Nothing beats biting into a slice of juicy, sweet melon on a hot summer’s day. Our melons last summer had so much flavour and they were so delicious. There is simply no comparison with store bought melons.
Melons can be a bit tricky to grow. They do require a bit more care than other plants in the summer garden but it is completely worth spending the extra time on them. It is entirely possible to grow melons successfully. You can expect to harvest your own fresh home grown melons towards the end of the summer in February and March. Last year I was successful in growing watermelon, rock melon and honeydew melon for the first time after successive years of failure. A friend of mine, Kylie Stringer, is a seasoned gardener and is an expert in growing melons. Kylie lives in Motueka, which is about an hour from Nelson, at the top of New Zealand’s South Island. Last spring, Kylie took pity on me and gave me lots of great advice on growing melons so I could also succeed like her. I’d love to pass on her tips to other keen gardeners so they can also grow melons successfully this summer. I hope we have a glut of melons again. It’s a nice problem to have! Melons can be planted outdoors in November, but don’t be in a rush to do so. There is often a dramatic difference between day and night time temperatures at this time of the year and the weather can still be quite temperamental. It’s therefore a good idea to wait until the second week of November to plant melon seedlings into your garden. Sowing melons from seed It’s much too early to think about planting melons outdoors. It’s still way too cold! However, I wanted to write a guide to growing melons now because you can start sowing melons under cover from seed. It’s really easy to grow melons from seed and it allows you to grow unusual varieties which aren’t found in garden centres. It takes about six to eight weeks from the time of the germination of a melon seed to produce a plant that is large enough to transplant outside. Melons can be started from seed indoors in October or even earlier if you live in a more temperate zone and have a hot house to protect them from the cold. Melon seeds need warmth in order to germinate. I germinate seeds in punnets or egg cartons filled with seed raising mix from Gardn Gro (http://gardngro.co.nz/). I like Gardn Gro’s seed raising mix as it is very fine in texture, enabling seeds to push through the mixture easily as they rise to the surface. I place the punnets and egg cartons inside plastic incubators which you can purchase from garden centres. I then place the incubators on a heat pad indoors and spray plants with water once daily or twice if the seed raising mixture is very dry. If you don’t have a heat pad you can also use your hot water cupboard which will also provide seedlings with a warm environment so they can germinate successfully. How to care for melon seedlings For new gardeners, those who don’t wish to start melon seedlings from seed or if you’ve simply left it too late, melon plants are available for sale in nurseries from around mid-October onwards. Take care to keep plants undercover until about the third week of October as melons are frost sensitive. The weather can be temperamental in spring and the nights are often still quite cool. From then on, start “hardening them off”. This is the process of exposing plants to the outdoors incrementally, for example, for two hours in the middle of the day for the first week, increasing to four hours per day for the next week. Continue to bring the plants indoors at night. By the third week of October, it should be safe to leave plants outdoors overnight. Don’t rush to plant your melon seedlings outdoors. To be on the safe side, it’s best to wait until the second week of November or so, until temperatures stabilise. Melon varieties There are three main types of melons: watermelon, rock melon and honeydew melon. Popular watermelon varieties that perform well in New Zealand include Sugar Baby (Franchi Seeds and Egmont Seeds), Sugar Belle F1 (Egmont Seeds), Crimson Sweet (Egmont Seeds) and Charleston Grey (Egmont Seeds). In places where summers are short, it’s advisable to plant watermelon varieties that mature early, such as Sugar Baby and Sugar Belle F1. The most popular rock melon grown in New Zealand is the reliable variety Hale’s Best (Egmont Seeds). Last summer I grew the variety Retato Degli Ortolani from Franchi, which performed marvellously well. The flesh was orange and deliciously sweet. There is only one variety of honeydew melon on the market in New Zealand. It is a standard sweet green melon and is available through Egmont Seeds. Bored with growing traditional melon varieties? Why not try growing something a bit different this summer. This season, I’m growing Giallo da Inverno (Franchi Seeds), which is a late melon with yellow skin and white sweet flesh. I’m going to give Zatta (Franchi Seeds) another try this year, having failed to grow it successfully last summer. Zatta is not the most beautiful melon but is said to be unbelievably good. Zatta has green skin with scales, but great tasting orange flesh. I’m also sowing Banana Melon. As the name suggests, this variety has banana-shaped fruit with smooth yellow skin and sweet, spicy salmon flesh. Kylie kindly gave me some seeds from her own prolific harvest a few years ago, which I’m keen to grow in my own garden this season. To order seeds from the Egmont Seeds range, visit http://www.egmontseeds.co.nz/. To find stockists for Franchi Seeds or to order Franchi seeds directly from the New Zealand distributor Italian Seeds Pronto owned by Gillian Hurley-Gordon, visit http://www.italianseedspronto.co.nz/. How to care for melon plants Melons need at least 6 hours of sunshine per day, so be sure to plant seedlings in the sunniest spot in your garden. Before planting melon seedlings, take the time to prepare the bed properly so plants receive adequate nutrition. Dig the area over that you wish to plant your seedlings in. Mix plenty of compost and some sheep pellets into the ground. I highly recommend Gardn Gro’s Wonder Nuggets, which are 100% organic and function as an excellent fertiliser: http://gardngro.co.nz/shop/Fertilisers/Wonder+Nuggets+8kg.html. Rake the ground so that it is nice and level. Once you are satisfied that the ground has been adequately prepared, lay down black plastic over the entire area. You may need to cut the roll to fit the shape of the area where you intend growing your melons. Place a heavy object such as tiles or bricks in the corners of the black plastic to prevent it from flying away. The reason for planting melon seedlings through the black plastic is to radiate the sun and conserve warmth, as the ground can still be quite cool in November. I used black plastic for my melon patch for the first time last year at Kylie’s recommendation and it made the world of difference. When you’re ready to plant your seedlings, simply cut a hole through the black plastic where you intend to plant the melon. Dig a hole for each plant deep enough so that the roots of the seedling can be completely buried. Add some fertiliser to each plant’s hole at the time of planting to give your melons a strong start to life. Any fertiliser which is high in potassium, for example tomato fertiliser, will do. Mix the fertiliser into the soil in each plant’s hole prior to planting. Melons need quite a bit of space as they tend to creep once they start growing. Therefore, space seedlings approximately 1 metre apart. Be sure to water plants every day, preferably early in the morning or in the evening. In November and December, plants are in their most active growing phase. Try not to get too much water on the leaves, otherwise your plants may develop powdery mildew. Liquid feed melons weekly to encourage the growth of healthy leaves and the formation of flowers, which will develop into fruit after they have been pollinated. Pollination of melons Melons need to be pollinated in order to develop fruit. As the flowers on melon plants are so small, bees often miss them. By hand pollinating your melon plants, you can increase