A d v i ce . Id e a s .

I n sp i ra t i on

Anita’s Garden
Volume 2, Issue 41 1 May 2020

Useful Links Editorial

Webpage
Watering restrictions
Blog Welcome to the forty first issue of
my newsletter Anita’s Garden for At the time of writing, I read that the
Newsletter back issues 2020. Auckland Council is thinking of impos-
ing watering restrictions in May due to
Facebook I hope you have all had a good week. the dam being only 50% full. No for-
Instagram mal announcement has yet been made
Contactless plant nursery
but I’m sure many of you will be anx-
Twitter Now that we have moved back to Lev- ious as it hasn’t rained much in April
el 3, I have re-opened my plant nurse- and more people have planted a winter
Linkedin garden than before because of lock-
ry but it remains a contactless ser-
Pinterest vice, with pick up of orders only at our down and spending more time at
property in Papatoetoe, Manukau in home. Water restrictions will mean a
Auckland. ban on watering your garden, amongst
other things.
Contact me I am selling punnets of seedlings for
$3.50 each or 3 for $10. If you planted your seedlings back in
 Feedback February and March, they should be
Available stock quite established like ours and be able
 Newsletter input to survive without being watered every
(tips, recipes, gar-  Lettuce (cut and come again) day. There is some rain forecast on
den photos etc) the horizon. If your seedlings have
 Spinach/silverbeet (the writing
only just recently been planted out,
 To be added to my on the label faded so I can’t tell
they may require watering if they are
mailing list them apart)
to survive. What I suggest you do (and
anitakundu.nz@gmail.com  Leeks (limited stock only) this is what we are doing) is fill your
watering cans and some plastic milk
 Mixed brassicas (red and green bottles before the restriction is im-
cabbage, broccoli, Brussel posed. That way, you will have a
Inside this issue: sprouts and cauliflower. It is a small water supply to water your seed-
mix because the writing on the lings. Now that the ground is cooler,
labels faded and I can’t tell the you will find that you’re probably able
plants apart) to get away without watering your
Po t t eri n g ar o u n d 2 plants every day, so try to only water
Anita’s Garden To place an order, you can either pm them every second day.
me via my Facebook page or if you are
not on Facebook, you can email me at You can also apply mulch around your
Top 5 gardening tasks 2 anitakundu.nz@gmail.com. plants to help conserve moisture. This
for the week will also help with keeping weeds
Once I have received your order I will down.
send you a confirmation and my bank
Tips for growing veggies 2 account details, so you can deposit the If like us, you have plants in contain-
in winter funds. Once the funds have cleared, I ers you may find they need watering a
will confirm receipt and start pro- bit more often than plants in the
cessing your order. I will then send ground. Hopefully your water supply
Gardening in May 3 you another message when your order will be adequate to last this period.
is ready for collection. Please don’t
come before then, as your order won’t Have a great weekend.
be ready! Anita Kundu
PAGE 2 AN IT A’S G AR D E N V O LU M E 2 , ISSU E 4 1

Pottering around Anita’s Garden

This week, I thought I’d write a Before I could plant anything for  Pak choy
round up of all my gardening ac- the winter season, I mixed in plen-
tivity during lockdown. I have ty of compost and sheep pellets  Lettuce
been so busy! I must admit that I into the ground beforehand to en-
was quite jealous when I heard rich it. I added some slow release  Rocket (sown from seed)
that our family who live across the fertiliser to the potting mix in con-  Carrots (sown from seed)
road from us were going to their tainer-grown plants.
beach house up north, where we  Broad beans
also have a bach. But deep down I Planting the winter garden
knew that with such a large gar-  Spring bulbs (daffodils, jon-
Over the past month, I put in the
den there’s no way I could be away quils, Dutch iris, gladioli
following plants:
for a month while we were in Lev- nanus and freesias)
el 4, as there was so much to do.  Garlic
Other tasks
Clearing the summer garden  Brown onions In addition, I pruned some of our
The first thing that I did was clear  Red onions roses that became quite over-
what remained from our summer grown, collected all our garden
garden. This meant removing  Kale waste in one place on our section
eggplants, chillies and capsicums for disposal and lifted our dahlia
from their containers.  Spinach bulbs (to be divided and re-planted
later on). I also shifted our lillies
Preparing the ground  Silverbeet and gladioli to another garden.

