A new article will appear on this page each week along with what to do in the garden.
Then these articles will go onto previous article pages.

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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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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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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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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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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It is about that time of the year when gardeners oil up their secateurs, put on their gloves and go out to do battle with their thorny but well loved roses.
Just how you go about pruning your roses is really up to you, but the most popular cut is to prune somewhere above the third or fourth outgoing buds. This will create a champagne-glass shape which means that the inner part of the rose will receive adequate light. Some in growing buds can be rubbed out to prevent the centre of the bush becoming too congested.
If you prune low to second outgoing buds, you will end up with strong new growths which will bear fewer flowers, but better blooms. If you prune high, say to the fifth or sixth outgoing buds, you'll end up with a denser bush with a lot of flowers.
Pruning climbing roses is a somewhat different affair.
Assuming you don't want a rambling rose which grows where and how it wants, you need to shape your climbing rose to form a framework of main branches along a wall, a fence, or over an archway.
The aim is to have the new season's growth sprouting from this framework and producing the much-wanted floral display, but to get to that stage requires careful training and selective pruning.
After planting your climber, let the branches grow and tie them to the support over which the rose is growing, to cover the desired area.
A reader recently asked me how many plants he should buy, and how far apart he should plant them, when putting in Dublin Bay climbing roses to create a solid "wall" along his fence line.
I replied that the normal distance apart would be one metre, but it would be his subsequent pruning and control which would determine how thickly the lower part of the floral structure would grow.
For example, I explained, take the lowest buds and train them sideways to fill in the space between the rose plants.
Take the next buds at about 30 degrees, then 60 degrees, then 90 degrees until each rose has a fan-like structure from which each year's new shoots will grow.
Once the wall is nicely covered, it is simply a matter of cutting back or tying in those growths extending too far from the wall.
Once you've established the basic framework of the climber, the only pruning needed is to remove any branches which have grown outwards and detract from the desired effect, and remove any dead wood, spindly growth or dead branches.
Over time, replace the old main branches with new ones which you have trained during the season to become part of the framework. Your work during the growing season of a climber consists more of training and tying back than anything else, as the branches will grow quickly from new shoots in the spring and summer period. The chances are, they will initially grow away from where you want them, but all you need do is tie them back to the framework.
Then in winter, you can remove them if you want to prevent the framework from becoming too congested, or you can leave them in the framework and remove older branches instead.
It is really important to remember to never cut a climber down as low as you would a bush rose.
Climbers treated in this fashion can revert back to bush roses.
Always leave a few branches of a metre or more in length, even when doing a hard cut-back such as might be the case when you're repairing or painting the wall or fence.
I remember some years back a prominent rose grower criticised an article that I wrote about using hygienic practices when pruning roses or other plants. His retort was you did not need to take any special care when pruning several roses, one after another.
My answer to this is common sense and logic. If an aphid can travel from one rose to another and transfer a virus or disease then the jaws of a pair of a pair of secateurs are a lot bigger than the jaws of an aphid! Whatever rose you are pruning, and whatever technique you use, there are some invaluable tips you should adopt for the post-prune process. First, you must spray each rose with Liquid Copper immediately after pruning to protect the wounds.
Don't, however, prune on a cool moist day as silver leaf disease is likely to be air borne in these conditions. It is also crucial to keep in mind that viruses can be transferred from rose to rose, so make sure you spray copper onto the secateurs after pruning each rose.
Alternatively, use methylated spirits. The latter is even better than the copper in providing protection. Simply fill a cup almost full of the meths, and dip the partly open blades into the cup, making sure all the cutting edges are well soaked prior to moving onto the next rose.
In a nutshell then, pruning consists of cutting back the rose, spraying the remaining canes with Liquid Copper, and then dipping the secateurs blades into methylated spirits. Then move on to the next rose and repeat the procedure.
Thats all fairly simple isn't it? But lets give a few extra tips.
Take your bottle of Liquid Copper, (it has the great advantage of already being liquid so there is little risk of blocked jets in the middle of a job) and double the normal amount (which is 3.5 mils to a litre of water) to 7 mils per litre, add in one ml of Raingard so the spray stays on, rain or shine for up to 14 days.
Mix up and place in a trigger sprayer and use this spray after pruning each rose to cover the wounds. Once made up the spray will keep for sometime but you need shake the sprayer well as the copper will settle.
When using Raingard or its spray on frost protection cousin, Vaporgard, you must remember that these are films which set on the areas sprayed, to obtain their benefits.
This means that after you have finished spraying with these aids, that you should flush and spray some clean water through your sprayer, otherwise the residues left will set and block up the jets.
Hot water is best to use for this purpose and spray the water till it runs clean.
If on the other hand you forget to do this simple task, then when you come to use the same sprayer again and find that the jets are blocked, you need to dismantle and clear the jets with a bit of fine wire and soak them in methylated spirits.
Choose your day to prune carefully, it should be after a few days without rain with sun and wind to dry the soil and air. This is very important as the deadly silver leaf disease favours entering fresh wounds when the air is moist and cool.
In areas where silver leaf disease is a major problem extra care should be taken. It is also a very good practise in the spring, after a reasonable amount of new foliage appears, to give the roses a couple of sprays, a month apart, with Perkfection.
This builds up the immune system of the rose and can allow a rose to recover from the disease if it is not too far advanced.
It also protects against a number of other diseases as well, through fortifying the rose’s immune system. Two weekly sprays of Magic Botanic Liquid with Mycorrcin added will greatly assist the health of your roses. Neem Tree Oil can be added for pests such as aphids, scale and possums.
If early in the season when the new shoots are out and we have a cold snap you can protect the delicate shoots with a spray of Vaporgard.
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One month out from the shortest day and you can start to feel the beginnings of spring which is just around the corner. The long term weather forecast for August and September is for warmer than normal weather, which means a very good possibility of a early spring.
We have in the past couple of years tended to see a neat spring beginning and then the weather turning to custard during the October/November period but coming right later in December or early January.
The key then is to get started early with your vegetable and flower crops so that they can establish while conditions are good and be better to face any adverse weather conditions later in the season.
There are a number of things you can do to establish plants quicker in either open ground gardens or in containers.
For instance in the planting hole, place a few sheep manure pellets, a level teaspoon of Rok Solid and a level teaspoon of Gypsum. This should be applied to any seedlings planted out then water them in with a solution of Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) at the rate of 20 mils per litre of water.
The products suggested greatly assist strong root development thus quicker growth.
If you have grown the seedlings yourself or purchased them from a garden centre in punnets then there will be root disturbance when you separate them for planting. This sets back seedlings and causes them to lay down on the ground for days after transplanting out.
Eventually they pick themselves up as they grow a new root system. You can greatly reduce this problem by spraying the seedlings with Vaporgard a couple of days before separating out. This takes the stress off the damaged roots; helps the plant gain more energy from the sun; protects the foliage from chilling winds, frosts, pests and diseases.
This simple spray can save you days and give good protection to your new plantings.
Always soak the seedling’s punnet in a tub of water prior to transplanting it reduces root damage.
One of the biggest problems for early gardens in the winter/spring period is chilling winds, if you remove or reduce this factor then plants will grow 2 or 3 times faster.
Cutting the base off clear plastic bottles and then without the cap on, place them over plants, which will give your new plants their own little hot house. The 2 litre juice bottles are the best for this but 2 litre cordial ones are not too bad. Ensure you push the cut base well into the soil so they do not blow off in the wind.
Windbreak can be used around gardens to also assist in better establishment where it is not practical to place bottles over every plant.
If you want to germinate seeds such as peas, carrots etc in open ground you need some heat to assist, otherwise the seeds are likely to rot in the wet cold ground.
To do this make a trench about 120mm wide and a similar depth; fill the trench with freshly cut grass clippings and pack down till the trench is two thirds full of mowed grass.
Over this, place a nice layer of fine or sieved soil, a sprinkling of Rok Solid and Gypsum.
Next sow your seeds along the row and spray them with a solution of MBL. Cover the seeds with nice friable soil and leave for the decomposing grasses to heat up the soil and aid the germination.
You can add sheep manure pellets or BioBoost, Neem Tree Granules and animal manures to the grass layer for more goodness and protection from pests.
You need to keep the row moist during the period of germination and establishment but not wet.
Once you have a good strike of new foliage appearing you can further assist their development by spraying the tops with Vaporgard. Later once the plants are showing good establishment start a 2 weekly spray program using MBL and Mycorrcin. These two products will also not only speed up growth but will produce stronger, hardier growth too.
While you are about it don't forget to spray your strawberry plants at the same time, the Mycorrcin will help to achieve ripe fruit earlier, give you a longer fruiting season and a increase in return of between 200 to 400%. Spray two weekly.
Once your roses start to leaf up apply the same spay to them as well for better results this season.
It is the time to start germinating seeds for the coming season. If you have a glasshouse or similar then you are in the box seat for getting your own germinated seedlings established before planting out.
You can germinate any suitable seeds indoors where it is warmer but as soon as you have a show then the tray must go out where it will receive overhead light. No good on a windowsill as the light is coming sideways and the young plants will stretch to the light making them weak. The more they stretch the greater the likelyhood of them dampening off or been useless.
If you have the right equipment, heat pad and glasshouse you can germinate and grow on the likes of tomatoes, capsicums, cucumbers, egg plants etc.
Now here is an interesting thing, you know those tomatoes that are sold in supermarkets that are on trusses. Nice uniformly sitting apart on their stalks?
Well last season about mid autumn I established a new raised garden and a self sown tomato plant came up. It grew rapidly and was one of the strongest tomato plants that I have seen for some time.
Later it set fruit and lo and behold the fruit had that distinct truss formation like the ones in the supermarket. It was too late in the season for the fruit to ripen and the plant was lost to the cold been in the open.
I figured that we had purchased some of those truss type tomatoes at sometime, some of the seeds ending up in my worm farms with the kitchen scraps and then the vermicast been added to my raised garden and the seed germinating. Because of the novelty of the trusses and the super strong growth of the tomato I went out and purchased a truss tomato and have taken some of the seeds to plant up this season to see how they will go.
You might like to do the same. A point about tomatoes is that they always tend to come true to form even if they are hybrid breed.
Another tomato that I am going to germinate now is a Russian one called Silvery Fir Tree a cold loving dwarf growing tomato that produces heaps of small to medium size fruit for a very long fruiting period.
I had great success with them a couple of seasons back growing in large 20 litre buckets and 45 litre containers. Its one where you do not remove laterals, just feed it well and let it grow.
You should find the seed packets in Garden Centres that stock Niche Seeds.
It is also about the time to start off kumera tubers in trays to sprout for planting out later on.
Just pick up a few kumera from your green grocer (any colour) and layer them in moist sand in a suitable tray (about150mm depth)
Yams are another one that you can start off in small pots in the glass house at this time for planting out when all signs of frosts are past.
There is lots to do so get cracking
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Recently while shopping at one of the local ‘Fresh’ stores I came across a new vegetable in the produce department that was called Earth Gems(TM). The vegetable looked like small potatoes crossed with a yam and came in colours from whitish, yellowish, dark red and light yellow with red spotting.
The 500 gram bag that the tubers were in told me that they were grown under license from Crop & Food NZ by Halfords in Feilding.
The bag described the Earth Gems as “vibrant exotic colours making them the perfect choice for entertaining- as a garnish, entree or the main attraction. The crisp taste sensation is ideally boiled rather than baked. The texture being like fresh new potatoes (peeling not required) high in vitamin C; and to try them sliced, shredded, grated, mashed or served whole.
The bag did not say what the actual botanic name of the tubers was so I rang Halfords and asked. I found that Ulluco (Ullucus tuberosus Loz.) is the botanic name for Earth Gems, so then onto the Internet to find out a bit more. (The following is off web sites)
Ulluco (Ullucus tuberosus Loz.) is a traditional staple food crop grown in northern Argentina to Venezuela at elevations between 2,400 and 4,200 metres. As one of the "lost crops" used by the Incas it is still grown and eaten today, mainly by subsistence farmers. It is largely unknown outside South America.
In South America Ulluco was probably brought into cultivation from the wild in the central Andes of Peru and Bolivia in about 5500 BC.
The Incas cultivated a wide variety of root crops including Ulluco, which became less important as they were forced to grow European vegetables after the Spanish invasion in 1531.
Ulluco is a compact, potato-like herbaceous annual crop which produces below ground auxiliary stolons which enlarge to form terminal starchy tubers. The tubers are smooth and spherical with waxy skins, between 2-10 cm across, or curved and elongate, and between 2-15 cm long. A wide range of bright skin colours is produced both between and within cultivars, including white, yellow, orange, red, magenta, or green. Tubers may also be spotted or even candy striped.
In South America Ulluco are most often boiled, shredded, grated, mashed, pickled, mixed with hot sauces, or used to thicken soups and stews with meat and other vegetables.
They are used in a number of traditional dishes including soups in Ecuador, olluquito con charqui (with meat) in Peru, and ají de papalisas (with peppers) in Bolivia. Contemporary dishes incorporate cooked Ulluco tubers in salads, and the leaves are also eaten in soups and salads.
Cooked Ulluco tubers have been reported as having a smooth texture and a slight earthy taste, and others describe the flavour as mucilaginous and similar to okra.
Ulluco have recently been introduced into New Zealand from South America and are being evaluated as a potential new addition to the range of vegetables consumed in this country. This tuber has the potential to be popular with New Zealand consumers. Because of the large variety of colours, they can be sold as a mixed blend rather than as a uniform product.
The skin of Ulluco tuber is soft and does not need to be peeled before eating. The white to lemon-yellow flesh has a smooth silky texture with a nutty taste. A major appeal of Ulluco is its crisp texture, which remains even when cooked. Ulluco tubers are reported to have a long shelf life.
ULLUCO (ullucus tuberosus) is a perennial plant, but grown as an annual in temperate regions. The plants are almost exclusively propagated by tubers, same as potatoes..
The tubers are best started off in small pots in the greenhouse or on a windowsill, making sure they have plenty of light and water. Plant the tubers some 2-5 cm deep, depending on tuber size (bigger tubers can be deeper planted).
The best time to start them is late winter early spring. A bit like yams or potatoes the tops can be damaged by frosts. Grow them on in pots and then plant them out once all danger of frosts are past.
The plants don't grow tall (up to 30cm)but spread out, so space them about 20-30 cms apart.
Ulluco will grow steadily throughout the summer, tubers only begin forming from about March, when daylight hours are shorter than 12 hours. From then you will see tiny stems forming in the axils of the leaves.
These stems will be heading directly to the soil. When they reach and penetrate the soil, tubers will be formed at the end of the stems.
Care should be taken as the stems and attachment points are very brittle. If the tubers are exposed to light, like potatoes they will turn green (some varieties are green anyway) so you may like to keep the forming tubers covered with a little compost sprinkled.
Try to keep the plants frost-free as the tubers only reach their full size in May or even June.
If you decide you like Ulluco tubers as a vegetable you may wish to have a go at growing some yourself.
Follow the instructions above but I would keep them in pots until about early November and then place them out into a sunny area of the garden in fertile, friable soil.
To get them to start fruiting (forming tubers) about the end of January or early February cover the plants with a tarp or suitable cover to shorten their daylight hours. Do this later in the afternoon say about 5pm (with daylight saving been in force) then when the sun goes down remove the cover.
Do this for a couple of weeks or more until tubers are formed then don't bother.
The tubers will keep on growing once initiated and you will be able to harvest earlier.
This will help gardeners in areas where a early frost may happen and also you will likely get larger tubers to eat. The Earth Gems in my bag were only about 2-4cm long and about 2cm wide.
I have eaten the Ulluco tubers both raw and boiled. Raw they are crisp but to my not great taste buds a bit bland and maybe like a mild radish. Boiled they certainly have a flavour like a baby beetroot and like they say still nice and crisp.
Sliced or grated raw/cooked they would be good in salads especially the coloured ones.
The Earth Gems are available in Supermarkets and Green Grocers in some areas in New Zealand, buy a bag and try them for yourself and maybe if you like them you could try growing a few tubers as a new and different vegetable.
Other root crops to try this season would be yams either red or yellow varieties and jerusalem artichoke the later maybe a bit hard to find the tubers, I have seen them occasionally in green grocers and garden centres.
A member of the sunflower family they are tall growing, very hardy, grow well in waste areas and the tubers are harvested when the tops die down in the winter.
Use Neem Tree Granules when planting any of these root crops to protect them from insect pests.
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The soil we garden in, is the result of a buildup over thousands of years of organic matter broken down by the soil life (Soil Food Web) and their dead bodies.
Foliage from plants such as leaves, along with dying plants have fallen to the surface of the soil to rot and be broken down by a vast range of soil dwellers from worms to microbes.
Added to this is the droppings of insects, birds and animals along with their dead bodies to build a great fertile soil which plants will not only thrive in and be very healthy.
Just over a hundred years ago man decided to change the order of things and instead of using natural materials to maintain the fertility of his soils he opted to use the then new ‘man made’ fertilisers.
Superphosphate made from reactive rock phosphate broken down with acids so it is available to plants broke the natural cycle of life.
The acids harmed the soil life including the worms, crops were direct fed which was completely unnatural for them.
They grew still, in fact they grew faster than previously but they also grew weak and sickly and became a target for every disease and insect pest under the sun, having lost their ability to naturally defend themselves. (Mainly caused by forced growth and insufficient minerals and elements in a natural balance)
To protect crops numerous chemical sprays were invented which helped for a time until the pests/diseases became resistant to each chemical treatment.
Each treatment not only worked to control the problem but also increased the damage to the soil life. This further weakened the health of the plants and a vicious circle occurs of ongoing damage with reduced health.
Animals and humans eating the crops do not obtain the health benefits that the plants should have and thus they in turn become less healthy and more vulnerable to disease and pests/parasites.
If you have really healthy soils/gardens, then there will be a great numbers of worms present in the moist soils. Worms will not be found in dry and parched soils and if your tap water contains chlorine then you will never build up good worm populations when your watering with chlorinated water.
You will not have healthy soils as the chlorine is put into water to kill bacteria and its bacteria in the soil that we want for a natural soil food web.
If you want good healthy gardens this coming season you have to do a few things, stop using man made fertilisers and chemical sprays. Instead use natural foods that will fed the soil and build up the soil food web.
These includes animal manures, blood & bone, composts, garden lime, dolomite, gypsum, liquid manures etc. Stop using chlorinated water in your gardens by either standing the tap water for periods of time in a suitable container or by simply placing a 10 micron carbon filter in the hose line from the tap.
There are a number of products that can speed up the transition back to healthy soil such as Rok Solid, Ocean Solids, Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) and Mycorrcin.
You can purchase sheep manure pellets or Bio Boost for a base food and then look for other manures locally. The best of these is chicken manure as it is free of weed seeds and has the highest NPK values which are about 16 to 30% nitrogen, 13 to 25% phosphate and 9 to 18% potash. (depends on whether it is layer manure or Broiler/turkey litter) The later tends to have more urine and higher NPK values.
Most gardeners will have poultry farms nearby except for the bigger cities where you may have to travel some distance to find one. For instance one poultry farm just a few kilometers outside of Palmerston North on Milson Line, has big bags of dry poultry manure for only $4.50 each.
If you are fortunate to have your own chickens then by having a concrete floor in the hen house where they roost at night makes collection of the manure easy.
The manure can be used in several ways; spread over bare soil and then covered with purchased compost so you can either plant or sow directly into the compost.
Placed directly into the planting hole with some soil over it so the plant’s roots will venture down into this rich mass.
Placed in a plastic rubbish tin with non chlorinated added to make a liquid manure which after a few weeks of stirring is further broken down by 1 part to 10 parts non-chlorinated water and then applied to gardens and foliage.
Manures are also added to green matter in a compost bin in layers and then turned till ready to use.
This vastly improves your compost and can also reduce the weed seeds in home made compost if turned frequently to obtain a good heat.
Horse manure from stables can be found in some areas especially where racing stables are.
Horse manure, cattle manure, sheep manure and pig manure are also excellent for gardens but can obtain weed seeds dependant on what the animals have been browsing.
If used to make liquid manure and if the resulting liquid is strained through a fine sieve before adding to the other 10 parts water this should be relatively weed free.
Other animal manures have a NPK of fresh approx; cattle 6.0:3.5:8.0
Pig 7.0: 7.0:5.0
as slurries Dairy 3.0:1.2:3.5
Beef 2.3:1.2:2.7
and Pig 4.0:2.0:2.5
These can vary dependant on what the animals are eating and the amount of moisture in the material.
It is easy to see that poultry manure has the highest values and was the reason that it has been the traditional preferred garden manure for many years.
(Besides that in years gone by most households kept chickens.)
High Health begins in the soil and this applies to not only the plants that grow in the soil but to all the food chain. The only alternative is the food chain from the ocean and as the ocean is mineral rich that food chain is very healthy except for the pollution that has occurred since the industrial age.
Gardeners have two aspects they are endeavouring to achieve, the first is great, healthy looking plants such as their roses, the second is a bounty of healthy home grown produce.
Nether of these goals will ever be achieved to your full satisfaction until you achieve healthy soils.
The alternative is spending a lot of money and time on man made fertilisers and rescue sprays and never winning.
The natural way works out to be far cheaper and your efforts are well rewarded.
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Its this time of the year that new season fruit trees are available from garden centres and it is also 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 to5 metres MM793, 3.5 to4 metres and EM9 2.5 to 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 being 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.
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 or more) Avoid black plastic ones, as they can cook the roots if in strong direct sunlight.
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 blood & bone.
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 such as Rok Solid and sprays of Magic Botanic Liquid.
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.
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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The Winter Solstice was on June 21 at 18:46 (6:46pm); this was when the Sun was at its most Northerly point in the sky. At the middle of the day on June 21, it reaches its lowest altitude, from the Northern horizon, for the year.
Which means that the longest night is June 21/22 and the shortest day is June 21 and from then, slowly the amount of sunlight per day increases till 21st December.
It takes a bit over a month or so before you start to notice a difference, on the other hand plants notice the difference very quickly and start responding to the increasing length of day light hours.
A new cycle is beginning in the garden and a new gardening year has started.
It is now time to start those gardening tasks, so you are well prepared for the coming spring.
Plant out your garlic and shallots about now for harvesting on the longest day (which is traditional).
Purchase the certified seed potatoes that you are going to plant as your first crop and lay them out to green up the new shoots.
New Season roses are in, so any new ones should now be purchased and planted out.
Deciduous fruit trees and fruiting bushes are either in or not too far away from arriving at your local garden centre as are the new season’s strawberry plants.
I picked up my new season strawberries this week and they are 3 new and interesting varieties;
Strawberry Baby Pink ™ Producing stunning beautiful pink flowers followed by small to medium red fruit with sweet traditional flavour. Large bunches of berries ripening over a long period.
Habit - Compact strong growing strawberry. Size - Give these small to medium plants close spacing. Pollination - Self-fertile. Unknown if short day, neutral or long day type.
Strawberry Sundae ™ Large red fruit with excellent flavour. Firm red flesh in an oval shape.
Habit - Suitable for Northern and Central districts. Vigorous growth habit. Size - Give these vigorous plants wide spacing. Pollination - Self-fertile. Short day type - flowers are initiated by short day lengths.
Harvest - Fruit ripen 20-35 days from flowering depending on climate, with light crops in early summer followed by a main crop in December - January. Yield is average.
Strawberry Temptation™ Medium bright red shiny fruit with excellent flavour. Pale firm flesh. Habit - Compact strong growing strawberry. Tough and resilient in relation to pest and diseases. Size - Give these medium plants close spacing. Pollination - Self-fertile. Only NZ bred Day Neutral strawberry which means they will set fruit regardless of how long or short the days are making this an ideal fruiter national wide. Will extend the North Island season. Harvest - Consistent high yields of berries ripening over a long period from October to March.
I am going to make a new planter box to be attached to the top rail of my iron fence, this will extend the planter box that is already in place and double the number of strawberry plants.
The three varieties of strawberries should be available in most garden centres in red cell packs of 4 plants supplied by the nursery with the trade name of Incredible Edibles.
While you are picking up your plants for the coming season you may wish to consider planting up some other berry fruit. There are a number to choose from such as raspberries etc, all of which I find are best grown in 45 lire containers unless you have a lot of room.
The container grown berry plants are easier to manage and the plants are trapped which means they cant take over a garden.
Here are a few ideas of what is available:
Berry Delight™ Mouth watering large dark rich red fruit with a delicious boysenberry/loganberry flavour. Habit - THORNLESS, heavy cropper. Size - As a bramble this plant forms a great screen and can be cut back the following winter. Pollination Self-fertile. Harvest - Harvest when fruit turns dark red and are easy to remove in December and January.
Raspberry Aspiring: Large dark red conical firm fruit. Excellent flavour. Habit - The divine raspberry grows as a bramble on upright canes. Covered with rose type leaves, simple small white flowers are followed by luscious sweet delicate fruit. This is the prize that causes eager berry lovers to flock to pick-your-own patches. A strong and productive plant, which spreads fast and is one of the easiest of all to grow. Size - Canes are vigorous with a high number of strong upright canes. Dormant canes are dark brown with few spines. Pollination Self-fertile. Harvest - Summer and Autumn dual cropper. Summer fruit are on last years canes where winter chill is adequate. Autumn fruit produced on the top 10-20 buds of new canes.
Raspberry Ebony Small firm rosette of dark black berries. Easily removed when ripe.
Size - 1m to 2m high cascading purple/black canes with no spines. Needs attaching to wires for support. Pollination Self-fertile Harvest - Crops from December to February.
Raspberry Ivory; Medium firm yellow-golden fruit. Easily removed when ripe. Size - Vigorous upright canes about 1.75m high. Pollination Self-fertile. Harvest - Crops from December to April. Main crop February to March.
Raspberry Waiau Light medium red, very large fruit easily removed when ripe. Size - High number of semi-upright vigorous canes. Must attach to wires to avoid damage. Dormant canes are light brown with grey blooms and soft spines. Pollination Self-fertile Harvest - Summer fruit. Grown in northern, central and southern districts.
Boysenberry Brulee ; White flowers in early spring are followed by large firm conical dark purple black berries.Habit - Moderately vigorous mostly spineless canes. Size - 1.5 x 3m Pollination - Self-fertile. Insect and bee pollinated. Harvest - Crops in December to January with heavy yields under the ideal conditions. Fruit are ready when they are easily removed.
Gooseberry Invicta : American gooseberry about 1.2cm round fruit. Green when ripe, covered in pale hairs. Habit - Erect stems covered in thorns. Vigorous growth under good conditions, resistant to mildew. Can live for 15-30 years. Deciduous plant that forms small, rough, thin green leaves with 3-5 lobes.
Size - 1-1.2m tall and 1-1.2m wide. Pollination - Self-fertile. Inconspicuous strings of small green with pinkish petals that open in early spring. Pollinated by insects, bees and the wind but climatic conditions will affect self-fertility. Harvest - Matures early to mid-summer.
If planting in a container use a good compost with animal manure added.
Apply Fruit and Flower Power each month till harvest and spray foliage with Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) With your strawberries spray the plants every 2 weeks with Mycorrcin, it will increase the returns by 200 to 400%.

