On a visit to our local Mitre10 in Marton I see that the first of the new seasons tomato plants are available.Two varieties were on display, Early Girl and Sweet 100. The early girl is a good early tomato which I purchased one of as they were more established than the varieties I have germinated from my seed collection.
Continue reading Tomato Time (Wally Richards)Category Archives: Gardening
Planting Potatoes (Wally Richards)
Now is a perfect time to plant a few potatoes to enjoy the real home grown flavor in a few months time. If you have ample land you can plant lots of potatoes to harvest later when mature, store and likely have all the spuds you need till you plant again next season.
Continue reading Planting Potatoes (Wally Richards)
Some Gardening Tips (Wally Richards)
Gardening tips can help make gardening easier, they save you money and time as well as obtaining better results. You may like to cut out this article for future reference.
Continue reading Some Gardening Tips (Wally Richards)
Spring Planting (Wally Richards)
Growing your own food is like printing your own money … Ron Finley
Well here we are at the beginnings of August when a gardener’s ‘Winter Blues’ ends and a new season of planting and growing begins.
Continue reading Spring Planting (Wally Richards)
PLANTING TIME (Wally Richards)
This is the very best time of the year for planting trees, shrubs, roses, perennials, garlic, strawberries and berry plants, also hardy vegetables and annual flowers.
Continue reading PLANTING TIME (Wally Richards)
RAISED GARDENS for Vegetables or Flowers (Wally Richards)
Raised beds for gardening is a great way to make gardening easy and at the same time produce a good range of vegetables or flowers. The advantages as I see them are; less bending, tidy gardens, attractive gardens, less weeding, no digging, superior produce or plants, ease of watering, great drainage, ease of harvesting and a pleasure to garden even if you are not really into gardening.
Continue reading RAISED GARDENS for Vegetables or Flowers (Wally Richards)
PROPAGATION SECRETS OF SEEDS (Wally Richards)
Propagation from seed is not only very rewarding it is also the most cost effective way of obtaining a wide variety of plants. There are untold plants that you could grow but if you only buy seedlings from a supplier or nursery then your limited to only have common varieties as it is not economical for nurseries to grow too larger range of any type of plant.
Continue reading PROPAGATION SECRETS OF SEEDS (Wally Richards)
Condys Crystals – a Gardening Boon (Wally Richards)
Potassium Permanganate (Condys Crystals) has numerous uses in both gardening and elsewhere.
The origin of the chemical and its common name is as follows:
In 1659 a German chemist, J.R. Glauber, fused a mixture of the mineral pyrolusite and potassium carbonate to obtain a material that, when dissolved in water, gave a green solution (potassium manganate) which slowly shifted to violet potassium permanganate and then finally red.
Continue reading Condys Crystals – a Gardening Boon (Wally Richards)
Big Strawberries for You (Gardening – Wally Richards)
Welcome to the shortest day of the year readers. Tomorrow we are around the corner and heading to a new season. June is the first month of winter and the month that most of the different types of strawberry plants become available in garden centres.
Continue reading Big Strawberries for You (Gardening – Wally Richards)Winter chores in the garden (Wally Richards)
WINTER BLUES
Winter is a slow time for many gardeners with only the most enthusiastic donning their woollies and gum boots to venture forth in all weather to potter. On the bright side we are now close to the shortest day and though it will take a month or two to appreciate the extending day light hours, there are still some nice sunny days to take advantage of and get a few gardening chores done.
Continue reading Winter chores in the garden (Wally Richards)
Healthy soil, healthy plants (Wally Richards)
THE DEFINITION OF MADNESS
This week I received from the internet, on a social media platform, a picture of a man walking through a paddock planted up with vegetables.
The caption read ‘We are the only species that sprays toxic chemicals on to our food to prevent other creatures from eating it; then we go ahead and eat it ourselves? That must be the definition of Madness?’
Continue reading Healthy soil, healthy plants (Wally Richards)
Growing Roses (Wally Richards)
Well the new seasons roses are now in (or will be in the next few days) and there are lots of neat roses to choose from along with new releases such as…
Continue reading Growing Roses (Wally Richards)
Green Crops & Seed Storage (Wally Richards)
I am always please to have readers contact me and requesting an article on a topic that they would like to read about.
It gives me something to write about which is of general interest and after 50 odd years of writing columns on gardening sometimes one gets writers block about what to write about each week.
Continue reading Green Crops & Seed Storage (Wally Richards)
Growing Garlic (Wally Richards)
I remember times gone by when you could take a clove of garlic, push it into some fertile growing medium and about 6 months later be rewarded with a fat bulb of cloves.
No problems easy as and nice to do.
Continue reading Growing Garlic (Wally Richards)
Gardening: LEAVES AND ROBBERS (Wally Richards)
I was asked by a reader recently what is best way to use leaf fall from deciduous trees which is happening right now.
In the past, people that had small woodlots would make a chicken wire hammock strung between two trees at waist high.
Continue reading Gardening: LEAVES AND ROBBERS (Wally Richards)
Gardening: WINTER AND FROSTS (Wally Richards)
In New Zealand, the official winter months are June, July and August.
As a Southern Hemisphere country, these months bring the coldest temperatures, shortest days, and snow to the mountains, with July usually being the coldest month.
Continue reading Gardening: WINTER AND FROSTS (Wally Richards)
Caring for your house plants in Winter (Wally Richards)
HOUSE PLANTS CARE IN WINTER
Winter can be a tough time for indoor plants if people don’t recognise the problems that the plants face.
The factors that affect indoor plants are, light, temperature and moisture levels.
Continue reading Caring for your house plants in Winter (Wally Richards)
Wally’s Gardening News: GRASS GRUB TIME AND A ONE WEEK SPECIAL
From Wally Richards
New Zealand has its own native root eating grub that we call grass grubs and its official name is Costelytra zealandica.
Before European settlement grass grubs were contently feeding on the roots of native grasses and other nice tasting roots.
Wally’s Gardening: Autumn planting
From Wally Richards @ gardenews.co.nz
Note: I stopped posting Wally Richards’ garden news whilst on pause a while back. In the interests now of the more pressing need to grow our own food I’m going to post them again … this being the first. Thanks to Wally for his excellent and practical knowledge on topic. EWNZ
Continue reading Wally’s Gardening: Autumn planting
More tips on dealing with pests in the garden (Wally Richards)
The tomato/potato psyllid has caused a few headaches for gardeners when the populations of this relatively new pest build up and they affect not only potatoes and tomatoes but also a number of other host plants such as tamarillo, capsicum,, chili and peppino. The nymphs are so small and you need a magnifying glass to see them clearly, so you may have a small population of psyllids in your back yard and not realise the problem.
To find out if you have psyllids then you can do so by planting a potato either into your vegetable garden or into say a 20cm pot or bucket. Take a potato from the kitchen that has started to sprout and plant it as above. It only has to be into a hole about 8cm deep and covered with soil or growing medium. We are going let the plant grow to maturity and then harvest what tubers have formed underneath. If the tubers are small about the size of a marble and likely re-shooting; that will tell you that you have psyllids and they attacked the potato foliage when it was still young and growing. If on the other hand the tubers harvested are of a good size but when cut them in half, there are dark rings inside or what we call Zebra lines, then yes you have psyllids and they attacked the plant later after the tubers had grown to a reasonable size.
That means next season when you grow potatoes or tomatoes you need to use controls so that you have a harvest of eatable produce.With potatoes the easy way is to plant very early your seed potatoes like back in July so that the crop is harvested before October. That should allow you to get an ok crop. With tomatoes you need to use Wallys Cell Strengthening kit of products to make the tomato plant cells so tough that the psyllid nymphs can not piece the plant to feed and inject in the toxin that causes all the problems.
Club Root is a disease that affects the brassica family causing the roots to become very distorted and so bad that they cant supply moisture and nutrients to the foliage above. So when you plant your cabbages etc and they grow quite happily at the start, then the growth slows down and comes to a stop normally before the plant has reached maturity unless it is a miniature, fast growing variety. Its a frustrating disease which is soil born and often it has got into your garden when planting purchased (or given) any seedlings that were grown in club infested soil. Once you have it then I am told it takes up to 25 years to eradicate; that is as long as, during that time, there are no host plants grown in the contaminated area. It does not affect other plants such as silverbeet, beans etc only members of the brassica family which includes swedes. It affects brassicas such as Brussels sprouts, cabbages, cauliflowers, kale, turnips, swedes and radishes, their ornamental relatives such as Cheiranthus (wallflowers), Matthiola (stocks), Aubrieta (aubretia), and cabbage-family weeds such as Capsella bursa-pastoris (shepherd’s purse). In the past steam cleaning the soil was the only known control for it. Other methods can be used such as heavily liming the soil and using a soil drench of potassium permanganate. They can help get quick maturing crops to harvest. If you have the dread disease in the soil then here is a suggestion to maybe help eradicate it.
