Category Archives: Gardening

Seed Germination time (Wally Richards)

August 14, 2023 Pam Vernon Leave a comment

SPRING SALE (See below the article) and SEED GERMINATION TIME article

There are two basic places to germinate seeds, one is where they will ultimately grow and mature the other is in suitable containers to germinate and then to transplant out into open ground or larger containers latter on.

Firstly it is always best to plant any seed in the spot where it will grow and mature.

The reason for this is because when a seed germinates it will send down a tap root and if in open ground in a friable soil that root can be very long.

If on the other hand we germinate in a container or seedling tray that root will be limited in the depth of the tray and growing medium.

It is not practical to grow every thing at the maturity site, especially when we are getting an early start or growing out of season.

There are some seed types which should only be grown in their maturity site and only planted when conditions are favorable.

I often see seedlings for sale in punnets of plants which should never be offered this way because novice gardeners, that know no better, may purchase and have poor results..

The worst example of this is root crops such as carrots and parsnips which should only be direct sown as in any other form they will not produce a normal root. An exception to this is a newer carrot that is round in shape and does not produce a long edible root.

Beetroot and onions are seedlings that will transplant but are better to direct sow. (Direct sow means planting seed where they will mature) Spring onion is an exception.

Corn, beans and peas should all be direct sown and you will get far better crops if you do so.

Larger seeds are easy to handle and can be placed where you want them to grow without having to thin out later on. Silverbeet is another one that would be best direct sown.

If you want to start off seeds early in open ground try this method.

Make a trench about 100mm deep and the same wide, mow your lawn and collect the clippings which you then pack fresh into the bottom of your trench.

(Note if the grasses are in seed in the lawn it maybe best not to use the clippings to prevent moving grass weeds to your garden)

Pack firmly to about 80mm then sprinkle a little compost over the clippings to cover.

Next sprinkle Wallys Calcium & Health and Unlocking your Soil along the trench along with foods such as chook manure, sheep manure pellets, blood & bone, Bio Boost and Neem Tree Granules.

Once again cover lightly with weed free compost (Purchased)

Next sow your seeds such as peas, beans, sweet corn etc.

Once the seeds are spaced out along the row then spray them with Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) at 20 mls per litre. This really speeds up germination. Then cover the seeds with more compost and water down using a fine rose watering can with MBL added.

For those that have problems with either cats, birds or late frosts then make some hoops out of No8 wire and place them along the row with a clearance of about 200mm in the middle of the row.

Place crop cover over the hoops and on one side cover with soil and on the other side with lengths of old timber or similar.

That allows you to easily take off to tend to the plants as needed.

The heat from the grass clippings will warm the soil which greatly helps germination.

Once well developed then you can remove the hoops and cover and store for future use.

Now lets look at doing similar but in seedling trays or by using cell packs or punnets.

If you keep the punnets and cell packs that you have purchased in the past then these are good value to use.

Wash them out in hot water so they are nice and clean.

To fill I use only purchased compost of high quality such as from Daltons or Oderings.

I have found that seed raising mixes are a gimmick and most of the ones I have looked at are too expensive and do not work as well as a good quality compost for most seed germination projects.

Think about this; outside in Nature we find all sorts of soils types even straight gravel or sand where seeds do not appear to have much trouble germinating, without any special mixes from mankind.

One important aspect to consider when germinating in seedling trays is to have heat from a heat pad.

Some garden shops, pet supplies and brew shops have heat pads which can be used for germination.

I place a sheet of polystyrene block on a bench to direct the heat upwards then sit the seed trays on the heat pad.

If you go to wholesale fish outlets or fish departments of supermarkets you will likely find used polystyrene trays free or for a few dollars.

You can sit your heat pad in the tray and being white it will provide lots of good reflected light.

If the pad you buy is a higher temperature than you require then cover the pad with sand and keep the sand moist. Sit your seedling trays on the sand.

Fill your seedling tray or cell packs to about two thirds full with purchased compost as above.

Carefully sprinkle a few seeds over the compost keeping them apart so they each have their own space.

Spray then seeds with MBL and Mycorrcin mixed together in a trigger sprayer with non chlorinated water. Once the compost and seeds are wet then cover seeds with more compost (You can sieve it if you like) and wet down with your spray.

Now you spray the tray at least twice a day to keep the compost moist using the same trigger mix.

Once a few seeds have germinated and before they start stretching for light get them out into natural light from overhead such as on a bench in a glasshouse.

If you do not have a suitable place then place your polystyrene box outside with a sheet of glass over it.

The seedlings will need spraying still but off the heat pad a lot less. Make sure the seedlings are in good

light but not strong sun light to burn them.

If you are worried about them at night you can bring the polystyrene box inside or onto a porch.

When the seedlings are big enough to handle prick them out and pot them into small pots once again using the compost.

WELCOME TO SPRING PROMOTION

As many of you are aware this time of the year we try to offer some specials for you to use during the coming growing season.

The following specials will start today 13th August and finish on Thursday 31st August at Midnight.

Any orders must be placed on our mail order web site at www.0800466464.co.nz

ALSO MOST IMPORTANT…PLACE THE WORD SPRING in the CUSTOMER MESSAGE BOX

This allows me to sort out the various discounts and add any shipping before I phone you to organise mode of payment for the order. (Credit/Debit Card payment over phone which is the best and fastest way alternatively I email you the details for a bank transfer)

While on the phone I can also answer any questions you may have. (Its called service which is not common these days)

Here are the offerings:

25% off Neem Oil, Neem Granules and Neem Powder

20% off all other items except for BULK items

Of the above: North Island if your order comes to $100 or more after discount then free shipping. (Not including Bulk items)

South Island in your order comes to $150 or more after discount then free shipping. (Not including Bulk items)

10% off Bulk Items such as 10kilo bags BioPhos, Ocean Solids and Unlocking Your Soil. These bulk products will incur shipping at cost.

These are 10kg North Island $16.00 South Island $19.00

Up to 25 kg North Island $19.00 South Island $25.00

We do not send to PO Boxes or outer Islands such as Waiheke or Stewart Islands But will send to the Ferry depot servicing those Islands

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 onehundredseventyfive from Pixabay

Gardening

TOMATO STARTING TIME (Wally Richards)

August 7, 2023 Pam Vernon Leave a comment

August for my money is the start of a new growing season, the day light hours are increasing every day plus dormant plants and trees are waking up.

Time waits for no man and so the quicker we get started the better; the sooner we will be rewarded with the fruits of our endeavors.

Already garden shops have tomato seedlings in cell packs and individual pots ready for you to grow on.

Likely you can find some Sweet One Hundred tomato plants which a plant is a good choice as it produces early a lot of bite size ripe tomatoes which are ideal in your summer salads.

Early Girl is another one you are likely to find as it is a medium size early maturing tomato suitable for the home garden.

Now if you have a glasshouse or the equivalent then you off growing with a smile on your face.

A glasshouse protects from the elements but it does not protect from what you do.

If your glasshouse is an open soil to grow in or even a raised garden you have constructed to grow in then do not be in a hurry to plant your new tomatoes in the cold soil.

If you have a thermometer put it into the soil and see what temperature is at 5 centimeters deep.

Until you have a consistent soil temperature of 10 degrees C (Which is the temperature many seeds will germinate at) there is no point of planting the tomatoes into the cold soil.

This is particularly so if the soil is wet. Dry soil will give a higher temperature reading.

But you are impatient, you want to be the first in your circle of friends to have a ripe, new season, home grown tomato.

Ok dig a hole a couple of spade depths and get the motor mower out with a catcher on and mow the grass (hopefully the grass is not too wet to mow.)

Now stuff the grass clippings into the hole and pack down firmly till it is within about 100mm of the soil level.

Sprinkle about 10mm of soil on top of the grass and then sprinkle Wallys Secret Tomato Food with Neem onto the soil then another 10mm layer of soil over that.

Thats about a 80mm hole which you can sit your tomato plant in the middle of and back fill the hole so the trunk of the tomato plant will be buried up to or just beyond the first set of leaves.

The reason to bury the plant deep is because tomatoes will produce more roots up the trunk when buried.

A bigger root system will ensure a bigger healthier plant.

Now sprinkle some of Wallys Secret Tomato Food with Neem onto the soil around the plant but not touching the trunk.

This food will be watered down over time and the Neem Powder will create a smell disguising the tomato plant smell making it more difficult for insect pests to find where to lay their eggs.

In fact you could also Spread some of Wallys Neem Tree Granules around over the soil areas to make even a bigger smell barrier.

The heat from the composting grass will warm the soil and speed the growth of your tomatoes.

Also place a stake into the soil near the plant for support later on and on the stake hang one of Wallys Sticky white Fly traps with only one side’s cover peeled off to expose the sticky yellow surface.

The still covered other side will rest against the stake.

As you plant grows taller lift the yellow sticky pad higher so it is always just above the top of the plant.

Hang a White fly sticky trap near each vent and door to catch any incoming.

Do all this and with any luck you will have a season without a lot of whitefly problems.

Now if you do not want to make a hole and fill with grass clippings then repot your tomato plants into pots a bit bigger than what they were purchased in, use black pots as they are best for trapping heat.

The reason being is that you dont want to go into too bigger pot too soon and have the danger of over watering and maybe killing the tomato plants.

You can keep re-potting into larger size pots as the plants fill the pot with their root system.

Apply the Wallys Secret Tomato with Neem at each stage, in the pot and on top of the mix.

The plants will need watering and a little often, during the day is the rule rather than a drench to make the soil colder at night.

If you do not have a glasshouse you can use a sunny porch, conservatory, car port or under the eaves on the north side of the house.

The potting up progressively to bigger size containers is the answer for best results.

Later on when the season progresses you can plant your potted tomatoes out into a sunny sheltered area of the garden.

Likely they will then be about a metre tall and in a large bucket size container.

Using Wallys Neem Tree Granules and Yellow sticky white fly traps out doors will also help reduce insect pest problems.

If you do not have any place to plant your tomato plant then get a plastic container or plastic rubbish bin than is between 50 litres to 100 litres.

A 200 litre plastic drum cut in half is ideal. But make sure its sitting where the plant will spend all summer and autumn as it will be very heavy to move around.

Use Daltons Value Compost as the growing medium.

Apply Wallys secret Tomato Food With Neem to the soil surface every so often or every 4-6 weeks

It has a good amount of potash which will ensure you have great juicy tasting fruit.

If you had problems with the tomato psyllid last season then you need to invest in Wallys Cell Strengthening products to eradicate the pests from your back yard.

Spray your tomato plants with Wally Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) every week as they are growing to ensure healthy good producing plants.

I mix up the MBL in a one litre trigger spray bottle and leave it sitting near the tomato plants so I can spray them when ever passing if required.

If any insect pests start to get established such as white fly then spay just before sun set with Wallys Super Neem Tree Oil and Super Pyrethrum combined, under and over foliage.

Repeat every 7 days as required.

If you have a worry about blight on your tomatoes then Spray them with Wallys Super Copper Nutrient at 5 mil rate and a month later again.

If blight does attack spray the Plants with Perkfection at 7mil rate.

When removing laterals only do so on a sunny day when the air is dry.

To set fruit on a sunny day tap plants to make them vibrate which sets the fruit.

Ensure that later on when in flower that the medium is kept moist so you do not get blossom end rot.

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, News

GARDENING FOR HEALTH (Wally Richards)

August 2, 2023 Pam Vernon 3 Comments

I am very conscious of people that have only small sections or live in flats, retirement villages and apartments which means they have either no land or very little land to grow food in.

For people in those places they need to make the most economical use of their land available and also to grow the most highly nutritious food possible.

This is particularly so now as a draconian Government has passed the therapeutic bill which means they control what natural remedies, vitamins, minerals and supplements that you are allowed to purchase and use for your well being and health.

Traditional remedies that their parents and grandparents used to keep them healthy is now only available at the whim of some bureaucrat whom likely has a big Tax Paid salary and less knowledge about health than most of us gardeners.

So far they have yet to try and stop us from growing our own healthy food and high health products.

Recently I wrote about growing sprouts on a window sill and using Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) in the water that you are sprouting the seed with.

Spouts are very nutritious and when you sprout the seeds with MBL they become super nutritious.

Now let me tell you a little story about what I discovered over 20 years ago that made a big difference to my health and well being.

I had learnt about MSM (Organic Sulphur) which is a white crystal powder from pine trees that you dissolve in a vitamin C fruit juice and take morning and night.

Your body needs a regular amount of sulphur daily and back 40 plus years ago you would have got your daily sulphur dose from your purchased (once upon a time) very healthy food chain.

(Not any more unless you are growing your own vegetables naturally and putting sulphur into the growing soil in the form of gypsum).

MSM I learnt about from an authority on the subject who is living in America and was sent 500 grams to try it.

I did and the first thing I noticed was that my memory improved significantly to the point that I could go into any room and know why I was there.

Reason being is sulphur helps carry oxygen to the cells and they function better.

Great relief for sore joints, arthritis and many other health issues.

Sulphur is also nature’s beauty element and often women that take MSM notice an improvement of hair, nails and complexion. It is also anti-aging. (I think mainly because of the continual detox MSM does when taking regularly).

I also learnt about that same time, after reading about Sea 90, that wheat grass and barley grass are two plants that will take up all the 114 known minerals and elements if they are present in the growing medium.

(Tomatoes want 56 different minerals and elements which they take up)

I was well aware of the fad referred to as drinking wheat grass juice for health and had even tried some once from a juice bar and found it bitter and not nice to drink.

But if the wheat grass takes up all the minerals and elements given to it when it grows then there is some great benefit in growing it and juicing.

There are four sources of mineral rich products, Ocean Solids being the minerals from the ocean along with the sodium chloride (salt which is about 95%) and the other 5% is the other 113 minerals and elements.

Minerals from powdered rocks which is called Wallys Unlocking your Soil and the MBL which contains the minerals from prehistoric times when the young planet was mineral rich.

BioPhos for the phosphate which we use as a building block for several important substances including those used for cell energy, cell membranes and DNA.

I then started growing wheat grass with all the above minerals and even if you do not have much land to grow stuff you can do this also.

I obtained some polystyrene boxes from a fish wholesaler (Also some supermarkets give them away)

I filled the boxes which are about 400mm by 28 mm wide and about 200 mm deep with Daltons Value Compost to about two thirds full; after putting some drainage holes in the sides of the box

(just up from the base. Reason being is some water will be under the mix as a reservoir to help keep mix moist.)

Over the compost I sprinkled Ocean Solids, BioPhos and Unlocking your Soil; then just covered that with a little more compost.

On top of that I spread the wheat seeds very thickly like many were touching each other then I sprayed them with the MBL mix.

I watered down with non chlorinated water and placed a sheet of glass over the box to keep mice and birds from getting in and eating the seeds. Keep the mix moist with regular watering.

When the box had a good show of germination of the grass I then did the same process to a second box to enable more grasses to be cut and used continuously.

When the grasses were well established I then removed the glass cover and once they reached a height of about 150mm it was time to harvest and juice. You can spray the grass with MBL for added benefit.

Now this is very important you need to use a manual type juicer which you turn the handle to squeeze the juice out of the grass.

Electric ones will destroy some of the goodness and antioxidants as they heat up while juicing and are hard to cleans because the green juice really stains.

With a pair of scissors you a couple of handfuls of grass off just above soil level and run them through the juicer. The liquid will be sweet as it has a high brix level which also indicates its full of goodness.

I started juicing once a day and it made a big difference to my well being.

Back then I was still a smoker and would over indulge in my favorite spirit at times.

I used to suffer from chronic indigestion if I ate ice cream in the evening and pastry foods before bed, waking up later, in a bad way.

The wheat grass fixed that completely which I figure was caused by an unbalance in my body and I have hardly ever had indigestion since.

Some people prefer barley grass to wheat grass and there is no reason not to grow both together for added benefits of the barley. You will find barley juice is a little bitter when compared to the wheat juice.

I wrote about juicing many years ago after having found great health benefits from it.

One chap told me that he took the wheat grass juice 3 times a day while under going chemo and he did not lose his hair and sailed through the treatment with little side effects.

Many people have improved their health from this easy to grow grass.

An alternative to juicing is to put the grass into a high speed blender with other things to make a super healthy smoothie.

If you prefer; you can grow in a raised garden or open garden simply follow the instructions for growing it in the boxes.

I have on our mail order web site at www.0800466464.co.nz made a new category link called Wheat and Barley Grass products.

In there you will find a kit with the wheat, barley and minerals all in a polystyrene box which you can use to grow the grass in.

I have also ordered from overseas some manual wheat grass juicers which should arrive later in August.

Beat the Government’s therapeutic bill and grow your own healthy Vitamins and Minerals.

Gardening, News

About plant diseases & how to control them (Wally Richards)

July 31, 2023 Pam Vernon Leave a comment

Plant diseases appear when a plant is lacking in one or more elements or the plant is in stress for what ever reason.

Normally we spray a fungicide to prevent or control a plant disease which sits on the surface of the leaves and branches.

Dependent on the disease we use a copper fungicide or a sulphur fungicide alternatively the compound potassium permanganate and in some cases a combination of two or the whole three sprayed together.

It some diseases such as curly leaf on stone fruit trees (nectarine & peach) we apply a fungicide copper every 7 to 10 days; or again after rain, if we have not used Raingard in the spray.

With curly leaf in stone fruit the disease often strikes when it rains because the spores are splashed up from the soil below but if the rain has washed off the copper fungicide then there is no protection.

Curly leaf in stone fruit is a difficult disease to prevent and dependent on how bad the leaves are damaged means a loss of some or even all the crop.

In severe cases the tree may die also.

Now this is interesting and extracted from an article I received recently…

People misunderstand the use of copper as a fungicide. They drench the plant and often create excesses of this mineral in the soil.

75% of the copper response comes from within the plant, rather than on the leaf.

(Dr Don Huber)

Dr. Don Huber is a retired professor of plant pathology from Purdue University in Indiana, USA.

He has over 50 years of experience in researching plant diseases and soil-borne pathogens, as well as their relationships with microbial ecology, nutrient availability, and crop productivity.

Dr. Huber has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on these topics and has received many awards for his contributions to the field of plant pathology.

He is also a recognized authority on the potential risks associated with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the use of glyphosate herbicides.

However, excessive use of copper-based fungicides can lead to copper accumulation in soil and water, which can have negative environmental impacts and they are proving to be less effective than some alternative forms of copper. As a result, there has been increasing interest in the use of copper nutrition products as an alternative approach to controlling plant diseases.

Comparative studies between Copper nutritional products and Copper Fungicide have consistently shown that the preventive and curative efficacy of the former is often significantly higher, and in the worst case, similar to that of the Copper Fungicide.

Copper Nutritional products demonstrated exceptional performance in terms of their long-lasting efficacy, compared to Copper Fungicides.

They maintained significant levels of control for up to 90 days, whereas Copper Fungicides showed a notable decline in control after just 7-14 days.

The difference in their mode of action explains this contrast; Copper Nutritional products are systemic and designed to increase the plant’s copper levels, whereas Copper Fungicides are contact-based and remain mostly on the leaf surface, making them susceptible to weather-induced degradation and physical removal.

Copper nutrition products work by providing plants with a source of copper, which is an essential micro nutrient required for plant growth and development.

Copper helps to activate enzymes involved in several physiological processes in plants, including photosynthesis and respiration. Additionally, copper has been shown to have anti-fungal properties, which makes it effective in controlling plant diseases.

Studies have shown that copper can enhance plant immune responses by regulating gene expression and enzyme activity involved in defense mechanisms.

For example, a study by R. Mehari et al. (2015) in the journal Plant Physiology and Biochemistry found that copper enhanced the activity of enzymes involved in the synthesis of lignin, which is a component of plant cell walls that plays a crucial role in plant defense against pathogens.

