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Wally Richards

MARCH 2009

MARCH GARDEN PROBLEMS

GARDENING FOR A DEPRESSION.

CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2) GOOD OR BAD?

DANGEROUS VEGETABLES

FEBRUARY 2009

AUTUMN TIME

THE MAGIC OF EARTHWORMS

SOIL SUSTAINABILITY

GARDENING MAGIC

JANUARY 2009

SUMMER PROBLEMS

WINTER VEGETABLES

TOMATO PROBLEMS

WORM FARMING

GLASSHOUSE GARDENING

DECEMBER 2008

GARDENING INTO THE NEW YEAR

CHRISTMAS GARDENING

GARDENING MATTERS: POLLINATION

PLANTING TIMES

NOVEMBER 2008

DO’S AND DONT’S IN GARDENING

GARDENING PRESENTS FOR XMAS

SEASONAL PESTS

GARDENING TO SURVIVE THE ECONOMICAL DOWN TURN

POTASSIUM PERMANGANATE

OCTOBER 2008

ABOUT IRIS

HOW TO MAKE COMPOST

LABOUR WEEKEND

CONVULVOLUS

KEEPING A GOOD LAWN

CODLIN MOTH

TOMATOES: THE FINER POINTS

SEPTEMBER 2008

GARDENING IN SPRING

GARDENING INFORMATION

RE-MINERALIZE THE EARTH

VICTORY GARDENS

AUGUST 2008

LOOKING AT LAWNS

EARLY START ON VEGETABLES

TOMATO TIME

POTATO TIME

COPPER TIME

CAT PROBLEMS


Previous Articles


MARCH GARDEN PROBLEMS

Stress in plants is very similar to stress in people, when we are under stress our immune systems are weakened and we are more likely to catch colds and have other health issues.
Stress in humans comes with side effects, such as unable to obtain a good nights sleep, rushed meals or fast foods and the digestive system does not operate as well as could be; our body functions are under pressure. Thus our original stress condition is compounded with the resulting side effects.
Similarly when a plant comes into stress at this time of the year because of the hot dry conditions, it is also weakened, attracting pests and diseases, who’s job in nature is to assist in taking the plant out.
The plant goes into reproductive mode, flowering profusely and setting seeds. As the plant’s life is threatened it just wants to produce offspring and most, if not all its resources goes into this.
To make matters even worse the soil life including the worms, will have insufficient moisture so they disappear and reduce further the plant’s ability to take in nutrients and moisture.
Sap sucking insects compound the problem and diseases such as black spot, rust and mildews run wild.
To illustrate a point, I have two areas of garden where I have silverbeet growing. One right down the back, fenced off from the free ranging chooks, which was planted up in late spring. The area is very dry with a heavy clay soil and a number of established trees which also suck most of the available nutrients and moisture out of the soil.
It is not a good gardening area and I plan to put raised gardens in, with lots of compost to make great growing beds.
Till this is done I have not watered as much as I should have and the silverbeet is poor looking with rust problems and going to seed.. Where in another area I do have a raised bed with ample compost and animal manures in.
This area was planted with silverbeet seedlings in mid January and each night I give the bed a nice drink of filtered water (non chlorinated) with a hand held hose. Here the silverbeet is lush and already ready to harvest the outer leaves.
No rust, just happy plants that have no stress problems. Worms are active which tells me that all the soil life is also. Better growing medium and a little watering daily is all that is needed to keep it right.
A gardener told me recently that a good cure for rust is a solution of potassium permanganate dissolved in water to make a mild concoction, then sprayed over affected plants. Repeat as needed.
We mentioned a cheap remedy sometime ago on lawns for the problem of dry spot. This occurs when the soil becomes too dry and will not accept water. To break the surface tension you simply fill a watering can with warm water and squirt some dish washing liquid into the water. Give the water a stir to make it soapy and water onto the dry spots or areas. This breaks the surface tension and water can then penetrate.
The same principal can be applied to gardens that have become too dry. It is a good idea to do this about now so that when the autumn rains come the rain water will penetrate into the soil better.
Once you have treated with the soapy water you can then water and the water will soak into the soil. You do not need to supply a lot of water, instead a little water every day in either the later afternoon or early morning will do nicely. If powdery mildew is a problem then it is better to water in the morning.
To assist in the control of powdery mildew simply take a heaped table spoon of baking soda, add to 1 litre of water with a mil of Raingard and spray.
I prefer to water by hand and at the same time I can then check plants for insect pests and any diseases that might be starting up and take the appropriate action to control. It also allows me to pull out any young weeds and pick ripening fruit before the birds start pecking them. I will often come back inside with a couple of pockets full of near ripe tomatoes to go into a bowl and finish ripening.
Leaf hoppers are into many plants at this time of the year and a few nights ago I noticed a number of them on a Brugmansia I have growing in a container, so out with the Neem Tree Oil, Key Pyrethrum and Raingard and a good spraying of the plant along with other plants in the area.
Next night there was not a hopper to be seen and only the odd one has turned up since. Another spray a week or so later should be in order.
For bad infestations a number of sprays of the products maybe required for a few weeks.
White butterflies are flitting around my gardens so all the cabbages and brassicas along with the tomato plants have been given a dose of Neem Tree Granules onto the soil at the base of each plant, which helps keep the caterpillars under control.
Spider Mites are another pest insect that can run amok on plants at this time and a spray of Liquid Sulphur will stop them in their tracks. (Do not use with other sprays including Neem tree Oil)
You can however mix Liquid Copper, Liquid Sulphur and Raingard together, but dilute the copper and sulphur separately in some water before adding to the sprayer. For instance if you wanted 10 litres of spray add 35ml of Liquid Copper to a couple of litres of water then in another couple of litres add 25 mls of Liquid sulphur. Put a couple of litres of water into the sprayer and then add the diluted products. Add 10 ml of Raingard and the other 4 litres of water to the sprayer and agitate. You are now ready for battle.
Some gardeners like to use both copper and sulphur as protectors on plants for a range of diseases.
Lawns that have built up a layer of Thatch on the soil surface can now be treated with Thatch Busta.
Best applied with a lawnboy for good coverage.
After application lightly water the lawn every day to keep the thatch moist.
If you are using a lawn weed killer on your lawn then you can add Thatch Busta to the mix and the dying weeds will disappear a lot quicker.
Once the lawns start to moisten up with the autumn rains you can lift some turf and inspect the soil for grass grubs and porina.
If you find a number of them close to the surface then it is the right time to kill them before they damage your lawn.
You can either use a chemical such as Lawn Pest Control or a natural product such as Professor Mac’s 3 in 1 for Lawns.
The later one is best if you have pets or children that use the lawn.
TO THE LIST OF ARTICLES


GARDENING FOR A DEPRESSION.

Gardening, or more to the point, growing as much as you can of your own vegetables and fruit is one answer to off set times when your dollar has to stretch further than it can.
Most readers around their 60’s will remember growing up at a time when our parents were very conscious of hard times and in many cases we will still have memories of big vegetable gardens, fruit trees, chickens in their runs, baking, bottling, preserves and jam making. No waste, every thing was used and the expression of the day was, ‘Waste not, Want not’.
There was always ample greens to cook with bottled fruit for desert, eggs or porridge for breakfast. The savings made on these basic food items, from ones own backyard, meant extra pennies to buy the other commodities one could not produce.
Killing a chicken for Xmas or another special occasion was a luxury as the chooks were more valuable in egg production than in meat. We even knew our neighbours and everyone would share their surpluses in the street where they lived or with friends.
This is a far cry from how things have changed over the last 60 odd years. We knew the difference between Wants and Needs, with wants placed on the back burner. Likely the economic situation will bring about some sort of revival of those hard times.
I was prompted to reflecting about my past childhood as a result of an email received this week from an American web site where a blog was posted which read:

"I eat all natural foods and I'm still active and healthy at age 86...Last week I planted 3 more dwarf fruit trees so I now have 12 of various kinds. I COOK my food and don't eat out of a box. I home can, dry, and freeze my surplus summer foods. Just like your great-grandmother used to do. I grow a small vegetable garden and also a medicinal herb garden.
Everything is organic. I've studied herbs for some years. I grew up during the Depression of the 30s and I can do it again. People can be surprised how many things they can do without when it comes down to food. But we NEED the small organic farmers.”

An excellent blog and one we should reflect on.
At this time of the year it is your last chance to get a crop of greens in for winter, if you leave it too late then the plants will not reach maturity and in the spring may go to seed.
The best vegetables to grow would be silverbeet, spinach, broad beans and winter lettuce.
Next would be members of the brassica family such as cabbages etc.
There are two ways you can go about this, in containers or in raised gardens.
The containers I prefer are the polystyrene boxes you can obtain cheaply at the fish departments of supermarkets or fish wholesalers. Drill a few holes in the bottom for drainage and fill with a mixture of 80% compost and 20% top soil. Mix these in a wheel barrow or on a plastic tarp and add some garden lime, sheep manure pellets and any animal manures than you can obtain. Blood & bone can also be included.
Fill the box to about two thirds full with the mix and if you have any earth worms place them into the mix. Cover with a couple of sheets of newspaper and wet that down. This is to create a weed barrier for any weed seeds that might be in the soil or home made compost used, besides worms love the newspaper. Now fill the box to near the rim with purchased compost which will be weed free.
Now you can plant your seedlings or seeds into this top layer of compost.
I am endeavouring to keep the cost of doing this as low as possible but would recommend that you purchase a bottle of Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) and water that over the freshly planted seeds/plants.
Then about every two weeks spray the plants with the same. It makes a big difference in the quality and maturity times of your crops.
Place the container in a nice sunny position and if you have chlorinated water then fill your watering can and any buckets with the chlorinated water and leave for 24 hours to remove the chlorine, before using it to water the plants. (If you do not have chlorinated water on tap forget this step.)
You can plant about 6 brassicas, or 6 lettuce, or 8 silverbeet or about 12 spinach to a box. Lots of carrot seeds for thinning later and about 10 broad bean seeds.
If you like greater variety in your cooking look for winter growing Asian vegetable seeds in seed stands or in a mail order such as Kings Seeds.
You can have lots of these boxes growing different crops in your back yard, they look neat and if you need to place them on a lawn area then lay down a sheet of black plastic film over the cut grass to sit the boxes on. It will likely kill the grass over time but that means less mowing and it is better to have a full tummy than have a brilliant looking lawn.
Now to the raised bed situation as an alternative.
If your back yard is fairly full with lawns and established plants then you will likely have to use a sunny part of your lawn to place your raised gardens. Mow the lawn as low as possible in the area where you will construct the raised garden.
Build a surround with any suitable materials such as wood, bricks, concrete blocks etc. If using tanalised wood, paint the wood all over with two coats of acrylic paint to seal in the chemicals.
Place cardboard over the mowed lawn at the base of the raised garden to prevent any weeds or grass growing up. Now you can follow the instructions above as I suggested with for the containers to fill the raised garden.
When constructing the raised garden make sure you place it so that you can work the garden from all sides which means you will never have to walk on the mix and remove the problem of compacting.
If you use concrete blocks then the cavity in the blocks can also be filled with mix as above and smaller plants such as lettuce or herbs can be planted in the cavity.
Remember if the depression becomes very bad for you, every bit of space to grow is vital.
Next if you have the room and means, then construct a small chicken house and run.
Chickens can be feed kitchen scraps, weeds as well as some chicken food to give you a supply of both eggs and chicken manure for your gardens.
Collect the chicken manure and place into a large bucket or container and fill three quarters with non chlorinated water, stir and then the liquid manure can be used to feed the soil in your gardens.
Dilute 1:10 with non chlorinated water and water this over your gardens.
A little of the MBL can be added to this as well.
For those gardeners that wish to increase the nutritional value of their crops then products such as Rok Solid, Ocean Solids and BioPhos can be applied to the gardens at the prescribed rates on the jars.
If you are new to gardening you will have successes and failures to start with, but the key is to ask questions of experienced gardeners for tips so that in time with experience, you will learn and have many more successes than failures.
TO THE LIST OF ARTICLES


CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2) GOOD OR BAD?

There are two large schools of thought about carbon dioxide; one faction states that increased emissions will cause global climate change, while the other faction insists that we are at a historical low of carbon dioxide (ppm) in the atmosphere and weather patterns are controlled by other factors such as sun spots.
I received an email this week from the pro factor which stated the following:

Nature craves more carbon dioxide

“Government policies to force drastic cuts in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, out of fear of CO2 as a “pollutant”, are insanea fact underscored by recent testimony before the U.S. Senate by award-winning Princeton University physicist Dr. Will Happer.
In the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearings on 25th February, Dr. Happer declared man-made global warming fears were “mistaken” and noted that the Earth is currently in a “CO2 famine.”
Dr. Happer stands alongside more than 31,000 scientists who have signed a petition opposing the quack science of global warminga petition which makes the specific point that “there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments of the Earth.”
The global average atmospheric CO2 concentration is currently a tiny 387 ppm (parts per million)just a trace gasand trees and plants are craving for more, yet fools are threatening to decimate our economy, in order to reduce this life-giving gas. In the last 600 million years of Earth's history, only the Carboniferous Period (approximately 300 million years ago) and our present age, the Quaternary Period, have witnessed CO2 levels less than 400 ppm.
Commercial greenhouse operators are advised to add enough CO2 to maintain about 1,000 ppm around their plants. Carbon dioxide generators for greenhouse operators produce CO2 by burning liquid propane or natural gas. The healthy plants respond just as plants have responded for most of the history of life on earth when CO2 concentrations were naturally this high, if not higher.
The dinosaurs survived just fine when CO2 concentrations exceeded 2,000 ppm and 450 million years ago, late in the Ordovician Period, the earth went into an Ice Age when carbon dioxide levels exceeded 4,000 ppmso much for CO2 induced global warming! Coral has thrived throughout these enormous natural climatic and atmospheric changes.
Exhaled human breath contains about 4% CO2. That is 40,000 ppmlevels which carbon reduction fanatics would consider to be concentrated pollution.” End

It is a fact that in a controlled environment such as a glasshouse if you scatter dry ice (carbon dioxide) the plants growing there will receive a growth burst just like they received a big dose of nitrogen.
From a web site at www.expresswaysonline.com/expwys/greening_earth.html we find the following:

In The Netherlands, researchers at the Glasshouse Climate & Technology Research Station for Floriculture & Glasshouse Vegetables grow vegetables such as cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant, squash, lettuce and radishes at two to four times the atmospheric CO2 level, that is, between 700 to 1,400 parts per million (ppm).
"The results of growing at elevated CO2 levels are more rapid growth, earlier maturity, larger fruit size, greater weight, and a greater total yield of about 25 percent," said the station's chief, Gustaaf Anton van den Berg.
At the University of Florida, elevated CO2 levels are stimulating rice growth and grain yield by factors of 30 to 40 percent. "We get increased carbon uptake through photosynthesis," said Dr. Jeffrey Baker, of the UF Agronomy Department. "We also get a decline in total water use, and all this translates into an increase in grain yield."
Higher CO2 levels have greatly increased the growth of cotton crops, reports Dr. Bruce Kimball, Water Conservation Laboratory, U.S. Department of Agriculture. "We found that in enriching the crop to about 550 parts per million -- which is 200 parts per million above our control plots -- that the growth is increased by about 40 percent more."
There's no doubt that carbon dioxide levels now are higher in our atmosphere now than in the recent past. Atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide appear have risen from 272 parts per million (ppm) from 1700 A.D., as postulated from ice cores, to 348 ppm in 1998.
This is proportional to the increase in world population, from 0.5 billion in 1770 to 5.1 billion in 1998. This rise in carbon dioxide is due partly to accelerated human activity, but also comes from natural sources. More recently, carbon dioxide levels have risen from 300 ppm to 360 ppm in this century. End

I noted with interest that during the recent bush fires in Australia a commentator stated that the increased CO2 levels in the atmosphere had greatly increased the growth of trees and under bush which was a contributing factor to the size and intensity of the fires.
From the above web site they state the following:

But real-world conditions are complicating the climate change prognosticators and throwing computer forecasting models into error. For example, the degree of rise of CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere is slowing from earlier estimates, due in part because the CO2 is being locked up in the plant biomass through accelerated plant growth.
Also, other unpredictable or overlooked elements such as cloud cover, water vapor (comprising some 96 percent of all greenhouse gases), heat transport and sunspot cycles throw monkey wrenches into climate change predictions. To date, not a single computer model has predicted any current condition with any degree of accuracy, nor has there been any statistical evidence for a warming planet.
But we do know two things: That CO2 levels in the atmosphere are increasing, and that higher CO2 levels enhance plant growth. And that alone should be enough to make Mother Earth smile. End

Likely you have noted that the growth of your garden plants in recent times has been extremely good in fact I have been amazed at how much growth has happened over the last few weeks.
Most of the country has receive a good amount of rain so that is a factor to this increased growth.
Rain brings natural nitrogen to the plants and soil and not being chlorinated means it does not harm the vital soil life which also contributes greatly to the healthy growth of plants.
Autumn is a great time to garden and with increased CO2 levels it means that plants can gain more energy through photosynthesis which compensates for the shortening day light hours.
In other words; more energy gained as a result of increased CO2 during shortening sun light time.
This makes for a longer growing season in some areas and faster maturity times; all to our advantage.
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DANGEROUS VEGETABLES

Last week I received an email from a reader about a big problem he had experienced with parsnips. The following is the email:

‘I'm a keen follower of your articles in Marlborough's 'Saturday Express', so thought you might be interested in my sorry little tale of vegetable attack.
Put in a couple of double rows of Parsnips this year - for a change, and for our winter needs.
Read in a gardening article once that if their tops get too big its OK to cut them back a bit if they interfere with your other vegetables.
So about a week ago, - on a very hot day, in shorts and jandals, and with bare arms - I gave them a short back and sides with a pairs of hand shears.
Took off two barrow loads of leaf cuttings.
Two days latter I'm starting to look like the lead part in the movie "Return of the Monster from the Toxic Waste Dump".
Both legs and arms are covered with severe red burns and large blisters, some as big as ten cent coins. A trip to the doctor confirms that it's what he calls "Wild Parsnip Burn". A fairly distressing and painful business that requires medication and some time for the skin to heal. And it can take years to get rid of the nasty red and purple scars.
The problem seems to be, that contrary to inference there's really no difference between the so-called "wild" and the "garden" parsnip - i.e. pastinaca sativa - and this kind of nasty burn can happen to anyone.
Interesting article which confirms this at: http://www.theextremegardener.com/blog/tag/parsnips/ Nearly all of my older gardening friends have never heard of this problem before and were quite surprised. Must admit I've grown parsnips before without any problems, but then I've never trimmed them back quite like this before.
So thought I'd just remind you of this little known danger of parsnips, - just in case you ever feel the urge to write an article on "The Dangers of Growing Vegetables"
Best Regards, Stuart Rae.’
I had never heard of this previously but were aware of things such as stinging nettle which can be irritating when handled. Also Primula Obconica a lovely flowering plant which a number of people can have a reaction to if handled with bare hands.
I initially placed the parsnips into the same aspect of these two plants and replied back to Stuart.
He soon returned my email with the following which included my reply:

‘Hi again Wally !

Hi Sorry to hear about your allergy, but thank you for the information.

No Wally, It's NOT an ALLERGY mate . . . It's at PHOTOCHEMICAL BURN ! . . .AND it can happen to ANYONE !

Yes normally one lets the parsnips grow and when mature fork them out as required.
In cutting the tops earlier would mean a lot of sap which containers the plant's protection and then carrying the sappy foliage would be a disaster for anyone not immune to the problem.
Again NO. It has nothing to do with being " not immune to the problem ".

Which is, I guess, why I really wrote to you in the first place.’

I looked up the web site that Stuart referred to and found this snippet:

‘The plants are not a threat unless you cut into the green parts and get the juice on your skin. Beyond our lawn and garden area, we have little meadows that I scythe once or twice a year, and use the cuttings for making compost. The parsnips have a healthy colony in one of them, though I have generally made it a point to mow them down when they’re in flower… and this is how I was getting burned.
The reason it was so hard to figure this out is that there is no immediate effect when you get the juice on your skin. But, if the skin is exposed to the sun, the burning starts to happen about a day later, and the skin will actually blister. If you got a lot of the stuff on your skin, you could have some pretty serious and painful burns. The scars can last 2 years.
We have occasionally also eaten very small quantities of parsnip greens in spring, but we’re rethinking that in light of this new information. Parsnip’s appeal as a green is not all that great, anyway. The root is nice for the winter larder, but I will be handling these volunteers far more carefully in their green state.’
To investigate the matter further I looked up ‘Photochemical Burn’ and found that the following plants and vegetables can cause the same problem.
Family Genus: Species: Common Names: Main Compounds
Umbelliferae : Amni majus: Queen Anne's lace, Bishop's weed: 8-methoxypsoralen (8-MOP), 5-methoxypsoralen (5-MOP), imperatorin
Heracleum sphondylium: Cow parsnip: 8-MOP, 5-MOP, imperatorin, phellopterin
Pastinaca sativa: Parsnip: 8-MOP, 5-MOP, imperatorin, isopimpinellin
Apium graveolens: Celery: Psoralens, 8-MOP, 5-MOP
Rutaceae: Citrus: bergamia: Bergamot lime: 5-MOP
Citrus: maxima: Zabon: 5-MOP
Dictamnus: albus: Gas plant: 8-MOP, 5-MOP
Moracea: Ficus: carica: Fig: Psoralens, 5-MOP
Leguminosae: Psoralea: corylifolia: Bavchi, Scurf pea: Psoralens
Now it is the juice of these plants from cut foliage that can or will cause you problems.
The best way to overcome the situation is to wear vinyl or rubber type gloves and do not allow any exposed skin to come into contact with the foliage. Long sleeves and trousers with footwear such as the good old gum boots.
Place the cut foliage into the compost or lay on the soil to breakdown.
Once the foliage has decomposed there is no further danger.
I see a potential danger if young children are playing in areas where wild parsnips or any of the other plants mentioned; they could bruise or damage foliage and get the juice on their bare skin.
As the reaction time is a day or two later you would not be aware of the cause.
Careful removal of these plants would be best when children are involved.
Live and Learn.

