News from the Fruit & Vege growers
For the last meeting of the year Elaine Alexander attended as the guest speaker. She demonstrated how to create some wonderful centre-pieces for the Christmas table, incorporating fruit and vegetables.
For the last meeting of the year Elaine Alexander attended as the guest speaker. She demonstrated how to create some wonderful centre-pieces for the Christmas table, incorporating fruit and vegetables.
December is the real start of Summer and after a very changeable Spring we look forward to a more settled and warmer time. Overall Spring has been a good growing season and as a result there has been a good set of both stone and pip. Because of this there is a need to thin out the developing fruit so that the size and quality of the crop is achieved.
The planting of Summer annuals needs to be completed and with the possibility of water restrictions mulching in as much of the garden areas as possible should be done to help retain soil moisture.
In October’s meeting Alan Jolliffe shared a new product which helps to prevent Codling Moth on apple trees. ‘Bird Proof’, is a non-toxic, tacky repellent gel which can be used to form a repellent band on the tree-trunk which lasts for several seasons.
Peter Saunders provided the third instalment of A Visual Guide to Gardening through the Year complete with a slide-show. His tomatoes in the tunnel house are now flowering. He uses trickle irrigation to ensure water gets to the roots and not the weeds. This also prevents an overly humid atmosphere which can encourage fungal diseases.
Puarangi – Native Hibiscus Hibiscus trionum Puarangi, a short lived perennial, was considered to be a native plant but more recently considered to be of African origin, possible brought here by the Maori. Here in the cool South Island it is better treated as an annual. H. trionum grows to 50 – 80 cms high … Read More
June has been a very frustrating month in the garden with little sun and plenty of rain and drizzle. Because of these conditions I have done little in the outside garden but have spent time in the greenhouses doing maintenance and sorting out plants that are past their best.
This weather pattern looks as though it may continue for some time so we will have to wait until we get some good sunny days for that outside work. There is no need to worry as there is still plenty of Winter to come to get those outside tasks completed.
June has been a very frustrating month in the garden with little sun and plenty of rain and drizzle. Because of these conditions I have done little in the outside garden but have spent time in the greenhouses doing maintenance and sorting out plants that are past their best.
This weather pattern looks as though it may continue for some time so we will have to wait until we get some good sunny days for that outside work. There is no need to worry as there is still plenty of Winter to come to get those outside tasks completed.
June has been a very frustrating month in the garden with little sun and plenty of rain and drizzle. Because of these conditions I have done little in the outside garden but have spent time in the greenhouses doing maintenance and sorting out plants that are past their best.
This weather pattern looks as though it may continue for some time so we will have to wait until we get some good sunny days for that outside work. There is no need to worry as there is still plenty of Winter to come to get those outside tasks completed.
In May we are well into Autumn and Winter is about to start. This means that we will slow down on what we need to do around the garden.
Most of the work involves general maintenance and cleaning up, in and around the garden by removing weeds, crop residues, lifting Summer perennials and bulbs and preparing ground for new plantings later in the Spring.
Congratulations to everyone who participated in the 2018 Edible Garden Awards. The CHS partnered with the CCC to presented these awards at a special ceremony on Thursday 22 March at the Chapel Street Centre. [one_half] Those who gained special recognition include: Best Gardens Residential House: Ann Powley, Shirley Residential Unit: James Cumming, Redwood Community Gardens Best … Read More
Early Spring has arrived with the usual changeable weather typical for this time of the year. This year is no different with the challenge of wet ground from the wet Winter just finished and with the soil at field capacity we will need to be careful when working the ground so as not to damage the soil structure. READ MORE