I am pleased to say that we now have a copper nutrient which I have called Wallys Super Copper Nutrient and is available from our mail order web site in 250 ml bottles.

Or you can ask your local garden centre to order the product in for you.

I was told of a trial that was done on a stone fruit tree to prevent curly leaf.

Only one part of the tree was treated and that part had no curly leaf and even the following season still no curly leaf where the rest of the tree suffered from the disease.

Used at the rate of 10 mils per litre for initial application and then at 5mils per litre of water for maintenance.

If you have a stone fruit tree that suffers from curly leaf then spray the tree now before spring movement at 10mils over the branches where the leaf buds are. Coverage should be as good as able all over the tree.

When there is a show of leaves later on spray again at the 5 mil rate.

If the tree is flowering only spray the foliage at the end of the day when pollination has finished for the day.

Another spray of foliage at 5 mils per litre of water can be done after fruit has set.

Trials that I have read about diseases on other plants have also being very good at controlling various disease problems.

Thus where you have problem diseases such as on roses and other plants this copper nutrient maybe the answer you them also.

Dr. Don Huber also commented that the only reason copper fungicides helped in control of various diseases is that some of the copper would get into the plant which would then help the plant as written above.

But applying Wallys Super Copper Nutrient cuts to the chase reducing or eliminating the need for copper fungicide sprays.

Order from www.0800466464.co.nz link at plant diseases

Gardening, News

FRUIT TREE TIME (Wally Richards)

June 25, 2023 Pam Vernon 1 Comment

About this time each year; fruit tree nurseries lift the new season Delicious fruit trees out of the ground and either wrap the roots or bag them into planter bags, secured with twine as the roots have been cut.

It is very important that as soon as the tree is out of the ground the roots need to be covered and kept moist. If the bare roots are left too long they dry and the up lifted tree dies.

Every now and then I hear from a gardener that purchased a deciduous fruit tree (or ornament including roses) planted them and later in the spring the tree will leaf up and likely flower then nothing.

The reason being is the tree was already dead but had enough sap to be able leaf and flower before it ran out of steam having dead roots that cant take up moisture etc.

Like wise if you cut a branch off a flowering deciduous tree now that has flower buds on it and place the branch into a vase of water then it will flower later on when it is ready to do so.

The branch is clinically dead with enough sap and vigor to flower.

Gardeners often don’t realise that they had purchased a dead tree because it had appeared to come to life then faded.

Ideally you return the dead tree to the place you purchased it from with your docket as proof of purchase for a replacement or a refund.

Likewise when you are buying deciduous plants you must keep the roots covered and moist till planted and even then if the soil is dry then regular watering is needed.

Evergreen fruit trees such as citrus and feijoa are often available all year round but the best time to buy and plant is in the autumn/winter period as they have a new season of spring to establish before going into summer.

Citrus trees must have a free draining soil as they will died of root rot in heavy wet soils.

I have found the best way to overcome this problem is: you plant the young tree into 50 to 100 litre plastic drum or plastic rubbish tin.

You drill 50mm holes using a circular drill saw, four in the bottom and four in the sides at the cardinal points about 100mm up from the base.

You then bury the container about a third into the soil where you want it to grow.

Use compost to plant into the container along with blood & bone, sheep manure pellets or any manures available.

I personally dont like citrus fertiliser as it is acidic, harms the soil life and does not have sufficient potash in it.

There are varieties of fruit trees that suit most climates in NZ even some types of apricots that don’t require the chilling of winter as found in areas of the south island.

Some fruiting types require more maintenance than others having seasonal pests or diseases.

The most hassles free and great producers, from a fairly early age are Nashi pears and Feijoa and prior to the guava moth in the north of NZ were fairly pest free.

Nashi may in the middle of summer have some damage to the foliage from the pear slug pest which are easily controlled by sprays of Wallys Liquid Copper.

A tree ripened Nashi pear is so juicy and delicious when grown naturally.

Feijoa is another favorite of mine and there are a number of types readily available in NZ garden centres these days. Here are some examples:

Unique; (my favorite) An early season, prolific bearer of fruit from a young age.

This variety produces medium sized fruit with smooth, soft, and juicy flesh. A truly self-fertile variety.

Triumph; Produces medium to large sized oval fruits with firm skin, juicy and moderately soft flesh and an excellent sharp flavour.

Flesh somewhat gritty but with good seed-to-pulp ratio. Ripens late in the season. Good pollinator for Mammoth. Needs a pollinator. Which means you need two to have good crops.

Mammoth; Produces large, soft, round to oval fruit, with thick, somewhat wrinkled skin. The flesh is slightly gritty, and the quality and flavour are very good.

A strong growing tree of upright habit, it will grow up to 3 metres tall. Bears larger fruit with a pollinator (Triumph is a good option).

Anatoki; An early season variety with lush dark green leaves on a very attractive plant. It produces exceptionally sweet round fruit. Needs a pollinator.

The tree is quite vigorous, with large deep green foliage.

Apollo; A vigorous and productive variety that produces a medium to large oval fruit with smooth, thin, light green skin. Ripens mid to late season. Flavour very pleasant, quality excellent. This is an upright, spreading tree that will grow up to 2.5 metres tall. Semi self-fertile.

Bambina A dwarf variety, with thin edible skin surrounding sweet aromatic pulp bursting with flavour. Bambina is a good choice when planting in a pot. Self-fertile.

Wiki Tu; Producing huge fruit on a dwarf growing (2.5m), Wiki Tu is an easily managed, slow growing tree. The sweet and meaty fruit has a firm texture and good keeping qualities.

A mid-late season fruiting variety, it is partially self fertile, though is best with another variety nearby for cross pollination.

Remember Feijoa are gross feeders so a good dose of blood and bone and animal manure should be applied under the tree in the root zone in the spring.

As they start to bud up in the spring give them a monthly dose of Wallys Fruit and Flower Power till harvest.

Now here is an interesting thing in regards to stone fruit and in particular nectarines and peach both of which suffer in spring with the curly leaf disease which can reduce or completely lose the crop.

A few years ago I spoke to an elderly lady gardener who told me that see had an orchard with both nectarine and peach trees and never any curly leaf disease.

The reason being she grew them from stones (stones or seed from inside the fruit) This meant they were not grafted and grew on their own roots.

She told me also one time she purchase one each of the super dwarf nectarine and peach and planted them in her orchard. These two had bad curly leaf disease every season but it never spread to her other stone fruit trees.

My conclusion is that it is the graft that makes the trees weaker and hence the reason for being attacked.

Maybe thats the reason with grafted roses that always have problems

Also if you do plant stones or pips (from pip fruit) where they are going to grow and mature it only takes two to three seasons before they are bearing a small crop of fruit and of course they have cost you nothing.

So choose a nice fruit and plant the stone or pip which maybe similar as the parent but not exactly the same. Mark where you plant it with a stake as it may take a while for it to germinate.

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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, News

It’s time to plant garlic (Wally Richards)

June 20, 2023 Pam Vernon Leave a comment

The traditional time of the year in NZ to plant garlic is on the shortest day and then harvest will be about on the longest day. (Can pay to leave till later in January as it may increase size of the bulbs.)

The reason for this is that after the shortest day of sun light hours, then each day there after, will have a little more sunlight every day until the 21^st of December.

Or maybe its because it is something to do in the middle of winter along with planting of roses and deciduous fruit trees.

Shallots are also planted at this time.

Garlic has a number of health benefits along with it being a great condiment with food such as steak (garlic butter) and of course my favorite Garlic Bread.

I remember some years ago reading about soaking peeled garlic cloves in raw liquid honey.

What you did was place a small amount of runny honey into a small jar and then pack peeled cloves into the jar before topping up with honey as you filled.

Storing the jar in a warm place like a hot water cupboard (so the honey would stay liquid and not crystallize.

I think after been in store about 3 months you would eat one clove first thing in the morning for health and weight control.

Mr Google confirms this with : While we all use it as a food ingredient, it is also an effective medicine that helps in burning belly fat and detoxification. Research suggests that garlic can be effective in weight loss and is an inevitable part of a balanced diet.

Also the following:

Eating 4-5 garlic cloves in the morning can help to boost your immunity, which is essential now when we have entered the winter season.

It contains compounds that help the immune system fight free radicals and disease-causing foreign pathogens.

How long do you need to take garlic extract to start experiencing its benefits? Since some of the beneficial compounds in garlic extract are fat-soluble, it may take 1-2 weeks for this substance to deliver noticeable effects.

Garlic has been shown to reduce fat accumulation and fat weight in the liver, restore antioxidant activity in the liver, and reduce MDA levels in the liver.

Garlic has a good sulphur content so hence the reason for it helping to detox your body similar to taking MSM organic sulphur crystals on a twice daily bases.

There are eight forms of garlic which are as follows: purple stripe, glazed purple stripe, marbled purple stripe, porcelain, Rocambole, Asiatic, and Creole (although recently it’s been determined that Creole garlic may be in a class by itself).

Creole garlic is considered to be the most expensive and rarest of the all the garlic varieties. Although they were formerly thought to be a sub-group of silverskin garlic, modern DNA studies show them in a separate class by themselves.

Turban is the earliest maturing garlic and popular for this reason. It is a good choice for those who want to spread out their harvest and enjoy some fresh garlic before the rest of the varieties are ready.

It is a weakly bolting garlic. Its name comes from the shape of the umbel (the flower/seed pod on the scape).

Artichoke: The most commonly grown commercial garlic. It has a couple of concentric rows of cloves and tends to be very difficult to peel. But it produces and stores well and this is what you probably buy at the grocers.

You may have seen preperations of what is named Black Garlic which is quite expensive.

Mr Google tells me that it is; Black garlic is essentially regular garlic that’s been aged in a warm environment. Yep, that’s it. It’s not some rare garlic species that’s impossible to find.

Beware: Garlic might be good for people, but dogs metabolize certain foods differently than we do.

According to the Merck Veterinary Manual, garlic and other members of the allium family, including onions, contain thiosulfate, which is toxic to dogs but not to humans.

Growing garlic tips: Best performance comes from improved soil – blend through some well-composted manure or quality compost before planting.

It will not tolerate heavy, clay soil or wet soil. Garlic will grow very well in pots. Use a premium-quality organic potting mix, or one that’s blended for edibles.

Chicken manure is a good option as a fertilizer for garlic as it is a great source of nitrogen and also contains phosphorus, potassium, plus other nutrients needed for strong and healthy plants.

Springle BioPhos over the bed and lightly work into the soil for phosphorus if you do not have chicken manure.

Soak the cloves in Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) at 20mils per litre of water for at least eight hours or as long as 24 – but 12 to 16 hours is ideal.

Your bulbs will start to produce roots as they soak, and longer soaks increase the risk that you’ll break the roots when you plant them. That inhibits growth and reduces yields.

Garlic grows well in a warm, sunny spot in the garden or in large pots. Begin with breaking up the bulbs into small cloves with your hands.

Place the cloves into the soil with the pointed end facing upwards. Note the biggest cloves will produce the best results plant only them and use the smaller cloves in cooking etc.

Break the garlic bulbs into individual cloves and plant them in rows spaced about 8cm apart.

Planting depth is 20-25mm. You can plant them any time from mid June to mid July.

The problem in recent years is garlic rust which attacks the foliage in later spring or summer and prevents the bulbs from growing much because of the lack of energy from the sunlight, caused by the rust on the leaves.

I have not found any normal sprays such as sulphur, copper, potassium permanganate to be of much use to prevent or control the disease.

So on advise I used the cell strengthening products which we recommend for psyllid control on tomatoes, potatoes and tamarillos.

That meant a soil drench with the Silicon and Boron soil drench after the cloves have sprouted and again 2 weeks later.

Also when the foliage was up a weekly spray with the Silicon cell Strengthening spray with the Silicon Super Spreader and MBL added. For two season now I have had no rust on my garlic where the previous season I had bad rust and poor bulbs.

If you had garlic rust problems in previous seasons you may like to try those products and help to have a good crop. If you are growing garlic and not had a rust problem yet then suggest you do a weekly spray with MBL which also has a nice amount of silicon in it.

If you dont want to use the drench and just the spray then we have a 500mil concentrate of the cell strengthening liquid with the spreader added. You would also add MBL to this spray.

This would be sprayed weekly till harvest, made up in a trigger spray bottle it keeps and keep using till all gone.

Later in season if you are unfortunate to get the dreaded rust you can regularly spray the foliage with Liquid Sun shine (Table spoon of molasses to litre of hot water dissolved and sprayed when cool)

Happy Garlic Growing; I am now off to plant mine…..

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)

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Gardening, News

Time to plant new season’s strawberries (Wally Richards)

June 12, 2023 Pam Vernon 2 Comments

New seasons strawberry plants are now available in garden centres. The nurseries that grow the plants lift them after the autumn rains have moistened the soil sufficiently, then they are distributed to garden centres.

I find that the sooner you can get your new strawberry plants into their new beds the better results you have in the first season.

Like all things planted it is root establishment that is so important.

When planting place about a teaspoon of Unlocking Your Soil in the planting hole with a pinch of BioPhos for each strawberry plant.

Gardeners with existing beds of strawberries will likely have a number of runners that have rooted in nicely, these can be used for new season plants..

If the existing strawberry bed is not congested with old and new plants and there is ample room still for all the plants to grow and produce, then you can get away with not lifting the runners or only lifting those that are too close to existing plants.

Strawberries are easy to grow and can be grown in open ground or containers.

In open ground the most practical way is to make a bed with wood surrounds 16 to 20 cm tall and have a hinged frame over the bed that has either plastic bird netting or wire netting over the lid.

The whole frame needs to only sit on the soil so it can be moved if required.

If using tanalised timber for the surround then after cutting to size; paint all the wood with a couple of coats of acrylic paint to prevent chemicals leeching into the soil.

Strawberries can be grown in troughs about 16 to 20 cm wide and similar depth then as long as required. I like to hang these off the top rail of a fence.

Special strawberry planters made from clay or plastic are not very good and your results are likely to be poor. (Thats the types where plants are placed in holes around the container as well as on top.)

Polystyrene boxes with holes in the bottom are also ideal containers for good crops if they have a rooting depth of 15cm or more.

The growing medium should be a good compost such as Daltons or Oderings to which you can add untreated sawdust and a little clean top soil or vermicast. (Worm casts from a worm farm)

A mix of about 75% compost, 20% sawdust and 5% vermicast is good value.

Mix the above in a wheelbarrow then place a layer of the mix 5 cm deep in the base of the trough or container.

Now sprinkle a layer of chicken manure, some potash, BioPhos, Unlocking Your Soil and Ocean Solids. Horse manure is also very good.

If you do not have chicken manure available use sheep manure pellets and blood & bone.

Cover with more compost mix to a depth suitable for planting your new strawberry plants.

A similar process can be applied to a open bed with a frame, though the frame height may need to be taller than previously suggested.

Ensure that the soil at the base of the frame is free of most weeds and then place a layer or two of cardboard over the soil. This will help prevent weeds from coming up in the bed, then fill as suggested.

There are a number of different varieties of strawberry plants available to the home gardener, sometimes the older varieties such as Tioga and Redgaunlet (both are hard to come by now replaced with the newer varieties such as Chandler, Pajaro and Seascape.

Different varieties will do better or worse in different climates so choose the ones most suited to your area of the country.

Strawberry types include:

Strawberry Baby Pink ™ Producing stunning beautiful pink flowers followed by small to medium red fruit with sweet traditional flavour. Large bunches of berries ripening over a long period.

Habit – Compact strong growing strawberry. Size – Give these small to medium plants close spacing.

Pollination – Self-fertile. Unknown if short day, neutral or long day type.

Strawberry Camarosa; Large to very large medium dark red fruit. Firm medium red flesh with excellent flavour. Conical shape.

High resistance to wet weather. Habit – Suitable for Northern and Central districts. Vigorous growth habit.Size – Give these vigorous plants wide spacing.

Pollination – Self-fertile. Short day type – flowers are initiated by short day lengths.

Harvest – Fruit ripen 20-35 days from flowering depending on climate, with light crops in early summer, followed by a main crop in December – January. Yield is very good.

Strawberry Chandler; Small to very large medium red fruit. Firm light red flesh with very good flavour. Conical shape. High resistance to wet weather.

Habit – Suitable for Northern and Central districts. Multi-crowned growth habit.

Size – Give these multi crowned plants medium spacing. Pollination – Self-fertile. Short day type – flowers are initiated by short day lengths.

Harvest – Fruit ripen 20-35 days from flowering depending on climate, with light crops in early summer followed by a main crop in December – January. Yield is very good.

Strawberry Sundae ™ Large red fruit with excellent flavour. Firm red flesh in an oval shape.

Habit – Suitable for Northern and Central districts. Vigorous growth habit. Size – Give these vigorous plants wide spacing.Pollination – Self-fertile. Short day type – flowers are initiated by short day lengths.

Harvest – Fruit ripen 20-35 days from flowering depending on climate, with light crops in early summer followed by a main crop in December – January. Yield is average.

Strawberry Supreme ™ Very large bright red fruit. Very firm red flesh with excellent flavour. Conical shape. Good resistance to wet weather. Habit – Suitable for Northern and Central districts.

Moderately strong growth habit. Size – Give these small to medium sized plants close spacing.

Pollination – Self-fertile. Short day type – flowers are initiated by short day lengths.

Harvest – Fruit ripen 20-35 days from flowering depending on climate, with light crops in early summer followed by a main crop in December – January. Yield is very good.

Strawberry Temptation™ Medium bright red shiny fruit with excellent flavour. Pale firm flesh.

Habit – Compact strong growing strawberry. Tough and resilient in relation to pest and diseases.

Size – Give these medium plants close spacing.

Pollination – Self-fertile. Only NZ bred Day Neutral strawberry which means they will set fruit regardless of how long or short the days are making this an ideal fruiter national wide.

Will extend the North Island season. Harvest – Consistent high yields of berries ripening over a long period from October to March.

To enhance your strawberries and increase the crop yields by 200 to 400% drench the bed with Mycorrcin after planting and repeat again in a couple of months time.

Spray the plants with Mycorrcin every two weeks till end of season. Make up in a trigger sprayer it keeps so leave by strawberry bed and spray as required. MBL can be added to the spray.

For bigger berries you may like to try Wallys Secret Strawberry Food.

Special this week till next Sunday

one 250ml Mycorrcin $19.00 and one 1kg Wallys Secret Strawberry Food $18.00 Total $37.00 with free shipping on this to your home saving you $8.50 shipping fee

Both products can be used on other flowering and fruiting plants.

Order at www.0800466464.co.nz put on WEEKLY SPECIAL in remarks box and I will phone you in regards to payment method.
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)

Food, Gardening

Fresh Greens in Winter (Wally Richards)

June 6, 2023 Pam Vernon Leave a comment

Like to grow some fresh, highly nutritious greens this time of the year when sunlight hours are short and stuff is slow to grow?

This is also a way to be able to have emergency healthy food when things are not so good.

How you achieve this is to sprout seeds for eating, often referred to as ‘Sprouts’.

In the past sprouts were done in an Agee preserving jar with a screen sieve.

You would place a few seeds into the jar and cover with non chlorinated water and sit on window sill in kitchen.

Each day you would tip the water out using the sieve like screen to stop the seeds falling out.

Fresh water would be added and the above would be repeated daily till the seeds had sprouted and reached a nice size which you then used in sandwiches or salads.

Very nutritious and very simple to do.

Nowadays its even easier with a four tier seed sprouter from Egmont Seeds.

Called Mr Fothergills Kitchen Seed Sprouter they sell for $20.00.

On web at https://www.egmontseeds.co.nz/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&keyword=sprouter

You have 4 sprouting levels which means you can sprout 4 different types of seeds or mixes at any one time.