What you do is plant a cabbage seedling into a 20 litre pot, then in the middle of your vegetable garden you sit the pot on top of some bricks so that it is not in contact with the soil. The idea here is that rain and watering will wash down into the soil below the smell of the cabbage and that will activate the dormant club root spores to swim up to where the roots of the cabbage are. But as the plant is above the soil and not in contact with the soil then the spores have no where to latch onto and colonise. So they fizz and die. If you have a big area you may need a few cabbages in pots spread through out the area to try and activate all the spores in the soil. The following season you could test plant a few cabbages into the area and see if they grow and if they are free of the disease. Otherwise try again the same trick of activating the spores.
Moths are a problem in our gardens because of the eggs they lay and the caterpillars that hatch out to feast on fruit and plants. There are codlin moths which affect apples, pears and walnuts and they are every where in NZ. Then there are Guava Moths which are so far in the more northerly parts of the North Island and they affect all fruit including citrus and nuts. Finally another one called the army worm which is so far mainly in Northland but is likely to build up populations and head south to other gardens. It eats the foliage of just about every thing and is causing a lot of headaches to both commercial and home gardeners. If you can eliminate the three moths before they get to lay their eggs then your plants are fairly safe from damage. Moths are attracted by smell to find their host plants or to feed on nectar for energy. Thus a trap can be used to lure them in and kill them. In my recent book ‘Gardening with Wally Richards’ I have a chapter on moth control and part of that is this simple to make trap to catch and kill them.
Take one litre of hot water add a100 grams of sugar, one teaspoon of marmite, half a tablespoon of Cloudy Ammonia and half a tablespoon of Vanilla essence:
Mix well and divide the mix between two plastic milk or soft drink bottles.
Punch some holes in the side of the bottles just above the level of the mix.
Place on a stand about a couple of metres away from the tree.
At about waist height like on a small folding table.
When a number of moths are caught dispose of them and make up a new solution.
Cloudy Ammonia used to be common once upon a time from a grocery store if not so easy to find try hardware stores, there are two chains in NZ and they may have. (Bunnings and Mitre 10).
TWENTY FIVE PERCENT OFF SALE
Till the end of January we are discounting the following products by 25% to help you gain control of Insect pests and improve your soil quality.
Orders must be placed on www.0800466464.co.nz using the Code 25% in the remarks place.
I will phone you after receiving the order and deduct the 25% off the items below and also give you 10% off most other items except for bulk items.
FREIGHT: shipping charged on orders under $100 (After discounts) North Island In other words order of $100 plus after discount and not bulk items free shipping.
South Island $150.00 plus after discounts for free shipping.
Exception is for Rural delivery a charge of $3.15 on each parcel sent no matter if rest is free shipping or not.
Here are the 25% discount items:
Wallys Neem Tree Granules 1kg normal price $15.00 save $3.75 making it $11.25
Wallys Neem Tree Granules 3kg normal price $28.00 save $7.00 making it $21.00
Wallys Neem Tree Granules 10kg normal price $80.00 save $20.00 making it $60.00
Wallys Neem Tree Granules 20kg normal price $160.00 save $40.00 making it $120.00
Wallys Neem Tree Powder 1kg normal price $15.00 save $3.75 making it $11.25
Wallys Neem Tree Powder 3kg normal price $28.00 save $7.00 making it $21.00
Wallys Neem Tree Powder 10kg normal price $80.00 save $20.00 making it $60.00
Wallys Neem Tree Powder 20kg normal price $160.00 save $40.00 making it $120.00
Wallys Super Neem Tree oil 125 ml normal price $18.00 save $4.50 making it $13.50
Wallys Super Neem Tree oil 250 ml normal price $24.00 save $6.00 making it $18.00
Wallys Super Neem Tree oil 1 litre normal price $60.00 save $15.00 making it $45.00
Wallys Super Pyrethrum 100 ml normal price $28.00 save $4.20 making it $23.80
Wallys Super Fish Fertiliser 1Litre normal price $16.00 save $4.00 making it $12.00
Wallys Mycorrcin 250ml normal price $20.00 save $5.00 making it $15.00
Wallys Mycorrcin 500ml normal price $35.00 save $8.75 making it $26.25
Wallys Mycorrcin 1 Litre normal price $55.00 save $13.75 making it $41.25
Orders must be placed on www.0800466464.co.nz using the Code 25% in the remarks place.
Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz
New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Part II of the Act covers a broad range of Civil and Political Rights. As part of the right to life and the security of the person, the Act guarantees everyone:
1The right not to be deprived of life except in accordance with fundamental justice (Section 8)
2The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment (Section 9)
3The right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation without consent (Section 10)
4The right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment (Section 11)
Furthermore, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 guarantees everyone: Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion.
This includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief,
INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO ADOPT AND HOLD OPINIONS WITHOUT INTERFERENCE (Section 1)
DEALING WITH SUMMER PESTS IN THE GARDEN (Wally Richards)
Gardening should be a pleasant pastime and not just another chore that has to be done. If you find it a chore then maybe there are too many things you are doing and the pleasure of working with plants and the soil is lost.
There are things that we gardeners must do to keep everything growing healthy and looking good. I am always are looking for ways to do tasks quickly and simply so more time can be spent doing the gardening things that give satisfaction and gratification. Enjoyment comes from preparing an area and planting it with seeds or seedlings then watching them develop and grow for harvesting to eat or flower to enhance your home.
Summer time temperatures allow pest insects to multiply quickly and infest your plants. If their populations become too great then it is a real chore to try and get them under control. In fact it is better to start control methods as early as possible making life easier in the long term. By spreading Wallys Neem Tree Granules over the soil under trees, shrubs and established plants will greatly help reduce and prevent insect populations building up. There are soil pests that we don’t see which are feeding on the roots of plants, sapping the plant’s energy causing loss of vigor. Mealy bugs, root nematodes, grass grubs and slaters can be controlled and eliminated by scattering the Neem Granules in the plant’s root zone. Gardeners and Landscapers often comment to me that a few weeks after applying the Neem Granules the plants are looking much better. Simple reason is the pests feeding on the roots have gone and the plants are happy. Wallys Neem Granules can be used around your roses, vegetable plants and flowering annuals.
Wallys Neem Tree Powder which is the same as the granules just a smaller, even particle size are ideal to use in the planting hole of seedlings, along with sowing of seeds and in particular with carrot seeds to prevent carrot fly damage. With carrots you side dress to row when the carrot tops are a few centimeters tall as well as when sowing the seeds. Container plants are often a home for mealy bugs which feed on the roots and later come upstairs as adults to feed on the foliage. The ones on the foliage are easy to control with Wally Super Pyrethrum but you need to place Neem Powder on top of the growing medium. As the powder breaks down it will develop grey mould which is the natural breakdown happening. It is unsightly so after applying the powder cover with a little growing medium. Out of sight, out of mind. If you want a top quality lawn then it is a good idea to sprinkle Wallys Neem Tree Powder over the lawn at a rate of 50 grams per Square Metre. If your lawn is infected by grass grubs each year then in Autumn when the autumn rains have moistened the soil you spread the Neem powder over the lawn after it has been recently cut. Then lightly water the area to wash the powder down off the grass onto the soil. If you have a roller then its a good idea to roll the lawn to press the powder into the soil.
When you find there are pest insects on any of your plants outdoors you can make up a spray using Wallys Super Neem Tree Oil with Wallys Super Pyrethrum added. Just on dusk when the bees have stopped working for the day you spray the plants under and over the foliage. The pyrethrum is a quick knock down and it will kill the flying insects such as white fly and leaf hoppers. The Neem Oil will, as an anti-feedent on the foliage, stop the pests feeding on the plants after which they will starve to death in a few days. Often gardeners find that the sprays work, but it is only a short time before the insect pests are back. The reason being is they are on other plants in the area and re-infesting back onto your treated plants. You need to spray the other plants they are coming from. If those plants happen to be over the fence then that is a problem that can only be solved with winter or you getting the ok from the neighbor (who likely is not a gardener) to spray their plants as well.
Gardeners that live in the country and have possums, rabbits and hares to contend with can do the following: plants that are been eaten spray with Wallys Neem Tree Oil just before dark. Wallys Neem Tree oil being the real thing and not some vegetable oil with the Neem properties added, has a horrible taste which with its smell will deter possums and rabbits. Once you find that the varmints have stopped eating your plants then instead of having to respray to keep control and keep them away, simply scatter Wally Neem Tree Granules around and the smell of them should keep your plants safe. A point when using the spray mix of Wallys Neem Oil and Pyrethrum and you have unused spray then you can pour the left over liquid into a container and store in a dark cupboard. Rinse the sprayer out thoroughly jetting some clean water through the nozzle to be sure all the spray has gone. Next time you use you can take the stored spray and if need be add more of the products and water.
