August – All About Gardening With Michael Coulter Michael opened with last night’s brilliant display of lightning and roaring thunder, followed by ‘golf-ball sized’ hailstones. ‘’I lost about 100 panes in my glasshouse’’ he said. Hailstones in some suburbs measured about 3cm in diameter. Metservice weather forecaster, Allister Gorman, said hailstones larger than 20 millimetres … Read More
Preserved lemons are an essential item for any kitchen cupboard. Hailing from Middle Eastern, North African and Mediterranean cuisines, you will find many uses for this intense burst of savoury citrus flavour from fish to salad dressings. If you do not already use it in your cooking, once you have a jar there is no … Read More
[one_half] SEPTEMBER: The garden springs into life and so should the gardener! The last of your green crops should be dug in now. Broad beans will start to grow rapidly soon so prepare something to support them. Plant out sprouted potatoes, an application of phostrogen will be beneficial. Seeds of silverbeet, peas, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli … Read More
August – All About Gardening With Michael Coulter It was good to see a book on New Zealand’s Native Trees was crowned New Zealand Post Book of the Year at a recent gala dinner in Auckland. Seven years work, more than 100,000 four-wheel drive kilometres and countless hours walking in dense forest paid off for … Read More
The large Narcissus fly (Lampetia equestris) flies in October and November. This fly is the same size as a blow fly with the same distinctive buzz. The female lays eggs on the top of a bulb and the resulting caterpillar feeds on the inside of the bulb right through summer. It is known to attack … Read More
JULY – ALL ABOUT GARDENING With Michael Coulter The good news for today……we actually get into double figures, with a predicted 10 degrees. As gardeners we never stop. Michael said Southhort compost at $6.50 for a 40 litre bag was very good buying. To buy now ready for the mulching in the spring and summer … Read More
JUNE – ALL ABOUT GARDENING With Michael Coulter The scheduled All About Gardening meeting for Wednesday, June 6th, 2012 was cancelled due to heavy snowfall. Official figures showed that Wednesday was Christchurch’s coldest day on record. The cold snap we are experiencing is a hangover from Wednesday’s heavy snow, when the maximum temperature at Christchurch … Read More
It is a myth perpetuated by the Garden Centres that bulbs should be planted early. Research and experience has shown that the bulbs are best when planted when the soil temperature has dropped below 12C. In New Zealand this is at, or just after, Easter. Planting: We recommend that bulbs are planted 20 cm deep … Read More
MAY ALL ABOUT GARDENING With Michael Coulter How’s your autumn ? It’s a funny season …. the end of the growing season. It’s time to think about what we did in the previous twelve months. What worked and what didn’t. Chrysanthemums are looking good this year. It’s not easy to get colour in your gardens … Read More
APRIL ALL ABOUT GARDENING With Michael Coulter It’s been a great month so far. Above average. But so far, we’re 40 sunshine hours behind the average for the year. We haven’t had any extremes of temperatures and no sign of early frosts. Now is a good time to clean up your gardens before the weather … Read More