A small amount of seeds is placed in each level and water is applied to the top tier, then because of sprouter outlet caps in the base of each level

(which can be adjusted to allow a amount of water flow to next level) the water works its way down through the tiers..

Then finally the water ends up in the reservoir where you can either dispose of it or use it a second time round.

Doing this alone with the sprouter on the kitchen window sill will give you very nutritious greens to add to your winter diet.

But you can change then into super sprouts by adding a few mils of Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL)to the non-chlorinated water.

MBL is rich in humate and fulvic acid along with minerals and elements which the sprouting seeds will absorb as they germinate and grow.

Incredibly good for your health and great for those wishing to trim up a bit before summer.

One of the problems is that our traditional Super Market food chain is poor in nutritional values unless you are growing a good amount of vegetables yourself naturally.

This means when you cook up a meal from supermarket produce and have to add condiments to make it taste ok (Home grown produce tastes great and does not need condiments to fool you body into accepting it).

So you eat a full meal of supermarket produce and when you are finished you are likely to still feel a bit hungry.

Actually you are not hungry but that is the feeling you get as your body is saying, ‘Thanks for the stuff but where are the minerals and elements that I need to work properly?’

So inadvertently you pig out on potato chips or something to squash the feeling of having not eaten enough.

Now you are going to put on some extra pounds and your body still is not satisfied as he needs nutrition not food stuffing.

Sprouting seeds with MBL is a excellent way to get the goodness your body needs to be healthy, it is in the same top food tier as ‘Smoothies’ and wheat grass juice (done with minerals).

Now to get the seeds to sprout we go and have a look at Kings Seeds at https://www.kingsseeds.co.nz/results.html?q=seeds+for+sprouting

They have a good range of seeds and seed mixes most of which are certified organic.

Examples from their web site are:

Alfalfa: Our most popular sprout with a delicious nutty flavour. Excellent for gourmet salads, omelettes and sandwiches.

High in fibre, vitamins, minerals and proteins. Research has found Alfalfa fibre pushes cholesterol out of the arteries while its saponins also scrub and dissolve it.

The sprouts are many times more nutritious if exposed to the sunlight about the fifth day after germination. They can then be harvested.

Organic Energy mix: Alfalfa, Flax, Rocket, Broccoli Raab, Red Clover and Fennel.

A tasty, aromatic and invigorating blend that stimulates the body and digestive system.

As the Flax and Rocket are both mucilaginous-forming seeds when germinating, particular care needs to be shown to rinse and drain well in the first few days.

At harvest, the Fennel sprout will not be as developed as the others but both its seed husk and sprout should be used.

Organic High Health mix:A tasty nutritious mix of different brassica including Green Broccoli, Pak Choi, and Tuscan Black Kale.

High in vitamins and soluble fibre for cleansing the digestive system and building resistance to bowel and bladder disease. Seeds are easy to sprout reaching maturity using rinse and drain method in 6-10 days.

Organic Vita plus blend: Alfalfa 40% Red Clover 30% Daikon Radish 10% Radish 10% Broccoli Raab 10%

Highly nutritious blend of sprouts, rich in minerals, amino acids and antioxidants combining the mild tastes of Alfalfa and Red Clover with the spicy bite of Broccoli Raab, Radish Daikon and Radish.

Organic Stir Fry Combo: Contains Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) , Lentil (Lens culinaris), Mung (Vigna radiata).

Delicious, succulent and nutty sprout blend to stir fry in Asian dishes or to eat raw in salads and sandwiches.

Easily digested and highly nutritious with heaps of Vitamins B1 and B2, Iron, Potassium, Folic Acid and Protein.

Soluble fibre helps break down cholesterol, lower blood pressure and regulate blood sugars.

Initially soak seeds for several hours then drain. Rinse 3-4 times daily for 3-4 days. Harvest when sprouts are length of the seed (15mm) and store in fridge in a covered container.

Note; seeds which are mucilaginous-forming seeds when germinating you toss the water and MBL mix and do a fresh lot to get rid of the mucilaginous.

Otherwise be healthy this winter with tasty heath treats from sprouts.

Note Store unused seeds in a glass jar with lid in the fridge where they will keep happily for years ready to use any time.

Special for this week is 500 mils Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) free shipping to your home saving you $8.50 courier.

Order at https://www.0800466464.co.nz/15-plant-nutrition

I will phone you when we receive the order to do payment.

Put in Remarks place THIS WEEKS SPECIAL
Special ends next Sunday

Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
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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)

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Gardening

Only a few weeks until the shortest day – prepare for the new season in the garden (Wally Richards)

May 29, 2023 Pam Vernon 1 Comment

The year is slipping away and now there are only a few weeks till the shortest day which heralds in a new season for gardening.

While its quiet gardening wise you have ample time on those nice days to prepare for the coming season of gardening.

Lets start off by those that are fortunate to have a glasshouse or tunnel house and to get it ship shape and ready for growing in soon.

Likely there has been insect problems over the past season and that is very normal as a glass house provides ideal conditions for pests to breed.

You may have some plants still in there growing either coming to the end of their days or not too bad.

What I am going to suggest is a simple way of fumigating your glasshouse but in doing so the plants in there may or may not survive.

It is better to leave any plants that are coming to the end of their days inside to be fumigated and kill the pests on them rather than take them outside and then the pests can colonise your outside plants.

If you have the odd plant in a container that you do not want to lose then best take them out while you are fumigating the house.

Any plants taken out should be placed in a good light but sheltered place and spray them all over; later in the day near dusk, with Wallys Super Neem Tree Oil with Wallys Super Pyrethrum added.

Also in case of root mealy bugs in the mix sprinkle some of Wallys Neem Tree Powder onto the top of the growing medium.

This, with later watering, will fix any pests in the mix feeding on the plants roots.

Place 2-3 tablespoons of Wallys Sulphur Powder onto a heath shovel or spade sitting in the middle of the glass house on the ground. In a larger tunnel house or glasshouse you would need to have more than one sulhpur burning to give a good coverage from the fumes.

A metal plate could be used instead if preferred as long as it is metal and cant catch on fire.

Close all vents leaving the door open for you to leave once lite.

The sulphur powder is not easy to light and you need a very strong flame such as used for killing weeds.

Otherwise dampen a little of the pile of sulphur with some Methylated Spirits and light that.

A fire Starter may also be used. Once the sulphur gets burning it is very difficult to put out.

Once alight it is time for you to get out as the fumes will make it difficult to breathe and you dont want to die with the pests.

Close the door behind you and leave closed up for about 24 hours.

Then open door and vents and any plants you left in the house give them a light sprinkling with water from the hose. It may help save some on them.

After a few hours close down the vents and door as you dont want any stray pests finding their way back in.

Its a good ideal to build up a smell in the house to deter pests from entering by sprinkling Wallys Neem Tree Granules over the floor or soil.

Hang some fresh yellow sticky white fly traps in the house to catch any flying pests.

If you grow in soil in the glasshouse and have any concerns about diseases in the soil then apply Terracin to the soil as a drench and a couple of weeks later a drench with Mycorrcin.

Your glasshouse is now ready for the coming season and you can start germinating or planting seedlings after the 21^st of June.

In the gardens outside keep the weeds down while they are slow to grow.

I prefer to use a sharp carving knife and slice below the crown of larger weeds in under the soil.

This leaves the rest of the roots to decompose in the soil and feed the soil life and plants.

Smaller weeds just scrape the blade of the knife over the soil and wipe them out.

Whitefly and pests on citrus trees are easy to control by placing Wallys Neem Tree Granules under the tree from trunk to drip line and in about 6-8 weeks all the pests feeding on the tree or on the roots will be gone.

There will be a lot of pests from last season harboring over in your gardens so later in the afternoon when the sun is off the plants spray Wallys Neem Super Tree oil with Wally Super Pyrethrum added over and under the leaves of plants where there was infestations earlier.

Good idea to add some Raingard and MBL to the spray as well.

If you have not done so yet spray all cold sensitive plants with Vaporgard, spray on frost protection.

Vacant vegetable gardens can be planted into a green crop.

Ones that can be used for different advantages are:

Blue Lupin – a quick growing, nitrogen fixing crop suited to cooler climates.

Barley – adds protein, nitrogen and organic matter to strengthen the soil structure.

Oats – used to combat soil erosion and to help break up hard clay soils.

Mixed grain – adds nitrogen and organic matter to the soil as well as helping to prevent wire worm.

Mustard – cleans up harmful soil fungi and provides good control of wireworm and nematodes, which often ruin root crops such as potatoes and carrots.

Mustard is a good weed suppressant suited to cooler climates but do not use this crop if you are planting cauliflower, broccoli and other brassica in the same area the next season.

It is not a good time of the year to re-pot house plants as going into a larger container may cause over watering and damage.

This time of the year small drinks of water just to moisten up the mix of potted plants indoors.

Warm water is nice for them also.

Keep warm and dry..

This week special is 3kilo bag Wallys Neem Tree Granules 25% off or $7.00 off the price of the bag

and 25% off Wallys Sulphur powder 500 grams or $4.50 off the normal price.
Order on line at www.0800466464.co.nz and dont forget to put in remarks THIS WEEKS SPECIAL
offer end next Sunday.
I will phone you after receiving the order in regards to method of payment and shipping

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)

Image by Helena from Pixabay

Gardening, News

WET FEET IN THE GARDEN (Wally Richards)

May 22, 2023 Pam Vernon Leave a comment

With some areas experiencing a lot of rain lately it is a good time to look at how to prevent damage and losses in your gardens.

There is a range of plants we call bog plants and they just love living in wet soil and even in water which makes many of them suitable to use in aquariums for your fish to enjoy.

But even in an aquarium oxygen is needed so we place an air stone connected to an air pump to bubble away under water and aerate the water.

If we did not do this the oxygen in the water would be used up and then the fish would suffocate and likely even the plants would die as the water became stagnant.

By the way if you want to remove the chlorine from a bucket of chlorinated water simply put an air stone connected to an air pump and let it bubble away and within about 12 hours or less the water will be free of the poisonous chlorine.

Very wet soil loses the oxygen and that becomes deadly for the roots of plants.

Some plants are fairly hardy against wet feet where others soon have root rot happen and when enough roots are damaged the plant dies.

It does not matter if some of the roots are in very wet soil or water as long as there are more roots that are above the wet area.

I can give a good example of this as one place I lived in years ago would be a lake of water in the back section during wet winters.

Many attempts of growing ornamentals were hopeless so I planted a twisted willow in the corner which was the wettest area and it very quickly grew.

Then I also planted a couple of cabbage trees both of which took off and as these and the willow grew they helped greatly in taking up the surface water.

After a season I was able to plant a few other native plants that were able to survive as the area was less wet.

My citrus were a problem so I cut some 200 litre drums in half, drilled some large 4-5cm holes in the sides about 10cm above the base.

This meant in dry times there would be a nice reservoir of water to keep the citrus happy.

I then dug a hole so the bottom third of the drum would be buried in the surrounding soil.

This made them stable in windy times when the citrus gained some height.

It also allowed the roots later on to venture out of the drum and into the surrounding soil.

The result of this was that in the middle of winter when the back yard was a a lake of water the citrus were happy as Larry.

When I came to move to another place I lifted the drums (with a lot of effort) and was surprised at the large roots that had grown out of the holes on the sides.

As a good part of the root system was above water the citrus was not affected by wet feet.

The alternative to this would have been to make mounds about half a metre tall and plant citrus trees in these.

Years later after another move to where we are now in Marton the same citrus trees are happily living in the same drums sitting either on soil in the lawn or on concrete.

Of course every few years I need to take them out of the containers and root prune them.

That would not be needed if you had the roots venturing out into surrounding soil.

The very worst thing that you can have in wet winters is any type of mulch around any plants that don’t like wet feet.

Mulches are great in dry summers to conserve soil moisture but deadly in winter as the soil can not breathe and too much wetness is retained.

I remember a few years ago having a phone call from a lady who wanted to know why her very expensive ornamental trees were dying.

She planted then in the spring and in summer she had a pile of old carpet after re-carpeting the home.

So she put that on the soil under her precious ornamentals to suppress weeds and retain moisture.

Worked a treat till the wet times came and the soil became saturated and the expensive plants started to die.

I told her that she had to quickly do two things which was firstly remove the carpets and then spray the foliage with Wallys PerKfection at the high rate 9 mils per litre of water and then at 4mils per litre a month later and repeat once a month till into spring making a total of 6, once a month sprays.

Perkfection assists in recovery from/or prevention of, the following problems, Black spot, Downy Mildew, Phytophthora Root rot, Canker, heart rot, damping off, crown rot, leaf blight, silver leaf, late blight, collar rot, pink rot, brown rot, Armillaria, and gummy stem rot.

It is magic on Buxus for the dreaded Buxus disease that kills the plants.

It has brought back Buxus from near dead to their formal glory and after which I would suggest a maintenance spray bi-monthly at 5 mils per litre of water.

Perkfection is systemic so you dont need full coverage of foliage just a good amount of it.

Another way of improving drainage is like we used to do in days gone by when gardeners would in winter dig their vegetable garden over, mounding up the clods as they went leaving a ditch around the garden about one and a half spade deep.

They would then sprinkle garden lime over the clods for the frosts to take in and break the clods down.

In spring when it was time to plant, the clods would break up into a fine tilth with little effort using a rake.

Now days we dont dig but the idea of a trench around the garden or around a citrus tree just about 12 cm out from the drip line is very practical.

This allows excess water to drain into the ditch were sunlight and wind will evaporate it quickly.

An interesting thing happens sometimes where a water sensitive plant like a citrus, years old suddenly one season shows signs of wet feet.

The reason is often a result of a change of direction with surface water flows which maybe caused by some construction or even a new concrete path or driveway.

The previous flow place is changed to where the citrus is growing and the soil is much wetter than previously.

Remember to frost protect sensitive plants with spray on frost protection, Vaporgard.

I read an interesting article on the Net which you may also find interesting; whether its true or not is up to you to determine.

https://truthwatchnz.is/all-categories/agenda-21-30/hawke-s-bay-is-apparently-in-need-of-a-managed-retreat-agenda-2030-and-the-depopulation-of-the-east-coast

This weeks special is Perkfection 250ml bottle $18.00 or a 1litre container $38.00 free shipping on either size, no discount on either size. Shipping to your home no PO Boxes or outer Islands like Stewart or Waiheke

Offer ends next Sunday.

Problems ring me at 0800 466464
Email wallyjr@gardenews.co.nz
Web site www.gardenews.co.nz

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)

Gardening

VISITING LIFE UNDER GROUND (Wally Richards)

May 17, 2023 Pam Vernon Leave a comment

There is a saying which reads as… As Above So Below and with plants and trees what is above the soil level is replicated to what is below the soil level.

With a tree it is the trunk and branches we see and mirrored under the soil is the tap root and the root system about a similar size as above.

It is the root system and the medium that the roots are in that is the focus of this article.

We often refer to ‘The Soil Life’ which is a teeming mass of microbes, fungi, and soil insects including earth worms that we find in a healthy soil or the growing medium.

Virgin soil with its canopy of plants, living naturally for hundreds of years has a wealth of soil life and to have a soil like that is the goal of every keen gardener as it will, with very little effort, produce great healthy plants.

A vital part of the soil life are the fungi family called Mycorrhizae.

From the internet we see: A mycorrhizal network (also known as a common mycorrhizal network or CMN) is an underground network found in forests and other plant communities, created by the hyphae of mycorrhizal fungi joining with plant roots.

This network connects individual plants together and transfers water, carbon, nitrogen, and other nutrients and minerals between participants.

Several studies have demonstrated that mycorrhizal networks can transport carbon, phosphorus, nitrogen, water, defense compounds, and allelochemicals from plant to plant.

The flux of nutrients and water through hyphal networks has been proposed to be driven by a source-sink model where plants growing under conditions of relatively high resource availability (

such as high-light or high-nitrogen environments) transfer carbon or nutrients to plants located in less favorable conditions. (Helping their mates)

A common example is the transfer of carbon from plants with leaves located in high-light conditions in the forest canopy, to plants located in the shaded understory where light availability limits photosynthesis.

In natural ecosystems, plants may be dependent on fungal symbionts for 90% of their phosphorus requirements and 80% of their nitrogen requirements.

Mycorrhizal relationships are most commonly mutualistic, with both partners benefiting, but can be commensal or parasitic, and a single partnership may change between any of the three types of symbiosis at different times.

These networks have existed for over 400 million years, with up to 90% of all land plants participating.

The formation and nature of these networks, is context-dependent, and can be influenced by factors such as soil fertility, resource availability, host or mycosymbiont genotype, disturbance and seasonal variation.

Some plant species, such as buckhorn plantain, a common lawn and agricultural weed, benefit from mycorrhizal relationships in conditions of low soil fertility, but are harmed in higher soil fertility.

Both plants and fungi associate with multiple symbiotic partners at once, and both plants and fungi are capable of preferentially allocating resources to one partner over another. End.

Back to me: You can see from the above what a incredible resource Mycorrhizal fungi is to the well being of your plants and garden and why you should encourage it and not damage it.

The No-Dig garden that we have often talked about over the years is ideal for building and maintaining these beneficial fungi.(Instead of digging your garden you simply put fresh compost over the soil with other natural manures and plant into this new layer.

This is repeated for every crop)

Mycorrhizal fungi can increase a plant’s roots catchment area by up to 800%.

The bigger the root zone the bigger and better the plants.

We can encourage Mycorrhizal fungi to grow by drenching the soil with Wallys Mycorrcin every so often like once a month around preferred plants and crops.

What we should not do is to use chemicals that will kill the Mycorrhizal fungi and beneficial microbes in the soil. Chemical sprays and man-made chemical fertilisers that leach into the soil and the worst one is your chlorinated tap water you use to water the garden with.

A housing and filter that is 10 micron carbon bonded can be snapped onto your hose tap to remove the chlorine. See http://www.0800466464.co.nz/37-water-filters-remove-fluoride-and-chlorine-

Gardeners that have filtered the chlorine out of their garden watering remark on what a difference it makes to the health of their gardens and plants.

The chlorine is added to water to kill bacteria and it is caustic in nature which is not good for soil life.

We see that Mycorrhizal fungi connects plants underground through their roots and by that means can send messages to each other.

An example of this is a forest stand where the outer trees are attacked by a disease or insect pests and the trees send out a message to the fellow trees about what is happening which then allows the other trees to start building their defense systems against possible attack.

Some plants are very hard to establish and the answer to this I learnt many years ago is that you find a mature specimen of the plant you wish to cultivate and you take some of the soil from the mature specimen root zone and you place that in the planting hole of your specimen.

Plant up and then drench the soil with Wallys Mycorrcin to aid growth and that impossible plant to grow is away laughing.

Introduction of beneficial microbes to the soil is another way of improving your gardens and plants health.

Biologically active soils have the ability to retain moisture and release nutrients ensuring greater production, faster rotation and more rapid recovery from stress.

To build a healthy biological soil we need products that can feed living organisms.

Increasing public awareness of the environmental impact of using chemical-based fertiliser has created a demand for a safe, natural and environmentally friendly fertiliser.

Biological fertilisers increase nutrient availability and feed important soil organisms, such as earthworms and microorganisms (fungi and bacteria) – all essential for plant and soil health.

The product we have called Bio Marinus not only does the above but also introduces new beneficial microbes to your gardens.

Readers may recall the British comedian Kenneth Horne’s radio show “Beyond Our Ken” featured a gardener called Arthur Fallowfield, played by Kenneth Williams.

He often said “The Answer Lays in the Soil”.

THIS WEEKS Special is Mycorrcin is either 250mils, 500 mils or 1litre and till next Sunday we will pay the shipping to your home (No PO Boxes or outer Islands)

No discounts on the product sizes so 250mils is $18.00; 500 mils $30.00 and 1 litre is $50 free shipping on one or more of the same product.