To look after the soil and the beneficial microbes plus fungi that live in the soil which help our plants feed and grow, mix Wallys Super Fish Fertiliser with Wallys Mycorrcin in a watering can and water the area around or over your preferred plants such as vegetables, fruit and roses. This will help to greatly increase the soil life (as long as you are not watering with chlorinated tap water). Here is an interesting possibility: as the combination of the fish fertiliser and Mycorrcin has a distinct smell you could try spraying the mix over fruit trees when the birds are attacking the fruit. A product that used to be available years ago from Canada called Alaska Fish Fertiliser which had quite a smell to it did deter birds from ripening fruit. If you find it successful let me know.
TWENTY FIVE PERCENT OFF SALE
Till the end of January we are discounting the following products by 25% to help you gain control of Insect pests and improve your soil quality.
Orders must be placed on www.0800466464.co.nz using the Code 25% in the remarks place.
I will phone you after receiving the order and deduct the 25% off the items below and also give you 10% off most other items except for bulk items.
FREIGHT: shipping charged on orders under $100 (After discounts) North Island In other words order of $100 plus after discount and not bulk items free shipping.
South Island $150.00 plus after discounts for free shipping.
Exception is for Rural delivery a charge of $3.15 on each parcel sent no matter if rest is free shipping or not.
Here are the 25% discount items:
Wallys Neem Tree Granules 1kg normal price $15.00 save $3.75 making it $11.25
Wallys Neem Tree Granules 3kg normal price $28.00 save $7.00 making it $21.00
Wallys Neem Tree Granules 10kg normal price $80.00 save $20.00 making it $60.00
Wallys Neem Tree Granules 20kg normal price $160.00 save $40.00 making it $120.00
Wallys Neem Tree Powder 1kg normal price $15.00 save $3.75 making it $11.25
Wallys Neem Tree Powder 3kg normal price $28.00 save $7.00 making it $21.00
Wallys Neem Tree Powder 10kg normal price $80.00 save $20.00 making it $60.00
Wallys Neem Tree Powder 20kg normal price $160.00 save $40.00 making it $120.00
Wallys Super Neem Tree oil 125 ml normal price $18.00 save $4.50 making it $13.50
Wallys Super Neem Tree oil 250 ml normal price $24.00 save $6.00 making it $18.00
Wallys Super Neem Tree oil 1 litre normal price $60.00 save $15.00 making it $45.00
Wallys Super Pyrethrum 100 ml normal price $28.00 save $4.20 making it $23.80
Wallys Super Fish Fertiliser 1Litre normal price $16.00 save $4.00 making it $12.00
Wallys Mycorrcin 250ml normal price $20.00 save $5.00 making it $15.00
Wallys Mycorrcin 500ml normal price $35.00 save $8.75 making it $26.25
Wallys Mycorrcin 1 Litre normal price $55.00 save $13.75 making it $41.25
Orders must be placed on www.0800466464.co.nz using the Code 25% in the remarks place.
Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz
New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Part II of the Act covers a broad range of Civil and Political Rights. As part of the right to life and the security of the person, the Act guarantees everyone:
1The right not to be deprived of life except in accordance with fundamental justice (Section 8)
2The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment (Section 9)
3The right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation without consent (Section 10)
4The right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment (Section 11)
Furthermore, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 guarantees everyone: Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion.
This includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief,
INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO ADOPT AND HOLD OPINIONS WITHOUT INTERFERENCE (Section 1)
For other gardening posts see ‘gardening’ in categories (left side of page)
Check out our sister site truthwatchnz.is for other news
Photo: pixabay.com
FROM WALLY RICHARDS
As we close the door on the year 2023 and look to a new year in front of us and interesting times that lay ahead.
Let us hope that people are not so naive as they now know better; the world is not like we thought it was; from our comfort zone and it has been a bit of a rude awaking for many.
Readers that have followed my gardening articles for sometime will have seen how I encourage people to grow as much of their food, vegetables and fruit as able and to do so naturally with all the minerals and elements available and without harmful chemicals. Why? Good for your health and pocket.
By growing as much of your own healthy food as possible you are upsetting the pharmaceutical companies as well as the companies that make harmful chemicals and fertilisers.
I have also suggested that fertiliser companies, chemical companies and pharmaceutical companies appear to work hand in hand.
A food chain that has little goodness but ample chemical poisons is a money earner for the health sector and the pharmaceutical companies.
A book has recently been released which goes into detail about how this is done. Title is:
Sickening Profits: The Global Food System’s Poisoned Food and Toxic Wealth by Colin Todhunter.
Want some interesting New Year reading then go to https://www.globalresearch.ca/sickening-profits-global-food-system-poisoned-food-toxic-wealth/5844502
This new e-book begins by examining how the modern food system is being shaped by the capitalist imperative for profit, with specific focus on the situation in Ukraine, and discusses the role of the world’s most powerful investment management firm, BlackRock.
It then goes on to describe how people (not least children) are being sickened by corporations and a system that thrives on the promotion of ‘junk’ (ultra-processed) food laced with harmful chemicals and the use of toxic agrochemicals.
It’s a highly profitable situation for investment firms like BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street, Fidelity and Capital Group and the food conglomerates they invest in.
But BlackRock and others are not just heavily invested in the food industry. They also profit from illnesses and diseases resulting from the food system by having stakes in the pharmaceuticals sector as well. A win-win situation.
The book goes on to describe how lobbying by agri-food corporations and their well-placed, well-funded front groups ensures this situation prevails.
They continue to capture policy-making and regulatory space at international and national levels and promote the notion that without their products the world would starve.
Moreover, they are now pushing a fake-green, ecomodernist narrative in an attempt to roll out their new proprietary technologies in order to further entrench their grip on a global food system that produces poor food, illness, environmental degradation, the eradication of smallholder farming, the undermining of rural communities, dependency and dispossession.
The final chapter looks at the broader geopolitical aspects of food and agriculture in a post-COVID world characterised by food inflation, hardship and multi-trillion-dollar global debt. End.
My comment is ‘Forewarned is Forearmed’
Radiation the effects on all life forms which is another worry in regards to bees and other insects pollinating our plants and food crops… Here is an interesting study….
On December 19, 2023, in the journal New Phytologist, French researchers published a study on yet another aspect of the decline of life on Earth. The study link is:
See https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19422
The populations of bees and other pollinators have declined so much that flowering plants that required insects in order to reproduce efficiently have evolved in less than 25 years to become better self-pollinators and to not need insects to reproduce.
Field pansies from seeds collected in the late 1990s and early 2000s were grown next to pansies from seeds collected in 2021.
Self-pollination rates were 27% higher in the plants grown from the newer seeds. The flowers were smaller.
The petals were shorter. The labella — the landing platforms that attract insects — were smaller. The flowering time was shorter. Fewer flowers opened per day.
The nectar spurs were shorter, there were fewer nectar guides, and the flowers produced less nectar.
More bumblebees visited the flowers that grew from the old seeds than from the new seeds.
The authors warned of cascading effects on insect populations:
“These decreases in nectar production may then reinforce pollinator declines if nectar levels fall below those necessary to sustain wild bee populations. Environmental changes may thus present a double jeopardy to pollinator populations, as they become victims of both the changes themselves and of plant trait evolution.”
The authors listed only pollution, habitat destruction, and alien species as causes of pollinator collapse.
I (Arthur Firstenberg) have sent the authors a letter, with links to literature reviews, informing them that RF radiation is the biggest cause of insect decline.
I have invited them to join the coalition of scientists, organizations and individuals that we are forming to address the global radiation emergency.
From Arthur Firstenberg
President, Cellular Phone Task Force
Author of The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life
Which is a book well worth reading.
All the best for the New Year
Wally Richards
Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz
New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Part II of the Act covers a broad range of Civil and Political Rights. As part of the right to life and the security of the person, the Act guarantees everyone:
1The right not to be deprived of life except in accordance with fundamental justice (Section 8)
2The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment (Section 9)
3The right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation without consent (Section 10)
4The right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment (Section 11)
Furthermore, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 guarantees everyone: Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion.
This includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief,
INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO ADOPT AND HOLD OPINIONS WITHOUT INTERFERENCE (Section 1)
Image by Lubos Houska from Pixabay
Dealing with stressed plants in your garden (Wally Richards)
Stress affects plants as well as all life forms as far as I am aware.
We suffer stress in our day to day lives and this time of the year is especially stressful for some people.
As there are different forms of stress which humans can be affected by, there are also different forms of stress that plants can suffer by.
The most obvious of these is moisture either not enough or too much.
Not enough moisture the plant starts to dehydrate and the lower leaves tend to flatten out to shade or cover the surrounding soil helping to prevent moisture loss from the soil.
The upper foliage also droops and without receiving a good amount of water to moisten the earth the plant will wither and die.
Too much water we call wet feet which means there is excessive amounts of water around the roots with little or no oxygen; then the roots will start to rot unless its a bog type plant.