the potential yield of fruit. Each melon contains both male and female flowers. The way to tell the difference between the two is that female flowers will have formed a very tiny melon underneath. However, this won’t grow into a proper melon unless it is pollinated. Although you can use a paint brush, the easiest way to pollinate melons is simply by hand. Carefully pull off the male flower from a melon plant and remove the petals. It helps if you remove the male flower so that it has a bit of a stem where it was attached to the melon plant. Make sure you do not pull off any female flowers by accident. You will notice that the stamen, or inner part of the male flower, will contain pollen. Carefully insert the stamen on the male flower into the inner part of the female flower, which is called the stigma. Rub the stamen onto the stigma of the female flower. Remember that watermelon, rock melon and honeydew melon are different species of melons. Therefore, you can only pollinate a watermelon with another watermelon, a rock melon with another rock melon and a honeydew melon with another honeydew melon. For best results, hand pollinate melons every day. I find that it’s best to do this in the morning, as ants will eat the pollen on male flowers during the day. As melons develop, pop an old lid, saucer or plate underneath so the fruit doesn’t come into direct contact with the ground and cause the melon to rot. Harvesting your melons It can take what seems like forever for melons to be ready for picking but be patient! Melons need a lot of sunshine in order to grow and ripen. Melons are ready to be harvested when the stalk attaching the melon to the plant has turned brown. They should slip away easily from the vine by hand. If you need to cut them off, it’s a sign that they’re not yet ready to be harvested. Another way to tell if a melon is ripe is to knock on the melon. If the sound is hollow, it’s a sign that the melon is ready for picking. Got a glut of melons that you can’t get through all at once? Melons can be stored in the fridge for 2-3 weeks prior to consumption.
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This is the third blog post in a three-part series which covers three different composting systems.
To recap, there are three main ways you can compost your waste: · Composting bin · Bokashi · Worm farm Each system operates differently. In my last post on the subject of composting, I focussed on Bokashi. In this post, I will explain how a worm farm works. Worm farms In a worm farm, composting worms such as tiger worms or red worms eat through a mixture of food scraps, garden waste, waste paper and cardboard to produce worm castings (composted material) and liquid fertiliser, known as worm tea. Both the castings and the worm tea are excellent fertilisers and are therefore great for the garden. Types of worm farms There are two types of worm farms: stacked worm farms and continuous flow worm farms. Stacked worm farms are divided into different layers. They usually consist of (i) a sump, which collects the liquids; and (ii) frames, usually two, which are stacked on top of each other as the worm farm fills up. To use a stacked worm farm, place the sump on a stand with a bucket underneath the tap to catch the liquids. Keep the tap open to allow the worm farm to drain. Place a frame on top of the sump. Fill this first frame with moist bedding and add your worms. Feed a small amount of food to your worms. Cover with wet carpet, paper or cardboard. Over the next 6 months incrementally increase the food you feed your worms to build their population. When your first frame of worms is full add another frame on top. The worms will move to the upper frame and will feed on the fresh food placed there. When this top frame is nearly full you can harvest the castings from the frame below. Take away the lower frame and place the top frame directly on the sump. Use the contents from the full frame on your garden or pot plants. Rinse and store this empty frame until your worm farm is ready to take another top frame. Continuous flow worm farms are generally a single vessel with a large open cavity that houses the worms. It is secured at the base to hold the castings in place but still allows air to circulate and liquids to drain through. You simply feed on the surface and harvest from an opening at the base. To use a continuous flow worm farm, fill the bottom quarter of the cavity with moist bedding and add your worms. Feed a small amount of food to your worm farm. Cover with wet carpet, paper or cardboard. Over the next 6 months incrementally increase the food you feed your worms to build up their population. Once the cavity is approximately two thirds full of worm castings you can start to harvest the compost through the opening at the base. The majority of worms will remain in the upper areas to feed on the available food. The castings will be quite compacted so they should be free of worms. The liquids will drain through naturally and can be caught in a bucket placed under the body of the worm farm for use as Worm Tea. How to set up a worm farm Choose a cool, shady site sheltered from the sun. Carports or sheltered porches are ideal. Use a layer of bedding first, for example hay, coconut fibre, shredded cardboard or paper. Bedding should be damp and porous. Add some worms. 1000 worms (250g) are fine. 2000 worms are even better. Worms can eat their own weight each day so don’t over feed them. For example, for 250g of worms, give them about 200g of food. Worms need air but not light so cover food scraps with damp carpet, newspaper or cardboard to provide a moist dark environment. What to feed your worms As for a composting bin, aim for a ratio of 30% green waste and 70% brown waste. To recap, green waste is normally soft, fresh and moist. Examples of green waste include food waste, grinds and tea bags, egg shells and fresh green lawn clippings. Brown waste is normally dry and brittle. It can therefore take a long time to break down. Examples of brown waste include dry leaves, paper, cardboard, vacuum dust, egg trays and twigs. Don’t add any of the following: spicy food, chilli, onion, garlic, meat, milk products, bread, pasta, cooked or processed food, citrus or acidic foods, oils and liquids such as soup. Increasing your worm population Add food scraps regularly, ideally every 1 – 2 days. Cut up the food you feed your worms. Make sure the pieces are smaller than a golf ball. Start with small amounts and slowly increase the food you give them over the first 6 months. The population of worms will increase to match this and will reach a point where they can eat through all the food waste you can give them very quickly. Harvesting worm castings Worms feed at the top so harvest the casting from below. It is ready when the contents look like dark fine compost and few worms can be seen. Spread the castings around your garden beds. Castings may be liquefied by adding one part castings to ten parts water and stir well. Harvesting worm tea Always let the liquid drain off freely into a separate bucket. If your worm farm has a tap, leave it open. Worm Tea should be diluted to the colour of weak black tea (1:10). Apply every 2-4 weeks around plant roots as a nutritious fertiliser. This post was based on information provided on the Compost Collective’s website. For a comprehensive guide on how to set up and look after a worm farm, visit https://compostcollective.org.nz/worm-farming/ Composting course The Auckland City Council runs a 2 hour workshop that offers you a basic introduction to the three different types of composting systems covered in this blog. After attending the workshop, you will be entitled to a $40 discount voucher which you can use towards the purchase of any of the three composting systems covered in the course. The workshops take place in a variety of locations and are held regularly. For more information, visit the following webpage: https://compostcollective.org.nz/ This is the second instalment in a series of posts about being a brand ambassador. To read my first post on this subject, click here.
