I call ‘worm pits’ in the garden.
These are simply spade sized holes dug in the gardens, filled with shredded wet newspaper, kitchen scraps, animal manure and any organic material. About a handful or two of vermicast and worms are seeded into each worm pit then covered with compost.
Keep the area of the pit moist with occasional watering as needed. Apply compost and animal manures over the surrounding garden as a mulch along with a sprinkling of soft lime, from time to time. If all goes well you will over the following months, build up big populations of worms in the gardens. Concentrate on the vegetable garden first and later do the same to other gardens.
In a bigger garden, place the worm pits towards the centre about 3 metres apart. There are a few brands of worm farms available, the type that I use is called a Worm-A-Round. It is so good that I now have two of them in operation.
It comprises of 3 round tiers 60cm in diameter and standing 46 cm tall when all tiers are stacked on. The bottom tier has a tap and the leachate (worm pee) is collected and harvested from there.
The two upper tiers are for the scraps and worms. A lid covers the farm. The size is important, as too smaller units can become too hot or cold for the worms in summer or winter. Placed in a shaded situation the worms can keep cool enough in summer and huddle together in cold winters.
There has in the past, been some cheaper smaller units available, which likely were not very good, as to the number of problems gardeners found when trying to use them.
Having a worm farm is a great investment, not only do you benefit the gardens with worms, vermicast and leachate (liquid plant food) you save money in disposing of your kitchen wastes. (We keep a plastic container in the kitchen to fill with wastes before putting into the worm farm)
I also use the vermicast mixed into compost for containers when potting up. This places a few worms along with the rich vermicast into the containers, making for really great container plants.
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WEEDS-THE OTHER PLANTS

Weeds are both a boon and a curse to gardeners. You may ask what advantage is there in having weeds? Two aspects immediately spring to mind, weeds are a free source of organic matter for composting and mulching but must be cut and harvested before they set seeds.
The second advantage is a much more complex one which many farmers have a reasonable knowledge of, that is the type of weeds found growing in various areas indicate two important markers, the pH of the soil and the mineral content of the soil in weed growing area.
In the home garden situation each of us have our own batch of weeds that germinate and grow either consistently or only appear at certain times of the year.
Many weeds are easy to deal with if they are removed before they are allowed to set seeds and increase the problem. Others such as oxalis are more difficult to control once they become established.
Grass weeds are likely to be the most prolific weeds we have to deal with in our gardens and any other area that can allow a seed to germinate, such as in cracks in a concrete path.
Our own lawns can produce thousands of grass seeds which carried by wind, water or our own actions will distribute grass seeds to where we do not want a new lawn.
In my book ‘Wally’s Down to Earth Gardening Guide’ I devoted a good sized chapter to the control of weeds in the home garden giving both safe and chemical ways to control the more common plus hard to control weeds. Regular readers of my weekly column will be aware that I am dead against the use of chemicals in the home garden and I have not used any chemical weed killers for over 15 years.
Prior to that I was a great user of Roundup then having an expensive, state of the art, back pack sprayer unit, solely for weed killing. Every 2-3 months out would come the pack and in would go the Roundup and water to spray every inch of the section that supported weeds. Believing in those times that Glyphosate (The active ingredient in Roundup) was a safe chemical to use and it would break down quickly leaving no prolonged residue in the soil. I began to realise years ago the harmful effects of the chemical when one of my expensive Shar Pei dogs developed skin problems, which turned out to be caused by Glyphosate. (Going into recently sprayed areas)
Another aspect also occurred, which after many years of using Glyphosate in my nurseries and at home, without any protection whatsoever, I was beginning to feel out of sorts for a couple of days after spraying. In other words my body was developing an allergic reaction to the chemical. I have read that numerous people become faint if they just get a whiff of Glyphosate being sprayed in the neighbourhood.
If you come to realise that most of the non-organic food you buy will have traces of Glyphosate, so even without you using Glyphosate as a weed killer, your body is likely absorbing this chemical.
If you intend to use any type of chemical spray you should wear all the protective clothing that is available, a full spray suit with respirator leaving no part of your body exposed is best.
OK so you look like you are ready for a trip to the moon but at least you are safer.
It reminds me of a story I was told about a lady that was at a park where her young children were playing. A fully protected park employee was spraying nearby and being concerned about her children she called out to the man to find out what he was spraying. He replied back, ‘Oh its ok, its quite safe’ Excuse me if safe why all the protection!
You always are learning and a few years back I attended a ‘Farmsafe’ course about agrichemicals.
It is a one day course which I would recommend all gardeners to do, as you can learn a lot about safety in chemical handing and use.
You know how we think that spraying a chemical on a calm day is best? Completely wrong as the spray droplets float on the air surrounding the user and with conventional currents, are lifted up, to spread over vast areas. It is far safer to spray when there is a light breeze as you can avoid breeze carried droplets from travelling to non target areas.
A housing over the end of your spray wand is also a safe way to use chemical weed killers to ensure your spray particles hit the target and stay there inside the housing.
One of the big problems with chemical weed killers is the damage that they do to the soil life. Killing beneficial soil populations including worms does not make for healthy gardens and plants.
If you need to use a chemical weed killer you can reduce this problem by adding Thatch Busta to the chemical spray. It will do three things, Thatch Busta is a food for the beneficials so it counteracts some of the damage the chemical causes, it can make the spray/kill more effective and it will help clean up the dying weeds faster.
Many chemical weed killers have to enter the foliage of the target plant to work and every plant has a natural barrier to some degree to prevent this happening. This is more so on shiny and hairy leafed weeds. By adding Raingard to the spray assists the chemical to penetrate the foliage and results in up to 50% more effective kill.
I explained in my book, how the use of these two natural products added to a chemical weed killer can mean you can use less of the chemical and still obtain the same results. That in itself will be a saving of time and money.
There are many safe ways to control weeds without having to use chemicals.
The first thing to remember is that any weed or plant cannot survive indefinitely without leaves to gather energy from the sun. For instance if you cut off at ground level the leaves of oxalis or convolvulus and continued to do so as soon as new leaves appeared then after a time the bulbs or roots will fail to produce more leaves, having exhausted all its energy. The root or bulb would then naturally rot away. But on the other hand if you dug the ground trying to lift the bulbs or roots you would actually spread the problem further. Many of you will be aware of this when you tried to dig up and sift out the bulbs of oxalis.
By the way baking soda with Raingard added is ideal way to kill oxalis without harming other non related plants. This spray must be done on a hot sunny day when the ground is on the dry side.
This aspect of a sunny day with drier soil is a key time for any weed control as all plants are in a weakened state at that time. A spray of a cheap cooking oil will dehydrate the foliage of any weeds sprayed in those conditions.
Weeding by hand is an enjoyable way to spend an hour or so outside on a mild day.
If you have a healthy soil it is best to not disturb the soil any more than need be.
For instance if instead of pulling out weeds you cut them off at ground level with a sharp knife and you leave the roots in the ground to feed the soil life as they decompose. You also do not interrupt the webs of beneficial fungi that attach themselves to the weeds and then across to your preferred plants nearby, thus making a free food source for your garden plants. Perennial weeds such as docks need to be sliced below ground with a sharp knife to cut off the crown of the weed.
The foliage of all weeds cut can be left on bare soil as a natural mulch or taken to the compost heap.
Just ensure that the weeds have not been allow to reach seeding stage.
Not using chemical weed sprays anymore and not having sufficient spare time to weed I have solved much of my weed problems by having raised gardens with either weed mat or empty compost bags on the ground to prevent weeds establishing. My back yard has free ranging chooks which never allow a weed to grow. (It used to be a problem when I stopped using chemical weed killers)
Keeping free range chickens may not be every ones cup of tea but if you can provide a small hen house and use netting to keep them in the area you want cleared then you cant go past having a few of these wonderful birds. Any costs of grain fed is offset by free range eggs.
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ARE YOU READY FOR WINTER?

Now is the time to prepare ourselves and our gardens for winter.
We are prompted by advertisements and common sense to prepare for the coming short daylight hours and the cold that winters bring. We order in firewood, check our electric blankets, and as the saying goes, ‘we get out our winter woollies’. We endeavour to make ourselves and our homes, ‘as snug as a bug in a rug’. If we take time to look after our needs, why should we not make time to look after our much loved gardens and plants?
It is only logical that the plants and gardens we have cared for over the last 9 months should now be given a bit of protection against the chills and wet they are going to face in the coming months.
Wet soil greatly increases the cold, that plant’s roots have to survive in. Prolonged wet feet increases the chances of root rot which is a killer of a number of plants in winter. It stops growth, where drier soil allows some growth even in a wet winter.
We cant stop the rain falling but we can assist the soil to dry out faster. For instance if you have a vegetable patch dig a trench at least a spades depth around the perimeter of the garden. Water will drain into the trench where wind and the weaker sun will speed up its evaporation. Clay soils and hard packed soils tend to hold water in the root zone of plants and the easy way to open up these areas is by applying good doses of gypsum now.
You can also install nova flow drain pipes from known wet areas into your storm water system.
In my case I have a backyard that can become a lake in winter, with rain water which can lay for days or weeks. This is not good for my citrus trees and other plants that grow in the area.
My chooks, which free range the area, must wish they were ducks. I solved the problem by digging a trench the length of the yard and placing a nova flow pipe in the trench covered with pea metal and then replaced the clay soil over the top. At one end, near the house, a deep hole was dug and lined with a plastic container that has ample holes in it. A submersible pump is placed inside this and connected to the storm water system.
When we get a good downpour, the water drains into the nova flow pipe and runs into the hole with the pump. When the water builds up the pump automatically turns on and pumps the water away.
The end result is the yard never stays under water for long and my chooks have not developed webbed feet. You have an initial outlay for a submersible pump, but as I have had the same one for over 20 years it certainly has more than paid for itself.
If you have lived at a property for more than a year you know where your wet areas are and do something to improve the drainage.
A problem often happens in wet winters and that is created by gardeners that have mulched garden areas to retain moisture during the summer months.
This can work well during dry times but can be deadly in wet times for any plants that don't like been in wet soil for prolonged periods. Every year in spring or early summer I have gardeners ringing me up to complain about shrubs and trees in their gardens dying.
I ask one simple question have you a mulch on the soil in that area and more often the answer is yes and that is the problem. The soil cant breathe and moisture cant get away and plants die.
So rake back mulches now from the root area of plants that don't like wet feet especially citrus trees.
There is a product called Perkfection which is great for protecting our plants against wet weather diseases. A couple of sprays now, a month apart, will put your garden plants in good stead for the winter ahead.
Perkfection is ‘Synthetic Organic Phosphates’ and what you are doing, is placing this valuable material, onto the foliage of your plants, where it is very readily absorbed and transferred through the whole of the plant. This fortifies the plant’s cells, increases the plant’s immune system and makes your plants less susceptible to invading pathogens.
The next step in ‘winter readying’ your gardens and plants is to apply magnesium and potash which can be found in balance with a product called Fruit and Flower Power.
Used around your preferred plants at the rate of 50 grams per square metre once a month for the next 2-3 months. The magnesium is involved in chlorophyll production, which converts sunlight into sugars and is involved in activating enzymes. Because of its role in chlorophyll, the first symptoms of magnesium deficiency shows up as yellowing, usually between the veins of th
e older leaves. In severe deficiencies, the entire leaf will turn yellow or red and then brown, with symptoms progressing up the plant. Often we see leaves yellowing in winter due to insufficient amounts of this element.
As the weather cools and winter approaches, plants feel the chills like we do, but plants cant put on a jersey like we can. Plant’s protection from chills and frosts comes from having adequate Potassium in their diet. Thus us gardening commentators always suggest to gardeners to supply adequate potash to their plants as winter starts to approach and to avoid too much nitrogen.
Potassium harden up the cells of our plants giving protection from frosts and wet.
We can further protect our soils and plants by a soil drench of Magic Botanic liquid (MBL) and a spray over the foliage of the same.
Next step is to protect those plants that do not like the cold and frosts and we can achieve a good degree of protection from a spray of Vaporgard. VaporGard is organic and it provides a long lasting (2-3 months, or longer in winter) film over the foliage which protects down to –3 degrees C.
In areas where you have harder frosts than –3 you will still need the extra protection such as the traditional frost cloth (Good quality frost cloth protects down to –5), combine the two together and you will have increased protection. Note, several frosts in a row can result in damage still.
VaporGard develops a polymerised skin over each spray-droplet which filters out UVA and UVB. Providing a sunscreen for the chlorophyll, which is normally under attack by UV light. This results in a darker green colour of the foliage within a few days of application. The chlorophyll build-up makes the leaf a more efficient food factory producing more carbohydrates, especially glycols giving stress protection from moisture loss and extra fuel for better growth and faster maturity.
The glycols are anti-freeze for the plant’s cells so you have enabled the plant to have its own anti-freeze system. It is the freezing of cells at frosty times that causes the frost damage.
During an average winter with the occasional frost I can keep my tamarillo in full foliage as well as other frost tender plants. An application of Vaporgard now will prevent you being caught out with an early frost and later on about June another application will protect your plants into spring.
Once you have applied Vaporgard to any plants and wish to apply another spray of Perkfection you need to add Raingard to the spray so it will pass through the film of Vaporgard.
In a nut shell you firstly aid drainage, then apply Fruit and Flower Power, followed with a drench of MBL and spray of the same with Perkfection added. Lastly for those tender plants a spray over the foliage with Vaporgard; the spray on frost protector.
Happy gardening. TO THE LIST OF ARTICLES


SAVING PLANTS IN WINTER

Gardeners can spend time and money making their summer gardens of annual, flowers and vegetables productive and great for the summer. Now that we are into autumn, the last few weeks are left, for these summer plants to preform before the cold, wet or frosts finish them off.
Do you need to start off with new seeds or seedlings purchased in the spring?
The answer for many plants is no. There are ways of saving plants and seeds so that next spring you start off with your own stock of material, saving both time and money.
If you have a glasshouse or shade house this makes a great storage area for plant material. Even a part of a conservatory or a sunny porch will allow you to hold plants over the winter time, that will be lost otherwise.
Plants can be saved in three ways from your gardens. Collecting ripe seeds, taking cuttings and in some cases lifting the whole plant.
For instance you may have capsicums or peppers growing in the garden, these are not annuals, but will be lost in the winter if left where they are growing.
What you do is remove any fruit that are ready or near ready and either dry or freeze them, depending on whether they are capsicum (Cut and Freeze) peppers, remove and dry.
A good way to freeze is to place a suitable number of cut up capsicum for one serving into an ice cream container and cover them with water. Place the container in the freezer and when the water freezes, the capsicum pieces are protected from freezer burn from the ice around them.
Knock out this ice cube of capsicum and put into a plastic bag then back in the freezer. They stack well like this too. Now the plants out in the garden (if you have several just pick the best) spray them with Vaporgard, over and under the foliage and leave for a couple of days. Then lift the plant taking a good size root ball. (They are fairly shallow rooting so its easy) Take a bucket sized container with drainage holes and partly fill with compost. Sit the plant’s root ball and soil on top of the compost at a level, so that the soil level, is just below the rim of the container.
You now have a potted capsicum or pepper for growing in the glasshouse etc. If you go very easy on watering and only give them small drinks, when they are very dry then the plants winter through well and even supply you with fresh fruit in winter, every so often.
The same maybe done with some flower plants that you would like to keep, flowering begonias, impatiens and petunia are three that can be kept through winter. If they are a bit large cut them back to half before spraying with the Vaporgard.
Some of these maybe kept indoors on a windowsill as pot plants through the winter.
As long as you only water them with little drinks when they are very dry, they will survive. Too much water in winter is a killer.
Now say you have 100 odd impatiens outside growing, it is pointless lifting lots of these, so the next easy way is to take cuttings of the best flowering ones, you want for next season. This time spray the growing tops of the ones you want to keep with Vaporgard.
Leave for a couple of days and then cut the tops for cuttings. Take a seedling tray and half fill with potting mix, over the top of the mix place sharp sand, to fill the tray to near the top rim. Wet the sand carefully and place your fresh cuttings into the sand. (Bit like those sand saucers we used to do at school.) Place the tray into a good light glasshouse, but shaded from strong sun. As the sand dries, mist it with water. The cuttings should strike roots over the next few weeks and then you can hold them in a frost free spot till spring.
Flowering begonia, coleus and petunia are some of other flowering plants you can keep in this manner. The third method is to collect seeds from the flowering plants including any tomatoes you want to grow next season.
Beans also is another good one and with them just allow a few beans to stay on the plants till they mature and dry. Tomatoes, pick a nice big fruit and cut in half, with a knife pick out a number of seeds and place on a paper towel. Write the name of the type, on the towel and leave on a bench for a few days to dry out the seeds.
Then cut away the towel part without seeds, fold up, place in a plastic bag, then into a glass jar with a seal lid. Store the jar in the fridge. Flower seeds and other seeds can be placed dry into plastic bags with their names on and stored in the same jar. It is a good idea to use the three methods mentioned where applicable so that you have lots of material for next spring.
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PLANT HEALTH FACTORS

Gardeners endeavor to have their garden plants looking as healthy as possible, especially their preferred plants such as roses. Any blemishes to the foliage or flowers cause keen gardeners to take remedial actions.
To understand what is needed to have very healthy looking plants, one can compare plant health to human health. For a healthy body we require a certain amount of water, sun, a balance of food, rich in vitamins, minerals and enzymes, along with a life as free as possible from external stress aspects.
Plants need adequate moisture for their daily needs but not too much to cause root rot problems. Adequate sunlight (dependant on the type of plant) A humus rich growing medium, full of soil life and worms. Availability of all the minerals and elements that each type of plant species requires. Free of stress caused by external factors (pH, insect pests etc.. Given the above aspects a plant will grow and be very healthy.
As gardeners we provide many of these aspects for plants ensuring that they have adequate moisture yet free draining during wet times. Positioning the plants for either sun or shade depending on type. Building up a rich humus by using compost and other natural products while avoiding the use of water soluble fertilisers that kill soil life and chemical sprays that weaken the plant’s immune system. Providing where possible, natural foods that give the basic needs of the NPK’s along with magnesium, calcium, sulphur etc. It would appear that, dependant on the type of plant, somewhere between 20 to 114 odd different elements are required for plants to have full health.
A few years ago I wrote about the plant trials that a Dr Maynard Murry did using Ocean Solids.
In brief, Maynard found that the blue waters of the ocean contained all the minerals and elements known to man, in perfect balance, along with a big percentage of sodium chloride. (Salt) If these minerals were carefully harvested from the ocean and used on the land, plants would overcome disease problems that they had, and be immune to diseases.
His research included treating the soil in the root zone, with Ocean Solids, on various types of plants while have untreated controls growing nearby. Then disease spores would be sprayed over the trail and control plants. In each case the controls succumbed to the particular disease while the Ocean Solid treated plants showed no signs.
It would appear that common garden plants, vegetables, roses etc are likely to need somewhere between 20 to 80 odd elements for full health. Take one of these away e.g. Selenium, and like our own bodies a health problem can arise over time.
Fertilisers commonly supply only the major elements for plants which may as few as 4 or 5 elements or in better formulations a dozen or so. Still far short of all the minor trace elements that many plants might need. We know that wheat grass will take up the 114 elements if available, which makes wheat grass juice so valuable to our health.
What about our roses? I don’t know how many elements they would like to have in their diet, but if we supplied everything, then the rose (or whatever other plant) can choose for themselves. We know already that MBL (Magic botanic Liquid) has a lot of minerals and numerous people who use the product on their roses, reported that their roses are far better than they had ever been.
If we apply ‘Ocean Solids’ to our gardens and containers, then we can be fairly confident that likely 114 odd minerals will be available to our plants. When we apply Ocean Solids to our home grown vegetables and fruiting plants, then many of these minerals will also be available in our food chain. Growing our own wheat grass for juicing with Ocean Solids, then all the elements and minerals will be in the juice which are quickly absorbed into our blood stream to enhance our cells, assist in overcoming any health problems and boost our immune system reducing the possibility of future health effecting conditions.
Plants do not require a lot of Ocean Solids, in fact one application of 35 grams per square metre is applied the first year followed by half that amount for years 2 to 5. Then no further applications for 5 years. It can also be used at the rate of one tablespoon, dissolved in 4.5 Litres of water sprayed over foliage to run off. The Purpose for the spray, is as a natural insecticide, fungicide and foliar feed. Use only Bi-Monthly and late in day when sun is off the plants. Too much of the Ocean Solids can be detrimental.
I see the possibilities of overcoming some of the harder to control diseases such as curly leaf, brown rot and black spot from these applications of Ocean Solids.
Plants that have been weakened by chemical sprays and water soluble fertilisers will not come right overnight, it may take a season or two but likely improvements will be noticed during recovery. Given the opportunity, Nature will heal itself, often faster than we imagined. Ocean Solids is not a complete plant food as it contains no nitrogen.
You need a good animal manure based compost to supply this. Used sparingly, some of the ‘fast’ slow release fertilisers can be beneficial for boosting plant growth when applied at the right times. Potassium Sulphate and magnesium sulphate are two water soluble fertilisers that can be very beneficial at the right times in the right amounts.
Superphosphate is one to be avoided because of its acidic nature and to obtain the extra phosphate the plants need, use the natural BioPhos. Ocean Solids will give your gardens and plants availability of about 114 odd elements for overall health. This then will greatly reduce the possibility of diseases unless the plants come under stress for other reasons such as too little or too much water, wrong pH, bad insect attack, chemical fertilisers or sprays, herbicides, UV, weather, age, etc.
Even many of the aspects above will have less damaging consequences when your plants are fortified with all the elements that they need for strong metabolisms.
Ocean Solids have been carefully harvested from selected, mineral rich sea water, solar dried naturally to retain the elements. It has not gone through further processing as we find with table salt, of which refining have removed many of the elements to make it purer sodium chloride. Many gardeners know the value of some sea-weed related products which contain many minerals also, but only the minerals that particular sea weed required. In fact they obtained their chosen minerals from Ocean Solids in its original form.
Ocean Solids are available through some garden centres and if not, ask for them to obtain the product for you. A great step towards perfect plants.
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LAWN PESTS

