February is the last month of summer and the time when many pest insects have built up big populations, if you have not been on the ball with your controls. It is very easy to miss a build up and then a lot harder to gain control. I got caught out recently with my zucchini […]
It is Saturday in Palmerston North, and while I am writing this, nice showers are wetting the soil and plants are growing in response. It has been a poor spring and summer so far for gardening, but hopefully conditions will improve in February, if they don’t then it’s going to be a bad season overall. […]
A weed can be defined as a plant growing where you do not want it to grow. It maybe a preferred plant that has seeded or spread to become invasive, or it maybe a non desired plant that has made its home in your gardens. I spoke to one gardener this week that had been told […]
Featured article from September / October Alfresco Magazine 2009 Landscape designer Sandra Batley investigates the concept of Living Walls, the latest gravity defying technology literally changing the way we view gardens.
With our new baby arriving soon and so many people away over the summer we have decided to let this newsletter cover January as well. We finally got our chickens last weekend, Bella and Rose. One is a Sussex and the other a Barred rock. We are going to be using their manure to put […]
There is a huge interest now in the ancient ways of healing through herbs. Here are a few of the ways people cured themselves in the home from their gardens. Bergamot and catnip were very useful taken as teas with sage added as an extra for any aches and strains. Acne, just as much a […]
A very popular ornamental shrub commonly known as Buxus or Boxwood and often grown as a border plant, trimmed to keep compact for a more formal type setting. In the past thousands of these plants have been produced by nurseries to satisfy the demand from gardeners wanting to establish box hedges. The same plants have […]
Of all the how-to gardening tips friends and clients could ask of New Zealand’s landscape-design star, Xanthe White says people mostly quiz her about growing veges. It’s clear that vegetable gardening is big again, for both money-saving, eco and health reasons, but many people don’t know how to get growing in the first place. So, […]