TO THE LIST OF ARTICLES


AUTUMN TIME

We are currently about 2 months past the longest day and just about 4 months before the shortest day, and one can certainly notice the shortening hours of daylight.
Also March is the first calendar month of autumn and a great time to garden. This time of the year brings the autumn rains of which, most areas have had a nice amount of recently.
It could well be an early winter in many areas and even in Palmerston North I have felt the chill on the odd early morning along with some cooler evenings, bit unusual for February which often is the hotest month of the year. The fingers of winter have got a bit longer this year I fear.
For those gardeners that want to have a nice crop of winter vegetables to harvest during the cold months, then get planting now, as it is most important to get the vegetables as close to maturity as possible before winter really sets it. Plant out silverbeet, spinach, cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussel sprouts and kohl rabi.
These are best planted out as seedlings from your garden centre. For seed planting do carrots, parsnips, broad beans, snow snap peas, swedes, turnips, shallots, spring onions, radish and winter lettuces.
When preparing a planting area give the soil a dose of Rapid Lime or a soft, fast acting garden lime.
Alternative would be crushed egg shells or powdered sea shells.
Do not use nitrogen rich products instead stick to the likes of sheep manure pellets, blood and bone and lots of aged animal manures/compost. A sprinkling of potash is also great to ensure strong, steady growth. You can also stay winter proofing your more tender plants by giving them a dose of potash.
You may like to enhance your vegetables with added trace elements by use of the natural products such as Rok Solid (Mineralized rock dust) and Ocean Solids (minerals from the ocean)
Spray the plants two weekly with Magic Botanic Liquid for best results.
Don't forget to sprinkle Neem Tree Granules on the soil by any brassicas planted and a little in the planting hole as well. This will greatly assist in the control of caterpillars which can devastate young cabbages etc.
With ample autumn rains means the need to water is greatly reduced and this in itself solves the problem for gardeners that have chlorinated water in their taps. The chlorine harms the vital soil life and worm populations.
Autumn is certainly a great time to garden, with the milder weather there are plenty of gardening jobs you can get your teeth into.
One of these of course is to sow new lawns or patch up existing lawns.
Here is some lawn sowing information from my first book; Wally’s Down to Earth Gardening Guide:

‘Before sowing any lawn seed, you will need to get rid of as many weeds in the top soil as possible. If you don’t do this, you’ll find the weeds will probably germinate before or along with the grass seeds, making for a big problem later on.
You can rid the area of weeds before sowing by watering liberally to germinate the weed seeds. Once they’re up, simply remove them by hand or with a Dutch hoe, or spray them with a suitable weedkiller.
If you use a chemical weedkiller for this job, make sure it is one which won’t interfere with the germination of your lawn seed later on in other words ensure it has no residual characteristic.
Once you’ve taken care of the weed situation while they’re still small, you could continue watering to see if there are any more likely to pop up. Obviously, you’ll have to stop at some point to sow your lawn. If you leave the soil bare for too long, weed seeds will come in, either via the wind or bird droppings.
While on the subject of weeds, make sure any garden beds around the area you plan on sowing are also free of weeds, and kept that way during the time you’re preparing the new lawn.
The next thing you will need to do is spread a good fertiliser over the bare soil before sowing in your lawn seed. My recommendation would be an organic product called Bio Boost a slow-release fertiliser available from most of the branches within the Fruit Fed, PGG Wrightson group. It is also marketed in smaller quantities in some garden centres as Break Through. (Bio Boost is likely to be available in some garden centres in larger quantities in the future)

SOWING THE SEEDS: Now that you’re ready to sow your seeds, pick the best time of day to do it. Ideally, this is late in the day, just before dusk, or even after dusk if you have adequate outside lighting. Doing it any earlier will mean the birds will be watching you, and will return later to eat your lawn seed.
The best way to sow evenly is to use a spreader, set at the right gauge for sowing. Depending on the type of seed you purchased, the rate will be somewhere between 35 and 50 grams per square metre. If you’re likely to walk over areas you have already sown during this process, make sure the soil isn’t damp enough to pick up the soil and seeds on the soles of your shoes.
A good tip here is to wrap your shoes in a couple of layers of plastic shopping bags this will give them a smoother surface and make it more difficult for earth and seeds to cling on.
After sowing all your seeds, give the area a light watering with sprinklers to settle in the seeds. You can also do this by using a roller to press the seed into the soil, then watering lightly.
I prefer to cover my seed with sharp sand (plasters’ sand) as is it more weed-free than river sand. Starting at one side, sprinkle the sand until you can’t see the seeds underneath. The sand should be dry, and will adhere to the moist soil and seeds. You can then walk on the sand without worrying about picking up seeds on your shoes. This allows you to progressively spread the sand over the whole area.
It is most important to sow really top quality lawn seed and one that is readily available is call Super Strike.
A very light watering of the new lawn 2 to 3 times a day will help speed up germination. Remember that this is just a light watering; enough only to dampen down the sand.
Applying too much water won’t help, and unless you get a really heavy downpour, rain is unlikely to pose a problem either. But it is important to keep the new grasses a little on the moist side.
Once the grasses are established and have reached about 4 to 5cm in height, you can do you’re first mowing, removing only about 1 to 2cm off the top.
This will encourage the grasses to branch out, making for a denser lawn. Never mow more than one third off the height of your grasses in any one mowing, whatever age your lawn is, and always use a catcher as clippings left lying around after mowing will only increase problems with thatch. This is really important.
A good lawn should be about 3 to 4cm tall, perhaps even taller, and should be a dense, thick pile of grass. It should never be less than 2cm in height. Only cut off the top third of the grasses with any one mowing.
The ideal colour of a healthy lawn should be a deep to emerald green.
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THE MAGIC OF EARTHWORMS

Earthworms are vital to the soil food web and healthy gardens.
If your gardens lack in good worm populations you will not have happy, healthy plants, instead you will have plants that are attacked by numerous diseases and pests.
The main reasons for not having good worm populations are as a result of using man made fertilisers, chemical sprays including herbicides, watering with chlorinated water.
Soil that is too dry or too wet are also reasons for lack of worms.
Worm populations can be increased by keeping the soil evenly moist with non-chlorinated water, placing sheets of wet newspaper over areas of bare soil between plants and covering the paper with animal manures and compost.
Weeds that appear should be cut off with a sharp knife just below soil level and the foliage left laying on top of the soil/compost to decompose.
What is the value of worms in your gardens? The following comes from a recent email I received from a worm expert in America.

‘The growth promoting properties of worm casts have been clearly shown to be independent of the plant-nutrient levels in the castings. By providing test plants with all their nutritional requirements - in the form of standard inorganic fertilizers - researchers have demonstrated that the additional growth of the plants treated with castings was due to other factors.
Precisely WHAT these factors are has been the big question.
In a 1998 BioCycle report by Subler et al., the authors speculated that the increased growth was "perhaps related to enhanced micro-nutrient availability, the presence of plant growth regulators, or the activity of beneficial micro-organisms in the castings".
The presence of elevated levels of various plant growth regulators - such as auxins, giberellins and cytokinins in earthworm-worked material has in fact been observed and reported by researchers well before 1998 (eg. Tomati et al., 1983), thus making this a promising possibility.
Some significant progress in this field was reported by Atiyeh et al. in 2002.
For the first time, a group of researchers (not surprisingly, a team from Ohio State University) was able to pinpoint an exact mechanism responsible for at least some of the additional growth promotion in plants (while others HAVE found plant growth regulators in castings, they've never provided conclusive evidence that these substances were indeed directly responsible for the additional growth).
The study involved plant growth trials testing the addition of varying levels of humic acids - extracted from worm castings (made from pig manure and food waste) - to determine if they had any effect on plant growth. The set-up of the experiment was very similar to previous work by OSU researchers testing the growth promoting ability of the castings themselves.
As such, all plants were provided with full compliment of required nutrients, so as to ensure that any and all additional growth observed was independent of improvements in plant nutrition.
The team found that not only did the humic acids stimulate significant plant growth, but the effectiveness at varying concentrations followed a similar pattern to that reported in the castings studies.
That is to say that a significant growth response was observed at relatively low concentrations of humic acids, and this growth response increased as the concentration of the humates increased - up to a certain point (which varied, depending on the starting material, the plant species being tested, and the potting mix being used).
Treatments with higher concentrations of these humic acids often brought about a decline in plant growth. The authors concluded that the growth response was specifically due to either the hormone-like properties of the humic substances themselves and/or actual plant growth hormones adsorbed onto the surface of the humates.
For those of you unfamiliar with 'humic' substances, these are large, highly complex, and highly stabilized compounds which offer a wide variety of beneficial properties when present in soils. I'm sure most people have heard of 'humus' - which is basically the dark, rich earthy material you find in a good compost or at the bottom of a well rotted pile of leaves.
In a more recent OSU study (Arancon et al. 2006), humic acids extracted from worm castings were once again found to positively (and significantly) impact the growth of various plants species.
Beyond the positive impact of the humates, and the likelihood that plant growth regulators are somehow involved (both discussed in the 2002 article) there doesn't appear to have been any further developments in this area.
Given the fact that we at least know (with a pretty high degree of certainty) that humic substances play an important role in the beneficial properties of worm castings, one might wonder why similar properties haven't be reported for 'regular' composts, which certainly contain plenty of humic compounds as well. It likely once again comes down to the considerable differences in the way castings and normal composts are produced.
According to Dominguez et al. (1997), vermicomposting not only accelerates the humification process, but it results in a more thoroughly humified end product. This is likely attributable to the fragmentation and extremely high microbial activity occurring within the earthworm digestive tract.
Considering how small the body of vermicomposting literature in general is in comparison to mainstream compost science, however, I am also reminded of the fact that there is a serious need for further research in this field. Hopefully with growing public awareness of, and interest in vermicomposting (what can I say -I'm an optimist at heart), we'll see this come to pass.’End.

It is fact that garden soils that contain good populations of earthworms will produce; great healthy plants.
While you are working on building up your earthworm populations you can also obtain the benefits of the humate aspects by occasional soil drenches of Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) including two weekly sprays of the plant’s foliage with the same.
You will certainly see the difference in your garden plants.
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SOIL SUSTAINABILITY

I received an email newsletter from America this week which in it the following was quoted:

"We live off of what comes out of the soil, not what's in the bank. If we squander the ecological capital of the soil, the capital on paper won't much matter...
For the past 50 or 60 years, we have followed industrialized agricultural policies that have increased the rate of destruction of productive farmland. For those 50 or 60 years, we have let ourselves believe the absurd notion that as long as we have money we will have food.
If we continue our offenses against the land and the labor by which we are fed, the food supply will decline, and we will have a problem far more complex than the failure of our paper economy.
Remember, if our agriculture is not sustainable then our food supply is not sustainable...
Either we pay attention or we pay a huge price, not so far down the road. When we face the fact that civilizations have destroyed themselves by destroying their farmland, it's clear that we don't really have a choice."

Does that make sense to you?
In New Zealand we also face the same problem of agro-chemicals ruining the soil structure of the land.
Not only do these fertilisers and rescue chemicals destroy the vital soil food web, they grow produce that lacks in nutritional value, affecting the health of both us and the animals that we have as part of our food chain.
The crops grown on these heavily fertilised lands grow sickly and are prone to both insect and disease attacks, hence the use of rescue chemicals to keep the crops looking good for supermarket sales.
These sprays of chemicals may be applied every week to every two weeks during the term of the crop and thus no matter what the recommended withholding period is, if actually applied, there will still be chemical residues in the products when eaten, as analysts have proved.
Continued applications of chemicals destroys the soil structure which leads to erosion through wind and water, greatly reducing the productivity of the land.
Much of the chemical fertilisers applied to the crops are not actually taken up by the crops and overtime they lock up in the soil and leach away to end up in our waterways causing problems to our drinking water, our waterways and oceans.
I believe that most intelligent people already realise the above but even that does not change anything and the madness goes on.
The same thing can happen in the home garden if one depends on chemicals for growing rather than building up their soil structure through the use of organic materials.
Soil or better still, humus is grown over a period of time, making for really healthy soils to grow our plants in. Soil bacteria multiply by cell division when the conditions are right, which means moisture and ample organic food.
In laboratory conditions one solitary bacterium can produce in the vicinity of 5 billion offspring in a mere 12 hours if they have sufficient food.
If all bacteria reproduced at this rate all the time, it would take only a month or so to double the mass of our planet.
This of course can not happen (otherwise we would be buried under a mass of dead bacteria or humus) It is the dead bodies of these bacteria (along with other soil life) that builds up the humus in our soils and make a beautiful sweet smelling soil for our plants to grow in.
The things that interfere with the multiplication of bacteria in our soils is the use of man made fertilisers with their acidic nature, chemical sprays and chlorinated water from our taps (if you are in a area where chlorine is added to the tap water)
Bacteria stop multiplying if the soil becomes too dry or too wet.
This means that during the dry months of summer you must endeavor to keep the soil moist by continuous light waterings of non-chlorinated water. (A filter on your outside tap at 10 microns will remove the chlorine)
For feeding the microbes we need to apply ample animal manures and other organic materials to the soil surface as mulches and allow the worms, soil life and water to break up the mulches and feed the soil.
Instead of pulling or digging weeds out, simply cut them off with a sharp knife an inch or so under the soil, leaving the root system intake to rot away and feed the soil life. The cut top should be laid on the soil surface to disintegrate and feed the soil.
(If allowed to flower and seed remove to the compost heap)
By doing so we feed our plants and they become very healthy and far less prone to disease and insect attack. When we grow our vegetables in gardens treated in the above manner, the crops will be full of goodness and have excellent flavor, unlike the tasteless produce purchased from a supermarket.
The key is to feed the soil rather than the plants and then the plants will have adequate food for their needs.
You can speed up the natural process by applying Mycorrcin and Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) to the soils as drenches from time to time. Then more frequently spraying the foliage of your vegetables with the same. Two weekly is perfect.
Further enhancement can be achieved by occasional applications of mineral rich products such as Rok Solid, Ocean Solids, sea weed preparations, worm pee, liquid manures etc.
If you follow the above then you will find that your worm populations will build up in your gardens and as their number increase, so will the goodness of the soil and the health of your plants.
Tiger worms can be purchased from worm farmers and by applying them to what I call a worm pit, then covering the surrounding soil with wet newspaper and animal manures and keeping it moist with non chlorinated water, it does not take long to have a garden full of worms.
Each worm will eat its body weight a day and produce lots of worm pee in the soil where it is used by the plants and soil food web.
(A worm pit is a hole dug in the garden about a spade or more deep, filled with kitchen scraps and newspaper/paper towels. Tiger worms are placed into this rotting material and then covered with a natural mulch of compost. The surrounding soil is treated as mentioned above.)
If you were to apply chlorinated water to the area you will stop the worm activity and they would not reproduce for several months. DO NOT USE CHLORINATED WATER!You just waste your time and money.
Over time, you will build up fantastic soil which your plants will thrive in.
All you have to do is keep on feeding the soil and maintain a nice moisture level.
My saying is; Healthy Soil, Healthy Plants, Healthy You.
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GARDENING MAGIC

Gardeners work hard to have healthy gardens with plants that are growing well, free of diseases and pests.
Some years ago scientists discovered that Humate and Fulvic acid incorporating up to 102 minerals as well as a number of Amino Acids, derived from prehistoric cycad forest deposits, did wonders for the soil and plants.
Unfortunately, many of the minerals and trace elements which contemporary research is showing to be necessary for full health are no longer readily available in our soils. Modern farming methods have not replaced these in our soils, and so these minerals and elements are less available to the plants grown for food or pleasure.
This also means these minerals are also not available in our food. Indeed, recent studies conducted at various agricultural collages and universities show that today's fruits and vegetables are lacking in all the 102 minerals and trace elements with most samples containing 30 or less.
This is why the food in our current, conventional food chain lacks the nutritional values we need for good ongoing health. Our plants are not healthy, our animals/stock are not healthy and been at the top of the food chain we also have numerous health problems these days.
Humate and Fulvic acid is readily available in many garden centres under the name of Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL). Extracted in New Zealand from lignite (low grade coal) which is the consolidate of those giant prehistoric forests growing at a time when the planet was mineral rich.
I often mention MBL in my weekly columns and numerous gardeners have tried the liquid in their gardens. The results and feed back that I have received from gardeners using the liquid have been remarkable.
One lady gardener rang me the other day and told about a life style block they had purchased some years ago. The soil was of poor quality as a result of past use and they were having difficulties getting plants to grow no matter what they did.
She gave an example of a stand of olive trees they planted 5 years ago which were alive but barely growing since planted. The lady had obtained a bottle of MBL and used it on her roses; the roses quickly responded and now she is proud of what once were poor specimens.
With this in mind she convinced her husband to treat the olive trees with the liquid.
A good drench of the soil and a few sprays over the foliage and hey presto the olive trees are now growing well and looking really healthy.
I cannot recount the number of gardeners that have phoned, emailed or posted me letters telling how their gardens have never been as good as now, since they started using MBL.
One gardener from Auckland rang me up the a couple of years ago and said “I don't know whats in it, but now I have a fantastic garden.” He went onto to say his garden won the top garden in his area as a neighbough had nominated his garden as an entry for the competition. (Since then his garden has been barred from the yearly competition as it is too good.)
What does this magic stuff actually do? Well it does a number of things such as unlocking and making food or past fertilisers in the soil available for plants.
It helps clean up toxic poisons and chemical residues in the soil because of its high carbon content.
Soil life respond to the liquid and their populations grow aiding the health of the plants.
(Note chemical fertilisers and sprays kill this vital soil life which is a good reason never to use chemicals) Also found in the humate is humic acid.
Humic Acid is a generic term for a complex of acids found in decaying plants. These acids are used in the chelation process.
They also are the source of one of the most exciting health discoveries in recent times: Fulvic Acid. Fulvic acid is only one of the substances in humate, however. Humic substances comprise an immense arsenal of powerful phytochemicals, biochemicals, enzymes, amino acids, hormones and antioxidants, to list just a few.
It is like waving a magic wand over your gardens and every thing starts to come to life.
To start off you drench the soil with 20 mils of MBL per litre of water applied with a watering can when the soil is already moist. The same can be repeated every 2-3 months for a season or two.
Later on when everything is doing well a drench in the spring and another in the autumn would maintain the health.
Spraying the foliage of plants is also important and will result in better plants and healthier food crops. This can be done two weekly initially, at the rate of 10 mils of MBL to each litre of water. Spray the foliage for reasonable coverage and the soil near the plant at the same time.
Later on a monthly spray should be all thats required.
Often the effects are noticed fairly quickly especially in gardens where chemicals have been used in the past. Organic gardens will also benefit but the improvement will be more in the nutritional value of the crops rather than an increase in the health of the plants. (Because they should be pretty healthy anyway)
More benefits include; Aids and speeds up germination of seeds. Helps to release locked up fertilisers from past applications especially phosphates.
Helps increase availability of chemical fertilisers and organic foods for plants.
Helps reduce many common plant disease problems.
Cleans up many toxic compounds, chemicals and oil spills in soil.
Helps to establish plants in areas where they cant or struggle to establish.
Stimulates growth of soil micro organisms.
Increases root respiration and formation.
Increases availability of micro nutrients.
Increases permeability of plant membranes, which enhances nutrient uptake.
Increases vitamin content of plants.
Accelerates root development.
Stimulates plant enzymes.
MBL contains a number of trace elements such as Si, Mg, S, Mn plus many more.
Increases photosynthesis.
Contains silica which strengthens cell walls, helps block disease and regulates cell temperature which increases drought and frost tolerance.
Increase pH buffering properties of soil.
Retains and releases water soluble fertilisers for plants when needed.
Increases soil aeration.
Improves soil structure.
Makes soil more friable.
Has a capacity to detoxify chemical residues and heavy metals.
A powerful, natural chelating agent.
Improves taste and shelf-life.
Fulvic acid can promote prolonged production, as it tends to delay the aging process. Fulvic acid increases the metabolism of proteins.
You can put some magic into your garden for your own pleasure, increase the nutritional value of your own home grown fruit and vegetables and have the best looking roses in the street. Its Magic.
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SUMMER PROBLEMS