Background: My journey to owning a business As I mentioned in a previous post, I never intended or even wanted to go into business. I’ve never felt comfortable about accepting money directly from other people. I am a lawyer by profession. I worked very hard in university and in the workforce to train in the field of law. While a law firm is a business and therefore charges clients for legal services, accounts are conveniently handled by the billing department. Lawyers therefore don’t need to worry too much about cash changing hands or chasing clients who haven’t settled their bill. Gardening started out as a hobby for me. It was simply a way that I enjoyed spending my spare time and was a pastime which I found incredibly relaxing. I loved venturing outdoors in the fresh air after a day at the office and over the weekends. My passion for gardening soon started consuming my life and my garden accidentally developed into a business. Anita’s Garden started when I began selling a few excess plants to local gardeners on the side. I didn’t even advertise at first. Passers-by started approaching me and asked if they could purchase seedlings. One of the wwoofers who stayed with us over summer, a young American guy who is incredibly entrepreneurial, encouraged me to set up a nursery and sell plants as a way of financing my hobby. Anita’s Garden grew organically from his idea (excuse the gardening puns!). At first, I didn’t really have a business plan or a clear idea of what product or service I was trying to sell to the public other than seedlings in my plant nursery. As discussed previously, I have no educational background in commerce and or knowledge about how to run a business. I’m simply learning on the job, which is fine by me. It’s a steep learning curve, but at the same time an interesting and exciting one. My business is constantly evolving, just like our garden. My core goal is to educate people about gardening and assist others to create their own personal green space. I have recently branched out into consulting and have my first client. I am helping a friend to start a garden and a composting system that suits her family’s needs. With a strong background in writing from my background as a lawyer and equipped with a Bachelor of Arts degree as well, I am also open to the possibility of writing articles related to gardening as a freelancer. What does it mean to be a brand ambassador? The idea is to work alongside other businesses in the industry so we can support and promote each other’s products and services. I’m still exploring how this will work in practice, but one example is where other gardening businesses supply me with products to use at Anita’s Garden. I then follow up by reviewing and promoting these products and businesses through my blog and various social media platforms. It’s a win-win situation. Being a brand ambassador helps me to finance an incredibly expensive hobby and stay up to date with the latest plant and seed releases, as well as other gardening products. In return, I promote reputable gardening products which I use around Anita’s Garden and support other businesses. Being a brand ambassador is not just a shameless ploy for companies to give me free products all the time, nor is it a means by which I ruthlessly push their products onto other gardeners through constant advertising. I have been a paying customer of these businesses myself for many years now and will continue to be one. As I’ve developed my own business, I started writing about gardening through my blog, which is linked to my social media accounts. I’ve wanted to try growing an even broader range of seed varieties and use different gardening products around the garden. I’d like to conduct trials so I can report on which varieties and products performed best for me. To buy and use such a broad range of products becomes very expensive. The businesses I’m supporting have made it possible for me to try different brands and conduct such experiments by sending me supplies, samples and new products from time to time. Why did I decide to become a brand ambassador? To become better known in gardening circles and the broader community alike, I have become a brand ambassador for some of my favourite New Zealand gardening businesses. I perceive my development into a leading New Zealand gardening personality as critical to developing Anita’s Garden as a business. To me, being a brand ambassador also makes sense in our market, as it’s a way of bringing people in the horticultural community even closer to one another. New Zealand is a small country with incredibly strict agricultural rules which demand extensive and expensive tests and often the treatment of seeds and other plant material prior to their import. This effectively limits what agricultural material we are allowed to import into the country. It therefore makes sense for seed suppliers to work together and focus on supplying New Zealand gardeners with different products, rather than trying to undercut each other with lower prices on the same items, which is common in other industries such as foodstuffs, fuel and so on. Being a brand ambassador is a way of building relationships with others in the same industry. Over the years I’ve been gardening, I’ve found that I’ve become very good friends with other business owners in the horticultural industry. I feel extremely honoured that these businesses respect me as a gardener, have entrusted me with their brand and perceive me as able to promote their products effectively in the marketplace. In short, being a brand ambassador makes me more motivated to market my own business as we're all connected. By promoting Anita's Garden, I'm essentially expanding my audience. In doing so, I'm promoting the businesses I'm supporting to even more people. How did I become a brand ambassador for these businesses? I simply took the plunge and wrote to each business, outlining my proposal. It sounds bold but in my experience if you don’t ask for something, you won’t get it! The worst thing someone can say in response is no. In my email, I explained who I was and how I felt their business would benefit from acting as their brand ambassador. I wrote to about a dozen businesses. Out of all the companies I approached, only one said no. I’m still waiting to hear back from a few others so I will continue to add to this series of posts if there are any developments in the future. In approaching these businesses, it helped that I have developed some useful contacts in the industry over time. As a home gardener, I have gotten to know many of these businesses and their staff personally over the years. I tend to shop around a lot as in a country this small, it’s hard to source everything I need for the garden under one roof. I am a familiar face at every gardening centre in the South and East Auckland region and the staff all know me personally! What is the next step? Doing business is largely about marketing. As a brand ambassador, I plan to pass on products to my followers through competitions, which are a great way of increasing the number of “likes” on your Facebook page. In the future, I also hope to be able to pass on discounts from these businesses to my followers, as a way of promoting both Anita’s Garden and these entities. This is the first in a series of blog posts about becoming a brand ambassador for some of my favourite New Zealand gardening businesses as part of my own business, Anita’s Garden.