Order on our Mail Order Web site at http://www.0800466464.co.nz/15-plant-nutrition?p=2

In Remarks please state This Weeks Special..

After receiving your order I will phone you to sort out payment either by credit card over the phone or a bank transfer..

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)

Gardening, News

The importance of phosphate in your garden (Wally Richards)

May 11, 2023 Pam Vernon Leave a comment

Phosphorus stimulates budding and blooming. Plants need phosphorus to produce fruits, flowers, and seeds. It also helps make your plants more resistant to disease.

Phosphorus helps plants gain more energy from sunlight and with cloudy, hazy skies we are seeing too often; plants need all the advantages possible to gain energy from sunlight.

Phosphorus doesn’t dissolve like nitrogen. The soil will hang onto phosphorus, not releasing it into water.

Phosphate is needed by all life forms but if taken in too greater quantities it becomes harmful.

In the distant past phosphorus was obtain from manures especially bird or bat droppings called guano.

Phosphorus is also obtained from Reactive Rock Phosphate which is a hard phosphatic rock. In most soils it dissolves very slowly.

To make the rock phosphate more readily available to plants man discovered a process of using sulfuric acid early in the 1900’s, and a new agricultural fertiliser was created called Super or Super Phosphate.

It became a boon to agriculture and farming with tons of Super been spread to cause fast growth in fields and crops.

Unfortunately like a number of discoveries such as DDT and Asbestos, there was a hidden price to pay. Super phosphate kills soil life because its acidic and with their demise leads to unhealthy plants.

Not only that, it was also found that Super laden plants and grasses caused health problems in stock including cancers.

I read a very interesting book years ago called ‘Cancer, Cause and Cure’ written by an Australian farmer, Percy Weston.

Percy observed the results of the introduction of Super on his farm and the Malays that occurred.

For many years now I have not used any chemical fertilisers or chemical sprays including any herbicides anywhere on my property.

For a while I noticed, that even though I obtained good healthy crops and plants, there was some factor that appeared to be missing and the crops are not as lush as I felt they could be.

I often thought that I am not getting sufficient phosphorus in my composts and mulches.

This caused me to do a bit of research on the Internet and found to my delight a company in New Zealand called Sieber Technologies Ltd who make a product called BioPhos.

They take the reactive rock phosphate and break it down naturally with micro organisms making it as readily available to plants as Super is.

The company sent me a email booklet and it showed trials that proved that not only did BioPhos work as well as Super, but actually better as it did not have a ‘peak’ growth on application

and gave a much longer sustained release of phosphorus to plants.

Instead of killing soil life it actually supplies new micro organisms to the soil which carry on breaking the natural phosphorus down, meaning that only one application is needed per year unless you are cropping during the winter as well.

Some rose growers and rose societies recommend using BioPhos for better, healthier roses.

BioPhos contains phosphate, potassium, sulphur and calcium at the rates of P10:K8:S7:Ca28.

BioPhos is Bio Certified for organic growing.

It is pH neutral and used at the following rates; New beds work in 100 grams per square metre, the same with lawns but water in to settle.

Side dressing plants; seedlings 8 grams (a teaspoon ) around base of the plant or in the planting hole. Same for potatoes (which do well with phosphorus) Sowing beans peas etc sprinkle down row with seeds.

Roses and similar sized plants 18 grams or a tablespoon full around plant or in planting hole.

Established fruit trees etc, spread at the rate of 100 grams per square metre around drip line or where feeder roots are. Apply to vegetable gardens in spring and a further application in autumn if growing winter crops.

Can be applied to container plants also.

Apply to tomatoes when planting or side dress existing plants.

A number of gardeners over the years have obtained BioPhos and applied it around their gardens; then a few weeks later many have phoned me to say what a big difference the product has made to their gardens.

I presume one of two things has happened or maybe both of the following:

The gardens and plants were lacking in phosphate and the introduction of it gave a noticeable difference to the plants.

Or the plants were able to obtain more energy from the sun and hence creating a growth spurt.

BioPhos is a must for root and bulb crops such as potatoes, carrots and garlic.

I have now completed a third session of gardening with Rodney Hide which likely aired this coming week then available after that on replay at…..

https://realitycheck.radio/replays/real-talk-show-replays/

THIS WEEKS SPECIAL: BIOPHOS two 1.3kilo pouches for $30.00 free shipping (No PO Boxes or outer Islands) Saving you $8.00 shipping costs Normal one 1.3 pouch is $15.00 plus $8.00 shipping total $23.00

or out big 10kilo bag for $38.00 and free shipping saving you $16.00 shipping North Island or $19.00 shipping South Island (No PO Boxes or outer Islands)
That is into a carton for shipping and you could add a few more non bulk items into the same carton.

Order on our Mail Order Web site at http://www.0800466464.co.nz/

In Plant Nutrition area..

In Remarks please state This Weeks Special..
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)

For more articles & with a health focus go here

Image by Annette Meyer from Pixabay

Gardening

GROWING HIGH HEALTH VEGETABLES (Wally Richards)

May 11, 2023 Pam Vernon Leave a comment

I have always enjoyed growing different plants that are not commonly available.

This is one of the aspects that makes gardening more enjoyable and exciting when you have successes.

Three vegetables that I have grown in the past and am writing about are not rare but not common for many gardeners.

The first of these is called Chayote or more commonly known as Choko.

Originating from Mexico where the vines grow prolifically they have little financial value there likely because they are so prolific.

Specialist fruit and vegetable shops or flea markets are likely to have chokos for sale at this time of the year for about a dollar each.

Most people likely do not know the fruit and by pass them where people from Asia are likely to be the main buyers.

Choko are a member of the gourd family; Cucurbitaceae, along with melons, cucumbers and squash.

In Asia they are commonly diced up and used in stir fries and soups.

The fruit does not need to be peeled to be cooked or fried in slices. Most people regard it as having a very mild flavor by itself.

It is commonly served raw with seasonings (e.g. salt, butter and pepper) or in a dish with other salad vegetables and/or flavorings. It can also be boiled, stuffed, mashed, baked, fried, or pickled in escabeche sauce.

Both fruit and seed are rich in amino acids and vitamin C.

The fresh green fruit are firm and without brown spots or signs of sprouting. Smaller ones are more tender. I actually I like the fruit raw eaten like an apple they are crisp and refreshing.

The tuberous part of the root is starchy and eaten like a yam (can be fried).

The leaves and fruit have diuretic, cardiovascular and anti-inflammatory properties, and a tea made from the leaves has been used in the treatment of arteriosclerosis, hypertension, and to dissolve kidney stones. So a very versatile, interesting plant.

They are easy to grow and the older fruit will start shooting from the base then all you need to do is place the fruit sideways, half buried in compost with the shoot upwards.

Start off in a container where it will root up and then protect in a glasshouse or similar (even a window sill) till spring when it can be planted out.

It must be planted in a free draining situation, sunny and a degree of protection from frosts.

Spray the vine with Vaporgard for frost protection in winter and cover with frost cloth when there is two or more frosts in a row.

The first season from experience I found no fruit but a lot of growth and some winter damage.

The next season I once again thought all it wanted to do was grow but as the day light hours shortened small flowers and fruit started forming. The fruit grow rapidly and within a week or so a baby fruit becomes bigger than your fist.

For the health and mineral benefits we have; Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)

Energy 80 kJ (19 kcal): Carbohydrates 4.51 g : Sugars 1.66 g : Dietary fiber 1.7 g : Fat 0.13 g : Protein 0.82 g.

Vitamins are Thiamine (B1) (2%) 0.025 mg: Riboflavin (B2) (2%) 0.029 mg: Niacin (B3) (3%) 0.47 mg: Pantothenic acid (B5)(5%) 0.249 mg: Vitamin B6 (6%) 0.076 mg: Folate (B9) (23%) 93 g.

That is an impressive range of B vitamins making 43% of total them there is Vitamin C (9%) 7.7 mg: Vitamin E (1%) 0.12 mg: Vitamin K (4%) 4.1 g

The Trace metals are Calcium (2%) 17 mg: Iron (3%) 0.34 mg: Magnesium (3%) 12 mg: Phosphorus (3%)18 mg: Potassium (3%) 125 mg: Zinc (8%) 0.74 mg

Health wise how good is that? So easy to grow and eat raw to obtain full benefits of the vitamins and minerals.

Next we have a less common one called Jerusalem Artichokes which is a root vegetable from the Helianthus tuberosus family, also called sunroot, sunchoke, earth apple or topinambour, it is a species of sunflower native to eastern North America.

Grown from tubers it can be successfully grown any where that has reasonable drainage and sun light.

Grown in a container, waste area, vegetable garden or flower garden it will thrive.

In a container it grows about a metre or so tall in open ground from a couple of metres to 3 or 4 metres tall dependent on soil and growing conditions.

In autumn it produces smaller sunflower blooms and dies back about this time of the year when you can start harvesting the tubers.

The nobbly tubers contain about 10% protein, no oil, and a surprising lack of starch. However, it is rich in the carbohydrate inulin (76%), which is a polymer of the monosaccharide fructose.

Tubers stored for any length of time will convert their inulin into its component fructose.

Jerusalem artichokes have an underlying sweet taste because of the fructose, which is about one and a half times sweeter than sucrose.

Jerusalem artichokes have also been promoted as a healthy choice for type 2 diabetics, because fructose is better tolerated by people who are type 2 diabetic.

It has also been reported as a folk remedy for diabetes.

Temperature variances have been shown to affect the amount of inulin the Jerusalem artichoke can produce. When not in tropical regions, it has been shown to make less inulin than when it is in a warmer region.

You can find recipes for the tubers on the Internet, steamed or baked and excellent for soups. They have a nutty, earthly taste a bit like Gin seng.

Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz) is Energy 304 kJ (73 kcal): Carbohydrates 17.44 g: Sugars 9.6 g: Dietary fiber 1.6 g : Fat 0.01 g: Protein 2 g.

Vitamins; Thiamine (B1) (17%) 0.2 mg: Riboflavin (B2) (5%) 0.06 mg: Niacin (B3) (9%) 1.3 mg: Pantothenic acid (B5) (8%) 0.397 mg: Vitamin B6 (6%) 0.077 mg: Folate (B9) (3%) 13 g: Vitamin C (5%) 4 mg: Trace metals Calcium (1%)14 mg: Iron (26%) 3.4 mg:

Magnesium (5%)17 mg Phosphorus (11%) 78 mg: Potassium (9%) 429 mg

Last and the most uncommon of all is yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius, syn.: Polymnia edulis, P. sonchifolia) a species of perennial daisy traditionally grown in the northern and central Andes from Colombia to northern Argentina for its crisp, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots.

The peeled roots are lovely to eat raw, sweet to the taste without the side effects of sugar..

The tubers contain fructooligosaccharide, an indigestible polysaccharide made up of fructose.

Fructooligosaccharides taste sweet, but pass through the human digestive tract unmetabolised, hence have very little caloric value.

Moreover, fructooligosaccharides have a prebiotic effect, meaning they are used by beneficial bacteria that enhance colon health and aid digestion.

Easy to grow, plants grow about 1.5 metres tall large leaves with a texture like Borage harvest, roots in autumn.

If you can obtain a starter tuber of yacon its well worth growing.End….

Here is a link that I received recently that you maybe interested in especially in regards to the current select committee on the Therapeutic Products Bill.

This bill which has in the past been defeated twice before could mean that you are not allowed to grow healthy vegetables by some Govt committee if the bill is passed.

Presentation of Dr. Guy Hatchard to the Wellington Conference on the Therapeutic Products Bill

Also concerning article from the same writer:

https://hatchardreport.com/are-we-going-backwards-or-rushing-ahead/

We will carry on last week’s special on BioPhos for another week as proving very popular.

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)

Gardening, News

Wally Richards & Rodney Hide on Reality Check Radio with Gardening Basics – (must hear)

April 23, 2023 Pam Vernon Leave a comment

If you’re new to growing your own food (and even if you’re not) this info is gold. Wally shares from 50 odd years of down to earth gardening experience – easy to follow, from ‘go’ to ‘woah’ … basic and practical. You can also phone Wally on his 0800 number for practical advice.

Listen at the link below:

Wally Richards: Grow Your Gardening Game

Gardening, News

THE IMPORTANCE OF POTASSIUM AND MAGNESIUM IN YOUR GARDEN (Fruit + Flower Power – Wally Richards)

April 23, 2023 Pam Vernon 2 Comments

Potassium often referred to as Potash because the ash from wood burn containers a good amount of potassium and magnesium sulphate is often referred to as Epsom Salts are two important elements in gardening.

A long time ago I realised the importance of these two and so I created a product which combined them, in a prill form, 55% potassium and 45% magnesium and called it Wallys Fruit and Flower Power which is one of the many uses of these two elements.

Plants like us, if they do not get sufficient minerals in their diet, they will be adversely affected and do poorly.

Potassium deficiency will show as soft limp plant growth, poor flowering, taste decline in fruit, and general loss of vigor.

I am often asked what is wrong with plants which, don’t seem as good as they could be, even though they are fed well and watered right.

Often the reason is insufficient Potassium.

Then there is fruit, especially citrus which are lacking in juice and flavor.

Tomatoes and cucumbers that don’t have that home grown flavor that one would hope to have.

Plants that have poor flowering or don’t flower at all. Once again the problem can be insufficient Potassium.

Magnesium is involved in chlorophyll production, which converts sunlight into sugars and is involved in activating enzymes.

Because of its role in chlorophyll, the first symptoms of magnesium deficiency show up as yellowing, usually between the veins of the older leaves. In severe deficiencies, the entire leaf will turn yellow or red and then brown, with symptoms progressing up the plant.

There are numerous plants that show this tendency, citrus, Daphne, rhododendrons, tomatoes, passion fruit and roses to name a few.

Once the yellowing starts to appear then already the plant is having problems and even when magnesium is supplied, it takes several weeks before the lovely dark green colour is restored.

During this time the plant is weakened, as the chlorophyll is not working to its full potential which makes the plant more susceptible to diseases and pests.

The amount of energy created from sun light is affected and plant growth is reduced.

During drought conditions, plants suffer and one important aspect to assist in this is Potassium.

It regulates water absorption and retention, influences the uptake of some nutrients and helps to increase disease resistance.

As the weather cools and winter approaches, plants feel the chill like we do, but plants cant put on a jersey like we can.

The plant’s protection from chills and frosts comes from having adequate Potassium in their diet.

Thus us gardening commentators always suggest to gardeners to supply potash to their plants as winter starts to approach and to avoid using nitrogen fertilisers which only increases sappy growth.

Commercial growers of plants and orchardists use the two elements to ensure their plants have sufficient Potassium and magnesium in their diet.

These two vital elements are blended together in the right balance as required for plants.

For the home gardener we supply Fruit and Flower Power in three pack sizes. 1.25 Kilos, and 2.5 kilos

and a bulk bag which is 12.5 kilos making it the best purchase if you have storage room.

The 1.25 kilos comes nicely packaged in a stand up pouch with a 50 gram (50ml) scoop.

It is used at the rate initial rate of 50 grams (one scoop, just below level full) per square metre around the base of the plant or around the drip line.

Use for any plant that is flowering, fruiting, showing lack of vigor or yellowing in foliage.

Now this next bit might surprise many; but the monthly requirement is 25 grams (half scoop) per square metre.

This should be applied while plants are flowering, fruiting, during dry times and going into winter. Outside of these times a 2-3 monthly dose should be fine.

For fruiting a dose at 50 grams should be applied prior to flowering followed by the 25 grams till harvest. For the likes of tomatoes and cucumbers, apply over fruiting period for best flavor.

I get a lot of complaints that citrus fruit are dry and lack flavor so this will fix the problem.

A number of fertilisers mixes do not contain sufficient potassium, likely because it is a more expensive element which is a pity as it should be at least ample for general gardening use.

Now is a good time to apply Fruit and Flower power around your gardens and repeat each month with a small sprinkling.

It will help to keep your leaves green and the plants will gain more energy from the sun even considering its shorter day lights hours as we head into winter.

It will firm up sappy growth from summer feeding of fertilisers and plant foods.

Also other precautions you should take going into winter include:

Protecting your vulnerable plants from frost by using the Spray on Frost Protection; Vaporgard.

Mulches used to overcome dry conditions in summer should be removed from under plants to allow the soil to breath and dry out quicker during wet periods.

This helps prevent root rots and loss of valuable plants.

A spray of Perkfection over plants that could be affected with wet soil is a good help to prevent root damage through wet feet.

Spray vegetables and preferred plants with Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) each week. (It helps them grow healthier and faster.

Side dress vegetable plants with a sprinkling of BioPhos.

Brassicas (Cabbage etc) that have caterpillars should be sprayed with Wallys Super Neem Tree Oil with Raingard added to prevent the oil washing off with watering or rain.

Reduce the amount of water you are giving container plants indoors and tender plants in glasshouses.

They do not need so much water now and wet feet intensifies the cold and can be fatal.

Any Questions any time just phone me or email me with your contact phone number.

THIS WEEKS Special is a 12.5 kilo bag of FRUIT and FLOWER POWER normal price is $60.00 plus shipping but till next Sunday we will pay the shipping to your home saving $16.00 North Island and $19.00 South Island. (No PO Boxes or outer Islands)

Order on our Mail Order Web site at http://www.0800466464.co.nz/18-bulk-goods?p=3

In Remarks please state This Weeks Special..

The 12.5 Kilo bag will be in a carton which can fit other products from our mail order web site but not other bulk goods.
You will have 10% off any other products you purchase (Not other bulk products)

I will phone you when we receive the order and arrange the free shipping and your preferred method of payment.

Regards

Wally Richards

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)

Gardening, News

About sprayers and spraying in your garden (Wally Richards)

March 30, 2023 Pam Vernon Leave a comment

Gardeners and horticulturists can at times take things for granted as we are often doing certain chores and don’t stop to realise that what we do and why we do it, is not common knowledge with everyone who gardens or are attempting to garden.

One of these is spraying plants for whatever reason we spray; whether it be for pest control, disease control, weed control or other reasons.

Lets start off with sprayers of which there are many types and I have four types that I use for different reasons and times.

Firstly I have a Back Pack sprayer which is hand pumped and holds about 16 litres of spray.

This one is only used for weed killing and the compound I use in it is Ammonium sulphamate that I dissolve into water at the rate of 200 grams per litre of water.

I add to this Raingard at the rate of 1mil per litre of water.

The best time to spray weeds is on a nice sunny day in full sun light and ideally when the soil is on the dry side.

If you are using any other non chemical weed killers then a sunny day with dry soil is a must for success.

If you are using chemical herbicides you should add Raingard to the spray as it will increase the effectiveness of the herbicide by 50% and apply it also ideally on a sunny day and drier soil.

The reason is that when soil is dry plants are moisture seeking and will take the spray more readily into their foliage.

The sprayer that you use for weed killers should be clearly written on ‘WEED KILLERS ONLY’

failure to do this will often lead to tragic loses in your gardens.

I have had many instances when someone else has used a sprayer that had been used to kill weeds and used the sprayer on plants for insect problems. (It works you kill the plants and the insects disappear, not so nice for your cherished plants)

This is particularly so with chemical herbicides because rinsing the sprayer out after use will not remove all the chemical as they impregnate into the plastic and if you were to use the same sprayer with say an insecticide in it and spray roses,

tomatoes, beans and various other plants, it will cause herbicide damage to the foliage and in some cases kill the plants.

If you have small weed killing jobs to do then what ever you are going to use, put it into a Trigger Sprayer that you mark ‘WEED KILLERS ONLY’

I actually have several 1 litre Trigger Sprayers that I use for different applications and as I do not use Raingard in the Trigger Sprayers I can store what spray has not been used in a shed out of direct sun light for future use..