We all enjoy the sunny, warm days of summer and its a real pleasure to get out into the garden and potter around. So far it has been a good summer in many areas with a reasonable amount of rain to keep our plants happy.
During dry times our soils build up surface tension, which means that water tends to shear off those spots and then sinks in further away.
This can be noticed in lawns that are irrigated and one finds that brown patches appear where water has not penetrated the soil and around the brown area we see the grasses growing lush and green.
The answer to this problem can be found in the kitchen and its your bottle of dish washing liquid.
Simply put a little warm water into your watering can, give that a squirt of dish washing liquid and then fill the watering can with more warm water. A bit of a stir and you have lovely soapy water which can be watered over the dry spots to break the surface tension of the soil.
Container plants potted up with potting mix can also develop tension both on the surface and through the mix. When you water a container that is affected you find that most of the water runs out of the drainage holes. You can overcome this problem by plunging the whole container into a tub of water.
Lots of air bubbles will bubble up as the mix becomes fully saturated.
Once it stops bubbling then raise the pot from the tub and allow surplus water to drain and put it back to where it was. You will find next time you water it the water will stay in the mix.
Hanging baskets are even worse for this problem and the baskets should be taken down and plunged every week or two.
For large containers which are two big to plunge you can use the dish washing liquid as above and water that over the mix, allow to sink in and apply some more.
Another watering idea is to take plastic soft drink bottles and cut the bottom off.
You then dig them into the soil next to the feeder root area of trees and shrubs with the neck deep into the soil and the cut base just protruding above soil level.
Now when you are watering your garden you can pour water into the bottles and this water will wet the area where it is most needed.
After a good period of rain mulches of compost can be applied over the soil to assist in the retention of ground moisture. Long term mulches of products such as bark should not be used over soils that retain water in winter around plants that can not handle wet feet.
Temporary mulches such as newspaper covered with compost are best around plants that hate water sodden soil as they will breakdown before the winter rains come and allow the soil to breath and release excessive moisture quicker.
Insect pests such as whitefly, caterpillars and leaf hoppers just love the heat of summer to breed and decimate our garden plants.
All too often we tend to take little notice of these pests when a few first appear and then respond when their populations get up into the hundreds.
Say a particular pest lays 100 eggs and within about 2-3 weeks the grubs reach maturity, mate and from this say 50 females then lay 100 eggs each, we suddenly have 5000 of the pests doing damage to their host plants. A few weeks later we can have 250,000 grubs at work. All this in a time frame of a couple of months or so.
Large populations ruin plants and are very difficult to control so early intervention is the key to successful control.
There are a number of expensive chemical insecticides available and a number of these have little effect on their target insects as the pests have become immune to the chemical poisons.
Natural controls work better and the likes of Key Pyrethrum, Neem Tree Oil and Neem Tree Granules used individually or in conjunction with each other can gain you a measure of control over large populations and very good control over smaller populations.
The pyrethrum affects the nervous systems of insects and fish, breaking it down and killing the pests. Pyrethrum is used in a number of fly sprays.
Neem Tree Oil is mainly an anti-feedent which means that it stops the pests ability to eat and they starve to death over the following days.
When we mix the two together and spray we have a quick knock down followed by a control period of about 7 days.
The two sprays should only be used late in the day just before sunset as the pyrethrum is quickly broken down by UV. Also once the sun is off the plants the oil will not damage the foliage as it can in direct sunlight, been an oil, burning the leaves.
Neem Tree Granules still have some of the Neem properties and these can be sprinkled onto the soil in the root zone of the affected plants so that when the granules breakdown the properties will be taken up by the plant’s roots. You can further enhance this aspect by watering some Neem Tree Oil over the granules and soil, made up at the rate of 25mls per litre of water.
This puts a good dose of Neem into the tree or plant which translocates through to the foliage and affects insects feeding. It is also a great way to control borer in trees.
If a combination of both the above are used then you can make some good headway in control of the pests affecting those plants.
Another point is that you may clean up the pests on your target plants to find soon after they are back as bad as before. The reason for this is there will be other plants nearby that have the same insect feeding on them and they re-colonise your target plants.
So check right around the area for the same pests on both plants and weeds.
If they happen to be next door then your problem will continue until winter knocks them back unless they are also controlled.
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WINTER VEGETABLES

Now is the perfect time to plant out seedlings of vegetables for harvesting in winter.
Many gardeners leave the planting of winter vegetables too late in the season to obtain good mature produce during the cold winter months.
The idea is to plant out seedlings now while there is ample growth through warmth and plenty of day light hours (which are on the decline every day) As the daily dose of sun light reduces so does the amount of new growth will decline.
By planting out now and keeping the growing medium moist the vegetables will grow nicely reaching maturity in late autumn or early winter. The short day light hours and colder conditions will hold the mature vegetable for a couple of months or more allowing you to harvest at will.
If we leave the planting out till later say March or April what happens is the plants will grow to a degree but not reach maturity, so they sit there in their pre-maturity state waiting for better growth times.
This of course happens in the spring as the daylight hours begin to extend, but because the vegetables have had a big check in their growth, they feel their lives have been threatened and want to reproduce themselves. The vegetables immediately go to seed or as we say, ‘bolt’.
A total waste of time and money.
I had a gardener ring me the other day who had purchased a punnet of leeks, he described the plants as tallish but very skinny. His question was did he grow the leek plants on in the punnet till they filled out and were of a more suitable size to plant out?
The answer is that leek plants in a punnet will never fill out as they are too crowded and cant get a decent root run. The best leek seedings are ones that are planted in about November/December as seeds in a nursery bed in open ground with a good amount of chook manure incorporated in the soil.
The seeds will germinate, grow quickly into strong plants ready to be lifted and transplanted into rows about now and through February.
My advise to the gardener was to soak the punnet in water and then to divide the contents into small clumps of plants and plant into open ground that has been well fertilised with chook manure.
By keeping them moist they will quickly grow and fill out so that they can be planted out a little later on. Here is what I have to say about leeks in my book, Wally’s Green Tips for Gardeners;
LEEKS: Another heavy feeding plant that requires ample animal manure and compost humus. Chicken manure is best.
The pitiful leeks purchased in punnets should only be used if you forget to grow your own from seed.
Leeks in bundles may be better specimens but if grown in soil, the soil may carry the deadly club root spores which will not hurt the leeks but will introduce the disease into your gardens making the growing of all brassicas difficult.
A nursery bed should be prepared about November using ample compost and animal manure.
Sprinkle the leek seeds over this bed and lightly cover with sand after watering with the MBL drench mix.
Keep moist. You are looking to develop strong young plants that are both tallish and with trunks up to the thickness of a pencil.
In January the biggest of the seedlings can be lifted after saturating the soil with water.
These are the transplanted into a row that is rich in chicken manure and compost.
Depth of mix should be about 200mm. Trim the foliage off leaving about 50mm of leaves.
To plant use a dibbler pushed into the above mix and drop the leek seedling into the resulting hole.
All of the seedling should be in the hole with just the 50mm of leaves left protruding.
Squeeze some of the mix at the top of the hole to support the plant in an upright position. Don’t try to fill the hole.
Plant about 100 to 120mm apart.
Leave the remaining seedlings in the nursery bed so that a further planting maybe done in February and once again in March with the best of what is left.
Keep all plantings well watered till the autumn rains soak the garden.
The above method should give you ample good sized leeks through winter and well into spring. End.
Silverbeet and spinach are two great winter vegetables to grow and by harvesting just the outer leaves for use, the plants will keep producing ample new foliage for future harvesting.
Brassicas such as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussel Sprouts, Swedes and Turnips are also great winter vegetables to grow.
A problem arises at this time of the year as the young seedlings are attacked by the caterpillars of the white butterfly. These hungry caterpillars can decimate a crop of seedlings in no time at all.
It is is a matter of protecting them from damage. One method is to place about a teaspoon of Neem Tree Granules into the planting hole and after planting sprinkle some more Neem Granules onto the surface of the soil near the trunk. Repeat the surface sprinkling about every 4-6 weeks.
What happens is the eggs of the caterpillars are laid on the outer leaves and when the grub hatches out and takes one bite of the leaf it gets a small dose of Neem properties and is unable to eat again. (anti-feedent) Within a day or so the grub is dead through starvation.
You can also increase the effectiveness of the granules by spraying some Neem Tree Oil over them say at 15 to 25mils per litre. The same spray will take care of any aphids that may attack the young foliage.
If white butterfly populations are really bad you can also protect the seedlings when planting out by covering with a fine weave curtain netting, placed loosely over the bed but held in place with lengths of wood or similar. If the butterflies cant reach the plants to lay their eggs they will not be eaten up.
Later when established, the netting can be removed and the Neem Tree Granules applied about 2 weeks before removal. Tomato plants that are cropping well at this time need a good supply of a good tomato food to keep them growing and cropping till late autumn. You may like to use my own Secret Tomato Food.
If you strike some laterals as cuttings this will give you a few new tomato plants for growing to produce more tomatoes after your main crop is finishing. It is also the right time to germinate the seed of cold setting tomato plants for growing through the winter in a glasshouse or in a frost protected area.
Ideally grown in containers so you can move them around. A good one for this is called Silvery Fir Tree, ( A Niche Brand Seed)
I was told the other day that seed potatoes for a late crop have already sold out so I like many other missed out.
The alternative would be to plant purchased potatoes that have started to sprout.
Happy winter planting.
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TOMATO PROBLEMS

At this time of the year many gardeners have one or more tomato plants growing in either containers or gardens which will be producing ripe fruit that have really great flavour when compared to the purchased ones. That is of course if the plants are grown fairly naturally and the fruit formed are picked either ripe or near ripe.
There are some problems that can happen with tomato plants which are very annoying.
Some years you can throw a few plants in the garden and with very little attention, gain an abundance of fruit.
On other years you can spend a lot of time caring for plants to lose most of them, and only barely harvest sufficient tomatoes for your own needs. So why the difference?
Weather has a lot to do with it and if the weather is warm and humid you are likely to find the disease ‘Late Blight’ attacking the plants. Or if the weather is cool and wet then ‘Early Blight’ will be your enemy.
Either of these two diseases, if left to their own devices will decimate your plants resulting in all plants dying or only a few surviving to crop. Looking at the weather pattern this season I would suggest that one or the other of these diseases are most likely to occur in many parts of NZ.
There are two ways protection that can be used without having to resort to harmful chemicals. External protection can stop the disease establishing on the plants by a two weekly spray of Liquid Copper with Raingard added.
This should be started on the young plants as soon as, and continued through till the moisture content in the air is considerably reduced. Watering, kept to the root zone keeping the soil moist, but not wet.
There is a excellent internal protection that builds up the immune system of the plants, helping to prevent the diseases getting established called ‘Perkfection’ It is sprayed on to the plants once a month and can be added to the copper spray every second time. I have actually saved tomato plants, badly affected with blight, from dying by using this product. These plants lost all the fruit that were on, but later fruit was fine. There is no withholding period for Perkfection.
Another disease that takes tomato plants out fairly quickly is Botrytis or stem rot.
The first sign of this disease is the plants look limp as if they need a drink of water. Starting at the top, most leaves have the drooping effect, which journeys down the plant.
You can be fooled in the early stages of the disease as the plants seem to recover late in the day when the air cools at dusk.
A careful inspection of the plant will reveal a darkened area around the trunk or branches of the plant. Another change will occur in that bumps, or small knobs will appear on the trunk just above the area that is darkening.
This is the tomato trying to send out aerial roots to save its life. The dark area is cutting off the flow of nutrients and moisture from the roots to the upper foliage.
This area will rot right through and both top and root system will die. Sometimes there maybe laterals growing below this darkened area and these will be unaffected and will keep the roots supplied with energy. The rest of the plant will wilt and die. If this is the case you are best to cut off the dying top, below the darkened area where there is clean wood and let the remainder of the plant grow on.
What causes the disease? It happens when you remove laterals (side shoots) off the plant and don't protect the damaged area. The disease enters the plant where the lateral was removed and establishes in the trunk (sometimes in branches). You should protect the area where you remove the lateral by squirting some Liquid Copper immediately.
Another possibility is the tomato plant rubbing on the stake bruising the skin and allowing the disease to enter.
Use a soft nylon material to tie the plants to the stake and wrap some of the material around the stake itself, to create a soft cushion on the stake where the plant is going to tie to it, to stop chaffing.
Also ensure that there are several ties all the way up the plant, to the stake, too not only give more ridged support but also to stop damage to the plant from heavy developing fruit. If you have a Supertom you are going to need several stakes, one for each of the laterals that become big fruit bearers. This may also apply to ordinary tomatoes if you allow a number of laterals to become bearers.
One gardener told me when this disease hit some of his plants you found the dark area on the trunk and painted straight Liquid Copper over the dark area and saved the plants.
This could work if the disease is not too far advanced. I have also with younger plants cut the top off just above the darker area and pushed the trunk into the soil so that it can form a new root system, just like striking a big cutting. Removal of some of the foliage to take the stress off the plant will also help and place the plant in a shadded area while it develops a new root system.
Other points; Do not bury Supertoms deep, to cover the two root stocks. Normal tomatoes should be buried up to the first set of leaves when planting out, as they will root up, in all the trunk area, giving a better root system.
Keep plants evenly moist, especially container grown plants, to prevent ‘Blossom End Rot’(Black scab on base of fruit) Don't drown the plant especially when young.
Even feeding with a fast-slow release fertiliser is best, such as my own preparation called ‘Wally’s Secret Tomato Food’ which contains extra potassium and magnesium, vital for juicy, good flavoured fruit. A new version of this contains Neem Tree Granules so you have both food and pest protection in each application. Best to water in with MBL (Magic Botanic Liquid)
If you are using other tomato foods it would pay to give each plant about a teaspoon of Fruit and Flower power every 4-6 weeks. For the extra potassium and magnesium.
Remember that tomatoes do best in full sun but sheltered from wind. If you only have open exposed spots, try putting 4 stakes into the ground around the plant and sliding clear plastic bags over the stakes with the bag’s bottom cut out. More bags can be added as the tomato plant grows taller.
You may need to brace the top of the stakes to keep them apart with a couple of slats of wood, nailed in a cross pattern and tacked to the tops of the stakes. Another point from last season was that tomato plants suffered because of the UV levels due to the ozone hole. Smaller leaves, curled and lack of vigour were the symptoms. A spray of Vaporgard could greatly assist if this happens.
Bottom leaves of plants will age and maybe discolor overtime, some may also become mishapped which I believe is caused by a virus. Once the lower leaves become fairly inactive as a result, they can be removed. Protect the wounds as above.
If your plants are still producing new laterals some of these can be used as cuttings to strike and make new plants for later cropping.
Herbicides are very dangerous to both potatoes and tomato plants and even a small whiff of many of the weedkillers will cause the top leaves to become distorted and very strange in appearance.
Be very careful if you are using any weed killers on your property. Never spray your plants with a sprayer that has had weed killers use in it in the past.
With lawn weed sprays it can take up to 6 months before the clippings are safe to use as a mulch or into the compost. One gardener told me a few weeks back that all his tomato plants, potatoes and beans showed abnormal new growth.
It had been the result of his composting lawn clippings after having used a spray to kill the weeds in the lawn months previous..
The compost had been recycled into the vegetable garden and showed no problems with any other vegetables except of course his beans, tomatoes and potatoes.
Another important tip is never spray a weed killer on a calm day as the spray mist can rise on the convention currents, float on the air and then at sometime dump on the plants below. Always use these weed killers when there is a bit of a breeze so that all the spray can be directed to the target plants and not float around to end up anywhere.
Neighbors using weed killers on a still day can effect tomato plants not only in your back yard but also several houses down the road.
There is no preventive for this problem other than growing plants in a glasshouse or similar so they can not be dumped on.
Feeding your plants regularly will keep them producing a lot longer into the autumn giving you a long harvest period.
Some gardeners neglect this aspect and stop feeding once they start picking ripe fruit.
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WORM FARMING

Having your own worm farm is a great way to recycle kitchen scraps turning them into liquid plant food and worm casts (virmicasts) which can be incorporated into your gardens or containers.
Worms are the most efficient method of recycling household wastes into high value nutrients for the garden.
There are about 3000 types of worm species but of these, there are only about a half dozen or so that are important to cultivation.
Eisenia foetida, commonly known as the Manure Worm, Red Wiggler or Tiger worm, has alternative bands of yellow and maroon down the length of its body.
You know you have one when you pick it up, it thrashes about, wriggling and squirming.
The amazing attributes of the Tiger worm include, being able to consume their own body weight in food each day.
The daily food intake of organic material results in a wonderful, organic material called vermi-cast.
They also produce 60% of their body weight in urine each day which is referred to as leachate.
This leachate is very high in nitrogen and can be diluted 1:10 parts water for use as a highly nutritious plant food.
Tiger worms are surface feeders and they thrive in organic materials such as manure and kitchen scraps when these materials are mulched on top of the soil.
Tiger worms have another interesting aspect as they are a little like Monarch Butterfly's caterpillars in so much as they are distasteful to predators such as birds.
Thus many birds will leave them alone and being surface eaters this is most important as they are easy prey otherwise.
These wonderful worms are the best compositors in the world, turning waste material into high value nutrients for plants to use.
Everyday you likely throw out kitchen wastes, which clog up our tips and sewer systems.
Such a waste of wastes.
Now what say you could convert your wastes to top quality plant food (leachate) plus highly nutritious soil for gardens and containers (vermicast) and be able to collect these valuable products cleanly and simply?
Well now you can with a worm farm such as a unit called ‘Worm-a-Round’.
The Worm-a Round is a special double bin that allows you to run your own Vermicomposting unit and collect the valuable plant nutrients.
Simple to use, you start off with newspaper and kitchen wastes to which is added 250 grams of Tiger Worms. (These are available from worm farmers through out NZ)
Each day you simply add your kitchen wastes for that day and once in full operation your Worm-A-Round bin can cope with 2 kg of kitchen waste per day.
A tap is on the lower, collector bin and each week you can collect about a litre of leachate. This can be stored for use as required.
If you think about it, that's about $20.00 worth of top quality plant food a week.
Over the following weeks and months the worm population will increase till it reaches its optimum level. (Worms are self regulating in this aspect)
At this time you could remove some of the worms and place them in the garden under a layer of organic mulch. Mushroom compost would be ideal for this along with newspaper and kitchen scraps..
You may like to add them to your own compost heap to get more action from it. If you don't remove any worms it does not matter as they will not over crowd their home.
It takes between 3 to 6 months to reach this point.
After a period of time vermicast will reach the top of the first tray and then the second tray should be added to the bin. Food scraps can then be placed in this top tray, daily.
Once this top tray is three quarters full of vermicast most of the worms will have moved up into it.
At this time you can remove the bottom tray (full of vericast) for use with your potting mixes, as seed raising mix, mulch around plants, or for use under plants at planting time.
It also can be added to non chlorinated water as an additional liquid additive in the garden.
Vericast, like ordinary worm casts is a beautiful crumbly material just busting with plant nutrients.
Each harvest will save you many dollars in potting mixes and other plant foods.
Except for your initial outlay for the bin, instructions and worms the whole process will not cost you a penny in the future but will return you many dollars worth of products every week for years.
Vermicomposting is an interesting aspect of gardening and of great value to your plants as well as the important principals of recycling.
An activity that even the younger members of the family can enjoy and participate in. Giving them a better concept of nature and the world around them.
I currently throw my kitchen wastes into my plastic composter but have found that it has encouraged rats and mice this winter.
(Mind you they do a fine job digging through the compost and aerating it)
The Worm-a-Round is rat and mice proof so you wont have that problem.
Worm-a-Rounds are available through some retail outlets, worm farmers or by mail order.
See www.gardenews.co.nz/worms.htm
Vermicomposting is very popular overseas and is highly valued by persons conscious of the need to recycle as well as gardeners both organically minded and otherwise.
Instead of taking out the kitchen scraps every day I have a plastic lidded box where the scraps are stored till full and then placed into either of my two Worm-a-Rounds.
A sound investment for the new year.
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GLASSHOUSE GARDENING

Some gardeners may have been lucky enough to receive a glasshouse for Xmas. If so, congratulations, you are in for a lot of fun.
I have been asked several times in the past for basic information about growing in a glasshouse, so now is a good time to look at the subject.
If you do not have a glasshouse, but are keen on gardening, you should invest in one.
It can be a plastic or glass structure and if you have to choose between the two, go for glass as you only have to replace broken panes, not all of the plastic every few years.
Plastic is cheaper especially if you build your own. It takes only a little bit of building skills to construct an ‘A’ frame using 50 X 50 mm wood and covering it with horticulture plastic film. Alternatively cover with a clear light type nova lite.
The bigger the house the more ventilation is needed. The door is one major vent, and one or more roof vents should be included. In a glasshouse you can always remove panes of glass in summer for extra ventilation. I never paint or use shade cloth on the outside of my glasshouses.
The glass is allowed to become dirty from the end of winter but washed clean once a year in autumn. With right use of the vents and water you can keep the house’s temperature from getting too hot in summer.
(If you need to shade the house in a hot summer you can make up a slurry of hydrated lime and water and paint this over the outside of the glass.)
Plants that cannot stand full hot sun can be placed under benches for shade or string up some shade cloth inside the house over the sun sensitive plants.
Many gardeners have an earth floor in their glasshouses so they can grow directly into the earth. I have never liked this idea as soil can harbour diseases which will likely effect plants.
Also the idea of digging out the soil every so often and replacing it with new top soil always seemed too much work. I always opt for a concrete floor and grow all plants in containers. This makes it easy to remove a plant from the house if it becomes diseased and could effect other plants.
Concrete has other advantages, it is easy to clean, weeds cant grow on clean concrete, it is also a heat trap that releases the warmth when the sun goes down. On hot sunny days you can wet the concrete and the evaporation of the water will cool the house and keep the temperature down.
If you are unable to lay a concrete floor then place weed mat over the soil and cover with pea metal, a couple of inches thick. Another choice would be weed mat with pavers, cobbles or bricks. In these cases, dirt will build up over time and you likely will need to do a bit of weeding.
Placing of the glasshouse is important and you should try and locate, where its going to get as much sun as possible, in the winter. (It will also get maximum sun in the summer too unless shaded by deciduous trees) One side of the house should face north and that will be the sunny side of your house.
On this side is where you grow your tomato plants, cucumbers etc. The other side should have a small work bench or dependant on your activities a bench running the whole length of that side.
Ideal for seedling trays, cuttings, growing on lines and small container plants you fancy. Under the bench can be used for pot storage etc and plants that need a shaded situation.
Having a glasshouse allows you to have a greater control over the inside environment.
The plants are sheltered from wind which is a great plus in growing. Yet the wind passing over a glasshouse will lower the inside temperature by a number of degrees.
Your plants don't get rained on and if in containers, you are the supplier of their water needs. Don't put in an overhead sprinkler system to water. It will likely cause damage and disease to plants. If you want to use a irrigation system, then install a dripper type. I prefer to water only with a soft wand late in the day.
I keep a bucket of water in the glasshouse and on hot days, during the day, if any plants need some water I just use a cup of water from the bucket. (its going to be naturally warm water and not give the plants a cold shock on a hot day) You can water in the morning if you prefer or are not able to check the plants in the middle of the day. In very hot areas likely watering in the morning and late day will be needed in the summer.
Plants in containers that wilt through lack of moisture during the day can have a saucer or tray placed under them for extra water reserves.
Wilting can also be caused by too higher temperatures during the day. Try and not let the temperature exceed 30 and best at about 25 degrees C. Good ventilation and water on the concrete can keep the inside temperature lower than the outside.
A dripping hose can keep the supply of water for evaporation during the day when you are not present.
As temperatures start to fall in autumn your watering should also lessen. In winter all plants should be kept on the dry side as wet growing mediums mean a very cold root system and a great chance for diseases to strike. In fact in winter you should only give small drinks when the plants start to droop through lack of moisture.
As winter approaches spray the plants with Vaporgard over and under foliage.
It will protect them from frost and greatly reduce their water needs. The film which lasts for about 3 months will also protect them from pests and diseases to a degree.
The product can also be used in summer to reduce the water needs of plants.
If plants wilt during the day and yet the mix is damp, it means that the roots cannot keep up with the moisture loss through the leaves. Vaporgard will help solve that problem.
Tomato plants must have sufficient moisture when setting fruit, if not blossom end rot is likely. For pest control use Neem Tree Granules around near the base of plants. If you get an outbreak of say whitefly, then spray with Neem Tree Oil and Key Pyrethrum at dusk but not when there is high humidity.
Diseases can be prevented by sprays of MBL, Mycorrcin and Perkfection. Repeat about every month with Perkfection and 2 weekly with the others.
Rok Solid (mineral rock dust) sprinkled around the base of plants will provide many of the extra minerals needed for healthy plants.
Germinating seeds or doing cuttings will likely require a bit of shade cloth over the trays in summer, or pop them under the bench. Use Vaporgard on the cuttings.
In the cooler months a heat pad will help germination and striking.
Growing in winter, extend the light hours with artificial light.
If growing tomatoes in winter chose types that set in colder conditions.
Glasshouses or tunnel houses are a lot of fun and save you lots of dollars over the years.
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GARDENING INTO THE NEW YEAR