I am excited to announce that I have recently become a brand ambassador for a number of reputable New Zealand gardening retailers. This marks a major step in my development into what I hope to become in the future. My dream is to transform myself into a leading New Zealand gardening personality and educate others about how they can grow their own food to feed their families, improve their health and reduce their grocery bills. The brands I am endorsing range from small homegrown businesses such as my own to leading national gardening retailers. While the range of products and services offered by these different entities varies somewhat, they are linked by a common thread. I have been a loyal customer of these businesses ever since I started gardening just over five years ago. The quality of their products and services are absolutely amazing. I completely stand by these businesses which I am eager to promote to other gardeners. I am proud to promote the following New Zealand gardening businesses and retailers here at Anita’s Garden. I have set out a bit of information about each entity below, as well as a brief explanation of why I am happy to support and promote their products. Italian Seeds Pronto Italian Seeds Pronto is the New Zealand distributor of Franchi, a range of Italian heirloom seeds. Franchi is the oldest family run seed company in the world. The quality and range of their heirloom seeds are absolutely amazing, not to mention the irresistible packaging! I highly recommend Franchi seeds to other gardeners. Those in New Zealand can source Franchi seeds directly from Gillian Hurley-Gordon who owns Italian Seeds Pronto (http://www.italianseedspronto.co.nz/) and also from selected stockists throughout the country. Gillian is a wonderful person who has become a close contact of mine over the years. Those overseas can source the wonderful Franchi range through their own local distributor online (for the UK see Seeds of Italy’s website http://www.seedsofitaly.com/ and for the US see Seeds From Italy’s website http://www.growitalian.com/) or find stockists in your home country. Gardn Gro Gardn Gro is a small, family run business that is owned and operated by the lovely Merv and Treena Snell in Papakura, South Auckland. Gardn Gro stocks a range of quality fertilisers and growing mixes. Merv has also become a good friend of mine over the years. I originally became aware of Gardn Gro when our close and amazingly generous family friend Jonelle Douglas gave me quite a few of their products as a gift. The best thing about Gardn Gro is that they deliver straight to your door. In summary, Gardn Gro offers prompt delivery, very reasonable prices and high quality products. Visit http://gardngro.co.nz/ for more information and to place an order. MeadowSweet Herbs and Flowers MeadowSweet Herbs and Flowers is a boutique nursery situated on Auckland’s Hibiscus Coast and is owned by my friend Minette Tonoli, who shares my passion for plants. We met through New Zealand gardening forums on Facebook a few years ago and from then on became firm friends. Over the weekends, you can normally find Minette at local farmer’s markets, where she sells a very wide range of herb, flower and vegetable seedlings. Heirloom tomatoes are one of her specialities. Every season, Minette grows an incredible selection of exotic and unusual tomato varieties. MeadowSweet Herbs and Flowers is developing an online shopping system, so you can order plants from Meadowsweet and have them delivered direct to your door. Minette also holds workshops and gives talks on various gardening topics. Visit http://meadowsweet.co.nz/ for more information and to get in touch with Minette. New Zealand Bulbs NZ Bulbs is New Zealand’s largest online bulb supplier and has been a family business for 60 years, started by Len and Margaret Hoek in 1957. NZ Bulbs is part of Aorangi Bulb Nurseries and is based in Manawatu. NZ Bulbs grows more than 25 acres of bulbs throughout the year for both bulb and cut flower production. Since I started gardening, I have placed a bulb order with NZ Bulbs just about every season. The garden is almost always blooming with some of their beautiful flowers. Visit https://www.nzbulbs.co.nz/ for more information and to order bulbs and tubers for the spring and summer seasons. Egmont Seeds Egmont Seeds is one of New Zealand’s largest seed companies, supplying both commercial and home gardeners. Wholly New Zealand owned, Egmont Seeds is also a family business. Egmont Seeds was originally established in 1996. John McCullough, the General Manager and owner of the company, has been involved in the business of seeds all his working life. Egmont Seeds has a very broad range of vegetable, flower, herb and fruit seeds. Over the years, I have been growing a variety of vegetables and flowers from the Egmont Seeds range with great success. To request a hard copy of their catalogue or to shop online, please visit http://www.egmontseeds.co.nz/. Awapuni Nurseries Awapuni Nurseries is a family owned business based in Manawatu. In the mid-1990s, Paul and Henry Ham took over Awapuni Nurseries from their parents Lea and Ton Ham. Designed with the busy gardener in mind, Awapuni offers high grade large vegetable, flower and herb seedlings ready to plant into the garden, delivered direct to your door. You can also find Awapuni seedlings at selected retailers nationwide. They are characteristically wrapped in newspaper and sold in bundles, which is a more environmentally friendly way of packaging plants rather than using plastic punnets. Raising plants from seed can take time. Whether you’re a new or experienced gardener, Awapuni seedlings are a valuable addition to the garden. Over the years, Awapuni seedlings have functioned as fantastic instant gap fillers around Anita’s Garden. To shop online or find stockists, visit https://awapuni.co.nz/. Bulbs Direct Bulbs Direct is a New Zealand business based in Paparoa, Northland which grows and supplies home gardeners with high quality flower bulbs year round. Owned by the Gravatt family, Bulbs Direct is a tight knit, multi-generational family business with extensive previous industry experience as commercial bulb growers and exporters. Bulbs Direct’s bulbs and flower growing operations are located on two other sites in Waipu and Ruakaka. Since their launch in 2014, I have ordered flower bulbs from Bulbs Direct each season. I have been highly impressed with the range and quality of their bulbs and am pleased to recommend their products to other gardeners. To shop online, visit http://bulbsdirect.co.nz/. Palmers Palmers is a major New Zealand gardening retail chain with branches throughout the North Island. Palmers stocks a wide selection of plants and products to keep your garden looking good all year round. Palmers garden centres also include other retailers, such as cafes, florists and gift shops. My local store is the Pakuranga branch, which I only discovered this year. The store has a fantastic range of plants, complemented by extremely warm customer service from Garry, Colin, Jo and the team. I highly recommend stopping by Café Botannix inside for lunch or a coffee. I have quickly become a very happy customer and strongly recommend locals in the East and South Auckland area check out this amazing garden centre. For more information, visit their website, http://www.palmers.co.nz/. As mentioned above, this is the first in a series of posts on the subject of being a brand ambassador. In my next post on this subject, I will explore what it means to be a brand ambassador and how this fits in with my overall business plan for Anita’s Garden. This is the second blog post in a three-part series which covers three different composting systems.