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Last week we talked about the new seasons seed potatoes from the South Island (Cause they are best in my opinion) and promised to give you a list with specifications of the seed potatoes that would be available this season.
When choosing what types of seed potatoes to buy you should consider the following: Select types that have been successful for you in the past.
Select types that are most suitable for the way you cook your potatoes such as baked, mashed, chipped etc. Finally select types that you like the flavour of most. Generally speaking, home grown potatoes will have a much better flavour and hold together better when boiled than commercially grown ones. (There are a few exceptions to this)
1st Early

Cliff Kidney Maturity: Approx 80-90 days Tuber Shape: Kidney Skin: White Flesh: White General: Waxy potato good for boiling, salads, casseroles & soups with excellent flavour.
Jersey Bennes Maturity: Approx 80-90 days Tuber Shape: Oval Skin: White Flesh: White General: Waxy potato good for boiling, salads, casseroles, soups and mashing.
Liseta Maturity: Approx 70-80 days Tuber Shape: Long oval Skin: White Flesh: Creamy yellow General: Firm cooking waxy potato ideal for boiling, salads, casseroles, soups & roasting. High yielder.
Maris Anchor Maturity: Approx 90-100 days Tuber Shape: Oval Skin: White Flesh: White General: Excellent as an early boiling potato, also suitable for roasting.
Rocket Maturity: Approx 60-70 days Tuber Shape: Oval Skin: White Flesh: White General: Great boiling and roasting potato.
Swift Maturity: Approx 60-70 days Tuber Shape: Round Skin: White Flesh: Cream General: Waxy potato ideal for boiling, salads, casseroles & soups. High yielder.
2nd Early

Allura Maturity: Approx 80-90 days Tuber Shape: Round oval shape, shallow eyes Skin: White bright skin Flesh: White. General: Lovely tasting potato. Great boiled, roasted and as wedges or chips. Very versatile and suits all cooking requirements. Holds firm on cooking. Very high yielder.
Chippewa Maturity: Approx 80-90 days Tuber Shape: Round Skin: White Flesh: White General: Excellent cooking potato good for boiling and roasting.
Heather Maturity: Approx 80-90 days Tuber Shape: Long oval Skin: Purple blue Flesh: White General: Waxy potato ideal for boiling, salads, casseroles, mashing and roasting. Excellent flavour.
Ilam Hardy Maturity: Approx 70-80 days Tuber Shape: Oval round Skin: White Flesh: White General: Floury potato ideal for mashing, baking, roasting, chips and wedges.
Karaka Maturity: Approx 80-90 days Tuber Shape: Oval Skin: White Flesh: White General: Great all round cooking potato with excellent flavour. High yielder.
Merlin Maturity: Approx 80-90 days Tuber Shape: Round to oval Skin: Yellow, red eyes Flesh: Cream General: Great boiling potato. High yielder.
Nadine Maturity: Approx 80-90 days Tuber Shape: Round Skin: White Flesh: White General: Waxy potato good for boiling, salads, casseroles, soups.
Osprey Maturity: Approx 90-100 days Tuber-Shape: Oval Skin: White with red eyes. Flesh: Cream General: Good for all purpose cooking. Stays firm, great to microwave & roast. High yielder.
Pentland Dell Maturity: Approx 80-90 days Tuber Shape: Long oval Skin: White Flesh: White General: Good cooking.
Purple Heart Maturity: Approx 80-90 days Tuber Shape: Oval and shallow eyes Skin: Deep purple and smooth Flesh: Purple toned General: Great for salads, boiling and microwaving Health: Strong in antioxidant benefits.
Purple Passion Maturity: Approx 70-80 days Tuber Shape: Oval long shape, shallow eyes Skin: Purple Flesh: Cream to very pale yellow General: Excellent cooking qualities great for boiling and chipping. Holds firm on cooking.
Main Crop