Top 5 gardening tasks for the week

favourites—brassicas, leeks, sil-
1. Plant strawberries 3. Plant spring bulbs
verbeet, spinach, kale and much
May is the month that commercial This month is the last chance to more.
strawberry growers typically put plant spring bulbs! I usually leave
in their plants. 5. Plant polyanthus
planting tulips, hyacinth and
anemones until the end of May Nothing brings cheer in winter like
2. Chit seed potatoes when it’s a bit cooler. colourful polyanthus. This year, I
If like me you plant potatoes on have raised some from seeds kind-
4. Keep planting winter
the shortest day (21st June), you’ll ly given to me by Egmont Seeds.
veggies
be wanting to start chitting your To see their range, visit
seed potatoes now. Keep planting winter veggie seed- http://www.egmontseeds.co.nz/
lings. You can grow all your

Tips for growing veggies in winter

I thought I would put together a  Spray frost tender plants
I normally try to get my winter
few tips for planting veggies in with liquid frost cloth. This
veggie seedlings in the ground in
winter to ensure that they are pro- is a fine coating which pro-
February, March and April, so
tected from the cold. tects leaves from frosts. It
they can become established before
is available from Mitre 10 or
the cooler weather sets in. Howev-
 Cover seedlings with half a Wally’s online store
er, sometimes it’s not possible to
plastic milk bottle, which
get my plants in this early and I’m  Use fabric frost cloth to pro-
functions as a cloche to pro-
faced with planting seedlings in tect frost tender plants. Try
tect the plant from the cold.
May, which is typically when we to avoid it coming into con-
For bigger plants, use a 3
start having frosts. tact with the leaves of
litre bottle of orange juice
plants as it will stick.
 V O LU M E 2 , ISSU E 4 1 AN IT A’S G AR D E N PAGE 3

Gardening in May
By now, many of your winter gar-  Calendula from frost. Something I like doing
dens will be well and truly under- when planting young seedlings at
way. Fret not if you have fallen  Polyanthus this time of the year is protecting
behind or haven’t even started. them with a cloche. You can also
There is plenty of time to put in  Cornflowers spray the leaves of bigger plants
veggies, herbs and flowers. It’s with liquid frost cloth.
 Sweet peas
getting a bit too cold to sow seeds
6. Be patient. Plants grow
now, so concentrate on putting in  Spring bulbs slower in winter so it will
punnets of seedlings. Now that we
Tips for the winter garden take longer for your veggies
have moved back to Level 3, gar-
to mature.
den centres should be operating a
pick up service. I am running a  If you’re short on space,
don’t forget that veggies, 7. Some veggies can be har-
contactless plant nursery here at vested as you need them, so
Anita’s Garden. herbs and flowers can all be
grown happily in containers. pick what you require and
Use a quality potting mix leave the rest to continue to
Veggie seedlings to plant
and make sure that your grow in the ground. Exam-
 Bok choy ples include silverbeet, spin-
container has holes in the
bottom for drainage. ach, kale and cut-and-come
 Broad beans again lettuce.
 Some plants need a wide
 Broccoli—regular, roma- 8. Remember to water your
berth and grow better in the
nesco plants if it hasn’t been rain-
ground. Examples include
ing. Sometimes the cooler
 Cabbage—red, green, Chi- broccoli, cabbage and cauli-
months can be quite dry.
nese flower. Broad beans also do
better in the ground as they 9. Don’t forget that you can
 Cauliflower grow quite tall (see below). make preserves with your
winter veggies. Some exam-
 Kale  Some plants will require
ples include pickle (we like
some support in order to
carrot pickle and lemon
 Lettuce grow. Broad beans, for ex-
pickle).
ample, re-
 Silverbeet quire staking
“Stagger your planting 10. Don’t for-
as st ro ng get that your
 Spinach intervals to ensure that
winds can winter garden
you have a continuous
 Peas cause them also needs to be
supply of veggies
to br e ak . nourished. Liq-
throughout winter.
Herbs to plant Stake (and uid feed plants
There’s nothing worse
tie) seedlings weekly with a
 Coriander than having all your
at the time of soluble plant food
brassicas mature at once!”
planting in or seaweed tonic
 Mint
order to if you’re garden-
 Parsley avoid damaging the roots ing organically.
later on. Sweet peas and
 Oregano edible peas climb and re- 11. Keep an eye on your veggies
quire a trellis or other type as they progress and har-
 Rosemary of frame so they can creep vest them as they become
upwards ready, even if this means
 Sage that you have to keep them
 Stagger your planting inter- in the fridge for awhile be-
 Chives
vals to ensure that you have fore you get around to eat-
 Dill a continuous supply of veg- ing them.
gies throughout winter.
 Marjoram There’s nothing worse than Have a great weekend
having all your brassicas
Flowers to plant mature at once! Happy gardening!
 Pansies  Protect tender seedlings