To recap, there are three main ways you can compost your waste:
Each system operates differently. In my last post on the subject of composting, I focussed on composting bins. In this post, I will explain how Bokashi works. Bokashi As the name suggestions, Bokashi was developed in Japan. In summary, it is a fermentation process that helps break down food waste much quicker than usual. Bokashi consists of multi-layered bins which fit inside each other. It has an air tight seal. Bokashi is an anaerobic system. No air should get into the bins. Bokashi should be stored in a warm place, out of direct sunlight. In mild climates, you can keep Bokashi in a shady spot outdoors. Unlike composting bins, Bokashi takes only green waste. Do not include any brown waste in your Bokashi. To recap, green waste is organic material that is full of nitrogen. Green waste is normally soft, fresh and moist. Examples include food waste and green lawn clippings. Brown waste is organic material that is mainly carbon. It is dry, brown and brittle and therefore takes a long time to break down. Examples include paper, cardboard, brown lawn clippings and autumn leaves. You can add the following to your Bokashi: fresh fruit and vegetables, prepared foods, cooked and uncooked meat and fish, other food such as cheese, bread, coffee grinds and tea bags and wilted flowers. Do not add liquids such as milk, orange juice or oils, paper and plastic wrap and large meat bones. Add some “sprinkle” to your Bokashi. Sprinkle is an inoculant made from beneficial microorganisms, a bit like a yoghurt starter. It contains sawdust and molasses. Sprinkle stops the Bokashi from smelling by fermenting it like a pickle. Keep a small food waste container in the kitchen for your food scraps. Chop waste up into small pieces. Drain off any excess liquid. Spread the Bokashi sprinkle on the bottom of your Bokashi bucket. Add food waste once or twice daily to the Bokashi bucket. Add 1-2 tablespoons of Bokashi sprinkle per 6 cm layer of food. Ensure you squash down the food to push out the air as you go. This helps to get rid of the air. Close the Bokashi bucket lid tightly after use. Drain off liquid from the bottom bucket at least every 2 to 3 days. When your bucket is full, close the lid and keep in a warm place, but out of direct sunlight. Leave for about 10-14 days. Don’t forget to keep draining off the liquid. The food waste should smell like pickles and will develop a white mould on top. This means the system is working well. During the Bokashi process food waste ferments and often produces a juice. The amount and colour of the liquid depends on the type of food you have put in the bucket. Fruit and vegetables may release more liquid while other foods may release none at all. The liquid fertiliser can be used in the home and garden. Pour undiluted juice directly into your toilet or down your shower or sink drains to help keep them clean. Dilute the liquid at a ratio of 1:100, so 2-3 tablespoons per 5 litres of water. Apply this to the soil or the base of plants to help keep them healthy. The solid end product can be used in the compost bin and garden. Dig a trench in your garden as deep as the Bokashi bucket and twice as long as a Bokashi bucket laid flat. Distribute the fermented food evenly along the trench. Mix the food waste with the soil. Cover with at least 50-75 mm of soil (if the soil is dry add water so composting can take place). After 3-4 weeks your fermented food waste turns into excellent compost and you can plant directly on top of it. If you can’t be bothered to dig a trench or you don’t have space in your garden, you can add the solids to your compost bin as a “green layer”. Simply spread it out and cover with lots of “brown” material. This post was based on information provided on the Compost Collective’s website. For a comprehensive guide on how to Bokashi, visit https://compostcollective.org.nz/bokashi/. Composting course The Auckland City Council runs a 2 hour workshop that offers you a basic introduction to the three different types of composting systems covered in this blog. After attending the workshop, you will be entitled to a $40 discount voucher which you can use towards the purchase of any of the three composting systems covered in the course. The workshops take place in a variety of locations and are held regularly. For more information, visit the following webpage: https://compostcollective.org.nz/ What I love about being the creator of Anita’s Garden, my new start up, is that no day is exactly the same. As the saying goes, change is the essence of life. Every day at Anita’s Garden exposes me to new experiences and challenges. As discussed in my previous blog post, running a business gives me the flexibility to devise my own schedule. I can juggle tasks so I can fit what I need to do into the day and do things when I want to do them. The flipside is that I work very hard, probably on a par with the hours I used to put in during my former life as a commercial lawyer at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, one of the world’s largest law firms. At the moment, I work 7 days per week. All start-ups require a great deal of effort from their inception but mine is particularly demanding because Anita’s Garden exists in two forms: (i) a physical organic urban homestead with an extremely productive edible and ornamental garden which must be continually maintained and developed through the seasons; and (ii) a business which includes a boutique plant nursery and gardening consulting service, which is marketed through regular activity on various social media forums and my website which contains an active blog. On top of this, we also host wwoofers (travellers with working holiday visas) who are provided with lodging and meals in exchange for some assistance around the garden. We put a lot of effort into making sure that our visitors feel at home and leave having learnt a great deal about gardening. To learn more about wwoofing and our experiences as hosts, click here.