Agria Maturity: Approx 90-100 days Tuber Shape: Long oval Skin: Cream Flesh: Yellow General: Floury potato suitable for boiling, mashing, baking, wedges and great for chips. High yielder.
Desiree Maturity: Approx 90-100 days Tuber Shape: Round Skin: Pink Flesh: Cream General: Good for all general cooking, great to microwave.
Moonlight Maturity: Approx 90-100 days Tuber Shape: Round oval Skin: White Flesh: White General: Good all purpose, cooks well as a boiling and chipping potato. High yielder.
Red King Maturity: Approx 100-120 days Tuber Shape: Oval Skin: Red Flesh: White General: Good all round cooking potato with excellent flavour.
Red Rascal Maturity: Approx 90-100 days Tuber Shape: Oval Skin: Very red Flesh: White General: Floury potato that is a good all purpose cooking. Suitable to be grown organically.
Rua Maturity: Approx 100 days Tuber Shape: Round to oval Skin: Fine white Flesh: White General: Good all rounder for roasting and boiling.
Van Rosa Maturity: Approx 90-100 days Tuber Shape: Round Skin: Very red Flesh: White General: Good all purpose potato, great for boiling and roasting
Look for the bags of seed potatoes that say ‘Grown in South Island’ if you cannot find the variety you want at your garden centre then ask them to obtain it for you.
As there are so many types, a garden centre may only buy in the most popular varieties for their customers but as they are re-ordering regularly, then they can obtain your special ones when they re-order. (till a variety runs out for the season.)
For the information on growing and the control of pests from last weeks article you can find it now on our web pages.
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Recently I was talking to a leading seed potato supplier from the South Island and found out that the new season’s certified seed potatoes were now coming available through garden centres.
In fact I also learnt that the specialist growers of seed potatoes now days do one big planting a year and when the crop is harvested and graded, the seed potatoes go into cool stores which prevents them from sprouting. This means that certified seed potatoes can be available all year round (unless a variety runs out before the next crop)
Having potatoes n cool store for a period of time is both a good thing and a bad thing.
It is good in so much as once the potatoes come out of the cool store to warmer temperatures, they will start to initiate sprouts and if you find the bags of seed potatoes with the beginnings of sprouts at your garden centre, you have a good buy.
The other side of the coin is if these bags of seed potatoes sit in the warmer conditions too long the sprouts will develop and grow long and weak, easy to break off when handling and not a good buy.
It has been noted that in some chain stores where the staff do not rotate seed potatoes in the bins and put fresh stocks on top, that the bags on top can be great and underneath the bags are too far gone to be of any value planting. A novice gardener not knowing better could buy these potatoes with big sprouts, plant them and have a poor harvest months later. Not good.
I find that certified seed potatoes from the South Island growers are more likely to produce good harvests than North Island grown ones. Why? This is likely the harsher conditions in the South Island which mean less pests and diseases. The same also applies with fruit trees which I would rather buy a South Island grown tree compared to a North Island one. The South Island ones take off, coming to warmer conditions in the North Island and always appear more hardier.
So when buying your seed potatoes look for bags that say grown in the South Island and for potatoes that have not sprouted much.
Then you simply take your seed potatoes home place them with their little sprouts up, in a wooden tray and put in a frost free situation that gets direct sunlight such as a glass house, under a car port or on a porch. They can sit there for weeks as they ‘green up’ with the sprouts growing and harding up.
When you plant out is dependant on frosts which will affect the exposed foliage if unprotected and hit.
Once the sprouts are firm you can further speed up the growing by covering the potatoes with moist untreated saw dust or damp sand. The potatoes will quickly form roots and then you can plant out.
If you do this ensure you check the potatoes every few days as it does not take long for them to root up too much and damage can happen when you separate them.
As seed potatoes are planted deep (because the new potatoes will form up the stalks and in a sense, the deeper, the more potatoes) they are covered over as the foliage comes through which protects them against frost. This is repeated and then later mounded so there can be a good period of time that frosts will not affect the potatoes as the foliage is covered by a thin layer of soil.
Later you can spray the foliage with Vaporgard for frost protection and use covers as well if need be. The potatoes are going to be slower growing till the ground warms up. Never dig a deep trench and cover completely over, in the early part of the season, as the seed potatoes are likely to fail and rot out.
Dig a deep trench by all means but just cover the seed potato with soil and repeat as it grows upwards.
There is also another great advantage of growing very early potatoes and that is less chance of damage to the crop from insect pests.
The Hadda beetle which looks like a ladybird but different colouring and the potato psyllid which is very difficult to spot but will prevent the tubers from growing bigger than marbles if allowed to get a hold.
There are other pests also but these two new ones are the worst by far.
When you plant out your seed potatoes place about a tablespoon of Neem Tree Granules under each potato along with what ever other manure/fertiliser you like to use. (My preference is Neem Granules, sheep manure pellets or Bio Boost, a teaspoon of Rok Solid and about half a teaspoon of BioPhos along with a tablespoon of Gypsum.) Later on when you have finished mounding up the potatoes then is the time to sprinkle some more Neem Tree Granules onto the soil surface near the tops and give the tops a occasional spray of Neem Tree Oil all over.
Later in the season as summer approaches and with later crops, the sprays of Neem Oil should be increased to say weekly or two weekly. Weekly for late crops planted say December onwards and repeat applications of the Granules every 6 weeks. Note, the same pests like tomato plants too so do not plant any tomato plants near your potatoes and treat the tomatoes likewise with the Neem products.
You will find also that there are three categories of seed potatoes which are 1st Early such as Swift Maturity: Approx 60-70 days Tuber Shape: Round Skin: White Flesh: Cream General: Waxy potato ideal for boiling, salads, casseroles & soups. High yielder.
2nd Early such as Ilam Hardy Maturity: Approx 70-80 days Tuber Shape: Oval round Skin: White Flesh: White General: Floury potato ideal for mashing, baking, roasting, chips and wedges.
Then there is Main Crop such as Rua Maturity: Approx 100 days Tuber Shape: Round to oval Skin: Fine white Flesh: White General: Good all rounder for roasting and boiling.
The difference between early and main crop is the maturity times not that they should be planted early or later. You can plant Rua early and say Swift late in the season (which is not a bad idea anyway)
The type of seed potato you buy and plant should be ones that suit your cooking and eating needs.
For instance what is the point of growing a potato that is best for baking or chips when you just about always mash your spuds.
If you are going to store potatoes for winter make sure that the type you grow is a good keeper.
Home grown potatoes will taste superior to most commercial grown spuds; they also often hold together better when boiling. Note even with potatoes suitable for boiling you should not over boil and don't have the temperature up too high, they are best lightly boiled or even better steamed.
There is also the health aspect about growing your own potatoes as you control what chemical sprays and fertilisers are used or not used.
With commercial growers that are not organic certified, you can expect their potatoes to contain a percentage of herbicides, insecticides, fungicides along with man made fertilisers to force growth and reduce nutritional value. With the new pests mentioned potato growers are spraying their crops every 7 to 14 days and that is a lot of poison.
I found out recently that coloured potatoes have added health benefits and one of the best ones of these is Purple Heart Maturity: Approx 80-90 days Tuber Shape: Oval and shallow eyes, Skin: Deep purple and smooth Flesh: Purple toned General: Great for salads, boiling and microwaving Health: Strong in antioxidant benefits.
Next week I will supply you with a list of all the different types of seed potatoes available this season to the home gardener from the South Island.
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There is a new to New Zealand beetle which comes from the South Pacific commonly called the Hadda Beetle. The first public notice of this beetle was in February 2010 when a entomologist with a close association with MAF Biosecurity New Zealand spotted a Hadda Beetle in Dove -Myer Robinson Park, along Tamaki Drive and the Auckland Domain in Auckland while walking his dog.

It was then reported ( From the Internet) :
David Yard, MAF Biosecurity New Zealand Response Manager, says the beetle causes distinctive damage to foliage.
“The species are found throughout Asia and the Pacific region and are foliage feeders that feed on solanaceous crops including potatoes, tomatoes, and aubergines plus beans and capsicums.
“The leaf surface is scraped away leaving irregular windows or parallel strips. This feeding damage gives leaves a distinctive “lace-like” appearance which is quite visible. Both adults and larvae feed on the host plants.”

Although similar to the common lady bird, Hadda beetles have some distinctive differences.
Hadda beetle larvae are about 7 mm long, and pale yellow in colour with black spiny hairs. The adults are 7 10 mm in size and yellow/ orange coloured with around 26 black spots on their backs. (End)

Now as a matter of interest I am sure I had a couple of calls this summer from gardeners who said they had found some beetles in their gardens that looked a lot like ladybirds but with different colouring.
I cant remember which areas of New Zealand the gardeners were calling from but I would suspect that the distribution of the beetle is much greater than thought.
This was highlighted from another recent report which said; ‘In March this year MAF Biosecurity announced that eradication of the Hadda beetle would not be feasible. Investigations have found the beetle is widespread across central Auckland and the maturity of the beetles indicates that it may have been in New Zealand since 2006.’
A female Hadda beetle lays about 300 small cigar-shaped yellow eggs in clusters of 10 to 50 on the under surface of potato leaves or other host plants.
Eggs hatch in about 5 days into small, yellow grubs, covered with hairy spines.
The grubs feed on the lower epidermis of leaves and are full grown in 7 to 18 days.
The pupal stage lasts 5 to 14 days.
It was in the Dominion Newspaper this week that I read an article about the Hadda Beetle and thus alerted me to the pest.
If you goto http://www.nba.org.nz/docs/hadda-beetle-fact-sheet.pdf you will find some excellent pictures of the beetle, the grubs and the damage patterns on foliage from their feeding.
Also if you find a Hadda Beetle in your garden then call MAF Biosecurity on 0800 809966 to inform them.
This new threat follows on from the other recent problem which is the potato/tomato psyllid that attacks the same family of plants. During feeding the psyllid releases a toxin which affects the development of the potatoes or the fruit of tomatoes.
Thus instead of having a good crop of nice size tubers at harvest you find a number of marble sized potatoes that are already re-shooting. On tomatoes the fruit also are very small.
Now with the Hadda Beetle coming along to strip the foliage of potatoes, tomatoes and other plants then greater care will have to be taken of these crops.
Early season crops are likely to be less effected as the pest populations have not built up till later in the season. Late crops will therefore suffer the greatest damage.
I suggest the placement of Neem Tree Granules in the planting hole of all host plants and also sprinkling the same every 6 weeks on the soil surface in the plant’s root zone.
Back this up with a spray of Neem Tree Oil once or twice a month.
Spray for total coverage of the foliage and add Raingard to the spray.
This keeps the Neem Oil active longer and prevents washing off or been diluted with watering or rain. It will not be long now before the new seasons certified seed potatoes become available so don't forget to protect them.
Talking about protection it looks very much like our Indian Summer has reached its end and the cold times of winter are at hand.
Frost or cold sensitive plants should be protect with a spray of Vaporgard over the foliage which gives reasonable frost protection down to minus three for about 3 months within 3 days of application.
Great protection for the occasional frost but when two or more frosts are going to occur, nite after nite then additional protection must be applied such as frost cloth, sacks or newspaper.
A word of warning, do not prune roses or fruit trees when the weather is cool and moist.
The dreaded disease, ‘Silver Leaf’ is in the air when its cool and damp and if you open up your roses or fruit trees then they can be affected.
Moss and liverworts love moist conditions so at the first sign of them spray with Moss and Liverwort Control.
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Many gardeners have a lemon tree and likely one or two other Citrus trees so now is an opportune time to look at the problems that can occur.
Insect problems include;

Aphids, usually clusters of black or green insects on young leaves. Spray with Neem Tree Oil and Key Pyrethrum to control. Also sprays of Sunlight yellow bar soap lathered up in warm water.
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..
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 Liquid Sulphur spray.
(BUT NOT THESE TWO PRODUCTS TOGETHER)
Whitefly spray all over with Neem Tree with Key Pyrethrum added late in the day. Repeat every few days till under control.
Lemon tree borer, tree shows poor growth, are dehydrated and branches die.
Holes found 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. DISEASES;

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.
DEFICIENCIES;

Lack of food, pale small leaves, Mulch with an animal manure based compost and blood and bone. Sheep manure pellets, Bio Boost or Break Through 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.
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 under tree to the drip line.
GENERAL;

Citrus trees are pruned only in 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.
Citrus trees are mulched in spring. Beware of mulches in winter that prevent wet soil drying out and causing roots rots. During flowering and fruiting periods apply Fruit and Flower Power once a month. This will create fruit with great flavour and ample juice.
WINTER TIME

Lemon trees can be grown throughout New Zealand in home gardens, but in some areas, which are more exposed 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.
But clear plastic on the soil round the tree, out beyond the drip line, will also make a tremendous difference to the growth of the tree.
The clear plastic allows the sun's rays, weak though they be, through to warm up the soil and then traps that heat so that the tree roots get the benefit of it.
Weeds should be eliminated first, before pinning down the plastic. If the gardener prefers organic methods, boiling water will kill surface weed seeds without harming the tree roots if not applied too liberally.

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Citrus trees are valuable plants for anyone’s garden, not only will they supply you with a bounty of fruit every year; they are also an attractive, highly scented tree.
In fact I cannot think of another fruiting plant that has such a delicious perfume when in flower.
Citrus trees are a long term, fruiting tree that you have to have a bit of patience with, for the tree to reach a good size and then you have ample fruit to harvest every year.
We tend to stress the need for ample food and moisture for citrus trees, but often gardeners will say that they have a citrus tree which they never provide these requirements for at all and the tree looks healthy and green, producing ample fruit most of the year.
I have seen such trees and can only assume that their roots have tapped into a good supply of food and moisture, under ground and need in the time being, no help from the gardener.
Maybe it is as a result of not using any citrus, water soluble fertilisers and that the soil life is therefore in abundance, making all the humus and food the tree needs.
Water soluble fertilisers kill the soil life creating the tree’s dependence on these chemical foods for its sustenance. A tree that is thus dependant will often have problems of disease and pests requiring rescue sprays and protection spray programs. It is a fact, we can cause the problems and then pay for it.
Citrus trees hate wet feet and are a killer of them in wet times.
I have seen mature trees that have survived years of life succumbing to root rot in a particularly wet winter or if there has been a change of water run-off, due to alterations on a property.
The ideal planting place for a citrus is in free draining soil where it is very sunny and yet some protection is offered from prevailing winds.
If you have a wet area where you wish to grow a citrus tree then you can do what I have done in the past, plant the tree into plastic rubbish tin that holds about 70 to 100 odd litres.
With a saw drill, drill 50mm holes in the base of the container and on the sides up about 12cm and 25 cm from the base. The number of holes should be 5 in the base (one in the centre and 4 at the cardinal points nearer to the bottom rim) at the 12cm level drill 4 holes which will be in the middle of where the cardinal point holes are at the base.
At the 25 cm level 4 holes that line up to the cardinal base holes.
You dig a hole in the desired spot, deep enough to bury your plastic rubbish tin half into the soil.
The holes you have cut will allow the roots of the tree to grow out into the surrounding soil in time, yet much of the tree’s roots will be above the ground level, inside the container, and these roots will not get too wet at any time. I have 3 citrus thus growing in an area that gets really wet in the winter and they are all doing well after about 9 years in this area.
A big plus for this system is that if you move house you can lift your citrus trees with relative ease and take them with you. The trees will not get as big as ones planted in open ground, which can also be an advantage for smaller sections.
The disadvantage is the trees take a bit longer to produce good size crops.
If using this method fill the container to planting height with a friable compost and top soil mix, (two thirds compost and one third soil mixed well together)
Place sheep manure pellets, blood and bone and a sprinkling of Epsom salts on top of the compost. Place the citrus tree removed from its nursery container on top of this.
If the roots have become a mass, with spiral roots at the base of the nursery container then with a pair of secateurs cut the spirals at the cardinal points about 20mm deep. This allows new roots to develop quicker.
Back fill the sides with the same mix ending up with the base of the trunk about 6cm from the top rim of the container. This makes it easy to water in the summer.
If planting into existing soil dig a deeper and wider hole than needed and use a similar mix of compost and soil to line the hole and back fill.
What food to feed your citrus? I give my established trees a good dose of old chook manure, in the spring and later in summer along with a monthly sprinkle of Fruit and Flower Power. Drenches of MBL and Mycorrcin to the soil occasionally and spray to the foliage of the same.
An annual sprinkle of Rok Solids and Ocean Solids around the root zone for additional elements completes the program.
You can give them sheep manure pellets and Blood and Bone as an alternative to the chook manure, applied spring and autumn.
Cover the products with a layer of good compost then water in with the MBL and Mycorrcin.
A healthy citrus tree should be free of disease problems but if a disease appears give the tree a couple of sprays of Liquid Copper.
Pests can include scale, aphids, white fly and spider mites and a couple of sprays of Neem Tree Oil should fix them.
Mealy bugs also, along with some Neem Tree Granules in the root zone to take out the ones in the soil. Citrus borer are a problem but these can be controlled by soaking some Neem Tree Oil (not diluted) onto a strip of felt and wrapping it around the trunk.
Place some plastic food wrap over the felt and pin it in place with drawing pins.
(It is also a great method for control on rhododendrons and camellias for thrips.)
Sprinkle some Neem Granules over the root zone that will help too in both cases.
Another point with Citrus, if there is any chance of your existing trees getting wet feet, then a couple of sprays of Perkfection in the autumn will help prevent losses.
Lime trees are the most difficult to grow in cooler areas so in these areas grow them in a container above the ground so they can be moved to a sheltered frost free area in winter.
Keep the mix on the dry side in winter.
If you purchase citrus that are supposed to be fairly free of pips then do not plant a lemon tree any where near them as the cross pollination will make your pip free fruit full of pips.
The lemon tree should be on the other side of the house down wind (prevailing winds) from your other citrus trees.
Citrus trees are often grafted onto root stock to make them more resistant to diseases.
All citrus will grow on their own roots without grafting as long as they are in free draining areas.
Citrus will grow from cuttings of soft to semi firm wood in summer. Layering is an easier method for propagation if you have an existing tree.
Pips will germinate and produce seedlings which will bear fruit in years to come. I had an uncle (Jack Franks since passed on) who had a wonderful citrus grove that he had raised from pips.
Citrus trees given the right growing conditions are fairly free of problems and the fruit you can grow from them will be very beneficial to your health. (More next week on citrus)
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May is the traditional month when new seasons strawberry plants become available in New Zealand. The nurseries that grow the plants lift them once the autumn rains have moisten the soil sufficiently, then they are distributed to garden centres.
In seasons when the growing beds remain too dry then the plants are not lifted till later, making for late plantings.
I find that the sooner you can get your new strawberry plants into their new beds the better results you have the first season.
Gardeners with existing beds of strawberries will likely have a number of runners that have rooted in nicely, these can be used for new season plants..
If the existing strawberry bed is not congested with old and new plants; that there is ample room still for all the plants to grow and produce, then you can get away with not lifting the runners or only lifting those that are too close to existing plants.
Strawberries are easy to grow and can be grown in open ground or containers.
In open ground the most practical way is to make a bed with wood surrounds 16 to 20 cm tall and have a hinged frame over the bed that has either plastic bird netting or wire netting over the lid.
The whole frame needs to only sit on the soil so it can be moved if required.
If using tanalised timber for the surround then after cutting to size paint all the wood with a couple of coats of acrylic paint.
Strawberries can be grown in troughs about 16 to 20 wide and as long as required.
Special strawberry planters made from clay or plastic are not very good and your results are likely to be poor. (Thats the types where plants are placed in holes around the container as well as on top.)
Polystyrene boxes with holes in the bottom are also ideal containers for good crops if they have a rooting depth of 15cm or more.
The growing medium should be a good compost such as Daltons or Oderings to which you can add untreated sawdust and a little clean top soil or vermicast. (Worm casts from a worm farm)
A mix of about 75% compost, 20% sawdust and 5% vermicast is good value.
Mix the above in a wheelbarrow then place a layer of the mix 5 cm deep in the base of the trough or container. Now sprinkle a layer of chicken manure, some potash, BioPhos, Rok Solid and Ocean Solids.
If you do not have chicken manure available use sheep manure pellets and blood & bone.
Cover with more compost mix to a depth suitable for planting your new strawberry plants.
A similar process can be applied to a open bed with a frame, though the frame height may need to be taller than previously suggested.
Ensure that the soil at the base of the frame is free of most weeds and then place a layer or two of cardboard over the soil. This will help prevent weeds from coming up in the bed, then fill as suggested.
There are a number of different varieties of strawberry plants available to the home gardener, sometimes the older varieties such as Tioga and Redgaunlet (both are hard to come by now)and the newer varieties such as Chandler, Pajaro and Seascape.
The varieties of strawberries available in New Zealand has been limited in the past when compared to overseas but now some more types are available to the home gardener through the work of a New Zealand nursery under the name of Incredible Edibles.
These include; Strawberry Baby Pink ™ Producing stunning beautiful pink flowers followed by small to medium red fruit with sweet traditional flavour. Large bunches of berries ripening over a long period.
Habit - Compact strong growing strawberry. Size - Give these small to medium plants close spacing.
Pollination - Self-fertile. Unknown if short day, neutral or long day type.