Autumn is the time to look to your lawns and do a bit of work as needed.
Thatch is a problem in most lawns and needs to be removed. (Thatch is the build up of debris on the surface of the soil) When thatch is left to build up it can cause all sorts of problems for a lawn.
There are three ways you can clear thatch from your lawn. The first is to use a scarfing rake which has sharp tines, a lot of hard work if you have a big lawn. The second is to hire a motorized scarifier which is expensive but great if you are going to oversow your lawn.
The third way is to spray the lawn with Thatch Busta. Easy and very effective if you follow the instructions.
Autumn is the time to sow, over sow or plant new lawns and we discussed this a couple of weeks back and that article is on our web pages.
There are also a number of lawn pests which during autumn, is a good time to deal to them.
Grass grubs or the grubs of the Black Beetle are active in the soil near the surface in the autumn till early winter dependant on where in NZ you are.
The cycle for the pests is along these lines: the adult beetles emerge in late spring through early summer and cause foliage damage to a number of garden plants.
During their life of several weeks, they lay eggs deep in lawns and sometimes in gardens all of which later hatch out baby grubs.
These grubs eat their way to the surface, feeding on the roots of the grasses and sometimes other plants.
If the soil becomes too dry they hibernate till the moisture level increases, then they start off again feeding. There can be grubs present in the soil anytime of the year but the main lot are normally near the soil surface in autumn. Once they finish their last instar they go down deep to pupate and then emerge as a beetle in the spring summer period.
There are two periods when controls are most effective on the pests, the first been when they are beetles.
The beetles emerge about sunset and are active in the early part of the evening. If you have a lighted window facing out across a lawn you will likely hear the beetles hitting the window as they are attracted to the light.
You can use this to catch and destroy hundreds of beetles. Place a trough under the window and fill to two thirds with water and then pour a little kerosene onto the water. Place a strong light inside the window and turn it on as dusk falls. The light will attract beetles who after hitting the window fall into the trough below and the kerosene prevents them from climbing out.
Next day scoop out the beetles and flush down the toilet or feed to the chickens.
This is the cheapest and most effective method of dealing to the pests.
The next time to deal to them is in the autumn when they are grubs and near the surface of the soil.
There are two treatments that you can apply to lawn areas where the grubs are, but first you should lift some turf to find out if there are grubs present and how many per square foot.
Its a waste of time if there is either none or only a few per square foot. If you have a good number in the areas that you check then a treatment is worthwhile.
One treatment is organic and will not hurt pets, children or wild life the other is chemical and should not be used if you have concerns for children, pets or alternatively have a no entry period of several days or longer.
The natural one involves a (snap on the hose) product made of eucalyptus and tea tree oils called Professor Macs 3 in 1 for Lawns. The two litre container treats 100 square metres of lawn.
It not only kills any lawn pests without undue harm to worms, it also feeds the lawn and provides a wetting agent.
A great safe product to use.
The chemical one is called Lawn Pest Control and is a granule poison that is spread over the lawn with a Scotts Spreader at the rate of 2 grams per Square Metre.
Therefore the 500 gram container does 250 Square Metres of lawn.
The same product can be used to kill nests of wasps or ants in the soil.
Another lawn pest that can be active anytime of the year is the native porina caterpillar.
These are a greasy looking caterpillar that lives in the soil in a burrow and comes up in the early evening to feed on the base of your grasses or other plants.
The entrance hole is similar to a earthworms hole and will give you an indication the the pest is in your gardens. They are an easy pest to control with the use of Neem Tree Oil.
After mowing your lawn spray the grasses with the Neem Oil at 15mils per litre or apply with a lawnboy. Do this late in the day so when the pests come out to feed that evening they will get a dose of Neem Oil and never eat again.
As the porina can be present anytime of the year then treatment should be applied when the damage is noticed.
If you have dry spot in your lawns which shows as brown areas that do not accept water.
Often the grass around the dry area is nice and green as the water runs off and penetrates there.
During dry times the soil builds up surface tension that prevents water from rain or hoses penetrating causing patches of lawn to go brown. The easy remedy for this is to take your dish washing liquid and add it to a watering can of warm water. Lather up with your hands and then pour the soapy water over the dry areas.
This will break surface tension and allow water to penetrate.
The only other tip to give you on lawns at this time is to ensure that you don't mow your lawn too low, it weakens the grass and allows weeds to grow.
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MARCH GARDENING 2011

In most cases these articles are written about a week before publication and as I write today (5th March) there is a nice steady rain watering the dry, parched gardens.
I am always impressed on how the plants respond to a good shower of rain and the simple reason for this is the free nitrogen that is brought out of the sky with the rain.
Rain storms deposit inorganic, atmospheric nitrogen (N2) into the soil.
The largest single source of nitrogen is the atmosphere. It is made up of 78 percent of this colorless, odorless, nontoxic gas. However, plants are unable to use nitrogen as it exists in the atmosphere. Nitrogen from the air (N2) enters the nitrogen cycle through several unique types of microorganisms that can convert N2 gas to inorganic forms usable by plants. Some of these microorganisms live in the soil, while others live in nodules of roots of certain plants.
Thus if you have a healthy soil rich in microbes then the rain will make a big difference to plant growth. If you have a poor soil as a result of chemicals destroying the soil food web then rain will make a bit of difference but not as good as a healthy soil will.
Having legumes planted such as beans, clover and lupin will catch this free nitrogen and make it available to the soil and other plants from their unique root system.
Once again a healthy soil will mean that legumes will be able to collect much more nitrogen than a soil in poorer condition.
This was pointed out to me by some farmers who as an experiment took two pasture fields side by side and on one field sprayed the grass off with Roundup and after the grass died off, plowed, tiled then later planted a clover rye mix.
The other field was just plowed, tiled and then planted with the same mix of seeds.
After the grass and clover matured, some clover plants were lifted in both fields and their root nodules examined. The field that had been sprayed with Herbicide had small nodules on the clover plant’s roots where the other field had nodules like bunches of grapes.
We have already shown in earlier articles the harm that glyphosate herbicide does to the soil and plants after its use as a weed killer.
Using tap water that contains chlorine is also harmful to your plants and soil food web including the earth worms. I am sometimes asked by people why they have few earthworms in their gardens when they don't use chemical sprays and fertilisers.
I ask them if they have tap water with chlorine in it and most of the time the reply is yes. That is the reason you don't have good populations of earthworms and why you have numerous plant health problems.
By placing a 10 micron carbon bonded filter system into your hose line will remove the chlorine.
The water is not as good as rain water but its the next best thing.
If you do not have a filter system indoors for your drinking water then you can fill up your containers from the filter outside and that will be so much better for you and your health.
A lot cheaper than buying bottle water too.
Rain not only helps plant growth, it also aids in the germination of weed seeds.
During the lead up to hot dry times annual weeds quickly make growth and mature to produce seeds.
The dry soil kills the weeds and the seeds fall to the ground waiting for the right conditions to germinate. Rain is the key and will after a nice period of rain cause a new crop of weeds to sprout.
These weeds will compete with each other in a rush to mature before either a further dry period or the onset of winter.
Small weeds a few mm tall are so easy to control with either the scraping of a sharp knife or the use of a Dutch Hoe. Best you keep an eye on the patches of young weeds and kill them before they get away on you.
The autumn time is also the last chance to sow or plant any winter vegetables and flowers.
This is really only for the next few weeks and after that it is likely a waste of time as they will not mature in winter and will go to seed in the spring. With flowers that is not such a concern but you will not get the best displays if you plant too late.
Spring Bulbs can start to be planted now or soon as the soil moistens up; or you are diligent with your watering.
Garden centres have their spring bulbs in now so don't delay.
The sooner they are in the ground and looked after the earlier you will have your spring show.
If you are planing to sow a new lawn or oversow an existing one, now is the time to get started.
The area should be prepared for sowing and kept moist to germinate any weed seeds.
After you have killed off all the weed seedlings possible then you can sow your lawn.
Autumn is the very best time to sow a lawn as you have good germination and establishment prior to going into winter. During winter growth is slow but the roots are able to establish better and then good growth through the spring time, thus the lawn is ready for the coming harder times of summer.
Pest insects that have taken over during the summer are heading to their demise as winter approaches.
Lots of them will winter over and cause you the same old headaches next season unless you do something to knock back their numbers now.
Sprays of Neem Tree Oil with or without Key Pyrethrum will certainly help reduce the number left to winter over.
Later on in winter, deciduous plants such as roses can be treated with sprays of Lime Sulphur which will help further reduce dormant insect numbers. Then a few good frosts will aid us no end.
In spring with the first sign of insect pests emerging you need to control immediately to prevent a great problem in summer.
If planting out any brassicas now for winter ensure that you put Neem Tree granules in the planting hole and on the soil under the plants to reduce caterpillar damage.
Autumn is a great time to garden so get out there and enjoy it.
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FEIJOA

As a fruiting plant the Feijoa has to be at the top of my favourite list for several reasons; it requires minimal attention to produce good quantities of fruit every year, free of most pests and diseases it requires little spraying if ever. Supply ample food and water and it will preform. There are a number of types of Feijoa and some will preform better than others in regards to the cropping.
The original is Feijoa sellowiana which grows about 3 to 4 metres tall with a similar spread. These make excellent shelter, screens or hedges and will produce a crop of small fruit. They don't mind been trimmed and as a hedge makes them for a great sight when in flower.
As for their fruiting side of things, they are not much chop other than for making jams or chutneys.
The more modern cultivars are the ones to go for if you love to eat fresh feijoa fruit.
The fruit when ripe or near ripe fall from the tree and are best collected from the ground rather than picked.
The down side is the fruit once ripe will not hold for long and will soon decay. Chilling will extend the holding time and you need a lot of fridge space for storing most crops.
One advantage is the fruit does not ripen all at once, so you can have a period over a few weeks of fruit each season.
Tharfield Nursery which produce numerous fruiting plants under the name of Incredible Edibles has the following to say about Feijoas:

Feijoas are very hardy and versatile fruit trees which require a minimum of care once established.
The feijoas that are in circulation are all descendant from a single collection of material that went back to France with some of the early explorers of central America, and then material was spread around the world.
Some time in the 1980s other researchers went back to Central America and were unable to find anything significantly different to what is in cultivation today.
They are a medium vigorous tree, moderately compact and easy to manage. Plants are trained up on a single stem to 40 or 50 cm in the nursery for ease of harvest once the tree matures.
Flowers in time for Christmas and fruits April - May onwards depending on variety and climate.
Flowers have fleshy petals that attract birds for pollination but the petals from well watered trees are fleshy enough to pick and add to salads or desserts. They have a spicy sweet flavour.
Feijoas will grow on most soils providing good drainage is present. Plants have drought tolerance characteristics but require moisture during fruiting season.
The feijoa is a heavy feeder. Feed with high nitrogen NPK fertiliser in late winter and well rotted animal manure in autumn. 200g of fertiliser per year of tree up to 10 years and 2kg per tree annually thereafter.
When training young plants it is important to build a good framework quickly and this will encourage the plant to start fruiting sooner. Some varieties branch naturally while others tend to be more leggy in their habit and need to be trimmed lightly in mid-summer.
Flowers form from new growth at the tips of last years growth, so the bushier the plant the sooner it will fruit. Bushiness has to be balanced with air and light penetration to help with pollination and disease prevention.
Older established trees are better with a few bigger branches removed each year and this will encourage new canopy growth and flowering within the tree. Hardy to -10°C
Feijoas will grow in almost all soils, however ideal conditions are well drained and a pH 6-6.5 (slightly acid).
Alkaline soil causes yellowing and poor shoot growth. Heavier soils produce better quality fruit. Sandy soils cause excess vegetative growth. They will tolerate moderate salt spray.
Temperature: Requires 100 200 hours of chilling. Moist warm-temperate to sub-tropical climate.
Flowering November December. Hot dry summers can affect fruit set and yield.
Feijoas will be damaged under -5°C Early autumn frost can damage late fruiting varieties.
Wind: Shelter will protect fruit from ‘scarring’ and limb rub on the fruit.
Pollination: By Blackbirds and Mynas.
Spacing: 3-3.5 to 4.5-5m apart. At this spacing trees will meet in the row after 5 years.
This will give 500-600 trees per hectare or 200-263 per acre. Plant each tree with 150grams of blood and bone.
Tree Growth: Root growth starts in spring when the soil temperature is 8-10°C (September) until autumn when the temperature drops below.
Varieties: Feijoa Apollo, Large fruit, moderately rough skin. Ellipsoid to Obovoid. Mild aromatic and sweet flavour. Smooth texture flesh and very juicy. Medium to high pulp content. Partially self-fertile. Upright in growth, vigorous habit. Large fruit, sometimes exceeding export grades. Mid-season (March April)
Feijoa Opal Star, Fruit is medium to large. Oblong to obovoid. Smooth dark green skin. Smooth juicy fruit. Pulp content medium to low. Mild flavour. Upright spreading growth while young developing into a strong compact tree. Good fruit set. Late fruiting season (April May)
Feijoa Gemin, Small to medium sized fruit, obovoid. Smooth dark green skin. Slightly gritty, soft and juicy flesh. Medium pulp content. Strong flavour. Upright spreading habit. High fruit set. Early fruiting (Feb March).
Feijoa Pounamu, Medium sized fruit, obovoid in shape. Smooth dark green skin. Flesh is smooth, juicy and pleasant flavour. Pulp content medium. Mild flavour. Upright spreading habit moderately vigorous tree. High fruit set. Early fruiting season (Feb- March)
Feijoa Kakapo, Medium sized fruit, obovoid in shape. Rough green skin. Smooth juicy flesh full of flavour. Medium pulp content. Medium vigorous good open tree. Moderate fruit set. Mid-season fruiting (March April)
Feijoa Wiki Tu, Very Large fruit. Rough skin Medium pulp content. Sometimes has hollow locules within the fruit. This maybe due to poor pollination or water management Good flavour Smaller growing feijoa Late season
Feijoa K51, Little known to date on this tree Excellent flavour Strong grower Medium to large size fruit Early season
Feijoa Unique, (My Favourite) Medium sized fruit Smooth Skin Juicy flavour Handles well Vigorous grower Self-fertile Early Season.
There is also a Feijoa Growers Web site at http://www.feijoa.org.nz/ and they have an excellent recipe booklet you can purchase.
I grow a Unique Feijoa in a 100 litre drum and it preforms well as long as given ample animal manure, water plus Fruit and Flower Power. A trimming in summer of the foliage will help bush up the plant and it can become an great looking container plant that is very fruitful.

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SUMMER PESTS

These hot dry days of summer are the perfect breeding conditions for a number of pest insects. Populations increase dramatically in leaps of hundreds and then thousands in such a short time, that you can check your plants to find them relatively clean one day but within a week or so they can have built up, so great in numbers, that the plants are in trouble.
If fact in hot dry weather such as this, some preventive spraying for insect pests is a good option rather than waiting till a problem erupts and several sprays maybe needed for control.
Hot weather brings drought conditions and this puts plants in stress, because even with ample water to keep gardens moist the transpiration of moisture out of foliage is so great that the root system cannot keep up a sufficient supply of moisture to compensate, till it cools in the evening.
Insect pests attack plants that are in stress more readily than those that are not, so even if you have a healthy garden by not using chemical sprays and fertilisers, plants will still be attacked.
The worst cases of attack will kill some plants prematurely, others will suffer through lost leaf area, with less ability to gain energy from the sun. In the worst cases the foliage is either stripped completely or damaged to such a degree that the plant dies. (Caterpillars on plants)
Even if the plant survives it can have much of the foliage marred and look unsightly for a long time till clean foliage replaces the damaged. (Thrips in Rhododendrons as a example) In some fruiting plants, insect damage can cause premature dropping of fruit. (Leaf hoppers in passion fruit vines)
A number of insect pests that suck on foliage secrete honey dew which is a sweet sticky substance. This turns to black sooty mould which often is the reason that a problem is noticed. Ants love the honey dew and can be seen in their hundreds running up and down the plant in the process of harvesting and storing.
Honey dew then contributes to bigger ant nests and a greater likelyhood of home invasions of them in the future.
So what should be done? I believe that insect pests populations should be prevented from getting too big but doing so in a manner which will not effect the natural predators of the pests.
Safe sprays that will knock back populations and allow the ladybirds etc to keep on top of the pests is a perfect solution. Also when you notice insect pests on a plant, check all other plants and weeds in the area for the same pest.
If you control only on some plants and miss pests that maybe on other plants, it will not be long before they will re-infest the treated plants again.
If you are having a continuous problem with a pest insect and finding it difficult to control, then the pests maybe over the fence in a neighbouring garden. Only solution is to get the neighbour to spray or permission for you to do so on their property.
Insect pests don't travel any further than they have to, in search of their host plants, but wind can carry pests great distances to end up in your garden and start a problem.
Country folk and those living well away from lots of gardens can have a fairly easy life in regards to a number of pests and diseases, once cleaned up in their garden, no more problems for a long period of time or ever. Here is what to do with a number of problem areas.
Whitefly on tomatoes, cucumbers, hibiscus, roses and many other plants, spray foliage under and over with Neem Tree Oil at 15 mils per litre then at 10 mils per litre about every 5-7 days till controlled.
Use the same product for any type of aphid on any plants.
Mites or Thrips on roses, rhododendrons (silvering of leaf is seen) and many other plants also spray with Neem Tree Oil. The same product is best for scale, leaf hoppers and mealy bugs and as a general spray for all insect pests. Always mix in warm water in the spray unit, only spray late in the day after the sun has gone off the plants and avoid using in hot humid conditions. The reason is because it is an oil it can scorch foliage in direct sunlight leaving burn patches on leaves.
Safe to use but having an oily smell it is best to wash produce well before eating as it could taint flavour.
Soil insects such as root mealy bugs and carrot rust fly can be controlled with Neem Tree Granules, just sprinkled on the soil where the pests are and water down. Neem Granules can be applied to any plant as a first line of defence as the Neem properties are taken up by the roots and translocate through the whole plant effecting the development of pest numbers on the upper parts of the plants. It can reduce down the frequency of need to spray significantly.
Ants running rife through the gardens can be controlled very effectively with baits made from Granny Min’s Ant Bait. Place the bait made up from the recipe on the jar in lids wherever you see ants. A number of people have told me its the best ant killer on the market and they have tried all the others. If you don't control the ants they will do two things, move aphids and other honey dew peeing insects from plant to plant and eventually the ants will make a house call into your home.
Unless you want to spray a lot of plants in the garden with the above products, instead make up small amounts in a 500 ml or 1 litre Trigger sprayer. I find its much more economical, the spray goes further, less waste and the Neem Oil being safe, one can fold back leaves with one hand while spraying with the other.
After spraying pour any left over spray into the soil in the garden (it will not harm any beneficials in the soil) and then rinse out the sprayer and spray some clean water though to ensure all the jets are clear.
The oil can go solid in colder weather thus blocking filters and jets making it a bigger job to clean out. Hot water should be used in cases where this happens.
It is a good time to plant some celery seedlings for use in winter.
I grew celery on the odd occasion in the past and never got a very good crop till I realised two important aspects, celery is gross feeders and loves water.
Now I always place a good layer of chicken manure over the bed I am going to plant into.
Then I cover this with some purchased compost into which the seedlings are planted.
Then I keep the area nice and moist/wet till the rains take over.
One of the other problems with celery is rust. Tend to plant your plants about 20cm or further apart so there is good air circulation. If rust appears pick the damaged stalks and discard then mix up a solution of potassium permanganate and spray.
Don't harvest the whole plant as seen in supermarkets instead harvest outer stalks and the plant will continue to produce for a good period.
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CITRUS CONTINUED

Last week we looked at all the different types of citrus fruit trees available in New Zealand (well most of them) so this week lets look at what problems you could encounter and how to overcome them.
An important aspect for your citrus tree is the area between the trunk and the drip line. This is the area where you want micro organisms to work and thrive, so avoid using any Herbicides, chemical sprays and fertilisers it this area. Instead hand weed or cut the weeds off at ground level with a sharp knife.
Use natural food such as blood & bone, animal manures (I give mine chicken manure plus Fruit and Flower Power along with Bio Boost)
Noe lets look at some of the problems that can occur:
Aphids, usually clusters of black insects on young leaves. Spray with Neem Tree Oil and Key Pyrethrum to control.
Mealy bug, often the presence of black, sooty mould will be the first noticed signs. Small, mealy insects found in protected cavities. Spray with Neem Tree Oil and sprinkle Neem Granules under the tree and water in to kill the root mealy bugs.. You can also drench Neem Oil over the granules to make them more effective at the rate of 25Ml per Litre of water.
Scale, poor growth, pale dehydrated leaves will be noticed. Fruit will be small and dry. The cause is hard scale-like insects on woody and green stems. Scale numbers build up in dry seasons, spray with Neem Tree Oil over summer months.
Leaf roller caterpillar, leaves tightly rolled and foliage and surface of fruit eaten. Spray with Neem Tree Oil as needed from October to March.
Soft wax scale, snow white, soft scale likely sooty mould present. Treat as Scale.
Thrips, show as silvering of foliage and fruit. Black spots of excrement maybe seen especially under leaves. Spray with Neem Tree Oil spray from November to March.
Spider Mites, leaves go yellow and hydrated. Minute insects under leaves. Common in hot dry weather, spray with Neem Tree Oil or Wallys Liquid Sulphur spray. (BUT NOT THESE TWO PRODUCTS TOGETHER)
Lemon tree borer, tree shows poor growth, are dehydrated and branches die.
Holes can be seen in branches and sawdust indicates presence of borer.
Remove infected wood where practical and burn, sprinkle Neem Tree Granules under the tree, Wrap felt pad soaked in Neem Tree Oil around base of trunk or affected branches.
It is a good idea to fill in the borer holes with an acyclic paint. This prevents adults entering the holes and laying more eggs. It also means that it is easy to detect new holes and further problems.
I have also solved the borer problem by injecting a strong solution of Neem Oil into the borer holes.
This could be done at 50:50 ratio.
They are a number of diseases that can affect citrus trees also which are:
Citrus brown rot, fruit develops brown rot and drops from tree. Prune out lower branches of tree to increase air circulation, spray with Liquid Copper and Raingard.
Verrucosis/scab, Irregular, grey, scabby, wart-like growth on fruit or stems. Spray with Liquid Copper at monthly intervals.
Brown Spot, spots on leaves, fruit and stems of mandarins. Common in damp weather. Spray with Liquid Copper, prune dead material and burn it.
Melanose, small dark, red-brown spots on leaves and fruit, often merging. Skin may crack. More common on older trees in warm humid weather. Prune off dead twigs and branches. Spray with Liquid Copper at monthly intervals.
Even if you have no known diseases present it is good practise to spray the trees with Liquid Copper and Raingard twice a year, spring and autumn for prevention.
Deficiencies in a tree maybe caused by lack of food, pale small leaves, Mulch with an animal manure based compost and blood and bone. Sheep manure pellets are very good also.
Lack of Iron, light green leaves fading to pale yellow or white. Veins remain green.
Apply mulch and Sulphate of Iron or use Bio Boost for feeding..
Zinc, new leaves small and narrow, growing close together. Spray foliage with Matrix Reloaded and apply Ocean Solids to the drip line.
Magnesium, older leaves yellow from outer edge and yellow area between the main veins on younger leaves.
Spray foliage with Matrix Reloaded and sprinkle Fruit and Flower Power to the drip line.
Citrus trees are pruned only in late summer by removing total branches from within the frame work of the tree to open the tree up and allow for better air circulation. Do not trim off the ends of branches as this causes further branching and a denser tree. Best about February or March when borer on the wing have finished for the season.
Citrus trees can be mulched in the spring to feed and conserve moisture through the dry months.
Mulches that retain soil moisture should be scrapped back as winter sets in so the soil can breathe and dry out faster during wet times. Remember that wet feet are the biggest killer of citrus trees.
During flowering and fruiting periods apply Fruit and Flower Power once a month. This will create fruit with great flavour and ample juice.
Lemon trees can be grown throughout New Zealand in home gardens, but in some areas, which are more exposed to hard winters than others, some little tricks are needed.
Most home gardeners know about protecting young citrus trees from air frosts with a tent of clear plastic or sprays of Vaporgard.
Gardeners can be tricked in winter by lemons and other citrus fruits which grow quite yellow or orange, appearing to be ripe. But usually the white pith is thick; lacking in juice the fruit can be dry. Sheer cold will turn green fruit a bright yellow/orange in some conditions on some soils.
Give the plant more warmth -- because there is some warmth in the low winter sun if it can be trapped -- and the fruit will ripen better.
An almost total plastic enclosure, making a small glasshouse round the trees, is worthwhile if the gardener is serious about ripening fruit in midwinter. At the price of horticultural plastic these days it is not an expensive option either.
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CITRUS