If Raingard or VaporGard has been used in a sprayer then any spray not used should be either discarded or put into a container for future use so that you can wash out the sprayer immediately and run some clean water though it to make sure filters and jets are cleared of any residue.

So discard the contents, part fill with clean water and give a good shake.

Tip this water out and again part fill the sprayer with clean water and open the nozzle of the sprayer to make a jet and jet spray some of the water through the nozzle.

This will help ensure that the sprayer will be ready for use next time you want to use it.

Failure to do some often means time wasted as you try to clean residues from the sprayer so it will work.

Many products that have been diluted with water will keep for a time if stored out of sunlight, they may slump which means they fall to the bottom and there is more water above the product. A good shake normally remixes the product with the water.

Sometime I will add a little more of the product to the sprayer and also more water as to label instructions to top up the sprayer and overcome any possibility of the product deterioration while stored.

Besides the Back Pack Sprayer and several trigger spray bottles I also have two other pump up sprayers for spraying.

One is a 2 litre pump up sprayer the other is a 5 litre sit on the ground pump up sprayer.

Those are for the jobs that are bigger than what a Trigger sprayer would be used for and yet not enough to use the pack pack size.

Most spraying of any product except weed killers should be done at the end of the day when the sun is going down towards dusk and direct sunlight off the plant’s foliage.

This is particularly important if using any oil products such as Wallys Neem Tree Oil.

Also if using Super Pyrethrum on its own or with the Neem Oil as pyrethrum has a short life when exposed to UV which is in fact about two hours.

Also pyrethrum can affect honey bees and by dusk most of them should be back home in their hives.

Next morning when the sun comes up the Pyrethrum will be gone within a couple of hours.

Now here is a very important point which many do not realise when spraying chemical herbicides.

NEVER spray on a still calm day. Many people think that is the best time to spray when in fact it is the worst.

I learnt that when I obtained my Chemical Handlers certificate years ago and here is the reason why;

When it is calm tiny spray droplets are lifted up in to the air from conventional air currents (warm air rises) and these deadly droplets rise up and will at sometime drop onto what ever is below, your place? Down the road? Who knows but very damaging to what ever plant they land on.

The ideal time to spray is when there is a nice mild breeze, this will force the spray droplets down onto the target weeds.

Another good idea if your sprayer has a wand you can make a spray shield out of a two litre plastic ice cream container.

In the centre of the container make a hole that is big enough to fit over your wand when the nozzle is removed.

Place the end of the wand through the hole and put the nozzle back on.

You place this over the weeds you want to spray and pull the trigger. All the spray will stay inside the ice cream container.

So even on a windy day or calm day you can spray your weed killers safely.

We have now listed on our mail order web site at www.0800466464.co.nz One Litre Trigger Spray bottles for $6.00 each

(See under Disease Control top of first page)

If you are ordering other gardening items from the web site then add a Trigger or two to your order.

On their own the freight cost does not make them a good buy but when freight (if applicable) is on other products the trigger sprays can hitch a ride on that freight.

You get 10% off the price so that makes them only $5.40 each a good buy at that price.

Problems ring me at 0800 466464
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)

Image by Renate Köppel from Pixabay

Gardening, News

HOUSEHOLD ITEMS THAT ARE USEFUL IN THE GARDEN (Wally Richards)

March 22, 2023 Pam Vernon Leave a comment

There are a number of items that can be used in your garden to the benefit of plants.

For instance a year ago I wrote the article about using Apple Cider Vinegar on fruit trees to increase their performance and to reduce disease problems.

The formula is 250mil Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) mixed with 5 litres water in a 5 litre sprayer.

Spray the mix in the evening when the sun has just gone off your trees or plants, so the sun isn’t heating/burning leaves through the liquid spray droplets on them, and there’s time for the spray to dry before nightfall..

Spray the whole tree, vine or plant.. under and over leaves, the trunk, branches, twigs, fruit everything..

This will also feed the tree through the leaves (when they are there for deciduous trees) as a foliage food.

Baking Soda applied at a tablespoon per litre of water with Raingard added is good to prevent some fungus diseases such as black spot. (Don’t use on calcium sensitive plants)

Baking Soda can be sprayed over the foliage of oxalis to dehydrate the leaves. Oxalis to sensitive to calcium.

It does not affect the bulbs below but regular spraying of baking soda will keep the garden free of the oxalis foliage without affecting other plants.

To deal to the bulbs in the soil, mix Wallys Super Compost Accelerator at 200 grams per litre of water and water liberally over the foliage down into the soil to compost the bulb and bulblets.

Then there is table salt which can be sprinkled on weeds to kill them which is ideal on pavers and where you dont have other plants growing.

Cooking oils and vinegar can also be sprayed onto weeds in full sun light to dehydrate the foliage and kill annual weeds.

Condys Crystals, (potassium permanganate) a quarter tea spoon per litre of water with or without Raingard to control leaf diseases such as black spot, rust and curly leaf.

Sunlight Bar Soap (big yellow bar) lathered up in water to spray over aphids and soft body insects to kill them. (The fatty acids breaks down their soft bodies)

Dish washing liquid lathered up in warm water to break surface tension to allow water to penetrate.

Aspirin: in plants, just like in mammals, salicylic acid helps them cope with stress and disease. By adding Aspirin to the water, gardeners are hoping to help their plants cope with problems and grow faster and stronger.

The acid is effective on plants because many plants produce it themselves in tiny amounts. Plants produce this acid when stressed or fighting disease. Feeding them a greater supply of the acid proves beneficial. Giving the plant too much aspirin can have a negative effect as it can burn its leaves.

Dissolve 250mg to 500mg of aspirin in 4.5 liters of non chlorinated water and spray plants two to three times per month.

Similarly soak the leaves of willow trees in water for a week or more and use that as a spray as you would the aspirin. Willow water is ideal also for putting cuttings in to help them form roots quicker.

All great uses and here is the most interesting one of all:

Hydrogen peroxide 3%.

I read about this some years ago and it was again brought to my attention recently.

Hydrogen peroxide, well known as an ingredient in disinfectant products, is now also approved for controlling microbial pests on crops growing indoors and outdoors, and on certain crops after harvest.

This active ingredient prevents and controls bacteria and fungi that cause serious plant diseases.

Adding hydrogen peroxide to water promotes better growth in plants and boosts roots ability to absorb nutrients from the soil.

Diluted 3% peroxide adds needed aeration to the soil of plants and helps control fungus in the soil.

It acts as an insect pest deterrent and kills their eggs.

Ideal on brassica leaves for white butterfly eggs this time of the year.

I used 3% Hydrogen peroxide with Magic Botanic Liquid added on tomato and chili plants in my glasshouse and there was reduced actively within a couple of days.

A spray every 2-3 days is ideal for control or once a week or 2 weekly as a preventive.

I see on the Internet that the 3% should be further reduced with water such as 1:1 so if using 3% strength it would pay to do a test spray on a small area of foliage on each type of plant and see if there was any adverse reactions before using at 3% over whole crop or plant.

Ideal this time of the year to reduce pest number going into the winter.

I see the best use is in glasshouses where the product does not get washed away with rain.

Use out doors over and under foliage and you may need to reapply after rain.

Happy Gardening.

For your information I have the 3% hydrogen peroxide available to order thought our mail order web site at www.0800466464.co.nz

It is in the Pest Control section. (Listing will be on the web site with pictures later on today (Sunday 19th April.)

We have a one litre Trigger Spray Bottle Ready to Use with 3% Hydrogen Peroxide and Magic Botanic Liquid spray for $12.50

A one litre refill for the above for $8.00

and a 5 litre ready to use for $40.00

Of course you being subscribed to these Newsletters have a 10% discount off the above as with most of our gardening products.

If you have not used the Mail Order web site previously please tell me when I phone you to sort out payment method and freight that you have 10% off

Regards
Wally

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

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)

Image by Maya A. P from Pixabay

Gardening

WINTER PREPARATIONS IN THE GARDEN (Wally Richards)

March 19, 2023 Pam Vernon Leave a comment

This week I noticed a distinct chill in the air, first thing in the morning, which could be described as a very light frost.

Others must have noticed it in their localities as orders started coming in for Vaporgard, the spray on frost protection.

Now if you think back to Marches in the past years, it is very early to start to get chilly and it is more into April and May that one starts to realise that winter is getting into gear.

March is the first month of autumn in New Zealand and we have just started autumn with some leaf colour changes.

In autumn, New Zealand enjoys some of the most settled weather of the whole year.

Soak up long, sunny days and golden leaves with hiking, cycling or kayaking. (used to be)

Looking overseas there are number of late cold events in places such as California where snow is certainly not common even in winter.

I wound not be surprised if we don’t have a really cold winter this year and an early start to it.

So time to get organised for winter chills in your garden and in your home.

Did you know that your bank is offering Green Loans to people for such things as insulation, double glazing, heat pumps and solar power systems?

I am in the process of installing an off the grid solar power system I purchased from China for my warehouse and my bank has happily lent the cost of installation under this new leaning critia..

So what to do to protect your garden against the coming cold and frosts?

First thing is soft sappy growth of plants caused by nitrogen fertilisers will suffer unless you harden the growth up by applying Wallys Fruit and Flower Power which is half potash, to firm up growth and half magnesium to help ensure foliage stays green in winter.

A small sprinkling once a month starting now will toughen and green up your plants for winter.

Deciduous plants such as roses and many fruit trees that will drop their leaves and rest over winter so there is no point of using Wallys Fruit and Flower Power till the spring when they start to move for the new season.

Wet weather in winter takes a toll on plants that don’t like wet feet and can often lead to their deaths.

Mulches that you used in summer around plants should now be removed as they prevent the soil from drying out and will cause root rots.

Great for summer water retention but deadly in winter. Even weed mat can cause a problem in a wet winter.

It is now time to start a monthly treatment of plants that do not like wet feet such as citrus trees by spraying the foliage with Wallys Perkfection, once a month for the next 3 to 6 months.

It fortifies the roots making them less susceptible to rotting in wet soil.

The above has taken care of your preferred ever green plants but what about the ones that are frost tender such as passion fruit, avocados, tamarillos, hibiscus, citrus etc?

Also glasshouse plants such as tomatoes, Capsicum and chili that you are wintering over?

It is time to spay the foliage with Wallys Vaporgard; ‘Spray on Frost Protection’.

It comes in two sizes 100 mils which makes 6.66 litres of spray which is often enough to do all the cold sensitive plants in many gardens once or 250 mils makes up 16.66 litres of spray.

Place the Vaporgard bottle into a jug of hot water so it pours better and then mix with warm water at 15 mils per litre.

You can add some Magic Botanic Liquid to the spray which your plants will appreciate.

Only spray on a sunny day in full sun light over the plants leaves so the film dries faster.

It gives down to minus 3 frost protection within 3 days of application for about 3 months.

So a spray now will be repeated about middle of June to take your plants out of winter.

If you don t use all the spray mixed up remove from sprayer and store in a bottle in a dark cupboard. It can be used again later. Then and most important; immediately rinse out sprayer with fresh water and tip out.

Then another lot of water which you will spray as a jet (adjust nozzle to make jet) to ensure that filters and nozzle don’t block when Vaporgard sets.

If you don’t do this straight away you will have problems cleaning it the next time you go to use. The above is good practise to do with any sprays you use in your sprayer.

In areas where frosts are very heavy then you can add Wallys Liquid Copper to the Vaporgard spray and that places an extra layer of particles over the foliage to give even better frost protection.

How does Vaporgard work? Besides putting a protective film over the leaves it acts as a sunscreen against UV.

VaporGard develops a polymerised skin over each spray-droplet which filters out UVA and UVB. This provides a sunscreen for chlorophyll which is normally under attack by UV light.

This results in a darker green colour of the foliage within a few days of application. This chlorophyll build-up makes the leaf a more efficient food factory producing more carbohydrates, especially glycols.

Glycol is anti-freeze so the plant has its own anti-freeze protection of the cells. The cells still free but are protected with the anti-freeze.

That is fine if you have a frost every few days but if there is several frosts night after night then the cells dont have enough time to heal before they are fozen again.

That being the case you need to use additional protection such as frost cloth for the second and third frosts.

Vaporgard will ensure that you don’t get caught out from that unexpected frost.

Once you have winter proofed your gardens then also change your watering patterns of your indoor plants which will suffer inside during winter if the mix is wet.

A little water as needed is best for winter indoor plants keeping the mix a little on the dry side.

Most important after watering that you remove any water from the saucer below the pot.

If at this time you find when you water the water quickly fills the saucer below then you have a problem called soil tension which prevents the water from wetting all the growing medium.

If the pots are not too big then plunge them into a tank of water and watch them bubble away.

When they stop bubbling lift and let drain before placing back on saucer. They will accept water better next time. If the containers are too big to plunge then mix some dishwashing liquid into warm water, lather up and water that over the growing medium. It will break surface tension.

Two interesting things were reported this week one about server climate events which we have recently seen.

Ian Wishart did some investigating and here is the out come:

CLIMATE OF FEAR: NIWA’s Missing Storm Data & Its Impact On Extreme Climate Claims

Whatever; one thing for sure the climate during my life time has changed and not for the better, but then again it has been changing from the day planet Earth came into being so whats new.

You will likely see this in the news soon….

Silicon Valley Bank Collapsed yesterday; A bid to reassure investors goes awry. The failure of Silicon Valley Bank was caused by a run on the bank.

The company was not, at least until clients started rushing for the exits, insolvent or even close to insolvent. Other banks are in trouble now also.

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)

Gardening, News

Gardening: beating the veggie shortages … (Wally Richards)

March 6, 2023 Pam Vernon 2 Comments

It is certainly interesting times we are living in … there are also some gardening problems to overcome. Recently I went looking for some vegetable seedlings and seed packets of vegetables that I wished to add to my gardens at this time.

I was after cauliflower seedlings to grow and harvest in winter and some onion seeds to sow now. I had to visit several gardening places before I found the items I required. This means that a lot of people have woken up to the fact that fresh produce in the supermarkets are several times dearer currently than they would normally be in March. In fact in March there should be a glut of cheap fruit and vegetables available from spring and summer crops. There isn’t. The supermarkets are now starting to import vegetables that are normally available in abundance from NZ growers. There Isn’t. Imported produce is much more expensive than local grown hence if you are paying $5 for a small cabbage now soon you will be paying $10 or more. I was talking recently to a check out operator at local supermarket than was saying there are several customers that are not at all friendly now. I can understand why, people with limited money for buying food can’t afford all the groceries that they are used to buying; their budget just does not stretch that far. Hence they can be grumpy and even a bit nasty to the Supermarket staff. The same people are in a Catch 22 they don’t have the money to grow their own produce and/or don’t have land that can be used for gardening. Readers of my columns are good gardeners, in the main, and even if on a budget they are able to grow a reasonable amount of their own food which is not only a big saving but also much more healthy for us gardeners.

There are problems that are currently happening and one of these is as I found; a shortage of seeds and seedlings in many gardening outlets. Cabbage and cauliflower seedlings I have purchased recently have caterpillar eggs on the leaves and if you don’t rub them off they will be eaten alive not too long after planting. So check leaves for the little lightly yellow eggs and rub them off before you plant. I use Wally Neem Granules when I plant cabbages etc a little in the bottom of the planting hole and more on the soil surface by the seedlings. This has a very good control of the caterpillars and even though I have caterpillar eggs on my plants and holes on the leaves there is not any caterpillars on the foliage. The holes are made by hungry birds not caterpillars. It is even worse on my silverbeet which young seedlings I planted have either disappeared or they have damaged foliage. More mature silverbeet will likely have a lot of leaf damage from birds feeding. The best way to keep birds off silverbeet and brassicas is to use what I call Crop Cover or what shops call, Bug Mesh. Either laid loose over crops or supported over crops with hoops made from ridged plastic irrigation pipe or number 8 wire. The crop cover is good for many seasons and will keep birds and just about all pests off your crops include neighborhood cats. Old curtain netting could be used instead of the more durable crop cover.

When you buy vegetable seedlings look for the smaller, fresher ones not the over grown ones which have likely been stressed and will go to seed prematurely. Even if you take them home to grow on a bit to make handling easier, then do so. First thing I do when I get punnets home is plunge them into a bucket of water than I have thrown some sheep manure pellets into some time ago. I hold them down into the liquid manure and watch them bubble away. This not only gives them a good soaking of the mix but some nature liquid food as well. Let them drain and place in full sun till you are ready to plant them. Water as need be in the meantime and prior to planting plunge them into the bucket again. Seedlings will pull apart better when the mix is wet and they have ample wet mix on the roots when you plant. After planting give them a watering with the hose to bed them in. Then you can put your crop cover over them if you are going to use this method.

I wrote recently a quick way of converting some existing lawn area into a productive vegetable patch. For those that missed it here it is again:

‘If you want to convert a part of your lawn to vegetable growing then mow the chosen area (a sunny area is best by far) as short as possible (called scalping). Around the lawn edge of this area dig a small trench about half a spade depth. The soil and grass from this trench can be stacked some where for future use. The trench will assist with drainage and as a mowing strip between the vegetable garden and the existing lawn. Place the lawn clippings caught in the catcher over the scalped area. (Extra food for your vegetables crops) Now cover the scalped lawn area that has the lawn clippings with a layer of cardboard or alternatively several layers of news paper. You can find cardboard from recycling places, super markets etc. Sprinkle any animal manure you can get hold of or blood & bone with sheep manure pellets. A sprinkling of Wallys BioPhos and Wally Ocean solids will complete the nutrient requirements. Then over this place a layer of purchased compost which I prefer Daltons as it does not container green waste and thus herbicide problems. This layer need only be about 5cm thick just deep enough to plant seeds or seedlings in.’ end……..

The problem that we all have had this season is the lack of direct sunlight. Called ‘Dimming’ the sun is obscured by hazy skies or too much cloud and not enough ‘Blue Skies’. Plants are slow to grow, flower buds don’t form or don’t open and solar panels don’t make much power as they do in direct sunlight. Can’t help with solar panels other than wash them to make better use of the light available. For plants provide them with Liquid Sunlight by dissolving a tablespoon of molasses into a litre of hot water and when cooled down add some Magic Botanic Liquid and spray foliage of your plants. Repeat every few days. Likely you will notice the leaves will get much bigger and that is good. It may attract ants if they are a problem where you are so then make up some of our Granny Mins Ant Bait and use that to kill the ants. (Old recipe and lots better than most baits and cheaper also).

Off Topic..With the flooding and forest waste problems I wonder why they don’t control burn it? I think they used to in the past as the ashes are great for planting more trees. (Of course they are not allowed/// something about CO2? Workers not allowed to take it for fire wood apparently and logging companies say too expensive to do. (Lot more expensive the damage it does). Also they used to dredge rivers to make them deeper so more water could flow without flooding surrounding areas. (oops not allowed to, upsets river life: PC gone mad). Simple remedies that we used to use. Burn the slash and dredge the rivers!

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

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 Mark Valencia from Pixabay

Food, Gardening, NZ Flood Feb 2023

WEEDS – A NEW WAY TO DEAL TO THEM (Wally Richards)

February 28, 2023 Pam Vernon Leave a comment

This week I received a book from an old friend of mine, Julia Sich which she has written and called ‘Julia’s Guide to Edible weeds and Wild Green Smoothies’.

Many of you will know the ‘Weed Lady’ through her previous book and workshops.

In your gardens you will likely have a number of plants we call ‘weeds’ which are of benefit to your diet and health.

The definition of a ‘weed’ is simply ‘a plant that is growing where we do not want it to grow’.

Many of the plants we grow for food or for their flowers; when allowed to self seed they become weeds.

I recommend that you obtain a copy of Julia’s book and learn to your benefit, many of the plants you pull out, kill and compost which could be better off been cultivated and consumed.