This is what a typical day looks like for me at Anita’s Garden: 4.00-4.30 am: Wake up. I’m an early riser. Ginger, our cat, scratches on my bedroom door and opens it with her paw. She then walks all over me and wants her morning cuddle. 4.30 am: I check emails and my social media accounts for new activity. I also check for messages on Wwoof and respond to any new requests for stays. This works for me as I’m a morning person. I find I function more effectively early in the day. 5.00–6.30 am: It’s quiet in the house so I have some uninterrupted time to work on blog posts and write articles for my monthly gardening newsletter. I have breakfast. 6.30-7.30 am: I like to fit some exercise into my day. I have diabetes so this is really important for me. I go for a walk or a run around my suburb. 7.30 am-8 am: On my way home, I usually swing by the supermarket to pick up a few groceries. The supermarket is really quiet at this time of the day. Hardly anyone shops early in the morning, at least here in New Zealand. It’s a great time to get grocery shopping done quickly without crowded aisles and long queues at the checkout. 8.00-8.30 am: The wwoofers are up and have finished their breakfast. They spend half an hour helping with meal preparation for lunch and the evening meal by cutting up vegetables from the garden. While they’re doing that, I have my daily green smoothie with kale fresh from the garden. I quickly check emails and my social media accounts for any new activity. 8.30-12 noon: The wwoofers and I are ready to start the working day. I set tasks for the day and the wwoofers help me around the garden. Sometimes I’ll work alongside them, sometimes I’ll be in the garden doing other tasks. Other times, I need to delegate tasks so I can free up some time to develop my business. At the moment, I’m raising heat loving seedlings such as tomatoes, eggplants and capsicums indoors on the heat pad so I check on their progress and spray them with water. 12.00-1.00 pm: Lunch. We always enjoy a proper cooked meal with wwoofers at our dining table. It’s a time for us all to relax with some good food and conversation 1.00-2.00 pm: Back outside in the garden. Wwoofers normally help me for an additional hour, finishing tasks off for the day. 2.00-5.00 pm: The afternoons are spent on more admin and business development, as well as writing blog posts and articles. On some days I run errands or use the time to visit garden centres. If I’m out and about, I try and squeeze in a quick coffee at my favourite café. 5.00-6.00 pm: Dinner time. Wwoofers gather round the table with us again and we enjoy an evening meal together, similar to lunchtime. 6.00-8.00 pm: I finally enjoy some down time. By this time of the day, I’m starting to get tired so I’m not as alert as I am in the morning. Sometimes I use the time to stay connected with friends overseas via Whatsapp. Ginger often wants to sit on my lap so we relax together on my bed and I pat her. On Tuesdays, I meet with a small group from church and we enjoy catching up with each other. 8.30 pm: Bed time! It’s still very early but I need to go to bed now in order to get enough sleep as the next day I wake up at 4 am and the cycle starts again! During September, I will examine the topic of composting. This is the first blog post in a three-part series which will cover three different composting systems.
Composting is a great way to recycle our waste from nature. Compost is essential for creating rich soil and healthy plants. Did you know that it is possible to compost both brown and green materials? There are three main ways you can compost your waste:
Composting bin You will need some kind of structure to hold the compost, such as a container or bin. You can buy a ready-made composting bin or build your own from a plastic container or pallet. Choose a sunny spot for your compost bin. Ensure it is easily accessible for adding ingredients and mixing regularly. Layer your compost, blending carbon (mainly brown waste) and nitrogen (mainly green waste). Aim for a ratio of 30% green waste and 70% brown waste. This means adding a mix of organic garden and kitchen waste materials. Green waste is normally soft, fresh and moist. Examples of green waste include food waste and fresh green lawn clippings. Brown waste is normally dry and brittle. It can therefore take a long time to break down. Examples of brown waste include dry leaves, paper, cardboard, twigs, wood chips, vacuum dust and dry grass. Avoid adding meat, dairy products or bread as these can attract unwanted pests. Don’t add any diseased plant material to avoid spreading the disease. A good rule of thumb is to add nothing larger than your little finger. Break up larger items like sticks, twigs and cardboard before adding them, to help them break down more quickly. Layer the brown and green waste, a bit like a sandwich. Make sure each layer is no thicker than 10 cm. Start with a brown layer, add a green layer and then another brown layer. To help get the composting process underway you can add some existing compost to each layer. Put a lid on your compost bin to enable it to decompose quickly. Mix regularly. Compost should be moist like a sponge. Add water to dry materials. Make sure there is good air flow. Compost is ready to harvest when it becomes a sweet, dark, crumbly material and you cannot distinguish the original materials in it. This normally takes 3-6 months. Compost should be dug into the soil. Don’t plant directly into compost as this can burn the roots of plants. Compost has a variety of benefits when used in your garden. It replaces nutrients that have been removed during a growing season, improves soil structure and increases the amount of oxygen available to plants. Compost also conditions soil, improves moisture retention, increases earthworm activity and improves fertiliser use by plants. Composting course The Auckland City Council runs a 2 hour workshop that offers you a basic introduction to the three different types of composting systems covered in this column. After attending the workshop, you will be entitled to a $40 discount voucher which you can use towards the purchase of any of the three composting systems covered in the course. The workshops take place in a variety of locations and are held regularly. For more information, visit the following webpage: https://compostcollective.org.nz/ It’s hard to say what vegetable I like growing the most. It’s a bit like choosing your favourite child. I think tomatoes would be one of my favourite vegetables in the summer garden. They are fairly easy to grow, relatively disease resistant and taste great. Nothing beats the classic tomato sandwich: juicy red tomato, perhaps with a leaf or two of lettuce and a slither of mayonnaise between soft, fresh slices of bread. Simply divine!