Citrus trees are a common fruit tree for gardeners through out New Zealand, they grow in most areas in open ground or in containers with protection during winter.
Citrus trees cross very easily which has over many years created lots of types.
The genus Citrus appears to have originated in Southeast Asia with the following types:

Citrus aurantifolia Key Lime, Omani Lime, from India
Citrus maxima Pomelo, from the Malay Archipelago
Citrus medica Citron, from India
Citrus reticulata Mandarin orange, from China
Citrus trifoliata Trifoliate Orange, from Korea and adjacent China
From these and through breeding over time we now have many types of citrus and the following are a few of the more common ones grown in New Zealand.
Kumquats, Clementines ( have thinner skins than oranges). Lemons, Grapefruit, Tangelo, Ugli Fruit,. Meyer Lemon, (Most common NZ lemon), Satsuma, Tangerine, Kaffir Lime.
The following are some citrus available from Nurseries in New Zealand that are a bit different:

From http://www.subtropica.co.nz/html/index.htm you can find; CITRUS Buddha's Hand Citron - The fruit is named for its resemblance to a many-fingered hand, and is truly weird looking. A great talking point in the garden. The tree is medium-sized and highly aromatic and the fruit can be used for candied peel.
CITRUS Cipo Pineapple Orange, An attractive weeping tree that produces large fruit with a slight pineapple tang ready from July till November, after most other citrus have finished fruiting. Ideal for planting along a fence or retaining wall. Grafted variety
CITRUS Kaffir Lime, This is the lime whose leaves are used in Thai cooking. Wonderfully aromatic, they will give an authentic flavour to Asian meals, or use them in place of lemon peel in casseroles and stews. Grafted trees. These are grafted stock, so will be better able to withstand the NZ climate, but all the same they will need a warm environment.
CITRUS Kaipara Lemon, This heirloom variety [also known as Maori lemon] has juicy, knobbly lemons that can be eaten skin and all. They are cutting - grown plants and will bear fruit after 2 - 3 years.
CITRUS Moro Blood Orange-Very tasty, sweet and juicy. The fruit has a characteristic red blush on the outside and the inside. Matures Sept - Nov. Grafted onto dwarfing rootstock so the plant will only grow to about half the usual size, with all the fruit. Ideal for containers or open ground.
CITRUS Tahitian Lime - This is the Bears variety of Tahitian lime. It produces loads of tangy limes and is a reliable fruiter in our climate. Ideal for growing in a container or hothouse, but will do well outdoors as well. Matures April-Sept.
From the Incredible edible nursery we have a number of citrus that have been breed in New Zealand and are available by order from most garden centres.
Citrus Cipo Orange, Large orange fruit with a few seeds but very juicy and sweet. Habit - This weeping standard, moderately vigorous with a few thorns has a densely compact habit. Ideal for container or the small garden. Size - 1.5m x 1.5m. Pollination - Self-fertile. Grafted trees start bearing 2-4 years after planting. Harvest - Long harvest from July to November.
Citrus KiwiCitrus Gold ™, Habit - Attractive evergreen shrub originally selected as a commercial variety. Bred in New Zealand for New Zealand conditions. Size - Growing to the size of 3 x 2 metres Pollination - Self-fertile. Grafted trees start bearing 2-4 years after planting. Harvest - Harvested between September to October
Citrus KiwiCitrus Sunset ™ Medium sized easy peel Mandarin/Tangerine hybrid, with a distinctive orange skin, with darker orange stripes. Exceptional flavour which is both very sweet and very juicy. Low acidity. Habit - Attractive evergreen shrub originally selected as a commercial variety. Bred in New Zealand for New Zealand conditions. Size - Growing to the size of 3 x 2 metres Pollination - Self-fertile. Grafted trees start bearing 2-4 years after planting. Harvest - Harvest between September to October
Citrus KiwiCitrus Sweetie ™, Sweetie is a medium sized Mandarin/Tangerine hybrid with easy peel fruit which has an exceptional flavour which is both sweet and juicy. Habit - Attractive evergreen shrub originally selected as a commercial variety. Bred in New Zealand for New Zealand conditions. Size - Growing to the size of 3 x 2 metres Pollination - Self-fertile. Grafted trees start bearing 2-4 years after planting. Harvest - Harvested between June to August.
Citrus KiwiCitrus Zest ™, Zest is a medium sized Mandarin/Tangerine hybrid with an excellent flavour, which is rich and tangy but also juicy and sweet. Habit - Attractive evergreen shrub originally selected as a commercial variety. Bred in New Zealand for New Zealand conditions. Size - Growing to the size of 3 x 2 metres, Pollination - Self-fertile. Grafted trees start bearing 2-4 years after planting. Harvest - Harvested between July to November, a long fruiting season.
Citrus Limequat, Heavy crops of small oval lemon coloured fruit, the flesh is juicy and acidic. Use as a lime substitute. Habit - Hybrid between west Indian lime and Kumquat. Attractive evergreen shrub. Cool climate lime. Size - Growing to the size of 3 x 2 metres. Pollination - Self-fertile. Grafted trees start bearing 2-4 years after planting. Harvest - Nearly ever-bearing.
Citrus Tahitian Lime, Small almost round pale greenish yellow fruit with yellow/green juicy pulp. Distinct lime aroma and flavour. Habit - Vigorous hardy tree with drooping branches. Medium sized leaves. Nearly thorn-free. Cross between Mexican lime and citron or lemon. Almost as cold tolerant as lemons. Size - 2 x 4 metres, Pollination - Faintly fragrant flowers are self-fertile. Pollinated by bees and insects. Harvest - May and June.
There are likely other types available in New Zealand so you have ample to choose from.
Citrus trees are available most of the year while nursery stocks last and can be planted at any time but best planted in the autumn or spring.
In open ground they must have excellent drainage and if you are not free draining then the trees should be grown on a good size mound so much of their main root system will be above the surrounding wet soil. I have successfully grown citrus trees in 50 plus litre containers, partly buried in the soil, in a area prone to surface flooding in winter. I also grow them in 100 litre containers sitting on top of the soil.
The larger the container the better the result sooner.
The subject of citrus growing and care is too much for one article so this will be continued another time.
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GARDENING IN FEBRUARY

February is usually the driest and hotest month of the year and the time when a lot of the earlier plantings of vegetables have reached maturity and been harvested.
It is the second to last month to plant out crops for winter harvesting so make sure the empty spaces are manured and replanted with winter vegetables this month.
Watering is likely to be one of the main jobs during February especially your container plants.
Seeds or seedlings planted out need to have adequate moisture to establish so keep the growing medium moist but don't soak.
Plants that require a lot of water can be helped by spraying the foliage under and over with Vaporgard.
This will reduce the plant’s water needs by about 30 to 40% and make life a lot easier on you.
The film of Vaporgard lasts for about 3 months and will also offer protection from some diseases, pests and early frosts.
If you would like your roses to look really good you should dead head them and then spray the foliage with Vaporgard, it will turn the leaves into a darker, richer green and make them shine.
Sometimes I get asked by gardeners who are hosting a wedding in their gardens; how do I have my roses flowering on a particular date?
You can find out by cutting back the roses to make new growths now, recording the date, weather conditions, days watered or rained, when buds appeared and when the roses were in full flower.
The time factor and what you did can be repeated for about this time of the year bearing in mind its not fool proof.
Tomatoes are about $5.00 a kg which is about $4.00 dearer than normal for this time of the year. Two factors have caused this, one being a late season and the other is the floods in Australia and the great loss to the commercial growers over there as a result.
Great news for our tomato growers but a bit sad for those people that have not got a few plants with ripening fruit in their gardens.
A problem with birds pecking the ripening fruit? I string Bird Repeller Ribbon around my plants once damage starts to occur and that usually works a treat for a month or so.
The other way is to pick any fruit as they start to change colour and ripen them indoors.
They will often ripen faster off the plant and no bird damage. Don't put your ripe tomatoes in the fridge as it affects the flavour with sugar losses.
I am amazed with a tomato that I grow called Silvery Tree Fern (Available in seeds from Niche Seed Stands in garden centres) They are a dwarf growth habit, you do not remove laterals and the little plant can produce lots of good size fruit 40 to 80mm across.
The first time I grew them I found they grew well, produced a good crop of lots of tomatoes and then died back. That I thought was that, but because I keep feeding my tomato plants till they actually die, I found new shoots coming from the base and another crop to harvest later.
This year I grew one in a 20 litre pot and the same thing has happened again.
This tomato comes from Russia and is a cold setting plant so ideal to start off now for picking tomatoes in winter. Ideally you need a glasshouse or similar to do this and in some areas where you have early hard winters, heating would likely be needed also.
The key is to grow the plants now and get them into fruit as winter sets in. The fruit then can ripen slowly for you to pick. If you have one of these plants growing at this time then take a few seeds and put them into some compost and keep moist, they soon will germinate. Otherwise go and buy a packet of seed. With your existing plants keep feeding them and spray as required with Neem Tree Oil and Key Pyrethrum to control the white fly, caterpillars and psyllids. Whitefly Sticky Traps will help too.
A friend of mine living in the country was very lucky recently to be able to put out a grass fire before it did too much damage. The fire was caused by power lines been blown about in higher winds making sparks which set the dry grass alight. I you live near power lines and they look a bit saggy you should contact your power company and complain. It could prevent a fire and loss of property.
Zucchini or courgettes plants are great growers and prolific producers taking a fair bit of room if you have a smaller garden. I grow mine in 45 litre containers which works well with a good amount of chicken manure for their tucker.
You can cut off the older early leaves as you are harvesting the fruit. This will free up room in the garden. If the leaves show any sign of powdery mildew them dissolve a tablespoon of baking soda into a litre of water, add 1 mil of Raingard and spray the foliage all over.
Aphids and whitefly like the plant so sprays of Neem Oil will be worthwhile especially under the leaves.
A gardener contacted me recently to tell about his method of keeping the edible part of the leek white. It is placing a cardboard tube, as found in rolls of plastic wrap etc over the leek leaving the top part of the leaves protruding. Because the shaft of the leek is out of sunlight it will remain white the sun light being the cause for the shaft to become green.
If it is a narrow tube you could slit down one side so the leek can expand as it grows.
I don't know whether this make much difference to the flavour but it is similar to the way leeks were grown years ago by some gardeners.
The leeks would be planted at the bottom of a trench and as they grew the trench would be progressively filled with soil to stop any sunlight turning the shafts of the leeks green.
Sometimes similar methods are used to obtain white stalks of asparagus which is then called spargel.
This can make the asparagus a little more tender with a milder flavour.
Dry times mean that annual weeds grow rapidly, flower and seed and then die if the soil is too dry.
This does not mean the seeds created have died, they are sitting around waiting to the rains to come then they will germinate and be off with a new batch of weeds.
You can use this to advantage to control. During a dry period where the weeds have died off water the area lightly morning and nite to germinate the weed seeds. Once a good show is there of baby weeds then stop watering and let them dry off before they reach maturity. If it rains in the mean time you will need to kill them off with a Dutch hoe or similar.
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HERBICIDE PROBLEMS

I received an email newsletter this week from Spilling the Beans by Jeffrey M. Smith the well known American Author of, Seeds of Deception, and Genetic Roulette.
The email explains the problems that are occurring with the use of glyphosate (Sold under various brand names such as Roundup, Zero and several others)
This is interesting as a few months ago I wrote an article about Mundulla Yellows from Australia where it has been found that continued use of herbicides was affecting established trees and plants.
Glyphosate is a major weed killer in New Zealand both commercially and domestically and it is now believed to not only effect the health of the soil but also the health of animals and humans.
It is very likely that there are traces of glyphosate in much of the food that you eat and it is also known that this can lead to serious heath problems.
The following is extracts from the email and if you would like a full copy, you can email me for the same. Titled: Monsanto's Roundup Triggers Over 40 Plant Diseases and Endangers Human and Animal Health
While visiting a seed corn dealer's demonstration plots in Iowa last fall, Dr. Don Huber walked passed a soybean field and noticed a distinct line separating severely diseased yellowing soybeans on the right from healthy green plants on the left.
The yellow section was suffering from Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS), a serious plant disease that ravaged the Midwest in 2009 and 10, driving down yields and profits. Something had caused that area of soybeans to be highly susceptible and Don had a good idea what it was.
The diseased field on the right had glyphosate applied the previous season. He asked the seed dealer why the SDS was so severe in the one area of the field and not the other. "Did you plant something there last year that wasn't planted in the rest of the field?" he asked. Sure enough, precisely where the severe SDS was, the dealer had grown alfalfa, which he later killed off at the end of the season by spraying a glyphosate-based herbicide (such as Roundup). The healthy part of the field, on the other hand, had been planted to sweet corn and hadn’t received glyphosate.
This was yet another confirmation that Roundup was triggering SDS. In many fields, the evidence is even more obvious. The disease was most severe at the ends of rows where the herbicide applicator looped back to make another pass . That's where extra Roundup was applied.
Roundup: The perfect storm for plant disease:
The herbicide doesn't destroy plants directly. It rather cooks up a unique perfect storm of conditions that revs up disease-causing organisms in the soil, and at the same time wipes out plant defenses against those diseases. The mechanisms are well-documented but rarely cited.
The glyphosate molecule grabs vital nutrients and doesn't let them go. This process is called chelation and was actually the original property for which glyphosate was patented in 1964.
It was only 10 years later that it was patented as an herbicide. When applied to crops, it deprives them of vital minerals necessary for healthy plant functionespecially for resisting serious soilborne diseases.
The importance of minerals for protecting against disease is well established. In fact, mineral availability was the single most important measurement used by several famous plant breeders to identify disease-resistant varieties.
Glyphosate annihilates beneficial soil organisms, such as Pseudomonas and Bacillus bacteria that live around the roots. Since they facilitate the uptake of plant nutrients and suppress disease-causing organisms, their untimely deaths means the plant gets even weaker and the pathogens even stronger.
The herbicide can interfere with photosynthesis, reduce water use efficiency, lower lignin , damage and shorten root systems, cause plants to release important sugars, and change soil pHall of which can negatively affect crop health.
Glyphosate itself is slightly toxic to plants. It also breaks down slowly in soil to form another chemical called AMPA (aminomethylphosphonic acid) which is also toxic. But even the combined toxic effects of glyphosate and AMPA are not sufficient on their own to kill plants.
The actual plant assassins, according to Purdue weed scientists and others, are severe disease-causing organisms present in almost all soils. Glyphosate dramatically promotes these, which in turn overrun the weakened crops with deadly infections.
"This is the herbicidal mode of action of glyphosate," says Don. "It increases susceptibility to disease, suppresses natural disease controls such as beneficial organisms, and promotes virulence of soilborne pathogens at the same time." In fact, he points out that "If you apply certain fungicides to weeds, it destroys the herbicidal activity of glyphosate!"
By weakening plants and promoting disease, glyphosate opens the door for lots of problems in the field.
According to Don, "There are more than 40 diseases of crop plants that are reported to increase with the use of glyphosate, and that number keeps growing as people recognize the association between glyphosate and disease."
Some of the fungi promoted by glyphosate produce dangerous toxins that can end up in food and feed.
In addition to promoting plant diseases, which is well-established, spraying Roundup might also promote insects. That’s because many bugs seek sick plants. Scientists point out that healthy plants produce nutrients in a form that many insects cannot assimilate.
Thus, farmers around the world report less insect problems among high quality, nutrient-dense crops. Weaker plants, on the other hand, create insect smorgasbords. This suggests that plants ravaged with diseases promoted by glyphosate may also attract more insects, which in turn will increase the use of toxic pesticides. More study is needed to confirm this.
Monsanto used to boast that Roundup is biodegradable, claiming that it breaks down quickly in the soil. But courts in the US and Europe disagreed and found them guilty of false advertising. In fact, Monsanto’s own test data revealed that only 2% of the product broke down after 28 days.
Glyphosate has been linked to sterility, hormone disruption, abnormal and lower sperm counts, miscarriages, placental cell death, birth defects, and cancer, to name a few.
The same nutrients that glyphosate chelates and deprives plants are also vital for human and animal health. These include iron, zinc, copper, manganese, magnesium, calcium, boron, and others. Deficiencies of these elements in our diets, alone or in combination, are known to interfere with vital enzyme systems and cause a long list of disorders and diseases.
Alzheimer’s, for example, is linked with reduced copper and magnesium. Don Huber points out that this disease has jumped 9000% since 1990. End

A very interesting article and one to make you think twice before using that quick kill, weed killer around your gardens and home.
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JANUARY GARDENING 2011

There has been a lot of interest and feed back in regards to the recent article about the use of aspirin as a garden spray to assist plants in protecting themselves against diseases and pest insects.
The first thing to understand is that any spray of aspirin, is not likely to cure any problem you may have. The ingredients of the aspirin kick in the defence mechanism of a plant making it ready to withstand an attack.
What normally would occur in a plant that is growing naturally (organically) the plant is putting half of its resources into growing and the other half into protection.
If a plant is feed man made fertilisers the plant is forced into growing and has little or no resources for protection. This makes the plant vulnerable and in a stress situation, diseases and pests take notice of this and attack the plant.
That is why commercial growers and gardeners that are tossing in quantities of man made fertilisers are also spraying a lot of chemicals to protect the crops.
There is also some thought that plants in this unnatural state come to realise and rely on their two legged guardians to protect them and just put all their efforts into growing.
I would surmise that plants in this state would switch some of their resources into protection mode if sprayed with the aspirin solution.
Plants growing naturally, as they should do, would increase their protection and grow a little slower when treated with the aspirin spray.
The email information that I used in the article stated 81 gr of aspirin in 9 litres of water which would be a mistake and should be milligrams. Dependant on brand name the milligram rate varies from 100 to 500 with 300 being very common. Thus a third of a 300 mg Disprin would be about right.
It is not going to hurt giving a bit higher a dose but may slow down normal growth a bit more for a while. The spray is not going to solve a problem you already have but may help prevent problems from happening or reduce the damage they cause.
A few readers have contacted me recently in regards to Monarch butterfly caterpillars and running out of foliage on their swan plants to feed them to keep them alive.
The best place for answers about monarch butterflies in New Zealand comes from the Monarch Butterfly NZ Trust found at www.monarch.org.nz
On their site they answer the question with:
In NZ the natural food species of the Monarch (Danaus plexippus) larvae is the Asclepiadiae family milkweed which includes swan plant (Gomphocarpus fruticosus) and giant swan plant (G. physocarpus) as well as Asclepias species such as tropical milkweed/bloodflower (A. curassavica). The tropical milkweed comes in two colours -scarlet (which has a gold centre) and gold (all yellow).
The term ‘milkweed’ can be confusing but a Fact Sheet on this is available. The Monarch Butterfly NZ Trust will be able to help you with seed of the giant swan plant and tropical milkweed, each packet is $5.
Larvae in their latter stages can be also fed on a noxious weed which is sometimes called moth vine, cruel vine or kapok plant (Araujia sericifera) as well as cucumber, pumpkin and courgette but only when they are ten days old or more than 2cm in length. This weed is on the banned list in some regions check with your regional council.
Adult butterflies will feed on any plant giving nectar. They usually choose flowers with bright colours, purples, pinks and blues. Hebes are very popular. End

When there are too many caterpillars on a swan plant they eat themselves out of house and home and once all the foliage has gone, often the plant will die.
To prevent this you should place a clear plastic bag over a piece of one branch that has a number of leaves on it. Tie the bag on securely and punch a number of small holes in the bag so the foliage can breath. This prevents the caterpillars from eating all the foliage and saves the plant.
If you are running low of swan plant food best you visit a garden centre for more plants.
Protect part of the foliage as suggested. Another question is often asked and that is how to protect the caterpillars from the wasps that lay their eggs on the caterpillars and the maggots eat the caterpillars causing them to die.
The Monarch Trust suggests the following: You can grow your plants in pots, and move them to where the wasps can’t find the plants or grow them under cover, such as a mosquito net.
Cover the plant when you have seen a female Monarch laying plenty of eggs. Then you can watch your caterpillars grow. End

Check out their web site and find out lots of other interesting information such as how to tell a male butterfly from a female.
Newer gardeners may not know the advantages of what is called ‘Dead Heading’ which does not mean a non thinking person, though it could apply to a few.
It means removing the spent flowers off a plant which prevents the plant from forming a seed pod.
With plants that we grow for their flowering beauty such as roses we want lots of flowers, not lots of seed pods.
It is very simple, either with your fingers or a pair of clippers, you go around and nip off any dead or dying flowers. This encourages the plant to flower again as its purpose is to produce seeds and new plants.
With roses that are two or more years older you can prune back down the stem a little way and this will encourage new growths and likely more flowering, if it is a rose that repeats during a season and not a oncer.
Insect control is very important at this time of the year as there are masses of insects around that can harm plants during these summer months.
The safe way is to use Neem Tree Oil and Key Pyrethrum sprayed late in the day just before sunset.
If you do not want to harm beneficial insects that eat pest insects then do not use the pyrethrum, just the Neem Oil.
I notice on my plants a number of spiders and lots of webs (not the webs of spider mites) and that reminds me about how the spiders control lots of pest insects. So look after the spiders and don't kill them with Pyrethrum.
Some insects we may like to have in our gardens even though they eat the foliage of some plants such as the previously mentioned Monarch Butterfly caterpillars and another is stick insects.
The endemic to NZ, Red Admiral Butterfly is one that you should look after also and allow a patch of stinging nettle to grow somewhere on your property because it is the food for the caterpillars.
Happy Gardening.
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BRAMBLES