As the roots rot the foliage will droop and leaves will begin to fall off until the plant dies.
Some plants will try to remove the water from around their roots by taking up water to the leaves where it forms as drops of water on the tip of the leaves.
Wet feet is fatal to a number of plants such as citrus trees.
Plants also suffer stress from weather conditions such as rapid temperature changes (going from cold to hot and back to cold) wind damage, heat, cold/freezing, insufficient light or too much sunlight.
Nowadays our plants have to contend with ‘The Dimming of the Sun’ we are told, done to reduce Global warming, but it actually make surface temperatures hotter and the real reason is to reduce plant growth, making poor food crops.
Planted in the wrong situation a plant can stress out because of a range of things such as soil conditions, pH, shade or sun, wet or dry, fertile or barren.
Too much food or not enough, unbalanced nutrients which are locking up, missing elements are all problems that will cause stress.
(Use Wallys Unlocking the Soil and Magic Botanic Liquid for unlocking and supplying all the elements).
When you move container plants, you create a problem as the plant has to readjust to the new situation.
Ficus Benjamina is a pot plant that hates to be moved from one spot to another unless the new spot is identical to the old spot, otherwise it will leaf drop and then produce new foliage as it adjusts.
Plants that are attacked by insects can be likened to you having a multitude of leaches or mosquitoes attacking your body. (That’s stressful).
Leaf diseases such as black spot, mildew etc often appear on plants when conditions favor them or when a plant is in stress for some reason.
If say your fruit tree that is laden with fruit sheds its crop, then the tree is in stress for some reason.
If it sheds part of the crop it is likely self thinning the fruit as it cannot support all the crop, so that the better larger fruit will have sufficient room to mature.
If you think that you are facing several types of stress related issues in your life currently then think again what our plants have to face.
(Does that make you feel better?)
Seedlings in punnets can easily become stressed when their root systems fill the punnet and the mix dries out quickly.
I have seen seedlings in stress in chain stores because the staff don’t water often enough.
It is especially bad this season because of the weather and people not planting out as they would in a better season leaving a lot of old over grown stock.
I went to one hardware chain store recently to pick up a few things and also obtain a few vegetable seedlings; all that was on display were over sized plants which would have already been in stress a few times and a total waste of money buying and planting.
If it’s vegetable seedlings you are going to buy, look for the small plants which have a bit of growing to do before they get too big for the container they are in.
If you buy the big plants what will happen is you plant them out, they grow on for a few weeks then before maturing they go to seed.
When I owned a garden Centre and nursery we would throw vegetable plants out, once they were too big and in danger of going into stress, and replace them with smaller healthy plants.
Now this rule does not apply to plants such as tomatoes, cucumbers etc which you want to flower and fruit.
Likewise flower plant seedlings, the bigger, the better as we want them to flower as soon as.
But brassicas, lettuce, onions, leeks, silverbeet, beetroot, spring onions, spinach etc you want them to mature and not waste your time going to seed.
I have had a few complaints from gardeners recently on this very problem.
While we are on the subject of brassicas, it would be a good idea, if planting out over the next few months, to place Neem Tree Granules in the planting hole and also on the soil surface.
This is to help with the control of aphids and caterpillars.
Then after planting put some hoops over the row and cover with crop cover.
It only costs about $8.50 a metre and it’s 4 metres wide.
Keeps those plants free of pests and makes their preparation for the table an easy job.
The cover can be used time and time again.
Recently I purchased a 5 litre pump-up sprayer to do those in between jobs that my big back pack sprayer is a hassle to use, and my favorite trigger sprayers are too small.
Looking at the range of pump-up sprayers about the 5 litre size, they varied in price from twenty odd dollars upwards.
I have purchased over the years numerous cheaper sprayers which all end up in the rubbish bin, more often sooner than later.
Instead I opted for a more expensive Hills sprayer and after using it I am glad I did.
So easy to use and clean afterwards I am back to being a happy chappie when I need to spray.
So treat yourself or someone to a decent sprayer this Xmas, you will thank me for it.
Well about one more article for the year after this one so look after yourselves and your gardens over the festive season.
Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz
New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Part II of the Act covers a broad range of Civil and Political Rights. As part of the right to life and the security of the person, the Act guarantees everyone:
1The right not to be deprived of life except in accordance with fundamental justice (Section 8)
2The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment (Section 9)
3The right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation without consent (Section 10)
4The right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment (Section 11)
Furthermore, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 guarantees everyone: Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion.
This includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief,
INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO ADOPT AND HOLD OPINIONS WITHOUT INTERFERENCE (Section 1)
Pestie Pests in the garden (Wally Richards)
Insects that eat, or feed off, our garden plants we call them pest insects but they are just part of the Natural World we live in and if there were no pest insects then that would also be the end of the beneficial insects that live by eating the ones we call pests.
Unfortunately there is usually far more pests than beneficial insects so we have to use control methods to keep the pest’s numbers down.
As I have said many times before the pests and diseases that affect our garden plants are actually Nature’s Cleaners, it is their job to take out the weak plants.
By doing so they aid in the demise of the sickly plants and as the remains compost down to feed and make room for the healthy plants.
So if we force plants to grow as they do commercially then those plants will be attacked by pests and diseases which the grower will use any number of chemical sprays to prevent their crop from being damaged and unsalable.
Which in fact only makes matters worse as the plants will now be weak and sickly from all the chemicals they have been exposed to.
Some times we are at fault by providing a massive food source for pests which allows them to rapidly increase their numbers and a bigger problem for us gardeners or growers.
For instance we plant a row of cabbages and to the butterflies that’s food bonanza, heaps of foliage to sustain all the caterpillars that will hatch out of the eggs they lay.
But say one cabbage is growing in a field of lots of different plants them Mrs Butterfly is going to have a problem finding it and if she does it will only support a few caterpillars to maturity.
In New Zealand we have a Native pest called the grass grub which is the larva of the bronze beetle.
Before New Zealand was settled by the colonialists the grass grubs/beetles fed on the sparse growing native grasses and a few other plants.
Not a lot of food source and so not a lot of grass grubs which were also a welcome morsel for the many Kiwis that foraged at night.
Then settlers cleared the bush and planted grass; hectares of grass and what a win fall for the grass grub beetles and this their populations grew to the millions of them that we have these days, every year.
Temperature is a big factor for many pest insects and when the temperatures are warm they can rapidly bred.
When we have a early spring with a week or two of early nice warm days and nights then the pests that have been waiting for those conditions come out to play and lay.
Then if we are hit with a cold snap for a week or so many of these early risers will be killed along with vulnerable eggs they laid.
When that weather pattern happens then it is not until January/February that we see their populations rise and become troublesome.
Otherwise we have problem populations happening by November/December.
So the key for good control of pests such as whitefly, leaf hoppers, aphids etc is to start control methods at the first sign of any pest.
Too often we also miss controlling pests early because they are on weeds or plants we are not concerned about or they are over the fence; as the neighbor maybe is not a keen gardener and then they have a breeding jungle of plants/weeds.
When they are over the fence those pests will keep coming over to your plants the whole season and unless you ask the neighbor if you can tidy up and clean up their patch you have a yearly problem which will require constant controls till winter.
Sprays of Wallys Super Neem Tree Oil with Wallys Super Pyrethrum applied to your plants just before dark. Spraying under and over the foliage.
Repeated every few days if you have a bad infestation and then weekly to fortnightly to maintain control.
Placing Neem Tree Granules or powder on the soil or growing medium helps a lot as it creates a smell which helps disguise the smell of the plants making it more difficult for pests to find their host plants.
A electric Insect Zapper that attracts night flying moths and beetles to the UV light for them to zapped on the high static electricity grid will also reduce you problems greatly.
Do a Google search and find a unit for about $40.00. One thing to remember they are often 230v plug in so you need to be sheltered from weather where you are playing with electricity.
Wallys Yellow sticky white fly traps are also a g reat way to reduce the adult flying insect pests.
Then we have the pests that are not so noticeable such as Mealy bugs.
These white pests are like a small bit of cotton wool as seen on your plants and in particular container plants.
The adults are what you see sucking on the stems and leaves of plants and are easy to control with a spray of Wallys Super Pyrethrum but low and behold within next to no time they are back on the plant. Why? Cause the young live in the roots of the plant also sucking goodness from the plant’s roots. They come up stairs later on which is when we see them..
So to control them in the root zone a sprinkling of Wallys Neem Tree Powder over the growing medium but not against the trunk.
It is best to give a watering over the powder then cover with some potting mix as it will go moldy as it breaks down and it does not look good.
Covered you wont see the mold.
Also making up a solution of Wallys Super Neem Tree Oil in warm water and watering that over the surface of the mix in the container maybe a better option and repeat that a few times till no more down stairs comes up stairs.
Root Nematodes are another pest we don’t see in the roots of plants but they can be there without your knowledge, even in your lawn grasses roots.
