Advice. Ideas.
Inspiration
Anita’s Garden
Volume 2, Issue 1
Useful Links Editorial
Webpage
Welcome to the first issue of my
Blog
newsletter for 2019 filled with news
Newsletter back issues fresh from Anita’s Garden.
I am excited to announce that due to
Facebook
popular demand, I’ll be re-opening
Instagram Anita’s Garden, my gardening busi-
ness, again this spring. As many of
Twitter you will recall, I operated Anita’s Gar-
den back in 2017 and it was a re-
Linkedin
sounding success. I sold plants from a
Pinterest boutique nursery run from home, held
workshops to educate the community
about gardening, took groups on a
tour of the garden so they could see
Contact me
an urban homestead in action and
 Feedback provided gardening services to mem-
bers of the public.
 Newsletter input
I took a hiatus last year as I wanted
(tips, recipes, gar-
to compete in the Yates Spring Veggie
den photos etc)
Challenge. I’m proud to announce
 To be added to my that I was awarded the runner up
mailing list prize for my gardening blog.
Those of you who supported Anita’s
anitakundu.nz@gmail.com
Garden in 2017 will notice that there
have been some changes to how I do
things now. Firstly, I’m excited to
announce that I have a brand new
Inside this issue:
website, of which Anita’s Garden is a
part. Please update your links ac-
cordingly. I have also changed the
P ot te r ing aro u nd 2 format of the newsletter, moving from
Anita’s Garden using Microsoft Word to Microsoft
Publisher. Feedback I received was
that previous newsletters were diffi-
Top 5 gardening tasks 2 cult to read on a smart phone. Please
for the week let me know if you find this format
more smart-phone friendly. I have
also tried to keep the text more con-
Tips for growing straw- 2 I look forward to seeing old faces and
cise and reduce the overall length.
berries
Another major change is the way that
customers will take away plants from
How to raise plants from 3 the nursery, when it opens. As you
seed will be aware, single use plastic bags
were outlawed this year. Please re-
member to bring your own boxes and
26 July 2019
recyclable bags when you shop at the
nursery this spring.
Finally, just to warn you that in-
creased costs in producing seedlings
has meant that prices will be a little
higher than in 2017. I am nonetheless
confident that you will still find my
high quality and great range of plants
represent excellent value for money.
To make Anita’s Garden even more
successful than ever before, I am inter-
ested in your suggestions on the fol-
lowing:
 Plants (veggies, flowers, herbs,
fruits and other seedlings)
which you would like me to sell
in my plant nursery, plus any
varieties you particularly want
to obtain
 What topics you would like me
to cover in workshops held at
Anita’s Garden
 Topics you would like me to cov-
er in my blog
 Services you would like me to
offer as part of my business, for
example, garden maintenance,
design/landscaping etc
Please feel free to email me at
anitakundu.nz@gmail.com with your
suggestions. You can also request to
be added to my mailing list, so you
conveniently receive newsletters direct
to your inbox.
new ones alike when my plant nursery
re-opens in spring. Please keep an eye
out for an announcement on my Face-
book page as to the exact opening date.
Thank you for your continued support.
Anita Kundu
PAGE 2
Pottering around Anita’s Garden
Despite being in the middle of
winter, I’ve been very busy in
Anita’s Garden. Here’s a sum-
mary of what I’ve been up to.
Strawberries
I planted 200 strawberry plants
purchased from a commercial
grower who supplied me with bare
-rooted plants last year, which
gave us the best crop of strawber-
ries ever.
Garlic
This year, I’m growing five differ-
ent varieties of garlic - Printanor,
Elephant, Ajo Rojo, Kakanui and
Turban. All my cloves were plant-
ed on 21st June, the shortest day
of the year, which is when garlic is
traditionally planted.
Top 5 gardening tasks for the week
1. Weeding
It isn’t my favourite gardening
activity, but it’s always a good idea
to stay on top of weeds. Don’t for-
get to check containers for weeds,
as they grow there too.
2. Browse seed catalogues
New Zealand’s major seed suppli-
ers release their seed catalogues
around this time of the year.
Tips for growing strawberries
Everyone loves strawberries, espe-
cially kids. Here are some top tips
for ensuring you have a bumper
crop this year.
 Use quality plants. Straw-
berries fruit best on second
year runners
 If space permits, put in at
A NI T A ’ S G A R D E N
Potatoes
On the shortest day, I also planted
six different varieties of potatoes.
My early varieties this year are
Swift, Jersey Benne, Heather and
Liseta, which will mature in
around three months. My main
crop are Agria and Summer De-
light, which I’m growing for the
first time. These should be ready
to dig up in four to five months.
Red onions
Around the same time, I also
planted four punnets of red onions.
We really love using red onions in
salads, our favourite being Greek
salad with feta cheese and olives.
Onions normally mature around
the longest day of the year, 21st
December, the same time as garlic.
Start planning what varieties you
intend to grow this summer.
3. Plant more seedlings