The book is available in two formats as a down load E Book or as a printed publication.

The web site is https://www.juliasedibleweeds.com/

and the book is available for NZ$19.95 for the Ebook OR $34.95 plus postage for the printed version.

The book gives you both the common names and the Botanical names as well as coloured pictures to assist in identification.

Each weed has a written description along with its nutritional values and how to use them for your benefit.

Mind you if the Government had its way it would ban the use of these natural plants and their ancient uses if favour of Big Pharma’s bottom line. (Therapeutic Products Bill)

Pharmaceutical companies hate natural remedies even though many of their concoctions were originally derived from plant’s properties.

If you have the knowledge such as given in Julia’s book then you can look after your own well being as our fore fathers did from all races on the planet. (And at no expense if out of the weeds in your gardens)

We have to read and learn about the advantages of these plants but in Nature animals know what is best for them as far as their well being is concerned.

For instance if you place cattle into a paddock that has a wide range of plants including weeds, the cattle will consume the ones that they need for better health beside eating a lot of grass.

Which is an interesting point in so much as grass is also very good for your health and in particular, wheat grass and barley grass.

That is if you apply all the known minerals and element to the growing medium.

Reason is that grasses will take up all the minerals available where other plants such as tomatoes only require 56 of the known 114 mineral and elements.

That is why some farmers will apply what we sell as Ocean Solids to their paddocks to the great benefit of their stock’s health.

I remember a farmer telling me one time about his practice of spraying diluted sea water over his paddocks which was much to the annoyance of his farming neighbour,

because a certain amount of the sea spray would fall onto the neighbors side of the fence and when the neighbour let his stock into that paddock they would rush over to the area by the fence line and demolish the mineral rich grasses growing there.

Julia mentions ‘your’s truly’ in her book and in particular in regards to ‘Smoothies’

I presume many of you have or still do on occasions, if not regularly, go out and pick a range of greens and put them into a high speed blender with a banana and wizz up a very beneficial brew.

The banana addition takes away some of the unpleasant taste of some plants and makes your drink very palatable.

Julia tells the story of how smoothies solved health issues that she once had as I found the same many years ago when I first started making smoothies from as many different plants as I could get my hands on.

Some plants are nice to eat raw and have flavors that make them appealing such as salad crops.

The rest including grasses are better taken raw in a smoothie.

Besides being of great benefit to your health another very good reason to find out what weeds you can eat is the unusual weather that has affected New Zealand recently.

Here is a update from a Food Producer in the Hawke’s Bay: ‘Hi everyone, food producer here. Just wanted to write an easily digestible post so people can understand how severe the destruction in H.B is for the whole of N.Z

The media aren’t really discussing it fully and people I speak to can’t seem to wrap their heads around how serious this is for us as a country.

What’s been lost: It’s called the fruit bowl for a reason, not just grapes and apples but also pears, onions, corn, carrots, blueberries, strawberries, honey, dairy, beef, sheep products including wool and also apiaries, nurseries and seed banks.

Wineries and orchards have had heritage trees and vines utterly wiped out. We’re talking 30-40-year-old plants gone. Countless bee hives and fields of crops buried under a metre of silt.

These aren’t just for fresh produce but also wine, vinegar, honey, bread and processed fruit and vegetables for things from muesli bars to ice cream and condiments.

The layer of silt now covering the once fertile land has been completely smothered. There’s so much cleaning up to be done before people can replant and fertilize it will take years to get back even close to normal.

In that time we’ll see massive shortages of all the above, affecting almost all food items you can think of.

A very apt warning and not only in NZ but also in many major food producing areas of the world, either through Floods or Droughts millions of acres of crops have been lost..

Think about that. You might want to start cultivating a few weeds for a ‘Rainy Day’.

Of course as we have seen this spring and summer a lack of blue skies with nice fluffy white clouds which has also greatly affected us home gardens as well as commercial growers.

Direct sun shine is what all plants use to create carbohydrates which is the energy that makes them grow, flower and produce seeds.

Hazy skies and cloud cover that prevents direct sunlight being available for plants and solar panels is a very big concern.

In 2006 this matter was brought up at the United Nations and the speech about it can be heard here

VIDEO LINK

Well worth 18 minuets of your time to be better informed. (Now days they talk about ‘Planet Shading’ which would be a bit like a ‘Nuclear Winter’ no sun plants don’t grow.

Playing with weather or the ability to produce or prevent weather patterns is a fact and now days it is harder to determine what is natural and what is man made.

If severe weather events we have experienced are not natural then a lot of people that have been badly affected would not be very happy for sure.

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

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)

Gardening, News

Pollination in your garden (Wally Richards)

February 19, 2023 Pam Vernon Leave a comment

Most plants flower to produce seeds so their line will continue through their off spring.

When it comes to our gardening efforts we want plants such as tomatoes, zucchini and pumpkins to produce fruit which in every case contain the seeds for the next generation of those plants.

When pollination does not happen then the fruit will only develop a little and then rot.

Pollination is the act of transferring pollen grains from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma.

The goal of every living organism, including plants, is to create offspring for the next generation. One of the ways that plants can produce offspring is by making seeds.

Every year I receive enquiries about what is wrong with my zucchini/pumpkin/melon/cucumber?

They flower and the fruit appears and then it goes yellow and rots?

The reason is that the female stigma did not receive a few grains of pollen from the male flower anther.

When it comes to the likes of pumpkins, melons and zucchini I always hand pollinate to be sure of a fruit set.

Best done in the morning where you check your plants for female flowers.

That is the flower that has the embryo fruit behind the petals.

When you find one or more then you look for a young male flower (which does not have the embryo fruit) but has anther that is covered with pollen.

I prefer to pick the male flower and remove the petals exposing the anther.

Then I rub the anther against the stigma and thus pollinating it and setting the fruit.

Bees, bumble bees and some other flying insects may do this for you as there is a little nectar that the flowers produce to encourage the flying insects to visit and move pollen from flower to flower.

Now things don’t always work as you would like them to work and sometimes a fruiting plant does not produce any flowers.

This can happen if the plant does not get enough direct sunlight, there is not sufficient energy to produce flowers,

It can also happen if the plant is well fed and well watered instead of flowering it will vegetate producing lots of new foliage minus any flowers.

I call them Fat Cats, well fed and very lazy.

If this is the case with any Curcubitaceae family member which is a large family that includes melons, cucumbers, zucchini and squashes you can take male pollen from say a pumpkin flower and fertilize a female zucchini flower to set the fruit.

It could also mean that there is a lack of potash so it pays to sprinkle some Wally’s Fruit and Flower Power onto the soil at the time flowering should start.

Then we have Self-pollinating, self-fertile and self-fruitful all mean the same thing.

You can plant a self-fertile tree and expect it to pollinate itself and set fruit alone (for example, peaches, pie cherries, apricots).

Self-fertilization, fusion of male and female gametes (sex cells) produced by the same individual.

Self-fertilization occurs in bisexual organisms, including most flowering plants, numerous protozoans, and many invertebrates.

Tomatoes are not pollinated by bees instead it is air movement on a sunny day that will do the job.

In a glasshouse or even outdoors its a good idea in the middle of a sunny day give the plants a gentle shake to set the fruit.

To grow tomatoes in the cooler months or though winter you need types that will produce pollen in the colder times to have fruit set. Summer growing tomatoes will survive with protect but may not produce fruit.

Winter ones are Russian Red and Sub Arctic Plenty (from Kings Seeds) World’s earliest tomato. Bred for the U.S. Greenland military bases to endure extremely cold climates.

Producing concentrated clusters of medium, good flavored, red fruit that ripen almost simultaneously. A very small plant with compact habit so excellent for anyone interested in growing in pots. Determinate.

Blossom end Rot on tomatoes is the dark patch under the fruit that is the result of lack of moisture to move the calcium at fruit set time.

The fruit sets but the bottom has the dark patch.

After picking the bottom part can be cut off and the rest of the tomato eaten.

If not done the whole tomato will rot on vine or in a container after picking.

Tomatoes grown in containers are prone to this problem as they dry out quickly in hot weather and need watering like two or three times a day. Alarge saucer under the container that is full of water will help.

Corn is another one that depends on lots of sun and a bit of a breeze to move the pollen from the male stalks at the top down onto the ‘silks’ of the female cobs.

Planting lots of sweet corn plants near but not too close to each other will help.

On a still sunny day you can shale the plants to allow the pollen to drift down onto the silks.

Corn varieties will easy cross pollinate if grown near to each other so keep your pop corn, ornamental corn and maize types well away from your sweet corn.

To sum up with fruiting vegetables and fruit we want them to be pollinated and set fruit for our food chain.

But in our flower garden the reverse applies we don’t want the flowers to be pollinated because once that happens the petals fall off and a seed pod forms.

If like on lilies you were to carefully cut off the male anthers to prevent pollination then your flowers would last a lot longer.

Once the flowers on a plant have set then if you cut them off the plant (we call it dead heading) then the plant is likely to produce more flowers as it wants to produce seeds.

We do that with roses to encourage a second flush and not only do we cut off the dead flower and rose hip (that is the seed pod) we cut back the stem a little to encourage new growth which can also produce new flowers.

Some gardeners use a small soft brush to collect pollen from male flowers to Fertilise the females and that is a nice way of achieving fruit set.

Fruit trees that flower but produce no mature fruit because of a lack of pollinators such as honey bees or bumble bees it pays to use a brush between some of the flowers on a sunny day to set some fruit on the lower branches.

Idea of planting flowering plants to attract honey bees may bring then to your bee loving plants but not to your fruit tree as bees are selective and generally speaking will work one type of flower only at any given time.

Bumble Bees are not so discrmitant and will work several different types of flowers as available.

Figs are very different: The crunchy little things that you notice when eating a fig are the seeds, each corresponding to one flower. Such a unique flower requires a unique pollinator. All fig trees are pollinated by very small wasps of the family Agaonidae.

The pollinators of fig tree flowers are tiny gall wasps belonging to several genera of the hymenopteran family Agaonidae. Gravid female gall wasps enter a developing syconium through a minute pore (the ostiole) at the end opposite the stem)

The wasp is long gone by the time the fig crosses your lips. Figs produce a chemical called “ficin” that breaks down the wasp bodies.

Nature is so resourceful.

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This includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief,
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Farming, Gardening

Surprising facts (and cover up) about copper (Wally Richards)

February 12, 2023 Pam Vernon 3 Comments

On a brighter note (well kind of) with impending storms and things on the horizon … latest from Wally Richards … EWR

Recently a reader sent me an article which I found very interesting so I will share this with you……..

Iron gardening tools versus copper gardening tools: What we were never taught.

Iron or Copper Equipment in Farming In the 1930s

A Walter Schauberger was invited by King Boris of Bulgaria to examine the reasons for the great decline in that country’s farming production.

During his trip through the countryside he noticed that in the areas populated by the Turks, the harvests were more plentiful than elsewhere. It was here that the old wooden plough was still used.

The rest of the country had replaced these with modern iron ploughs imported from Germany as part of a general modernizing of Bulgarian agriculture.

The first steam ploughs had also been introduced. Schauberger drew the logical conclusion that the reduced cropping was a consequence of the introduction of iron ploughs,

but it was not until later that he developed his theory of the detrimental effect of iron machinery on agriculture. His work with water jets gave him a new perspective on the problem.

It was shown that if a small amount of rust was added to the water in these experiments, no charge developed; the water became ’empty.

He abstracted this finding to the use of iron ploughs and thought their effect on harvest yields must relate to this.

When the iron plough moves through the soil, it becomes warm, and the disturbed soil is covered with a fine dust of iron particles that quickly rust. He had previously noticed that iron-rich ground was dry, and that the turbines in power stations ‘discharged’ water.

The conclusion of all these observations was that iron had a detrimental effect on the water characteristics within the soil; it expelled the water and ‘drained’ it of its power.

When the steam plough, and later the tractor plough, were introduced, the situation worsened as a result of the increased speed with which the blades moved through the soil.

Walter Schauberger has said that water disappears from fields that have been ploughed in this way, for straightforward physical reasons; the iron plough’s rapid passage through the soil cuts through the fields magnetic lines of energy,

causing an electrical current to occur in the same way that a coil in an electric generator rotates in a magnetic field.

This, in turn, leads to an electrolysis in the soil which separates the water into oxygen and hydrogen.

The electrolysis also damages the microscopic life in the soil and this leads to an even higher temperature occurring in addition to the iron blades’ friction with the soil. It is especially with iron that these phenomena occur.

With ploughs of wood, copper and other so-called ‘biologically magnetic’ materials, the soil’s magnetic field is not disturbed.

The conclusion that Schauberger drew from these observations, was that another material other than iron should be used for farming equipment.

His attention focused on copper. Copper rich soils retained their ground moisture well, and so he began to experiment with copper ploughs as well as other equipment made from copper.

To begin with he merely covered an iron plough’s cutting surface with copper sheeting and made tests with this.

The tests took place under controlled conditions, dividing the field up into segments, some of which were ploughed with the prevailing iron machinery and some with the adapted copper machinery.

The results proved very favorable to the copper, which showed a 17-35 per cent increase in harvest.

A large firm, Farmleiten – Gut Heuberg, near Salzburg, showed an increase of 50 per cent.
On a hill farm outside Kitzbuhl tests showed an increase in the potato crop of 12.5 times the quantity sown.
Throughout there was an increase in quantity, but also a marked increase in quality.
The baking potential of corn was increased, and potatoes were not attacked by the Colorado beetle, though neighboring potato fields ploughed in the more usual way were still attacked, and the nitrogen requirements of the soil were reduced.

During 1951-52 controlled tests with the copper plough were made by the Farming Chemical Test Station in Linz. The tests concerned the cultivation of oats, wheat, kohlrabi and onions.

Certain sections were worked only with iron machinery, others with iron machinery and added copper sulphate, and a third area with only copper machinery.

In certain tests the copper sulphate was exchanged with pure copper dust. A significant increase was observed in these tests also.

Rumors of these successes spread to farmers around Salzburg where many of the tests had taken place, and they started to call the copper-wonder ‘the golden plough’.

It was manufactured in large quantities but soon considerable opposition arose from an unexpected quarter.

In 1948 Viktor Schauberger had signed a contract with a company in Salzburg for the production of a large number of ploughs.

Then suddenly one day he was visited by a high official from Salzburg’s treasury office. The latter arrived in an elegant car, and the following ensued: the treasury director:

‘There has been a rumor that the Salzburg town corporation has carried out successful tests with your ploughs, and, naturally, this is of interest.

But now I must ask you face to face – what is is worth to me, if I support you?’ Schauberger said: I don’t understand what you mean.

You are from the treasury, you have nothing to do with support I have paid my fees for the test and everything is complete.’ The Treasury director went on: I must make myself clear.

The fact is, I have an agreement with the nitrogen industry whereby if I can stimulate the farmers to use more nitrogen than usual I receive a royalty for each sack being sold.

If now the farmers were to change to the copper plough the demand would permanently diminish, and thus I need royalties from your ploughs as compensation.

Can’t we come to an understanding as old friends and make a good deal for us both?

‘ Schauberger replied furiously: ‘I have only one thing to say to you – you are a greedy rascal – a thing I should have understood at once – when as a representative of the people you drive around in a luxury car.’

It was after this exchange that there was a surprise termination of the contract from the company that was to have provided the ploughs.

Representatives from the local agricultural society also started to warn farmers against using the copper plough as it could cause over-production which would give lower prices.

Thereby their production and use were totally halted. In 1950, Schauberger, together with engineer Rosenberger, however, obtained a patent on a method of coating the active surfaces of farm machinery with copper. End

Interesting how iron can effect the soil and crop production.

Moral of the story; Corruption is always in the higher places and we see the same today all over the world.

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2The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment (Section 9)

Food, Gardening, News, Therapeutic Products Bill

PLANTS AND YOUR HEALTH (Wally Richards)

January 19, 2023 Pam Vernon Leave a comment

Readers that have followed my weekly columns and books will be well aware of how I have combined gardening with health.

I know that naturally grown vegetables and fruit will be very beneficial to your health and well being and when you add all the 114 known minerals to the growing media then the same food plants will be super healthy and taste so good.

The minerals can be obtained from using Wallys Unlocking your soil (minerals from rocks) Wallys Ocean Solids (Minerals from the blue waters of the ocean) and Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL which is minerals from prehistoric times).

The most benefit from your produce is obtained by eating raw or only lightly cooked.

The fast way to obtain maximum goodness is by converting healthy foliage into a drink we call ‘smoothies’

This is achieved with a very high speed blender which smashes the molecules of the plant material used allowing for easy assimilation into your body when you drink the green liquid.

Take the leaves of edible plants such as lettuce, carrot tops, celery, wheat or barley grass, silverbeet etc.

There are also a number of weeds that are edible such as Puha or Rauriki, dandelion and Stinging nettles.

Every plant has some beneficial properties even ones that are not normally eaten.

For instance there are about 3 or 4 different coloured carrots you can grow and each one has their own health benefits.

I always add a banana to my smoothies as it gives a nice palatable flavour.

We know that for thousands of years people in different areas of the planet learnt about plants growing in their area which they could use for their health and medical purposes.

I read one time that there is a plant or plants some where on the planet that will cure any ills of humans; in some cases we just have not found that plant yet or have the knowledge of how to use it.

Much of the pharmaceutical medicines was originally found through the old remedies of various plants people had used for generations.

The original chemists had jars of all sorts of dried plants and minerals which they would use to make up the concoctions that added recovery from sickness.

We hear about Chinese medicines, Indian medicines and even Maori medicines most of which were derived from locally grown plants and herbs.

A problem arises as Big Pharma cannot make money out of natural remedies as they cannot be patient. So if you know your herbs and herbal lore the poor pharmaceutical companies are not able to take your money with their concoctions.

Recently we saw during the holiday break our beloved Govt once again trying to implement a bill to ban the traditional use of herbs and plants for your well being. This is their third attempt at doing so and again removing another of your rights to be able to treat yourself and look after your own heath.

Andrew Little (Little brains I think) introduced the Therapeutic products bill see… https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/therapeutic-products-bill-introduced

The Therapeutic Products Bill replaces the Medicines Act 1981 and Dietary Supplements Regulations 1985 with a comprehensive regulatory regime that is (said to be) fit for the future.

Labour having failed twice in the past to pass legislation because of public outcry are using a different tact to make it happen..’The Bill establishes a new regulator within Manat Hauora – Ministry of Health, headed by an independent statutory officer,

with a wider remit than the medicines regulator Medsafe.’

This person can deem any plant, herb, fruit and vegetable as beneficial to your health and thus ban the use of it, the growing of it and the import of it.

The only benefit of this has to be for the pharmaceutical companies and removes our freedom of choice to take what is traditionally safe natural remedies to what are often not safe pharmaceutical medicines.

In 2017 Labour opted for a prohibited list of 300 common herbal ingredients.

More well know on these included Aloe Vera, Comfrey, Belladonna, Hibiscus, Jasmine, Snowdrop, Juniper, Mustard, Worm wood, Cinnamon, Almond, Grapeseed, Ipomoea, Neem, Eggplant, senna and Valerian.

Many of these plants, herbs and spices like Cinnamon, Mustard are currently sold in shops. So how on earth did they get onto a prohibited list?

The answer lies in attempts to gain control of our food supply.

Natural products that are beneficial to health cannot be patented, but synthetic copies can be.

To make this work, the products that grow in gardens need to be banned.

Already I see Senna which is a natural aid for constipation is not easily obtainable in NZ.

Labour and the Ministry of Health did not make this list up, the list was supplied by the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities (ICMRA) of which Medsafe is a member.

ICMRA is largely funded by the pharmaceutical industry whose interests they serve.

