Tag Archives: Vegetables

Gardening

More tips on dealing with pests in the garden (Wally Richards)

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The tomato/potato psyllid has caused a few headaches for gardeners when the populations of this relatively new pest build up and they affect not only potatoes and tomatoes but also a number of other host plants such as tamarillo, capsicum,, chili and peppino. The nymphs are so small and you need a magnifying glass to see them clearly, so you may have a small population of psyllids in your back yard and not realise the problem.

To find out if you have psyllids then you can do so by planting a potato either into your vegetable garden or into say a 20cm pot or bucket. Take a potato from the kitchen that has started to sprout and plant it as above. It only has to be into a hole about 8cm deep and covered with soil or growing medium. We are going let the plant grow to maturity and then harvest what tubers have formed underneath. If the tubers are small about the size of a marble and likely re-shooting; that will tell you that you have psyllids and they attacked the potato foliage when it was still young and growing. If on the other hand the tubers harvested are of a good size but when cut them in half, there are dark rings inside or what we call Zebra lines,  then yes you have psyllids and they attacked the plant later after the tubers had grown to a reasonable size.

That means next season when you grow potatoes or tomatoes you need to use controls so that you have a harvest of eatable produce.With potatoes the easy way is to plant very early your seed potatoes like back in July so that the crop is harvested before October. That should allow you to get an ok crop. With tomatoes you need to use Wallys Cell Strengthening kit of products to make the tomato plant cells so tough that the psyllid nymphs can not piece the plant to feed and inject in the toxin that causes all the problems.

Club Root is a disease that affects the brassica family causing the roots to become very distorted and so bad that they cant supply moisture and nutrients to the foliage above. So when you plant your cabbages etc and they grow quite happily at the start, then the growth slows down and comes to a stop normally  before the plant has reached maturity unless it is a miniature, fast growing variety. Its a frustrating disease which is soil born and often it has got into your garden when planting purchased (or given) any seedlings that were grown in club infested soil. Once you have it then I am told it takes up to 25 years to eradicate; that is as long as, during that time, there are no host plants grown in the contaminated area. It does not affect other plants such as silverbeet, beans etc only members of the brassica family which includes swedes. It affects brassicas such as Brussels sprouts, cabbages, cauliflowers, kale, turnips, swedes and radishes, their ornamental relatives such as Cheiranthus (wallflowers), Matthiola (stocks), Aubrieta (aubretia), and cabbage-family weeds such as Capsella bursa-pastoris (shepherd’s purse). In the past steam cleaning the soil was the only known control for it. Other methods can be used such as heavily liming the soil and using a soil drench of potassium permanganate. They can help get quick maturing crops to harvest. If you have the dread disease in the soil then here is a suggestion to maybe help eradicate it.

What you do is plant a cabbage seedling into a 20 litre pot, then in the middle of your vegetable garden you sit the pot on top of some bricks so that it is not in contact with the soil. The idea here is that rain and watering will wash down into the soil below the smell of the cabbage and that will activate the dormant club root spores to swim up  to where the roots of the cabbage are. But as the plant is above the soil and not in contact with the soil then the spores have no where to latch onto and colonise.  So they fizz and die. If you have a big area you may need a few cabbages in pots spread through out the area to try and activate all the spores in the soil. The following season you could test plant a few cabbages into the area and see if they grow and if they are free of the disease.  Otherwise try again the same trick of activating the spores.

Moths are a problem in our gardens because of the eggs they lay and the caterpillars that hatch out to feast on fruit and plants. There are codlin moths which affect apples, pears and walnuts and they are every where in NZ. Then there are Guava Moths which are so far in the more northerly parts of the North Island and they affect all fruit including citrus and nuts. Finally another one called the army worm which is so far mainly in Northland but is likely to build up populations and head south to other gardens. It eats the foliage of just about every thing and is causing a lot of headaches to both commercial and home gardeners. If you can eliminate the three moths before they get to lay their eggs then your plants are fairly safe from damage. Moths are attracted by smell to find their host plants or to feed on nectar for energy. Thus a trap can be used to lure them in and kill them. In my recent book ‘Gardening with Wally Richards’ I have a chapter on moth control and part of that is this simple to make trap to catch and kill them.

Take one litre of hot water add a100 grams of sugar, one teaspoon of marmite, half a tablespoon of Cloudy Ammonia and half a tablespoon of Vanilla essence:

Mix well and divide the mix between two plastic milk or soft drink bottles.

Punch some holes in the side of the bottles just above the level of the mix.

Place on a stand about a couple of metres away from the tree.

At about waist height like on a small folding table.

When a number of moths are caught dispose of them and make up a new solution.

Cloudy Ammonia used to be common once upon a time from a grocery store if not so easy to find try hardware stores, there are two chains in NZ and they may have. (Bunnings and Mitre 10).


TWENTY FIVE PERCENT OFF SALE

Till the end of January we are discounting the following products by 25% to help you gain control of Insect pests and improve your soil quality.

Orders must be placed on www.0800466464.co.nz using the Code 25% in the remarks place.

