Recap
Monday, October 19 by Hamish Dodd
G’day green fingers,
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.
Several months ago, I started an exciting new project – to grow a vegetable garden in an inner-city Auckland area, using an open ground bed, raised bed made of Macrocarpa wood, an Arthurs greenhouse and Tuscan Edge self-watering pots. So far, I have planted tomatos, carrots, radishes, peas, beans, lettuces, broccoli and beetroot. I’ve noticed a huge difference in using my greenhouse compared to the raised bed in this temperamental weather. My carrots are growing ten times as fast as what are out in the open bed, meaning I will be able to tuck into my tasty carrots all that much sooner. Contact the guys at Arthurs because you will be surprised at the cost effectiveness of a glass house: www.arthurs.co.nz . Though if you can’t afford a glass house, some hardware stores are selling outdoor plastic houses at great prices, which can also help speed up seedling germination and growing times.
I’ve been sharing my experiences and tips with you with the motivation to create a gardening resource on the Yates website. This space allows us to talk about problems, tips and share information, which allows you all to tap into each others knowledge on all things gardening. The blog also aims to demystify gardening. It is not ridiculously hard or overly expensive to get into. It’s a healthy and beneficial hobby and your growing knowledge can be past on to future generation.
I felt vegetable gardening was becoming a lost art in New Zealand, but with the recession and a general trend towards people wanting to eat healthier, we have seen a resurgence in people wanting to grown their own produce. The benefits of growing your own are far reaching. You can save money. You’re going to end up with better health because you know exactly what your produce has, or has not been sprayed with. It gives you something fun and interactive to do with your children and also counts as some exercise. There is nothing better than to get stuck into your garden and clear the cob webs with all that fresh air.
There is also a sense of pride and satisfaction when you grow your own produce from seed and see it on your dinner plate. My sister was beaming when she came around for dinner last week. I asked why she was so happy and she showed me the gorgeous looking salad she had bought around. She was stoked because all the ingredients were from her vegie patch. The taste was scrumptious. You can’t beat the taste of fresh, home grown produce.
An easy way to get started is to pick up a Yates Give it a Grow Starter Pack from your local garden centre. It provides you with Black Magic Seed Raising mix, seed tray and tomato and lettuce seeds. There’s a great competition on the back of the pack where you can enter to win one of two landscaping and planting plans, design by me! One prize will go to the north island and one to the south island, I’ll personally visit the winners to design their garden.
Another fun thing about the Give it a Grow Starter Pack is you can compete against me in my great tomato growing competition . The winner will be in to win a prize pack of the value of $575. Send in a picture of your tomato plant, a photocopy of your Yates garden diary with harvest weights and records. If you don’t have one of these you can grab one here. At the end of the season I’ll show you how much I’ve managed to grow and how much I’ve saved by growing my own vegies! In the mean time, next week I will talk about building a compost heap and successive plantings to ensure a constant supply of vegies.
Remember to keep a close eye on your seedlings and keep pests and diseases at bay. Feeding, weeding and watering must be kept on top of.
Happy growing, catch ya next week.
Hamish
“Back to blog >”:/hamish-dodd/
Comments (3)
Add a comment
Maggie
Yates site member
09:33, 21 October 2009
Pests and diseases and seedlings -ha! What a combination! Who else is mad enough like me to do a snail patrol at nigh on midnight? Last Saturday and Sunday nights I collected 503 snails that were wending their way over the lawn towards my lettuces, spinach and broccoli- there was hardly a space to walk as they crunched under my feet! I am sure that once they get on the garden that the Blitzen does it's job but it's a mission keeping them at bay. If anyone has any other ideas as to how to deal with this invasion I'd be glad to hear as I can't afford a greenhouse this year!PS: I've tried the beer too but it gets too expensive to put out a can a night.
claire
Yates site member
11:44, 22 October 2009
hi totally off the subject can anyone tell me if silverbeet can go to seed?how can i tell if it has and what to do about it?
Joanne
Yates Garden Expert
10:50, 23 October 2009
Hi Claire,
Yes Silverbeet can go to seed, it throws up long stalks from the centre of the plant that develop a seed head. Natural part of the cycle and is usual in autumn to winter. Cut off the flower stalks as soon as you see them starting to prolong the picking of leaves.
Normally it is the end of the life cycle of the plant and it loses vigour and is best replaced.
Hope that helps!
claire
Yates site member
17:00, 23 October 2009
yes that is great thank you joanne
Add your reply