If we wish to be able to continue to freely chose herbal medicines and supplements without government interference, we will need to speak up.

Go to this Link https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/make-a-submission/document/53SCHE_SCF_BILL_130084/therapeutic-products-bill before February 15th.

Write to your MP and complain that the appointment of a regulator amounts to an open ended blank cheque to control the use of products used by more than 50% of our population without fully specifying the principles he should use.

Many of us do not realise what uses there are for many plants we grow in our gardens and while researching for this article I discovered https://medicinalseedkit.com/kit/

Have a look, I was amazed the wealth of information that is there.

For instance Chicory : This is the wild plant that Native Americans used to look for more than any other.

They’d harvest and use chicory to make a natural painkilling extract for a wide range of physical discomforts, especially stiff and achy joints. And so can you!

The root is rich in chicoric acid (CA), a plant compound with potent anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties but no risk of addiction.

If our pharmacies ever run dry, having even a small patch of chicory growing in your own backyard will provide relief. There are many more such as:

Chamomile – The Natural Antibiotic

Evening Primrose – A Natural Remedy for Skin and Nerves

California Poppy – Better Than Sleeping Pills

Feverfew – Nature’s Aspirin for Fevers and Migraines

Knowledge is power over your destiny and well being and it should never be taken away from you by Government regulations not in our interest.

An over reach of power by the Government.

If you want more information try https://hatchardreport.com/category/natural-health/

Make a submission, write to your local MP.

I have on both counts and if you would like a copy of the email I sent to most of the Labour MP’s just ask and I will send you the copy.

You can alter it to suit and use it in your words to the MP’s.

If enough people complain then you maybe we will be still able to still grow your lemon tree (good for colds).

No more broccoli (Some kids will be happy) as it is a great source of antioxidants and may enhance your health by reducing inflammation, improving blood sugar control, boosting immunity, and promoting heart health.

Why Is Broccoli a Superfood? fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K, iron, and potassium.

The list goes on.

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)

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Gardening

TIME TO PLANT FOR WINTER (Wally Richards)

January 16, 2023 Pam Vernon 2 Comments

December, January, February are the best months for planting vegetables and flowers for winter food and colour.

The reason is you need to catch the longer day light hours to obtain reasonable growth.

The day light hours are progressively diminishing but during these months there is ample time to get plants to a mature state before winter sets in.

Once it chills down vegetables which are mature or near mature, will hold nicely in the garden for you to harvest as you require.

There is a problem from my experience is that seedling nurseries don’t produce winter type vegetable plants and flowers until we are just about into winter. By then by then you have lost the growth of the longer day light hours.

Chances are that they will sit and sulk during winter then bolt in the spring to flower.

Many gardeners prefer to buy seedling in punnets or cell packs to plant which is very expensive even if you are getting a head start in comparison to growing from seed.

That is only an advantage at the start as seed sown vegetables, sown at the same time as transplanted seedlings from seedling packs, will out grow the transplants and give you a superior plant.

The key is not to sow seeds in containers to transplant but to direct sow where they are going to grow and mature.

Nature is by far the best plant grower from seed that I know of; just look at the crops of weeds that Nature has germinated in your gardens.

I am going to show you now the very best way to direct sow and grow seed in open ground or in raised gardens.

Select a sunny area of either of the above and remove all weeds that are currently growing there.

Rake the soil over to obtain a nice level area of friable soil.

Over this you sprinkle blood & bone, sheep manure pellets and Ocean Solids.

Alternative or as well as you can use any animal manures you have available.

Lightly rake the above to mix with soil or growing medium.

Then place about 4 layers of newspaper or one layer of thin cardboard to suppress any weed seeds that are likely to germinate. Wet down the paper or cardboard.

Next spread a layer of good purchased compost and I recommend Daltons Compost as its not just a bag of rubbishy bark with some lime and fertiliser thrown in.

(Some contains green waste that has herbicides in it as well which is no great help in establishing your plants.)

You are now ready to sow seeds of crops suitable for this time of year sowing

You need to do a bit of research on the Internet for mail order seeds from Egmont Seeds or Kings Seeds

Look at all the types available in say cabbages to see which ones are for winter growing/harvesting.

Buy the ones that suit you and the season best.

Open pollinate seeds are preferred ones to buy and g row as they will mature at different times rather than all at once. You can also note the recommended plant spacing distances on the ones you are buying.

Normally there are a lot of seeds in the packet and you are only going to sow a few of them at one time.

The packets with spare seed in them can be placed in a glass jar with a lid and placed in your fridge to keep well for future plantings.

Say the spacing is 30cm apart then you are going to put 2 seeds 15cm apart on top of your purchased compost and then spray them with Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) before lightly covering them with the compost.

Leave for a day and then lightly water the area. Repeat lightly watering each day or if drying out quickly twice a day.

After a few days or a week or more you should have a strike with lots of the sown seeds sprouting.

Allow them to grow about 5 cm tall and spray them weekly with MBL.

Once they are at about 5 to 8cm tall you are going to cull out the crop.

Where two seeds have both germinated together select the stronger looking one and with a pair of scissors cut the weaker one off at ground level.

Allow all the other seedlings to grow and water to keep soil moist. As we are at say 15cm apart and not the preferred 30 cm we wait till the foliage of all are starting to touch each other

then we harvest the young plants to leave growing plants 30 cm apart (or what ever is the ideal spacing according to the seed packet info.)

The harvested young plants can be eaten/cooked in any suitable way.

If you have ample room and you want to plant for succession then repeat sowing as above in a months time and even a late sowing a month later in March.

That is it till the spring.

I can foresee that purchased vegetables are going to become very expensive over the next year or more for several reasons.

Imported chemical fertilisers that the commercial growers use are in short supply and much dearer than they used to be.

There are already and will be more crop failures from flooding or droughts and growth is slower because of the lack of direct sunlight from overcast and cloudy days.

If you have heard about the proposed ‘Dimming of the Planet’ to offset global warming by creating hazy skies and then if you are aware it; this has nothing to do with global warming but everything to do with slowing food crops growth so you have to eat Bill Gates Lab grown food or starve.

There is a lot of truth in the saying ‘Control the food and money and you control the people’.

I learnt of a recent problem in the Philippines were a kilo of onions is now the equivalent price of $20 NZD. Reason I believe is the flooding in northern parts of Philippines where the weather is a bit more like ours and a lot of food crops are grown there.

One Filipino friend going back for a holiday said she is not taking chocolates as normal but a suitcase of onions.

Taking about Philippines and their food stuffs we have a Philippine/Asian food distribution centre here in Marton which you can order non frozen food stuffs on line and have them sent to your home with your gardening requirements.

Have a browse at http://www.0800466464.co.nz/74-philippine-products

You are likely to be surprised at how better value many items are compared to Supermarket brands of similar products. Spaghetti sauces for instance are very popular with Europeans and about half the price of NZ brands.

Also save money in your gardens by seed sowing vegetables as I have described above.

Those people that took my advice in earlier articles about having a few chickens on their property will now be enjoying the fresh eggs daily and not paying about $10.00 a dozen at the supermarket.

Its just a sign of things to come I think.

ALSO DONT FORGET OUR CURRENT PROMOTION TILL END OF MONTH..

All Neem Products (Neem Oil, Neem Granules and Powder all sizes) 20% off

Wallys Super Pyrethrum 20% off

Wallys White Fly sticky Traps 20% off

Wallys Super Compost Accelerator 600 grams 20% off

Wallys Ammonium Sulphamate 2kilos 20% off

Wallys Cat Repellent 200 grams 20% off

All the rest of our products (except bulk ones and Asian food stuff ) 10% off.

Place orders on our mail order web site at www.0800466464.co.nz and place in comments ‘PEST SALE’ so I know to do the discounts when I will phone you.

I will apply discounts and Shipping (if any) before I phone you with the total.

Then we either do Credit/Debit card over phone or I will email you bank transfer details.

If in North Island and order comes to $100 after discounts then free shipping.

In South Island $150.00 after discounts for free shipping.

The total does not include bulk items such as 12kilo BioPhos, 13kg Ocean solids and 10 kg Unlocking soil (Freight is always charged on bulk products)

The above offer is valid till 31st January…

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Gardening

Time to deal to those garden pests (Special offers – Wally Richards)

January 3, 2023 Pam Vernon Leave a comment

( See at end of article for New Year Sale Details…)

Wishing you a Happy New Year Gardening.

Now the weather has settled a bit and temperatures are better (But still a bit chilly at times) Insect pests will multiply rapidly unless you instigate early controls.

If you look at when you are successful in eliminating one adult female insect, that will prevent somewhere between 100 to 300 more of the same pests to invest your plants.

For instance using the yellow sticky white fly traps; hang one near your tomato plants and within a few days the number of whitefly and other flying pest insects caught on the trap’s sticky surface will be dozens.

The sticky traps are worth their weight in gold for pest control.

Plants such as tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, egg plants, capsicum and courgettes will likely have under the older leaves a lot of young pests.

Inspect the oldest leaves looking over and under and if there are a good number of pests remove the leaves from the plant and place in a plastic bag and seal.

This will greatly reduce the pest problem.

There will likely be pests on the upper/newer leaves but a spray of Wallys Super Neem Tree Oil with Wallys Super Pyrethrum will take care of these.

These combined sprays should only be applied only just before dusk for two reasons, Neem Oil in sunlight or with UV on a cloudy day can burn foliage.

Pyrethrum is quickly deactivated by UV/Sunlight and when expose to than will be ineffective within a couple of hours.

Pyrethrum sprayed just before dark will be active all night affecting any pests that come in contact with it. Pyrethrum is a quick knock down affecting the insects nervous system and thus killing it.

Neem Oil on the other hand will last for up to 7 days, slowly decreasing the effectiveness due to sunlight.

Its action is anti-feedent and once a pest insect consumes some Neem it stops eating for ever.

Adding Raingard to the above sprays will prolong the effective life of them and prevent the sprays been diluted by rain or watering.

For control of guava moth and codlin moth the most effective way is to spray the fruit with Wallys Super Neem Tree Oil with Raingard added.

This puts a layer of Neem Oil over the fruit so that when one of the moth’s grubs tries to eat their way into the fruit they are stopped at the first bite. Repeat spraying the fruit with Neem oil and Raingard added every 14 days till harvest.

Leaf hoppers, aphids, caterpillars and mealy bugs are simply controlled with the spray above applied late in the day.

One of the problems is re-infestation from other plants nearby or from over the fence.

Unless the other plants nearby are also sprayed you will never win.

Spider Mites are best controlled by sprays of sulphur or as we used to do in days gone by, Sulphur powder dusted over the plants that have mites.

At this time of the year you may have the cherry slug or pear slug eating holes in the leaves of those trees. If so spray the foliage with Wallys Liquid Copper with Raingard added. The pests cant handle copper and drop off and die.

Mealy bugs live in the root system of plants and the adults are found in the canopy. Spraying the canopy will take them out but not affect the ones in the root system.

Apply Wallys Neem Tree Powder to the top of the mix in containers that are affected and Wallys Neem Tree Granules to the soil in the root zone of plants affected.

Pest problems on citrus trees are very easily fixed by sprinkling Wallys Neem Tree Granules from the trunk to the drip line. Lightly water to get them started and normally within 6 to 8 weeks the citrus tree will be free of pests.

The smell of Neem granules/power is also a great deterrent as the Neem smell camouflages the natural smell of the plant and pests looking for their host plant by smell cannot find them and fly on by.

In glasshouses Wallys Neem Granules on the soil or on top of the mix in containers will reduce insects pests from been lured in from the smell of their host plants.

Little pouches made out of curtain netting and loaded with Neem Granules before hanging in fruit trees that are subjected to codlin and guava moth attack. Used in conjunction with the Neem Oil sprays on the fruit should mean you have plenty of unaffected fruit for your use.

Cats can be a pest in gardens as they use them for their toilets and Wallys Cat Repellent is the most effective way to prevent them fouling gardens or other areas.

Crop cover also called Bug Mesh is the best control of keeping white butterflies off your cabbages and brassicas. Hoops made out of rigid alkathene pipe with crop cover over them.

Weeds are another garden pest and a safe to use spray is Wallys Super Compost Accelerator which you can use to compost weeds where they are growing.

A few years ago a chap from UK phoned me and asked about getting ammonium sulphamate in NZ.

I had not heard of it and asked whats it for.

He told me in England you purchased it, dissolved it in water and sprayed it onto weeds to compost them where they are growing. The weeds think its nitrogen and readily take it in where it completely composts the living weeds and then coverts to nitrogen so no harm on soil life or yourself.

The most effective rate is 200 grams per litre of water sprayed on a sunny day when the soil is on the dry side. Given ideal conditions the weeds are composted very quickly in some cases with an hour.

Available as Wallys Super Compost Accelerator in 600 gram jar (makes 3 litres of full strength spray) or in 2kg jar named Ammonium sulphamate making 10 litres full strength spray.

If used at say 100 grams per litre of water the composting takes longer but on most weeds still very effective. A good choice to use instead of possible cancer causing chemicals.

One of the interesting aspects of the composting is if watered over oxalis foliage and into the soil where the bulb is, it will compost the bulb and bulblets in the soil. Repeat when new oxalis foliage appears till the area is free of the pest weed.

When used at rates of say 60 to 80 grams per litre of water it does not affect some strains of grass but can compost some broad leaf weeds in lawns. Experiment as to what rate it composts weeds but not affect you lawn grasses.

Unlike herbicide lawn weed killers that you cant compost the lawn clipping because of the reside in the cut grass that would effect herbicide sensitive plants (roses, Tomatoes, Beans) there is no problem with ammonium sulphamate composting the clippings which will only speed up the composting.

Wishing you a pest free New Year.

To help to make it so we are offering you a special discount of 20% off the following pest control items:

All Neem Products (Neem Oil, Neem Granules and Powder all sizes) 20% off

Wallys Super Pyrethrum 20% off

Wallys White Fly sticky Traps 20% off

Wallys Super Compost Accelerator 600 grams 20% off

Wallys Ammonium Sulphamate 2kilos 20% off

Wallys Cat Repellent 200 grams 20% off

All the rest of our products except bulk ones 10% off

Place orders on our mail order web site at www.0800466464.co.nz and place in comments ‘PEST SALE’ so I know to do the discounts when I will phone you.

I will apply discounts and Shipping (if any) before I phone you with the total.

Then we either do Credit/Debit card over phone or I will email you bank transfer details.

If in North Island and order comes to $100 after discounts then free shipping.

In South Island $150.00 after discounts for free shipping.

The total does not include bulk items such as 12kilo BioPhos, 13kg Ocean solids and 10 kg Unlocking soil (Freight is always charged on bulk products)

The above offer is valid till 31st January…

The first 25 orders into the web site will receive a free autographed copy of Wallys Glasshouse Gardening for New Zealand.
Make your summer free of pests and order soon.

Regards and Happy New Year

Wally Richards

Problems ring me at 0800 466464
Email wallyjr@gardenews.co.nz
Web site www.gardenews.co.nz

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

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)

Image by jumyoung youn from Pixabay

Gardening, News

How to grow potatoes in buckets for beginners

January 2, 2023 Pam Vernon Leave a comment

DIY Garden Ideas

Potatoes contain vitamins, minerals, starch ….. eating potatoes fight cancer, increase glucose loading capacity, reduce plasma cholesterol and triglyceride levels… Porous and dry soil helps potatoes grow well. Using old plastic paint buckets to grow potatoes is a great idea, it’s easy to make and saves money. You use 2 old plastic paint buckets, 1 of which you cut holes around 4 sides to later harvest potatoes, then punch holes for drainage. Next, you stack the old paint bucket that has been cut on the remaining one. It is better to plant the potatoes in the sand so that they germinate and then plant them in an old paint bucket After 3-4 months you can already harvest the first batch of potatoes and have a delicious and nutritious meal from the potatoes. Follow us: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/5T1TV Twitter: https://twitter.com/namtrinhhau Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ideas2034/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/john_ideas_…

Food, Gardening, News

A Christmas message from Wally Richards

December 25, 2022 Pam Vernon Leave a comment

Here it is Christmas day and I am writing this short weekly article today because I was too busy yesterday mowing lawns and tidying up gardens for Christmas.

So I hope you are having a pleasant day and a chance to hopefully forget the woes of the past year.

As the Chinese say, ‘Have an Interesting Life’ which some take as a curse because an interesting life is not an easy one.

It is full of problems as well as good times which in comparison a life without the ups and downs is very boring.

As us gardeners know, problems are just challenges in the garden, things to resolve and sort out.

Having successes against the odds is wonderful and very satisfying.

I always get a thrill when seeds I have sown burst forth as young seedlings out of the growing media.

Life has been born anew.

As I wrote a week or two ago this summer so far has been dismal with too many cloudy skies and too few blue skies.

I see today in Marton we have some blue in between the clouds so that means some direct sunlight.

That will make the farmers & commercial growers happy as they are looking for growth.

I am happy to say that my first vine ripened tomatoes were picked this week and were delicious.

That’s a lot better than paying between $7.99 and $8.49 a kilo from Supermarkets.

I have been eating and giving away cucumbers both telegraph and green types which I see are selling for $2.00 to $2.90 each.

Lettuce at this time of the year should be about a dollar each but no they are closer to $4.00 each.

So hopefully if you have been following my articles over the last period of time you will also be enjoying your own salad crops. More possibly so if you have a glasshouse.

This now is my third year of growing garlic and no garlic rust thanks to the cell strengthening products.

I scoured seed/cloves from about 3-4 places for planting and the best certainly was the big fat cloves which I can feel in the soil have produced good size bulbs.

A few have started to flower so cut the flower spike off so all the goodness will go into the bulbs.

No hurry to lift them yet so will leave until the tops show signs of dying back.

Sprays weekly with Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) with Mycorrcin added will help produce better crops on all vegetables.

I smiled the other night about the shortage of strawberries this time of the year that I saw on the News.

I have big beautiful strawberries rich in flavour available as a dessert every couple of nights of the week.

That’s thanks to regular sprays of Mycorrcin and MBL along with an occasional feed of My Secret Strawberry food.

I have to go harvest a few shortly to put on the pavlova.

When we purchased this place in Marton a few years ago I was so surprised that an old 1920 house on a quarter acre section did not have one fruit tree, not even a standard (must have) lemon tree.

Well on last count I have now 36 fruit trees and two brambles.

(Some were in 100 litre drums from Palmerston North) moved here and are still sitting happily in their drums which makes them easy to move around. In the open ground I added more varieties of fruit trees and ones in their third season are now producing nice small crops.

I will have to keep them under control in time to come; so there is not a jungle of fruit trees.

On the back by the rear fence is a giant macrocarpa, must be many years old and along the same fence line on the other side are some ornamental deciduous trees which send up suckers all over the place.

This means that no open ground vegetable gardens as they would be robbed of goodness during first season.

Instead all vegetable gardens are raised and on concrete to prevent robber roots.

My challenge this year is to have as much vegetables growing all year round to ensure food safety as much as possible, plus far better taste and healthier to eat than the chemically grown expensive vegetables from the supermarket.

Also I will once again try to establish a passion fruit vine, this time in a lean to glasshouse I have.

It has been about 50 years since I last had a successful passion fruit vine growing in a place I lived.

Not that I don’t try every so often.

Mind you 50 years ago in Palmerston North it was a different world with hot blue sky summers and frosty cold winters.

I saw on social media this week a picture of young children in the middle of the road somewhere in suburbia on trikes, bikes and on foot playing from back in 1950’s and the caption said : “We had no idea how good we had it and no clue that we were the last ones.”

Never a truer Analogy of then and now.

It is hard to believe how much things have changed and obviously to us that have lived in the best times that the now is like a different planet and people.

Where did this thing called Woke come from?