Well gardeners, the year is quickly drawing to an end and the gardens are bursting with produce and flowers, planted in the spring. It is a time that you are rewarded for your gardening efforts with produce and flowers to grace your home and table.
It is also the right time to plant up in any available space with vegetables and flowers for the winter.
If there is no space available yet, then start planting small lots in containers such as the polystryne boxes that you can often obtain for free from supermarket fish departments.
Plastic shops have reasonably priced kiddies paddling pools made of formed plastic which are also ideal to plant up both vegetables and flowers.
A good tip here is never use potting mixes or shrub and tub mixes, instead for outdoor containers go straight for the real stuff, this is; purchased bags of good quality compost. Far better results and a lot cheaper than the fancy, useless potting mixes for this type of planting.
Add additional animal manures if available otherwise use sheep manure pellets, include blood & bone, Rok Solid and some calcium in the form of lime or dolomite.
Chook manure is my favourite and if there is a poultry farm anywhere in your part of the country you should be able to obtain a bag or two at a low price. Better still become more self sufficient and run a half dozen chooks of your own.
You will always have a nice steady supply of manure from the chook house along with the best of eggs for your table. Chooks need lots of greens and they are a great way to recycle a range of weeds from your gardens along with all your kitchen scraps.
I was at the counter of a garden centre the other day while a chap was purchasing a big range of vegetable seedlings, he made the comment that he was a bit late in planting out and was wondering if he was wasting his time and money.
No way; there is nothing that cant be planted out at this time and the only gardeners that need to be a bit wary, are those that live in early frost prone areas.
As summer crops are harvested then winter crops should go in after applying animal manures to the vacated area and fresh purchased compost etc.
I planted a dozen broad bean seeds a few weeks back and already they are in flower and starting to set beans. Actually I was after the nice fresh leaves for my Green Smoothies that I make each day and did not consider that I would have beans to boot, at the time of planting.
Put in a few more tomato plants either from seed, seedlings or rooted up cuttings of laterals.
These will fruit well into the autumn and even into winter in frost free areas.
More seed potatoes also should be planted now for harvesting and storing over winter.
Note how better the potatoes you grow cook and taste compared to many of the ones you buy.
Brussel spouts, winter cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and kale should also be planted as seed or seedlings now for winter harvests.
Sowings of summer salad crops should be done every few weeks for a continuous supply of nice fresh produce.
Concerns about your health? Growing your own food crops naturally will greatly assist in boosting your immune system, giving you great protection against various health complaints as well as assisting in the recovery from existing conditions.
Raw rather than cooked is the best and the simplest way to consume the maximum benefit from your food crops is to make Green Smoothies.
Ideally you need a very high speed blender for the best results, which are not cheap, but in the meantime a common cheaper blender will do to start with.
Place a couple of cups of non chlorinated water into the blender and then go out and cut a few young fresh leaves of vegetables such as silverbeet, spinach, lettuce, carrot tops, broad beans, celery, brassicas and wheat grass.
The foliage gathered is sufficient to make a smallish handful, place in the blender along with a whole ripe banana and whiz up at max speed for about 30 seconds.
Common blenders will break down the foliage reasonably well but the result is likely to be a bit chunky when you drink it.
A 3 horse power blender such as the one I purchased from Australia through the Internet for about $800.00 really rips it all apart, releasing all the goodness from the foliage for your body to absorb.
Green Smoothies are really tasty to drink because of the banana flavour and you cant get better goodness for your body. Mind you, the vegetables used need to be grown by yourself with all the minerals possible and these are obtained by using Magic Botanic Liquid, Rok Solid and Ocean Solids. (There are others but these 3 are my favourites.)
I live a very busy work life so don't have the spare time I would like to have, to actually do some real gardening, instead of the hit and miss way I have to currently go about it.
One thing that I do make time for is to water all my food crops by hand each evening.
I have filters on my outside taps to remove the chlorine (which is really bad for your gardens) and a watering wand for applying the moisture the plants need.
While watering it gives me a chance to inspect the plants for diseases or pests as well as nip off any young weeds that might have sprouted up. I seldom have any disease problems because of all the natural goodness I have applied, but insect pests do set up home on some of the plants.
While doing this the other evening I thought of something I would like to share with you.
You carry around with you the most deadliest, natural bug control known to man. It costs you nothing, is totally organic (hate that word) and readily available wherever you are.
What is this amazing bug control you may ask; it is simply your thumb and forefinger. Using these two digits you can carefully wipe out hundreds of insect pests in an instant. Aphids on rose buds?
Not a problem just run your thumb and finger up the stem and over the bud squashing the pests as you go.
If you cant reach some buds then a second answer lays in your other hand. Remove the water wand from the hose and place your thumb over the end of the hose to make a jet of water and blast the pests off the plants. Direct the jet under leaves as many insects pests feed in that area.
You blast the pests off your preferred plants and they either die as a result of have a hell of a time getting back up to the tender foliage where they prefer to feed.
You can get a bit wet till you get the knack of doing this with your thumb or you can swap your wand for a hose nozzle that adjusts between a jet to a sprinkler with a twist of the nozzle.
It is the simple, no cost things that make gardening a great adventure.
Well the New Year is fast approaching so I wish you all well for the coming year; times might be tough a head, but if you have your own food crops you will be that much richer in both pocket and health, Happy New Year.
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CHRISTMAS GARDENING

Firstly we would like to wish all our readers a very merry Christmas and a happy gardening New Year.
We are now halfway through another gardening year with the longest day right here and now to quote a phase out of a Stephen King’s book.
This is the time of the year when our gardens are growing at maximum with only the moisture content of the soil to interfere with plant growth (maybe adverse weather aspects also)
Plant growth relates strongly to the number hours of natural light that plants receive in a 24 hour period.
At this time of the year plants receive about 16 hours of natural light where in mid winter they have only about 8 hours. This means at this time, your plants, lawns and weeds are growing at max with the only real restriction being the moisture level in their root zone.
This fact can be used to your advantage if you water most of your preferred gardens by hand where you can apply water to the root zone of your plants, leaving the soil elsewhere dry.
Weeds then will only grow and thrive in the moist areas and fail in the dry spots till rain allows them to grow again.
Gardeners that use broadcasting sprinklers will have a far greater weed problem than gardeners who water by hand.
Waterproofing your gardens at this time of the year will pay dividends especially if you are going on holiday and have no one to water your plants.
This is simple to do and a great way to use up newspaper or cardboard that you have laying around.
Give the area you wish to protect a reasonable watering then cover with either several layers of newspaper or a layer of cardboard, either of which you also wet down. Do this on a calm day to make life easier.
Next you cover the paper or cardboard with a good layer of purchased compost. The reason for the purchased compost is that it will be weed free.
The area thus treated will retain moisture and be relatively weed free for sometime.
A third advantage is the newspaper or cardboard will encourage earth worms to populate the area as they just love these materials in their diet.
Further dry proofing of your plants can also be achieved by spraying the foliage of preferred plants with Vaporgard.
This is applied to both sides of the leaves and reduces the plant’s water needs by about 30 plus percent. One spray lasts on the foliage thus treated for about 3 months so that takes us nicely through the hot, dry summer period.
The same product can be used on container plants out doors to advantage as it will reduce their water needs also. Permanent mulches such as weedmat and bark can be very dangerous in wet winters especially on heavy soils that have poor drainage.
These permanent mulches prevent the surface drying as should happen with the natural actions of sunlight and wind.
Plants that dislike wet feet will suffer when the soil is covered with a mulch during wet times..
This last winter many gardeners lost plants because of wet soil and mulches which did not allow the soil to dry out quick enough and the roots of the plants rotted.
Some of these plants have started to recover but in doing so a certain amount of the foliage has died.
Tidy up the plants leaving the healthy new foliage in tact.
When we experience a wet winter any mulches applied to the soil in the summer should be pulled back away from the root zone of plants in areas where the drainage is not very good....
A number of gardeners that planted potatoes early in the season will now be looking forward to harvesting their home grown new potatoes for Xmas dinner.
A question that I am asked by a number of new gardeners is how do you know when a crop is ready to harvest. The first answer to this is the type of potato that was planted as there are basically three categories, very early, early and late crops which indicate the maturity times that each type has from sprouting and planting to harvest, in average growing conditions.
The times being 60 days, 90 days and 120 days (very early, early and late).
If you know the type and the date you planted the sprouted seed potatoes then the above times will give you a good indication of maturity time.
There also are two other ways to determine if a crop is ready and the first is examining the tops.
Very early ones may not flower when they mature but if they start flowering then the crop is ready.
Early types are normally ready when they flower. Late crop types are ready when flowering has finished and the tops start to die back.
You can always lift one plant to check the potatoes underneath for the number and size of tubers.
If only smaller spuds are found then leave the rest of the crop till the tops start to go off.
For those that want a few new potatoes for Xmas dinner but do not want to harvest the whole plant, you can feel under the soil with your fingers and pull one or two tubers off each plant.
The term for this is called ‘Bandicooting’ and can be done after the plants have been in for about 6 weeks or more. A number of gardeners have complained to me recently that their potato plants are starting to get yellow leaves and the tops are not growing as well as before.
On questioning them further I found that their crops had been in for 2 months or more and likely had reached maturity and starting on the die back aspect. So likely nothing to worry about.
Once you have harvested your potato crop you should store them without washing them or in other words, with the dirt still on them. Best stored in a cool shed and kept cool so they don't start to shoot again too soon.
Very early types such as Rocket or Swift do not store well and will quickly go off or start to shoot......
Tomatoes planted before Labour Weekend should have a good numbers of tomatoes on them and starting to ripen.
It is important to keep the soil moist and apply tomato food every few weeks as they will keep on growing and producing new flowers and fruit while the conditions are favourable.
Starting off another batch of tomato plants either from seed or laterals can be done now to have younger, vigorous plants growing and producing well into the autumn months.
When removing laterals make sure that the day is sunny and not humid as this is when diseases can enter the wound and plant losses will happen.
It is a good idea to have some Liquid Copper made up in a trigger sprayer and to squirt the wound as soon as you remove a lateral or leaf. Further protection can be applied against die back by applying a monthly spray of Perkfection.
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GARDENING MATTERS: POLLINATION

Pollination can be a problem for gardeners when it does not occur naturally.
Various plants use different modes of pollination from attracting insects such as bees to move the pollen to air movement or vibration.
Often we think of the honey bees as the main pollinators, which for a number of plants and crops they surely are, but then there are bumble bees, native bees, flies, moths, butterflies and other insects which can all assist in the pollination process.
The wind, or more to the point, breezes are also responsible for moving the pollen in some plants to complete the fertilisation process.
A good example of this in the vegetable garden is sweet corn, the pollen is formed on the male flowering heads at the top of the plant with the female corn tassels below, given a light breeze and the pollen dust falls to the tassels below or to the corn plant next door.
This is the reason we plant corn in clumps, fairly close to each other to ensure that a good set is achieved and the cobs are full. Each one of those fine tassels that form on the ears of corn are connected individually to a embryo corn seed and each tassel needs to receive pollen to fill the cob nicely.
Those cobs that only have a number of mature seeds with misses means that those misses did not receive pollen from the tassel.
When I grow corn I like to do a bit of hand pollination on a sunny day when the tops are laden with pollen.
This is simply done by running your hand up the male flowers and dumping the contents on the female tassels below.
It helps ensure fuller cobs at harvest time. Also 2 weekly sprays of Magic Botanic Liquid makes for better, bigger sets on the cobs.
When nature and elements don't do the pollination for you, then this is where you the gardener, can step in and do the job yourself.
Some plants are what we call self fertile which means that the plant will ensure that it will set seed without the need of another plant of the same species being anywhere near. Many of these are wind pollinated.
The rest of the plants of various types are likely to need another similar plant nearby to ensure a good fruit or seed set. These other plants are often referred to as pollinators and without one you will still get some fruit setting, but no where as good as if you had a pollinator also. Many of these will be pollinated by bees or other insects.
Then again in some plants such as with Kiwi Fruit you have a situation where some plants are male and some are female and then you need at least one male in close proximity to about 1 to 5 females.
Where room is limited we have overcome the problem of having to plant two separate kiwi fruit vines by grafting a male and female onto the same root stock.
Even then there is no guarantee that you are going to achieve a good fruit set as it takes bees to visit both the male and female flowers to move the pollen. Because of the viroa mite, which has destroyed most if not all the feral bee colonies there may not be any honey bees around your gardens any more.
Then it comes down to the bumble bee and native bees along with other insects to do the job.
Then another problem may occur where the possible pollinators are elsewhere in the garden collecting nectar and leaving your tree alone even though its in full flower.
You can help to attract the possible pollinators to your target tree by dissolving raw sugar in hot water and adding more water and then spraying the sweet liquid over your target tree.
Another range of problems can occur if a plant is in a too greater shade situation where it does not get sufficient sunlight directly on the plant to initiate flower buds or if the buds form, they buds don't open into flowers.
We often see this on roses in the shade which don't flower well and also on flowering house plants that are too far from natural light to flower properly, such as flowering begonias.
Cold conditions can mean a plant such as a tomato will flower but not produce pollen, thus the flowers fall off after a few days. Cold setting types are best for those colder times.
Also if it gets too hot then tomatoes will not set fruit and that can be seen at times in glasshouses.
Tomatoes are not pollinated by bees though the vibration from a bumble bees wings does the trick as they fly near the plant. A light breeze on a sunny day when the flowers are pollen laden does the job and generally speaking tomato plants outdoors will set fruit well.
In glasshouses and similar sheltered areas the plants may fail to set well and this can be overcome on a sunny day by simply tapping the stake or trunk of the plant to cause a vibration.
A very important aspect in the flowering fruiting cycle is to have ample potash available to any flowering/fruiting plant.
A monthly sprinkle of Fruit and Flower Power on the soil in the root zone will greatly assist.
Pumpkins, zucchini and melons have both male and female flowers on the same plant and the pollen needs to be moved from the male to the female. If you have good populations of bumble bees around then they normally do the job for you otherwise you will not have a crop.
The female flower is easy to determine as they have the embryo fruit behind the flower, the male does not.
To ensure a good fruit set I like to, on a nice sunny day, pluck a male flower off the vine that has ample pollen and after removing the petals rub some of the pollen onto the centre part of the female flowers.
If the fruit is not pollinated it will still grow for a time but then rot off.
Passion fruit can be another one that a bit of hand pollination will help ensure a good crop.
Too much nitrogen in the form of man made fertilisers or animal manures can cause plants to vegetate which means they produce lots of growth but little or no flowers.
If this is happening then apply Fruit and Flower power to kick in the flowering cycle and stem the rapid growth.
Some plants such as bougainvillea need a bit of stress to give a great show of flowers.
If you feed them well and supply ample water they tend to grow all over the place and not flower.
Instead let them dry out for a time to kick in the flowering cycle and don't feed them much either.
As a gardener you need to remember that most plants only flower to reproduce themselves by seed.
When their lives are threatened then they quickly go into a flowering cycle.
The best example of this is a number of annual weeds that grow lushly in the spring when there is ample rain but as soon as the soil starts to dry they start to flower.
On our vegetables such as cabbages and silverbeet we need to keep the soil moist because if we allow it to dry out too much the plants will bolt or in other words, go to seed prematurely.
One last aspect is potatoes, early types will be mature and ready to harvest when the tops start to flower.
Late types will be ready when they have flowered and the tops start to die back.
Often you may see that fruit not unlike tomatoes form on the potato tops, these are fruit which contain seeds, they are not to be eaten as they are poisonous.
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PLANTING TIMES

With a great number of first time gardeners growing their own vegetables, a question that I am often asked is; when is the best time to plant various crops?
This is a difficult question to answer as conditions vary greatly in different parts of the country.
To make matters more complicated, you can have a situation where the growing conditions can be different just half a mile away which is caused by what we call micro-climates.
A gardener with a good micro-climate; as a result of the terrain, or by established trees, making a sheltered hot spot which can be planting out a month or more before it is safe for another gardener to do so, a bit down the road.
When you buy packets of seeds you will find on the packet the average best sowing times for various regions.
This information is general and unless you know your own growing conditions, succession sowings should be made about 2 to 4 weeks apart.
If the early plantings fail through weather conditions, your later ones will be more successful, as the weather settles. Over a period of years you will become a better judge of when to sow and plant out.
A gardening diary giving weather conditions each week and sowing times will make a great reference for the future plantings.
Keen gardeners like to beat nature and grow plants out of the normal season so they can have early crops and this can be done with a glasshouse, or the use of plastic film over wire hoops to warm the garden soil and protect the germinated seedlings from adverse weather conditions.
Early plantings can also be assisted by placing plastic bottles over the individual plants after cutting the bottom off and removing the cap.
The most important aspect is when not to plant out seedlings of vegetables.
Late plantings of vegetables towards the end of autumn means they have only a small window of growth, which is progressively slowing down day by day. In mid winter growth can reduce to zero and immature crops will just sit waiting for better times.
As the daylight hours extend and the soil warms, they then get a growth spurt but because of the previous conditions the plants feel their lives have been threatened and will grow on a bit and then go to seed. (Bolt)
Thus the crop is a failure, a waste of time and money. Crops of winter vegetables are planted in summer to grow to near maturity as winter sets in. In doing so they will mature ready for use in winter and hold nicely over the cold winter months.
For instance leek seedlings will be planted out in December through to February for succession, winter harvesting. Brassicas, such as winter cabbage and brussel sprouts will be planted out later in January through till March, dependant on varieties (maturity times) and succession requirements.
The worst problem with brassicas grown for winter is that the young plants have to face the problem of the white butterfly’s caterpillars when the pests are most active.
By placing Neem Tree Granules in the planting hole and sprinkling some onto the soil, around the plants will greatly assist in control. Refresh the granules every 6 weeks with a few more onto the soil.
Stress on vegetables that are not grown for their fruit (cabbages etc as apposed to say tomatoes) can make them go to seed prematurely.
Two ways this can happen, one is purchasing seedlings that are in punnets and have become root bound and likely have suffered stress through inadequate waterings.
Always look for the very young fresh seedlings of non fruiting plants to purchase, even if you need to grow them on in their punnets till they are of a nice size to plant out.
The next problem can occur during the spring when weather conditions fluctuate from nice warm sunny days to cold miserable days. The plant’s growth responds to the sunny warm days and then they sulk in the cold windy days. This stress of change, makes the plants believe that conditions are not good and their lives are threaten, so all they want to do then is produce babies, then they go to seed.
Often not straight away as they have to reach a certain level of maturity to be able to flower and thus several gardeners have contacted me recently to ask why their early spring plantings have gone to seed.
Either of the above can be the cause of bolting.
A number of gardeners also like to do late plantings if they live in areas not prone to early frosts.
Late plantings of sweet corn in January can often result in a second harvest of cobs before winter sets in.
Tomatoes sown from seed in December and January should give you more ripe fruit after your earlier plantings have finished.
You do not even have to sow seed, as you can strike the laterals (side shoots) to make a new young plant, once it has rooted up.
To do this; fill a small pot two thirds full of compost and fill the balance to the top with sand or fine pumice. Remove a lateral which should be about 6cm long and place it into the sand to about the depth of the sand. Moisten down and keep moist. When the plant stands up and shows some new growth then the early roots have formed.
If you spray the laterals with Vaporgard a day before you remove them off the parent plant, you will have a new young tomato plant quicker.
When removing laterals off tomatoes or old leaves, it is most important that you do not do this during humid or moist times as a disease can enter the wound and you lose a good plant.
Remove laterals on a nice sunny day when the air is dry and as you remove each lateral, spray the wound with Liquid Copper.
It is still not too late to plant seeds of summer crops unless you live in an area prone to early frosts.
Keep the soil moist at all times using non chlorinated water. (Put a filter onto your tap to remove the chlorine) It makes the world of difference and your crops will grow quicker and healthier.
Gardeners that use tank water or are fortunate to live in a town/city that does not dose the water supply with this chemical poison, do not have to worry about a filter.
If you do not have room for a vegetable plot then use containers or planter boxes to grow as many vegetables as possible. Fill the containers with a good purchased compost, not potting mix.
Much better for your health and pocket.
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DO’S AND DONT’S IN GARDENING