Strawberry Camarosa; Large to very large medium dark red fruit. Firm medium red flesh with excellent flavour. Conical shape.
High resistance to wet weather. Habit - Suitable for Northern and Central districts. Vigorous growth habit.Size - Give these vigorous plants wide spacing.
Pollination - Self-fertile. Short day type - flowers are initiated by short day lengths.
Harvest - Fruit ripen 20-35 days from flowering depending on climate, with light crops in early summer, followed by a main crop in December - January. Yield is very good.

Strawberry Chandler; Small to very large medium red fruit. Firm light red flesh with very good flavour. Conical shape. High resistance to wet weather.
Habit - Suitable for Northern and Central districts. Multi-crowned growth habit.
Size - Give these multi crowned plants medium spacing. Pollination - Self-fertile. Short day type - flowers are initiated by short day lengths. Harvest - Fruit ripen 20-35 days from flowering depending on climate, with light crops in early summer followed by a main crop in December - January. Yield is very good.

Strawberry Sundae ™ Large red fruit with excellent flavour. Firm red flesh in an oval shape. Habit - Suitable for Northern and Central districts. Vigorous growth habit. Size - Give these vigorous plants wide spacing.Pollination - Self-fertile.
Short day type - flowers are initiated by short day lengths. Harvest - Fruit ripen 20-35 days from flowering depending on climate, with light crops in early summer followed by a main crop in December - January. Yield is average.
Strawberry Supreme ™ Very large bright red fruit. Very firm red flesh with excellent flavour. Conical shape. Good resistance to wet weather. Habit - Suitable for Northern and Central districts. Moderately strong growth habit.Size - Give these small to medium sized plants close spacing.
Pollination - Self-fertile. Short day type - flowers are initiated by short day lengths.
Harvest - Fruit ripen 20-35 days from flowering depending on climate, with light crops in early summer followed by a main crop in December - January. Yield is very good.
Strawberry Temptation™ Medium bright red shiny fruit with excellent flavour. Pale firm flesh.
Habit - Compact strong growing strawberry. Tough and resilient in relation to pest and diseases. Size - Give these medium plants close spacing.
Pollination - Self-fertile. Only NZ bred Day Neutral strawberry which means they will set fruit regardless of how long or short the days are making this an ideal fruiter national wide. Will extend the North Island season.
Harvest - Consistent high yields of berries ripening over a long period from October to March.
To enhance your strawberries and increase the crop yields by 200 to 400% drench the bed with Mycorrcin after planting and repeat again in a couple of months time. Then spray the plants with Mycorrcin every two weeks till end of season.
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A few years ago I purchased a fruiting plant called ‘New Zealand Cranberry’ and potted it up into a 45 Litre container using compost and animal manures.
The following year the bush rewarded me with a small crop of delicious red berries.
After my NZ cranberry having been in the 45 litre container for a few seasons I recently potted it up into a 100 litre container which was made from a 200 litre plastic drum cut in half.
For those that are interested to know how I pot up fruit trees for great results, here is how;
Ensure that your container has adequate drainage which may mean drilling holes in any container not designed for growing plants such as rubbish tins and drums.
Use a saw drill that is going to make holes about 30mm across. These can either be made in the bottom of the container or on the sides just above the bottom (say about 40mm up) This later drainage means that when watering, there can be a layer of water in the very bottom of the container, which would help in the summer when the water needs are much higher.
You could if you wish at this stage place some stones in the bottom of the container to ensure better drainage and if you live in an area that is wet in the winter, good drainage is important.
I then fill the bottom third up with a purchased compost such as Daltons or Oderings.
Next a layer of animal manure is spread to the depth of about 30mm. Chicken manure is best as its weed free but any other manures would be fine.
If you do not have access to animal manure then spread sheep manure pellets plus blood & bone over the base compost. Sprinkle a little more compost to just cover the manure and then sprinkle a scoop of Ocean Solids and a scoop or two of Rok Solid and about a teaspoon of BioPhos.
If you have either gypsum or dolomite then sprinkle about a tablespoon of either or both.
Now cover this with more compost till you reach the right level for potting up your specimen tree.
The height of the base of the tree should be about 50mm lower than the rim of the container leaving this area as a trough for easy watering.
Backfill the container with more of the same compost.
If you are using a larger container such as 100 litres (half a drum) then you can plant seedlings of lettuce, spinach or silverbeet around the edge of the container between the sides and where the root ball of the transplanted tree is.
I usually grow a few vegetable plants in my large fruit tree containers.
Then when back filling I would leave an area of about 10cm below the top of the transplanted tree around the rim and then place a layer of chicken manure or similar in this area before finishing off with the compost, then into this area, seedlings can be planted.
With or without planting seedlings around the rim I finish off with a sprinkling of Neem Tree Granules and Bio Boost pellets (also called Break Through) and about quarter a teaspoon of OrganiBOR.
Watered in with a solution of Magic Botanic Liquid and you have given your new plantings the best start to live in their new container.
Back to my New Zealand Cranberry which is actually not a cranberry at all but the name it goes by in New Zealand. It is a Chilean Guava or Myrtus ugni (Ugni molinae) which is part of the same family as Feijoa and Guavas - Myrtacean.
The real Cranberry is a vaccinium and is part of the same family as blueberries - Ericacean.
The bush or you could call it a small tree is only about a metre tall with a similar spread making it a perfect container specimen. (they can get up to 3 metres but it is unusual)
Chilean Guava is an upright bush growing to about 1 metre tall and in autumn is covered in small aromatic red berries. The birds do not bother with them which is a great plus with any fruiting plant.
The Chilean Guava was named after Juan Ignacio Molina (1737-1829). It has been known by botanists and gardeners since 1844.
Indigenous to Chile and Bolivia, it bears fragrant, purplish red, berry-like fruit. These are edible and are eaten raw or made into jams and preserves. The plentiful small, bell-shaped flowers are pink or white with prominent stamens, which are carried in the leaf axils.
The berries have a delicious flavour and are aromatic, with a taste like strawberry. The fruit is about 15mm in diameter. Its leaves can be a substitute for tea and the seeds, if roasted, are a coffee substitute.
The Chilean Guava can be grown as a low hedge or potted up in a nice tub as a feature plant. They are tolerant of some trimming. It has small, shiny, dark-green leaves which are tinged with red when young.
Best in a cool climate and a moist soil and they need plenty of water in the summer period, although once established, they will be more tolerate to dryness.
You can purchase this evergreen fruit tree from your garden centre or if you have one or access to the tree or fruit, grow your own.
Growing seed: soak overnight, and then sow in a good potting mix.
Plant out individual seedlings into pots as soon as they are large enough to handle and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least the first winter. In spring, or early summer, plant them out into a permanent position after the last frost.
Cuttings can also be grown. Pot them up in autumn and keep them under cover, planting them out in spring. The plant can also be propagated by layering.
Like its relation the Feijoa it has little or no disease and pest problems so another big plus for this excellent fruit tree.
I really like the idea of propagating this tree to grow as a hedge and all you would need to do would be to raise a number of seedlings, pot them on till a nice size for planting out and then plant them about 30 to 50cm apart down a row or around the edge of a mature garden as a break.
The foliage and flowers are attractive plus you would have berries to eat.
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It will not be too long before the new season’s roses become available in your local garden centres.
So how do you go about selecting your new rose? Well, outside of making your choice on the bases of flower type, colour or fragrance, the main thing to look for is a rose with four strong canes growing outwards at the cardinal points.
If you can't find that, the next best thing is one with three strong canes growing at well-separated points from the centre.
But, rest assured, all is not entirely lost if roses with either one or two strong canes are the only ones available.
Given a season or two of good care, and with a little selective pruning, you can bring these roses back to the potential enjoyed by those which had four good canes to start with.
Another thing to check before making your purchase is that your rose has a reasonable-sized root system. Again, you're more likely to find this in a garden centre than in a supermarket or chain store rose, where root-pruning is more likely to have been done in order to get the plants to fit into the display sleeves.

Keep this saying in mind: "You pay your money, and get exactly what you pay for".
If you buy bare-rooted roses, you heel them into the ground as soon as you get them home.
If you can't do that immediately, place them into a bucket of water for a few hours, and then heel them in. "Heeling in" means making a hole in the ground and putting all the bare-rooted roses together in this hole, then covering their roots with moist soil.
They can sit like this for a few weeks if need be, as long as the soil is kept moist.
When your new roses are in containers, or in planter bags, simply put them somewhere handy where you will remember to water them. It is vital to keep the planting mix moist.
When you plant out your new roses, remember to plant them far enough apart to allow you to work on them easily when they are mature plants.
It should also be in a very sunny position, as roses will always do poorly in shaded or semi-shaded situations. Ideally, avoid planting in an area where water tends to sit for extended periods during the wet season.
If you really want to plant there, make raised beds.
Now, whether you have heavy clay soil or light sandy soil, the following planting procedure can be used. Dig a hole twice as wide and twice as deep as you need, then take half of the soil you have removed and mix it (about half and half) with a good animal manure-based compost.
Line the bottom of the hole with this, bringing the level right up to where you want to plant the rose. In heavier soils, it is best to plant the rose slightly higher than the surrounding soil level, so that it does not remain wet around the crown.
In light, free-draining soils, plant the rose a little deeper than the surrounding soil, so the rose is in a bit of a hollow. This makes for easier watering, and any rain will flow into the hollow, thereby keeping the soil moist.
If you're putting your new roses into containers, plant so that the base of the rose's trunk is an inch or two lower than the rim, for the same reason.
Your ideal container mix for roses should be compost, with about 20% top soil mixed in. It's a complete waste of time using potting mix, as it dries out too quickly and is more expensive.
The next thing to do is to sprinkle the following mixture into the bottom of the area you have created for planting - one tablespoon of Rok Solid, a handful of sheep manure pellets, perhaps a handful of blood and bone, a tablespoon or two of dolomite or gypsum, and a level teaspoon of Ocean Solids.
Then sprinkle over this a little more of the planting mix - just enough to cover the products. Now, sit your bare-rooted rose on the top of this, and carefully back-fill the hole, adding a handful of the mixture at a time.
Once you've covered the roots, you can add more of the soil mix to bring the level up to the height the rose was in its original container.
This is probably just above the top of the roots.
Then gently firm down the mixture, while ensuring that the rose is positioned so that it is coming straight out of the ground, and not at an angle.
You aren't planting a fence post, so there's no need to tramp down the soil and damage the roots. If you do need to put in a stake - as is the case with standard roses - these should be hammered into the ground before you even start putting any mixture into the freshly-dug hole.
You also need to ensure that the stake is on the prevailing wind side of the hole, so that the rose will be blown away from the stake, and not right into it.
There are a range of suitable stretch-type ties which can be used to secure the rose to the stake.
After you have planted your new roses, water them in with MBL.
You can prune your rose about a month after planting - perhaps in the middle or towards the end of winter. Do this before the rose starts to shoot.
Simply cut the strong canes back to two to four out-going buds.
There's no need to remove any weak canes at this point; the roses were half-pruned by the nursery before they were lifted, and were sprayed then with Lime Sulphur.
Spray your pruning cuts with Liquid Copper before moving onto the next rose. It is also sensible to spray the blades of your secateurs with the same product, or with methylated spirits, between roses to make sure you don't transfer any diseases from one plant to the other.
It is very important to keep the soil moist during the first year that the new rose is in the ground. After that, it doesn't matter quite as much.
The more foliage your new rose generates during that first year, the stronger your root system will be.
So don't cut flowers for indoor vases during this crucial first year.
Dead-head the flowers by all means, without removing any leaves. Once that first year is over, you can treat the plant as you would your older, more established roses.
The shorter daylight hours and cooler temperatures of autumn herald in a time when your roses will start to ready themselves for winter. As is the case with other deciduous plants, roses absorb the last of the goodness out of their leaves before the latter turn yellow and speckled.
This is all a perfectly normal part of nature's cycle, and the change brings with it a host of nature's cleaners - diseases - which get to work on converting the spent leaves to organic matter. It's quite pointless to try and fight against this process, but you can take steps to reduce the chance of these diseases carrying over to affect the next season's roses.
May is a good time to cut your bush and standard roses back to about half their amount of growth.
It is worth remembering, however, to cut the roses back only on a warmer day when there is less moisture around.
Problems such as silver leaf disease favour cool moist weather to do their airborne worst on a rose.
An easy gauge on how much to cut goes as follows - a bush about a metre tall should be cut to about half a metre, and any dead wood and spindly canes should be removed at the same time.
Always remove the cut material and clean up the area around the rose before moving on to the next one.
Then spray the remaining canes with a solution of Lime Sulphur, and if the soil is clear of other plants, spray the soil as well.
Lime Sulphur burns off any foliage that is still on the roses, and at the same time burns out any disease spores and insect pests planning to overwinter on your bush.
But beware! Lime Sulphur can stain walls and the like, so if there is the remotest chance that the spray will drift to more than just your rose bushes, drape an old sheet over whatever you don't want to get stained.
Once that's behind you, your roses will be ready for their real pruning, which takes place somewhere in July or August.
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There are 4 insect pests that can damage your lawns, grass grubs, black beetle grubs, porina caterpillars and root nematodes.
Birds will often give you a clue to the presents of three of the above by digging up patches of lawn to expose the grubs or caterpillars for a nice feed. The birds can do a lot of damage as they forge and help remove your problem.
You can also lift sections of your lawn to observe what is under the soil eating at the roots of your grasses. If a number of grubs are found in a square foot then it is worth while to apply a suitable control.
You are likely, after checking several areas of your lawn, to find that certain areas contain the biggest populations and thus reduce the need for treating the whole lawn.
Areas which have been a problem in the past and areas where there is light shining at night such as street lights, security lights or light from un-curtained windows, are places where the largest populations of grubs are likely to be found.
Root nematodes are very small and often the home gardener will not be aware of them in a lawn area. The nematodes suck on the roots of the grasses reducing the luster of the grass otherwise not causing the damage and death of grasses that the other 3 pests can do.
You may only come to realise that you had root nematodes a few weeks after applying a control, when you see a greater vigour in your lawn.
The black beetle grubs are generally only found in the North Island and the further north you are the greater the problem.
The adult beetle starts off as a rich chestnut colour, but soon after changes to a glossy black. It is about 15 mm long, with the male usually slightly smaller than the female.
The eggs are usually found singly; they are about 2 mm long and ovoid, swelling to an almost spherical shape before hatching. The larvae which are similar to a grass grub larvae, but larger than that of the grass grub, reaching about 2.5 cm when fully grown.
The head is light brown, and the body greyish or creamy white except for the hind end which appears black.
The damage done in lawns by black beetle is very similar as damage by grass grub, severe infestations of either grub causes the lawn to brown off, and can be rolled back like a mat owing to the complete destruction of the root system by the larvae.
The tubers of potatoes and kumaras are bored into by the black beetle larvae, and the aerial parts are destroyed below ground level by the adult beetles. Black beetle outbreaks are worse with higher than average spring and summer temperatures.
Black beetle has only one generation per year, but it is quite common to find life stages out of phase with the main generation so that all life stages may be found in the soil at any time of the year.
The usual cycle is for adult females to lay 7-10 eggs in the soil from late September, most egg laying occurring from late October to late December. Larvae develop through three instars over the summer and pupate in February-March.
New adults begin to emerge from late February and feed actively for a few months.
Adults overwinter in the soil, emerging in spring to start feeding again and to lay eggs.
Porina caterpillars live in a burrow in the soil and emerge in the early evening to feed on the base of the grasses and other young plants.
It is not uncommon after planting out young seedlings to find that they have been chewed through near the base leaving the tops to wither on the ground. You may notice holes in the soil which are the entrance to their borrows.
There is a very simple treatment for porina and that is to mow your lawn and apply Neem Tree Oil as a spray or through a Lawn Boy at the rate of 15mls per litre of warm water applied late in the day.
You are trying to get the oil solution to the base of the grasses where the caterpillars are going to feed.
That evening when they chew on some Neem coated foliage they will stop eating forever and starve to death over the next few days.
Unfortunately this surface treatment will not effect grubs and nematodes feasting on the roots. A greater drench of the oil would be needed to get it down into the soil and a stronger solution would be needed.
You could try say 50 mils per litre applied to moist soil through a Lawn Boy or watering can then lightly water the area to force the oil down deeper. A repeat a day or so later with another light watering would likely take the oil deeper still.
Another non-chemical control comes from Australia called Professor Macs 3 in 1 for Lawns.
It is a combination of eucalyptus and tea tree oils with a organic plant food and wetting agent.
It comes in a 2 litre container which you snap on the hose; turn on the hose to full pressure and when in place lift the little stopper on the container and the water passing through the applicator sucks up the contents at a ratio of 1:25. The two litres will treat 100 square metres of lawn.
When the container is empty you refill it with water and do the same over the area to force the oils down into the lower root zone. Not harmful to worms as they will go down deeper.
Effective up to about 6 weeks of control dependant on rainfall or watering.
The treatment will clean up all the lawn pests.
The above treatments are safe in regards to children playing on the treated lawn and likewise pets and wild life.
Chemical treatments are not safe and if used, the treated areas should be no go areas for children and pets till such time as the residue toxicity has dissipated.
The best and most toxic chemical treatment for the home gardener goes under the names, Lawn Pest Control or Pyrifos.
It is a granular chemical that is applied at 2 grams per square metre through a Scotts spreader and then watered down. The 500 gram pack treats 250 square metres which makes it good value for the price.
If you don't mind using a chemical and you do not have children or pets to worry about then it is a option for you, otherwise stay with the non harmful controls as previously mentioned.
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Calcium is the fuel that feeds the microbes in our soils, allowing their numbers to increase in the billions, when soil conditions are congenial. (Moisture, temperature, decaying matter, etc)
Calcium keeps the soil alkaline, which is the most common state for all plant life except for the species which have adapted to acidic conditions.
Calcium is the chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. It has an atomic mass of 40.078 amu. Calcium is a soft gray alkaline earth metal, and is the fifth most abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust.
Calcium is also the fifth most abundant dissolved ion in seawater by both molarity and mass, after sodium, chloride, magnesium, and sulfate.
Calcium is essential for living organisms, particularly in cell physiology, where movement of the calcium ion Ca2+ into and out of the cytoplasm functions as a signal for many cellular processes.
As a major material used in mineralization of bones and shells, calcium is the most abundant metal by mass in many animals.
Calcium is available to the home gardener in a number of forms, garden lime, hydrated lime, dolomite, gypsum, crushed egg or sea shells and bone flour.
The importance of calcium and its influence in the gardens cannot be under estimated as I have learnt over the years of gardening.
Every now and then a gardener will approach me with a problem that basically is; the garden shows little vigour, plants don't grow well as they used too, even though I feed them and tend them well.
I ask a simple question when did you last lime the garden? The answer is invariably, ‘not for years’.
Thus they are told to lime the soil with a quick acting soft lime and a few months later they contact me to say it worked.
Garden Limes sold come in two forms, powdered lime from limestone which is a hard, gritty lime that can take up to 10 years to break down and become available to the soil life and plants.
Then there is soft lime that comes from either sea shell deposits found in the hills or chalk which is a type of limestone in a powdered form; these limes when placed between moist fingers and rubbed has a soft, smooth texture and becomes a slurry quickly.
This makes it quickly available to plants and soil life soon after it has been broadcast.
Garden lime increases the alkalinity of the soil and should not be used near acid loving plants.
It is vital to spread it over decomposing organic matter such as mulches of cut green crops and into compost bins. A sprinkling now and then into your worm farm is a great advantage especially if you place citrus peelings into the bin.
Calcium hydroxide, traditionally called slaked lime, hydrated lime, slack lime, or pickling lime, is a chemical compound with the chemical formula Ca(OH)2.
It is a colourless crystal or white powder, and is obtained when calcium oxide (called lime or quicklime) is mixed, or "slaked" with water.
It can also be precipitated by mixing an aqueous solution of calcium chloride and an aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide.
It is also a fast acting lime with a burning effect.
Used in aiding the decomposing of bodies and other organic materials. Great in compost bins. If used on the garden there should be a reasonable rest period before seeds or seedlings are planted out.
Dolomite is a naturally occurring material containing 39% magnesium carbonate (of which 11% is elemental magnesium) and 57% calcium carbonate (of which 24% is elemental calcium). It is sourced from Golden Bay in the Nelson region and is ground to a yellow-brown powder.
Primarily used for dairy farming as both a magnesium source and liming source. It is also used in some horticultural situations where magnesium and calcium inputs are required.
Dolomite is often used as a source of magnesium, as the availability of the magnesium is increased, relative to Magnesium Oxide, by its finely ground nature. It is also pH neutral so can be used anywhere.
Gypsum (calcium sulphate di-hydrate) is an abundant natural mineral. It originates from the drying out of ancient seas and is quarried (or mined if deep) in many parts of the world. Gypsum does not occur in New Zealand. Winstone imports our gypsum from Australia.
Gypsum enjoys a growing application in agriculture and horticulture. It is used as a 'clean green' soil conditioner and also as a fertiliser. Gypsum has an advantage over certain other minerals, being pH neutral.
Gypsum is particularly useful for treating heavy (clay) soils where it is used to improve the soil's texture, drainage and aeration. Gypsum also has applications in the remediation of soil that has been damaged through compaction (heavy stock, machinery), in the recovery of sub-soils exposed by earth movement (contouring, slippage) and in soils affected by salinity (estuarial berms, dairy effluent).
Gypsum is an important natural source of calcium and a number of other elements all of which are of great benefit to our soils and plants. Below is the chemical analysis of Gypsum:

NB: Quantities are stated in ppm unless otherwise specified: Sulphur 18% :
Calcium 23.26%
Aluminium 300
: Antimony < 4 :
Arsenic < 1.0 :
Cadmium < 0.2 :
Chlorine 1315 :
Copper 93.8 :
Fluoride 100 :
Iron 80 :
Lead < 10.0 :
Magnesium 93.8 :
Mercury < 0.05 :
Phosphate < 19 :
Potassium 50 :
Selenium < 0.5 :
Silicon 800 :
Sodium 820 :
Tin < 4 :
Zinc 5 .

I favour the mixing of the three products together, soft garden lime, gypsum and dolomite in equal amounts and sprinkling over empty garden beds prior to planting out and the lightly raking to work into the soil.
Light side dressings can be applied over existing planted beds and lawns and then watered in. This can be done as often as every 3 months.
In areas where acid loving plants are, just use the gypsum and dolomite, which includes where potatoes and tomatoes are to be grown.
For a fuller spectrum of minerals and elements use Rok Solid 6 monthly, (or at planting time) Ocean Solids once a year. Then two to four weekly sprays of Magic Botanic Liquid and Mycorrcin combined.
Avoid chemical fertilisers and chlorinated tap water.
Do this and you will be amazed how great your gardens will become with really healthy plants and lot of your garden problems will be reduced or disappear.
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The first frosts are likely to strike at any time in frost prone areas. Some of you may have already had a frost or two so far.
There are a few things you can do to offset damage to frost sensitive plants and assist cropping plants to keep on going a bit longer for better returns.
First of all you can spray sensitive plants with Vaporgard which is very simple to use; mix 15 mls per litre of warm water and then spray over plants for a good coverage. 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 takes about 3 days to come into effect.
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.
You can further harden up plants by sprinkling potash over the area where the roots of plants are.
This can be combined with magnesium to keep foliage green through the winter.
The two are found together in the product, Fruit and Flower Power.
Weeds taken care of now, before they reseed, will reduce problems in the coming spring.
Though I am not a fan of chemical weed killers sometimes they are the quick and easy way to control the more difficult weeds.
A few gardeners recently have complained about suckers coming up over their gardens after a tree has been felled.
Some trees are really bad about suckering and the roots will send up saplings to keep themselves alive.
The first answer to the problem in prevention is to ring bark a tree first, that you intend to fell.
This allows both the top and the roots to die and once that has happened then you can cut down the tree.
It does not always work and if suckers start to appear from the old root system then my suggestion is to mix Roundup and Woodyweed killer together with Raingard added and paint this onto every sucker that appears. It may take sometime but in the end you should win.
Oxalis is a bulb that throws up a set of leaves, gains energy from the sun and produces hundreds of bulblets or baby bulbs. If you take a heaped tablespoon of baking soda and add it to a litre of warm water, stir to dissolve, then add one mil of Raingard, you have made a potent dehydrator of oxalis foliage which does not harm other types of plants. If you spray this formula over the oxalis foliage on a sunny day when the ground is on the dry side the leaves of the oxalis will shrivel and die.
It has not killed the bulb which will then produce another set of leaves. As soon as these appear you either apply the same solution or cut them off at ground level. If done quickly enough at the emergence of the new leaves the bulb has not gained energy but has weakened instead.
Again it will try to produce leaves which should be quickly removed. At some point of time the bulb does not have any more energy left to produce foliage and it rots in the soil. Goodbye oxalis.
There is a further aspect to the oxalis problem and that is all the baby bulbs attached to the now dead parent, if you disturb the soil you will bring these babies nearer to the surface where they will also produce leaves to start the cycle over again. What you do instead is cover the soil with a layer of compost and plant any new seedlings into this layer. This action further buries your oxalis problem.
Do not disturb the soil and when you flowers or vegetables are finished or harvested, just cut them off at ground level and cover the area with more compost. Simple and effective.
Wandering jew. Go to a grocery wholesaler such as Toops and buy a 25 kilo bag of table salt, which will cost you between $10 to $15.00. Broadcast the salt over the area where the wandering jew is growing, its cheap, so throw it on. You will find that the weed dies off leaving bare ground.
Some new emergence will then occur and you spot treat these with a handful of salt.
Later rake the area to remove the stubble and then you can lime the area and apply Magic Botanic Liquid to bring the soil back for planting up in a preferred plant.
If you have other plants growing in the area they will likely die also but well established trees and shrubs should not be unduly affected. Now $15.00 worth of salt goes a long way and is cheaper than a little bottle of chemical weedkiller for $30 which does not go far.
If you have pavers and weeds grow in the cracks just sprinkle some of your salt.
Another one is sulphate of ammonia which also burns out weeds. I have used this on low weeds growing in a gravel drive. Sprinkled the sulphate of ammonia over them and they brown off and die..
Ideally you should lightly water the weeds about an hour prior to applying the sulphate of ammonia so there is a little moisture to start the burning action. The advantage of sulphate of ammonia is a short residue period, unlike table salt which is much longer.
In your kitchen you already have a couple of neat, environmently friendly weed killers, vinegar and cooking oil. These can be sprayed over the foliage of weeds on a sunny day when the ground is on the dry side to burn off the weeds. Add dish washing soap to the oil so it mixes with the water.
Dependant on the type of weed you can dilute either of the two products with water to make them go further and be more economical. You need to experiment a bit to find out what dilution rate works best for each type of weed.
Once again buying either a cheap cooking oil or vinegar in bulk, works out very economically on the purse and you are doing far less damage to the environment or your own personal health.
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After last weeks article on fruit a reader sent me aa email with further information about how good fruit is for you, this is especially so when you grow your own fruiting plants because you have the control on what minerals and chemicals are used or not used. I would like to share the information with you.

The email read:

We all think eating fruits means just buying or growing fruits, cutting it and just popping it into our mouths. It's not as easy as you think. It's important to know how and when to eat.
What is the correct way of eating fruits?
IT MEANS NOT EATING FRUITS AFTER YOUR MEALS! * FRUITS SHOULD BE EATEN ON AN EMPTY STOMACH.

If you eat fruit like that, it will play a major role to detoxify your system, supplying you with a great deal of energy for weight loss and other life activities.
FRUIT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FOOD.
Let's say you eat two slices of bread and then a slice of fruit.
The slice of fruit is ready to go straight through the stomach into the intestines, but it is prevented from doing so.
In the meantime the whole meal rots and ferments and turns to acid.
The minute the fruit comes into contact with the food in the stomach and digestive juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil.....
So please eat your fruits on an empty stomach or before your meals!

You have heard people complaining - every time I eat watermelon I burp, when I eat durian my stomach bloats up, (For those that do not know Durian: The durian is the fruit of several tree species belonging to the genus Durio and the Malvaceae family.
Widely known and revered in southeast Asia as the "king of fruits", the durian is distinctive for its large size, unique odour, and formidable thorn-covered husk. The fruit can grow as large as 30 centimetres (12 in) long and 15 centimetres (6 in) in diameter, and it typically weighs one to three kilograms (2 to 7 lb).
Its shape ranges from oblong to round, the colour of its husk green to brown, and its flesh pale yellow to red, depending on the species. End)

When I eat a banana I feel like running to the toilet etc - actually all this will not arise if you eat the fruit on an empty stomach. The fruit mixes with the putrefying other food and produces gas and hence you will bloat!
Graying hair, balding, nervous outburst, and dark circles under the eyes all these will NOT happen if you take fruits on an empty stomach.
There is no such thing as some fruits, like orange and lemon are acidic, because all fruits become alkaline in our body, according to Dr. Herbert Shelton who did research on this matter.
If you have mastered the correct way of eating fruits, you have the Secret of beauty, longevity, health, energy, happiness and normal weight.
When you need to drink fruit juice - drink only fresh fruit juice, NOT from the cans.
Don't even drink juice that has been heated up.
Don't eat cooked fruits because you don't get the nutrients at all.
You only get to taste. Cooking destroys all the vitamins.
But eating a whole fruit is better than drinking the juice.
If you should drink the juice, drink it mouthful by mouthful slowly, because you must let it mix with your saliva before swallowing it.
You can go on a 3-day fruit fast to cleanse your body.
Just eat fruits and drink fruit juice throughout the 3 days and you will be surprised when your friends tell you how radiant you look!

The following are good reasons for growing your own fruit where possible;

KIWIFRUIT: Tiny but mighty. This is a good source of potassium, magnesium, vitamin E & fiber. Its vitamin C content is twice that of an orange.
APPLE: An apple a day keeps the doctor away? Although an apple has a low vitamin C content, it has antioxidants & flavonoids which enhances the activity of vitamin C thereby helping to lower the risks of colon cancer, heart attack & stroke.
STRAWBERRY: Protective Fruit. Strawberries have the highest total antioxidant power among major fruits & protect the body from cancer-causing, blood vessel-clogging free radicals.
ORANGE : Sweetest medicine. Taking 2-4 oranges a day may help keep colds away, lower cholesterol, prevent & dissolve kidney stones as well as lessens the risk of colon cancer.
WATERMELON: Coolest thirst quencher.. Composed of 92% water, it is also packed with a giant dose of glutathione, which helps boost our immune system.
They are also a key source of lycopene - the cancer fighting oxidant. Other nutrients found in watermelon are vitamin C & Potassium.
GUAVA & PAPAYA: Top awards for vitamin C. They are the clear winners for their high vitamin C content. Guava is also rich in fiber, which helps prevent constipation. Papaya is rich in carotene; this is good for your eyes.
Drinking Cold water after a meal = Cancer! Can u believe this??
For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you. It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed.
It will slow down the digestion. Once this 'sludge' reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food.
It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer.. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.
A serious note about heart attacks HEART ATTACK PROCEDURE': (THIS IS NOT A JOKE!) Women should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting.
Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line.. You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack .
Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms..
Sixty percent of people who have a heart attack while they are asleep do not wake up.
Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep.
Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know the better chance we could survive...
A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this mail sends it to 10 people, you can be sure that we'll save at least one life. END

Fruit can easily be grown in either open ground or in containers.
As from above information it is well worth the effort and the savings you can have, over many years, makes great sense as fruit is fairly expensive to buy and unless grown organically you do not know how much goodness or harmful chemicals are in your purchases.
This autumn/winter plant at least one more fruiting plant/tree.
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Home grown fruit, grown naturally (without chemicals) with all the minerals and elements added to the growing medium, have very high nutritional values plus health giving properties.
When you combine that with your own naturally grown vegetables and these two form a good part of your food chain then your health will be better for it.
Growing your own fruit and vegetables is one thing for good health, another is in how and when you consume the produce.
Raw fruit (any type) should always be eaten when your stomach is empty as raw fruit spends little time in the stomach when it is empty. In fact between 20 to 30 minutes after eating raw fruit it has passed through to your intestines where all the powerful goodness is absorbed into your body.
I am currently reading a book called, Fit For Life by Harvey & Marilyn Diamond and if you are interested in health including really loosing excess weight then I highly recommend you to obtain and read a copy.
One of the prime aspects of the book is, Its not what we eat, its how and when we eat it.
For instance if you are serious about loosing weight all you need to do for a start is to only eat raw fruit or drink pure fruit juices/vegetable juices in the morning from awaking till noon.
Raw fruit has a very high water content and it takes very little energy to absorb all the goodness.
This natural high water content flushes out toxins (fat) from your body giving you more energy for the day ahead than you would normally have. Try this for 10 days and see what difference it makes to you.
I emphasise RAW because cooked, canned or otherwise processed fruit has to spend hours in the stomach and requires a lot of energy to break it down.
We are creatures of habit (unfortunately) and having a cooked breakfast, or cereals, toast etc require a lot of energy to digest and are likely to add body weight instead of reducing it.
As this article is about gardening I cant go into a lot of detail about what to eat and when other than to say you should do some research yourself such as putting into Google the words, Food Combinations.
Fruit and vegetables grown naturally in your own back yard, picked fresh and eaten raw (where possible) are the best medicine your body will ever receive.
Alternative to this is organically grown fruit and vegetables that you can purchase and as a final back stop conventionally (chemically) grown produce from your Supermarket of Vegetable shop.
The later will have chemicals your own produce will not have, unless you are silly enough to use them.
It is difficult to grow a lot of fruit for all year round consumption, unless you have a lot of land, but even so, with a small amount of land you can grow a few fruit trees, fruiting bushes and plants.
For instance most of you grow tomatoes and they are a fruit just like tree grown fruit. So are cucumbers.
Both tomatoes and cucumbers are best eaten raw for optimum value.
Even if you have no gardening area to grow any fruiting plants, you can still grow some using containers of a suitable size for that type.
There are fruiting plants that will give you produce in the first season such as strawberries, melons, tomatoes and cucumbers. Normally produce from berry bushes, tamarillos and feijoa Unique in the first or second season. Other fruits including citrus usually are 3 or more years before a reasonable harvest can be expected. Which means the sooner you start the sooner you will have a reasonable supply of your own fruit, which will only become better as the years roll on.
I have grown several different types of fruit trees in 100 litre containers (200 litre drums cut in half) and they produce a nice crop for me each year once they reach a more mature state.
The mix I use in containers is purchased compost with chicken manure added along with a little vermicast (worm casts from my worm farm, a few handfuls of clean top soil is the alternative)
I also add to this Bio Boost, OrganiBOR, Ocean Solids and Rok Solid for additional food and all the possible minerals and elements. You can also use any other animal manures, sheep pellets, blood & bone etc.
Each year you can add or water in any other natural foods.
There are several advantages in container grown fruiting plants; you can move them around to suit seasons and personal choice; you can take them with you if you shift house; they do not become too big as would the same, if grown in open ground; drainage problems are solved in wet situations; there is little waste; pests and diseases are easier to control.
Disadvantages are; having to root prune every 2-3 years; giving them adequate water in the summer months and they are heavy to move about in a large container.
Strawberries are easy to grow in a trough using the same mix as suggest above with the addition of some untreated saw dust and two weekly sprays with Mycorrcin.
Raspberries and similar berries are best grown in a 45 to 50 litre container which is a great advantage as they are confined to the container and cant run through a garden causing a problem.
There are a number of thorn-less types available which is even better for handling.
Evergreen fruiting plants are available most of the year round, deciduous become available in winter and it is a good idea to place an order now with your local garden centre as many varieties sell out quickly.
The ideal health solution would be a 70 to 80% diet of your own home grown fruit and vegetables, eaten raw or juiced. If you cant grow all that is required then supplement with purchased produce.
A note on watering at this time of the year with weather patterns changing and cooling, do not water plants till they do need a drink. Give them a small drink and don't drown them. When you have a nice hot sunny day then give the plants a good drink.
Over watering in cool and cold weather it a certain way to lose plants.