Brambles is the general term used to cover a range of thorny berry fruit from the Rubus family such as black berries, raspberries, logan berries, boysenberries etc.
Bramble bushes send up long, arching canes that flower and set fruit in the second year of growth.
Thus the current new shoots (canes) in a season from spring to autumn will be the canes that will fruit the following season.
After fruiting these old canes should be removed at the base. This would normally be done late autumn or early winter as some brambles will provide a second autumn crop.
Normally this is the only pruning needed but if canes get too tall they can be tipped by cutting the ends off. This can be done at any time. If you are not sure what has fruited and what is new then tie a little length of coloured wool to all canes that bear fruit in a season, which makes it easy to identify them later on.
Some brambles have nasty recurved thorns that dig into clothing and flesh when you try to pull away from them, where others are near thornless only having hair-like thorns.
Raspberry, blackberry and dewberry are taken as originals and the likes of loganberry, boysenberry, tayberry, youngberry and marionberry are hybrids which were developed from the originals.
The New Zealand Berryfruit Propagators Ltd found at www.berrypropco.co.nz lists a wide range of named hybrids that are grown commercially. Some of these are available through garden centres for the home garden market. The later are usually berries that can be grown successfully in most locations through out NZ.
One of the problems with most of the berry fruits is they do not keep well and thus you only find them occasionally in supermarkets for sale in a fresh state. They normally are fairly expensive also.
Commercially they are grown for canning, juicing, freezing and pick your own.
Frozen berries are very reasonable in price and are ideal for making your own jams or desert toppings. Blackberries are often seen on the side of country roads where they have escaped and become a wild thorny menace but producing good crops of berries for the more adventurous food gatherers.
Likewise in the home garden berry fruit can easily become a problem if allowed to get away on you.
If planting out into open ground make sure you are planting into an area that is not anywhere near existing gardens.
Planted against a fence that has a good buried footing and lawn up to the fence is normally ideal as you can cut off new shoots as they appear in the lawn area.
I prefer to keep my berry fruit well under control by growing them in 45 litre containers in a rich compost mix.
Berry fruit are subject to two main diseases, downy mildew called dryberry and botrytis.
Liquid Sulphur is ideal as a protection against Botrytis and Liquid Copper for Downy mildew (Dry Berry) It is also a good idea to add Mycorrcin to these sprays to assist the natural biological control.
The copper and sulphur can be mixed together in a diluted form and thus the three products can be applied together.
Raingard should be added for its rain protection and MBL for the added benefits it provides.
Two weekly sprays of Mycorrcin during the season will assist in better yields and all four sprays above can be mixed together.
Berry fruit have a fibrous root system that grows near the soil surface and from this new shoots will appear (hence the spread capabilities)
Mulches of animal manure based compost over the soil are ideal for feeding.
Also you can apply sheep manure pellets, blood & bone, Fruit and Flower Power before coving them with the compost.
A monthly spray of Perkfection during the season would also assist in disease control.
Rust can be controlled with a solution of potassium permanganate.
Powdery Mildew with a spray of Baking Soda. (1 tablespoon per litre with Raingard added)
Brambles are sensitive to chlorine and so they should be watered with non-chlorinated water and do not use chloride fertilisers including potassium chloride.
Avoid excessive applications of phosphate. High levels of soil phosphorus have been associated with zinc deficiency in brambles. Gardens using poultry manure as a maintenance fertilizer should take care, since poultry wastes are especially high in phosphates.
Insect pests can be controlled with sprays of Neem Tree Oil (15 mils per Litre) and Key Pyrethrum (1-2 mils per litre) sprayed late in the day just prior to sunset.
If borer attack the canes then water Neem Oil into the root system at the rate of 25 Mils per Litre of water. This same method can be used to assist in the control of pests in the foliage with Neem Tree Granules added to the mulch as well.
Birds love the fruit when it ripens so you need to place Bird Repeller Ribbon strips on the canes once fruit has formed before ripening.
Another way would be to cover the canes with Bird Netting which has to be placed in such a manner that birds cannot enter the fruiting area.
The best way to do this is to make a wooden frame that encloses all the canes inside it and then place the netting over the frame and secured at soil level.. Small gauge wire netting is best for this as it is more permanent and a hinged entrance can be on one side for access to the plant and fruit.
Container grown the brambles can be supported with four stakes placed at the cardinal points then garden twine wound around the outside of the stakes in a upward spiral.
This should keep the canes inside the stakes and still allow good access to pick and care for the plant. The leaves of brambles are often used to feed stick insects in captivity.
Some of the brambles available to the home gardener from garden centres grown by Incredible Edibles are Blackberry, Black Satin; Boysenberry, Burlee; Loganberry, Waimate; Orange Berry (Amazing ground cover but difficult to get to fruit well); Raspberries, Aspiring, Ebony, Ivory & Waiau.
From Subtropica Nursery by mail order on the Internet the following; Blackberry Thornless; Raspberry (no name) From Diacks mail order on the Internet the following: Bramble Blackberry Black Satin, Bramble Boysenberry Brulee, Bramble Boysenberry, Bramble Karaka Black, Bramble Loganberry, Bramble Ranui Berries, Bramble Tayberry, Bramble Thornless.
Garden Centres will likely have other name types and these are normally available in the winter when the nurseries lift their stock for sale.
Potted plants maybe available anytime of the year dependant on stocks.
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NEW GARDENING YEAR 2011

Welcome back to another year of gardening articles and information by yours truly.
It is not a new year in the garden, the new gardening year starts in June each year, which means we are half way through the current year.
Now is the time to plant your winter crops of vegetables and flowers and continue to do so over the next 8 to 12 weeks. The worst aspect about planting out at this time is the hordes of insects that can devastate your plantings; to counter them place Neem Tree Granules in the planting hole and sprinkle the same on the soil surface.
Sprays of Neem Tree Oil and Key Pyrethrum will also be needed to ensure pests don't get the better of you and your crops.
During the inbetween time of Xmas and New Year I received an interesting email from a reader, which I would like to share with you.
The email read: Hi Wally, Over the last few years you have helped me out with various queries all of which have been answered and solved my problems. Now I have come across something that is of interest to me and may be something you are aware of........I will paste the info below and if you think it should be beneficial I would love to know and it may be something you could investigate for yourself. The first paragraph is not my words. Best regards, Lona

"I read this article a few months ago and decided to give it a go as I am sick of the white butterfly and the likes feasting on my garden I use 1 soluble aspirin in 4 litres of water and my veg garden is so far insect free Several of my tomatoes were showing signs of some sort of fungal disease. I have sprayed the plants twice now and they are healthy as. Just thought I would share"
MARTHA MCBURNEY, the master gardener in charge of the demonstration vegetable garden at the University of Rhode Island, had a bee in her bonnet. After reading up on the 'Systematic Acquired Resistance' (SAR) in plants, which helps boost their immune system, she became convinced that aspirin would render their immune system even stronger and keep them healthier.
Although richly laughed at, last summer she tested 'aspirin water' on a variety of plants.
Aspirin is an excellent painkiller and anti-inflammatory, but it also has many other household uses.
1.To remove perspiration stains from white T-shirts, dissolve two aspirins in half a cup of warm water and apply to the area of the fabric where the stain is. This should be left for a couple of hours before washing.
2.Has your hair ever gone yellow or green from chlorine in a swimming pool? This can be remedied very quickly by dissolving 8 aspirin tablets in a glass of water and rubbing the resulting liquid into your hair. Leave for about ten minutes and then rinse it out. Shampoo in the usual way.
3.First aid for pimples: Crush an aspirin tablet and add a little water to make a paste. Cover the pimple with this paste and after a few minutes rinse it off. The pimple will be less red and reduced in size. Aspirin is an astringent.
4.Drop a soluble aspirin tablet into the water before arranging cut flowers in a vase. It helps to keep them fresh for longer.
5.To treat dandruff, crush two aspirin tablets and add them to your usual shampoo. Leave on the hair for a couple of minutes and rinse as normal.
6.Mosquito bites can be eased by wetting the skin and rubbing an aspirin over the spot.
7.Bee stings can be treated in the same way but any adverse reaction to the sting should be reported to a doctor.
8.Gardeners can treat fungal soil infections by dissolving an aspirin tablet in a liter of water and using the mixture to treat the soil. Don’t make this mixture too strong if using around plants as it may burn the leaves.
9.Aspirin can also be mixed with potting compost in the greenhouse, or garden, to prevent fungus forming around the roots of new plants.
10.Take some fresh lemon juice and mix it with a soluble aspirin to make a mixture that will remove grass stains, nicotine stains, etc from hands.
(In regards to plants) When the leaves of a plant are exposed to illness, such as a viral or fungal infection, the plant will respond by developing dead spots at the point of infection to limit its spread. This is referred to as a hypersensitive response.
The plant will also boost its immune system in a reaction called systemic acquired resistance to be more able to the fight the infection. They do this in part by producing salicylic acid and methyl salicylate.
The infected plant will make high levels of these chemicals around the dead spots, which will then move through the plant, possibly acting as a warning to the rest of the plant to ramp up defenses. In fact, researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research discovered that plants under stress release methyl salycilate into the air, thereby communicating with neighboring plants and warning them of the threat.
Because aspirin is so similar chemically to salicylic acid and methyl salycilate, spraying plants with a small amount of dissolved aspirin can actually trigger the same immune response as an infection, thereby intentionally triggering the plant to strengthen itself.
Giving aspirin to flowers does have a downside, however. If the plant is treated with the aspirin solution too frequently, all of its available energy will be put to responding to the treatment. This reaction can actually inhibit plant from growing and flowering.
The dosage Martha arrived at after numerous experiments was 1.5 aspirin (81 gr. strength) to two gallons of water. (Thats 9 litres of water) Important note: The tablets should be the uncoated type.
(To aid the solution to stick and spread over the foliage sprayed use 9 mils of Raingard to the 9 Litres of water) Finally, Martha devised a schedule of spraying once every three weeks, no matter the type of plant. The summer when Martha first started testing aspirin water was not the best, weather-wise. It was cool, rainy and damp. Yet, by the end of the season, the plants growing in the raised beds on which the aspirin water had been used looked like they were on steroids!
They were huge and green and insects-free. Some disease seemed even to have reversed themselves on cucumbers affected by a virus.
Martha also sprayed the aspirin water on the seeds directly sowed in the ground. The result was close to 100 per cent seed germination, compared to spotty germination in the other trial beds. END

I have come across the cut flower aspirin trick and also knew of using a solution of aspirin for assisting cuttings to root up. Elsewhere I have come across 'Systematic Acquired Resistance' (SAR) in plants and if a aspirin does stem up the plant’s protection system it is certainly a worthwhile thing to try in your own garden. Let me know the results.

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MERRY CHRISTMAS

I would like to wish you all a great big, Merry Xmas and a very happy gardening New Year.
Another year has passed and we are right in the middle of the gardening season with the longest day on the 21st which means we are heading towards the shortest day only 6 months away.
Nice thought I am sure but one gardeners recognize as very important if they want to have a garden of winter vegetables to harvest in the middle of winter.
It is over the next three months that all your winter crops should be planted and most in the next 1-2 months.
As you harvest your summer crops then in go the winter crops, after you have put a good dose of manure over the garden, sprinkled some Rok Solid and Ocean Solids then covered with purchased compost which should be weed free and free of herbicides if purchased from a top brand such as Daltons or Oderings.
Likely you are going to be planting brassicas (cabbages etc) so sprinkle lime over the area and place Neem Granules in the planting hole and on the surface of the soil.
The worst aspect about growing winter brassicas is they have to grow through the worst time for white butterfly caterpillars.
The Neem Granules are a great solution for this and when working for you, then the caterpillars don't get past the first bite stage after hatching out of their egg case.
The granules on the soil under the plants should be refreshed about every 6 weeks.
If you want early leeks then they should be planted out as soon as possible.
Unfortunately most leek seedlings come in punnets and they are fairly spindly. The ideal planting out size is about as long and as thick as a standard pencil or nearly so.
If the plants are small then break them into clumps, make a deeper hole and half fill with chook manure place a little soil on the top of this then the clump of little leeks.
Every week water some liquid chook manure and Magic Botanic Liquid over the clumps until they get to a better size for lifting and planting out.
It is also a good time to plant some late tomatoes, sweet corn and cucumbers so that as your older plants start to fizz there will be fresh ones producing into winter or till they are knocked out.
If you don't have room in gardens then plant in larger containers using purchased compost with animal or chook manure added.
A good planting of silverbeet about now will give you heaps to crop right through winter.
Silverbeet is usually free of most insect pests problems and if not planted too close together; so there is good air circulation, then leaf diseases will be reduced.
By harvesting the larger outer leaves on a regular bases will also assist in better growth and less problems.
It was a poor spring this season and a slow start to the real growing time which is now happening.
It is now just a matter of supplying ample non-chlorinated water to keep the soil moist but not drowned, Sprays of Magic Botanic Liquid and Mycorrcin on a two weekly frequency will help keep plants healthy and growing better.
Great on your strawberries as it will increase the berry size and the plants will crop longer. These natural products are not only excellent for your food crops but also for your preferred plants such as roses.
Where ever you see pest insects, get onto controlling them as quickly as possible as where there maybe a few one day in next to no time there can be hundreds.
Sprays of Neem Tree Oil will help keep the pests at bay without hurting beneficial insects.
The oil will also help protect against a number of leaf diseases such as black spot, rust etc.
It apparently helps keep possums and rabbits off roses and other plants and great for fleas on animals.
If you add Key Pyrethrum to the oil you have a fast knock down and control combination but this spray will affect beneficial insects as well as the pests for up to a day after spraying.
Hopefully you are organised for Xmas and the New Year and if not going away spend some time gardening. If neighbours or friends are going away you could offer to check their gardens and water as need be. It is also good to pick any ripe fruit while doing so as either the birds will be encouraged to peck the fruit or it could rot where it is and cause premature rotting to other fruit nearby.
(Well thats my story anyway, when I spot some nice big ripe strawberries and the people are away on holiday, I am just protecting the rest of the crop)
Last year at this time I decided to have a two week break from writing this weekly article and that worked fine so I will make this the last one for this year and start off again in the New Year.
It has been about 27 years of my doing a weekly article and I seldom get stuck for a topic, there is always so many aspects to write about.
Once again have a great Xmas and travel safe.
Wally Richards
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WATERING PLANTS

Watering plants and gardens is an art which good gardeners achieve after years of experience.
It is not connecting a hose/sprinkler system to a tap and turning on, though that will work to a point, it can also cause a number of problems.
For instance if you have fertilised your gardens with either man made fertiliser or natural types and you turn on the sprinklers and run the irrigation for a period of time you are going to wash away much of the money and time you spent feeding the gardens.
If instead you went around your gardens with a hand held watering wand and applied sufficient water to moisten the soil nicely then you would have enhanced the food you provided and wasted none.
The first aspect of watering is what is in the water that you are going to use?
If your tap water contains chlorine from the local water treatment plant then you are putting into your garden a chemical that will kill the beneficial bacteria in the soil and devastate the earthworms.
If this water is sprayed over the foliage of your plants it will kill the microbes living on the foliage which help to protect the plant from foliage diseases.
No matter how diligently you garden and how many good things you do, you will never achieve great gardens with chlorinated water, instead you will spend all summer fighting problems.
The simple solution is to place a 10 micron carbon bonded filter onto the hose line to remove the chlorine. If your water comes from a bore, stream, or tank then you have no problem with chlorine.
Another point also is if you have a spa pool or swimming pool which you dose with chlorine make sure if you empty the pool that the chlorine has been dissipated by running the system for a few days before empting into a garden area.
A gardener asked me recently when should you water or not water as they had read an article that said you should not water in sunlight. The person that wrote the article likely has never seen a sun shower.
There is a aspect that if you sprinkle water over the foliage of plants in full sun the water droplets can magnify the sun’s rays and burn that bit of leaf.
But on the other hand if the soil in your gardens or the mix in your containers becomes so dry on a sunny day that the plants go into water stress then that will cause a lot more damage than a few burnt leaves. As a generalization if you do water your gardens and containers on a sunny day you are watering the soil not the plants. Once again done with a hand held wand or by a dripper irrigation system including the good old soak hoses.
One of the good methods in vegetable gardens in days gone by was to grow all the vegetables in rows and have furrows between the rows. These furrows are flooded with water when the garden needs a drink which means the water goes directly to the root system of the plants and the foliage canopy above the furrows tends to reduce the moisture losses from evaporation below.
Manures and other goodies can be sprinkled along the furrows to great advantage.
When is the best time to water? First thing in the morning before the sun gets up or late in the day when the sun gets off the plants?
If you have ample time to water in the morning then that is a great time to do so.
If on the other hand you are busy in the morning getting off to work etc then the logical time is late in the day. The disadvantage of that is there will be moisture around after it starts to cool down at night which can cause mildews. This is especially so if your plantings are dense with plants susceptible to moisture related diseases.
I water late in the day as it suits my work patterns and as I water with a hand held wand it means that I only give the soil/plants sufficient moisture to get them through the next day till the following evening. On very sunny hot days I will check my container plants at about 1 to 2 pm and if they are showing signs of water stress then I give the mixes a watering.
If the day has been overcast and still then only a light watering that evening.
If the day has been overcast and windy, then a moderate watering that evening.
If temperatures have dropped noticeably then likely no watering but plants in containers in the glasshouse may need a small drink still..
As temperatures lower going into autumn or during cold spells then your watering must reduce or stop. On hot sunny days a very good soaking of the containers is needed.
Hanging baskets should be plunged into a tub of water once a week and watered normally for the rest of the week.
While standing there with the hose wand watering each day gives you a good time to check all the plants for any problems.
You can spot aphids, leaf hoppers, scale, mealy bugs, white fly, psyllids, vegetable bugs etc as you go around the plants.
While the growing medium below is been watered you can squash a number of pest insects with your fingers. Another method which is very effective on established plants and shrubs/trees is to switch from the wand to a fitting that will provide a jet of water and then blast the insect pests off the leaves.
This repeated for a few nights will often mean there is no need to spray.
On hot dry times you can adjust your hose to a light jet and shoot the water into the air to fall on established plants.
The plants will, with their foliage, direct the water down to where their feeder roots are as this is what happen when it rains. Besides you are also cleaning the foliage of dust and the plants will absorb a nice amount of water though their leaves.
During dry times I will run a soak hose under my fruit trees for a hour or so to give the area a good watering. This is important to obtain a good crop and needs to be done only once or twice a week dependant on how dry it gets. Mulches placed over the wet soil will reduce the moisture lose.
One thing I have noticed over the last few years is that even after weeks of rain that the soil dries out very quickly within a couple of days of no rain.
Obviously the water tables of past years are no longer there and I can only put this down to too much under ground water been drawn off in commercial irrigation systems.
Which is a worrying thought that we are going to have bigger water shortages in the future.
The lower water tables means more commercial irrigation which means further reduction in underground water supplies.
Gardeners will need to look at water storage and greater conservation of water for their gardens and the sooner the better.
Over watering does more harm than good so learn to water right.
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NEW FRUIT

One of my gardening passions is growing as many different types of fruit that I can, providing that the climate where I live in Palmerston North is suitable for the varieties.
Most of my fruit trees are growing in 100 litre containers which allows for a nice size tree that is manageable and will produce a nice crop without a lot of wastage.
My most successful varieties have been, Feijoa Unique, Tamarillo, Cranberry with good results from several types of citrus and I have a persimmon and double grafted nashi, both of which are only second season but looking to have a nice small crop this year.
Planting into containers is certainly the way to go unless you have ample open ground and tend to spend a lot of years at that location.
With container planted fruit trees you can move them around, place them for best sun when needed and if you do shift to another home you can take them all with you.
Most of my containers are plastic 200 litre drums cut in half with a few large drainage holes drilled on the sides near the base.
The side holes are best as they provide two aspects, a reservoir of water between the base and the drainage holes which can be a great help in summer, also the roots are trapped in the container where with drainage holes in the base the roots can get out into the soil where the container is sitting.
This would then make for a much bigger tree and a bit of a problem when moved.
About every 3 years you need to pull the tree out of the container and cut off the bottom third of the root system, place fresh compost in the area where those roots were and pop the tree back into the container.
This always gives a fresh boost of growth and keeps the tree from becoming completely pot bound.
I always use purchased compost which is enhanced with animal manure, Ocean Solids, Rok Solid and Bio Boost.
For general feeding they get Fruit and Flower Power, chook manure, Rok Solid, Bio Boost and worm pee.
Another advantage is that when a new tree is planted into a 100 litre container and before it shades the container too much you can grow a few vegetables or herbs under the tree.
Besides growing a number of fruit trees in containers I also have a great selection of berry fruits growing in 45 litre containers. This keeps them from getting away and been a nuisance and yet they are able to produce a nice crop each year.
This week I received a news letter from a nursery in Northland showing the new types of fruit trees/plants that are going to be available this season.
The ones that interested me most are:

BRAZILIAN CHERRY [Eugenia brasiliensis] PB3 30cm
This is a handsome medium sized tree than can be grown as a shrub. It bears small dark red fruit with an excellent sweet cherry flavour, and continues fruiting for 5 months.
The plants are grown from seed and should start bearing after 4 years. They like year-round water, and can be grown in sun or in shade. They will survive temperatures as low as -3C but do not like conditions that remain cool for long. Also known as grumichama, and previously known as eugenia dombeyi.
The fruit which look a bit like a raspberry are rich in vitamins A and C, as well as calcium, phosphorus and iron.
BLACK SAPOTE [diospyrus digyna] PB2 25cm
Also known as chocolate pudding fruit [yum!], this is a member of the persimmon family. The trees are medium sized, with glossy green foliage, and the fruit is green skinned, even when ripe, with chocolate-coloured flesh. They are frost intolerant, and require a good hot summer to develop flavour. It is recommended to plant 2 plants to develop good fruit size, though I have seen a lone one fruiting well.
STARFRUIT [averrhoa carambola] 10cm pots 20cm
A pretty, smallish tree with vivid lime green leaves. The fruit is crisp, sweet and refreshing in taste, and is intensely orange-yellow in colour. Best to plant in pairs for pollination. Although it will tolerate a mild brief frost, it grows best in a humid warm climate. Plant in full sun and apply plenty of fertiliser and water. They start fruiting after 3 years.
That is the three types that I have order and taking a pair of the last two for pollination.
Other trees that caught my interest but likely not suitable for my growing conditions were;

TROPICAL PAPAYA [carica papaya] PB2 30cm
These plants bear the sweet juicy fruit of the papaya you find in the supermarket. They are cold intolerant i.e. no frost, and not much in the way of cold weather either. However, they have been successfully grown outdoors in Auckland against a sunny brick wall under eaves, and with great results in a commercial greenhouse, so if you can give them the right conditions, they will do alright. Suitable to grow in large containers.
There are three different varieties available. All plants will be either hermaphrodite or female, so no barren plants, but you will need at least one hermaphrodite to do the pollinating. There is no way of telling in advance which will be which. For that reason it is recommended that you plant at least 3.
JACKFRUIT (Artocarpus heterophyllus) PB5 40cm
This handsome tree grows the world’s largest fruit up to 40kg each! However, it is unlikely to reach this size here. Although the mature tree will tolerate a few degrees of frost, the young trees are delicate and will not flourish in colder areas.
They require free-draining soil with plenty of moisture, but will not tolerate wet feet, or drought. They must be sheltered, and given frequent liquid feeds. They are self-fertile. These have been grown from seed from Australian fruit.
BIRIBA [rollinia deliciosa] PB6.5 70cm
This is a relative of the cherimoya, with sweet citrus-flavoured fruit. It is also known as lemon-meringue fruit and wild sugar apple. The fruits are similar in size to cherimoya, with similar seeds, but the skin is more yellow and has quite distinct protuberances. The trees are grown from seed and will bear fruit in 4 years. They are tropical and will not tolerate cold temperatures.
The later 3 maybe ideal if you are living in an area that is more tropical and do not suffer from frosts. If you are interested in obtaining any of the these plus a great range of many others not mentioned here then get on the web and go to www.subtropica.co.nz
You can shout yourself a nice fruiting Xmas present.