You can test for that in the lawn by applying Wallys Neem Tree Powder to a area of the lawn and watering in.
If after a few weeks that areas grasses look better than the rest of the lawn, then yes you had root nematodes and so it would pay to treat the rest of the lawn.
Wallys Neem Tree Granules sprinkled over the soil in your gardens and in particular under your citrus trees can improve the health and vigor of your plants by the control of the pests.
Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz
New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Part II of the Act covers a broad range of Civil and Political Rights. As part of the right to life and the security of the person, the Act guarantees everyone:
1The right not to be deprived of life except in accordance with fundamental justice (Section 8)
2The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment (Section 9)
3The right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation without consent (Section 10)
4The right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment (Section 11)
Furthermore, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 guarantees everyone: Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion.
This includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief,
INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO ADOPT AND HOLD OPINIONS WITHOUT INTERFERENCE (Section 1)
Gardening: What to plant & when (Wally Richards)
With a great number of first time gardeners growing their own vegetables, a question that I am often asked is; when is the best time to plant various crops?
This is a difficult question to answer as conditions vary greatly in different parts of the country.
To make matters more complicated, you can have a situation where the growing conditions can be different just half a mile away which is a result of what we call micro-climates.
A gardener with a good micro-climate; as a result of the terrain, or by established trees, making a sheltered hot spot which can be planting out a month or more before it is safe for another gardener to do so, a bit further down the road.
When you buy packets of seeds you will find on the packet the average best sowing times for various regions.
This information is general and unless you know your own growing conditions, succession sowings should be made about 2 to 4 weeks apart.
If the early plantings fail through weather conditions, your later ones will be more successful, as the weather settles.
Over a period of years you will become a better judge of when to sow and plant out.
A gardening diary giving weather conditions each week and sowing times will make a great reference for the future plantings.
Keen gardeners like to beat nature and grow plants out of the normal season so they can have early crops and this can be done with a glasshouse, or the use of plastic film over wire hoops to warm the garden soil and protect the germinated seedlings from adverse weather conditions.
Early plantings can also be assisted by placing plastic bottles over the individual plants after cutting the bottom off and removing the cap.
The most important aspect is when not to plant out seedlings of vegetables.
Late plantings of vegetables towards the end of autumn means they have only a small window of growth, which is progressively slowing down day by day.
In mid winter growth can reduce to zero and immature crops will just sit waiting for better times.
As the daylight hours extend and the soil warms, they then get a growth spurt but because of the previous conditions the plants feel their lives have been threatened and will only grow on a bit and then go to seed. (Bolt)
Thus the crop is a failure, a waste of time and money. Crops of winter vegetables are planted in summer to grow to near maturity as winter sets in.
In doing so they will mature ready for use in winter and hold nicely over the cold winter months.
For instance leek seedlings will be planted out in December through to February for succession, winter harvesting.
Brassicas, such as winter cabbage and Brussel sprouts will be planted out later in January through till March, dependent on varieties (maturity times) and succession requirements.
The worst problem with brassicas grown for winter is that the young plants have to face the problem of the white butterfly’s caterpillars when the pests are most active.
By placing Neem Tree Granules in the planting hole and sprinkling some onto the soil, around the plants will greatly assist in control.
Refresh the granules every 6 weeks with a few more onto the soil.
Stress on vegetables that are not grown for their fruit (cabbages etc as apposed to say tomatoes) can make them go to seed prematurely.
Two ways this can happen, one is purchasing seedlings that are in punnets and have become root bound and likely have suffered stress through inadequate waterings.
Always look for the very young fresh seedlings of non fruiting plants to purchase, even if you need to grow them on in their punnets till they are of a nice size to plant out.
The next problem can occur during the spring when weather conditions fluctuate from nice warm sunny days to cold miserable days.
The plant’s growth responds to the sunny warm days and then they sulk in the cold windy days.
This stress of change, makes the plants believe that conditions are not good and their lives are threaten, so all they want to do then is reproduce themselves, so then they go to seed.
Often not straight away as they have to reach a certain level of maturity to be able to flower and thus several gardeners have contacted me recently to ask why their early spring plantings have gone to seed.
Either of the above can be the cause of bolting.
A number of gardeners also like to do late plantings if they live in areas not prone to early frosts.
Late plantings of sweet corn in January can often result in a second harvest of cobs before winter sets in.
Tomatoes sown from seed in December and January should give you more ripe fruit after your earlier plantings have finished.
You do not even have to sow seed, as you can strike the laterals (side shoots) to make a new young plant, once it has rooted up.
To do this; fill a small pot two thirds full of compost and fill the balance to the top with sand or fine pumice.
Remove a lateral which should be about 6cm long and place it into the sand to about the depth of the sand.
Moisten down and keep moist. When the plant stands up and shows some new growth then the early roots have formed.
If you spray the laterals with Vaporgard a day before you remove them off the parent plant, you will have a new young tomato plant quicker.
When removing laterals off tomatoes or old leaves, it is most important that you do not do this during humid or moist times as a disease can enter the wound and you lose a good plant.
Remove laterals on a nice sunny day when the air is dry and as you remove each lateral, spray the wound with Liquid Copper.
It is still not too late to plant seeds of summer crops unless you live in an area prone to early frosts.
Keep the soil moist at all times using non chlorinated water. (Put a filter onto your tap to remove the chlorine) it makes the world of difference and your crops will grow quicker and healthier.
Gardeners that use tank water or are fortunate to live in a town/city that does not dose the water supply with this chemical poison, do not have to worry about a filter.
If you do not have room for a vegetable plot then use containers or planter boxes to grow as many vegetables as possible.
Fill the containers with a good purchased compost, not potting mix.
Much better for your health and pocket.
Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz
New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Part II of the Act covers a broad range of Civil and Political Rights. As part of the right to life and the security of the person, the Act guarantees everyone:
1The right not to be deprived of life except in accordance with fundamental justice (Section 8)
2The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment (Section 9)
3The right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation without consent (Section 10)
4The right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment (Section 11)
Furthermore, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 guarantees everyone: Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion.
This includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief,
INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO ADOPT AND HOLD OPINIONS WITHOUT INTERFERENCE (Section 1)
Photo: pixabay.com
Save the earth and better yourself: 8 reasons why growing your own food is the best decision you will ever make (Wally Richards)
Hello Readers
It has been a very busy week with the pre-sales of my new book ‘Gardening with Wally Richards’ and to date over 200 copies have been spoken for which is wonderful.
The books purchased will start being sent out on the 11th December.
Below is an article I wrote sometime ago and the information is very important for you and your family.
Save the earth and better yourself: 8 reasons why growing your own food is the best decision you will ever make.
I received an email article from Natural News.com which echoes much of what I have been encouraging people to do for many years.
The following is what they have to say:
(Natural News) Have you ever thought of growing your own fruits and vegetables? If not, now is the time to start considering it.
It may seem tedious and overwhelming, but in reality it is actually easy and simple. You can start by growing them in your backyard, or if you do not have any yard, consider container gardening in your balcony, patio, or on a windowsill.
Still not convinced? Here are eight reasons on why you should start growing your own food.
1/ Have a healthier family – Nothing can beat the freshness of fruits and vegetables that are homegrown.
Serving your family fresh fruits and vegetables is one of the most valuable things you and your family can do to be healthy.
Fruits and vegetables grown in your backyard are the best because you harvest them straight from your garden and eat them fresh.
Another proven health benefit of homegrown produce was shown in a study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
Results of the study showed that preschool children who almost always ate homegrown produce were more than two times likely to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables per day than those kids who rarely or never ate homegrown produce.
2/ Spend less on groceries – Growing your own food will help you save money and ensure you food security as you will not have to buy fruits and vegetables from the supermarket.
Most fruits and vegetables from the supermarket have already lost their nutritional value as they have been stored for a long time.
With less than a dollar, you can buy a packet of seeds and start planting your own produce.
3/ Help the environment – By growing your own produce, you are already helping the environment in different ways.
One way is growing your food without using pesticides and herbicides.
This lessens air and water pollution. You will also help reduce the use of fossil fuels.
Moreover, pollution from the transportation of fresh produce from around the world to the supermarket will also be lessened.
4/ Increase your physical activity – Since you will be doing all the planting, weeding, watering, and harvesting, you are also exercising at the same time.
Remember to warm up and stretch your muscles before and after gardening though!
Exercising also helps you relax, de-stress, refresh your mind, inhale fresh air, and get vitamin D.
5/ Indulge in more tasty food – Nothing beats the freshness of picked out fruits and vegetables straight from the backyard.
A study found that homegrown tomatoes are sweeter and richer in nutrients than those sold in the supermarket.
6/ Have a sense of accomplishment – Witnessing the seed you planted grow and become the food that you and your family can enjoy is satisfying.
Home gardening helps you thrive, nourish your family, and improve health.
There is a sense of accomplishment and self-satisfaction in growing your own food.