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A couple of weeks ago a Palmerston North gardener sent me a letter with a photograph of a yellow trumpet daffodil that had two flowers on the same stem. It had flowered in the spring of 2009.
The gardener had found this unusual and was asking me why it had occurred.
There are freaks in nature but after consulting with a local bulb growing nursery it was suggested that the variety was most likely one called Golden Perfection and this daffodil often flowered with two or more flowers on the same stem.
Other varieties may do similar on the odd occasion but likely only once in a blue moon.
By the way this month is a blue moon month having two full moons during the same calendar month.
March is also the month when most if not the full range of spring bulbs come available in garden centres.
It is the time to pick out what new spring bulbs you wish to plant but it is not necessary the time to plant some types into open ground yet as the soil temperatures during the day are too high and certain bulbs may cook. (Tulips for instance)
The following information is supplied by NZ Bulbs and they are available through most garden centres. Plus at (www.nzbulbs.co.nz)
What Bulbs are the best for dry areas?
The following bulbs are ideal for dry areas such as under hedges and along the north wall of the house. As long as they receive enough moisture in winter and early spring for growth to commence, they will flower well year after year.
Alliums: Members of the onion family, most alliums prefer a warm sunny position with good drainage. The most common varieties sold in New Zealand are Moly, a cluster flowered medium yellow on 30 cm stems; and Sphaerocephalon, a deep purple/mauve ball on 60 cm stems. The flowers of Sphaerocephalon are great for dried arrangements.
Babiana: Short growing, babiana are available in mixed blue and purple shades. Although very small bulbs, they need to be planted relatively deep, 12 cm or more, an adaptation to prevent baboons digging them up to eat in their native Africa. Their name is derived from their common name “Baboon flowers”.
Brodiaea : Early summer flowering, brodiaea are a great touch of colour when most bulbs have finished flowering. Queen Fabiola is the most common variety sold, it is a strong growing strain of a light violet purple colour. Brodiaea need a good dry spell in summer to flower successfully the following year.
Ixia: Spectacular in mid to late spring with bright yellow, gold, pink and red shades on tall 40 60 cm stems. Normally available as mixed colours and occasionally as individual colours, the most common being ixia viridiflora, a stunning blue-green.
Sparaxis: Superb for naturalising as they increase rapidly by bulb division as well as by self-seeding.
Available in mixed shades of white, pink, rose, orange and red. Growing 20 30 cm tall, the flowers resemble freesias in shape. Mid spring flowering.
Tritonia: Predominantly available as mixed colours in white, orange and pink shades, tritonia will produce masses of flowers in late spring. They have a very similar flower shape to sparaxis and freesias, although they flower much later, filling the gap between spring and summer flowering bulbs. The flowers are carried on 20 cm stems and they last reasonably well in the vase.
What bulbs are the best for shade and damp?
The following are the best for shady areas such as the south side of the house, shady banks, or beneath trees and shrubs. A little direct sunshine each day is a bonus, but not essential. They all tolerate damp conditions, but prefer not to be continually wet.
Specialised wet loving plants are necessary for the really wet places such as near ponds and streams.
Bluebells: Naturally occurring in forested areas, bluebells are happiest in dappled shade and moist soil.
They will naturalise well in these conditions, increasing through bulb division and seed production to establish large drifts. They are available in blue, pink and white shades.
Chionodoxa : Translating from the Latin as “Glory of the snow”, chionodoxa flower in early spring through the last of the melting snow in their native Europe. They need a cool shady site that gets a touch of sunshine in spring and summer.
They are not suitable for warmer areas. Two main varieties are available Luciliae, a medium blue with a white centre; and Sardensis, a deep gentian blue.
Crocus : One of the earliest spring flowers; crocuses produce three or four flowers from each corm planted, giving a great display from few corms. Two main types are available species crocuses and hybrid crocuses. Both are available in white, cream and shades of blue and yellow. The species crocuses are earlier to flower and are slightly smaller.
Erythronium: Commonly known as “Dogs tooth violets” as the corms are similar to the shape of a dog’s tooth.
The foliage is very attractive in its own right. Available in white (White Beauty) and yellow (Tuolumnense), it naturalises readily beneath trees and shrubs in the rich soil and shade.
Fritillaria: Amongst the most unusual bulbs available, fritillaria come in a wide variety of forms, from the 30 cm mahogany F. camschatcensis to the stunning orange 1 m tall Crown Imperial.
They all like a cold, shady position, with some afternoon sun. Crown Imperials are not suitable for warmer districts. Stunning flowers though they are, fritillaria are also distinguished by having rather pungent odours.
Leucojum : A spring classic with the white bells, dotted green at the petal tips, Leucojum are commonly known as snowflakes. Often confused with snowdrops, snowflakes have large daffodil sized bulbs and will grow well in all areas of New Zealand, unlike snowdrops, which are confined to colder areas. Damp conditions and semi shade are tolerated well.
Ideal for naturalising beneath deciduous trees where they can get winter sun and spring and summer shade.
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On Sunday the 21st of February on the TV channel, Rialto, at 4pm was a film/documentary called Real View: Food Matters. The program was a discussion on the importance of Nutrition & Natural Therapies for the prevention and reversing of chronic illness.
The program was recorded and I watched it a couple of days later with great interest.
The program presented numerous, logical aspects about our bodies and how our food chain can heal or create numerous diseases from occurring to us.
The ancient statement ‘Let Food be thy Medicine and Medicine be thy Food’ (Hippocrates c.460 BC- 377 BC an ancient Greek physician and is often known as 'the father of medicine'.) was used and backed up by informative commentators.
One of the statements made was that if 51% of our diet was natural (they used the word organic) and consumed raw then most if not all chronic illness would be prevented or reversed.
Now that is a very interesting point and we often see or hear many examples of this.
For instance I heard that Japanese people living on a diet that is traditional in their country, have some of the lowest instances of chronic illness in the world. If these same people move to a western country and change to the western diet then various illness begin to transpire over time. If they then move back to Japan and resume their traditional diet the complaints normally disappear.
I can also relate to the aspect that 60 odd years ago, growing up in New Zealand we did not have the massive amount of chronic illness that we have today. We had a far better diet, most families grew their own vegetables and fruit and ran their own chickens for eggs and meat.
There was not the chemical fertilisers used on crops and farms as we have today and far less use of chemical controls for pests and diseases.
But over the last 60 years that has all changed and the amount of chemicals in our food chain has increased out of sight. So has the health problems.
The pharmaceutical industry has grown enormously and they make billions every year out of our suffering. They are always announcing possible cure breakthroughs which do not eventuate and the common thought is they only want to provide ongoing relief which creates a continuous cash flow.
What is the point of curing a condition, there is little money in it.
According to the program if we opted for a natural diet of highly nutritious vegetables and fruit then we would just about put the pharmaceutical companies out of business.
They also pointed out that the fruit and vegetables that are not grown in a organic manner have many chemical poisons and sadly lack in good nutrition, which compounds our health problems.
One of the presenters stated that our soils need 55 minerals and elements (I say 114) and that the 3 common elements in chemical fertilisers (NPK) are so inadequate, for growing healthy plants with good nutritional values. The better chemical fertilisers can have up to 16 elements but that is still far short of 55 or 114.
When we look at the chemicasl in processed foods and add that to the list of chemicals from agriculture it is no wonder that our health is on the decline.
Another interesting point that I came across recently is the high instance of dog attacks.
It has been found in America that certain additives to dog foods causes aggression in dogs over a period of time. I researched this through the Internet and found; high protein levels in the dog food provide an over-abundance of amino acids, essentially crowding out the amino acid tryptophan.
Tryptophan is essential for seratonin production, which has a calming and stabilizing effect on canine behavior.
Other ingredients in dog food are suspected of causing aggressive behavior, but have not been extensively studied. Some experts suspect soy protein (a common dry pet food ingredient) containing plant estrogens may upset hormonal balances, thus causing hyperactivity and aggression.
Some research has focused on the long-term effects of synthetic food colorants and preservatives on the physical and mental well-being of dogs.
Feeding a high-quality dog food with few additives and natural preservatives alleviates some of these concerns.
So like the chemicals that effect children's behaviour, do we have the same happening to our dogs, changing our beloved docile dog into a killing machine? Very likely.
Back to us and our health; we know or are told that raw is best, even a moderate amount of heat in cooking kills enzymes and destroys nutritional values.
Juicing vegetables in a common juicer where the blades heat up, causes a loss of 40% or more of the goodness.
The slow juicers that squeeze the juice out of your carrots will give you 100% of the goodness available. Wheat grass grown with all the minerals and elements possible, added to the growing medium, then the grass squeezed through a manual juicer and drunk, will make a remarkable difference to your health.
Growing your own vegetables and fruit with all the minerals and elements added to the soil will provide you with the best medicine known to man.
There is a problem though, which is; the cell structure of plant leaves are some of the toughest cells on the planet and our jaws are not capable of breaking the cells open to obtain the maximum benefits.
Think of a cow in a paddock chewing its cud, it is getting the maximum out of the food.
We can do that, instead we can use a high speed blender (up to 42,000 RPM) to smash open the cell structure.
The common low speed blenders which do about 2500 RPM are no where as good but far better than nothing.
In my last book, Wallys Gardening and Health I describe how anyone with a few buckets, some purchased compost and 3 mineral rich products, can simply grow a few leafy type vegetables and herbs with the highest possible nutritional values, then with the add of a high speed blender convert them to a liquid (Green Smoothie) which should assist with any health aspect as a preventive, or to reverse a condition.
Your body is a remarkable machine (to use a term) give it the means, and it will heal itself.
It is so simple and basic, so why don't we do it? I do and my doctor hates me.
If you have a green smoothie once or twice a day, eat naturally grown fruit raw, drink plenty of filtered water, do a bit of exercise and you will be a much healthier person.
It would not only save the country millions of dollars each year, it would save you a lot of money and suffering too. You do not need a big garden just a few buckets or a raised garden or two.
Its a lot of fun and the rewards will assist in you having a long and healthy life.
Make your garden centre your new chemist!
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Autumn is the ideal time to sow new lawns or patch up existing ones.
When the autumn rains begin to moisten up the soil is the perfect time to sow lawn seed.
With a little additional watering you can keep the soil moist allowing seeds to germinate and establish. Then the new grasses have the rest of autumn, winter and spring to establish before they hit a hot dry summer.
Likewise perennials, shrubs and trees are best planted in the autumn.
Now is the time to prepare for your sowings of lawn seed.
The first aspect is to get rid of any weeds in the lawn if you are not going to rotary hoe the lawn and start a fresh. There are a number of lawn weed killers on the market and if the lawn weeds are grass weeds then a product such as Roundup can either be selectively sprayed or wiped over the leaves with a paint brush.
If you opt to sow a completely new lawn then kill off the existing one with Roundup and Woody Weed Killer combined, prior to rotary hoeing. (Add Raingard to the spray for better results)
Once the area is turned over and leveled off you keep the soil moist to germinate any weed seeds.
As soon as there is a show of weeds, spray them or hoe them out. Repeat this as many times as possible to eliminate as many weeds as possible.
If you do not do this you will have a weedy new lawn later on.
Drainage is important and if the area is prone to ponding then Nova flow pipes should be placed through the area and run off to your storm water system.
If you have a heavy or light soil you may wish to import top soil for your new lawn. This will be full of weeds so once spread out, follow the above to kill the weeds.
If after killing off the weeds in an existing lawn you may wish to thicken up the grasses by over sowing the lawn with fresh seeds.
This action is done in the autumn when the soil is moist by hiring a scarifier which will rip out the thatch in the lawn and make grooves which are ideal for broadcasting the new seed into.
After sowing the seed lightly water to settle the seed onto the soil and then roll the lawn to press the seed into the moist soil.
If you repeat this action each autumn (for a few seasons) you will obtain a lovely lawn that is dense in nice grasses making it very difficult for weeds to establish.
If your lawn has thatch (thats the debris that builds up on the soil surface) you can either scarify the lawn or spray the product called Thatch Busta which can eat up an inch of thatch in a month if kept moist. (not wet) Autumn is the ideal time to do this.
If you desire a good lawn then you must sow top quality lawn seed which is not cheap but well worth it.
Super Strike is a good lawn seed otherwise confer with the companies that supply lawn seed to Green Keepers.
A number of gardeners have contacted me recently with a problem of brown patches in the lawn.
This can be what is called dry spot which means that water or rain sheds off those areas leaving the grass to brown off through lack of moisture. Often the surrounding grasses are lush and green as they are getting all the water.
To fix this problem you need to fill a watering can with warm water and give it a good squirt of dish washing liquid. Lather up the water then spread it over the dry spot, it will help break the surface tension that prevents water penetrating.
Autumn is also a good time to control grass grubs in lawns as they are near the surface and easier to kill.
I always advise people to lift some turf to establish if there are a number of grass grubs in the lawn.
This is best done in areas where past problems have occurred but other test lifts can be applied at different spots on a lawn. You may find that some areas are badly infested where other areas have little or no grubs.
This can also save you a lot of money by only treating the infected areas. The lawn needs to have been moist for a couple of weeks prior to testing as the grubs go deep and dormant in dry conditions.
A safe product to use, if you do not want to use a harmful chemical, is Professor Mac’s 3 in 1 for lawns.
It is a liquid made up of Tea Tree and Eucalyptus oils with a lawn food and wetting agent. The 2 litre container snaps onto the hose for spreading.
Those that prefer a chemical can use the product called, Lawn Pest Control. It is a granule chemical that is spread over the lawn and watered in.
If Porina caterpillars are a pest in your lawn then simply mow the lawn and that evening spray the lawn with Neem Tree Oil. Repeat a couple of weeks later.
I absolutely believe that a nice lawn sets off a nice garden, and that a poor lawn detracts attention from an otherwise lovely garden. It’s a little bit like a beautiful picture, framed with an ugly frame.
Great looking lawns and great looking gardens go hand in glove, so to speak.
Many well-tended gardens entered into competitions have failed to do well simply because of a poor-quality lawn. You might remember viewing some really nice gardens on the 1999 television show presented by Maggie Barry. Some of these gardens were badly let down by messy lawns, patchy with clover and weeds.
Anyone mowing their lawn will notice an instant transformation to their overall landscape. Sadly, the effect lasts just a few days before the lawns start looking scruffy again. Mowing is one of the gardening pleasures of those gardeners growing a great lawn.
Conversely it is one of the biggest bugbears endured by those growing a so-so average lawn, as they use mowing to cut down the weeds. Weeds grow faster than grass, and make a lawn look very unkempt.
The weeds problem is exacerbated by mowing a lawn low or scalping it, as it is called. This process opens up spaces in which weeds are more able to germinate and grow. Some lawn mowing contractors are prone to mowing in this manner, as it means they will have to come back more frequently to do the job, increasing their income.
It is possible to have a tremendous looking lawn, but it does take a little bit of time and effort to maintain it to that standard. No more so, however, than the time and effort required to maintain an average to poor quality lawn!
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February is the last month of summer and the time when many pest insects have built up big populations, if you have not been on the ball with your controls. It is very easy to miss a build up and then a lot harder to gain control.
I got caught out recently with my zucchini plants, normally great producers, I started to wonder why they were not preforming as usual. When I went to pick the sole fruit on one plant I noticed aphids had fallen on my hand. A quick look under the leaves revealed thousands of the pests sucking the goodness out of the plants and thus the reason for so few mature fruit.
The answer was to mix up Neem Tree Oil with Key Pyrethrum added into a trigger sprayer and then to fold back every leaf and spray the underside. Within a couple of days the vigor came back to the plants but another couple of sprays will be needed to keep the populations from building up again.
Mites, thrips, leaf hoppers, aphids, psyllids, whitefly and caterpillars can soon get out of control and reduce crop production which is something we do not need.
I sometimes get a call from gardeners that say even though they are spraying regularly with Neem Oil and Pyrethrum they cannot get on top of a pest insect population.
There is a simple reason for this as the pests are re-infesting from other plants near by and sometimes from a neighbouring property where the people are not spraying.
If this is the case then you need to check all your own plants in the area including weeds for the pests and spray those plants as well.
If coming from next door then you need to get permission from the neighbours to spray their gardens as well. If not you will have an on going fight till winter.
I struck an interesting problem this week from a gardener that told me that gum was oozing out of the trunk of a citrus tree. I had not come across this problem previously so did a bit of research and found that the condition is called Phytophthora gummosis.
An early symptom of Phytophthora gummosis is sap oozing from small cracks in the infected bark, giving the tree a bleeding appearance. The gumming may be washed off during heavy rain. The bark stays firm, dries, and eventually cracks and sloughs off.
Lesions spread around the circumference of the trunk, slowly girdling the tree. Decline may occur rapidly within a year, especially under conditions favorable for disease development, or may occur over several years.
Phytophthora fungi are present in almost all citrus orchards. Under moist conditions, the fungi produce large numbers of motile zoospores, which are splashed onto the tree trunks.
The Phytophthora species causing gummosis develop rapidly under moist, cool conditions. Hot summer weather slows disease spread and helps drying and healing of the lesions.
Secondary infections often occur through lesions created by Phytophthora.
These infections kill and discolor the wood, in contrast to Phytophthora infections, which do not discolor wood.
The answer is to par away diseased bark (without ring barking the trunk) and then paint straight Liquid Copper over the clean areas.
Fruit on trees and plants such as tomatoes become very heavy as they reach maturity placing a lot of stress on the branches and trunks.
On my beef steak tomatoes I have noted that the branches bearing the large fruit are bending under the weight and need further ties for support. If this is not done at some point the branches snap off causing losses. Ties onto bamboo stakes can also slip down the stake adding to the problem.
Very large fruit weighing up from 250 grams to near a kilo are a heavy item for a plant and maybe the support of old bras maybe needed with the fruit cupped nicely into the cup of the bra, which is secured to a strong stake. On bushy plants a number of stakes maybe needed.
It is also a good idea to take the odd lateral off a tomato plant at this time and strike it as a cutting in a small pot. These can be progressively potted up into bigger containers and provide ripe tomatoes late in the season as winter comes on. Been planted into containers which can be moved later to sheltered spots to protect from winds and frosts.
Several weeks ago when my tomatoes started ripening I had several attacks from birds pecking at the ripening fruit. A few lengths of Bird Repeller Ribbon fixed to the stakes soon put an end to the bird damage.
If you are growing pumpkins it pays to check the plants every day or so and pollinate the female flowers by taking a male flower with pollen on the stamin, off the vine, remove the petals (which are editable) and wipe some of the pollen onto each female flower’s centre. (The female flowers are the ones with the baby fruit behind the petals) Do this and you will be sure of a good crop.
If you want larger pumpkins then set 2 or 3 fruit per plant and then pinch out the leader (growing tip) this is then likely to cause side branching and these should also be removed. If you don't want extra big pumpkins then don't worry about pinching out, just feed the plant well with either liquid manures or Cucumber Booster.
All flowering and fruiting plants should be given a dose of potash every few weeks to enhance the flowering and fruiting. This also applies to tomatoes for better flavour if you are not already using my Secret Tomato food which has ample potash in it.
Gardens areas where crops are now been harvested should be given a good dose of animal manure and winter crops of seedlings planted. If you do not want to plant up vegetables for winter then after manuring, plant green crops of any of the following, mustard, lupin, oats, wheat or peas.
I like peas as you can get a nice crop of peas as well as having the nitrogen rich foliage and roots for conditioning the soil for next season.
Another aspect is if you are repotting any plants into larger containers always plunge the plant into a tub of water prior to potting up. If you don't and the original mix is too dry then water may not penetrate into the old mix and the plant may suffer and in some cases die.
I learnt this lesson years ago in one of my nurseries where I lost lots of miniature roses as their pots were too dry and the damp mix I was using to repot did not allow the old mix to take up water.
Always learning. Seedlings in punnets and cell packs should also be plunged into a tub or bucket of water before planting out. It reduces root damage and gives them a better start after planting out.
Young weeds that have sprouted in gardens should be lightly hoed on a sunny day to be left on the soil to wither in the sun.
They are great food for the soil food web.
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Many gardeners are always looking for ways to improve their gardens whether it be vegetables, roses, ornamentals or fruit trees.
Their goal is to have very healthy plants, wonderful roses, great lawns and excellent crops.
There are a number of things that you can do to improve your gardens by improving your soils.
The optimum is to have a soil that is teeming with microbes which make up what we call the soil food web.
This creates humus from the trillions of their dead bodies and gives the plants the ultimate growing medium.
A good indication of how good your garden soils are, is by the number of earthworms present in a square foot of soil. If there are none you have a problem, if there are about 25 that is good and if there are about 100 that is excellent.
Earthworms will only be found if the soil is kept moist. That is moist not soaking wet.
The same applies to your soil food web, it needs ample moisture to keep growing and thriving.
When the soil becomes too dry or too wet then activity stops.
Chemicals kill the soil food web and badly affect your worm populations.
This not only includes chemical (man made) fertilisers but also chemical sprays including chemical weed killers and chlorinated water from your tap.
It is not difficult to overcome all of the above by just not using them on your gardens, especially where your food crops and preferred plants such as roses are growing.
If you are in an area where chlorinated water is in your tap then you need to place a 10 micron carbon bonded filter onto your hose line to remove the chemical. This will remove the chlorine from about 16000 litres of water before it needs to be replaced.
If you have silty (sediment) water then your carbon filter will block up quickly and to overcome this problem you place a paper filter in line, prior to the carbon filter. (The paper filter can be cleaned and reused for many years with care)
Calcium is the fuel that microbes need so dependant on what plants are growing in an area, soft garden lime is applied (not to acid loving plants) and dolomite and gypsum are also applied.
Dolomite is calcium and magnesium where gypsum is calcium and sulphur. These are two more valuable and needed elements for good gardens. Calcium can also be supplied by applying crushed egg shells and sea shells.
For a natural food one can not better animal manures from chickens, horses, cattle, sheep and pigs.
These can be applied directly to bare soil in a solid form or made into liquid manures.
Potash and BioPhos should also be applied every few months or more frequently as needed with the potash.
Lack of some elements can cause other elements not to be taken up by plants, even though there are ample of them in the growing medium. One of these is Boron which most of our soils are deficient in.
The product OrganiBOR is a natural slow release boron which is only applied about once every 3 years.
It can make a big difference to gardens as a number of gardeners have noticed after applying it.
Especially good for fruit trees and vegetable gardens.
Microbes play a very important role in the garden and are vital to the health of plants.
The plants supply carbohydrates (sugars) at their roots for the microbes and in turn the microbes supply the plant with nutrients, moisture, plus small organic compounds such as growth regulators which form a primary defence against pathogens. (Diseases)
Take away the microbial activity by watering with chlorinated water and your plants suffer and are more susceptible to diseases (black spot, rust, rots etc)
With the use of Mycorrcin we can build up the microbe populations in the soil and on the plants.
Mycorrcin is primary a food for the soil life and secondly for the plants.
Used at 1 mil per litre of non-chlorinated water as a soil drench say every 3 months and at 5mils per litre of non chlorinated water as a spray every 2 weeks.
The results can be seen for yourself as an improvement in your gardens.
This is especially so with strawberries where your crops will increase by between 200 to 400%
Minerals and elements are very important for the health and production of your gardens.
There are 114 known natural minerals and elements and if they are all available in the soil your plants grow in, then the plants themselves can choose which ones they require.
For instance I am told that a tomato plant requires 56 different elements.
At the very best you would get about 16 minerals in a man made fertiliser.
To obtain all the minerals, we need to look to the ocean, rocks and prehistoric mineral resources.
(In prehistoric times the earth was mineral rich)
Ocean Solids brings us the minerals from the seas. Rok Solid the minerals from various rocks along with natural silica which is also vital to the soil life.
Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) which is minerals from prehistoric times.
Ocean Solids is applied sparingly to gardens once a year.
Rok Solid twice a year and placed into the planting hole when planting out. Great help in root development.
MBL is a liquid and is used at 20 mils per litre as a soil drench and at 10 mils per litre as a foliage spray.
It can be added to your Mycorrcin drench and sprays and normally applied at the same frequency.
If you like to use man made fertilisers to give plants a boost then a little applied to the root zone and watered in with Mycorrcin and MBL will reduce the damage done by the fertilisers.
This reminds me back in the days (many years ago) when I had plant nurseries and we used to regularly spray out the glasshouses with all sorts of chemical sprays to control pests and disease.
Within a day or so of spraying the plants, they would look poorly and it would take a week or more for the plants to rid the chemicals out of themselves.
To help overcome this problem and get them back growing again we would add a good liquid plant food to the chemical sprays.
Taking care of the soil is a major key to having great gardens.

