A d v i ce . Id e a s .

I n sp i ra t i on

Anita’s Garden
Volume 2, Issue 42 8 May 2020

Useful Links Editorial

Webpage
Blog Welcome to the forty second issue
of my newsletter Anita’s Garden for
Newsletter back issues 2020.
Facebook I hope you have all had a good week.
Instagram Contactless plant nursery
Twitter
Now that we are at Level 3, I have
Linkedin been able to resume a contactless ser-
vice at my plant nursery.
Pinterest
Punnets are $3.50 each or 3 for $10.
Punnets contain at least 6 seedlings
(more for leeks)
Contact me
I have the following in stock.
 Feedback
 Leeks (limited stock)
 Newsletter input
(tips, recipes, gar-  Silverbeet/spinach (I’m sorry I
den photos etc) can’t say with certainty which
it is as the writing on the plant
 To be added to my labels faded and I can’t tell
mailing list them apart)
anitakundu.nz@gmail.com  Lettuce (cut and come again)
 Mixed brassicas (they are a mix
of cabbage, broccoli and cauli-
Inside this issue: flower. I can’t sell these indi-
vidually as the writing on all of
these labels faded and I can’t
tell the plants apart)
Po t t eri n g ar o u n d 2
Anita’s Garden The steps for ordering are as follows:
Plant requests for the nursery
Over the coming months, I will be giv-
ing some thought to what I would like
to stock in my plant nursery this
spring and summer.
I am open to requests for veggies,
herbs and flowers you would like to see
me stock this year.
I am keen to know what you think of
the following additions to the plant
nursery.
 Grape tomatoes
 Vine truss tomatoes
 Dwarf beans
 Climbing beans
 Brassicas (broccoli, cabbage and
cauliflower—I personally don’t
grow these in summer but I am
happy to germinate them if
there is demand for them in the
plant nursery in summer)
 Marigolds
 Sunflowers
 Peas
 Malabar spinach/aloobati

 Place order  Moringa

Top 5 gardening tasks 2  Receive confirmation  Holy basil (Tulsi)
for the week
 Make payment via internet  Regular basil
banking
Tips for growing polyan- 2  Parsley
thus  Receive a message when plants
are available for collection  Coriander