I will phone you after receiving the order and deduct the 25% off the items below and also give you 10% off most other items except for bulk items.

FREIGHT: shipping charged on orders under $100 (After discounts) North Island In other words order of $100 plus after discount and not bulk items free shipping.

South Island $150.00 plus after discounts for free shipping.

Exception is for Rural delivery a charge of $3.15 on each parcel sent no matter if rest is free shipping or not.

Here are the 25% discount items:

Wallys Neem Tree Granules 1kg normal price $15.00 save $3.75 making it $11.25

Wallys Neem Tree Granules 3kg normal price $28.00 save $7.00 making it $21.00

Wallys Neem Tree Granules 10kg normal price $80.00 save $20.00 making it $60.00

Wallys Neem Tree Granules 20kg normal price $160.00 save $40.00 making it $120.00

Wallys Neem Tree Powder 1kg normal price $15.00 save $3.75 making it $11.25

Wallys Neem Tree Powder 3kg normal price $28.00 save $7.00 making it $21.00

Wallys Neem Tree Powder 10kg normal price $80.00 save $20.00 making it $60.00

Wallys Neem Tree Powder 20kg normal price $160.00 save $40.00 making it $120.00


Wallys Super Neem Tree oil 125 ml normal price $18.00 save $4.50 making it $13.50

Wallys Super Neem Tree oil 250 ml normal price $24.00 save $6.00 making it $18.00

Wallys Super Neem Tree oil 1 litre normal price $60.00 save $15.00 making it $45.00


Wallys Super Pyrethrum 100 ml normal price $28.00 save $4.20 making it $23.80


Wallys Super Fish Fertiliser 1Litre normal price $16.00 save $4.00 making it $12.00

Wallys Mycorrcin 250ml normal price $20.00 save $5.00 making it $15.00

Wallys Mycorrcin 500ml normal price $35.00 save $8.75 making it $26.25

Wallys Mycorrcin 1 Litre normal price $55.00 save $13.75 making it $41.25

Orders must be placed on www.0800466464.co.nz using the Code 25% in the remarks place.

Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at  www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz

New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Part II of the Act covers a broad range of Civil and Political Rights. As part of the right to life and the security of the person, the Act guarantees everyone:

1The right not to be deprived of life except in accordance with fundamental justice (Section 8)

2The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment (Section 9)

3The right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation without consent (Section 10)

4The right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment (Section 11)

 Furthermore, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 guarantees everyone: Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion.
This includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief,
INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO ADOPT AND HOLD OPINIONS WITHOUT INTERFERENCE (Section 1)

Gardening, News

DEALING WITH SUMMER PESTS IN THE GARDEN (Wally Richards)

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Gardening should be a pleasant pastime and not just another chore that has to be done. If you find it a chore then maybe there are too many things you are doing and the pleasure of working with plants and the soil is lost.

There are things that we gardeners must do to keep everything growing healthy and looking good. I am always are looking for ways to do tasks quickly and simply so more time can be spent doing the gardening things that give satisfaction and gratification. Enjoyment comes from preparing an area and planting it with seeds or seedlings then watching them develop and grow for harvesting to eat or flower to enhance your home.

Summer time temperatures allow pest insects to multiply quickly and infest your plants. If their populations become too great then it is a real chore to try and get them under control. In fact it is better to start control methods as early as possible making life easier in the long term. By spreading Wallys Neem Tree Granules over the soil under trees, shrubs and established plants will greatly help reduce and prevent insect populations building up. There are soil pests that we don’t see which are feeding on the roots of plants, sapping the plant’s energy causing loss of vigor. Mealy bugs, root nematodes, grass grubs and slaters can be controlled and eliminated by scattering the Neem Granules in the plant’s root zone. Gardeners and Landscapers often comment to me that a few weeks after applying the Neem Granules the plants are looking much better. Simple reason is the pests feeding on the roots have gone and the plants are happy. Wallys Neem Granules can be used around your roses, vegetable plants and flowering annuals.

Wallys Neem Tree Powder which is the same as the granules just a smaller, even particle size are ideal to use in the planting hole of seedlings, along with sowing of seeds and in particular with carrot seeds to prevent carrot fly damage. With carrots you side dress to row when the carrot tops are a few centimeters tall as well as when sowing the seeds. Container plants are often a home for mealy bugs which feed on the roots and later come upstairs as adults to feed on the foliage.  The ones on the foliage are easy to control with Wally Super Pyrethrum but you need to place Neem Powder on top of the growing medium. As the powder breaks down it will develop grey mould which is the natural breakdown happening. It is unsightly so after applying the powder cover with a little growing medium. Out of sight, out of mind. If you want a top quality lawn then it is a good idea to sprinkle Wallys Neem Tree Powder over the lawn at a rate of 50 grams per Square Metre.  If your lawn is infected by grass grubs each year then in Autumn when the autumn rains have moistened the soil you spread the Neem powder over the lawn after it has been recently cut. Then lightly water the area to wash the powder down off the grass onto the soil. If you have a roller then its a good idea to roll the lawn to press the powder into the soil.