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Looking after house plants and container plants during the summer can be a daily activity.
This is particularly so when it comes to the potted plant’s water needs.
Outdoors container grown plants, once their roots fill the pot, will likely need watering every day and on some days, twice. Hanging baskets of plants outdoors are heavy users of water as they lose more moisture than containers sitting on the ground.
On the other hand indoor potted plants will likely need watering once or twice a week and in some cases even more frequently.
Outdoor plants in containers where a potting mix has been used as the growing medium, dry out quicker than ones that you have used compost as the growing medium.
This still applies if wetting agents have been applied to the potting mix.
Potting mix these days is mostly bark fines with slow release fertilisers added along with some lime and maybe other additives. Some potting mixes may still be peat based or have peat moss added.
Potting mixes are ideal for indoor plants but in my opinion hopeless for outdoor use.
The problem occurs when the potting mix drys out it creates a surface tension which does not allow water to penetrate. Thus when you water the water tends to go to the sides of the pot and then run out the drainage holes, on the way through the plant is able to gain some moisture.
The water is not able to penetrate into much of the mix, leaving areas of the mix and roots bone dry.
The result of this is that in next to no time the plant is drooping through lack of moisture and often parts of the plant’s foliage will wither and die.
When a friable purchased compost is used as the growing medium it retains water far better and will accept water much more readily than a pile of bark fines called potting mix or shrub & tub.
Even using a good compost mix on a hot day a plant may need two waterings dependant on the size of the plant and the size of the container.
There is also a danger of over watering when using compost in a larger container with a young plant that is still establishing. Care must be taken.
When you notice that the water you apply to a container runs out the drainage holes quickly and the plant’s mix soon drys out again, then you can do one of two things to throughly moisten all the mix.
The first and the best method is to fill a large tub or bath with water and plunge the containers into the water and watch them bubbly away. The more bubbles the more dry areas. When it stops bubbling then the mix is wet right through, lift and allow excess water to drain out and then place back in the original spot. Next time you come to water the water will stay in the mix.
(Note punnets of seedlings should also be plunged before separating them for planting out) After a period of time, especially if the mix has dried out too much you will need to plunge again.
Hanging baskets outdoors will fare better with a weekly plunge.
Being summer it is not a bad idea to treat all your indoor plants in the same manner, just do not do it in direct sunlight. Afterwards leave them in a shaded area to drain. They will likely only need one treatment if you are consistent with supplying their moisture needs.
If you have very large containers that cannot be plunged then fill a bucket with warm water and add a good squirt of dish washing liquid to it. Agitate the water to make it soapy right through then slowly pour the contents over the top of the mix ensuring that all surface areas are covered.
The soapy water breaks the surface tension and allows water to penetrate.
This same method can be used on gardens and lawns for dry spots. (Bare spots of dried grass on lawns with a ring of healthy grasses around is often ‘Dry Spot’.)
You can also reduce your potted plants water needs by spraying Vaporgard over and under the foliage.
One spray will last for about 3 months on foliage sprayed. It will also help reduce disease and insect damage.
Most disease damage to container plants is caused by overwatering. You need to be aware as we head into autumn that the need to water is reduced. Do not carry on watering on the same frequency as you had to do in summer.
Powdery mildew can also be a problem as the weather cools and sprays of baking soda and Raingard will protect foliage from this problem.
Insects can get indoors and attack pot plants. Sometimes insect pests will get inside when bringing cut flowers indoors.
Always check the flowers you bring inside for pests.
The following applies to containers both inside and out.
One of the worst pests would be mealy bugs. These inhabit the root zone and then move up into the foliage. If you lift your plants out of their containers and notice white cotton wool like wisps on the inside of the container and on the outside of the growing medium then that plant has mealybugs.
Neem Tree Granules can be scattered over the top of the mix to assist in control.
A solution of Neem Tree Oil at 25mils per litre of warm water can be watered over the granules when the medium is moist to strengthen the amount of Neem getting into the roots.
Indoors you may not like the sight or smell of the granules breaking down so you can cover them with additional mix or just water the Neem Oil in, without the granules.
Any of the pests in the foliage and stems should be sprayed with Neem Tree Oil at 15mil per litre of warm water. Do this outside in a shaded area such as in a garage, then leave to dry before returning to their spot.
The same spray treatment can be applied to any other insect pests such as scale, thrips, aphids etc.
If the plant has mites then a spray of Liquid Sulphur will deal to them. Do not use in conjunction with Neem Oil or if Neem Oil is present on the plant.
(Thats Liquid Sulphur NOT Lime Sulphur a totally different spray that burns)
Plants that have filled their containers can either be re-potted into larger pots or alternatively lifted out of the pot and the bottom third of roots sawn off. Place fresh mix back into the base of the pot to fill the third that has been removed and pop the plant back in.
With shrubs and fruiting plants this should be done every two years.
The plant will come away nicely after treatment and make new growth.
You can mix some Rok Solid into the bottom third of new mix to great advantage.
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It is Saturday in Palmerston North, and while I am writing this, nice showers are wetting the soil and plants are growing in response.
It has been a poor spring and summer so far for gardening, but hopefully conditions will improve in February, if they don't then its going to be a bad season overall.
Poor seasons are accepted as part of the life of a seasoned gardener but for the newer gardeners it is a set back they don't need. In gardening you take the good with the bad and garden on, without losing heart.
Recently I watch the gardening program on the Prime channel which would be of assistance to newer gardeners.
There was some good points raised and been the critic I am there were aspects that I did not agree with.
I had not seen any previous episodes but obviously this young family had converted some lawn area into a few raised gardens.
The first thing that struck me was that the raised gardens were too wide, which meant that you had to walk on them to sow, plant and harvest.
This is wrong as a raised garden should not be walked on, or suitable paths be placed through, so that you can tend plants without walking on the growing areas.
Tramping down your growing areas means you would need to dig and cultivate the compacted areas; a raised garden should be a no dig garden.
Walking across lawns and into the raised gardens would likely bring grass seeds in to become weed seeds and more work keeping the weeds under control. As the garden heights were not great, I prefer a raised garden to be about half a metre tall or more to prevent weed seeds blowing into the area.
Then another thing occurred to me, in the middle of a couple of the large raised gardens, climbing frames had been placed for beans and cucumbers.
Around these frames various vegetables were planted, many of which were too close anyway (good spacing had not been allowed) and I wonder how, when the plants reached maturity, one would be able to get to the frames to harvest without trampling other produce.
Carrot seedlings purchased were transplanted which normally is silly but in this case the carrots were called rolly pollies or something similar and they only grow as a round ball. Not having the length of root normal carrots have, they are suitable for transplanting.
The problem solving part talked about the stress plants suffer when transplanted from open punnets.
The expert never gave a solution to this but said you should never water plants in full sun.
I expect that the same person has never heard of sun showers.
Mind you rain on a sunny day is very much less likely to cause any burning of foliage when you compare it to chlorinated water from the tap.
How do you get around the problem of transplanting seedlings to reduce the stress of having their roots damaged?
Firstly you can spray the seedlings with Vaporgard a day or so before transplanting.
This greatly reduces moisture loss through the foliage and takes the stress off their root system and foliage.
Secondly you plunge the whole punnet into a tub of water and watch it bubble away.
This ensures that the mix is soaking wet and roots will come away from the mix with far less damage.
Finally you never plant out while the sun is on the garden, wait till later in the day when its cooler (and a better time to garden) then do your transplanting.
As for watering during a sunny day, if you have a filter on your tap to remove the chlorine then you can water but to be on the safe side, hand water the soil not the plants which is easy to do with a wand type attachment. The wand should have a fine rose which puts out soft water spray.
On a hot day if your soil has dried and plants are in stress it is better to water the soil then than wait for further damage to the plants. Plants in stress are more prone to disease and insect attack than plants not in stress. Its the same with us, stress can cause health problems.
When a plant goes into stress though insufficient moisture it stops growing and you lose valuable sun hours.
Then there is a situation such as with tomatoes and some other crops that the soil can be moist but the foliage is transpiring so fast that the root system cant keep up with the moisture loss.
If this is the case you simply spray the foliage under and over with Vaporgard which can reduce the water needs by 30 to 40%.
The film of Vaporgard lasts on the foliage sprayed for about 3 months.
It will also reduce the possibility of disease or insect attack and your plants will gather more energy from the sun growing faster and better.
Talking about tomatoes it has been a bad season this year so far, with a lot of fungus attacks because of the weather patterns.
Fruit is not ripening as quickly as they should and often as they begin to ripen the birds attack.
I started picking the fruit as they changed colour to finish ripening indoors, placing them in a bowl with an apple to speed up the process. I also have strung a few lengths of Bird Repeller Ribbon from the stakes to deter the birds.
Between the two aspects I now have a nice supply of ripe tomatoes.
During a recent conversation with a fellow gardener I was told that you should never store carrots near apples as it makes the carrots bitter. Learn something new every day.
Stem rot in tomatoes has also been another complaint from gardeners and yes I have lost a couple of plants to this disease also.
One plant that showed the signs of stem rot the other week, with its collapsing foliage, on examination I noticed that it had two branches about a foot long above the rot area and these branches had dimples which are the beginnings of aerial roots.
So I broke them off the dying plant and plunged them into the growing medium to the depth of about 4 inches.
Both these are now standing up nicely as their roots are keeping the foliage in adequate moisture.
I might have lost the main plant but now have two establishing plants to replace.
The same can be done with laterals to give you more tomato plants.
Weather permitting these cutting grown tomato plants will fruit well into autumn and early winter.
The water need for tomatoes on a daily bases varies dependant on temperature, soil type and time of the year.
On a hot day the mature plant may use 1 to 3 litres of water. If there is insufficient moisture at the time the fruit is setting then blossom end rot will occur.
This happens more so in container grown plants than in open ground.
With containers you may need to give them a drink twice a day or alternatively spray the foliage with Vaporgard to reduce moisture loss.

