Hamish Dodd Blog
The Last Word for the Season
Monday, March 22 by Hamish Dodd
Well sadly it’s time for me to wrap up my blogs for the season. As we all know, home vegetable gardens are really back in vogue with a vengeance, and that means there is a whole new generation of gardeners out there that we at Yates hope to have helped and inspired with my blog.
Preparing your garden for winter & spring
Monday, February 22 by Hamish Dodd
Well sadly we are nearing the end of my blog. There are a few things I want to talk about – what you can do to prepare yourself for winter and next spring, the vegetables that you can grow throughout autumn and winter, the tomato competition, and the winners of my landscape design plans.
Valentine’s Day
Wednesday, February 10 by Hamish Dodd
I‘m sure most of you are back at work and school and your summer holidays already feel like a distant memory. On the bright side, your garden will be thankful you are around and back to normal routines.
Lawn Care
Friday, January 15 by Hamish Dodd
The weather has been hot lately and I’ve noticed many front lawns
looking sparse, so I’m going to share some tips on creating the
perfect lawn this week.
Summer Gardening
Friday, December 18 by Hamish Dodd
With all summer’s fun activities and holiday plans it’s no surprise to learn that our gardens still need to be protected – even more so in hot, humid weather with little rain.
Summer Entertaining
Friday, December 4 by Hamish Dodd
Despite the continual down pouring of rain I am keeping a close eye on the soil in both my flower and vegetable garden because humidity can be the kiss of death for under-watered plants at this time of year.
Vegie Garden Maintanence
Friday, November 20 by Hamish Dodd
Hamish here. I’m finding it very hard to predict when the sun will shine and I can get stuck into my garden. But regardless of the humid weather and rain in Auckland keen gardeners are telling me their raspberry bushes are coming along and strawberry plants filling nightly dessert plates.
Get Kids into Gardening
Friday, November 5 by Hamish Dodd
Hamish here. I hope the sky sparkled on Guy Fawkes and the rain wasn’t too much of a dampener?
People are commenting that they can’t believe they are still wearing scarves and stockings in November. It seems to me our seasons are dramatically changing.
Incorporating vegies in your flower garden
Friday, October 30 by Hamish Dodd
This week I’m writing about planting flowers in your vegie garden and companion planting. Straight after harvesting your lush vegies and transplanting your seedlings your plot can look bare and unloved. Flowers are a perfect solution to ensuring a constant supply of interest and style. Some flowers actually help your vegies crop heavier and repel bugs. With the bee population dying at a rapid rate it also helps to add some plants bees love – in turn, bees will pollinate your plants naturally.
Compost Bin
Friday, October 23 by Hamish Dodd
Hamish here. Thanks for all your blog comments. Last week I spent several nights meeting some of you at the Bunnings Warehouses in Mt Roskill and Botany Downs, Auckland. I was demonstrating how to create hanging baskets. It was a great turn out and thoroughly enjoyable. Thanks to those of you who turned up. Next time I’ll put my appearances on the blog so more of you can come along.
Recap
Monday, October 19 by Hamish Dodd
Hamish here. Thanks for joining me again. For all you new members that have joined the Yates gardening fraternity and have been reading my weekly blogs I thought we would do a bit of a recap on what’s been happening.
Transplanting and troubleshooting seedlings
Friday, October 9 by Hamish Dodd
Hamish here. Thanks for joining me again. This week I’m talking about transplanting your seedlings and overcoming any issues you may have with them.
My tomatoe plants are coming along strong but not much news for an update. My lettuce seeds are coming up and looking healthy. I’ve got to make sure those darn slugs and snails don’t get to them. Thank goodness for my Blitzem.
Looking after Seedlings
Friday, October 2 by Hamish Dodd
G’day green fingers,
Hamish here. Thanks for joining me again. I’ve been astounded by the amount of feedback the blog has been getting from you passionate gardeners. I enjoy logging on and reading about your progress.
Growing from seed
Friday, September 25 by Hamish Dodd
G’day green fingers,
This week the fun begins. It’s now the time that the weeks of preparing my raised bed, pots and glasshouse pays off. I am growing vegetables from seed and they’ll be starting their little lives inside on my laundry bench, which gets plenty of sun. The other benefit from growing inside at this time of year is that I can control the amount of moisture.
Making a Raised Garden
Friday, September 18 by Hamish Dodd
G’day green fingers,
This week we are constructing a raised garden bed from scratch and setting up a glasshouse in our inner city garden. We built our raised bed using Macrocarpa logs. The reason we built them out of Macrocarpa is because it’s untreated timber. Treated timber, of course, has arsenic in it and we certainly don’t want this leeching into the soil. With the right tools and the right guys on the job we had this whipped up in two days.
Preparing to Build a Vegie Garden
Thursday, September 10 by Hamish Dodd
G’day green fingers,
Hamish here. Thanks for joining me again, I’ve got an exciting new project that I want to share with you. In these hard times when every dollar counts the best way to shave your grocery bill is to grow your own vegetables. The added bonus is it’s fun and the fresh produce tastes delicious coming straight from your garden to your plate.
The Gardening Journey
Thursday, August 6 by Hamish Dodd
Hi Hamish here,
Well, this is my first ‘Give it a Grow’ blog and there’s plenty to get on with.
Firstly, why grow vegies? There are so many great reasons, starting with the fact that you’ll save a few beans! I’ll be recording how much it costs me to grow my vegies and adding up how much I’ve saved at the end.
Secondly, home-grown vegies are so much better for you. They’re fresher, crisper, tastier and more nutritious compared to store-bought vegetables.