I remember back when people used to dance such as foxtrots and rock and Roll now the dancing looks like semaphore signaling?

I suppose they might have seen a clip of young people doing what was called ‘Hand Jive’ while sitting around a dance hall. I was thinking back recently to a house in Domain Street where I grew up in, it was a little cottage house on a very small section with only enough room for me to have a small vegetable garden.

But in the house there was a coal range which supplied hot water, heating with cooking top and oven.

All of that for most of the day from a shovel full of clean burning cheap coal.

The best scones ever came out of that oven and a kettle or soup would be kept hot on the steel top.

The house has long gone and along with neighboring homes for a motel complex now.

Enough reminiscing instead keep gardening and hoping that the year ahead will be an improvement on recent past.

“Where there’s life there’s hope” is attributed to J.R.R. Tolkien whose character Samwise Gamgee declared it in The Lord of the Rings. In another of Tolkien’s famous quotes, “A single dream is more powerful than a thousand realities.”

Merry Christmas and I will catch up with you before the New Year.

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

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)

Image by Aline Ponce from Pixabay

Gardening

POLLINATING FLOWERS OF FRUITING PLANTS (Wally Richards)

December 18, 2022 Pam Vernon Leave a comment

Pollination can be a problem for gardeners when it does not occur naturally.

Various plants use different modes of pollination from attracting insects such as bees to move the pollen to air movement or vibration.

Often we think of the honey bees as the main pollinators, which for a number of plants and crops they surely are, but then there are bumble bees, native bees, flies, moths, butterflies and other insects which can all assist in the pollination process.

A number of native plants have white flowers to attract the moths at night as New Zealand did not originally have other pollinators other than our native bees.

The wind, or more to the point, breezes are also responsible for moving the pollen in some plants to complete the fertilisation process.

A good example of this in the vegetable garden is sweet corn, the pollen is formed on the male flowering heads at the top of the plant with the female corn tassels below, given a light breeze and the pollen dust falls to the tassels below or to the corn plant next door.

This is the reason we plant corn in clumps, fairly close to each other to ensure that a good set is achieved and the cobs are full.

Each one of those fine tassels that form on the ears of corn are connected individually to a embryo corn seed and each tassel needs to receive pollen to fill the cob completely.

Those cobs that only have a number of mature seeds with misses means that those misses did not receive pollen from the tassel.

When I grow corn I like to do a bit of hand pollination on a sunny day when the tops are laden with pollen. This is simply done by running your hand up the male flowers and dumping the contents on the female tassels below.

It helps ensure fuller cobs at harvest time. Also 2 weekly sprays of Magic Botanic Liquid makes for better, bigger sets on the cobs.

When nature and elements don’t do the pollination for you, then this is where you the gardener, can step in and do the job yourself.

Some plants are what we call ‘self fertile ‘which means that the plant will ensure that it will set seed without the need of another plant of the same species being anywhere near. Many of these are breeze pollinated.

The rest of the plants of various types are likely to need another similar plant nearby to ensure a good fruit or seed set.

These other plants are often referred to as pollinators and without one you will still get some fruit setting, but no where as good as if you had a pollinator also. Many of these will be pollinated by bees or other insects.

Then again in some plants such as with Kiwi Fruit you have a situation where some plants are male and some are female and then you need at least one male in close proximity to about 1 to 5 females.

Where room is limited we have overcome the problem of having to plant two separate kiwi fruit vines by grafting a male and female onto the same root stock.

Even then there is no guarantee that you are going to achieve a good fruit set as it requires bees to visit both the male and female flowers to move the pollen.

Because of the varroa mite, which has destroyed most if not all the feral bee colonies there may not be any honey bees around your gardens any more.

Then it comes down to the bumble bee and native bees along with other insects to do the job.

Chemical Insecticides such as Confidor also has caused all pollinators populations to decline.

Another problem may occur where the possible pollinators are elsewhere in the garden collecting nectar and leaving your tree alone even though its in full flower.

You can help to attract the possible pollinators to your target tree by dissolving raw sugar in hot water and adding more water and then spraying the sweet liquid over your target tree.

Another problem can occur if a plant is in a too shady situation where it does not get sufficient sunlight directly on the plant to initiate flower buds or if the buds form, they buds don’t open into flowers.

We often see this on roses in the shade which don’t flower well and also on flowering house plants that are too far from natural light to flower properly, such as flowering begonias.

Cold conditions can mean a plant such as a tomato will flower but not produce pollen, thus the flowers fall off after a few days. Cold setting types are best for those colder times.

Also if it gets too hot then tomatoes will not set fruit and that can be seen at times in glasshouses.

Tomatoes are not pollinated by honey bees, but the vibration from a bumble bees wings does the trick as they fly near the plant.

A light breeze on a sunny day when the flowers are pollen laden does the job and generally speaking tomato plants outdoors will set fruit well.

In glasshouses and similar sheltered areas the plants may fail to set and this can be overcome on a sunny day by simply tapping the stake or trunk of the plant to cause a vibration.

A very important aspect in the flowering fruiting cycle is to have ample potash available to any flowering/fruiting plant.

A monthly sprinkle of Fruit and Flower Power on the soil in the root zone will greatly assist.

Pumpkins, zucchini and melons have both male and female flowers on the same plant and the pollen needs to be moved from the male to the female.

If you have good populations of bumble bees around then they normally do the job for you otherwise you will not have a crop.

The female flower is easy to determine as they have the embryo fruit behind the flower, the male does not.

To ensure a good fruit set I like to, on a nice sunny day, pluck a male flower off the vine that has ample pollen and after removing the petals rub some of the pollen onto the centre part of the female flowers.

If the fruit is not pollinated it will still grow for a time but then rot off.

Passion fruit can be another one that a bit of hand pollination will help ensure a good crop.

Too much nitrogen in the form of man made fertilisers or animal manures can cause plants to vegetate which means they produce lots of growth but little or no flowers.

If this is happening then apply Fruit and Flower power to kick in the flowering cycle and stem the rapid growth.

Some plants such as bougainvillea need a bit of stress to give a great show of flowers.

If you feed them well and supply ample water they tend to grow all over the place and not flower.

Instead let them dry out for a time to kick in the flowering cycle and don’t feed them much either.

As a gardener you need to remember that most plants only flower to reproduce themselves by seed.

When their lives are threatened then they quickly go into a flowering cycle.

The best example of this is a number of annual weeds that grow lushly in the spring when there is ample rain but as soon as the soil starts to dry they start to flower.

On our vegetables such as cabbages and silverbeet we need to keep the soil moist because if we allow it to dry out too much the plants will bolt or in other words, go to seed prematurely.

One last aspect is potatoes, early types will be mature and ready to harvest when the tops start to flower.

Late types will be ready when they have flowered and the tops start to die back.

Often you may see that fruit not unlike tomatoes form on the potato tops, these are the fruit which are not to be eaten as they are poisonous, these fruit contain potato seed

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)

Image by Ralph from Pixabay

Food, Gardening, News

GROWING WOES IN THE GARDEN (Wally Richards

December 13, 2022 Pam Vernon Leave a comment

Comment: Note, those that wield the weather weaponry, that also are paying farmers world wide to plow in their crops … would not want the herd to be successfully growing their own food. Saving the planet? I don’t think so …I received recently a fruit and veg update from one of the local supermarkets (who incidentally are on the pig’s back so to speak with the plandemic and lockdowns – recording ‘excess profits’). Here’s an excerpt:

Kia ora,

A couple of weeks ago, we got in touch to let you know what was happening on our growers’ farms, orchards and paddocks, and what that means for you. As we all gear up for holiday shopping, we thought we’d share another update on how we’re working directly with Kiwi growers to get the very best fresh fruit and veg into our stores.

A rainy December:

With rainy weather and limited sunshine across the country, particularly in the upper North Island, many of our local growers are facing challenges with crops ripening up, and with getting the right conditions for harvesting.

We have direct relationships with our growers, and we’re talking to them every day to help find solutions to these challenges. But you might notice supply looking a little lighter in your local Countdown. Thanks in advance for your understanding.

It goes on with other dismal statements and predictions … watch this space.

EWR

Here is Wally’s article anyway … and do keep gardening with that Kiwi can-do attitude! Same applies to anywhere on the planet of course 🙂

For most of the country it was a dismal spring and now we are into the first month of summer things have not improved much. Weather and conditions do vary across New Zealand depending on your region and even your own property if you have a micro-climate, but overall there is thread of similar.

I spoke this week to an agriculture/farm supplier representative and he said that growers and farmers were complaining about growth of plants and pasture. So lets look at the facts, we are only about 10 days away from the longest day which means we are hitting 16 plus hours of day light which should mean maximum growth of plants with blue skies.

But we are not getting nice blue skies, lots of cloudy or overcast days and a fair bit of rain as well.

Temperatures for this time of the year are not great either and not our more normal warm temperatures day and night.

So lack of direct sun light and fluctuating temperatures do not bode well for plant growth.

Wet feet and lower soil temperatures is another plant growth factor.

Plants need adequate moisture, adequate nutrition, suitable temperatures, long hours of direct sunlight and CO2 to grow.

Currently the planet’s CO2 levels are about 416 ppm.

You may not be aware of this but some commercial growers have in their glasshouses CO2 generators to increase the growth of their crops.

Most experts agree that 1,500 ppm is the maximum CO2 level for maximum plant growth, although any CO2 level between 1,000ppm and 1,500ppm will be very good. So a low amount of 416ppm is only half of what gives good growth.

Here is an interesting fact…The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere was reduced by about 90% during the last 150 million years. If this trend continues CO2 will inevitably fall to levels that threaten the survival of plants, which require a minimum of 150 ppm to survive.

Does that ring any bells?

Half of the world’s oxygen is produced via phytoplankton photosynthesis. The other half is produced via photosynthesis on land by trees, shrubs, grasses, and other plants.

You know the old saying? ‘Breath out and make a plant happy’

I am surprised at the slow growth of vegetable plants in my gardens at this time of the year.

In my glasshouses growth is better as they offer better protection from the environment so tomatoes are doing great, cucumbers and good but chili plants are slow.

Chili love hot temperatures to really grow well.

Seeds sown in raised gardens are slow to germinate or rot out because of lower soil temperatures.

Outside seedlings of lettuce, carrots and pak choy are slow and that is how it is in my part of Marton.

Home gardeners will keep on growing their plants no matter what the conditions are like and do what we can to improve the results.

I would suggest a weekly spray of molasses and Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) to help improve vegetable growth. About a table spoon of molasses dissolved in a litre of hot water then 10mils of MBL added.

Give a small side dressing of Wallys BioPhos once a month.

If you have access to manure make up a compost tea by placing any animal manures into a plastic rubbish tin and filling two thirds full with non-chlorinated water.

Place about 50mils of Bio Magnus Fish fertiliser into the brew (This has live beneficial microbes which will increase their populations in the brew) You can further increase their population growth by adding Mycorrcin or molasses to the brew.

Stir and airate regularly, get a paddle to stir and a jug to fill and lift up high over the barrel then pour contents back into the brew. This gets oxygen into the brew.

Every so often take out some of the brew and water into the soil by where your plants are growing.

Add more manure and other components with more non-chlorinated water and you have a neat home made fertiliser for your crops.

Here is a interesting thing to do, take a plastic 2 litre cordial bottle, half fill with non chlorinated water, add to this about 10mil of Bio Magnus Fish fertiliser and a teaspoon of molasses, place cap on and give contents a shake.

Place outside some where in sun light and check often.

The populations of microbes will rapidly grow and the bottle will balloon and if left will explode when the plastic fractures.

When the bottle has expanded a bit then release pressure by removing cap.

Pour contents of bottle into your gardens for great benefit to the plants.

You as a home gardener can do things to help increase the growth of your crops which is not available for commercial growers to do.

Their answer is to apply dressings of nitrogen to the soil to force growth which is a problem for them currently as Nitrogen fertilisers are in short supply and what is available is much more expensive than normal.

So if you think $10 a cabbage is bad worry about it more when its $20 or $30.

There is currently a world shortage of food which as the months go by appears to be getting worse.

I have read calls for people overseas that have lawns to dig them up and plant vegetables.

Of course in many places and even here in NZ having a lawn is not a thing when the sections are small and the house takes most of the land you own anyway.

Woe is the loss of the good old quarter acre section which with a few chickens you could supply about 50% plus of your food chain for a small family.

Even though currently the growing conditions are not as good as normal for this time of the year at least they are better than they will be in a few months time.

For those that have room now is the time to start planting winter crops of brassicas, cabbage etc, if you like leeks they should already be in.

About every 2-3 weeks plant another small planting of the crops such as two or three of each so you have succession to harvest in winter.

If you are looking for a gift for Christmas then a copy of my Down to Earth Gardening Guide or my Glasshouse Gardening for New Zealand might be an idea.

I will autograph and place a message with the persons name/names in the book.

A gardener recently during a phone conversation told me of an old Chinese Saying:

To be happy for one day, Get Drunk.

To be happy for one week, Get Married.

To be happy for life, Get a Garden.

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

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)

Gardening, News

December Gardening (Wally Richards)

December 5, 2022 Pam Vernon 1 Comment

This week I received two emails which maybe of interest to some gardeners. The first was from a gardening couple, which read:

Hi Wally, Your advice and weekly email’s worked great. I got first in the Veggie Section and my wife won in the Rose categories. Jerry.

What can I say? If you use natural products that enhance the soil, giving the plants all the possible minerals that they may need to be healthy and stop using chemicals that are harmful to both soil, plants and yourself.

Over the years I have received a few similar stories about how gardeners have turned their gardens into award winners by simply observing and using the above information.

The second email is of concern this time of the year and it read;

Hi Wally, I have a problem with a brown beetle infestation. I was finding the leaves of my newly planted plum trees and almond tree were getting stripped bare almost. I wasn’t sure what it was but think the culprit is this brown beetle.

I have since found hundreds (literally) in one of my raised beds and quite a few wherever I have placed the garden mix I bought a month ago.

Is there something I can do to get rid of these beasties? They are now attacking my raspberry plants and feijoa trees. Because they are in the soil – and potentially quite deep (some of them were 20cm deep) – I’m not sure how to fight them. Please help!

The writer sent me an amazing photograph which shows hundreds of these brown beetles drowning in a container of water, along with photos of her plants badly damaged.

The beetle is the Grass Grub beetle and this is the time of the year that they emerge from pupating deep in the soil to feast on the foliage of a number of plants, mate and lay eggs back in lawns for future generations.

In my first book, Wally’s Down to Earth Gardening Guide, I suggest a trap to aid control of these pests.

Here is an extract from the book:

‘Grass grub adults emerge in October, and are active until about mid-December, depending on weather conditions and exactly where they are in New Zealand. The cooler the temperature, the later they emerge.

The adults will start to emerge in mild conditions, when the soil temperature reaches about 10 degrees they then mate, fly, eat and lay eggs in the short space of time between dusk and early evening.

As they tend to fly towards light, you are most likely to know they’re there when the flying beetles hit your lighted window panes.

This very attraction for the light has become one of our best weapons in controlling the pest in its adult stage. You can set up a grass grub beetle trap by placing a trough, such as the one used when wall-papering, directly underneath a window near a grassed area.

Fill the trough with water to about two-thirds of its capacity, then place a film of kerosene on top of the water. Put a bright light in the window, the beetles fly towards the lit window, hit the glass and fall into the trough.

The kerosene acts as a trap, preventing the fallen beetles from climbing out.

You can extend this method to areas away from the house by using a glass tank, such as might be used for an aquarium.

Place the empty tank into a tray containing several inches of water (and the kerosene), and position a light inside the glass tank.

By adding a sheet of ply or something similar over the top of the tank, you will ensure that the light shines only through the sides of the tank above the waiting water and kerosene.

It is better to use a dome-shaped battery-powered light rather than an ordinary torch for this job as the bigger light makes the trap more effective.

If the tray and tank are raised off the ground and placed on something like a table, you will get an even better result.

However you set up your beetle trap, this is a very good method to dispose of the pests. Simply get rid of all the beetles caught the next morning.

Run this system (call it Wally’s Grass Grub Beetle Catcher, if you like) from just before dusk to about 2 or 3 hours after sunset.’

Spraying the plants that are been attacked with Wallys Super Neem Tree Oil will help to also control the populations.

This should be done late in the day after the sun is off the plants. When a beetle chews on a leaf they get some Neem into their gut and that shuts off their ability to eat.

Problem arises, if there are hundreds of beetles then there needs to be hundreds of bites.

With the likelihood of more beetles emerging every day it is an on going battle over the next month or two.

Another way is to go outside just after dark with a torch and check your plants for beetles.

If you see a good number on any plant then a spray at that time with Wallys Super Neem Tree Oil and Wallys Super Pyrethrum added, sprayed to hit the beetles rather than the plant itself.

Another very good natural spray to use late in the day is a solution of Wallys 3 in 1 for Lawns.

This is a combination of Eucalyptus oil and Tea Tree oil, nice to use and deadly on pests.

If you repeat your nightly spraying and use a light trap also, then you will make a big dent in the grass grub beetle populations and thus suffer less damage to your plants and lawns.

The season is still poor weather wise which helps keep insect populations lower than normal but care should be taken with your potatoes and tomatoes by placing Neem Tree Granules on the soil in the root zone and spraying the plants occasionally with Wallys Super Neem tree Oil.

Visit your local garden center to obtain some good ideas for Xmas Presents.

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:

1 The right not to be deprived of life except in accordance with fundamental justice (Section 8)

2 The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment (Section 9)

3 The right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation without consent (Section 10)

4 The 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)

Environmental Health Watch NZ

Category Archives: Gardening

Seed Germination time (Wally Richards)

TOMATO STARTING TIME (Wally Richards)

GARDENING FOR HEALTH (Wally Richards)

About plant diseases & how to control them (Wally Richards)

FRUIT TREE TIME (Wally Richards)

The tree is quite vigorous, with large deep green foliage.

It’s time to plant garlic (Wally Richards)

Time to plant new season’s strawberries (Wally Richards)

Fresh Greens in Winter (Wally Richards)

Only a few weeks until the shortest day – prepare for the new season in the garden (Wally Richards)

WET FEET IN THE GARDEN (Wally Richards)

VISITING LIFE UNDER GROUND (Wally Richards)

The importance of phosphate in your garden (Wally Richards)

GROWING HIGH HEALTH VEGETABLES (Wally Richards)

Wally Richards & Rodney Hide on Reality Check Radio with Gardening Basics – (must hear)

THE IMPORTANCE OF POTASSIUM AND MAGNESIUM IN YOUR GARDEN (Fruit + Flower Power – Wally Richards)

About sprayers and spraying in your garden (Wally Richards)

HOUSEHOLD ITEMS THAT ARE USEFUL IN THE GARDEN (Wally Richards)

WINTER PREPARATIONS IN THE GARDEN (Wally Richards)

Gardening: beating the veggie shortages … (Wally Richards)

WEEDS – A NEW WAY TO DEAL TO THEM (Wally Richards)

Pollination in your garden (Wally Richards)

Surprising facts (and cover up) about copper (Wally Richards)

Iron or Copper Equipment in Farming In the 1930s

PLANTS AND YOUR HEALTH (Wally Richards)

TIME TO PLANT FOR WINTER (Wally Richards)

Time to deal to those garden pests (Special offers – Wally Richards)

How to grow potatoes in buckets for beginners

A Christmas message from Wally Richards

POLLINATING FLOWERS OF FRUITING PLANTS (Wally Richards)

GROWING WOES IN THE GARDEN (Wally Richards

December Gardening (Wally Richards)

Watching our environment … our health … and corporations … exposing lies and corruption

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The tree is quite vigorous, with large deep green foliage.

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Iron or Copper Equipment in Farming In the 1930s

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Watching our environment … our health … and corporations … exposing lies and corruption