7/ No more worries on food safety – Because you know how your plants are grown, you don’t have to worry about food safety.
With backyard gardening, you have control over the chemicals and products used during the growing process.
8/ Reduce food waste – You are less likely to throw away food. You’ll only pick what you need.
And, you wouldn’t want your time, effort, and hard work go to waste, right? End.
During the week a lady gardener rang with a couple of questions and during the conversation she told me that a friend had given her a freshly cut broccoli out of their garden. That night she cooked the broccoli and added it to the evening meal.
Her husband wanted to know what the name of the delicious vegetable that looked like a broccoli was.
He could not remember ever eating any vegetable that tasted so good.
He was told it was their friend’s Home Grown Broccoli. He wished that they were able to buy vegetables that tasted that good.
Goodness equals Taste, you grow a few vegetables without chemicals in your garden using only natural plant foods and minerals and picked fresh the taste is amazing.
Not only is the taste amazing your body is getting the minerals and nutritional goodness that you need to be healthy.
Your savings are immense, no need to purchase sauces and condiments that you need to put into your meals to make the bland food appear tasty (they are just chemical sugars, salts and fats anyway and bad for your health).
You save on health related costs, doctors, pharmacy products, time off work or school and possible hospital costs.
Often children with behavior aspects will improve.
Besides you cannot put a cost on poor health which is the ultimate cost of eating a food chain that lacks in fundamental goodness replaced by a list of chemical poisons likely as long as your arm.
Our conventional food chain is Insidious.
If you are not familiar with the meaning of the word it is: proceeding in a gradual, subtle way, but with very harmful effects.
Conventionally grown produce not only lacks in taste and goodness it goes off far quicker than natural home grown produce.
The reason is that it is already going off before it was even harvested.
They are weak plants having grown and sustained by chemical poisons.
Example strawberries conventionally grown look great, big berries but bland to the taste so we have to slice them and sprinkle icing sugar over them to make them taste good.
Home grown and they are sweet as; picked ripe off the plant. Plus they are full of minerals and antioxidants to make your immune system strong and you healthy.
Tomatoes conventionally grown lacking in flavour and bland need salt to make them appealing.
Home grown wow taste the difference.. Now thats a real tomato.
Another important aspect is that home grown produce is very filling and you dont need to eat much before you feel satisfied.
The reason is because your body has received its requirements and is happily utilizing the bounty of nutrients to fortify your organs and immune system.
Conventional food chain you eat a big meal and afterwards you still feel hungry.
Its not long before you are munching on some chippies or something to try and satisfy your hunger feelings.
Reason is your body has not received its list of needs for being healthy and is calling out for them so you stuff some more rubbish in and the best you achieve is being over weight and sickly.
You would excise to get rid of the fat but you dont have the energy (except for the sugars you consume) and besides you feel lethargic with the poisons your body is trying to cope with.
Not feeling so good best see the doctor who can prescribe some pharmaceutical chemicals to your Pandora’s box of chemicals.
Once upon a time the medical person would have inquired on your diet and likely suggested more fruit and vegetables but that was 50 odd years ago when the commercially grown produce had a lot more goodness than today.
Wallys formula: The more goodness (nutritional values) equals greater taste.
Home grown using natural elements means very healthy you and family.
You can be healthy and happy.
Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz
New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Part II of the Act covers a broad range of Civil and Political Rights. As part of the right to life and the security of the person, the Act guarantees everyone:
1The right not to be deprived of life except in accordance with fundamental justice (Section 8)
2The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment (Section 9)
3The right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation without consent (Section 10)
4The right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment (Section 11)
Furthermore, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 guarantees everyone: Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion.
This includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief,
INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO ADOPT AND HOLD OPINIONS WITHOUT INTERFERENCE (Section 1)
Image by Alexander Fox | PlaNet Fox from Pixabay
‘GARDENING WITH WALLY RICHARDS’ (Wally’s new book, release – 8 Dec 2023)
It’s been a busy spring with lots of new and not so new gardeners returning to grow some vegetables and flowers for pleasure.
Doing the gardening show with Rodney Hide on Radio Reality Check has increased the phone calls to my 0800 number with a number of people saying that they have listened to the pod recordings and have been encouraged to get back into Nature and the garden.
A few have told me the likes of ‘I have been gardening for 50 years but have learnt so much from listening to you’.
That has amazed me and made me think that the information about gardening that I write about and talk about is in some cases, news to some experienced gardeners several years older than my self.
Maybe I just have learnt a few methods along the way that others have not thought of or used to make gardening easier and more enjoyable.
Which brings me to a valid point, Gardening should be a pleasure, not a chore.
Even mowing the lawn gives a certain amount of pleasure; as well as a but of exercise.
The pleasure comes when you finish mowing and you look at the lawns and they look so much better from your efforts, which is your reward.
Years ago when I used to be invited to judge gardens for various areas and awards, I often saw beautiful gardens spoilt by a shabby lawn which marked them down.
Where a great looking lawn increased the value of average gardens.
The lawn is to a garden what the frame is to a picture.
Well as I am getting older by the day, like everyone else, I felt maybe its time I wrote another gardening book.
So over the last few months I have been working on this new book which I have called ‘Gardening with Wally Richards’.
I have endeavored to write about various problems and methods that have happened since I wrote my original book, ‘Wallys Down to Earth Gardening Guide’ in 2006
and then the revised edition in 2011 the later is now out of print and the original is nearly out of print.
The new book is based on some of the articles that I have written over the last 20 odd years and more so on recent publications.
I know that a number of gardeners keep my weekly articles for future reference and the new book puts the ones I consider the most important ones into a neat 200 page book.
Talking to the printers about having the book printed by early December as some may like to have it for Christmas and it would be a suitable gift for friends and family.
They said printing is no problem but getting the binders to bind the book this time of the year is more of a problem cause they will be busy doing new school books for next year.
So I opted to just have 500 books printed as my printer said they will be ready on 8th December to pick up.
Here is what you will find in my book:
FOREWORD page 9
MY JOURNEY Page 10
CHAPTER One Page 15 Gardening from past to present.
CHAPTER Two Page 29 The Tomato/Potato Psyllid
CHAPTER Three Page 39 Potato growing and Potato psyllid
CHAPTER Four Page 44 Garlic Rust
CHAPTER Five Page 50 Moths, Codlin, Guava and Army Worm
CHAPTER Six Page 57 Curly Leaf Disease in Stone Fruit
CHAPTER Seven Page 61 Raised Gardens
CHAPTER Eight Page 68 Pollination
CHAPTER Nine Page 74 Gardening with Cardboard
CHAPTER Ten Page 78 Magic in The Garden
CHAPTER Eleven Page 85 Germinating Seeds
CHAPTER Twelve Page 90 HEALTHY VEGETABLES
CHAPTER Thirteen Page 95 IRON VIS COPPER
CHAPTER Fourteen Page 100 Growing food in Containers
CHAPTER Fifteen Page 103 Your Food and Your Health go Hand in Hand
CHAPTER Sixteen Page 109 Weeds
CHAPTER Seventeen Page 117 Getting a better garden
CHAPTER Eighteen Page 120 Companion Planting
CHAPTER Nineteen Page 126 CO2 Carbon Dioxide
CHAPTER Twenty Page 131 Sunlight
CHAPTER Twenty One Page 135 Apple cider vinegar
CHAPTER Twenty Two Page 138 Citrus trees
CHAPTER Twenty Three Page 147 Germinating Seeds
CHAPTER Twenty four Page 152 Vital Calcium
CHAPTER Twenty five Page 158 Composting
CHAPTER Twenty six Page 162 Strawberries
CHAPTER Twenty Seven Page 166 Buxus Disease
CHAPTER Twenty Eight Page 171 Spraying
CHAPTER Twenty Nine Page 175 Health and Gardening
CHAPTER Thirty Page 179 Potassium Permanganate
CHAPTER Thirty One Page 184 House Plants
CHAPTER Thirty two Page 189 Perkfection
CHAPTER Thirty Three Page 193 Some Bits and Tips
As with all my books I autograph and put in a message and the name of the person the book is for.
If giving to another person a very short message of your choice along with their name/s which I am happy to cater for.
Or for yourself a message such as Happy Gardening….your name and my signature.
You place an order on our mail order web site at www.0800466464.co.nz
You cannot pay for it on the web site as I prefer to talk to my customers and I phone you and sort out all the details including payment method.
With only 500 copies printed I expect them to be snapped up quickly and orders after 500 will be catered for with another printing in the new year.
r.r.p as we publishers say is just $25.00 a copy
Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz
New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Part II of the Act covers a broad range of Civil and Political Rights. As part of the right to life and the security of the person, the Act guarantees everyone:
1The right not to be deprived of life except in accordance with fundamental justice (Section 8)
2The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment (Section 9)
3The right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation without consent (Section 10)
4The right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment (Section 11)
Furthermore, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 guarantees everyone: Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion.
This includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief,
INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO ADOPT AND HOLD OPINIONS WITHOUT INTERFERENCE (Section 1)
Image by Ekaterina Ershova from Pixabay
MYCORRCIN: GETTING A FAR BETTER GARDEN (Wally Richards)
I was asked a very interesting question a while back which went like this, ‘How come my parents and grandparents had such bountiful gardens?
Everything thrived and I never saw any great problems with pests and diseases, but on the other hand I have to use fertilisers and sprays just to maintain a mediocre garden. What’s gone wrong?
Well the answer as I see it was the difference in gardening, in days gone by people did not buy fertilisers and plant foods, instead they made their own compost and most people had their own chickens that were given all the kitchen scraps.
This was recycled into manure by the chickens and when the runs were mucked out this goodness went into the compost or directly into the soil.
The micro-organisms and beneficial fungi in the soil would be found in abundance along with lots of worms of course.
Then people started using chemical fertilisers and these destroy the beneficial soil life.
Also watering your gardens with chlorinated water kills the soil life and gets rid of the worms.
This means plants don’t feed as well, valuable nutrients are lost as there is not the metabolisms there to make them soluble for the plants.
The plants are not so healthy and they then get attacked by pests and diseases.
The answer is to reverse the spiral and there is a product called Wallys Mycorrcin which does the following; an organic product which promotes beneficial microbes to assist in the composting of organic matter into humus.
It stimulates Mycorrhizal fungi which act as an extension to the plant’s roots assisting in the collection of nutrients and moisture.
Mycorrhizal fungi can increase the root zone of a plant by up to 800% collecting nutrients and moisture.
Mycorrhizal fungi collects and delivers to the roots of plants which the plant thanks by giving back some carbohydrates.
A perfect relationship in a happy healthy garden.
Mycorrcin Improves calcium uptake, stimulates the growth of feeder roots and microbes responsible for mineralization.
Improving Calcium availability and uptake.
Inhibits soil pathogens, containing defense proteins such as bacteriocin like substances which inhibit soil pathogens.
Promotes balanced growth of both roots and canopy.
Aids plants in increased growth rates, heavier crop yields, warms soil, reduces disease problems, revitalizes soils and microbe activity that have become poorly due to chemical fertilisers and sprays.
A must for preferred plants such as roses, annuals, vegetables, fruit and lawns as well as other ornamentals.
Soil drench applied before planting, 1ml per litre of water of non chlorinated water over a sq.M.
Sprayed at 5ml per litre over existing plants and on the soil around the plant. (Ideally every 14 days) Available in a 250 ml, 500ml bottle and 1 litre containers.
Ideal to add to Magic Botanic Liquid to spray regularly over preferred plants and food crops.
By using Wallys Mycorrcin we stimulate the beneficial organisms and they convert the available food into soluble forms for the plants.
You use less food and get better results.
Here are a few examples, root mass of a grape vine cutting 800% bigger than the control plant from just dipping in Mycorrcin for a few minuets before planting.
Roses that were treated during the summer were in full bloom with lots of new buds, lush healthy foliage, no sign of disease and for the first time ever fragrance from the flowers was noticed.
Other roses on the same property, in a better location, were not treated and at the time of this report, end of March (Auckland) these ones had finished flowering and looked a mess from black spot.
The manufacturer of Mycorrcin took his wife to see a planting of 18 month old olive trees in a trial area that were treated with the product.
The wife told her husband off, because their 10 year old olive tree at home was not a patch on these big healthy trial plants.
You can increase the yield of your strawberry plants by 200 to 400 plus percent with a weekly spray of Mycorrcin..
Do you want a really terrific garden? The answer lays in the soil and Mycorrcin.
Use on your container plants too because they will really benefit from it.
If you have fallen leaves rake them up and spread them over the soil in bare gardens or under trees and shrubs and spray them with Mycorrcin, it breaks them down in about 4 months.
Use in the compost heap for better compost, faster.
This product is going to help change your garden into a great garden and save you money in sprays and fertilisers.
Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz
New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Part II of the Act covers a broad range of Civil and Political Rights. As part of the right to life and the security of the person, the Act guarantees everyone:
1The right not to be deprived of life except in accordance with fundamental justice (Section 8)
2The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment (Section 9)
3The right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation without consent (Section 10)
4The right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment (Section 11)
Furthermore, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 guarantees everyone: Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion.
This includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief,
INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO ADOPT AND HOLD OPINIONS WITHOUT INTERFERENCE (Section 1)
Growing giants by encouraging your children to garden (Wally Richards)
We need to encourage our children and grandchildren to appreciate Nature by including them in some gardening activities. I believe that young children have a natural infinity with plants and insects when they are allowed to explore our gardens.
Children learn many things by mimicking their parents and are often keen at a young age to assist in various gardening activities.
I remember as a toddler spending many hours in the garden collecting caterpillars off the cabbages and feeding them to our chooks.
I was given my own little spade and wheelbarrow when I was about three and had a lot of fun moving the weeds my mum removed from gardens
to the compost bin or to feed them to the chooks.
I can still remember how good it felt to be part of Nature back then and the same feeling pertains today when I work or wander around my gardens.
It was about that time, when I was given my own little plot of ground to grow plants in.
Seeds would be planted and I would be taught which seedlings were weeds and which were plants.
My own little watering can would nurture the baby plants till maturity.
A great ado would be made when one of my cabbages, silverbeet or lettuces was harvested for the evening meal.
Even though I hated eating silverbeet back then, I had to enjoy my own grown silverbeet, because I grew it!
It was the fuss that the adults made, that gave me a feeling of importance and likely kept me gardening for the rest of my life.
Plants that move have a fascination for children and a great one for this is Mimosa pudica, the Sensitive Plant, which folds up its leaves when touched.
They are easy to grow from seed as a pot plant for a windowsill. Nice pink flowers also.
As the plant matures it has thorns on the branches which incidentally are another attraction for children.
(Available from Kings Seeds..https://www.kingsseeds.co.nz/products/sensitive-plant)
Cacti with their prickles often appeal to young boys and I had a small collection when young and still keep a few.
Two awesome plants for children to grow are the super giant sunflowers and pumpkins.
Called My Giant Sunflower these extra tall sunflowers will grow up to 5 metres tall (17 odd feet). Grown in full sun in soil that has excellent drainage.
The giant pumpkin is called My Giant Pumpkin and these monsters can weigh over 1000 pounds at maturity (half a ton).
Some garden centres run competitions for the tallest sunflower and the biggest pumpkin with various prizes for the winners. Check your garden centres.
Designed for children but may also be open to big kids like me. The seed packets contain information on growing and recording the progress of your plants.
Another interesting aspect is to encourage the children to give their giant plant a personal name after it is established.
Naming the plant makes the giant more personal and helps the children to have respect for plants and nature.
If I was going to grow either of these giants, here is what I would do: In an all-day-sunny area, I would dig a hole about a spade depth and width, chop up the bottom of the hole, so the soil is loose, then fill the hole with chook manure to about two thirds full.
(Other manure could be used if chook manure is not obtainable, but chook is best).
Fill the rest of the hole with a good compost and soil mix, 50/50 making a small mound about 12cm tall above the filled in hole.
Place one seed in the middle of the mound and wet it down with Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL), (20 ml of MBL to 1 litre of water).
Water the mount to keep moist with plain water and then every 2 weeks with the MBL.
Overseas the biggest record vegetables have been achieved with products very similar or the same as MBL.
Spraying the foliage of your Giants every 2 weeks with MBL (10 ml to a litre) will also assist in a bigger healthier plant.
After your plants are established and growing well, give them a drink using Cucumber Booster, once a week.
This is a high nitrogen product that is a combination of sulphate of ammonia and potassium nitrate, which you diluted in water.
Cucumber Booster is excellent for any plants that enjoys a boost of nitrogen after establishment.
It is used for growing cucumbers, pumpkins, zucchini and gourds.
The MBL and Cucumber Booster can be combined for watering into the soil near the base of the plant.
Because of the weather patterns we are experiencing, after you plant your seed, cut off the base of a 2 to3 litre plastic fruit juice bottle and place this over the mound with the cap removed. This will give your seed and seedling its own little glasshouse.
This is removed once the seedling starts to fill the bottle and needs more room.
With the Giant Sunflower a tall strong stake should be put in the ground at seed planting time on the edge of the mound.
This will be needed later to give extra support to the plant.
Another interesting thing to do is once the sunflower gets up about a metre tall, plant 3 or 4 climbing bean seeds at the base of the plant.
These will grow up the sunflower and also provide extra nitrogen for the sunflower.
It is a lot of fun plus a great way to get the children way from the TV and video games, showing them there is more to life than a screen.
AROUND THE GARDEN
Aphids are likely to be found on your roses at this time and they can easily be controlled with a safe spray of Wallys Super Pyrethrum
and Wallys Super Neem Tree Oil combined. Spray very late in the day just before dusk to obtain the best results.