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Gardens can be blessed or cursed by our four legged friends and the winged ones, dependant on your own attitude to the pleasure or harm that they may contribute.
We are talking about dogs, cats, hedgehogs, chickens and other bird life wild or in captivity.
Dogs are mankind's best friend, loyal, loving and devoted to a caring family. They are best owned in pairs of either opposite or same sex and should ideally live indoors with their two legged family especially during the night.
Pairs should be obtained ideally as puppies and then they will learn to be part of the whole family including any other pets. Obtaining adult dogs can be a bit more disruptive dependant on their previous experiences.
The problems they may give a gardener are digging and toileting.
The first rule is to never work in your gardens while a puppy or dog is around, unless they are high, raised gardens or containers.
They may watch you planting, making holes and then later on, with all good intentions, repeat the process for you. Unfortunately they usually make holes where you do not want them to do so.
Dogs should be given meaty bones regularly for their enjoyment and health of their teeth and jaws.
Dogs have a habit of burying excess bones for later consumption so always remove any bones after they have chewed on them, it will save you another problem of dug up gardens.
Likely the worst problem is urine and the damage it will do to plants or lawns.
The first dog pee of the morning is one of the best natural weedkillers you could wish for, that is of course if they directed it to offending weeds rather than onto your row of petunias.
There is always a solution to every problem and so if you make a small bark garden area with a pole or two in the area (for the male dogs), fenced off completely, from the rest of the section for their first toilet of the day.
On arising take them directly to their toilet area and wait till they have done their business.
You may need to put them on a lead to reach the area and once inside remove the lead.
During the day the same area should be open to allow them access.
One of the best breeds of dogs for good behaviour aspects would be Shar Pei and I currently have 4 of them and several now past on over the last 20 odd years.
Cats are also great companions to many but much more independent in their natures than dogs.
I currently feed two feral cats at my back door, both females which I have caught and had spayed to prevent the multitude of kittens they can produce.
They serve me a great purpose, ridding the rat problem that I had experienced in the past and keeping the mice populations at bay.
They also have reduced bird damage to tomatoes and other fruit and yet there are good populations of birds here. (I think they are well enough fed not to hunt for food) They do not harm my chickens either and in fact are a bit scared of them especially the rooster.
I also have a kitten from one of the feral litters which is now an adult girl and spayed also.
I was amazed that she was able to settle in with my four Shar Pei who love to chase anything that runs, in fact she teases them every now and then.
Been originally feral she lives in two manners, indoors loving and sleeping but will spend much time in the wild of the area.
Cats are a problem for many gardeners and often it is the cats from other houses that come to toilet in your freshly worked beds.
There are solutions for this such as having either your own dominate, territorial cat to keep others away or a dog that loves chasing cats to protect the section.
The next alternative is to sprinkle naphthalene flakes around areas where you do not want cats to go.
The flakes are sold by a number of garden centres under the simple name, Cat Repellent.
The smell is the same as moth balls and appear to be about 95% effective in deterring cats.
If used in food crop areas then do not place on the soil as they are a chemical, instead place in lids.
As the flakes evaporate they can sting the cat’s eyes and they do not like the smell. (I think that the cats may believe that there is a monster cat around and the smell is from its toilets so they give the treated area a wide berth.)
In dry areas the flakes will last for sometime before the need to refreshen, in areas that are rained on, more frequent applications will be needed. They also will keep a lot of other vermin away such as rats, mice, moths and cockroaches.
For cats that take no notice of the flakes then try soaking used tea bags in citronella oil and scattering these around.
Hedgehogs are a blessing and you are fortunate if you have a nest nearby, they will hunt out slugs and snails in the evening and solve another pest gardening problem for you.
Put out a dish of milk for them on the odd evening.
They can suffer from mange caused by mites and result in skin problems and loss of guills.
Catch the effected ones and powder them with sulphur or wash then in a diluted solution of Neem Oil.
By the way Neem Oil added to your dog bath water will control fleas.
The same can be used on either cats or dogs by soaking a cloth in Neem Oil and rubbing this over them. Also great for nit control.
Birds are great to have in your gardens as they enhance the atmosphere with their bird song and will assist in the control of garden pests.
The problem arises when fruit are ripening and they start pecking it.
There are several methods that can be employed to save a good amount of fruit for yourselves.
Firstly most fruit as it is starting to ripen can be picked to ripen indoors. This can be assisted to speed up the process by placing an apple or two with the unripened fruit.
Often not as nice as tree ripened but at least you get your share.
Bird netting can be employed to prevent birds getting onto the fruit but with trees this can be difficult to use and remove.
There is a Bird Repeller Ribbon which is highly reflective tape with holograms imprinted and will work as a deterrent for short periods of time while fruit is ripening.
Similarly you can use CD discs strung like wind chimes, whirling in the breeze to keep the fruit safe.
Another method can be spraying the tree with Nitrosol (Liquid Blood & Bone) which can also act as a deterrent.
Its great to have friends in the garden but not so hot when they upset your world.

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A weed can be defined as a plant growing where you do not want it to grow.
It maybe a preferred plant that has seeded or spread to become invasive, or it maybe a non desired plant that has made its home in your gardens.
I spoke to one gardener this week who had been told that horseradish makes a good companion plant so he had planted horseradish in several areas of his garden.
Horseradish spreads by its root system similar to convolvulus, couch and a number of other invasive weeds. This gardener now has a major problem trying to gain control.
Horseradish and mints are best grown in containers where they are secure in the pot. It is also advisable not to have the container in contact with the soil as they can creep out of the drainage holes to take over the area.
We often can cause our weed problems by our garden practices such as mowing our lawns when the grasses are in seed and placing the clippings in a compost bin or mulching onto our gardens.
Seed ridden compost, mulched or dug into gardens will produce a weeding problem for you later.
Recently a few gardeners have contacted me in regards to roses, tomatoes, beans and potatoes either dying or becoming mis-shaped in their new growth. (Feathery or distorted foliage) Some of these had applied green waste compost to their soils and this was why.
Green waste compost is a great idea in recycling garden wastes but what happens at times, is some gardener sprays his lawn with a herbicide to kill the weeds and later when he mows the lawn the clippings are taken to a green recycle unit.
The operators have no idea that the clippings contain an active herbicide which will affect some plants in your garden such as roses, beans, tomatoes and potatoes.
The other cause of the distorted foliage on these plants was due to herbicide spray drift which could have resulted in the same gardener using Roundup or similar otherwise it would be another gardener somewhere in the area.
Often people believe that spraying on a calm day is best when in actual fact it is the worst time.
Minute droplets of spray are lifted by upward air currents and float along in the air in any direction to later fall somewhere.
These could come from a mile away or from next door. When they land on say your tomato plants they cause damage. A good dose will kill the plant, a light dose will cause distortions in the new growth.
There should be a breeze at the time of spraying so you can direct your herbicide onto target plants and away from desired plants.
A simple safe proof way which allows you to spray on a windy day is to make a shield out of a two litre ice cream container by drilling a hole in the middle of the container at the right size to fit over the wand of the sprayer when the nozzle is removed.
Place the end of the wand through the hole and then screw back on the nozzle.
You place the container over the weeds and give it a squirt of weed killer, beware of any dripping onto preferred plants.
This also prevents any upward drift of herbicide to affect your plants or your neighbors . Another safety point is never use a sprayer for any purpose that any herbicide has been used in previously unless it is another herbicide you intend to use.
Some gardeners will not use a chemical herbicide on their sections and I am one of these.
We do weed control by the good old fashion method of hand weeding, have free range chickens in areas to clean up weeds or use salt, vinegar or oils for control.
For instance if you have a waste area or alternatively cobbles or similar, where weeds grow then good doses of salt will keep those areas free of weeds for sometime.
Sprays of vinegar or cooking type oils used on a sunny day when the ground is on the dry side will dehydrate the foliage of the weeds sprayed and in the case of annual weeds, kill them.
Perennial weeds will need further treatments or be pulled out. These sprays will also affect desired plants if you are not careful.
Another method is to use Sulphate of Ammonia which is 21% nitrogen and 23.6% sulphur, if this is sprinkled onto the centre of a weed such as a dandelion, dry and left dry it will burn out the crown.
Chemical herbicides are a quick way of controlling weeds and if you prefer to use them, then that is fine but remember that they are lethal chemicals and can cause you, children, pets and wildlife harm and health concerns.
Full protective clothing should be warn and areas sprayed should have a no entry time for children and pets. This includes the same precautions when using glyphosate brands which includes the most common one, Roundup.
If you put Raingard into any herbicide you are using you will obtain better results.
Sometimes a combination of herbicides will work better for you if spraying different weeds.
A combination of two or more such as say Woodyweed Killer and Roundup. Where Woodyweed Killer will not kill grass weeds, Roundup will but the Roundup may not affect some woody weeds for a absolute kill.
Here are a few more tips using herbicides:
If trying to kill an ivy cut the trunks coming out of the ground, a few inches up and cut again a few more inches off, so you can paint the stumps with a straight solution of Woodyweed Killer or Roundup.
The top foliage will die off in time and the chemicals should kill the root system. Any new shoots should be sprayed as soon as they appear.
Invasive weeds from next door can be sprayed or it the case of convolvulus you can make up a solution of say Woodyweed Killer and Roundup and place them into a container or jar and then take the growing leaders of the weed and put them into the solution. The leaders will take up the solution and it will travel back over to next door wiping out an area of the weed.
Repeat this with every leader and you will solve a problem for sometime.
Gorse can be killed slowly with a heavy dose of garden lime applied to the root zone.
This is a method by which you alter the pH of the soil and thus it can become a hostile environment for some weeds or plants. The other way is to acidify the soil with good doses of sulphate of iron or similar which will control alkaline loving weeds. Beware that areas treated can also harm preferred plants.
There is a golden rule in weed control and that is every plant needs to obtain energy from the sun though their foliage, if you keep removing the foliage as soon as it appears eventually the weed has to fail.
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Welcome back to the New Year and the middle of the summer season.
The gardening year starts in June and finishes a year later in the following May so that puts us about halfway through.
I am writing this in advance, a couple of days before the first of January and the weather at this time is windy here in Palmerston North and still not great after a poor spring.
This break from my normal work has allowed me some time to get stuck into the mess my container plants and raised gardens had become.
I will not use any chemical herbicides to clear the weeds and grasses that grow up out of the gravel in my garden area. Outside of pulling up grasses and suitable weeds for my chickens, the area around the raised gardens and containers had become over grown and a real mess.
My answer to this was to clear the area by hand best as possible and then lay down heavy gauge black plastic sheets over the gravel. This should reduce my weed problem in future and over the plastic, to hold it in place, shingle has been laid.
I even got to put up a lean to glasshouse that I had in storage so I can grow a passion fruit vine and a few other tender plants.
The weather in Palmerston North years ago, used to be ok to grow passion fruit vines outside in a sunny sheltered area as long as you protected them in the winter. Now the lack of constant warm/hot weather in the summer means they often fail outside, after the first season.
I have had a number of gardeners from certain areas report failure in their early crops of potatoes for the season.
The tops grew great with no indication of a problem but when lifted only marble sized potatoes were found. They were not aware of the new pest called the potato/tomato psyllid which releases a toxin while sucking on the stems and leaves of potatoes and tomatoes preventing the spuds or fruit to develop and you end up with small useless fruit or spuds.
The answer is to place Neem Tree Granules into the planting hole (about a tablespoon) at planting time of either crop.
With tomatoes also sprinkle some on the soil in the root zone and repeat about 6-8 weeks later. Do the same with the potatoes after you have finished mounding up.
A spray every so often with Neem Tree Oil for total coverage of the plant will also assist.
I have used this method at the beginning of spring when planting out the early potatoes and they have grown as they should where last season, one later crop was a complete failure.
It is also a good idea to plant a few more tomato plants at this time.
Some garden centres still have plants available but if you cannot find any then take a few laterals off your existing plants and strike them as cuttings in small pots.
To speed up the striking spray the laterals you are going to strike with Vaporgard a day before removing from the parent plant.
These later plants will grow to maturity and produce ripe tomatoes late in the season likely when your originals have finished and at a time when tomatoes become dear to buy.
Another important aspect is to keep feeding your existing plants.
A number of gardeners neglect this once they start to pick ripe fruit and thus they do not get the millage out of their plants as they should.
If birds attack the ripening fruit you can protect them with Bird Ribbon or alternatively pick the fruit as they start to change colour and ripen them off the plant indoors.

Dead head flower plants including your roses which mean simply cutting off the old withering flowers.
This promotes new flowers as the plants want to create seeds and if the old flowers are removed they will not form seed pods and so the plants keep trying.
If rust attack any plants then make up a mild solution of potassium permanganate (Condys Crystals) by placing a few grains into water to make a nice mid lilac/purple colour. Spray this over the effected plants.
For mildew take a couple of heaped tablespoons of baking soda to each litre of warm water, stir and add a mil of Raingard (per litre) and spray this for prevention and control.
A number of gardeners have informed me that by sprinkling Neem Tree Granules on the soil under their roses has greatly assisted in the control of insect pests.
If you are growing brassicas such as cabbage etc then sprinkle the granules onto the soil in their root zone to control white butterfly caterpillars. It works a treat especially if started at planting time with a bit in the planting hole as well as on the soil.
Repeat the soil application about every 6 to 8 weeks.
Likely we will be looking at drought situations in some areas soon, so it is a good time to mulch gardens to conserve moisture.
Hopefully we will also have some good weather and growing conditions over the next few months which means it is a great time to plant up crops for autumn harvest and also start planting vegetables for winter harvests.
I have just put in a swag of silverbeet for autumn and winter harvesting and planted a lot of corn seeds for autumn harvests.
One thing that really annoys me is nurseries that sell through retail outlets punnets of plants that will not transplant well and some which should never be transplanted.
I spotted carrot seedlings in punnets at one place prior to Xmas, which no knowledgeable gardener would ever buy.
I saw a lady putting a punnet of carrot seedlings into her trolley so I went up and had a quiet word with her, saying that she is wasting her time and money. She said had thought that, but why were they selling them? What I said was, for money from people that did not know any better.
There are a whole range of vegetables best grown directly from seed into the spot where they will mature.
This includes root crops such as carrots, parsnips, beetroot etc, then corn, beans and peas the same, direct sow the seeds.
Foliage crops such as brassicas, lettuce, silverbeet, celery, spinach, herbs are good to buy in punnets or pots. Fruiting crops are fine also such as tomatoes, cucumbers, etc but ideally are best if individually in pots rather than massed in a open punnet.
People that are learning about gardening are likely to buy carrot seedlings, plant them out and end up with stubby, small, funny shaped carrots at harvest which are not worth the effort of growing.
All plants will do best if grown from seed in the spot where they will reach maturity.
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