I have been surprised this week about the number of gardeners that have called me in regards to problems they are having with potatoes, tomatoes, beans and roses.
Generally the problems have all been along the lines of distorted or unusual new growths on otherwise very healthy looking plants. The cause has in all cases been chemical herbicides such as Roundup type weed killers or lawn weed killers, resulting from spray drift or composting of lawn clippings that have residues of the weed killers still present.
It only takes minute amounts of a number of chemical weed killers; and we are talking about parts per million, to have an effect on the most vulnerable plants such as roses, tomatoes, potatoes and beans.
These very small amounts of the chemicals can cause the plants to produce very unusual, distorted new growths and in many cases will overtime grow out of the effects unless the amount of the weed killer is sufficient to kill the plant completely. Other plants in the area including weeds will show no outward signs of a problem though you can bet in some way their growth is also affected.
One case I heard was the gardener had used Tordon on the lawn to kill the weeds and then composted the clippings. Later the now composted material was applied to the vegetable garden and beans when they germinated came up distorted, tomatoes soon showed similar problems.
You do not compost grass clippings for up to 6 months, that have been treated with a weed killer.
The safe way for you to dispose of them is to a landfill or place under well established trees and shrubs where the residues will not harm these plants.
Green recycling places that take in organic material for recycling have no way of knowing if the pile of lawn clippings in a trailer contain herbicides or not. If they do contain weed killers then there maybe problems for the unsuspecting gardener that purchases the end result as compost.
Another area that happens at times is a farmer sprays a paddock for thistles or other weeds with a spray that does not kill the grasses. Later sheep or cattle are let into the paddock, their manure can be lethal to tomatoes and other vulnerable plants if used in gardeners.
If collecting say sheep manure from a farmer ask if they use herbicides.
There is a way of testing both compost from a recycling place or manure from a farm and that is simply placing a few bean seeds into the material and germinating them. If they come up neat and normal then the material is safe to use around sensitive plants.
Spray drift of herbicides is another big problem and many gardeners believe that the best time to spray a weed killer is on a calm day when there is no breeze. WRONG, this is one of the worst times to spray as small droplets of the spray are lifted up into the air on the conventional air currents and will float up to later drop somewhere, which maybe on your garden or someone else's.
The best time to spray a herbicide is when there is a mild breeze so that you can direct the spray away from the non target areas.
Even granulated weed killers that are applied dry and then watered down can possibly cause problems as the moisture from the broken down granules can be lifted into the air to move to non target areas.
Another don't is never use any sprayer for both weed killers and other sprays.
The plastic in sprayers absorb some minute amounts of the herbicide which can be released later when spraying your roses or other plants. Have a sprayer that is clearly marked, Weed Killers Only.
I don't know how many times I have come across the problem of a weed killer contamination in a sprayer that later has wiped out a lot of plants in the garden. Even if you diligently wash out a sprayer used for weed killers it will still have residues at parts per million.
The ultimate safe way is to never use chemical weed killers but then you may have to do a lot more work keeping areas free of weeds. At the same time you cannot control what the people do next door or down the road. If you know that the people are using a weed killer some where near your home you can protect your vulnerable plants by spraying them with water to further dilute any residues.
A broadcasting sprinkler system for this is ideal. Run it for a short time every couple of hours that day till dusk. In my books I give a number of safe methods of controlling weeds using common products such as salt and vinegar that will not cause any problems to non target plants.
The best time to control weeds is just after they have germinated, they are nice and small and very vulnerable to a sharp knife scrapping across the soil where they are growing.
If you want a good healthy soil structure do not pull out common weeds, instead slice them off with a sharp knife just below soil level and leave the foliage sitting on the top of the soil to naturally break down.
Don't walk on growing areas of gardens as this compacts the soil. Create walk ways so that you can tend growing areas.
Don't cultivate the soil which includes digging and rotary hoes. Instead cover areas with wet newspaper and purchased compost along with other goodies such as animal manures, sheep pellets and blood & bone then plant into this top level. (Some disturbance of the soil such as forking up potatoes will be needed but should be kept to a minimum.)
Watering: light watering with a hand held hose using a filter to remove chlorine from the water (if applicable) should be done daily unless it has rained. Regular light waterings to keep soil evenly moist is another key to successful gardening. Do not flood areas as this disrupts soil life but on the other hand never allow areas to dry out too much as that is as bad as flooding.
Watering is an art and once learned will make for great healthy gardens.
Watering by hand gives you time to relax and check plants for either disease or insect pest problems.
This means you can treat the small problem quickly before it becomes a big problem.
Don't waste your money on lots of man made fertilisers as these will not give you great gardens with healthy plants.
Do use all natural fertilisers that will enhance the soil and plants such as dolomite, gypsum, animal manures, Rok Solid (mineral dust) Ocean Solids (minerals from the seas) and Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL)
The later when sprayed over the foliage of plants every couple of weeks will turn a so-so garden into a great garden.
Every week I have gardeners that contact me to say that they have adopted some or most of my suggestions for gardening and that their gardens have never been so good.
Its just common sense and not to be swayed into what has become to be known as conventional agriculture with its chemical concoctions. That form of gardening is outdated now, unsustainable and a heavy drag on your wallet.

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GARDENING PRESENTS FOR XMAS

With Christmas quickly looming, ones mind starts to turn to what gifts to buy for family members and friends. With the downturn in the economy, people will not expect the lavish gifts that may have been bestowed in the the better times of the past, instead we should be more practical and personal in what we give.
Likely there will also be many more people staying at home over the holiday season, which means they will look to do short outings and things around the section and home.
With the tremendous up surge in people turning back to growing their own fruit and vegetables as a buffer against harder times ahead, as well as for health reasons, then practical gifts in the gardening range of products, are going to be very welcome gifts.
Garden centres will still have a few deciduous fruit trees left over from the winter intake and likely a better range of evergreens such as citrus trees, feijoas and tamarillos. These three fruiting types are perfect gifts and are all suitable to grow in a 45 litre plastic container (or larger) but 45 litres is ideal to start with.
I have a number of citrus trees along with a Feijoa (Unique) and a Tamarillo all growing very successfully in containers and producing a good crop of fruit every year, now that they are established.
The Feijoa variety called Unique surprised me as it gave a nice small crop of good sized fruit in the first 12 months.
So for an excellent fruiting gift pick up a fruit tree and a 45 litre container and pot up using a purchased compost to which you have added animal manure or sheep manure pellets plus blood and bone and a gift is solved, that will give years of pleasure and fruit.
Practical gifts include bags of compost, blood & bone, sheep manure pellets and packets of vegetables seeds.
You may like to also throw in a few natural products such as the Neem oil or Neem Granules, Magic Botanic Liquid, Rok Solid Mineral dust etc.
These will enhance the gardening activities of both the novice and seasoned gardener and even if they are already using a product you buy for them they will appreciate a replacement, when theirs runs out.
For those that have concerns about their health you could always buy them a Wheat Grass Juicing kit.
Wheat grass grown with all the natural minerals that come in the kit make for highly mineralized grass when juiced, through the manual juicer that comes with the kit. Taken daily the juice will greatly assist in their health.
Gardening books must rate high on the gift list for both novice and seasoned gardeners and copies of my own two very popular books are available through book shops, some garden centres and by mail order. They are Wally’s Down to Earth Gardening Guide and Wally’s Green Tips for Gardeners.
Inexpensive and I am told by some, that they bibles for gardeners that want to grow naturally and have wonderful gardens.
Garden Vouchers are also always appreciated and these can be included with a Xmas Card or added to another gift.
Vouchers from timber merchants are also ideal as the money can be used to build raised gardens for growing crops of vegetables.
A nice non food line is to pick up some colour spots, a rose or suitable shrub and pot them up into a suitable, decorative container to grow on and then give nicely wrapped up for Xmas.
Poinsettia with their lovely red flower bracts bring indoors a Xmas feel and they also make wonderful inexpensive gifts.
Xmas lillies are also another symbol of Xmas and you maybe able to find some that are potted up and coming into bud.
I spotted individually potted Xmas lillies in a garden centre about 3 Xmases ago and purchased half a dozen which I repotted together into one larger container.
They have flowered for me every Xmas since, and saves buying them as a cut flower every year.
There are also larger ticket items that can be great assets to the gardeners such as a Worm-a-Round worm farm, a tumbler or Earth Maker compost bin, a Mulcher for turning clippings and trimmings into garden mulch, which would also include lawn mowers with the mulching shoot.
There are also garden nicknack's that some people like to place around their gardens to enhance areas.
Statues can look nice, bird baths and feeders are practical, water features are great value and so the list goes on.
If you are handy with tools and wood you could make for someone a raised garden or a chook run.
I had a lady inquiring recently if I knew of anyone she could employ to build her a chicken house and run.
I suggested that as the building industry was not so busy now, that an advert in the local paper would produce some results.
A lot of you are handy with tools and could very easily do a relative or friend a great favour by putting the wood together for them. That costs you nothing but your time and saves the person a great deal of money.
Likewise why not set up a vegetable garden for a family and assist them in its care.
It is in times like these that we need to cooperate with others to improve our welfare as a community.
If we are able to do this then a lot more people will have a happy Xmas after all.
ooooo

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SEASONAL PESTS

Warming weather brings out a number of insect pests which include; grass grub beetles, codlin moth, whitefly, leaf hoppers, spider mites, aphids and many more.
The later 4 when left without control, will quickly build up their populations making for a real problem later in summer.
The first two will be worse next season if allowed to breed and in the meantime they will do lots of damage to plants and fruit.
Codlin moth attack apples, pears and walnuts ruining the fruit they are able to infest.
My suggested controls are; hang a small container of treacle in the lower branches of each tree using an onion bag.
This attracts the male moths and by monitoring the trap you can determine when the pests are on the wing. Within a few days of finding an influx of moths in the treacle spray the young apples (or other affected fruit) with Neem Tree Oil for total coverage. Repeat this every 7 days till activity in the trap stops.
Grass grub beetles are on the wing early in the evening and they will eat the foliage of roses, citrus and a number of other plants. Each female beetle is capable of laying 300 eggs during the few weeks they are active which means lots of grubs to ruin your lawns.
In my first book, Wally’s Down to Earth Gardening Guide, I gave this excellent control to kill the beetles;
‘You can set up a grass grub beetle trap by placing a trough, such as the one used when wall-papering, directly underneath a window near a grassed area.
Fill the trough with water to about two-thirds of its capacity, then place a film of kerosene on top of the water.
Put a bright light in the window, the beetles fly towards the lit window, hit the glass and fall into the trough. The kerosene acts as a trap, preventing the fallen beetles from climbing out. (this is done in the early part of the evening prior to dusk and left in operation till activity stops)
You can extend this method to areas away from the house by using a glass tank, such as might be used for an aquarium. Place the empty tank into a tray containing several inches of water (and the kerosene), and position a light inside the glass tank.
By adding a sheet of ply or something similar over the top of the tank, you will ensure that the light shines only through the sides of the tank above the waiting water and kerosene.
It is better to use a dome-shaped battery-powered light rather than an ordinary torch for this job as the bigger light makes the trap more effective.
If the tray and tank are raised off the ground and placed on something like a table, you will get an even better result.’Another solution when you find the foliage of plants such as citrus or roses is been eaten, in the early part of the evening, is to go out with a torch and check the plants for beetles.
If you find a number of them then spray the beetles with either Professor Macs 3 in 1 for lawns or with Key Pyrethrum.
Leaf hoppers will damage a number of garden plants and if not controlled early they will be a real menace later in the season. Often you can have an ongoing problem if you do not check all the plants in your garden to find out where the pests are. For instance you can spray and control the leaf hoppers on your passion fruit vine only to find that they have re-infested the plant a few days later.
They maybe breeding on other vines or ferns and becoming a menace, spray all areas where found with Neem Tree Oil and repeat a couple of times or till controlled, every 7 days.
Whitefly can infest tomato plants, cucumbers, citrus and a number of other plants.
A number of sprays, several days apart, with a combination of Neem Tree Oil and Key Pyrethrum, these should be applied just before dusk when they have settled for the night.
Spray under and over the leaves of effected plants.
Neem Tree Granules sprinkled on the soil in the root zone of tomatoes will keep the pests under control. These should be placed there at planting time and repeated about every 6 weeks.
The same method applies to cabbages and other brassicas for white butterfly caterpillars.
Aphids can be sprayed with a combination of Neem Tree Oil and Key Pyrethrum or alternatively with soapy water made from cake sunlight soap.
Spider mites are another pest that quickly build up populations and can be noticed by the small fine webs they make on plants. A spray with Liquid Sulphur will stop them in their tracks.
Scale insects can be controlled with sprays of Neem Tree Oil, spray for total coverage of the plant affected.
Mealy bugs not only are found in the foliage of plants but also in the root system.
Spray the foliage with Neem Tree Oil and sprinkle Neem Tree Granules under the the plant in the root zone. These can also be sprayed with the oil to increase their effectiveness.
Citrus tree borer and borer in other plants can be controlled be controlled by sprinkling Neem Tree Granules in the root zone and then with a solution of Neem Tree Oil made at 25mils per litre of warm water, watered across the granules. Repeat the oil application a month later.
Trips in rhododendrons can be controlled by using the same method.
In fact the application of Neem Tree Oil and Granules often works well in many plants for insect control without the need to spray.
This is a great advantage as larger plants with denser foliage are very difficult to spray.
The real secret of insect pest control is to get started early in the season before their populations start to build up. This means checking your plants every week for any sign of problems and taking action.
You may see a couple of whitefly adults flying when you disturb a plant and think there is not a problem, but a week or so later there will be a lot more and the populations will build quickly from that point and become a major problem as summer progresses.
The other aspect is to control all the places where the pests are breeding otherwise they will only keep on re-infesting the plants you are spraying or treating.
When a large population of pests have built up on a neighbouring property you have an on going problem unless they are controlled at source.
Get permission from the neighbours to treat the problem on their property, if you don't you will fight all summer in your own garden and even start to believe the control methods are not working.
Start early and check all breeding areas as well.
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GARDENING TO SURVIVE THE ECONOMICAL DOWN TURN

The world economic situation is in a upheaval and by the looks of things it is only going to get worse.
At this time in New Zealand things are not too bad as yet, so as we used to say, ‘Make hay while the sun shines’ There are two aspects to growing your own food to be more self-sufficient, these are the short term and the long term.
For instance on the short term you can plant out a few lettuces and some silverbeet and be eating the maturing plants in a matter of weeks. On the other hand when we plant a young citrus or fruit tree we are looking at a few years before we can gather good harvests.
When I was a lad, I grew up with my grandparents and mother on a section that had an abundance of fruiting plants and vegetables along with chickens. With the eggs, vegetables and fruit we could have survived fairly well if the need arose.
Money was tight also in those times, for our little family, but our outgoings for other food stuffs was minimal. Only a few items needed to be purchased such as flour, sugar, milk and butter etc.
We did a lot of baking and preserving to utilize the abundance of produce available from the garden, all of which was nourished by chicken manure.
Back then there was no fridges or deep freezers, only a porous concrete container for keeping some perishable items cooler. (It was a concrete box with a concrete door measuring about 30 cm wide and 50cm tall, you placed water in the cavity at the top which would seep through the concrete and evaporate causing the interior to be cool.)
Nothing was wasted on the principal of ‘waste not, want not,’ left overs, vegetable trimmings and weeds would go to the chickens and we would gain fresh eggs every day.
A real treat would be to kill and roast a pullet for Xmas dinner or a special occasion.
Because of limited room not everyone can have a small chook house and run, for half a dozen chickens but for anyone that does, they are a great investment to ensure you have food in times of need or to reduce your cost of food purchases.
The alternative for those that cant have chickens would be to install a worm farm to take care of your kitchen scraps and supply free worm casts and worm pee for fertilising your vegetable crops.
I have a combination of both, two worm farms and a dozen chickens that can free range part of the section. Both sources supply free, high quality organic material for the fruit trees and vegetable crops.
On the long term you can purchase fruit trees and fruiting plants and get them started for future harvests.
If and when times get really tough, then potential home buyers will be looking for established food gardens in preference to ornamental gardens, so you can be adding a lot of value to your section and home.
Raised gardens are far better than the old method of digging up garden plots for vegetable production.
A raised garden can be made from concrete blocks, timber or roofing iron. A raised garden never gets walked on, instead you just tend it from the sides which removes the need for tilling the soil.
Weeds are not such a problem either as the higher the raised garden, the less chance of weed seeds blowing in. What weeds that do come up, are simply cut off just below ground level while small, then left laying on the soil to decompose.
My recent book, ‘Wallys Green Tips for Gardeners’ gives the information about building raised gardens, also on our web site there are past articles on the subject. see www.gardenews.co.nz
On the short term aspect anyone can grow a few vegetables that are quick to mature and great for your health and wallet. Any container that is between 18 to 30cm deep is sufficient to grow most crops, the length and width will determine how many can be grown.
For instance; polystryne boxes that are often given away free from supermarket fish departments are ideal for a whole range of vegetables.
Drill some holes in the base for drainage and fill them with a purchased compost that is friable and weed free. Here is what I do; I fill to about half full the box, with compost and then place a layer of animal manure such as chook manure or alternatively blood and bone with sheep manure pellets.
For additional minerals I then sprinkle a little Rok Solid mineral dust and Ocean Solids. This is then covered with more compost to within about 20mm to the top rim of the box.
If you have any worms place a few into the mix as these will also supply extra food and keep the mix open.
Now it is ready to sow seeds or plant seedlings.
You can get 6 lettuces in a tray at nice spacing or 8 silverbeet plants, 10-12 spinach, about the same number of dwarf bean seeds, about 20 or more beetroot seeds, numerous carrot or parsley seeds, a good crop of onion seed, a lot of spring onion seeds, a number of yams, 6 medium or mini size cabbages, or other brassicas and half a dozen strawberry plants.
Then in tubs of about 20 litres, one dwarf type tomato plant, one zuchinni, two staked cucumbers, half a dozen staked climbing beans, a couple of pumpkins, 4 sweet corn seeds. ( Every type as suggested in separate 20 litre containers.) Plant most in a double row halfway between the sides and the middle.
Buckets can be used to grow potatoes at one seed per bucket.
Larger containers such as 40 to 100 litres can be used to grow tall type tomato plants such as Beefsteak.
Also plastic rubbish tins of 75 to 100 litres are ideal for a range of fruit trees including all citrus, Fejioa Unique, a tamarillo and most other fruiting trees or bushes.
200 litre plastic or steel drums can be cut in half to provide two 100 litre containers or cut down the middle, long ways, to give a good size planting bed.
Plastic children's paddling pools are also ideal and often don't cost much from plastic shops.
Once you get your plants up and away, a two weekly spray of Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) will make for healthier plants and bigger crops.
Having your own vegetables fresh straight out of the garden will not only save you money but it will greatly improve your diet.
Commercially grown vegetables lack goodness and carry chemical residues from all the chemicals used in their growth. The commercial produce is also becoming much more expensive to buy because the cost of fertilisers, chemical sprays and transport have all increased markedly.
They are not fresh as we are lead to believe, in most cases they are at least a couple of days old from harvest to supermarket shelves.
Vegetables and fruit grown naturally in your own back yard and picked for the table as required will make a healthy difference to your body.
You can be self sufficient to a degree and if one day the supermarket does not open its doors, you can fall back on what you have stored and grown. Better to be safe than sorry.
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POTASSIUM PERMANGANATE

One of the aspects that I really like about having so much contact with gardeners through out New Zealand is that every now and then, I receive a bit of interesting information (a gardening tip) which not only makes sense but works well for the gardener who uses it.
I also enjoy the ability to assist gardeners with their gardening problems when they either email me or phone.
There must be lots of methods used in days gone by, which are effective and non harmful to the environment, unlike a lot of the toxic, chemical, rescue remedies that come and go. (Most go because they are proven, eventually, to be unsafe to our health and the environment)
In my recent book, Wally’s Green Tips for Gardeners, I gave as many old and new, safe to use methods, as I could remember while writing it.
I think I got most of them down including the old way of controlling aphids.
For us that used to wash their clothes in the copper boiler, out in the laundry shed, came one very interesting aspect.
We would fill the boiler up with water and underneath the copper light a fire to heat the water to boiling.
Once the water was boiling we would then take a cake of the old yellow bar Sunlight Soap and lather up the water.
Next in would go the clothes to be washed clean in the boiling soapy water.
After boiling for a time one would lift the clothes out with a paddle and put them into a tub of cold water that had Blue Stone added to it. (Copper Sulphate)
This would help make the whites, whiter.
After a soak in the blue water we would run the clothes through the hand ringer that was clamped to the side of the tub, into the washing basket and out onto the wires which formed the clothes line for drying.
The last time I used this method was in my early twenties about 40 odd years ago while living in Te Kuiti. Washing clothes was a time consuming chore, unlike today.
Anyway after one finished washing, the copper had to be bucketed out to remove the dirty soapy water, when it had cooled down. Many gardeners would then toss this water over their roses and by doing so would kill the aphids.
How this worked was that the fatty acids, from the soap mentioned, would break down the delicate bodies of the aphids.
Now days we can take the same soap and lather up in some warm water, add it to our sprayer and spray the aphids on the roses or other plants they are infesting. Note dish washing soap does not work only the real McCoy such as the yellow bar Sunlight Soap.
In my book I also wrote about Potassium Permanganate (Coddy’s Crystals) to assist in the control of Club Root disease in brassicas, along with the control of carrot rust fly and moss.
Potassium permanganate (KMnO4) or Condys Crystals are an oxidizing agent that has been used for many years in aquaculture. It is also used in water conditioning systems and in the plumbing industry.
As an oxidizer, it is able to chemically "burn up" organic material.
This includes undesirable organic matter such as bacteria, parasites, and fungus in fish, as well as desirable material such as gill tissue and mucus.
Because the chemical cannot distinguish between desirable and undesirable organic matter, it is up to the individual to use the chemical in a manner that results in maximum benefit and minimum harm to preferred parts of the pet fish.
I remember as a boy if we got a sore throat we would gargle with a mild solution of Condys Crystals to kill the germs in our throat.
It was and is still used in foot baths to fix and kill the fungus growth of athletics's foot.
Used in a bath where one soaks in a solution for boils and similar problems.
It is the oxidizing aspect that assists in the control of club root where you take a quarter teaspoon of potassium permanganate and dissolve in one litre of water along with 3 desert spoons of salt.
This is then added to a further 9 litres of water and you pour one litre of the mix into the planting hole to saturate the soil prior to planting your cabbage etc.
This sterilizes the area where the cabbage’s roots are to grow and either preventing the disease spores from damaging the cabbage’s roots or reducing the damage so that the plants will mature.
For gardeners that find that they still have a problem with only one application at planting time could about 2 to 3 months later water some of the same solution into the root zone.
Just this week a gardener rang me inquiring about the availability of potassium permanganate, which in days gone by was readily available from any good chemist. (Not any more except maybe from the odd one)
I asked the gardener what he wanted the potassium permanganate for and he told me that he used it for the control of rust on silverbeet.
Immediately my ears pricked up and I asked him did it work and how did he find out about it?
He told me that he had come across it in a very old gardening book and since then by repeated sprays of a mild solution he had successfully controlled rust on silverbeet.
A mild solution would be a few grains of potassium permanganate into a litre of water to colour up lightly, the water to a light purple/lavender colour.
Well if it works on silverbeet it should also work on other plants such as roses, celery, carrots, parsnips along with any other flowers or plants that are prone to rust problems.
I also talked about using Baking Soda with Raingard in my book for black spot and powdery mildew problems. So here are two old methods for combating various fungus diseases on plants.
I would not mix baking soda solutions with potassium permanganate as the two are likely to interact and I would not use Raingard with a potassium permanganate solution either.
As mentioned before potassium permanganate is not so readily available except from better garden centres where they stock a 150 gram jar of the Crystals.
I have also suggested in the past that the formula for club root could be used by gardeners at twice the amount of potassium permanganate and salt into the same 10 litres of water to sterilize soils where soil borne diseases are present. In the past a number of gardeners have used Jeyes Fluid for this purpose but now days it is another product that is difficult to find.
The stronger solution should be applied to moist soils at the rate of 2 to 3 litres per square metre.
Leave for a week or so then flood the area with water to wash away.
Seeing that potassium permanganate helps with the control of rust gardeners might like to experiment further by using it on other plant disease problems.
I would be very interested to hear of the results.