How to grow garlic 3 If you wish to place an order, please Have a great weekend.
contact me via my Facebook page or
Anita Kundu
email me at anitakun-
du.nz@gmail.com.
PAGE 2
Pottering around Anita’s Garden
Here is a selection of photos from
our garden for you to enjoy
These pansies were grown from
seeds given to me from Egmont
Seeds, who have a wonderful
range of pansies and violas. They
are not as difficult to germinate
from seed as you might think.
Spring and summer is the best
time to start pansies and viola
from seed. Sow in punnets for
transplanting later on. They look
stunning in hanging baskets, con-
tainers and in the ground.
Top 5 gardening tasks for the week
1. Organise your seed col-
lection
Now is a good time to go through
your seed collection and do a stock
take of what you have. This will
help come July, when seed compa-
nies release their latest catalogue
2. Order spring bulbs
It’s still not too late to order spring
bulbs, but you may find that popu-
Tips for growing polyanthus
Polyanthus are one of my favourite
winter bedding annuals. This
year, I have tried growing polyan-
thus from seed for the first time.
John McCullough, the owner of
Egmont Seeds, gave me a selection
of Egmont’s polyanthus seeds and
they germinated beautifully. I imum impact and so there
look forward to planting them out
later this month. It’s too late to
start sowing polyanthus from seed
AN IT A’S G AR D E N
This year, I grew the Mesclun vari-
ety Quattro Stagioni from Franchi
Seeds, distributed by the New Zea-
land retailer Italian Seeds Pronto.
This variety in fact contains 14
different salad greens which you
can pick as you need them—there
is no need to harvest the lot at
once. Quattro Stagioni is perfect
for growing both in the ground and
in containers. Another great vari-
ety in the Franchi range is the
Mesclun Misticanza Di Lattughe,
which also contains 14 varieties.
lar varieties have sold out. By far
the best range and most reasona-
ble prices can be found at Bulbs
Direct.
3. Weeding
Now that we have finally seen
some rain, I have noticed that
there are more weeds in the gar-
den. Keep on top of weeds so they
don’t get out of control.
but here are some growing tips:
 Polyanthus grow really well
in containers and hanging
baskets
 Don’t be afraid to put plants
quite close together for max-
are no gaps
 Liquid feed weekly with a
V O LU M E 2 , ISSU E 4 2
Our pineapple plant is growing
nicely! We actually have two with
fruit on them (out of three plants).
All our pineapple plants are in
pots as the temperature is warmer
than in the ground. I feed them
with a slow release fertiliser suita-
ble for citrus and fruit trees. A
sign that your pineapples are
ready to eat is when they turn yel-
low. If you pick them while they
are still green, they won’t be juicy
and sweet inside.
4. Plant onions
Now is the perfect time to plant
onions. Franchi have a great
range. Click here to buy.
5. Plant garlic
You can also start planting garlic.
It is traditionally planted on the
shortest day (21st June) but garlic
can be planted any time from April
right through to July.
water soluble plant food or sea-
weed tonic (ideal if you are garden-
ing organically)
 Dead head spent blooms to
encourage further flowers
 At the end of the season,
you can lift and keep your
plants for next season, as
they should re-flower
 V O LU M E 2 , ISSU E 4 2
How to grow garlic
I never thought I’d see the day I
would write a guide on how to
grow garlic. The first time I grew
garlic was seven years ago and
purely beginner’s luck. We ended
up hanging our harvest out on the
washing line, marveling at the fat
bulbs. That was before rust be-
came a problem and garlic went
from being an easy veggie to grow
to being one of the most difficult
things to grow in the garden.
Last season, however, I had a real-
ly good crop so I thought I would
share some of the secrets of my
success.
Tips for growing great garlic
 Source quality seed gar-
lic
Your harvest will only be as good
as the seed garlic you plant. Last
year, I planted five different varie-
ties from Bulbs Direct—Elephant,
Printanor, Turban, Ajo Rojo and
Kakanui. I highly recommend
sourcing your seed garlic from
Bulbs Direct. The garlic was from
good stock and very healthy.
2. Plant garlic at the right
time
Traditionally, garlic is planted on
the shortest day in New Zealand
(21st June). But in reality, garlic
can be planted any time from April
through to July. This year I plant-
ed my garlic on 2nd April for two
reasons: (i) I want my garlic to
develop as much as possible before
rust hits it in spring, after which
time growth comes to a halt; and
(ii) I want to test the theory that
planting earlier yields bigger
bulbs.
3. Harvest garlic at the
right time
Traditionally, garlic is harvested
on the longest day, which is on the
21st of December in New Zealand.
I wouldn’t recommend harvesting
your garlic any earlier than this,
as apparently bulbs do most of
AN IT A’S G AR D E N
An example of healthy seed garlic
their fattening up in the late stage
of their growth cycle. In fact, I
have read in a few places that it is
a good idea to leave garlic in the
ground for two weeks after the
longest day and harvest it then,
although admittedly we have been
very impatient and harvested it on
the longest day.
4. Don’t forget to separate
the cloves before plant-
ing!
“”Your harvest will only be
A rookie error is to
as good as the seed garlic
plant an entire bulb
you plant...I
of garlic. What you
recommend sourcing your
want to do is sepa-
seed garlic from
rate the cloves in
Direct”
each garlic bulb you
plant, and plant
one clove per planting hole. One
clove of garlic will produce one
bulb of garlic (with a bit of luck)
5. Give your garlic bulbs a
period of chilling prior to
planting
If like me you’re keen to plant your
garlic early, before the shortest
day, you may want to give your
planting cloves a spell of chilling in
your fridge. Garlic needs a bit of a
chill in order to germinate. If you
leave planting your garlic until the
shortest day, it’s not necessary to
do this.
6. Prepare the ground well
PAGE 3
Garlic is a gross feeder, so make
sure you prepare the ground well
before planting. Mix lots of com-
post, sheep pellets and garden fer-
tiliser into the ground and turn
over to loosen the soil. Because
garlic is a bulb, I like to mix a lit-
tle bulb food in each hole prior to
planting my cloves.
7. Use adequate spacing
between cloves
Make sure you leave enough space
between your garlic. I like to leave
at least 10 cm between cloves.
Planting further apart is said to be
an organic way of controlling the
spread of rust.
8. Consider using sprays to
protect against rust
I’m all for gardening organically,
but garlic is one of the few things
that we spray in our garden, along
with our roses. Rust has become a
problem in New Zealand in recent
years and the jury is out on what
is an effective spray to guard
against this disease. Last year I
used a mix of five different sprays
from Wally, but I
still ended up
with rust. For
highly those of you who
are interested,
Bulbs the sprays were
potassium per-
manganate,
vaporgard,
raingard, liquid sulphur and liquid
copper. I am also going to try Ac-
quaticus Glow, as recommended to
me by Shelley and Nick at Kings
Plant Barn in Botany.
9. Save stock
If you have a good garlic season,
save your best and biggest cloves
for replanting next season. Now
that rust has become such a huge
problem it is becoming harder to
source seed garlic each year.
Have a great weekend
Happy gardening!