Traditionally, tomatoes can be planted outside in New Zealand by Labour Weekend, which is a long weekend with a public holiday falling on the Monday after the weekend. Labour Weekend usually falls towards the end of October. Sowing tomatoes from seed It’s too early to think about planting tomatoes outdoors. However, I wanted to write a guide to growing tomatoes now because it’s not too late to start sowing tomatoes from seed. In fact, the timing is perfect. It takes about eight weeks from the time of the germination of a tomato seed to produce a plant that is large enough to transplant outside. It’s really easy to grow tomatoes from seed and it allows you to grow unusual varieties which aren’t found in garden centres. Tomatoes can be started from seed indoors in July and August. In the past, I have started tomato seedlings as late as September, but they will produce a crop later in the season, towards the end of February. For a continuous supply of tomatoes from January through to April, successive sowings are recommended. Tomato seeds need warmth in order to germinate. I germinate seeds in punnets filled with seed raising mix and place them inside plastic incubators which you can purchase from garden centres. I then place the incubators on a heat pad indoors and spray plants with water twice daily. If you don’t have a heat pad you can also use your hot water cupboard which will also provide seedlings with a warm environment. How to care for tomato seedlings For new gardeners, those who don’t wish to start their tomato seedlings from seed or if you’ve simply left it too late, plants are available for sale in nurseries from August onwards. Take care to keep plants undercover until early October as tomatoes are frost sensitive. The weather can be temperamental in spring and the nights are often still quite cool. From then on, start “hardening them off”. This is the process of exposing plants to the outdoors incrementally, for example, for two hours in the middle of the day for the first week, increasing to four hours per day for the next week. Continue to bring the plants indoors at night. By the third week of October, it should be safe to leave plants outdoors overnight. Tomato varieties Generally speaking, varieties of tomatoes fall into a couple of different categories: (i) “determinate” or “indeterminate” tomatoes; and (ii) “hybrid” or “heirloom” tomatoes. You may have heard of the terms “determinate” and “indeterminate” in the context of tomatoes. Determinate tomatoes are also called “bush” tomatoes. They usually grow to a compact height. Determinate tomatoes stop growing when fruit sets on the terminal or top bud. The crop ripens around at or near the same time (this normally occurs over a two week period). The plant then dies. Indeterminate tomatoes are also called “vining” tomatoes. They will grow and produce fruit until the plant dies from frost. Indeterminate tomato varieties will bloom and set new fruit which will ripen at the same time during the growing season. You may have also read or heard of the terms “heirloom” and “hybrid” tomatoes. Heirloom seeds have been saved and handed down from generation to generation. They will come true to type, meaning that the off-spring will be identical to the parent plant. You can therefore save seeds from your own plants. Hybrid seeds are produced by crossing two different varieties. Hybrid seeds will not necessarily come true to type, meaning that it may not be worth saving seeds from your plants. A common misconception is that hybrid varieties have been genetically modified. Rest assured that this is not the case. Another misconception is that hybrid varieties are inferior to heirloom varieties because the latter are said to have more flavour. The truth of the matter is that modern hybrid varieties are often more disease resistant than heirloom varieties and therefore often perform better in the garden. Popular varieties that perform well in New Zealand include Beefsteak, Moneymaker, Mortgage Lifter, Grosse Lisse, Potentate, Sweet 100 (a variety of cherry tomato) and Red Russian. These varieties can be found in garden centres throughout the country every spring. Last summer I grew Principe Borghese and Red Cherry from Franchi for the first time, which performed marvellously well and were extremely tasty. Franchi is a range of magnificent heirloom seeds imported from Italy and supplied in New Zealand by Italian Seeds Pronto, owned by my friend Gillian Hurley Gordon. For more information and to order seeds or find stockists, visit http://www.italianseedspronto.co.nz/. Bored with traditional tomato varieties? Why not try growing something a bit different this summer. This season, I’m sowing Kiwi and Green Sausage, which appealed as they are both rather interesting and differ from the appearance of conventional tomatoes. Kiwi is a beautiful green tomato, with lime-kiwi colored fruits that have a great, sharp acid-sweet flavour. Like the name suggests, Green Sausage is a variety of tomato with sausage-shaped fruits with yellow stripes and have a kiwi-like green flesh. How to care for tomato plants Tomatoes need at least 6 hours of sunshine per day, so be sure to plant seedlings in the sunniest spot in your garden. Before planting tomato seedlings, take the time to prepare the bed properly so plants receive adequate nutrition. Dig the area over that you wish to plant your seedlings in. Mix plenty of compost and some sheep pellets into the ground. Add some tomato fertiliser to each plant’s hole at the time of planting, to give plants a strong start to life. As fruits can be heavy and weigh plants down, some support is recommended. It is a good idea to stake and tie tomato seedlings at the time of planting to avoid injury to the roots of your plants later on. Be sure to water plants generously every day, preferably early in the morning or in the evening. In November and December, plants are in their most active growing phase. Liquid feed tomatoes weekly to encourage the growth of healthy leaves and the formation of flowers, which will develop into fruit. As your tomato plants grow, remove the laterals. These are the small side shoots which appear at a 90 degree angle from the stalk. Laterals produce only leaves; no flowers or fruit. Laterals are removed so the plant can put its energy into the formation of fruit rather than leaf growth. Harvesting your tomatoes It can take what seems like forever for green tomatoes to ripen but be patient! They need a lot of sunshine in order to turn red. Always remove fruit with a pair of scissors or secateurs rather than pulling them off the plant. Enjoy! Every spring I look forward to planting potatoes. This rather humble crop is one of my favourites. For starters, it is hard to beat freshly dug new potatoes on Christmas day. This is possible if potatoes are planted by September at the latest in New Zealand. Another reason why I find growing potatoes so appealing is because they are rather easy to grow. I will outline my top tips for success later in this post.