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ABOUT IRIS

The Iris is known as the Rainbow flower and is named after the Greek goddess who wore a rainbow as a gown and was a messenger of the gods.
The bearded irises receive their name because of the fuzzy beard that is on the fall of the flower.
The falls are the three petals that hang downwards and the upright petals are called standards.
There are several types of Bearded iris, the most common being the Tall Bearded, which grows to over 71cm and generally, have five to ten flowers that open over a period of time.
While each flower may last for 3-4 days, the sequence of opening gives a display for about 2 weeks. When there are several spikes, they will open at different times and an overall clump will be flowering for about a month.
As an extra bonus some varieties will flower earlier (or later than others), so if an area is planted with different varieties of a similar colour there can be a flowering period for about six weeks.
Median Bearded Irises grow between 38-71cm and are ideal for windy areas, in front of the border, or smaller gardens. Their flowering period is generally just prior and overlapping the Tall Bearded irises.
Standard Dwarf (20-30cm) and Miniature Dwarf (under 20cm) flower around September and October and form very colourful clumps. Perfect for tubs.
Growing bearded irises is fairly simple, the most important aspect is for them to get sun on the top of the rhizome which should be at soil level. If they become too wet they will rot and the plant will be lost.
Bearded irises can be bought from catalogues from specialised growers and they are sold as bare rhizomes in December and then again around Feb-March. The catalogues usually are available from September.
Irises can be fed in the spring as well as in autumn.
Bearded irises need a low nitrogen fertiliser as they can put on too much growth and not flower.
Sheep manure pellets with some added potash is good value.
The flowers are developing and opening at this time of the year. The leaves can be prone to rust and a Liquid Sulphur spray can be used to help keep the rust away, luckily this does not affect the blooms.
If the stem is leaning over it is advisable to stake to prevent the blooms being damaged, or the stalk snapping.
One variety of iris that enjoys the wet are the Louisiana which are native to the south Eastern areas of USA and are found nowhere else in the world. The colour range is vibrant and size of the flower varies from 7-18cm across.
They can be grown in containers, normal gardens and shallow water.
An acid soil is required and they thrive with plenty of feeding and sun. Irises that prefer the damper conditions usually prefer an acidic type fertiliser and TB prefer alkaline soils, so they can also be dressed with lime.
Dutch Irises that can readily be bought through garden centres are the bulbous varieties that are in stock in early autumn.
The most well known variety is the Dutch Iris, which is used year around by florists and flowers in the garden in early spring.
The tiny Reticulata Iris can also be purchased at this time but is not as easy to grow on in future years.
Japanese and Siberian Irises are often available at garden centres at this time of the year.
The only place I know where Pacific Coast Irises can be purchased through the Seed Pool of the Iris Society.
The Seed Pool also includes many other Iris Species along with other Iridacae- there are over 200 species.
Members of the NZ Iris Society will be very happy to advise on where to purchase Irises, we will have named potted Irises for sale at the show.
The Palmerston North Iris Society is having an Iris Show on the 1st and 2nd November at the Leisure Centre P. Nth.
There will be a wide range of irises available and every one is welcome to attend. The Show is being hosted by Wairarapa, Wellington and Rangitikei Branches and they hope to have a good selection of irises on Show, the predominance will be the Tall Bearded.
For those that cannot attend see www.nziris.org.nz (The official web site for any other information.)
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Ooooo


HOW TO MAKE COMPOST

Composting is a great way to discard yard waste and kitchen scraps. In many cases, it's more economical than paying to have these wastes hauled away. And you can improve the health of your soil by adding the compost to your garden or yard.
To construct a composting area, determine the size. A large compost pile will insulate itself and hold the heat of microbial activity. Its center will be warmer than its edges.
Piles smaller than 3 feet cubed (27 cu. ft.)will have trouble holding this heat, while piles larger than 5 feet cubed (125 cu. ft.) don't allow enough air to reach the microbes at the center.
These proportions are of importance only if your goal is a fast, hot compost. Slower composting requires no exact proportions."
First, remove the grass and sod from the designated area. This allows decaying materials direct contact with soil microorganisms.
* First layer: about 3-4 inches of chopped brush or other coarse material on top of the soil surface to allow air circulation around the base of the heap.
* Second layer: About 6-8 inches of mixed scraps, leaves, grass clippings or sawdust. Materials should be "sponge damp."
* Third layer: One inch of soil serves as an innoculant by adding micro-organisms to the heap.
* Fourth layer (optional): About 2-3 inches of manure will provide the nitrogen needed by micro-organisms.
Sprinkle lime, wood ashes and/or BioPhos over the layer of manure to reduce the heap's acidity. Add water if the manure is dry.
* Fifth layer: Repeat steps 1-4 until the bin is almost full. Top off the heap with a 4-6 inch layer of straw and scoop out a basin at the top to catch rainwater.
Your compost heap should reach temperatures between 120 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit in four to five days. The pile should then begin to settle-a sign the heap is working properly.
After five or six weeks, move materials into a new pile and turn the contents so that the outside of the old heap is now the center of the new heap. Add water if necessary.
Your compost should be ready to use in three to four months. For spring compost, start a heap in late autumn.
For fall compost, start a pile in early spring.
The more often you turn the pile, the faster you will have compost. Check the internal temperature regularly and if it changes substantially (usually after about a week), turn the pile.
You'll know when your compost is done "baking" because it will be dark brown, crumbly and earthy-smelling.
Be sure to let it stabilize for a few extra days and screen it through a half-inch screen if you want a finely textured material. ooooo

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LABOUR WEEKEND

With Labour Weekend fast approaching there will be more New Zealanders working away in their gardens than we have seen before, for many a long year.
The reason for this is likely two fold, financial and health.
In the last couple of years many new gardeners have appeared at garden shops looking to start off a vegetable garden because they are very concerned about what is in their food chain.
They want to grow as much food as possible that has nutritional goodness and not laced with chemical poisons. This makes good sense because as a gardener you determine what goes into the soil the plants are feeding on.
With the incredible upheaval in the world’s financial domain we face a lot of uncertainties also, and to have a well stocked vegetable garden is one way to ensure that a ready source of food is at hand along with a big savings also.
The cost of vegetables and fruit purchased, will keep going up in price, otherwise the commercial growers will be out of business, as their chemical fertilisers and sprays prices are escalating out of sight.
Compound this with transport costs and we shall see many food lines slipping out of the reach of most people on a tighter budget.
We all need to become more self sufficient and look after our own health by growing and eating good wholesome fruit and vegetables which is home grown.
Garden centre owners have reported fantastic increases in the sale of vegetable seeds and plants along with fruit trees and herbs.
You do not even need a garden to grow vegetables and fruit trees as you can grow lots of things in containers. I have written about this before and by using pots, buckets, polystrene boxes and plastic rubbish tins (these are for fruit trees). For instance you all know about growing a spud in a bucket.
To grow in containers all you need to do is purchase a few bags of compost, some sheep manure pellets, maybe a bag of blood & bone and add these to the compost and plant up seeds or seedlings.
You can increase the goodness of the food by adding mineral rich products such as Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) and Rok Solid.
You don't even have to use a lot of the sheep manure pellets, blood & bone and Rok Solid as a little placed in the planting hole will do nicely. After which you can spray the foliage of the plants with the MBL 2 weekly.
For those that have a nice sunny area where a vegetable garden could be started you don't even have to do any digging.
Mow down as low as possible any grass or weeds in the area. Make a surround that is at least 200mm tall. (the taller the better.)
If using treated timber cut the wood to the required size and paint all surfaces with acrylic paint giving a couple of coats to seal in the chemicals.
The garden should only be about a metre wide so that you can work from the sides and never have to walk on it. When your surround is in place for the raised garden cover the bottom with cardboard or several sheets of newspaper.
Over this throw in grass clippings, food scraps, animal manures, prunings, leaves and anything organic including home made compost and spent potting mix from old containers..
This will cheaply build up the base of the raised garden. When you have a layer about half full then sprinkle a good dose of garden lime over the material.
Next layer another lot of wet newspaper and then with purchased compost place over the newspaper.
If you have animal manure such as chicken, cow or horse this can be incorporated into the top layer for extra goodness.
Finish off the top few centimeters with purchased compost. (This will be weed free)
Now you are ready to plant up as suggested with sheep pellets etc.
Corrugated iron with fence posts is ideal for a taller raised garden as the heat from the sun will warm the growing medium and speed up plant growth. A little more expense but well worth it in the long run.
What we have achieved from the above is a weed free garden (at the beginning anyway) with the cardboard or newspaper initially suppressing any weeds from coming through from below.
Worms love newspaper and cardboard so they will be attracted to your raised garden and provide further nutrients and keep the soil open.
It costs nothing to obtain animal manure and sea weed (if near the sea) and either of these (or both) can be placed in a plastic rubbish tin to about a third full and the filled with water to two thirds full and stirred.
The resulting liquid can be diluted 1 part to 10 parts water to spray or water over foliage of the plants for extra feeding.
Or a dilution of 1 part to 1 part water for watering over the compost (not the plants)
Some grass clippings can be added to the brew as well but not too much.
As plastic rubbish tins come with lids you can keep it sealed when not using.
With buying seeds look for the cheaper seeds as these are likely to be open pollinated ones which will give you better crops. The more expensive hybrid seeds are not so good as they have been bred in most cases to grow in a chemical environment. Some will actually fail in a natural soil.
When you grow a crop then let the best looking one go to seed. You will be able to collect more seed from one plant than you will know what to do with. These seeds are free and will greatly reduce future costs.
Labour Weekend is the traditional time to plant up gardens in New Zealand and an ideal time to get started for both new and experienced gardeners. (The later would already be well underway.)
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CONVULVOLUS

In my new book, Wally’s Green Tips for Gardeners, I give lots of gardening tips to overcome many common problems that can face gardeners through out all the seasons.
The book also gives lots of information and tips on growing vegetables which is ideal for both the experienced and the new novice gardener.
I avoided the use of chemical solutions in most of the information with the exception of one great tip on convulvolus that I heard about while giving a talk to a group of gardeners.
Convulvolus has the white roots which run through the soil and send up their foliage.
It is relatively easy to lightly fork through the soil and remove the roots. Any bit left behind will grow and become a future problem. The worst aspect is that, it is a weed that keeps on invading from next door.
The solution that I was told about was to use a chemical herbicide that is systemic and to place the herbicide into a suitable bowl or deeper tray and take the growing tips of the convolvulus and sit them into the herbicide.
As they are attached to the root system of the weed the herbicide is sucked up to translocate through that part of the root system next door and kill the weed.
As more shoots appear through the fence they are treated in a like manner till your problem is solved.
A great idea and even though I don’t like the use of chemical weedkillers this is a practical use of them.
Later you can drench your side of the fence’s soil with Magic Botanic Liquid to clean up any residues in the soil.
Prior to hearing of this solution my recommendation had been to dig a trench down the fence line and line the fence side with sheets of steel or similar to make a barrier under ground.
Often this solution was not practical for many gardeners, and they would have to constantly deal to the problem when the foliage appeared.
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KEEPING A GOOD LAWN

The following are a few tips for those that have lovely lawns or would like to have a feature lawn.
Dogs, especially bitches are bad news for creating bare patches on lawns due to their early morning pee. The urine is very acid and makes for the perfect weed/plant/grass killer.
If you have a dog and this problem, there is not an easy answer but you can reduce the damage.
First answer would be diluting the urine and if you have a lawn sprinkler system all you need to do is turn it on after the dog has been outside, for a few minutes.
Acid is neutralized by lime, so if you give your lawn a good sprinkling of lime every so often, it should help. Grass that is burnt with urine and does not grow back, or goes brown in drier weather (dry spot), means the grasses roots are shallow and likely growing into the thatch layer on the soil.
Remove the thatch and the grasses will root deeper. Instead of having to scarify the lawn can just spray it with Thatch Busta.
The product will eat up an inch of thatch in a month given average conditions. The area needs to be kept moist but not wet to get the best results.
If you are using a lawn weed killer add Thatch Busta to this and the weeds will disappear faster as well as cleaning up the thatch.
For brown, urine patches of grass, drench them with MBL (Magic Botanic Liquid) it will help remove contamination and assist the grass to regrow. (That is if the grass is not completely dead)
If the grass is dead the Thatch Busta will clean up the dead grass and fresh lawn seed can be sown. Water this in with MBL for a better strike.
Always use a top quality seed such as Super Strike for quick germination and fine grasses.
For dry spot in lawns; this is when the surface tension of the soil builds up and does not allow water penetration, simply squirt some dish washing liquid into warm water, lather and water onto dry area.
Lawn weeds are a big problem but if you over-sow a lawn in the spring and again in the autumn and keeping doing so till you have a thick carpet of grasses, your weed problems will disappear.
Never mow more that the top third off your grasses in one mow. Don't mow shorter than 30 to 50 mm. Try and keep the lawn soil moist all year round. On lawns growing on heavy clay soils, spread Gypsum and water in every few months for a year or so then once a year.
A number of gardeners have commented that their lawns have improve significantly through spraying them with Perkfection and MBL once a month. Feeding the lawn? Use only a slow release type where the natural ones are Break Through or Bio Boost. Apply when soil is moist and then roll the lawn. Oooooo

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CODLIN MOTH

Codlin moths are a seasonal pest which will emerge over the next few weeks and start off another cycle of damage. When the adult pests actually emerge, will depend on the weather and the amount of warmth, October, November and December are the normal months of activity.
The codlin moth emerges after apples, pears and walnuts fruit have set on the trees.
Coming out from their cocoons they are active at dusk, when temperatures are over 15 degrees.
The adult moths mate and each female can lay up to 300 eggs on the foliage of the host trees.
The eggs hatch after 10-14 days and head for the nearest young fruit, where they eat a hole and tunnel into the centre, doing the damage they are well know for. Knowing the above gives one a good indication of when best to use a control.
The first method is to obtain a codlin moth pheromone trap that lures the male moths to its sticky pad. (Many garden centres stock the traps.) The traps themselves are likely to reduce the instance of damage if set up about now.
In a perfect world, if you were to catch all the male moths before they had a chance to mate, then the females would lay only infertile eggs. But as we can see, only one female needs to mate, to ruin up to 300 fruit!
So the trap is not a perfect control but it is a fantastic monitor.
By checking the trap every couple of days one can determine when the moths are active and then start spraying about 7 days later.
An excellent alternative to a pheromone trap is to hang a small tin of treacle in the tree with the assistance of a onion bag. The treacle acts also as a pheromone trap which you can monitor.
What spray to use? In the past Carbaryl was widely recommended. It had the disadvantages of thinning the apples in early sprays, before the fruit developed enough, and it was a poison which did end up in your previously healthy apples.
Neem Tree Oil, having 1500 ppm of the active ingredient, prevents the hatched grubs from eating and growing, is a logical answer.
The whole tree need not be sprayed only the small fruit ensuring good coverage.
Note there are three Neem Oil products available in NZ, only one of which is registered for use on food crops.
The cost of registration is very high and likewise the registered product is over triple the price of the non-registered ones. In Australia, Neem Oil is certified organic so it is then up to the user as to whether it is used or not.
Spraying starts 7 days after an influx of males is noted in the trap. (Without a trap start once the temperatures are about 15 degrees) Spray late in the day after the sun is off the trees and repeat every 7-10 days.
Add Raingard to the spray to prevent washing off in rain and to give additional UV protection. (MBL can be added too)
If totally successful one should only find a pin prick scar on fruit, at maturity (where the grub took its first and only bite)
A few gardeners have reported successes of less damage by sprinkling Epsom salts under the apple trees and lightly watering.
Others have sprinkled Neem Tree Granules which also appear to have reduced damage.
Many of the codlin moths have pupated in the soil under the tree and if when they emerge they cannot locate the tree above because they cannot smell the tree, then they become confused and may leave the tree alone.
Marigolds or highly smelling plants can be planted under the tree to cause this to happen.
Another old method is to let your chickens out to forage under the trees when the soil is moist in the winter time. They will scratch out all the cocoons and eat the pupating grubs.
By stringing wire netting around the area where your trees are should confine them and keep them from ruining other gardens and lawns.
If you have an apple, pear or walnut tree that has not had the problem in the past, then don't worry about any controls. If the problem develops in time to come, then you can do the above.

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TOMATOES: THE FINER POINTS

Growing tomato plants is one of the big items for gardeners at this time of the year and even non gardeners will likely have a go at growing a plant or two.
Some gardeners are very fastidious in their selection of types grown, the special culture methods used and like wines, some years have better vintages than other years.
From garden centres you can obtain a good range of different types of tomato plants from grafted or Supertoms types to traditional varieties and heirlooms.
Seed stands will likely increase the number of types you can grow and through seed mail order companies the range extends dramatically.
Many gardeners have their own favourite ones, most of which are only available from over the fence from a friendly gardener. Some of these have been hand-me-down seeds, originating from returned servicemen from the World Wars, collected while in Europe especially from Italy.
Italy might be called the home of tomatoes at they have over 500 known varieties growing yearly and the Italians would likely be the world’s biggest consumers of tomatoes as it is reported that they eat 38Kg of tomatoes per person annually.
A Palmerston North gardener, Mr P Boulton, while in Europe recently, came across an article in a UK paper entitled ‘In Search Of the Ripe Stuff’, Mr Boulton clipped out the article, thinking of me and presented yours truly with a copy .
The article talks about the experiences of a journalist visiting Sicily with a tomato expert, Paolo Battistel, looking for the best tomatoes in the world. Traveling through Mafia territories to Scoglitti and then beyond to a farm very close to the sea where they find their goal.
The article explains that it is a combination of the sun and the saline soil that produces the best flavoured tomatoes. The mineral rich soil due to sea salt is the key as it has been found that tomatoes desire 56 minerals and elements for best results. (You are not going to get that from your bag of tomato food.)
The health benefits from eating tomatoes either raw or cooked are great if you grow your own tomatoes naturally with all the minerals that they would like.
You are not going to obtain the same health benefits from tomatoes you buy especially the ones in winter that are picked green and then chemically treated to make them go red.
The chemical does not actually ripen the tomato in just changes them from green to red, so you are then eating a tasteless green tomato that is red in colour.
Scientists have discovered that eating five tomatoes a day can help to protect against sunburn and premature aging.
Tomatoes are a super food; oozing lycopene, folic compounds, magnesium and potassium, reports suggest that they can help fight both Alzheimer’s and cancer as well as improving your overall health.
Let us now look at some of the finer points on growing these wonderful plants.
In the following I am going to give you as many aspects as I can remember, you may not want to use all the points but even a few will make your tomato production results better than before.
Firstly if you want to grow a tomato plant without any great problems or care then plant a couple of Sweet 100’s they are prolific, grow like weeds and will give you lots of small sweet tomatoes for salads and eating.
If you have a tomato variety that you like and have grown successfully for some years, keep the seed and grow them for the rest of your life, keeping fresh seed from the best tomato each season for the following year.
Try one or two other types for variety, you will have successes and failures and in a never ending search you will likely add more favourites to your annual collection of seeds.
Seeds are picked out of tomatoes, laid on a bit of paper towel to dry (with the type written on the paper) then the paper is rolled up and placed in a sealed glass jar for storage in the fridge. (I have tomato seeds over 25 years old that still give me a 50% germination rate using this method.)
To germinate cut the paper to obtain the required number of seeds and place paper and seed on a seedling tray or punnet that contains a friable compost or a good potting mix, spray the paper/seeds with undiluted Super Roots (alternatively use Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) with Mycorrcin added)
Leave to dry and then cover with a little more of the mix or with sharp sand. Moisten down with MBL by misting. Keep moist in a warm bright light situation till seedlings emerge and then immediately place in a glasshouse or cold frame so the plants receive overhead natural sunlight.
Keep moist with non chlorinated water. (During the life of the tomato never water with chlorinated tap water) When of a size to transplant, soak the tray with water and lift the individual seedlings and spray their roots with Super Roots (Alternatively MBL & Mycorrcin)
Pot into individual pots about 100mm in size using a friable compost (not potting mix) Plant deep up to the first leaves as they will then root all the way up. (Do not do this with grafted tomatoes) This applies also to purchased seedlings in punnets.
Place a couple of grains of Ocean Solids along with a quarter tea spoon of Rok Solid and a similar amount of Dolomite & Wallys Secret Tomato Food with Neem Granules on top of the mix. Keep moist but not wet allowing the mix to dry a bit between waterings. Place in full sun.
When the plant is about 150mm tall then it is ready to plant into open ground or a large container.
For containers use a large bucket about 20 litres for dwarf type tomatoes, 45 litres for average size fruiting types and 100 litres for Beefsteak types and Supertoms.
Use animal manure based composts, apply more Ocean solids, Rok Solid, Dolomite and the tomato food mentioned. The plant can once again be planted deeper than previous. Spray the foliage with diluted Super Roots. Repeat this once again 6 weeks later.
Two weekly; spray foliage with MBL (Mycorrcin can be added) but miss the cycle that the Super Roots is sprayed. Place more of the special tomato food with Neem Granules at about 4 weekly to 6 weekly on top of soil/mix.
Do not remove laterals on humid days and spray the wound immediately with Liquid Copper.
A monthly spray of Perkfection will also assist in disease prevention.(This can be added to MBL or Super Roots) The same will apply to open ground grown tomato plants as above for containers.
Support the plants with stakes etc.
In glasshouse grown plants on sunny days when in flower, tap the plant to cause a vibration which aids in setting fruit.
Protect ripening fruit from bird damage with Bird Repeller Ribbon or pick fruit as they turn colour to ripen indoors. (Best if ripened on plant.)
If cooking tomatoes only cook in a good Virgin Olive Oil as it brings out both flavour and health benefits. Wishing you a great tomato year.