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HEALTHY ROSES

Recently I received an email from a rose enthusiast which endorses my encouragement of gardeners to look after their soil and gardens with natural methods as opposed to chemical warfare.
The email read: Dear Wally,
Between my mother and myself we’ve been growing roses for maybe 100 years from Shot Silk and Mrs Wilmott on to David Austins and Trevor Griffiths et el.
In recent years and in spite of increasing diligence I have become increasingly disappointed with the results and general health to the point that I was starting to lose interest.
Then I ran across your whole new approach replete with different feeding regimes and NO Nitrophoska Blue or systemic sprays.
Now after two years of following your regime I’m delighted to tell you I have rose bushes and blooms such as I have never experienced before, Clean plants and abundant blooms.
Keep on spreading the good news. Thanks, Peter

Its very nice to hear the successes gardeners have and the pleasure they get from doing the sensible things.
My ‘regime’ (as Peter put it); I cannot take credit for, as it is the same principals that was used for hundreds and thousands of years before people went silly and started to use harmful chemicals to make plants grow.
All I have done is take the old methods and enhanced them with modern knowledge and a few innovated products that help not hinder.
A few months ago I purchased a Kobo reader as I tend to read a lot of books and found amongst the free books available, a title called, Farmers of Forty Centuries written by a F H King back about 1907.
It talks about a journey he made as a horticulurlist visiting Japan, Korea and China.
In the book he explains how the farmers in these counties have been able to grow the same crops on the same land for over 4000 years. Not one crop per year but in most cases 3 crops per year through over planting methods.
To achieve this, nothing organic is wasted and all are returned to the land from compost, manure both human and animal, silt from rivers, ash and even scrapings off the earth floor of homes.
The labour required is intense but the reward is highly fertile land with an incredible soil food web.
He compared the results to that in America (which was his home country) and how farmers in areas had destroyed the fertility of their land within a few years of cropping and with the much smaller returns from their land area when compared to these Asian countries.
The philosophy of these age old farmers is to leave the soil as good as if not better than it was previously.
Because their care of the soil is so good, there appeared to be no problems with diseases or pests that was written about. I can under stand that the disease aspect would not exist unless the crops grown came under stress and I presume that any insect pest problems would be taken care of through the abundance of labour and many fingers to squash the bugs.
It was pointed out that the night soil (human toilets) was collected and people paid for this privilege as they were able to on sell it in different forms as fertiliser. No problems with disease or even flies. In the western world the same night soil is a pollutant which we generally toss into the rivers and oceans where it does harm rather than good.
An interesting book if you have a Kobo Reader.
The key to the whole thing is looking after the soil, making for better gardens that produce healthy plants.
Feeding the soil with natural things and avoiding the use of harmful chemicals.
Ensuring that ample minerals are used, covering all the elements which can be derived from Ocean Solids, Rok Solid and Magic Botanic Liquid.
It makes sense and it really works.
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CHRISTMAS GARDENING GIFTS

This Xmas you can be very practical and give worthwhile gifts that are of benefit to the receiver.
When money is tight we look for the best return on our dollar and gardening related gifts are one sure way of having value for money.
It can be that you are a bit handy with a drill, saw and nails/screws and able to make a raised garden for someone that could use it to great benefit. If that person has a reasonable size section then how about building them a small hen house and run?
This does several things of benefit, a neat way of converting weeds and kitchen scraps into high grade chicken manure for the garden, the pleasure of a few hens, plus a few eggs for the kitchen table that are so much better than most purchased ones.
A worm farm and a compost bin are two more very useful gardening presents.
There are a few worthwhile gardening books including my own three that can make excellent presents.
Gardening Gift Vouchers are available from most if not all garden shops and these are a easy solution if you are not sure what to give.
It is the thought that counts when giving and been practical is the key this year.
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INSECT TRAPS

Pest insects populations expand at an incredible rate when conditions are favourable.
I am always amazed how that on one day, a few insects are on a plant and then within a few more days there are hundreds. If they are not controlled then within a few weeks there can be thousands even millions and then they are very hard to control.
The key to controlling any pest insect is to act smartly and use a suitable control at the very first sign of a pest insect been around. Also you should work on the mice theory; if you see one mouse then there is likely to be several more you don't see. If you see one pest insect you can bet your bottom dollar there is sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles and cousins you don't see.
Here are some stats to show you how quickly a problem can become.

Whitefly: the female can lay 8 eggs a day and between 150 to 300 eggs in her life time and it only take 25 to 30 days from an egg to the adult stage.
Psyllid:affecting tomatoes and potatoes, the female can lay up to 510 eggs over their life time of 21 days and it only takes about 33 days from egg to adult.
Codlin Moth: The female can lay up to 300 eggs which hatch as grubs after 10-14 days and eat their way into your apples, pears and walnuts causing the damage.
Grass Grub: Beetles emerge about now and after mating can lay up to 120 eggs over a 2-3 week period. The larvae hatch in 16 to 21 days to feed on the roots of your grasses.
That is just 4 pest insects we have noted and these ones can be partially controlled by using different trap methods.
The Sticky Whitefly Traps imported from America can catch whitefly, leaf miners, winged aphids and psyllid adults. These are yellow strips 78mm wide and 125mm long which can be hung near plants you wish to protect.
The special colour of the strips are a lure to a number of insect pests on the wing and because of the very sticky nature of the traps, they are stuck for good.
The traps come in a pack of 5 and can be used indoors, outdoors and in glass houses to advantage as a first line of defence. Available from some garden centres or by mail order in New Zealand.
See
I placed a couple of Sticky Whitefly Traps in my glasshouses a few weeks ago and it is interesting to see all the different types of insects that they have caught.
The following are extracts from my book; Wallys Green Tips for Gardeners:
Codlin Moth: Place a tin partly filled with treacle in each infected tree early in the season when the tree starts to flower.
Top up the treacle as need be. The best way is to place the tin in an onion bag and hang from a branch at a height where you can easily monitor it.
The treacle gives off a pheromone smell similar to the female codlin moth and attracts the males where they will come to a sticky end.
This achieves two aspects; if all the males are caught then they cannot fertilise the females and dud eggs will be laid. Secondly by monitoring the treacle every few days you will be able to determine when the moths are on the wing and take further action.
Once a number of male moths are noticed, spray the young apples with Neem Tree Oil about every 7 days till activity in the tin stops.
Some gardeners have also informed me that the scattering of Neem Tree Granules under the apple tree at the very beginning of the season has reduced damage considerably.
The granules need further applications about every 4 to 6 weeks till activity has finished for the season.
Grass Grub Beetles; Grass grub adults emerge in October, and are active until about mid-December, depending on weather conditions and exactly where they are in New Zealand.
The cooler the temperature, the later they emerge. The adults will start to emerge in mild conditions, when the soil temperature reaches about 10 degrees they then mate, fly, eat and lay eggs in the short space of time between dusk and early evening.
As they tend to fly towards light, you are most likely to know they’re there when the flying beetles hit your lighted window panes.
This very attraction for the light has become one of our best weapons in controlling the pest in its adult stage. You can set up a grass grub beetle trap by placing a trough, such as the one used when wall-papering, directly underneath a window facing a grassed area.
Fill the trough with water to about two-thirds of its capacity, then place a film of kerosene on top of the water. Put a bright light in the window, the beetles fly towards the lit window, hit the glass and fall into the trough. The kerosene acts as a trap, preventing the fallen beetles from climbing out.
You can extend this method to areas away from the house by using a glass tank, such as might be used for an aquarium. Place the empty tank into a tray containing several inches of water (and the kerosene), and position a light inside the glass tank. By adding a sheet of ply or something similar over the top of the tank, you will ensure that the light shines only through the sides of the tank above the waiting water and kerosene. It is better to use a dome-shaped battery-powered light rather than an ordinary torch for this job as the bigger light makes the trap more effective.
If the tray and tank are raised off the ground and placed on something like a table, you will get an even better result.
However you set up your beetle trap, this is a very good method to catch the pests. Simply get rid of all the beetles caught the next morning by feeding to your chickens or flushing down the toilet.
Run this system (call it Wally’s Grass Grub Beetle Catcher, if you like) from just before dusk to about 2 or 3 hours after sunset.
Plants that are been eaten by the beetles will include citrus, roses and beans, these can be sprayed with Neem Tree Oil late in the day or if you are keen take a torch and check the plants after sunset for beetles. When found spray them with Key Pyrethrum and Neem Oil combined.
This along with your trap working nightly over the next few weeks will greatly reduce the damage to your lawn this season.
Traps are the smart and easy way to deal with some of our pest insect problems.
Generally the safest, effective spray control for any insect pests is a combination of Neem Tree Oil and Key Pyrethrum. If you are concerned about predictor beneficial insects that are on the target plant then only use Neem Tree Oil.
Spraying either way should be done late in the day just before sunset.
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HERBICIDE DAMAGE

I am very concerned about the number of gardeners that have asked me why their tomatoes/beans/potatoes are growing funny this season.
When we say funny we are referring to distorted or rolled leaves, new growth that is mishapped, beans that come up and die off and feather like foliage. These aspects are related to mainly tomatoes, potatoes, beans, grapes and roses.
The pictures that I have asked to be sent to me have all indicated herbicide damage.
Usually other plants in the same area appear to be unaffected which indicates that the amount of herbicide is very small at parts per million. Stronger amounts would kill the herbicide sensitive plants (tomatoes etc) and likely have shown as die back in other plants including weeds.
Where did the herbicide come from?

The first thought is from the spraying of weedkillers somewhere in the neighbourhood.
If someone nearby has sprayed on a day when spray drift can be carried by the wind then that is a possibility.
If someone has sprayed on a calm day within a few miles of your property then that could be the cause.
What can happen on a calm day is the minute droplets of spray are lifted on conventional air currents up into the air, from there, they are carried by air currents for any distance before dumping, maybe on your tomatoes.
The worst times for anyone to be spraying herbicides is on a windy or calm day.
The best time is on a day when there is a light breeze and the person spraying can direct the spray to target plants only.
Placing a shield over the nozzle of the sprayer is recommended to prevent any drift or uplift of the chemicals into the air.
You can make a shield very simply by taking the nozzle off the end of your spray wand, then making a hole in the middle of a plastic 2 litre ice cream container to fit nicely over the end of your sprayer’s nozzle, after which you screw the nozzle surround back on.
Most effective and all you need to do is place the ice cream container over the target weeds and pull the trigger. All the chemical spray stays inside the container.
Then move to the next weeds making sure you don't drip herbicide on preferred plants.
If you are not using a shield then make sure your nozzle on your sprayer is not producing a mist, instead make sure it is producing heavy droplets by adjusting it.
You can always use a food dye in the mix to determine where your sprays are going.
Unfortunately you have very little control as to what other people are doing around you and your gardens are always at risk from air borne sprays.
If you know that a neighbour is spraying weed killers then the best thing to do is to apply good amounts of water to the foliage of your herbicide sensitive plants with the hose and water other plants as well.
By diluting any air borne chemical that may land on your plants will reduce the potential problem.
Likely you have read about the commercial grapes that were hit recently with a herbicide, causing possible losses of millions of dollars.
Every now and then I hear about gardeners who has sprayed their roses or gardens with a sprayer that has either a herbicide in the sprayer or has been used in the past for weed killing.
Herbicides are fairly good keepers and if you don't use all the made up product there is a great temptation to leave it in the sprayer for next time. This is ok if you mark in bold letters on the sprayer, WEED KILLERS ONLY.
Have a separate sprayer for other sprays that are not weed killers.
Even if you are money conscious and wash out a plastic sprayer that has had a weed killer in it, there is a very good chance that you will damage roses, grapes, tomatoes, potatoes and beans if you use that sprayer on these plants. This happens because the plastic is porous and it holds onto some of the herbicide which is very difficult to wash out completely, but can release out with other spray mixes.
Be safe, not sorry, as it costs a lot more to replace plants than buy a second sprayer. So we have looked at the possibility of air borne sprays from our surrounds and our own sprayers yet there is a more devious way of harming your sensitive plants.
The first time I came across another herbicide problem was many years ago when a fertiliser drive to raise funds sold sheep manure to local gardeners.
The gardeners placed the manure around their roses and other plants and then over the next few weeks the roses and other sensitive plants curled up their toes and died.
What happened was this, a farmer had sprayed his paddocks with a herbicide to kill gorse/thistles etc and one which does not harm grass. The sheep came along a little later and ate the grass prior to going the the shearing shed. The manure collect from the shed was full of herbicide.
A more common way is any herbicide used on the lawn to kill various weeds, the lawn is mowed and the clippings are taken to the dump at a cost or to a green waste recycling centre.
At the recycling plant they have no idea if there is a herbicide in the lawn clippings or not.
The herbicides available both to the home garden market and commercially can have a residue for very long periods, not just a few mowing's.
From what I can gather it can be as long as 18months with the composting material been turned several times during that time, before it is safe to use.
Thus if you are making your own compost don't place any lawn clippings in it that have been sprayed with a herbicide. The best solution for those clippings is to place them under well established trees and shrubs where no other plants are growing.
I have recently heard of several instances where purchased composted, vegetable compost and organic compost have been used in gardens and the sensitive plants such as tomatoes and beans have displayed damage. Some of these purchased composts have been brand names which is really bad news.
I have used three makes of compost in recent times which come from Daltons, Oderings and Colin MacPhersons all of which have been ok.
There is a problem because of the large amount of composts been made and sold, is that you could get a bag that has herbicide residue in it where another is 100% ok.
The test if you are going to place around or plant sensitive plants into a purchased compost is to place a few bean seeds into the compost. If they come up ok you know there is not a problem.
If they don't then take the bag back to where you got it from and complain.
Placing any herbicide residue compost around non-sensitive plants is not usually be a problem.
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FRUIT TREE PROBLEMS: LEAF CURL

Several gardeners have contacted me recently because their stone fruit trees have leaf curl damage.
Unfortunately for these gardeners they have already lost the battle this season in controlling the disease. Curly leaf is a difficult one so I did a little research on the Internet and came up with the following from the University of California USA.

“Peach leaf curl, also known as leaf curl, is a disease caused by the fungus Taphrina deformans.
Peach leaf curl affects the blossoms, fruit, leaves, and shoots of peaches, ornamental flowering peaches, and nectarines, and is one of the most common disease problems for backyard gardeners growing these trees. The distorted, reddened foliage that it causes is easily seen in spring.
When severe, the disease can reduce fruit production substantially.
Peach leaf curl first appears in spring as reddish areas on developing leaves. These areas become thickened and puckered, causing leaves to curl and severely distort. The thickened areas turn yellowish and then grayish white, as velvety spores are produced on the surface by the leaf curl fungus.
Later affected leaves turn yellow or brown and can remain on the tree or may fall off; they are replaced by a second set of leaves that develop more normally unless wet weather continues.
The loss of leaves and the production of a second set result in decreased tree growth and fruit production. Defoliation in spring may expose branches to sunburn injury.
The peach leaf curl pathogen also infects young, green twigs and shoots. Affected shoots become thickened, stunted, distorted, and often die. Only rarely do reddish, wrinkled to distorted (or hypertrophied) areas develop on fruit surfaces. Later in the season these infected areas of fruit become corky and tend to crack. If leaf curl infection builds up and is left uncontrolled for several years, the tree may decline and need to be removed.
Leaf symptoms appear about 2 weeks after leaves emerge from buds. The fungus grows between leaf cells and stimulates them to divide and grow larger than normal, causing swelling and distortion of the leaf.
Red plant pigments accumulate in the distorted cells. Cells of the fungus break through the cuticle of distorted leaves and produce elongated, sac-like structures called asci that produce sexual spores called ascospores, which give the leaf a grayish white, powdery or velvet like appearance.
The ascospores are released into the air, carried to new tissues, and bud (divide) to form bud-conidia. The fungus survives the hot, dry summer as ascospores and bud-conidia (these are asexual spores) on the tree’s surfaces. When the weather turns cool and wet in fall, the ascospores germinate to produce more bud-conidia.
The new and old bud-conidia continue to increase in number by budding. Eventually a film of bud-conidia is formed on the tree’s surface. In spring, the bud-conidia move by splashing water from irrigation or rain and can infect new leaves.
Periods of cool, wet weather, when leaves are first opening on the tree, favor the disease. The optimum temperature for fungal growth in laboratory cultures is 68°F, the minimum is 48°F, and the maximum is 79° to 87° F. Budding of bud-conidia occurs at or above 95% relative humidity.
Wetness from rain, dew, or irrigation for over 12.5 hours at temperatures below 61°F is needed for infection. Maximum infection occurs when trees are wet for 2 or more days. Although leaves may be infected, symptoms may not appear if temperatures remain above 69°F. (20C) Cool weather prolongs the period of disease development by favoring the pathogen and slowing leaf growth.
Development of peach leaf curl ceases when young tissue is no longer developing or when weather turns dry and warmer 79° to 87°F (26 to30C).
To prevent peach leaf curl, treat peach and nectarine trees with a fungicide every year after leaves have fallen. (Use Lime Sulphur or sprays of potassium permanganate) Generally a single early treatment when the tree is dormant is effective, however, in areas of high rainfall or during a particularly wet winter it may be advisable to apply a second spray late in the dormant season, preferably as flower buds begin to swell, but before green leaf tips are first visible.
Copper. The most commonly used treatment, the greater the amount of copper particles, the more effective the product will be. (Use copper hydroxide such as Liquid Copper rather than copper oxychloride) However, other factors like coverage, use of additives like stickers and spreaders, (Raingard) and frequency and duration of rain, which can wash off the copper, will also impact product effectiveness. In all cases, the copper is active only when it is wet, when the copper ions are in solution”.
This season I tried a different treatment for one of my stone fruit trees, instead of using the copper sprays.
I kept an eye on the developing leaves and when the first sign of any curly leaf appeared I then sprayed all the leaves within reach with Vaporgard, ensuring that both sides of the leaves were covered with the film.
Next a couple of days later I gave the tree and surrounding soil a good spray of potassium permanganate (Condys Crystals).
Since then I have done nothing but observed the results which is only about 20% of the leaves are affected by the disease. Most of the original leaves with the Vaporgard are good and its the ones that I had difficulty spraying that are most affected.
Another advantage with the Vaporgard is its UV shield aspect which protects the chlorophyll and allows the leaves to produce more energy from the sun.
The result is a better crop.
What to do now if your tree has heaps of curly leaves and not too many good ones?
Well you could spray the good leaves with Vaporgard to improve their energy gaining potential.
The badly affected leaves will fall off to be replaced by new good leaves and these too could be sprayed with Vaporgard. This will assist in improving the size of the potential crop.
If the tree is too badly damaged then likely no crop this season.
After leaf fall in the autumn spray the tree all over with Lime Sulphur.
Leave for a while and in the middle of winter spray with potassium permanganate.
In the new season at the first sign of the disease on the new foliage spray with Vaporgard and then start a program with Liquid Copper sprays mixed with Raingard on a frequency of every 7 to 10 days.
Which is what you should have been doing this season starting several weeks ago.