This year, I am planting three varieties: Liseta, Jersey Benne and Agria. Liseta is an early crop variety which matures in just 70 days. It is supposed to be a very high yielder and was commended for this in a potato trial carried out by the New Zealand Gardener Magazine several years ago. Jersey Benne is also an early crop variety of potato which matures in around 90 days. It remains a firm favourite on the Christmas dinner table in New Zealand and I have always planted this variety ever since I started gardening about five years ago. Early varieties of potato such as Liseta and Jersey Benne have waxy skins and are ideal for boiling. Agria is a main crop of potato which matures in approximately 100-120 days. This variety is ideal for roasting as the flesh is more floury than early varieties such as Liseta and Jersey Benne. Perfect for hot chips! A variety which I am very fond of but which I am unfortunately not growing this year in the interests of space is Heather. An early-main variety, Heather is a prolific cropper and the soft-skinned potatoes are perfect for boiling and for making potato salads. Another popular main crop variety is Rua. Like Agria, the floury flesh is perfect for baking or roasting. I highly recommend using certified seed potatoes rather than relying on planting odd potatoes that have accidentally started sprouting at the bottom of an old bag at the bottom of the pantry. While the latter will probably produce potatoes, certified seed potatoes are preferable in the interests of avoiding diseases in the ground. If certified seed potatoes are used, then the resulting crop will come true to type. Potatoes can be grown in a number of ways, including in trenches in the ground, in containers or in tyres. Having experimented over the years, I have found that the traditional method of digging trenches and burying potatoes in the ground is the most successful way of growing spuds. Container grown potatoes produced a pitiful yield. I have not tried growing them in tyres. Start by mixing compost and sheep pellets generously into the area where you intend to grow potatoes. Dig a trench in the ground three times as deep as the seed potatoes you are planting. Work in some potato food fertiliser to give your spuds an instant growth boost. Line a row of potatoes in the trench, spacing each potato approximately 30 cm apart. Cover the trench with soil. The key to growing potatoes successfully is to continue to mound the potatoes (i.e. cover around the tops of the potatoes with soil). This is essential to ensuring that the potatoes do not turn green and therefore toxic to consume. This occurs when potatoes come into contact with the sun. My advice is to mound potatoes as they grow. Be careful not to break the tops of the potatoes as you do so. About a week or two from the time they are due to be harvested, you can ‘bandicoot’ some potatoes for a meal. This is also a good way to test whether the spuds are on target for their due date. You need only use your hands. Gently scrape soil away from the sides of a few potatoes. You should be able to feel potatoes as you do this. Very carefully separate them from the mother plant, if they are not already loose. To harvest potatoes, I recommend using a fork rather than a spade. Work slowly and carefully. Start by digging about 30cm from the tops of potatoes, gently working your way inwards. Don’t worry if you spear a few along the way. Put these ones aside for cooking first, the others can be consumed later. I always use a willow basket with a handle when I harvest potatoes. If stored properly, potatoes can last much longer. We always store potatoes in a dark place in old hessian sacks, which prolongs their life. Try to remember not to grow potatoes in the same place the following year in order to prevent diseases. It is also helpful to avoid growing tomatoes, eggplants, capsicums and chillis (which are in the same horticultural family is potatoes) in the same location the following year for the same reason. Over the past week, I’ve been busy planting berries in the garden, in anticipation of summer when I hope we’ll be picking bright, juicy berries loaded with vitamin C and antioxidants. With a bit of planning, it is possible to harvest berries from November right through until April in Auckland. Considering the amount of room they require to grow and their potential yield, berries are a good fruit to grow in the garden and children just love them!
For the sake of completeness, I should begin by mentioning the blueberry plants that I planted in large containers in May. I planted the following varieties: Blue Magic, Blue Dawn, Sapphire Blue, Blast, Burst, Tasty Blue, Powder Blue and Climax. Blueberries grow perfectly happily in the ground but thrive in acidic soil. Unfortunately our soil tends to be on the alkaline side and I’ve never had any luck in growing them successfully in the ground, hence trying to grow them in containers this time around. I have been advised that the key to success is to use a good quality potting mix that contains peat. I used Tui Pot Power which is sold in 40L bags in garden centres and hardware stores in New Zealand. I used a range of spare containers I had, ranging from plastic pots to half wine barrels, approximately 30-40L in size. Since Pot Power contains long-lasting nutrients, it was not necessary for me to add an additional fertiliser to the berries. Just ensure that the containers you use have drainage holes at the bottom, to prevent them from becoming waterlogged over the winter months when it can rain constantly. I planted about 40 strawberry plants over the past week. The varieties were Camerosa and Pajero. The amazing thing is that I didn’t have to purchase a single one. Last spring, I bought 18 healthy runners from a top quality local garden centre and over the course of the summer, they multiplied prolifically. Each plant sent out what is known as ‘runners’, which stem from the parent plant and put down roots, becoming a plant in their own right. Once they are anchored down sufficiently into soil then you can snip and separate them from the parent plant. I happened to pot mine up so that I had room to plant other things in the garden over winter, with the intention of planting out the new runners in May. Unfortunately I fell behind schedule, as you can see from the fact that I only got around to doing this task in August. However it’s not too late – but get them in quickly though. Last year I only planted the store bought runners in August, yet we had a prolific supply for Christmas, which is when they are typically enjoyed in summer desserts such as the pavlova. At the time of planting strawberries, be sure to mix in plenty of compost and sheep pellets, as well as a little slow release fertiliser to aid their growth (I used tomato fertiliser which is fine to use with strawberries as both contain potassium which is essential to their flowering and eventual fruiting). I also planted a variety of brambles to extend our berry season, which typically starts with strawberries at the beginning of November and is followed by blueberries in the new year. Brambles include raspberries, blackberries, boysenberries and hybridberries. I decided to plant one of each in the garden. I planted a Raspberry called ‘Aspiring’, a Blackberry called ‘Black Satin’, a Boysenberry called ‘Starlight’ and a Hybridberry called ‘Thornless Jewel’. At the time of planting, be sure to add compost, sheep pellets and a fertiliser to kick-start their growth. I used a 2-year slow release fertiliser called Kings 24 Plus which comes from my local garden centre. Don't forget to cover your delicious berries with netting to protect them from birds who can't resist the sight of juicy, bright berries. Beware blackbirds in particular, who are always drawn to my strawberry patch! While some gardeners who plant berries are keen jam makers or rely on berries heavily in baking items such as muffins, we prefer to enjoy our berries fresh with a little ice-cream or yoghurt; either ordinary yoghurt or for a delectable treat, a dollop of coconut yoghurt. |
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