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GARDENING IN SPRING

Spring is the time when the new season’s growth really starts to happen which is a result of the extending day light hours along with the warmer temperatures.
One thing that you will notice is that the new growth on roses and other plants is very healthy.
There are a few reasons for this which includes; spring vigor after winter dormancy; no man made fertilisers applied over the previous months which means the soil life and worms have had a chance to increase their populations; no chlorinated water applied during the last few months.
Chlorinated water kills soil life and harms worms. (Overcome this by placing a suitable filter on your tap if your water has chlorine in it, alternatively stand the tap water in n open container for a day to remove the chlorine.)
In simple terms; because you have not interfered with Nature, it has been able to get on with its natural job. The key is to work with Nature and don't interfere with it by applying man made fertilisers, chemical sprays and chlorinated water..
I had a call recently from a lady who owns a large property with a Rest Home, she told me that the chap that does their gardens has in the past been using chemical sprays on their many roses and every year these sprayed roses have all sorts of health problems.
As the property is very large there are a few roses that the gardener cant get to easily so they do not get sprayed. The result is these unsprayed roses are as healthy as can be!
Spraying with safe to use products such as Liquid Copper and Liquid Sulphur as protection against some spring/summer plant diseases can be used to get some plants through disease times.
For instance with curly leaf disease in stone fruit you apply a spray of copper every 7 to 10 days while the leaves are emerging and till the time the disease cycle is past.
Having a fine firm of copper particles over the total leaf surface means the disease spores cant establish.
The type of copper used is important because of its particle size which means copper oxychloride should not be used as it has a large particle size.
Where a very fine copper particle such as copper hydroxide as in Liquid Copper is preferred. The difference is like placing tennis balls on a table; there is a big gap between where the balls are touching and the table. Where Liquid Copper can be likened to placing smaller ball bearings on the table, the gap between them and the table is very small in comparison.
Fruit trees in flower should be sprayed with the copper at the end of the day (prior to dusk) when pollination has finished for the day.
Liquid Copper and Liquid Sulphur can diluted separately and added together to advantage as each of these is a better control of some diseases that the other. If you add Raingard to the spray then the particles protecting the plants will not be washed off by rain for up to 14 days.
The real key to healthy, disease free plants is to only use natural products such as compost, sheep manure pellets, blood & bone and animal manures along with wet sheets of newspaper or cardboard on the soil with compost to cover. Minerals are important to plants just as they are to our bodies so mineral rich products should be applied to the soil such as Ocean Solids, Rok Solid and Magic Botanic Liquid.
The later can be sprayed over the foliage every 14 odd days to great advantage.
Build up your soil food web by regular applications of Mycorrcin.
Not only will the soil benefit along with the health of your roses (and other plants), when applied to your food crops your body will also obtain the most needed minerals.
It is my old saying; healthy soil, healthy plants, healthy you.
I received a snippet by email I would like to share with you:

Lesson of the Week: School Lab mice Freak Out on GE and Junk Food . Schools in Wisconsin are showing kids the dangers of genetically engineered (GE) junk food with some unique science class experiments.

Sister Luigi Frigo repeats the experiment every year in her second grade class in Cudahy.
Students feed one group of mice unprocessed whole foods.
A second group of mice are given the same junk foods served at most schools.
Within a couple of days, the behavior of the second group of mice develop erratic sleeping schedules and become lazy, nervous and even violent.
It takes the mice about three weeks on unprocessed foods to return to normal.
According to Frigo, the second graders tried to do the experiment again a few months later with the same mice, but the animals have already learned their lesson and refuse to eat the GE food. End.

Animals have more brains than us when it comes to health.
A number of plants we commonly grow detest wet feet and one of the problems that can happen is mulches applied to the soil in the root zone at the wrong time of the year.
For instance, mulches to conserve moisture and suppress weeds should be applied later in spring prior to the time when the soil starts to dry out too much.
Gardeners that apply mulches in autumn, or even worse in winter, are trapping moisture in the soil and causing plants such as citrus to be affected with root rots.
Leaves turn yellow then sometimes brown and fall off as the roots left, cannot support the foliage. In the worst cases the plant dies. If you have this problem rake back the mulch so the soil can breathe and apply Perfection to the foliage left.
Gardeners wanting to start off a new vegetable plot should consider making a raised garden using either timber, corrugated iron or concrete blocks.
A raised garden is ideal to build over poor or heavy soils as you do not have to worry about improving the existing soil to grow successfully.
If using tanalised wood cut the timber to the right size and then give it a couple of coats (all over) of acrylic paint to seal in the chemicals.
Place the raised garden in a sunny spot and mow any weeds or lawn down low as possible. Cover the base with wet newspaper or cardboard sheets and then over this place pruning twigs, grass clippings and kitchen scraps.
Next cover with your own compost and any spent mixes from previously used containers along with any animal manures you can get hold of.
Over this place some more wet sheets of newspaper and then cover with a purchased compost mix. In this last layer you can place any natural goodies such as sheep manure pellets etc.
Now you can plant up your seedlings or seeds and only water with non-chlorinated water.
When the crops are harvested do not pull out the plants instead cut them off at ground level and leave the roots in tack to rot down and provide more goodness. A fresh layer of purchased compost over this and a new planting can be done.
The mineral rich products mentioned earlier should also be used and the real key is never walk on the soil in the raised garden, instead always work from the sides.
It is easy to do and you should obtain great results.
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GARDENING INFORMATION

Gardening is made a lot easier if you know what you are doing rather than just guessing.
There are many problems that can arise while gardening such as pests, diseases and weed control, any of which can be very complexing for the novice gardener and even the experienced can get stumped at times.
Gardening does not come naturally unless you have grown up in a gardening family and even then, only if you had taken an active interest and participated.
So where do you go for information when a problem arises and you don't know the solution?
There are many sources of information (and unfortunately mis-information) available, which leads to another problem; is the information correct and useful or is it a waste of time?
To even further the complexity we can have situations where a remedy will work for some but not others. Confused? Yep it can be, but there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.
If you have a friend, neighbour or relation that is a great gardener you can always have a chat with them and gain knowledge from their experience.
The Internet can be a great help if you know the key words to put into a search engine. Look at the answers given from a few sites and compare them so you can make a decision on which method would suit you best.
There can be several answers to any problem and two that are often given are chemical solutions and natural solutions. You then need to decide which is more suitable to your circumstances.
In the past there were few if any garden centres, instead there were nurseries with maybe a small shop attached for door sales. The owner would be a nurseryman and very knowledgeable in their profession and able to give you down to earth information.
There were also a scattering of small garden shops in towns often owned by retired nurserymen who once again knew their stuff.
This changed over time as non nursery people saw that the selling of garden products and plants could be a very profitable business. I remember one such person many years ago telling me that he could buy a rose plant in for five shillings and sell it before lunch for ten shillings.
Five bob (shillings) back then was good money, likely the equivalent of about $50.00 today in what it could purchase.
Garden centres evolved overtime and some of these are owned by knowledgeable people in gardening and some are owned business people with sparse knowledge.
Even the very best of garden centres will have some staff with good knowledge where other younger staff employed to assist, may have little knowledge. We all know a little knowledge is dangerous when giving advise.
Our next point of call is gardening programs on TV and some of these are very good to learn basic principals and obtain good gardening tips especially some of the UK programs.
Most radio stations have a gardening program where you can ring in and get your gardening questions answered on air.
Once again from listening to numerous ones over the years I have heard some good answers and some answers that I hope the people never used. There is a lot of misinformation out there from people that don't really know all the ins and outs on gardening.
Some are heavy users of chemicals and cant see that that is not how every one wants to garden.
Joining a local garden club is also a great way to learn more about gardening but here again some of the real experts can get you bogged down in botanical terms and plant correct Latin names that cause confusion.
Even I have to ask at times, someone who can correctly pronounce the complicated Latin name of a plant what it actually is.
There are experts out there that often amaze me, in so much as you can produce a leaf of just about any plant and they can give you instantly the botanical and common name along with every aspect of its culture. Not a lot of use to the person that only wants to grow a few healthy cabbages.
Gardening magazines can be a good source also if they are not bogged down with grandiose garden pictures that one may dream about but be far removed from your budget and space.
Newspapers and columns such as this may be a good source of information or maybe not dependant on your point of view and the content.
Finally we come to books on gardening which range from those that are suitable for coffee table gardeners to ones that are a great assistance in identifying garden plants and problems.
Too many publications are UK originals (sometimes USA) which have been rehashed to try to suit New Zealand conditions and gardening practices.
The most sold gardening book is of course Yates Gardening Guide; first published in 1895 and over the years has sold over 7 million copies in Australia and New Zealand.
Now up to its 77th revised edition and retailing for about $40.00. I look back on earlier editions and reckon that they appear more balanced between natural methods and chemical ones. The more recent ones tend to lean towards chemical solutions and methods rather than the more natural.
The next best seller is; The Native Trees of New Zealand by J.T. Salmon (Reed Publishing NZ)
Which is a great book on that topic. (Gold award)
Then we have The Gardener's Encyclopaedia of New Zealand Native Plants by Yvonne Cave & Valda Paddison (Random House NZ) (Silver award) Another fine book. (Silver award)
In the Bronze awards we have The Life-Size Guide to Insects; The Life-Size Guide to Native Trees;
Which Native Fern? ; Which Native Forest Plant? ; Which New Zealand Bird? ; A Guide to the Identification of New Zealand Native Trees; all by Andrew Crowe (Penguin Group NZ)
Nature Guide to the New Zealand Forest by John Dawson & Rob Lucas (Random House NZ)
It would appear that there is a lot of interest in our natural flora’, native insects and birds which is great also. Several of the above books are in my personal library and are great reference books.
But where are the practical books in the best seller lists or are they still gaining sales over the years to reach the magic 10,000 copies needed to become a bronze award?
Two years ago I published my first book; Wallys Down to Earth Gardening Guide which is now in its third printing having sold over 4000 copies.
Over the last 12 months I have written a second book which is now available called, Wallys Green Tips for Gardeners.
It is aimed at complementing the first book and being a quick handy reference for lots of gardening problems.
Lots of tips on planting vegetables as there is a growing interest from people getting into growing their own food crops.
Tips on dealing to all the common insect problems, a chapter on plant health (disease) and tips on common household items and products that can be used to advantage in your gardening efforts. For those that get stuck on gardening terms there is a gardening dictionary also.
There is a strong focus on gardening for better health and using natural products.
The book can be obtained through a number of garden centres, book shops or by mail order for those of you that maybe interested.
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RE-MINERALIZE THE EARTH

I discovered about 3 odd years ago the importance of re-mineralizing the earth meaning for practical purposes, our gardens and lawns. There are about 90 odd elements that are naturally available from ocean water which is normally about 95% sodium chloride (salt) and the other 5% being the rest of the elements in perfect balance and interestingly, in the right ratios for all the plants we cultivate.
There are also two other important natural sources of elements being rock dust and Humate & Fulvic acid preparations. Rock dust can be obtained from various types of rock including lava deposits and a mix of different ones will give a wider range of elements.
Humate and Fulvic acid is also mineral rich as it is derived from lignite which was formed in prehistoric times when the planet was mineral rich. I liken it to prehistoric compost tea.
The question arises as to how important these 90 odd elements are to the plants we grow?
In conventional agriculture we place between 3 to about 16 man produced elements into our gardens in the form of fertilisers. These fertilisers of which the main 3 are nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, certainly make plants grow (or better described as forcing plants to grow).
Quality of food is forgotten and the main concerns is how fast the crop will mature along with yield and disease resistance.
You buy a commercially grown tomato that has been given about 12 to 16 elements and it is relatively tasteless. It is now known that a tomato requires 56 natural elements. If you provide your tomato plants with all of these elements it will be very disease resistant and will provide your body with the ultimate taste it can produce, along with the 56 elements your own body needs.
Too many commercial growers have forgotten why we grow food and turned conventional agriculture into a mass production line that is sadly lacking in nutritional values.
Most people are nutritionally starved, eating foods that are mineral deficient and resulting in the numerous health problems that have become common today.
The only reason that people are living longer is because of medical intervention, many living the last 10 or 20 years in a bad state of health, kept alive with the pills and potions the chemists produce.
That is not life, it is instead a miserable state of being with nothing to look forward to.
Every day millions of your body cells are replaced, these new cells require a wide range of elements to be perfect, it they do not have these elements available then they are inferior cells and this leads to sickness and accelerated aging. This is so logic that it has been hidden from us to the benefit of the pharmaceutical and the agrochemical companies along with the processed food manufactures.
Even the much of the Organic movement has not fully grasped the need for using all the available mineral sources as they consider that these sources may contain heavy metal elements and thus they are banned.
The Organic growers don't use chemical rescue remedies in their cultivation which is great but they need to use some of the readily available sources of minerals such as the ones found in the ocean or rocks. (Mine you some organic producers do)
The next step in obtaining a healthy return from the crops you grow, that have been given all the possible minerals, is to eat as much as possible raw or place your greens into a high speed blender along with a banana (for better flavour) and make green smoothies to drink.
For instance there is more nutritional value in the tops of carrots than in the root that we eat. We throw the green tops away considering that they are not eatable, but in a green smoothie they become invaluable to our health.
I have found three natural sources of natural minerals; Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) which is your prehistoric compost tea and this liquid can be drenched into the soil and sprayed over the foliage on a regular bases.
From the ocean we have Ocean Solids which is the un-refined salt from the ocean.
For rock dust there is Simalith which comes from Germany but more recently I have sourced a commercial rock dust called simply, Rok Solid.
I obtained a sample of this rock dust some months ago and trialled it in my wheat grass growing and found it better value than Simalith.
Rok Solid contains over 60 minerals and elements and is specially selected for its natural energy (paramagnetism), this energy is what gives the soil it’s vitality assisting in the nutrient uptake of plants.
The high silica content (43%) helps in plant formation.
Rok Solid is blended with Organic 100 liquid fertiliser concentrate made from fish and seaweed, which contributes a further array of minerals, together with microbial stimulates.
These organisms being necessary to hold soil balance, regulate nutrient to the plants, build humus and help detoxify the soil.
Rok Solid is used at 100 grams per square metre for new plantings.
Alternatively about a level teaspoon into each planting hole for seedlings or a sprinkling along a row of seeds, with the seeds at planting time.
Larger plants; about a level tablespoon in the planting hole.
For existing gardens with plants; 100 grams per square metre twice a year (spring and Autumn) for fruit trees, shrubs, vegetable and flower gardens and lawns.
Roses; an application of one to two teaspoons per rose spring and autumn.
Analysis of Rok Solid (Averages) Nitrogen [N] .15%: Phosphorus [P] .8% : Potassium {k} 1.4% Sulphur [S] .14% : Calcium [Ca] 4.4% : Magnesium [Mg] 5.69% : Sodium [Na] 2.95% : Silica [Si] 43.0% : Iron [Fe] 39,000ppm : Manganese [Mn] 1,100ppm : Boron [B] 55ppm : Copper [Cu] 90ppm Zinc [Zn] 142ppm : Cobalt [Co] 59ppm : Molybdenum [Mo] 2ppm : Selenium [Se] 3ppm
Plus many other trace elements.
That is far more elements than you will get out of any commercial fertiliser.
Rok Solid should be applied to the soil with an equal amount of calcium (garden lime)
Use a soft garden lime such as Rapid Lime but around acid loving plants use either Dolomite or Gypsum.
This also applies to tomatoes and potatoes that prefer a slightly acid pH.
Rok Solid is now available through a number of garden centres.
If you have concerns about your health, want to look and feel younger, then grow your own vegetables and insure their goodness by using these mineral rich products.
A number of farmers and orchardists have been using Rok Solid and not only are they saving money, they are producing healthier produce and animals.
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VICTORY GARDENS

I received an email News Letter this week from the Organic Consumers Association: web at: http://www.organicconsumers.org/ (An interesting web site to keep up to date with what is happening with matters of concern with our food chain which you can subscribe too, to obtain their free news letters).
One item that caught my attention is called Victoria Gardens written by a Barbara L. Minton who is a school psychologist, in the USA and published author.
I had never heard of a Victory Garden (just a little before my time), as these evolved during the second World War; I’ll let Barbara explain: What's a victory garden?
It was emphasized to urban and suburban dwellers that the produce from their gardens would help provide the nutritious food needed by the soldiers to keep them fighting strong.
It would also help keep the price of that food low, so the War Department would have more money to spend on other military needs. The victory garden would also help solve the shortages of labor and transportation that made it difficult to harvest and transport produce to market.
One poster from the mid 1940's reading, "Our food is fighting" portrayed the high sense of patriotism so characteristic of the time.
Victory gardens were likely grown in NZ as they were in the UK, Canada, USA and Australia during world war 2.
But the world war is well over so why is this global call raised now for people everywhere to once again grow a Victory Garden?

From Barbara; These gardens now represent our fight to regain control of our lives and our health.
They are the first battlefields against the increasing corporate tyranny, a battle that may end with us throwing off the philosophy of every man for himself and a realization that we are all together in this thing called life.
How does this apply to you and the rest of us in New Zealand?

From the web: Victory Gardens Mean:

-Better Food - Fresher, better tasting, straight off the plant food, which money literally cannot buy!
- Better Health - More nutrition in just picked vegetables, grown without chemicals, while getting the kind of exercise many of us pay the gym for! Safety from industrial food contamination and toxic imports.
-Food Security - Food in your pots as prices get higher, supplies that can't be disrupted by energy shortages, greater regional self-sufficiency.
Thousands of new gardeners can make sure that we don't have to wait for distant food supplies to be trucked in - weeks after they are needed.
Every gardener makes your region more secure.
-Higher Quality of Life - A more beautiful environment, stronger community, a better environment.
-More Money in your Pocket, More Time for What Matters - If you don't need as much money for food, or to work as many hours to pay the grocery bills, you can use that money or take that time for what you really care about.
- The Chance to Serve Others and Create a More Just Society - Your Victory Garden can be a strike against hunger and poverty - you can have food to donate, and the ability to teach others to grow, and thus, eat for a lifetime.
- Reduce Corporate Power and Improve Democracy - We cannot simultaneously deplore the power corporations have in our society and depend on them to supply our most basic necessities.
If we stop giving our hard earned money to the corporations who undermine our democracy, they will be less powerful!
-Protect Against Climate Change - Humus rich soils, full of organic matter can sequester tons of carbon, quite literally - and grow the best vegetables. We reduce our carbon emissions when we don't have to drive to the store or buy fossil fuel grown food. -Reduce our Energy Dependence - Fossil fuels are used in agriculture, both industrial and industrial organic at every step, from the fertilizer in the ground to the refrigerated truck to plastic bag they come in. We can eliminated fossil fuels from almost every step when we grow our own.
-Create Peace - We are at war for oil - reducing our fossil fuel dependency through Victory Gardens gives us hope for Peace in our time.
-Hope for the Future - In a changing world, the ability to grow food, to share and enjoy it, and to live in a healthy world full of beautiful gardens may be the best legacy we can leave our children and grandchildren.
Ok, so we agree that we need Victory Gardens. How do we bring all the participants in this movement together, and create a real and national Victory Garden movement?
How do we bring together professional farmers, with Victory Farms and city Gardeners, schools and community resources, and backyard advocates?
How do we get Victory Gardening onto the national agenda?
How do we teach thousands of people how to grow, cook and eat their own, and why?
One part, of course, is the person to person work we're doing now.
The next step is to create a large-scale Victory Garden umbrella organization guided by people in every part of the Victory Garden movement - chefs and cooks helping people learn to eat, teachers helping children get involved, churches, corporations and community groups all putting gardens on public and private green spaces, local "garden farmer markets" where very small scale producers can exchange or sell their extra in their neighborhoods, climate change and energy activists working on this simple way to cut our energy usage and reduce atmospheric carbon.
That is, we need a movement - a real, serious movement. And we can do this.
You can reach out to one neighbor, at least, and help them get started gardening.
Share seeds.
Talk to your community, your synagogue, mosque, church, neighbors, school about gardening.
Take a risk - for greater security later.
Plant a front-yard garden, centered around a "V" for Victory (cabbages look great like this, particularly mixed with nasturtiums or calendula, but use your imagination).
Be courageous - we need this Victory! (End.)