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GRASS PEST PROBLEMS

There are three insect pests that are the main problem ones in lawns; grass grubs, porina and black beetle grubs.
The affect they have on your lawns depends on the number of the pests in a given area.
A few, will hardly be noticed, where a good number per square foot will damage the grasses and be easy to see. Damage can be seen by bare spots, brown, dead areas or discoloured grasses.
Birds are a very good indicator that there are grubs in the lawn when they spend their time scratching and pecking in certain areas.
I have gardeners ringing me up about this time of the year to say they have grass grubs in their lawns or that they have dead spots.
My first question is, how do you know you have grass grubs?
They usually reply that there is dead areas or that birds are ripping certain areas apart.
Nether of these are a good indication that there are currently grass grubs actively eating roots near the surface.
If there are dead areas which have appeared in the spring or early summer then it is likely that grass grubs did cause the problem by eating the roots of the grasses in the autumn and into the winter.
The grasses would have appeared ok in the winter, even though they had little root system left, because they were not actively growing.
In the spring when they started to grow on the root system left, which was insufficient to support the grass, thus it browns off and dies.
In the meantime the grubs have burrowed deep into the soil to pupate and then emerge about October to December as beetles.
There may well be a few grass grubs in the lawn at this time and by lifting some turf you can soon find out and how many there are per square foot. If there are a few like 1 to 5 then its hardly worth while bothering with a treatment, a greater number would be worth while to treat.
Most likely the reason the birds are working the lawn is for porina caterpillars which live in the soil. Porina come up in the early part of the evening to feed at the base of the grasses.
These are easy to control by firstly mowing the lawn to allow the spray you are going to use, to reach the base of the grasses where they feed.
Then in late afternoon mix Neem Tree Oil at the rate of 15mils per litre of warm water and apply that to your lawn area. Using a lawn boy will do the best job to get a good coverage.
That night when the grubs come up to feed they will get a dose of Neem and that turns off their ability to ever eat again.
If the birds eat them they will not be affected and worms in the soil will be ok too.
The time to treat for grass grubs in the lawns is in the autumn when the soil is moist and they are feeding near the surface. The other time is when they are beetles which is about now.
With porina they can be treated all year round whenever they are present.
Treatment for grass grubs and black beetle grubs can either be a strong chemical one or a safe natural one such as Professor Macs 3 in 1 for lawns which is a mix of Eucalyptus and Tea Tree oils.
This will not harm wild life, pets or worms, where the chemical ones will.
To treat the grass grub beetles you can use the method described in my first book, Wally’s Down to Earth Gardening Guide, extract;

Grass grub adults emerge in October, (as beetles) and are active until about mid-December, depending on weather conditions and exactly where they are in New Zealand. The cooler the temperature, the later they emerge. The adults will start to emerge in mild conditions, when the soil temperature reaches about 10 degrees, they then mate, fly, eat and lay eggs in the short space of time between dusk and early evening. As they tend to fly towards light, you are most likely to know they’re there when the flying beetles hit your lighted window panes.
This very attraction for the light has become one of our best weapons in controlling the pest in its adult stage. You can set up a grass grub beetle trap by placing a trough, such as the one used when wall-papering, directly underneath a window near a grassed area. Fill the trough with water to about two-thirds of its capacity, then place a film of kerosene on top of the water. Put a bright light in the window, the beetles fly towards the lit window, hit the glass and fall into the trough. The kerosene acts as a trap, preventing the fallen beetles from climbing out.
You can extend this method to areas away from the house by using a glass tank, such as might be used for an aquarium. Place the empty tank into a tray containing several inches of water (and the kerosene), and position a light inside the glass tank. By adding a sheet of ply or something similar over the top of the tank, you will ensure that the light shines only through the sides of the tank above the waiting water and kerosene. It is better to use a dome-shaped battery-powered light rather than an ordinary torch for this job as the bigger light makes the trap more effective.
If the tray and tank are raised off the ground and placed on something like a table, you will get an even better result.
However you set up your beetle trap, this is a very good method to dispose of the pests. Simply get rid of all the beetles caught the next morning by flushing down the toilet or feeding to chooks.. Run this system (call it Wally’s Grass Grub Beetle Catcher, if you like) from just before dusk to about 2 or 3 hours after sunset.
We know now how to make the grubs’ preference for light work against them, but light can also work in their favour. If you have un-curtained windows in rooms which are lit at night, you will find grass grub beetles from yours and neighbouring lawns will be attracted to the area during the early hours of the evening. Street lighting is probably the worst offender, and people with areas of lawn near street lights often find those are the parts worst-affected by grass grubs.
The beetles will eat the foliage of various plants such as roses, beans and citrus while on the wing.
Those plants that are being eaten can be sprayed with Neem Tree Oil.
If the populations of beetles are very high then in the early part of the evening take a torch and check the plants that are being eaten. If you see lots of the brown beetles then mix up a spray of Neem tree Oil with Key Pyrethrum added and go out and spray the pests.
The Key pyrethrum is a quick knock down and should wipe out good numbers of them.
The more beetles you can kill means less damage to your lawns next year.
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TIPS FOR GARDENERS

Recently I received a couple of new tips which might be of interest to you.
The first was about the pollination of bean flowers early in the season from a bee keeper in the south island, which I heard on the radio.
Apparently if you flip down the bottom, jaw part of the bean flower and let it spring back it is sufficient to transfer the pollen and set the bean.
Now that is very handy in the early part of the season when your broad beans are nicely in flower and there are no bees around to pollinate them.
If every time you past by the beans flip a few flowers. You wont get all the flowers to set unless you spend a lot of time doing the flipping but the more you do, the more beans to eat.
Unfortunately with low honey bee populations in many areas, we have to depend on bumble bees and native bees, wasps and flies to do more of our pollination work.
You can attract potential pollinators to fruiting plants in flower by dissolving raw sugar in hot water then spraying the solution over some of the foliage. You don't want to supply too much sweet syrup as the pollinators will only work that not the flowers.
Having a nest or two of bumble bees near your home is a great asset.
You can build Bumble Bee Nest Boxes and place them around your section and hope that they will be accepted by a queen and used.
See http://www.bumblebee.org/nestboxes.htm
For a lot of great information on how to do it.
Another interesting one came by email and concerns plastic water bottles and sunlight.
Your plastic water bottle left out in a car or in sunlight will heat up the water and in doing so, dioxins can be transferred into the water from the plastic. The dioxins can cause cancer and apparently breast cancers in particular. The same aspect applies to any plastic used in microwaves for warming or cooking food or liquids. Apparently there has also been concerns about plastic babies bottles, heating milk.
The world was a safer and better place when it was glass used instead of plastic.
Glass can be recycled easier and does not contain cancer aspects.
For gardeners that prefer not to have to spray for insect pests they can sprinkle Neem Tree Granules onto the soil in the root zone of the plants.
With trees this is the drip line area. The application can assist in reducing the pest insect problems in some plants with other plants not so affective. Works fairly well on potatoes, tomatoes and brassicas.
A while back a gardener told me that he had a crop of beetroot in and they were not doing as well as they should.
A friend told him to give the plants a drink with diluted sea water which he did.
Apparently it worked, the crop took off and I was told that some of the best beet root in size and flavour were harvested.
You might like to try this yourself and if not near the ocean, then use Ocean Solids dissolved in water. Here are a few more tips from my book; Wally’s Green Tips for Gardeners.
Baking soda is a very useful spray for assisting in the control of powdery mildew and control of the weed, oxalis. Mix at one heaped tablespoon of Baking soda to one litre of warm water to dissolve and then add one mil of Raingard and stir.
Used on oxalis when the soil is dry and on a hot sunny day it will dehydrate the foliage without harming other plants. Repeat sprays will be needed till the bulbs become exhausted.
For powdery mildew and black spot it can be used as a preventive or control.
CONDYS CRYSTALS (Potassium Permanganate)

Assists in the control of club root in brassicas. The recipe is a quarter teaspoon of Condys Crystals dissolved in one litre of warm to hot water along with 3 table spoons of salt. This is then added to nine litres of water and you place one litre of this mixture in the planting hole before planting a cabbage etc. A mild solution of Condys crystals is good for control of rusts on plants.
For sterilizing soil, the above can be used but I would recommend doubling the ingredients but still only in 10 litres of water to drench the soil where required.
Later flood the area with water to remove the residues.
What mix to use when planting up containers?
If it is for indoor pot plants then use a good potting mix.
If it is for outdoor containers don’t use potting mix, shrub & tub mixes as they are a waste of time and money.
Most potting mixes contain bark fines and plant food with maybe a few other additives in the more expensive ones. (Some potting mixes maybe peat moss based or have peat included)
These mixes dry out too quickly outdoors, difficult to re-water without plunging in a tub of water and they lack guts for real good growth.
Instead find a brand of compost that is friable for drainage, add a little soil or worm casts to the compost and other natural foods such as sheep manure pellets, blood & bone etc. Sprinkle Bio Boost or Break Through pellets on top of the mix. (If you have a supply of worms add a few to the mix as they assist in keeping it open)
Daltons and Oderings (Brands) both have good composts for container growing. (Likely there are others) They have better food values, retain moisture better and are easier to re-wet when they dry out. Use for vegetables, flowers, shrubs and fruit trees.
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LABOUR WEEKEND

Labour Weekend has arrived and it is the traditional time for gardeners to plant out their more tender plants such as tomatoes, cucumbers and Impatiens.
Even planting out on Labour Weekend can often be too soon for tender plants if a late frost happens. a So what can one do to reduce the damage and be able to plant out?
What I do is spray the plants three days before planting out with Vaporgard. This does give frost protection down to minus 3 for up to 3 months on the foliage sprayed. It also does another important thing in so much as it shields the foliage from UV which means the plant grows more vigorously as it is able to capture more energy from the sun. The film over the foliage also means the plant requires less watering, reduces transplant shock and gives a degree of protection from pests and diseases.
Ideally with tomatoes you should not plant out all the plants you wish to grow in one hit.
Plant a few now, wait a month and plant a few more. I keep doing this right up till February which means a constant supply of fresh tomatoes right into winter.
If you find that by the end of November you cant buy any more tomato plants, no problem, just strike the laterals (side shoots) off your existing plants as cuttings. The best way to do this is to spray the side shoot, a few days before removing, with Vaporgard and then strike as a cutting in moist sand.
Many gardeners lose their tomato plants during the season to a stem rot.
What happens is that the plants get up to about a metre tall, looking really great with flowers and fruit forming and next thing the plant starts to droop. The collapse quickens over the next few days and bye, bye tomato plant.
A disease has entered the plant, likely when you removed laterals, leaves or was damaged in the wind. The disease attacks on one part of the trunk where the area becomes darker as the rot sets in, cutting off the transfer of moisture from the roots and energy from the sun back down.
Aerial roots will often form as little bumps above the affected area where the plant is desperately trying to produce new roots to save its life.
The solution to the problem is to only remove laterals on a sunny day when the air is dry, not humid. Spray the wound immediately with Liquid Copper to protect.
Interestingly I had a gardener last season that told me that as soon as he noticed the darker patch on the trunk he painted undiluted Liquid Copper on the area and was able to arrest the disease. Worth a try if it happens to you and the disease has not got too far advanced.
Spraying the tomato plants once a month with Perkfection can also assist in prevention. If blights start to occur spray the plants with the Perkfection (monthly) and also spray Liquid Copper with Raingard every 10 to 14 days till the disease period is past.
If growing tomato plants in a glasshouse or indoors (must be in full sun) you may need to, on a nice sunny day, tap the plants to cause a little vibration so that the pollen will move to set the tomatoes.
Hormone sprays for setting fruit such as Full-Set are no longer available.
To overcome whitefly problems sprinkle Neem Tree Granules around near the base of the plants and repeat every 6-8 weeks with a little more. I have found by doing this, that I have no whitefly problems on my tomatoes in the glasshouse or outside. Start as soon as you plant.
This will also assist in control of the new pest, the tomato/potato psyllid. An occasional spray of Neem Tree Oil will be advisable especially as summer progresses.
Another important thing is to keep the soil or growing medium moist but not wet.
If growing in containers and the mix dries out too much you will get a problem called blossom end rot where the base of the tomato is black coming towards maturity. It is caused by a lack of calcium at the time the fruit was setting, as a result of insufficient moisture to move the calcium to the fruit set.
There are several different tomato foods available, some better than others and there is my own, ‘Wally’s Secret Tomato Food with Neem Granules’ which a number of gardeners have high praise for.
The important aspect is that tomatoes need adequate potash and magnesium and often these are lacking or insufficient in some foods. Apply Fruit and Flower Power once a month if using other tomato foods to make up the required amounts needed by the plants. (You obtain a far better flavour.)
This also applies to citrus fertilisers as you will note with the yellowing leaves, lack of juice in the fruit and thicker skins. The last thing in the world I would give my citrus trees would be citrus fertiliser.
Instead I just give mine a mulch of chicken manure, a yearly dose of Ocean Solids and a monthly sprinkle of Fruit and Flower Power. Alternative to the chicken manure would be a good dose of Blood & bone, sheep manure pellets and cover these with a layer of compost. You can also place wet sheets of newspaper down before the compost to assist in worm activity.
Roses, not matter how healthy they are, will attract some aphids about now so a spray of Neem Tree Oil with Key Pyrethrum added, applied late in the day just before sunset will take care of these pests.
Another interesting aspect with Neem tree Oil is if you spray the foliage of the roses every couple of weeks it tends to prevent diseases such as black spot, rust and mildews. Possums and rabbits will also leave the plants alone if you live in the country and have problems with these animals.
Two things will assist in giving you better crops and flowers and that is, an annual dose of Ocean Solids which provides all the minerals and elements from the sea. A three monthly soil drench (Spring, Summer and Autumn) of Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) and a two to four weekly spray over the foliage of the same.
The key to great gardens is the use of natural products and the total avoidance of chemical foods and sprays.
The last thing plants want in their food chain is chemicals and this also applies to ourselves.
It is not actually being organic, it is being sensible and healthy.
Have a great Labour Weekend.

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KNOW YOUR GARDEN PESTS

As the weather improves and temperatures rise, populations of pest insects increase dramatically. Populations of thousands of insects are very difficult to control so you need to prevent any pest insect out break. Nip them in the bud so to speak.
The tomato/potato psyllid is a real new problem so lets have a look at them; from MAF Biosecurity web pages we find:
The psyllid has three life stages which are egg, nymph and adult.
Outdoors in North America there are thought to be 4-7 overlapping generations per year.
In greenhouses development and survival can occur from between 15.5°C and 32.2°C, optimum development occurring at 26.6°C. The development threshold is 7°C. In a greenhouse averaging 18°C psyllids will take 33 days to complete the life cycle.
Psyllid adults can mate more than once. The first mating usually occurs 2-3 days after emergence.
Females lay up to 510 eggs over their lifetime. Eggs are laid over a period of about 21 days. Eggs hatch 3-9 days after laying.
Eggs are oval in shape and yellow to orange in colour. The eggs are attached to the leaf by a stalk.
Eggs can be laid on all parts of the leaf and are very obvious when on the leaf edges.
The nymph goes through five scale-like nymphal stages. The psyllid remains a nymph for between 12-21 days.
Over this time they change from light yellow to tan to greenish brown in colour.
The nymph will grow to 2mm in length and feed on the underside of the leaf. Wing buds appear in the third instar and become obvious in the fourth and fifth instars. The wing buds distinguish the psyllid from whitefly nymphs.
Adult psyllids are 3-4mm in length with long clear wings. The adult can resemble miniature cicadas.
On emerging the adults are light yellow in colour. After 2-3 days they change to brown or green in colour. After 5 days they become banded grey or black and white in colour.
Psyllids feed like aphids. Psyllids insert stylets into the plant, suck the sap and excrete the excess water and sugar as honey dew or as a solid waste (psyllid sugar). Psyllid sugar is the symptom that you are most likely to see on your plants. Nymphs and possibly adults inject a toxin into the plants when they feed.
The toxin causes discoloration of leaves and the plant to become stunted exhibiting ‘psyllid yellow’ and ‘purple top’. Leaf edges upturn and show yellowing or purpling. The plants internodes shorten and new growth is retarded.
If the psyllids are removed, the plant may start to grow normally.
Place Neem Tree Granules in the planting hole and sprinkle some on the soil surface. An occasional spray of Neem Tree Oil over the entire plant is well worth while and needed as the season progresses.
The same suggested control for the psyllid will also work well in controlling white fly.
Another new pest on the block is the Hadda Beetle and from the MAF site is the following:

What does it look like?
Hadda beetle larvae are about 7 mm long, and pale yellow with black spiny hairs. The adults are yellow/orange coloured beetles. They have around 26 black spots on their backs and are 7 10 mm in size.
What does it do?
Causes feeding damage to foliage the leaf surface is scraped away leaving irregular windows or parallel strips. Feeding damage gives leaves a distinctive “lace-like” appearance.
Both adults and larvae feed on the host plants.
Host range is generally restricted to plants belonging to the family Solanaceace (including black nightshade, potato, tomatoes, and aubergines).
It is a widespread species found in Australia parts of Asia and some Pacific Islands.
Development time from egg to adult is between 24 and 42 days depending on climate and host.
The hadda beetle can spread by flying up to 500 m, through the movement of plant material or hitchhiking on other structures.
Spraying the foliage with Neem Tree Oil will help control the pest and if you add Key Pyrethrum to the spray it will knock out the adults that come into contact with the spray residue.
The same can be used late in the day just before sunset to control any beetles that feed during the night. One of these that will be starting to emerge shortly is the grass grub beetle.
From my book ‘Wallys Green Tips for Gardeners’ is a neat method of control:
I believe the best way to control the grass grub problem is at this time while they are in the adult beetle stage. Light attracts the beetles around dusk to early evening, just as light attracts moths.
Using this method one can setup a strong light in a window facing out onto a lawn area where the pests are known to be from past problems.
Under the window, against the glass you set a trough like a wall papering trough.
Fill the trough two thirds full of water and then pour some kerosene onto the water so that there is a film of kerosene over the water.
Here is what happens; Mr and Mrs Grass Grub Beetle emerge and see this bright light, they cannot resist the primal urge to fly to the light, so at their fastest flying speed they race to the light.
Not realising that a sheet of glass is in the way, they bang into it knocking themselves senseless, to fall into the trough below.
The kerosene prevents them from crawling out of the water, so there they drown or are stuck till next day, then you can flush them down the toilet or feed them to the chooks.
The key to insect pest control is to take action when fist noticed. Alternatively do preventive sprays on a regular bases along with Neem Granules on the soil in the root zone.
A half dozen psyllids can become 1500 odd new adults within a month and a month later 382,500 new adults.

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IMPROVING YOUR GARDENS

There are a number of things that you can do to improve your gardens and thus improve the plants you are growing whether its roses, vegetables, flowers, ornamentals or lawns.
The healthiest plants are growing in gardens that are teeming with soil life which means big populations of earth worms. If you have lots of worms in your soil, then you can be fairly sure that all the other good things are also present.
If you have few or no worms then you have a problem and you need to fix it before you can have happy, healthy gardens and plants.
Things to not do include; any use of chemical sprays for control of diseases, pests or weeds.
Do not use chlorinated water to water gardens. If you are using any manmade fertilisers use them sparingly in spot applications.
The things to do include using natural controls for pests and diseases, applying ample minerals and elements to the soil such as Ocean Solids and Rok Solid.
Using animal manures, compost, garden lime, gypsum, dolomite, blood & bone, sheep manure pellets etc.
One product that can make a really big difference is Humate and Fulvic acid.
We are fortunate that we have an excellent source of Humate and Fulvic acid in New Zealand from New Plymouth which has been manufactured from our own native fossil coal.
It would appear that Humate and Fulvic acid from NZ fossilized coal is as good as if not better than the best known in the world to date.
How does this relate to you and your garden? There are many applications that Humate and Fulvic acid can be used for, some of the most interesting include; Unlocking chemicals in the soil. (If you have been using fertilisers in your garden for sometime you will have a lot of fertiliser locked up in the soil.) Drench the soil with Humate and Fulvic acid and these locked up fertilisers become available to plants. You could have a lot of dollars locked up in your gardens and lawns.
Humate and Fulvic acid will also clean up many undesirable chemicals in the soil and in one trial, contaminated land was transformed into certifiable organic in 12 months.
Humate and Fulvic acid is a growth booster for plants, it makes for much bigger root systems, stronger and healthier plants. It is been used with balanced NPK fertilisers to create world record vegetables in America such as 26.7 kg Celery and a 14 kg cauliflower to mention two of many. If you are into growing record breaking vegetables for shows this could be for you.
More benefits include; Aids and speeds up germination of seeds. Helps to release locked up fertilisers from past applications especially phosphates. Helps increase availability of chemical fertilisers and organic foods for plants. Helps reduce many common plant disease problems. Cleans up many toxic compounds, chemicals and oil spills in soil. Helps to establish plants in areas where they cant or struggle to establish.
Stimulates growth of soil micro organisms. Increases root respiration and formation. Increases availability of micro nutrients. Increases permeability of plant membranes, which enhances nutrient uptake. Increases vitamin content of plants. Improves seed germination. Accelerates root development. Stimulates plant enzymes.
Contains a number of trace elements such as Si, Mg, S, Mn and more. Increases photosynthesis. Contains silica which strengthens cell walls, helps block disease and regulates cell temperature which increases drought and frost tolerance.
Increase pH buffering properties of soil. Retains and releases water soluble fertilisers for plants when needed. Increases soil aeration. Improves soil structure. Makes soil more friable.
Has a capacity to detoxify chemical residues and heavy metals.
A powerful, natural chelating agent. Improves taste and shelf-life. Fulvic acid can promote prolonged production, as it tends to delay the aging process. Fulvic acid increases the metabolism of proteins.
Used at the rates of 1:50 (20 mils to a litre of water) as a soil drench as required and 1: 100 (10mils to a litre of water) as a foliar spray once or twice a month.
A must for roses, tomatoes and all vegetable and fruit crops. Green keepers are using it for better turf so onto the lawn for better healthier lawns. If you have brown patches on the lawn where dogs have urinated use Humate and Fulvic acid to restore or re-establish grass. Use on your flowering annuals for bigger displays and you will need less plants to fill beds. (with balanced NPK or organic mulches etc)
Whether you use chemical fertilisers or organic preparations, Humate and Fulvic acid will give you better results and you need to use far less chemical fertilisers and so saving you money. Put it in your weed killers for better results. Can be mixed as a foliage spray with most garden sprays to advantage.
Humate and Fulvic acid is available from most garden centres under the name of Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) I believe this is one of the greatest gardening products since we invented the spade. Because it has so many uses and advantages, was why it was called MAGIC.

Due to all the rain and poor spring weather I have noticed that in a couple of chain stores that I visited recently that much of their vegetable seedlings were over grown in the punnets and cell packs they were in.
Some had been in their punnets so long and stressed that they had started to go to seed.
Novice gardeners buying these plants are not going to have any success with them.
If the plants have been stressed out prior to planting out then they are likely to grow for a bit then rush to seed.
This means you lose money and growing time.
Plants such as tomatoes, cucumbers etc that you want to flower and produce fruit are ok if over grown and stressed. The same applies to any flower plants.
Its brassicas, lettuce and silverbeet etc that it is not ok.
Look for nice young plant seedlings of these types which you will find in your garden centre.
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PAPER WASP

Just prior to writing this weeks column I was talking to Mike from Taumarunui. During the telephone conversation, Mike told me of an experience that he had last season in his glasshouse.
Mike grows a lot of tomatoes each year and last season he spotted a tomato worm (caterpillar) on one of his plants which resulted in a few holes in the leaves and fruit.
Mike also noted that paper wasps had set up a nest in the glasshouse so he decided to not do anything but observe what would happen.
The caterpillar disappeared and for the rest of the season no further caterpillars were found even though the adult moths were seen at times.
It would appear that the paper wasps killed any caterpillars that hatched out, maybe even took their eggs after they were laid. No damage was seen to any of the plants or fruit so the situation was a winner.
In Palmerston North I have seen the odd paper wasp in summer and sometimes in other peoples properties a nest but not all that common.
The conversation stuck a interesting note so I decided to look up paper wasps on the web.
One site that I came across was www.terrain.net.nz which stands for Taranaki Educational Resource: Research, Analysis and Information Network.
The site has links to friends of the site such as Forest and Bird and The Friends of Te Henui.