Even though it’s cold outside, it’s
still possible to put in more plants.
Make sure you protect seedlings
from frosts by putting a cloche
over them. A plastic milk bottle
cut in half works well.
least six plants per family
member to ensure there’s
enough to go around
 Select a sunny site. Straw-
berries do best in full sun
 Prepare the ground well
beforehand. I like using
compost and sheep pellets
V O LU M E 2 , I S S U E 1
Broad beans
I planted four trays of broad beans
that I raised from seed in autumn
in our front garden.
Dwarf peas
I planted the variety Petit Pro-
vencal which I raised from seed
around some bamboo obelisks near
our potatoes.
Herbs
I added the following herbs to our
back garden: coriander, chives,
curly parsley, rosemary and orega-
no.
Orchard
I added more dwarf citrus, guavas
and blueberries to our orchard.
4. Pick flowers
Bring cheer to your home in winter
by picking flowers from your gar-
den and bringing them indoors.
5. Spray garlic for rust
As much as I dislike using sprays
around the garden, I’m afraid it
has become necessary for growing
garlic successfully, at least in
Auckland’s conditions.
 Mulch around the plants to
add nutrients and keep
weeds down. I recommend
using pea straw, which adds
nitrogen to the soil
 Cover berries with netting
once fruit starts forming to
protect them from birds,
who love them!
 V O LU M E 2 , I S S U E 1
How to raise plants from seed
Now is the perfect time to think
about whether you’d like to try
starting plants for your summer
garden from seed, rather than put-
ting in plants purchased from the
garden centre. Raising plants
from seed does require some time
and patience, but it’s not as diffi-
cult as it may seem.
Why bother raising plants
from seed?
 Most veggies, flowers and
herbs can easily be raised
from seed
 This may be the only way to
grow uncommon varieties
which aren’t found in gar-
den centres (note from the
ed—I take the difficult work
out for you by selling such
plants in my nursery)
 It’s more economical than
buying plants if you intend
to grow a lot of the same
variety
 You can be assured that
your plants are raised or-
ganically. I don’t use any
sprays on my seedlings
What you’ll need
 Seeds. My preferred New
Zealand suppliers are Ital-
ian Seeds Pronto (who dis-
tribute Franchi Sementi
seeds from Italy) and Eg-
mont Seeds (see page 4).
Both companies have an
excellent range and their
seeds are of a high quality
 Plastic punnets. You can
purchase these from Eg-
mont or you may be able to
obtain them for free from
your local garden centre if
they recycle them
 Seed raising mix. I pur-
chase mine from Gardn Gro.
Their mixture is top quality
and they deliver direct to
your door
A NI T A ’ S G A R D E N
 Plastic propagator
 Heat pad (optional but high-
ly recommended to improve
the strike rate for germina-
tion)
 Sprayer bottle for watering
your seedlings
 Labels and a permanent
marker
Tips
 Take some time to think
about what you’d like to
grow. Be realistic about
how much space you have in
your garden
 Don’t start raising seedlings
too early as it’s still very
cold. A lot of gardeners
make this mistake. August
is perfect but keep seedlings
under cover and use a heat
pad or your hot water cup-
board.
 Before get-
ting started,
“Raising
sterilise your
seed does
plastic pun-
time and
nets by wash-
ing them in a it’s not as
weak solution may seem”
of some
bleach mixed
with water to kill any bacte-
ria
 Use a quality seed raising
mix, not potting mix or soil.
It is finer in texture, allow-
ing seeds to push through
the dirt and germinate
 After covering your seeds
with seed raising mix, sprin-
kle some vermiculite over
the top. It helps prevent
seeds from drying out. Eg-
mont Seeds kindly gave me
a packet to use for the first
time this year and I will
report back on how I found
this product.
PAGE 3
 Using a heat pad can help to
get heat-loving plants such
as peppers and eggplants to
germinate
 Keep your seedlings moist
by spraying them with wa-
ter every day. But don’t
over-do it! Too much mois-
ture will cause them to rot
 Make sure your seedlings
get enough light. You’ll find
that they naturally lean to-
wards to the light and may
need to turn the punnet
around so they stand up
straight
 When your plants are large
enough, transfer them to
your greenhouse if you have
one. If you don’t have a
greenhouse, you could keep
plants insulated in a large
plastic Sistema crate with
the lid on.
 Don’t attempt to prick out
and pot up your
seedlings too
plants from soon. It’s best to
require some let them grow a
patience, but few true leaves
difficult as it first before trans-
ferring them to
an individual cell
in a punnet
 Liquid feed your seedlings
weekly with a weak solution
of seaweed fertiliser mixed
with water in a sprayer bot-
tle
 Recycle your plastic punnets
afterwards for your next lot
of seed raising
Have a great weekend
Happy gardening!
 “Egmont, New Zealand’s
leading seed retailer for
commercial growers and
home gardeners, fully
supports Anita’s Garden
and Anita’s hard work in
the community”

John McCullough,
Owner

To view our seed range, please:

 Visit our website at
www.egmontseeds.co.nz;
 Write to Egmont Seed Co, Box 674 ,
New Plymouth 4340 ; or
 Email orders@egmontseeds.co.nz