It all makes common sense and the argument can not be deigned. In fact I have been advocating similar for some time now and here is a world wide movement started in the USA with its own banner, Victory Gardens.
If you are reading this, you are already a gardener and if you encourage and help one other family or person to start gardening their own food we have a massive movement on the way.
This could not have happen at better time of the year, Spring is here and gardening has started for the season. I have set up a Victory Garden Web page on my web site where you can email me with your name and location to form a list of Victory Gardens in New Zealand.
See http://www.gardenews.co.nz/victorygarden.html
Your way to be secure, save money, improve your health and make your world a better place.

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LOOKING AT LAWNS

With the first month of spring very near, now is the time to sort out any lawn problems that you may have. 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 Simalith or 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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EARLY START ON VEGETABLES

Many families are having to make sure their dollar stretches as far as it can these days and one of the most important items on your budget will be food. Here some great savings can be made by growing as much as possible of your family’s vegetable needs.
You are going to have to invest some money to get started but it is a far saver investment than what we have seen with finance companies and the best return you will ever get from your dollar.
Initially you may have to purchase a few items but many of these will last for a season or several years. The advantages are numerous; fresh, nutritious vegetables straight from the garden to the table, better health, some exercise, good savings, an interesting hobby the whole family can share, more self sufficient and personal pride in your achievements.
If you do not have a vegetable garden currently then dig up some lawn in a open sunny area and make one. If you have no suitable area then grow in containers such as polystrene boxes available from wholesale fish outlets or supermarkets. (A combination of both open ground and containers is great)
For those gardeners just starting out there are four vegetables that are very easy to grow and mature fairly quickly for use. Lettuce (especially non hearting types), spinach, silverbeet and radishes.
All of these can be grown in polystrene boxes with a few holes in the bottom for drainage using a mix of 80% purchased compost with 20% top soil worked through the compost.
Incorporate any animal manures including sheep manure pellets, blood & bone and some garden lime.
For more nutritional value spray the plants every two weeks with Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL)
Once planted up (using seedlings from your garden centre) then all you have to do is water them every time the mix starts to dry out. Use non-chlorinated water.
If your tap water contains chlorine then simply fill a few buckets with this water and stand them in the sun for a day to remove the chlorine then pour the water into a watering can and water the vegetables.
The MBL can be added to this water every couple of weeks. Later you will be able to save yourself more money by buying seeds instead of plants and germinate and grow your own seedlings.
Start with purchased plants first so you get a taste of what its all about. Now for the more advanced gardeners here are a few things to do for those early crops.
Leeks are a good winter crop and now is the time to start them off from seed.
Your goal, if growing leeks, is to produce strong young plants about as thick as a ball point pen for planting out in December/ January/ February periods. Leek seedlings grown in punnets are thin and a waste of time and money. Open ground plants are best but if you have not grown them yourself you could introduce club root disease into your garden.
To grow from seed you need a nursery bed in your vegetable garden. This is a small area which you germinate and care for seedlings till they are ready to transplant out.
The nursery area (size) for leeks will depend on how many leeks you want in winter.
Mark out an area a metre long and either a metre of half a metre wide. (depends on your needs)
Dig out the soil to about a spade depth (180mm) putting the removed soil into a wheel barrow or onto a tarp.
Find a local poultry farm that sells chook manure and mix half soil and manure to half fill the bed (90mm).
Spacing of seeds which are small is always a problem so here we solve it by cutting some strips of newspaper a metre long and 50mm wide. Obtain a packet of wallpaper paste and paste one side of a strip.
Now place the leek seeds 30mm apart down the centre of the strip.
When completed paste another strip and place this over the first, now seeded strip and leave to dry. Once you have prepared sufficient strips for your needs then we go to the next stage which is mowing the lawn.
You are going to layer a fresh lawn clippings into nursery bed (about 70mm) along with a bit more chook manure.
Over this sprinkle some garden lime.
Next sieve some of the removed soil over the bed to a depth of about 20mm. Now we lay our strips of leek seeds onto this sieved soil and water down lightly with MBL. Sieve a little more soil to just cover the strips and then lightly water again.
The heat from the decomposing lawn clippings will greatly aid germination, all you need to do is keep the bed moist with non chlorinated water. You can further improve your nursery bed by obtaining some lengths of fencing wood 150mm wide. Cut the wood to make a frame of sufficient size to surround the nursery bed.
Before screwing the wood lengths together to make the frame, paint all surfaces of the wood with a couple of coats of acrylic paint to seal in the chemicals. Screw the frame together and place over the bed. Now obtain a length of metre wide horticulture plastic film and fix this to one of the long sides of the frame with a slat of wood and small nails.
Stretch the film over the frame and down the other side to the ground. Using another slat of wood a metre long roll the film around it till it is just over half way up the side of the frame and then staple the slat and plastic film.
This then allows you to cover the frame and nursery bed to retain heat and moisture but allows you to fold back the film on nice sunny days to let the bed breathe.
The young leeks can grow happily in their special environment till you are ready to lift them and transplant out in December and again later. Once they are up and growing nicely you remove the frame and can use it for starting of other crops or germinating seeds in cell trays.
Use the newspaper strips for seeds of carrots and parsnips but instead of placing one seed 30mm apart place two seeds at each 30mm point so if one fails the other will grow.
If both germinate then you simply cut out the smaller of the two.
Also use the grass clipping trick down the row but don't use the chook manure as it could cause forking of the roots. Instead use sheep manure pellets and blood & bone.
For early sowing of the seeds when the ground is still cold, make a frame of no 8 wire hoops with horticultural film.
Using this method of wire hoops and grass clippings you can start of a row of dwarf beans.
Now is also the time to start off some kumara for sprouting. Use a polystrene box with holes for drainage and with a mix of untreated sawdust and potting mix combined, you fill the tray to half full, lay the kumara tubers on the mix and cover with further mix till they are just covered.
Place a sheet of glass over the tray to retain heat and moisture. Lift occasionally to air and water as needed to keep the mix moist. You should have nice strong shoots for cutting off and planting about Labour Weekend.
Now is also the time to start germinating seeds of tomatoes, capsicum and egg plants which can be done in small containers such as cell packs in a glasshouse or by placing them inside a polystrene box with a sheet of glass over the box. Place outside in a sheltered, sunny spot.
Use either potting mix or a friable compost in the cell packs. In another month do the same with cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins etc.
Its all very simple once you know how.
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TOMATO TIME

The new seasons tomato plants are now coming available from your garden centre and now is a good time to start off an early tomato plant or two. The earlier the start the earlier the first ripe fruit.
The best advise is to plant out, or pot up, a couple of tomato plants every month for the next six or seven months. By doing this you can have a continuous supply of ripe fruit right through till winter sets in. Early season and late season tomato plants are best grown in containers so they can be moved around to protect against the elements. In between these two times the plants can be planted in open ground.
This would be from about September or October (dependant on local conditions) through till about December/January and then into containers for the late fruiting plants.
Container planted tomatoes should be planted in a rich compost that is friable and contains a good amount of animal manure such as chook manure. A good tomato plant food is important and you may like to use my own called Wally’s Secret Tomato Food. It contains all the elements that the tomatoes need including adequate potash and magnesium for best flavoured fruit.
Choose a good site for your tomato plants, it should be in a very sunny area that gets all day sun if possible. Against a wall or fence is also ideal as this will give reflected light and heat. When planting tomatoes out, make a deeper hole so that the whole of the stem up to the first leaves are buried. The plants have the ability to 'root up' the whole stem and this creates a greater root system allowing the plants to feed better and grow faster.
Tall growing types need stakes or wire supports and should be tied to the support with old nylon stockings or similar material. Laterals or side shoots should be pinched out as soon as they are big enough to do so. Once the weather conditions become warmer watch out for the tomato caterpillar and white fly as they can do a lot of damage to the fruit and plant.
Place Neem Tree Granules near the base of the plants about every 6 weeks to reduce these pest problems. Ensure that the ground is kept evenly moist as uneven watering causes blossom end rot.
When growing tomatoes in glasshouses try to ensure even temperatures to prevent tops of the plant from curling. Tomato plants use a great deal of energy as they produce foliage and fruit, and the effects of failing to remove laterals are easily seen on larger varieties such as beefsteak tomatoes.
When the laterals allowed to grow, the fruit produced will be smaller than if the laterals had been removed, leaving only a few fruiting trusses.
Removing the laterals allows the energy to be directed into the fruit rather than the foliage. You can choose which way you want to go, or you can decide to follow a combination of both.
Gardeners do need to be aware, however, that there is a danger of disease entering the plant when you remove laterals. Most often it is botrytis, which causes a collar rot somewhere on the main trunk of the plant.
When the disease starts on the trunk, the top foliage will droop during the day only to recover towards evening.
As the disease progresses, you will notice that the tops won't recover late in the day, and the plant will eventually wilt and die.
The disease will make itself apparent with the development of a darker area on the trunk - that is where the rot will be happening, blocking the flow of moisture and nutrients from the roots. Little bumps of aerial roots will often appear just above the rot area. If there is foliage below the part where the rot starts, particularly if it is producing laterals, then you can cut the top off and allow the good part to continue growing.
The chances are you will avoid this disease completely if you don't remove any laterals, and if the plant succeeds in avoiding any damage arising from being rubbed on a stake or something similar. One of the ways to prevent any problems is to remove the laterals when they are very small, which means checking the plant every day or two.
Remove them only on warm days when there is low humidity, and spray the cut area immediately afterwards with Wally's Liquid Copper. You can make up a solution of this product in a 250ml trigger spray bottle, and it will keep for some time. Just remember to shake the bottle before spraying.
Removing older leaves might also make the plant vulnerable to disease.
This is another job which should be done only in conditions of low humidity, and always remember to spray to protect. Humidity levels will often be much higher in a glasshouse, which means special care must be taken to open up the greenhouse and remove some of the air moisture before taking off the laterals.
Last season a gardener told me how he overcame the collar rot problem by applying undiluted Liquid Copper with a paint brush to the area as the rot was developing. This may work if you are quick enough to spot the problem.
Blights can be a problem in early and late season times and these are;
Early blight: Finding small spots turning to a dark mould on older leaves will indicate the presence of this problem. It occurs in warm wet weather, but plants can be protected with a monthly spray of Perkfection. If you know the disease recurs in your garden, give additional sprays of Wallys Liquid Copper and Raingard every 10 to 14 days over all the foliage and stems.
Late blight: Here, you will notice brown, irregular patches on the plant's stem and leaves. This problem is particularly bad in cool humid weather, and it can be controlled using the same methods as for controlling early blight. If you have not applied Perkfection and the disease strikes, spray the affected plants immediately with Perkfection at 10ml per litre of water. Add to this 3.5ml of Liquid Copper per litre, with 1ml of Raingard per litre, and spray the plants for total coverage of the foliage.
Two weeks later, reapply just the Liquid Copper and Raingard, then after another fortnight, apply the same again with Perkfection at 5ml per litre. That programme will normally be sufficient to see the problem off, but if either blight returns, re-start the spray programme.
Late blight is common later in the season, but under the right conditions will strike in the spring. Potatoes and pepinos are also affected by this disease, but you can give them a similar level of protection using the same sprays as outlined here.
Happy and hopefully a successful tomato growing season.
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POTATO TIME

This season’s certified seed potatoes are now available in garden centres through out New Zealand.
The first certified seed potatoes are normally the fast maturing types which are referred to as ‘early’ or ‘first early’ which include the following varieties:

Swift 60 days; Liseta 60-90 days;
Rocket 60 days;
Jersey Bennes 90 days;
Cliff Kidney 90 days,
Ilam Hardy 90 days
and Maris Anchor 90 days.
The number of days after each variety indicates the time, after sprouting, the potatoes take to mature given average growing conditions.
Seed potatoes have to be broken out of their dormancy before they will grow and we call this ‘sprouting.’ If you were to place non sprouted seed potatoes into the cold soil of the garden nothing would happen till the soil warmed up. If the soil happened to be too wet for an extended period, then the seed potatoes would likely rot in the ground.
Potatoes are a seasonal crop having a built in dormancy period which varies between varieties with many of the early potatoes only having a short dormancy unless they are chilled.
In the natural flow of nature a potato will sprout in the soil when the soil temperature rises. This will often be later in spring or early summer. The potato will grow to maturity; produce a crop of tubers and flower.
The flowers produce green, small tomato like seed pods which you will often see on mature potatoes.
These pods contain seeds which if given the chance, will become potato plants in their own right.
The tops of the potato plants die off leaving the tubers in the soil. As the soil cools in autumn the tubers in the soil go into dormancy which is further assisted by the colder soil conditions of winter.
In the spring when the soil warms the cycle repeats. It is this natural dormancy aspect that allows us to grow a sizable crop of potatoes and store them for later use.
That is of course as long as we store them correctly in as cold as possible conditions. Late crops that mature in autumn should be left in the soil to store naturally which works fine as long as the area is not prone to excess water in winter.
If the soil becomes water logged for an extended period then the potatoes may rot. Otherwise you just dig up a few tubers as you need them. Bringing too many tubers indoors to the warmer temperatures will break dormancy and the potatoes will start to sprout.
This is the method that you use on the certified seed potatoes that you will buy over the next few weeks. Bring them inside where it is warm and start the tubers sprouting. If you want to achieve sprouting even quicker, place the seed potatoes in the hot water cupboard.
As soon as the little sprouts appear you then set the seed potatoes out onto a tray with their shoots upwards. The tray is placed outside in a sunny or partial shade situation that is frost free.
Under a car port or evergreen trees and shrubs is ideal as the potatoes will have frost protection from above and ample light to ‘green up’ The greening happens to any potato when it is exposed to light for a period of time. This greening hardens up the new shoots and prepares the seed potato for planting out.
A question that is often asked of me by gardeners is ‘Can I plant the potatoes that have sprouted from home grown potatoes or purchased ones, or do I have to buy new certified seed potatoes’?
A good question and the simple answer is if you want a good crop of potatoes then always buy fresh certified seed potatoes. There are two reasons for this.
The first and most obvious is that certain diseases can be carried on the tubers and using non-certified seed potatoes could introduce these diseases into the new crop.
Certified seed potatoes are checked while they are growing and post harvest for any diseases and if free of problems they obtain certification.
The less known reason is that many potato varieties grown these days are bred to fail after the first initial crop. The reason for this, I have been told, is the potato breeders want to keep their jobs.
If you grow a variety of certified seed potatoes and harvest a good crop that is all that is meant to happen. If you keep a few of the crop and grow them then the second generation crop will likely have a few good sized potatoes at harvest and the rest will be small.
Take the better potatoes from this and you will likely end up with a crop of marble size potatoes on the third generation.
This does not apply to heritage varieties and the potatoes we call Maori potatoes. They should crop well year after year as long as diseases do not affect the tubers.
If you have plenty of garden room you can grow some of the sprouted seeds from purchased potatoes or previously grown crops. Hedge your bets and also plant ample new certified seed potatoes as well.
Buying an early variety such as Jersey Bennes about now gives you time to sprout the potatoes and green them up ready for planting out later in August. Taking 90 days from planting to maturity will have nice new potatoes ready for Xmas 2008.
So don't delay. The best seed potatoes originate from the South Island because of the colder conditions. One supplier marks their certified seed potato bags ‘South Island Grown’ Look for them.
Another interesting method is when you place your just sprouted seed potatoes out into trays try doing the following; Lay untreated sawdust in the base of the tray to cover about 10-20mm deep, next lay your seed potatoes onto the sawdust with their sprouts facing upwards.
Then cover completely the s tubers with more untreated sawdust and drench the tray/sawdust with Magic Botanic Liquid at 20ml per litre of water. Keep the sawdust moist by watering as need be.
Not only will the seed potatoes produce sprouts but they will also produce a nice root system too which means they will establish quicker when planted out in the garden or in containers.
When planting your now sprouted seed potatoes out there are some ingredients that you can use to advantage: The ingredients are Gypsum one tablespoon, sheep manure pellets, small handful, Ocean Solids, quarter of a teaspoon, BioPhos, a teaspoon full and Simalith Rock Dust (or Rok Solid)half a teaspoon.
The Gypsum supplies ample calcium and sulphur, the sheep pellets, a natural NPK fertiliser, Ocean Solids about 90 minerals and elements, the BioPhos supplies natural phosphate and beneficial micro organisms, the Simalith supplies additional magnesium, silica and elements.
These products will greatly assist in keeping the plants healthy and free of diseases while growing.
They also enrich the crop in minerals and elements which are great for your own health.
Root crops will take into themselves more of any elements in the soil than foliage crops.
This is a good reason to avoid harmful chemical fertilisers and sprays including any herbicides.
You don't want these in your home grown potatoes as you already get enough of them in any potatoes you buy.
Home grown potatoes generally speaking have far better flavour than most purchased ones with the exception of organic grown and potatoes from some South Island growers.
Your own potatoes will have better cooking aspects with added health benefits.
There are lots of good reasons to grow your own potatoes.
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COPPER TIME

One of the best protections against diseases in spring on new plant foliage is the traditional copper sprays. On fruit trees and ornamentals including roses, the film of copper will offer good protection against a range of diseases that occur in spring while moist, cool to warm conditions prevail.
Checking my own fruit trees and roses I see that buds are now swelling and new shoots are appearing on the roses. It is not so much the temperature that brings on the new season’s growth, but the increasing amount of light hours each day. Most plants respond to light hours more than they do to temperatures.
Any pruning that has not been done should be attended to as soon as practical.
Pruning should only be done on warmer days, when there is lower humidity. The disease, Silverleaf favours cool temperatures and moist conditions to strike.
Once pruning is completed the wounds should be sealed with a spray of Liquid Copper with Raingard added. On fruit trees the swelling buds should also be protected with the same spray.
Even if there is no sign of movement on some trees such as the pip fruit, it does not hurt to start the copper spray program and repeat every 14 days.
The best copper to use is Liquid Copper which is also a commercial product with a very high concentration of very fine copper particles. Used at only 3.5 mils per litre of water it places a very fine film of copper over the plant.
To ensure that the copper film is not affected by weather 1 ml of Raingard can be added for each litre of spray.
This gives rain protection within half an hour of spraying, which will last for about 14 days of average rainfall.
Using the Raingard means that your time and money is not wasted if it rains during the 14 day period. For most plants a repeat spray in a 2 weekly cycle is all that is then needed till the disease period is finished.
Liquid copper has another distinct advantage over all the other powder type coppers.
As it is already a liquid it mixes extremely well in water and does not cause blockage of spray jets which often happens in the case of the powder coppers.
One or the worst disease problems in the spring is curly leaf disease on peaches and nectarines.
Often the copper spray every 14 days is insufficient to prevent a lot of damage. The leaves once they start to move, can out grow the film leaving parts of the leaf vulnerable to the disease.
Commercial growers will be spraying every 7 to 10 days to compensate for the growth.
Another aspect is from a book that I read by Dr Maynard Murry who treated stone fruit trees with Ocean Solids (All the minerals from the ocean). His trials involved a group of nectarine trees, placing the Ocean Solids in the root zone of every second tree. All the trees were then sprayed with the fungus disease, curly leaf.
The Ocean Solid treated trees showed no sign of the disease where the untreated trees died within three years.
This year as well as the sprays of Liquid Copper and Raingard my trees have also been given a dose of the Ocean Solids. Interestingly I have heard from the odd gardener that some stone fruit trees growing near the coast have never had curly leaf problems. Likely it would be the salt spray that has done the trick.
It also works on the principal that if you give a plant every possible mineral and element that it may desire to have available, the plant will grow very healthy and not contract any diseases unless it is placed into stress for some other reason.
The same of course applies to our own bodies in that we require 92 odd elements for our own cells to replicate perfectly and provide a very strong immune system.
By applying Ocean Solids to our editable gardens of fruit and vegetables we are obtaining many of the minerals that are not normally found in conventionally grown food.
Ultimately you can also grow wheat grass with the Ocean Solids and juice it as wheat grass is one of the few plants that will take up all the 90 odd elements when available.
Now would be a good time to apply Ocean Solids to all your fruit trees, vegetable areas and preferred plants such as Roses. This will allow the crystals to water down into the root system before the new season’s growth becomes too far advanced. Ocean Solids are only applied once a year.
Bladder plum on plum trees is another disease that can greatly reduce the amount of fruit that will mature. For this the Liquid Copper spray and Raingard are used. You start this program when the tree’s flowers start to open. Spray late in the day when the pollination has finished for the day. Repeat every 7 to 10 days.
A point to remember is to never add any spraying oils, to any type of copper spray.
It greatly reduces the effectiveness of any copper and will increase the wash-off of copper particles in rain. If an oil needs to be sprayed (in most cases it is not) then make the oil spray a separate issue a few days before applying a copper spray.
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CAT PROBLEMS

Many gardeners will be starting to plant out hardy seedlings of vegetables and flower plants over the next few weeks. Cats just love these manicured soil areas and find them to be tantalizing toilets.
Seedlings are scratched out and a blob of cat manure is deposited.
When you try to correct the damage you need to be wary of the deposit lurking in the soil waiting for an unprotected hand.
More often than not it will be neighbourhood cats that are slipping in under cover of darkness or when you have your back turned.
It is not a nice situation and one that costs you time and money with losses of young seedlings.
Prevention is always the answer and the best thing that I have come across is commercial strength Naphthalene which many garden centres sell as, Cat Repellent. This is like the moth balls that we used to use to protect woollen clothing in storage against moths.
The crystals are sprinkled around the seedlings that you wish to protect. I believe it is the smell that the cats do not like and when freshly laid it can make their eyes water.
The crystals evaporate into the air over the following days and need to be replaced with fresh till the cats get the message or till the plants are well established.
The product can also be used around doorways and other areas where you do not want cats to go.
It will not work on all cats but appears to control over 95% of the feline populations.
A word of caution; as Naphthalene is a chemical do not place on the soil where you are growing vegetables. You can sprinkle it around the outside of the vegetable patch or alternatively place in small trays or lids so the crystals will not come into contact with the soil.
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You can reach me by e-mail for any gardening problems to be answered at: wallyjr@manawatu.gen.nz