It was on the later link I found some interesting information about the paper wasp at;
www.terrain.net.nz/friends-of-te-henui-group/local-flies/paper-wasps.html
For those readers without access to the web here is what I found;

The Asian paper wasp invaded New Zealand in 1979 (no one is sure how), and by 1990 was widespread throughout the upper North Island and present as far south as Nelson.
As with other invaders, paper wasps can have a negative effect on our environment.
They eat native invertebrates and compete with other animals, such as insect eating birds, for this prey.
They also compete with animals, such as tuis and bellbirds, for nectar and honeydew.
Wasps are active from early spring to late summer.
Each female wasp is potentially a queen. The one female wasp that becomes dominant assumes the role of queen and is cared for by the others. The other wasps also search for food and care for the wasp larvae. Paper wasp colonies are small.
Paper wasps have a simple social structure, with both females and males, all helping with food gathering, nest building, producing and rearing young.
Paper wasps are longer and more slender than common and German wasps. Also, unlike common and German wasps, when paper wasps fly they do not hold their legs close to their body.
A wasp flying with "long dangly legs" identifies it as a paper wasp.
Paper wasps have small honeycomb nests which are made out of wood chewed and moulded by the wasps .
They collect the fibre by scraping wooden structures with their mandibles (mouth parts). The wasp then chews the wood and mixes it with saliva.
This makes the wood fibre extremely soft and moist. After a period of chewing, the wasp adds the paste to the nest structure and spreads it out with her mandibles and legs.
After it thoroughly dries, a type of tough, durable paper is formed.
The small, usually less than 20 cm in diameter cells are in a single layer with no outer covering cells where the roof is covered in a shiny secretion that acts as water-proofing.
Their nests hang from small shrubs and trees, fences and walls. and often under the eaves of houses.END

I would recommend readers on the web that are interested in native plants, birds, insects etc to visit the main site (TERRAIN) and browse through the associated links.
A great thing to do on a wet day when you cant get out into the garden.
I can see some advantages in pest insect control if you have a paper wasp nest on or near your property. It can certainly reduce the aspect of having to spray control insecticides.
The wet, windy season that we have had this spring so far, has kept the pest insect populations from increasing as much as usual for this time of the year.
The warm conditions are here, which favour their development, but wind and rain disrupts the massive increases that calm weather can bring out.
As soon as you see any sign of insect pests that were a problem to you last season you should start spraying. Use Neem Tree Oil with key Pyrethrum added late in the day just before sunset.
This means that the pyrethrum will stay active all night till after a couple of hours of exposure to UV the next morning.
The Neem Tree Oil will continue to affect any insects that digest the oil by preventing them from eating or going to the next stage of development.
I heard recently about an enterprising lady that has been mixing Neem Oil with Coconut Oil in the ratio of one part Neem Oil to 3 Parts Coconut Oil and adding a little Lemon Grass Fragrant oil to the mix.
The oils are then placed in a small plastic lock bag, sealed and put into the fridge where the oils become solid.
The mix, when you are ready to use for head lice, is held in the sealed plastic bag between the palms, to warm the oils then snip a corner out of the bag and apply to the scalp.
Neem Tree Granules applied to the soil in the root zone of plants can reduce the amount of spraying needed for control.
This works very well on some plants and not much effect on others.
I do know its great on potatoes, tomatoes and brassicas.
Apparently its good on roses, apple trees, lettuce (but not for slugs) cabbage trees, rhododendrons and citrus for various pests that affect them.
I do know its not much good on cucumbers and beans for pest control.
If you have a stone fruit tree that gets curly leaf you should be frequently spraying with Liquid Copper and Raingard.
You might like to try spraying the undamaged foliage with Vaporgard.
It will put a film over the foliage protecting it and more importantly it will allow the tree to gather more energy from the sun as Vaporgard is a sunscreen for UV.
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SLOW SPRING

Last year we had a early spring which gave us a good period of weather, later turning to custard up to about Xmas.
This year except for the odd day or two its all custard.
It may be too wet in many areas for much gardening yet the temperatures are not too bad.
Plants and weeds are responding to the day light hours and growing nice and steady.
There is however a problem with any plants that do not like wet feet if they are in an area where the water does not get away quick enough.
If you have any type of mulch in the root zone of these plants it is best to scrape it back so the soil can breathe better and dry out quicker.
Another aspect is to go out just beyond the drip line or root zone of a water affected plant/tree and dig a trench about a spade depth around the plant in a circle. (Or as much of the circle as possible.)
This allows surplus water to drain into the trench which will be evaporated by sun and wind faster thus saving the life of your plant/tree. Citrus trees are prone to root rots if the area is too wet over a period of time. Sprays of Perkfection can assist in recovery but the cause of the problem should be eliminated if possible.
Raised gardens will do well during wet times as they are very free draining.
Another aspect I have noticed in my own garden just recently, is that some of my winter producing vegetables such as silverbeet are now starting to go to seed. This is normal for plants that have grown through the winter months.
Gardeners that have made the mistake of planting too late in the season and in some cases too early in the new season will likely see their plantings coming away nicely and then suddenly going to seed.
Once again this is normal if a plant has had a check in its growth for a period of time and then flourishes with good or better growing conditions. The plant feels its life has been threatened and goes to seed to reproduce as soon as conditions are favorable.
The worst problem for us gardeners at this time is the reduced gardening time and a delay to getting really started into the new season.
I had a comment this week from a keen gardener and one who has been in the past associated with the gardening industry. This chap reads labels and his complaint was that some gardening brands have a number lines of a product that is same or very similar under different labels.
For instance it could be a food/fertiliser that is sold under several names like, tomato food, potato food, strawberry food, rose food etc.
The interesting thing my friend said is that even though the contents were the same or very similar the prices could vary a fair bit on the same size container or bag.
We see the same thing with some spray products where there might be one for aphids, one for ants, one for spiders etc. Read the labels for the active ingredient and its strength and purchase the one that is the lower price.
My friend pointed out that the novice gardeners could be spending a lot of money for several different bags of plant foods, labeled differently, for different crops but actually only one would be needed to cover all the crops.
To my way of thinking it is far better to use natural products such as sheep manure pellets, Bio Boost, blood & bone, compost, animal manures, etc than any of those man made fertilisers that do more harm to the soil than any good, for the plants you are growing.
Add to the goodies, garden lime, dolomite and gypsum for additional elements and ample amounts of calcium. For further minerals to be of benefit to your plants use Rok Solid and Ocean Solids.
One of the problems is sometimes there are minerals present in the soil but not available to your plants because a key mineral is missing such as Boron.
Boron is a semi-metallic trace element which is essential for plant growth and the availability of this micro nutrient in the soil and irrigation water is an important determinant of crop yield and quality. Boron does not appear on Earth in it’s elemental form but is typically found as boric acid or as borate (boron oxide) minerals. In these forms, boron is widely distributed in nature and is released into the environment (soil, water, air) mainly via geothermal activity and the natural weathering of clay-rich sedimentary rocks.
Boron deficiency has been recognized as one of the most common micro nutrient problems in agriculture with large areas of the world (including New Zealand) being boron deficient. Such deficiencies can be corrected with the use of borate fertilizers and in areas of acute deficiency borates can increase crop yields by 30 to 40 percent. However, the management of boron concentrations in soils can be difficult as a narrow range exists between plant deficiency and toxicity.
Traditionally, the most commonly used boron fertilizers are sodium borates (eg borax, ulexite) and they range from 11.3 to 20.5 % boron. However, due to the high solubility of sodium borates it is difficult to maintain consistent boron concentrations in soil. Thus, sodium borate fertilizers are typically applied frequently and in small quantities to avoid boron toxicity.
A new product; OrganiBOR® is a naturally occurring borate mineral (hydroboracite) mined in the Santa Rosa de Los Pastos Grandes valley in Argentina and is made up of a rare mixture of magnesium and calcium borate. Unlike, sodium borates, hydroboracite is not highly soluble and therefore OrganiBOR® releases boron slowly into the soil, at a rate similar to which most plants uptake boron.
OrganiBOR® can, therefore be applied in larger quantities than traditional boron fertilizers and will persist in the soil without the risk of boron toxicity. One application of OrganiBOR® will last anywhere between 3 and 10 years depending on the crop, soil type and climatic conditions. Thus application of OrganiBOR® is simpler for most growers and gardeners and more cost effective, especially when combined with soil and foliage testing to determine exactly when the next application is required. OrganiBOR® is certified for organic use and is suitable for grapes, apples, kiwifruit, avocados, potatoes, tomatoes and almost all other crops grown commercially or in home gardens in New Zealand.
As OrganiBOR® releases boron into in the soil it combines with water and forms boric acid and plants take up boron from the soil in this form. Boron plays an essential role in a plant’s life cycle. In vascular plants, boron deficiency inhibits leaf expansion, root elongation, apical dominance, flower development, pollen tube growth and, in turn, fruit and seed set. Boron toxicity also results reduced shoot and root growth, with marginal and tip chlorosis and necrosis typically occurring.
Accumulating evidence also points to boron being important to animals and humans. Boron has been shown to be necessary to complete the life cycles of some higher animals (eg zebra fish and frogs) and boron deprivation has been linked to impaired growth, bone health, brain function and immune response various animal models including humans.
The recent release of OrganiBOR® to the home garden market in one kilo gram containers through some garden centres will allow gardeners to safely apply this essential element to the crops.
It is applied at the rate of 100 grams per ten square metres which means the 1Kg container will do 100 square metres for a 3 to 5 year treatment before the need to apply again.
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A NEW BRAMBLE VARIETY

I am always interested in any new variety of fruit that comes available to the home garden market.
The nursery, Incredible edibles, will soon be releasing a newly breed bramble called ‘Thornless Jewell’. Breed by Plant & Food Research to produce a thornless bramble with easy care and a good flavour.
The news release from the Incredible Edibles states:

Brambles date back thousand years and are native to Asia, Europe, North & South America.
In proper botanical language, it is not a berry at all, but instead an aggregate fruit of numerous drupelets around a central core. They typically grows in forest clearings or fields, particularly where fire or wood-cutting has produced open space by this opportunistic colonizer of disturbed soil. The raspberry like flower can be a major nectar source for honeybees. As a cultivated plant in moist temperature regions, it is easy to grow.
In the last couple of hundred years blackberries, raspberries, loganberries and boysenberries have been crossed with each other producing hybridberries, working on attributes as flavour, thornless and climate suitability.
This new hybrid berry (also known as brambles) called Thornless Jewel is a cross between a blackberry and a raspberry.
Landscape Value: Train on a trellis to support fruit. Alternatively train like a pillar-rose.
Nutritional Value: High in antioxidants and rich in Vitamin C.
How to Eat: Fresh, fresh and fresh in Gran’s jam or add it to a fresh summer salad. Better still add them to a plate full of ice-cream. Watch the kids eat them straight off the plant.
Grow in full sun in a sheltered situation they do not tolerate wind & salty marine conditions.
Performs well in both warm and cool climates. Is frost tolerant as they become dormant.
Brambles prefer a slightly acidic soil and free draining. Mulch well to ensure the root systems remain moist during the growing season.
Feed with sheep manure pellets and blood & bone along with monthly sprinkles of potash during the spring and through till harvest in summer.
Spray foliage with Magic Botanic Liquid and Mycorrcin for plant health and increased crops.
Pruning: Prune in winter to remove all canes that have fruited and all damaged and weak canes. Remove canes to the base, any fully thorny canes should be cut off as low to the ground as possible. Tie up young trailing canes to a trellis system, they will fruit in the second year. Remove tips so canes do not become too long and encourage fruiting laterals.
Pests: Good hygiene and not growing plants in wet soils will keep many diseases at bay. Bird netting or Bird repeller ribbon may be needed as fruit is ripening. A spring spray of Neem Oil at bud burst for insectfestation and regular sprays will ensure fruit are pest free.
Hardiness: -5, Cold weather at flowering will result in poor pollination and therefore small fruit.
A bramble bush when mature will produce up to 5Kg of fruit.
If you consider that it costs about $3.50 for 100 grams in a supermarket during the season then your bramble is worth about $175.00 a year in fruit.
The biggest problem with brambles is their ability to spread and invade into gardens where you don't want them.
Planted on a fence line boarding on a lawn area can be ideal and when any new shoots come up in the lawn they are cut off when mowing keeping the plant where you want it.
My solution to growing brambles has been to grow them in 45 litre plus containers using purchased compost as the growing medium.
In the spring I sprinkle chook manure, Fruit and Flower Power, Bio Boost and Rok Solid on top of the compost. Further applications of Fruit and Flower Power are applied monthly till harvest.
Using either stakes or wide plastic netting around the perimeter of the container keeps the canes in check and allows for picking. A strip of Bird Repeller Ribbon flapping in the breeze when the fruit are ripening keeps the birds at bay.
Here are a couple of recipes as alternatives to fresh and raw berries:

Boysenberry Parfait

Ingredients, 3 cups fresh or frozen boysenberries
3 cups fruit yogurt or 1 1/2 cup whipped cream
4 crumbled brandy snaps.
Method: Mix 3 cups fresh or frozen boysenberries with 3 cups fruit yogurt.
Or 1 1/2 cup whipped cream and 4 crumbled brandy snaps.
Sweeten if desired with 2 tbsp runny honey. Serve chilled.

Boysenberry Brûlée

Ingredients: Custard; 1 litre milk, warmed, ½ cup sugar, 6 eggs, 1 ½ tsp vanilla essence
Sauce: 500g frozen or fresh boysenberries, extra fresh boysenberries, ½ cup sugar (more or less to your taste.
Method: Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Place the milk and sugar in a saucepan and stir over low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Place eggs and vanilla in a bowl and whisk together for 2 minutes. Stir into the warm milk. Pour into 8 greased ½ cup ramekins.
Place the ramekins in a baking tin, and then pour hot water to come up halfway up the sides. Bake for 30 minutes or until custard is set where an inserted knife comes out clean. Allow to cool then refrigerate for at least 6 hours.
Slowing cook frozen boysenberries in saucepan until tender. Add a little water if needed. Once cooked and soft sieve out the berry pulp. Reheat the juice, stir in the sugar until dissolved.
If needs thicking stir in 1tsp cornflour dissolved in 2 tbsp of water. Bring to boil stirring. Cook on low for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and cool.
To unmould ramekins, run a knife around the edge of custard and gently upturn onto a serving plate. Pour over the Boysenberry sauce. Serve with fresh boysenberries.
For those reader interested in the Thornless Jewell bramble place your order with your local garden centre.

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ALTERNATIVE WEED CONTROLS

Chemical weedkillers aren't the only option available. There are a number of other products which are handy weedkillers, but which don't do as much damage as the chemical products.
Oils added to water and sprayed over the foliage of plants in certain conditions will dehydrate or bleach the foliage, destroying everything growing above the ground. Greenscape by Yates is such a product.
It contains fatty acids from coconut oil, and if the concentrate is added to water then sprayed over weeds on a hot sunny day when the soil is on the dry side, the foliage of the sprayed plants will begin wilting very quickly - within minutes even. If it is applied in cooler weather, or when the soil is moist, the killing action will take longer, and might not even work at all.
Plants are at their most vulnerable in sunlight on hot sunny days when moisture levels in the soil are low. It is then that the roots of the plant will be gathering moisture as fast as possible to send upwards to replace the moisture lost through leaf transpiration.
When water is being lost from the leaves faster than it can be replaced, plants will be seen to wilt or droop. This is most noticeable on hot sunny days, when leaves wilt during the day but come right as the sun goes down and the moisture level of the plant's cells is replaced.
Foliage that remains starved of moisture for too long will dry out and is unlikely to recover.
You might notice that only parts of a leaf will be affected, perhaps only the tip or the edges. When oil is applied to the foliage in these conditions, all the leaves and stems are likely to wither and die, effectively killing the plant's foliage. If the plant is an annual, this will deprive the root system of energy, and it too will wither and die.
If the plant is a perennial, it will have the ability to send up new foliage from it roots, tuber or bulb, and it may well survive. But if we keep spraying new foliage as it appears, doing the work in ideal hot sunny conditions, the roots or the bulb will eventually run out of energy and fail completely, causing the plant to finally die.
By adopting this method, we're simply applying the basic principle that no plant can survive indefinitely without foliage as it loses its ability to gather energy from the sun.
If we simply keep cutting the foliage at ground level (as soon after it appears as possible), the plant will eventually die. The well-known Dutch Hoe, with its sharp edges, was designed for just this purpose.
Used against weed seedlings, the hoe would be placed just under the surface of the soil and then pushed forwards so that its sharp edges sliced off the weeds just under the surface, killing annual weeds and knocking back perennial weeds.
The latter may need a further treatment or two using the same method to finally finish them off. If the hoe is used when the weeds are very young, it will successfully kill both annual and perennial weeds which have grown from seed. The older and more established the perennials, the more treatments will be required to get rid of them.
There are several common household products which can be used for non-selective weedkilling, including any salad or cooking oils, vinegar and salt. You need only to experiment a little with various dilution rates to see what works best for you.
Good old common table salt, purchased in bulk or in kilo bags, is probably the cheapest natural weedkiller available to everyone. Use it at the rate of 240 grams (about 12 heaped tablespoons) to a litre of warm or hot water to dissolve it, and then spray it on the foliage of the weeds, again in sunny dry conditions.
Then stand back and watch the plants shrivel over time. Annuals will be seen off quite fast, with perennials probably needing further salt treatments.
If you are finding that you are not getting the kill coverage you want, then increase the amount of salt to about 500 grams to a litre of water. You will find that a little trial and error will indicate the level of salt needed to do the job well, without using too much.
Applying extra amounts of salt over an extended period of time will eventually harm the soil. If you are spraying only the foliage, and at the above rates, there will be, little residual damage done to the soil.
To make absolutely sure, give the area a good watering after the weeds have died. Adding Raingard to the salty water at a rate of 1ml per litre of water should also help the salt adhere to the surface of the foliage. Salt can also be applied dry on cobbles to kill weeds in joins or cracks.
Another home product which is useful is white vinegar. It is made from ascetic acid which, in its undiluted state, can be quite dangerous to play with if you don't know what you are doing.
Only small amounts of ascetic acid, probably about 100ml to 1 litre of water, are needed to make a strong white vinegar. If I remember correctly, it becomes a good weedkiller if diluted to the rate of about 15-20% acid. Salt is certainly much safer to use, and can be purchased cheaply in bulk.
Many years ago, and probably still today in some places, many people did their own oil changes on their vehicles, primarily to save on the cost of having a garage do it.
The old oil from the sump would then be poured over areas where gardeners didn't want plants to grow - it was often applied to grassy areas of parks to mark out the lines for football fields and the like. The strip over which the oil was poured would be bare of grasses for a long period of time. Diesel, at about $1 plus a litre, (price varies) is a very good weed killer, used either as a spray to knock out weeds with a short-term residue, growing in waste areas, or as a drench for longer term control.
Likewise, salt applied directly to the soil in reasonable quantities will also give a long-term control, depending on the amount applied to an area. Simply apply the salt and leave it to get all those unwanted plants out of our cobbles or pathways - it's a cheap and easy solution.
Sulphate of ammonia (which is another type of salt with nitrogen), was once another very popular weedkiller for spot control. It was also relatively inexpensive if purchased in 25kg bags from stock and station agents. All that's required is about a tablespoon of sulphate of ammonia placed onto the crown or centre of a weed. Left alone, the dry salts will burn out the crown of the weed, killing it outright.
As it is nitrogen, the control residue level lasts only for a short time. Some gardeners use this product on flat weeks in lawns - and indeed it can be a reasonably successful lawn weedkiller if mixed in with sand to get an even spread over the lawn. This is called Lawn Sand, and here's how to make your own.
Take 5kg of sharp sand (plasters sand preferably - don't use river or beach sand as it can contain weeds of its own), together with 700 grams of sulphate of ammonia, and 300 grams of sulphate of iron. The iron aids in making the area more acidic, and controls mosses. Mix this all well together, and apply at a rate of 30 grams per square metre.
Do it ideally in dry weather conditions when rain is unlikely - if it does rain soon after application, the Lawn Sand will be less effective. Grasses which come into contact with the Lawn Sand will turn brown, but should bounce back after a week or two.
Lawn fertilisers which are sold in 10kg bags also have a fair amount of sulphate of ammonia in their mix, and this is why you need to water them in soon after applying them to avoid burning grasses and weeds. While the grasses will recover, weeds probably won't.
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YELLOWING OFF OF PLANTS MUNDULLA YELLOWS

Sometimes a plant, shrub or tree may partly or fully yellow off which means that the normal green foliage goes yellow. This could indicate a lack of minerals especially magnesium or the ability of the plant to take up magnesium.
Magnesium deficiency is often noticed in the winter months when the cold tends to lock out this and other elements. The normal remedy is an application of Epsom Salts (which is sulphate of magnesium) on a monthly cycle and usually after about 3 months the plant returns to green foliage.
It pays to sprinkle some Rok Solid also so that any other minerals that may be deficient are increased. Yellowing of the foliage can also mean that something is going wrong in the root zone which could be too much or too little moisture.
A test hole outside of the root zone can determine if either of these conditions apply.
Recently as a result of a fellow horticulturist in Australia, Jim McNamara, contacting me, wishing to acquire some seeds of our Native Fuchsia (F excorticata).
I was able to direct him to a local web site at www.nzseeds.co.nz which has an excellent range of our native seeds available by mail order.
Well worth a look at. In the reply thanking me, Jim asked me if I had come across yellowing of trees as a result of herbicide spraying in the root zone of the victims.
I was directed to a article that he had written on the web at http://anpsa.org.au/APOL27/sep02-5.html which is headed ‘Mundulla Yellows’ a condition caused by herbicide use on non-target plants.
Readers may have experienced this effect in their own gardens if they have been using herbicides for a period of time to control weeds that have been growing near or in the root zone of plants.
The likelyhood of weed killers that have a long term effect in the soil such as many lawn weed killers, Das and other pre-emergent weed killers plus the old knock-um dead glyphosate, under various trade names such as Round-up etc.
Glyphosate does not harmlessly disappear when it hits the soil as we were lead to believe by Monsanto when Roundup was first released in New Zealand. (Then again they also said that Agent Orange was safe) Glyphosate has a half soil life of about 6 months and can affect plants grown or growing where the chemical has been used. Anyway lets see what Jim has to say:

Trees and associated vegetation expressing a range of symptoms termed 'Mundulla Yellows', are readily found in the settled areas of South Australia. Critical observation of the ground beneath such plants indicates the presence of residual herbicide within their putative root zone.
Routine use of root absorbed plant poisons is observable and documentation of some practice is recorded here. Both in the practice of public utilities and private usage, knock-down and residual plant poisons are often applied, in combination, at least once a year. This is usually described as pre-emergence weed control and in the categories considered here usually takes the form of 'total weed control', wherein, residual herbicides are applied at the highest rates with the aim of stopping all weed growth, that is, killing all plants on certain patches or strips of ground.
Documentation confirms the historical and current use of particular common combinations of plant poisons: amitrole with atrazine and glyphosate with simazine, by highways, water and local government authorities, to kill plants along unsealed shoulders of roads, around roadside furniture and water meters and indicator posts, near intersections and railway crossings, on drainage structures and along drains and so on. Atrazine and simazine are root absorbed plant poisons and in the case of simazine the manufacturer's cautions leave no doubt as to its danger to 'off target' species through the action of the roots.
The triazine herbicides are the most likely candidate class of plant poisons, through their pattern of use and symptoms caused. The explanatory power and simplicity of the herbicide hypothesis suggests that it should be favoured unless or until it is shown to be inadequate.
Field study relates disease to tree size and distance from a 'total weed control kill zone' (DKZ). A good working hypothesis is, that intolerant susceptible trees will be affected when and wherever such poisons are applied to soil within reach of their roots. A variable distance, a maximum DKZ (MDKZ) is easily measurable for each situation. In the case of the Booloman-minga, Eucalyptus porosa, this distance is about 16 metres.
The basic epidemiology of this disease, associates it markedly with certain artificial landscape features: roads, rails, drains, gravel paths, driveways and car-parks, and in more urban areas, brick-paved and graveled street-scape's, places where total weed control is often manifest.
Not all weed control is total, it may be partial as in the elimination of broadleaf weeds from grassed areas. These may be viewed in the same way, however, and DKZ or MDKZ distances measured. In this way a disease zone may be defined round golf-course fairways, ovals or lawn tennis-courts etc.
Nothing of the epidemiology presented so far suggests an infectious biotic pathogen is necessarily implicated in the primary causation of the burgeoning Mundulla Yellows epidemic.
In the face of unchanging practices of herbicide use the prognosis is: the loss of all susceptible trees within the appropriate distance (MDKZ). That is, all red gums near treated roadsides, railways and drains etc. will be lost throughout South Australia. The solution to the problem is simply to stop poisoning these desirable trees. End.

