I would like to wish all our readers a very Merry Xmas and a Happy Gardening New Year. It is a very great pleasure to bring you gardening information each week and to hear about your successes and problems. Your emails and phone calls contribute a lot to these columns and sometimes when stuck for a […]
Goji berry plants (lysium barbarum) are now available to New Zealand gardeners. Glucina’s nursery at Matakana north of Auckland has released the new plants to garden centres throughout NZ this month. Goji juice, dried berries and chocolate coated gojis have been the latest health trend around the world. Worldwide demand for the little red berries […]
This month we discuss what to plant in January, how to save seeds, offer tips on saving water and tell you why you shouldn’t worry about slaters in your garden. Seedlings to plant in January Beetroot, Carrot, Celery, Climbing beans, Cucumber, Dwarf beans, Lettuce, Leeks, Kumara, Parsnip, Pepper, Potato, Pumpkin, Radish, Rhubarb, Silverbeet Saving seeds Seed saving is the […]
Many beautiful gardens and public landscape plantings owe their success primarily to restricting the colours of flowers, fruits, stems and foliage within a limited, related range. This is sometimes known as colour themes. Some of the first examples of colour theme borders, especially of white flowers and grey and silvery foliage, were created in the […]
Conservation groups are reporting that 2009 is set to be a pivotal year in New Zealand’s sustainable revolution. Green living has now gone mainstream, and it’s everyday people that are leading it. 2008 was a sobering year for environmental news. In October, WWF’s Living Planet Report found that our use of natural resources per person […]
What to plant in September Beetroot Broccoli Carrot Climbing Beans Chinese Cabbage Lettuce Peas Potato Onions Rocket Radish Spring Onion Spinach Silverbeet Keeping a Worm Farm Worm farms are great for small gardens that would struggle to fill a compost bin. They make nutrient rich castings (vermicast) that can be added to the garden as […]
There are many kinds of oxalis with different coloured flowers. This has to be one of the most frustrating weeds in the garden. It spreads prolifically and is a real challenge to eradicate. The main problem is that you can pull out the weed but under the soil is a parent bulb with a number […]
Recently a reader sent me an email that linked to a web site which was about the Doctrine of Signatures. Herbalists in days gone by found that certain whole foods or herbs had a signature which indicated to the wise, what part of the human body that particular food was good for either in healing […]