Stone fruit trees that had the curly leaf disease will now be producing new leaves free of the problem.
The damaged leaves will fall off over time. You can if you like, spray the newer leaves a couple of times with Liquid Copper Nutrient just to be sure, but if the disease has finished for the season the sprays will help build up resistance for next season.
A few sprays of molasses at a tablespoon per litre of water will give the tree some extra carbs and help hold the crop.
Codlin Moths will start to be on the wing about now so obtain a pheromone trap from your garden centre or from our Mail Order site at www.0800466464.co.nz
so you can monitor the best time to spray. A number of gardeners have found that a spray of Wallys Neem Tree Oil with Raingard over the young apples, applied about 5-7 days after an influx of moths into the traps, has resulted in only a very small scar on the mature apple, where the grub took its first and only bite.
Repeat spray 14 days later and then wait for another influx of moths before repeating.
Tomatoes should be doing well if in a sunny, sheltered spot. Only remove laterals on a sunny day when it is not humid or moist.
Spray the wound immediately with Liquid Copper to prevent disease entering the wound resulting in the possible loss of the plant.
Ensure that the tomato plants are well supported on stakes during windy times.
If you are concerned about blight spray the plants with Perkfection as a preventative, once a month. The same applies for your potatoes.
For general health of any plants, especially roses and food crops, a two weekly spray of MBL and Mycorrcin works wonders.
Spray both the soil and the foliage.
Avoiding the use of chemical sprays and fertilisers is a must for healthy plants.
Had the case of a lady this week that used a common chemical rose spray on her roses for aphids and found that the roses shed many of their leaves a few days later.
Plants hate poisons as they kill all the beneficial things in nature.
I have a saying that if you work with Nature, you will have great gardens, if you try to work against nature, you have chemical warfare.
Happy, Healthy Gardening.
Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz
New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Part II of the Act covers a broad range of Civil and Political Rights. As part of the right to life and the security of the person, the Act guarantees everyone:
1The right not to be deprived of life except in accordance with fundamental justice (Section 8)
2The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment (Section 9)
3The right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation without consent (Section 10)
4The right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment (Section 11)
Furthermore, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 guarantees everyone: Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion.
This includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief,
INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO ADOPT AND HOLD OPINIONS WITHOUT INTERFERENCE (Section 1)
A gardening checklist, heading into Summer (Wally Richards)
Now that we are halfway through Spring and quickly heading to Summer (December) there is a fair bit to do in our gardens so lets run a check list in case some things are missed.
It will depend on what you have in your gardens as to whether any or all things aspects concern you.
Roses: generally at this time we have new foliage, buds and some flowering taking place.
If there is any sign of black spot or rust, spray the roses and soil underneath with a solution of potassium permanganate mixed at ¼ a teaspoon to a litre of non chlorinated water and spray. (It may stain walls etc temporarily).
Food for Roses ; ideal is horse manure, blood & bone otherwise sheep manure pellets with the blood & bone.
These should be applied to the soil and covered with some purchased compost.
Add to this a sprinkling of Wallys Unlocking your Soil and once a month a small sprinkling of Fruit & Flower Power.
If you want good roses avoid soil damaging fertilisers such as rose fertiliser and nitrophoska.
Bio Boost is also a good natural slow release one and very well priced. (Available from PGG Wrightson or Fruit Fed)
If you have roses that need recovery from past chemical sprays such as Shield (now banned) the chemicals will have broken down the natural immunity of your roses.
You may like to start a recovery spray program which I wrote about originally just on 10 years ago.
On the first of the month mix the following at their label rates per a litre of water, PerKfection for Roses, Magic Botanic Liquid, Mycorrcin & Wallys Neem Tree Oil.
Spray late in the day just before sunset. Then on the 15th of the month repeat spray all the above except for PerKfection.
Only water with non chlorinated water so you don’t harm the beneficial soil life including the gardeners best friend, earthworms.
In some cases the health improvement of your roses will be quickly noticed; although some may have the additional problem of inherently poor breeding and always be a sickly specimen (even if they have brilliant flowers).
Lawns; I have had a number of inquiries about lawn problems starting with moss in lawns.
Don’t waste your money on sulphate of iron as it only burns the top of the moss which then it quickly comes back.
Instead, jet spray the moss with Wallys Moss & Liverwort Control. It kills the moss completely without damaging the grasses.
If there is a spongy feeling when walking on the lawn that indicates a thatch problem.
Simply spray the lawn with Thatch Busta to clean up the thatch. (Do the moss killing first, wait about 2 weeks then the Thatch Busta.)
Bare patches in the lawn indicate the root damage caused by grass grubs in the autumn/winter period and these same grubs are now down deep, pupating to emerge shortly as beetles.
They are too deep to do anything about them at this time so don’t waste your money on treating. The horse has gone so no need to close the gate.
Another bare patch problem with holes in the lawn indicate that porina caterpillars are at work eating at the base of the grass in the evening (when they are safe from birds) to return to their tunnels before dawn.
A simple spray over the lawn with Wallys Neem Tree Oil will stop the damage and cause them to starve to death.
In areas where porina are a problem treat the lawn this way every 3 months.
Best do this late in the day on a recently mowed lawn.
When the grass grub beetles emerge they are going to eat the foliage of several plants so after you have noticed holes in the leaves go out after dark with a torch and have a look.
If you have beetles then spray them directly with a mix of Wallys Super Pyrethrum and Wallys Neem Tree Oil. Repeat nightly.
Also a bright light in a window facing the lawn with a trough two thirds full of water with a film of kerosene floating on the top; placed directly under the window pane, will trap lots of beetles (maybe a few Codlin Moths too)
They fly at the bright light hit the pane and fall into the water where the kerosene stops them from escaping.
Feed the beetles to the chickens next morning or flush down the toilet.
By the way if you do not have two or three chickens and you have room for a small hen house and run it is a great investment.
They will convert kitchen scraps and weeds into the best manure around and as a bonus supply you with a few eggs that you will find really tasty and magic for baking.
Not only that you are a bit more self-sufficient.
Check all grafted fruit tree and ornamentals for any sign of foliage appearing on the root stock below the graft union.
Any found should be rubbed or cut off otherwise they will grow and the preferred plant will die.
Rust on garlic and curly leaf on stone fruit; this season because of a lot of rain and too many cloudy skies meaning not much direct sunlight has placed plants into stress which makes them more prone to catching diseases.
To help rescue the crop mix a table spoon of molasses to a litre of hot water to dissolve and then when cool spray over the foliage.
Repeat regularly till harvest. Also you can water the same into the root zone occasionally.
Weeds; they certainly grow at this time of the year and as long as you deal to them before they set seed they are not too much of a problem.
In fact weeds are a excellent asset to your garden soils as they have taken up goodness which can be returned to great advantage.
You could pull the weeds out, shake the soil off them and lay them back down on the soil.
That is good but even better; with a sharp knife slice through the weeds just below soil surface.
This leaves the roots in the soil to rot and provide food for the soil life and it does not disrupt the beneficial fungi in the soil.
The foliage can be laid on the soil surface where it will be quickly devoured by the soil life and worms.
Your soil will build up humus quickly if you spray the dying weeds with Mycorrcin.
Doing these things (sure it takes a bit of time but it is so therapeutic and anti-stressful) will overtime make for dream gardens and plants.
Citrus; its a good time to sprinkle Wallys Neem tree Granules underneath the citrus trees from the trunk to the drip line. This will help prevent insect damage.
If you have chook manure give a good sprinkling of that otherwise any animal manure or sheep manure pellets along with blood & bone. Cover with compost.
Sprinkle Fruit and Flower Power once a month.
A spray of Wallys Liquid Copper with Raingard added in the spring and autumn will help with any citrus diseases.
If the trees are looking a bit sad add Perkfection to the copper spray.
In cases where wet feet have rotted roots treat the area with Terracin to suppress the pathogens and help save the tree.
Three weeks later spray the soil with Mycorrcin.
Note always use non-chlorinated water which is easily achieved with a special carbon bonded filter on your outside tap (available from our mail order web site).
Pear Slugs; In warmer areas and later in cooler areas the pear slugs will attack pear and plum trees, they eat small holes in the foliage and look like a black slug.
Simply spray the tree with Wallys Liquid Copper to control.
Remember be nice to your gardens by being natural.
Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz
New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Part II of the Act covers a broad range of Civil and Political Rights. As part of the right to life and the security of the person, the Act guarantees everyone:
1The right not to be deprived of life except in accordance with fundamental justice (Section 8)
2The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment (Section 9)
3The right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation without consent (Section 10)
4The right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment (Section 11)
Furthermore, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 guarantees everyone: Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion.
This includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief,
INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO ADOPT AND HOLD OPINIONS WITHOUT INTERFERENCE (Section 1)
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