The full article is available on the web address above and well worth a read.

Likely the most common situation for gardeners in NZ is the use of Lawn Weed Killers affecting the roots of plants growing beside the lawn areas and where weed killers are used frequently or other weed killers near existing plants.
You could assist the clean up of herbicide residues in the soil by drenching the areas with a combination of Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) and Mycorrcin. This can be repeated every few months till surrounding plants and trees return to normal.
If you can reduce the use of herbicides that have a soil residue or not use them at all, then your garden plants will be far better off.
Next week we will look at some alternative safe to use weed killers, some of which you already have in the kitchen.
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PASSION FRUIT VINES

I have found that Passion fruit vines are difficult to grow outside these days, but do well in my glasshouse in Palmerston North.
Likely I don’t have a situation that is warm and sunny enough to obtain the growth conditions needed for good growth and fruiting.
About 30 odd years ago I used to have a vines growing very well and fruiting outdoors, when the spring/summer weather was more settled than it is these days.
Interestingly the winter weather was a lot more frosty back then and sacks would be used to protect the vines against frost damage.
Its is annoying as I can easily get a passion fruit vine well established in the glasshouse, growing in a container, then when the weather is settled in the summer, plant it out in a sunny sheltered spot.
The vine does well and even a few fruit are produced that season. Then the following year it struggles and does little. A year or two of this and the plant is lost. (A number of gardeners have also had the same problems)
I think that to be successful, I would need to rig a nova light shelter for a vine, in a very sunny situation, against a fence or a building. Alternatively grow a vine in a glasshouse and hand pollinate the fruit which is what I am currently doing.
Recently a gardener, obviously more fortunate than me, rang to ask when the best time to prune a passion fruit vine is. The answer to that is in the spring or early summer when the vine is actively growing for the season.
To do so at other times can cause the vine to die back and be lost.
Lots of passion fruit vines are sold in garden centres every year and I wonder how many of these do well and produce good crops?
For success you need a sunny, warm situation with free draining soil. Heavy soils and wet feet are the end to passion fruit vine endeavors.
You can overcome the wet feet problem by growing in a container partly buried in the ground. Shelter from wind and chills is most important to obtain good growth.
An established plant can take some light frosting in winter but it is best to protect them from frosts with a spray of Vaporgard.
Animal manure rich compost should be applied to the root area in the spring and again later in summer.
They are heavy feeders. Chook manure is excellent. Also apply blood and bone along with Fruit and Flower Power. If you find that your vine is producing flowers, but no fruit is setting, then it means that the lack of bees or bumble bees is the cause. You need then to pollinate by hand.
The centre of the flower is where the pollen needs to go and out from that, often curled back inwards, are the male stamens with the pollen. With a brush or cotton bud move the pollen to set the fruit.
To train your passion fruit vine select about 6 shoots from the crown, stake and tie, guiding the stems evenly to the left and right along horizontally attached wires set about 40 to 60 cm apart.
These will form the main branch structure. (Espaliered) Continue by training two or three shoots arising from each main leader to form secondary leaders, tying them to the main structure.
The laterals that arise from all these leaders will bear the flowers and fruit.
Passion vines bear fruit on the current season’s growth in the late summer/autumn and plants will crop 15 to 18 months after planting. You need to prune every spring/summer when the plants are growing vigorously. Earlier may cause die back problems.
Avoid vines becoming a tangled mess as it will invite disease and pests. Shorten laterals to 20cm from the main stems and remove all dead, diseased and weak growth. Because one year old leaders produce the greatest number of fruiting laterals, remove some of the leaders each year so they can be replaced with vigorous young shoots.
The passion vine leaf hopper is likely to be your worst pest and at the first sign of either the green adults or the fluffy bum young ones, spray the plant all over with a combination of Neem Tree Oil and Key Pyrethrum. This is done late in the day when the sun is off the vine and the pests have settled for the night. Repeat spray about 7 to 10 days till no further sign of the pest is noticed.
Whitefly may also be a problem and the same treatment will take care of them. Ensure that the underside of the lower leaves are sprayed as that is where the whitefly nymphs are.
It is important when trying to control a pest on preferred plants that you check all other plants and weeds in the area for the same pest and spray them also.
If you don't do so, then the pests will just keep on invading your plants, all season.
If the pest is near a neighbouring fence on the other side, then you need to get the ok from next door to treat.
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RASPBERRIES

Once raspberry canes have fruited, the old canes should be cut out, and new, young canes trained to replace those pruned out.
This is in answer to a query, where a gardener has a few Heritage -- autumn-fruiting -- raspberry clumps. These were protected by netting and gave a good crop of fruit in their first year in the spring, and again in autumn.
The inquirer writes: "We have received conflicting advice on what to do as regards pruning. Do canes bear fruit more than once? Will the canes which have fruited for the first time this autumn fruit again next spring? If so, presumably we should shorten them. When should we cut them out? And what should we do after fruiting with the canes which will fruit for the first time next spring or summer?"
The conflicting advice stems from the fact that summer-fruiting canes sometimes bear a second, smaller, crop in autumn..
But once fruited, those canes will not fruit again, though small laterals arising from such canes may bear a small crop. The principle is that once the canes have borne a crop, they should be cut out down to ground level to allow the new canes which will produce the following season's crop the best chance to develop.
Tipping the long, unwieldy and floppy canes in autumn stiffens the stems which will bear short, fruiting laterals in summer. Up to one third may be taken off, but many only tip them, say one quarter or less. To obtain good sized berries apply ample animal manures as mulch in early spring.
Fruit and Flower Power should be applied monthly till harvest time. Keep soil moist but not wet.
Liquid Sulphur can be sprayed for control of leaf spot and dry berry.
Suckers can be controlled by an acid spray which burns off the young shoots as they emerge.
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LAWN TIME

Spring is a good time to sort out any problems you may have in your lawns.
Lawn problems include; sparse grass coverage, lawn weeds, patchy areas, moss, soil insects, ponding, thatch and the health of grasses.
The first thing to do is an inspection of all your lawn areas and take a few notes on what problems are found. Part of the inspection should be to lift a little turf in each lawn to find out what is happening under the ground.
This is simply done by taking a spade and cutting a square the width of the spade’s blade into the lawn, then lifting that square taking about 50 to 60mm of turf out.
Check the soil at the base of this square hole for grubs of either grass grubs or black beetles and also examine the soil and roots of the section lifted for the same.
If you find a few grubs in the square area say up to about 5 then it is not a real problem at this time.
If a great number are found then you should seriously consider a treatment. You may find some greasy looking caterpillars and these are the native porina. If any of these are found then it is worthwhile treating for them.
While the section of lawn is out take a look at the side profile and see if there is debris sitting on top of the soil at the bases of the grass shoots. If you find a layer a few mm thick then it is advisable to treat for this.
Lawn areas that are near windows or lights that are on at night should be specially checked for grubs as these are areas where a problem is most likely to exist.
Also if you have areas where in the past there has been grub problems check the populations in these spots also. For moss spray the lawn with Moss and Liverwort Control.
Now check for weed problems. In sparse lawns you can have a lot of weeds as they can establish because of lack of competition from a good coverage of grasses. If you have been mowing your lawn too short then you have weakened the grasses and allowed weeds to establish.
If you have a mower man cut your lawns then likely you have two problems as a result; they maybe mowing the lawn too short and their mower equipment maybe bringing in weed seeds from other lawns.
The perfect combination for creating a weedy lawn that needs to be mowed twice as much as a good lawn. Great for the mower man but bad for your lawn and pocket.
With ponding, or areas where water lays for several days, or longer during wet times, can only be cured by installing drainage pipes and for you to decide whether to put up with it or fix it.
Mild ponding maybe fixed by taking a garden fork and plunging the tines deep into the soil which will break through any crusts and allow the water to seep away faster. You can take this a step further by pouring sharp sand down into the holes made.
Next step would be to sort out weed problems and you can do one of three things; if there are only a few weeds these are best cut out by hand. A larger number of weeds can be dealt to by sprinkling sulphate of ammonia over the weeds, dry and left dry for a few days of non rain to burn them out. This may also burn grasses where applied but normally the grasses will recover.
For lawns with lots of weeds you may need to use a lawn weed spray.
Once the weeds are cleared up patching and over sowing of sparse areas can now be done and you should use a top quality lawn seed that is not coated such as Super Strike.
Because birds are hungry at this time of the year you need to protect the areas sown till the seeds germinate. Superstrike lawn seed is fast germinating so the protection time is short.
Wait till dusk to sow the seed over bare areas or over the whole of a sparse lawn.
(The birds should be roosting for the night at that time) Next spray the seeds with Magic Botanic Liquid to further speed up germination and then cover the seed sown with sharp sand. (Sharp sand is builders or plaster’s sand)
Now on the other side of the house throw some fresh cheap bread to feed the birds in the morning.
During the day toss more bread to keep them well fed. Repeat this till the new seeds have germinated.
If you found a layer of thatch on the soil you can spray the lawn with Thatch Busta which will build up the microbe populations which will eat up the thatch for you.
Now while that is all happening you can deal to the soil insect problems.
If you have porina caterpillars then after mowing the lawn, later in the day, spray the grasses with Neem Tree Oil at a rate of 15mils per litre of warm water.
Your spray should be directed to the base of the grasses as that is where the caterpillars feed in the early evening.
Once the grubs get some Neem Oil in their gut they will never eat again. (Anti-feedent)
If you found that you have grass grubs or black beetle grubs, then late in the day treat the lawn areas where they are with Professor Mac’s 3 in 1 for lawns.
This is totally organic and will not harm wild life or children as it is made from eucalyptus and tea tree oils.
It will also take out the porina and nematodes in the lawn along with all the slugs that live in lawns. It is not harmful to worm populations deeper down in the soil.(You can also add Neem Oil to the Professor Mac’s spray if you wish)
Professor Mac’s also feeds the lawn and contains a wetting agent.
Just follow the instructions for application. If you have only a few small areas to patch you may like to do so with the following method which overcomes bird problems.
By using either seedling trays about 50mm deep or punnets fill them with a friable purchased compost to just below the rim.
Now sprinkle your Super Strike seeds over the surface and spray them with Magic Botanic Liquid.
Cover the seeds with some sharp sand and place the trays in a sheltered sunny area, cover with some old curtain netting to keep the birds off. Check every day and water lightly to keep the sand moist.
Within a few days you should have a neat strike of young grasses appearing.
Once a good strike has appeared then remove the curtain netting and keep moist. Once the grasses have reached a height of about 50mm trim off about 10mm with a pair of sharp scissors.
Repeat this a couple of times over the next couple of weeks or so. This strengthens up the grasses and develops a good root structure.
When ready all you need to do is dig out the soil in the patch where you want to plant your grass and after removing the grass from the trays place into these areas so they are level with the surrounding soil and grasses.
To build up the health of your existing lawns you can apply gypsum, dolomite and a light sprinkling of garden lime. Rock dust such as Rok Solid can also be applied.
For a lawn fertiliser the best is Bio Boost or a slow release one.
For growth you can dissolve a 100 grams of Sulphate of ammonia into 10 litres of water and apply it over 100 square metres of lawn.
A sprinkling of sulphate of potash and Bio Phos can be applied and lightly watered in with Magic Botanic Liquid. (These are alternatives to the harsh effect of common powder lawn fertiliser.)
A light sprinkling of sulphate of iron will help green up the grasses making a lush lawn. Lightly water in. Feeding the lawn with liquid fertilisers is easily done by placing the concentrate into a snap on the hose applicator and watering the lawn.
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BUD MOVEMENT

Deciduous trees and plants such as roses are now starting to move or in other words, break dormancy and start a new season.
This is about the last chance to prune if you have not already done so.
In actual fact you can prune at any time but with some plants such as grapes they will bleed liquid if pruned late after the sap has started to rise.
Normally after winter and it the beginning of a new season every thing in the garden is looking very healthy. The simple reason is that nothing much has been done over the winter months and Nature has been allowed to do its own thing.
The cold has helped reduce insect populations and most diseases have been dormant also.
Gardeners have not been fertilising or spray chemicals so the soil food web has recovered even if it has not really grown much because of the wet and cold.
As the soil warms then the food web will rapidly grow and this enhances the health of your gardens and plants. It will continue to do so if we don't interfere and apply harmful chemicals such as man made fertilisers and chemical sprays including weed killers.
If you live in an area where your tap water contains chlorine, you will have good plant health and a strong soil food web up until you start watering and then every thing will start to go backwards.
Chlorine kills the microbes in the soil and upsets the worms no end.
If you place a 10 micron carbon bonded filter into your hose line, which removes the chlorine, then your garden’s health will continue.
You can also assist the health of the soil by feeding natural products such as, animal manures, sheep manure pellets, blood & bone, seaweed products, Bio Boost, gypsum, dolomite, garden lime, Rok Solid, Ocean Solids, OrganiBor, BioPhos, composts etc.
Boosters such as Mycorrcin and Magic Botanic Liquid can be applied as soil drenches or sprays.
Many diseases lay dormant in the soil under trees and plants waiting for the right conditions to arrive and then up they come to infect their host plants.
You can do a few things to reduce this happening in your gardens.
Potassium Permanganate (Condys Crystals) is an oxidizing agent which means it will zap fungus diseases. For instance it can be used to clear up the fungus called athletics foot by bathing the feet in a solution of it.
I remember as a child we used to gargle with a mild solution of it to cure a sore throat.
Thus you may like to try Condys Crystals by making up a solution that nicely colours up the water that you are going to spray (this would be about a quarter to half a teaspoon into about 10 litres of water) A tablespoon of Ocean Solids can be added to the water (dissolved) to enhance the solution.
Spray this over the soil under your trees or roses and over the plants themselves for total coverage. What you are trying to do is kill disease spores that are harboring over on the plant or in the soil.
You may not clean up everything that is dormant but all diseases that are knocked out will mean less problems later.
By the way a number of garden centres do stock Potassium Permaganate which can be used to sterilise soil, controlling club root and rust on plants. It is no longer a standard item at chemist shops and if found at one, it is usually very expensive if compared to a garden centre.
If you have on going health issues with certain plants or trees you could try placing sheets of newspaper (3-4 thick) over the soil under the tree/plant and out to beyond the drip line. Wet the paper down and then cover with a purchased compost (because its weed free).
What you are trying to do is prevent the dormant spores not killed by the Condys Crystals from been able to escape up into the tree/rose and cause problems such as black spot etc.
Under stone fruit it could help reduce the instance of curly leaf and brown rot.
Another interesting aspect of this is that the newspaper attracts earthworms who love munching up the wet paper. It is also a noted aspect that soils in orchards that have large earth worm populations have much less disease problems than orchards that have few or no worms.
It is believed that when the earthworms pass though the soil, they are taking in the dormant disease spores and neutralizing them. Don't use chemical fertilisers, weed killers or chlorinated tap water if you want earthworms to work for you.
Under apple trees the mulch may reduce the ability of the codlin moth in the soil to emerge as moths and lay their eggs. I would also suggest for the codlin moth to sprinkle Neem Tree Granules under the apple/pear/walnut trees that have been affected in the past seasons with codlin moth.
A few gardeners have told me that it has helped greatly on their trees.
Interestingly some gardeners that have sprinkled Neem Tree Granules under their roses have said that they had little or no trouble with aphids.
If you try these things I would like to hear of any success or failures that you have had.
If sufficient gardeners find a thing works for them then I can pass on that information to others.
Sometimes something may work for someone but not everyone else which means other unknown factors are involved.
Curly leaf is one of those frustrating diseases that attack stone fruit trees.
The disease appears sometime in the spring when the leaves are emerging, it badly affects the leaves it attaches to, which later on fall off the tree. Later in the season, the time of the disease passes and new leaves appearing then are normally clean.
All the affected leaves have fallen and the main harm done is that the tree has not had all its early foliage to gain energy from the sun to assist the development of the fruit that has set.
This means a lot of set fruit drop and you have a much smaller or no harvest of mature fruit.
If we can reduce the number of leaves affected then we will have a greater harvest.
The recommended method is to spray the emerging foliage with Liquid Copper every 7 to 10 days dependant on how fast the leaves are growing. If you add Raingard to the spray then the copper particles will not wash off in rain giving you better protection, rain or shine.
It is recommended that you start the copper spray program as the leaf buds swell and continue for the next 2-3 months. Sprays of Condys Crystals could be interesting to try also.
Often you can in some seasons have a nice show of leaves before the first sign of curly leaf appears.
Maybe you could also try this, at the very first sign of the disease spray the condys crystals to arrest it and then soon after spray all the foliage, under and over with Vaporgard.
This would do two things, firstly placing a film over the foliage sprayed which will last for about 3 months making it difficult for the disease to affect the leaves and secondly Vaporgard acts as a sun screen protecting against UV, which means the leaves are capable of producing much more energy than otherwise.
This would then help to balance out the leaves that are lost by enabling the remaining leaves to work at max.
If you are using any sprays when the trees are in flower, only do so late in the day when pollination has finished for the day. If you don't have any bees around to do the pollination, try spraying a solution of dissolved raw sugar over the tree to encourage pollinators.
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RIPE TOMATOES FOR XMAS?

Now we are at the beginning of August this means that there is about 20 weeks till Xmas or 140 days to be a bit more exact.
If we look at the potatoes that take the longest maturing period which is about 120 days; from planting the sprouted seed potatoes to harvest, then there is time to spare for growing potatoes for Xmas.
Twenty days extra to be exact which is good value as sometimes weather conditions can mean the nominal 120 days may be insufficient to reach full maturity.
With tomatoes it is about 60 to 80 days from transplanting to maturity or the first fruit ripening.
This can vary a lot as most gardeners are well aware, the fruit is likely to form but it will depend a lot on sunlight hours and temperatures for the fruit to red up or ripen.
Then there is the period of time from sowing the seed to the transplant stage which can be about 2 weeks to 6 weeks dependant on conditions such as temperature, day light hours, food and moisture.
If you are purchasing tomato plants from a garden centre that are ready to plant up you are likely about a month in advance of sowing seeds on a heat pad. More likely 6-8 weeks in advance if you do not have a heat pad.
I have a heat pad and now 7 days after sowing two types of tomato seeds I can see the first signs of germination. One of these is the Silvery Fir Tree tomato from Russia which is a neat dwarf growing plant, ideal for a container that is about 20 plus litres in size.
The other one is from the truss type tomatoes that you can currently find in Supermarkets.
Once the seeds have fully germinated and before they can start to stretch to the light, the cell punnets will be moved out into my glasshouse. This is most important otherwise indoors they would stretch towards the nearest light source and weaken and likely ‘damp off’
As my glasshouse is not heated they will slow down in growth and by giving them a little nitrogen rich food should help to keep them growing along nicely.
The most important aspect is not to overwater the young plants while the cold weather persists.
Ideally they should be given small drinks and allowed to dry down before further moisture is applied.
I will also purchase a few tomatoes this week as they are now coming available from the garden centres.
These will be potted up into the next size pots with compost, a bit of chook manure and some of my own Secret Tomato Food. Neem Granules will be included to keep the whitefly and tomato psyllid at bay.
I have also a few cutting grown tomato plants that were taken in the autumn and wintered through.
These are nicely advanced with small fruit and flowers even if they are a bit cold beaten and don't look the best. They will be progressively potted up and if all goes well they may provide the first ripe fruit about Labour Weekend.
The purchased seedlings and the germinated ones will, with a bit of luck and a kind season, give ripe fruit before December.
The types of tomato plants you buy will have a bearing on when the first fruit are ripe.
The smaller tomatoes will ripen quicker than the large beefsteak types.
If you buy a cocktail type tomato like Sweet One Hundred they are likely to have fruit ripe and ready for salads before Xmas.
Next would be a few medium size types such as Early Girl, Moneymaker, Russian Red and Scoresby Dwarf; the later two are very suitable for 20 to 40 litre containers and are bush types which you do not remove laterals.
If growing conditions are favourable then even the tall growing large fruiting types such as Beefsteak and Grosse Lisse could have ripe tomatoes by Xmas if started off as seedlings purchased now.
If you don't get your tomatoes in early and have ripe fruit before Xmas then your fruit will likely ripen in January/February period when the price of tomatoes has fallen and you have missed the boat on having your own home grown while prices are still high in the shops.
The same applies at the other end of the season and that is to have ripe tomatoes to pick later in autumn through to early winter, when once again prices have risen.
Mind you even if you are late with your plants and have the main harvest period January to March then you will still have the advantage of far better flavoured tomatoes, (if you have grown them right) Growing in containers and progressively potting up to larger containers means you can protect your early tomato plants against the cold, winds and frosts even if you do not have a glasshouse or similar.
The progressive re-potting also means less chance of overwatering which would slow down growth.
Starting off in a 100ml pot, progressing to a 4 to 6 inch pot, then a 20cm or small bucket size then either outdoors into a suitable growing spot or into a 40 plus litre pot.
If you have chicken manure available use a little in each pot size and the final planting hole covered with some mix so it is not in direct contact with the roots.
Also place Neem Tree Granules into each of the pots as well as on the surface of the growing medium.
You need a really good tomato food that has ample nitrogen and potash, many of the ones I have seen are lacking in these two important elements.
You may like to try my own one called Wally’s Secret Tomato Food which is available with and without the Neem Tree Granules mixed in.
This should be applied to the surface of the mix in the area where the plant is to be watered.
For further enhancement spray the plants every two weeks with Magic Botanic Liquid and the surface of the growing medium.
A spray over the foliage of Vaporgard will greatly help the plants gain extra energy from the sun as well as protect them from cold and frosts.
Be very careful if removing any laterals, only do so on days when the air is drier and spray the wounds immediately with Liquid Copper.
Otherwise disease can enter the plant and cause a collar rot in the stem which kills the plant.
If you have concerns about blight then once a month spray the plants with Perkfection and two weekly with Liquid Copper.
An occasional spray of Neem Tree Oil over and under for complete coverage is a good idea as the season progresses to prevent the build up of whitefly and psyllids.
Get cracking and see if you can produce the first ripe tomato from amongst your gardening friends.
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