When you find there are pest insects on any of your plants outdoors you can make up a spray using Wallys Super Neem Tree Oil with Wallys Super Pyrethrum added. Just on dusk when the bees have stopped working for the day you spray the plants under and over the foliage.  The pyrethrum is a quick knock down and it will kill the flying insects such as white fly and leaf hoppers. The Neem Oil will, as an anti-feedent on the foliage, stop the pests feeding on the plants after which they will starve to death in a few days. Often gardeners find that the sprays work, but it is only a short time before the insect pests are back. The reason being is they are on other plants in the area and re-infesting back onto your treated plants. You need to spray the other plants they are coming from. If those plants happen to be over the fence then that is a problem that can only be solved with winter or you getting the ok from the neighbor (who likely is not a gardener) to spray their plants as well.

Gardeners that live in the country and have possums, rabbits and hares to contend with can do the following: plants that are been eaten spray with Wallys Neem Tree Oil just before dark. Wallys Neem Tree oil being the real thing and not some vegetable oil with the Neem properties added, has a horrible taste which with its smell will deter possums and rabbits. Once you find that the varmints have stopped eating your plants then instead of having to respray to keep control and keep them away, simply scatter Wally Neem Tree Granules around and the smell of them should keep your plants safe. A point when using the spray mix of Wallys Neem Oil and Pyrethrum and you have unused spray then you can pour the left over liquid into a container and store in a dark cupboard. Rinse the sprayer out thoroughly jetting some clean water through the nozzle to be sure all the spray has gone. Next time you use you can take the stored spray and if need be add more of the products and water.

To look after the soil and the beneficial microbes plus fungi that live in the soil which help our plants feed and grow, mix Wallys Super Fish Fertiliser with Wallys Mycorrcin in a watering can and water the area around or over your preferred plants such as vegetables, fruit and roses. This will help to greatly increase the soil life (as long as you are not watering with chlorinated tap water). Here is an interesting possibility: as the combination of the fish fertiliser and Mycorrcin has a distinct smell you could try spraying the mix over fruit trees when the birds are attacking the fruit. A product that used to be available years ago from Canada called Alaska Fish Fertiliser which had quite a smell to it did deter birds from ripening fruit. If you find it successful let me know.

TWENTY FIVE PERCENT OFF SALE

Till the end of January we are discounting the following products by 25% to help you gain control of Insect pests and improve your soil quality.

Orders must be placed on www.0800466464.co.nz using the Code 25% in the remarks place.

I will phone you after receiving the order and deduct the 25% off the items below and also give you 10% off most other items except for bulk items.

FREIGHT: shipping charged on orders under $100 (After discounts) North Island In other words order of $100 plus after discount and not bulk items free shipping.

South Island $150.00 plus after discounts for free shipping.

Exception is for Rural delivery a charge of $3.15 on each parcel sent no matter if rest is free shipping or not.

Here are the 25% discount items:

Wallys Neem Tree Granules 1kg normal price $15.00 save $3.75 making it $11.25

Wallys Neem Tree Granules 3kg normal price $28.00 save $7.00 making it $21.00

Wallys Neem Tree Granules 10kg normal price $80.00 save $20.00 making it $60.00

Wallys Neem Tree Granules 20kg normal price $160.00 save $40.00 making it $120.00

Wallys Neem Tree Powder 1kg normal price $15.00 save $3.75 making it $11.25

Wallys Neem Tree Powder 3kg normal price $28.00 save $7.00 making it $21.00

Wallys Neem Tree Powder 10kg normal price $80.00 save $20.00 making it $60.00

Wallys Neem Tree Powder 20kg normal price $160.00 save $40.00 making it $120.00


Wallys Super Neem Tree oil 125 ml normal price $18.00 save $4.50 making it $13.50

Wallys Super Neem Tree oil 250 ml normal price $24.00 save $6.00 making it $18.00

Wallys Super Neem Tree oil 1 litre normal price $60.00 save $15.00 making it $45.00


Wallys Super Pyrethrum 100 ml normal price $28.00 save $4.20 making it $23.80


Wallys Super Fish Fertiliser 1Litre normal price $16.00 save $4.00 making it $12.00

Wallys Mycorrcin 250ml normal price $20.00 save $5.00 making it $15.00

Wallys Mycorrcin 500ml normal price $35.00 save $8.75 making it $26.25

Wallys Mycorrcin 1 Litre normal price $55.00 save $13.75 making it $41.25

Orders must be placed on www.0800466464.co.nz using the Code 25% in the remarks place.

Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at  www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz

New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Part II of the Act covers a broad range of Civil and Political Rights. As part of the right to life and the security of the person, the Act guarantees everyone:

1The right not to be deprived of life except in accordance with fundamental justice (Section 8)

2The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment (Section 9)

3The right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation without consent (Section 10)

4The right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment (Section 11)

 Furthermore, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 guarantees everyone: Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion.
This includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief,
INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO ADOPT AND HOLD OPINIONS WITHOUT INTERFERENCE (Section 1)

For other gardening posts see ‘gardening’ in categories (left side of page)

Check out our sister site truthwatchnz.is for other news

Photo: pixabay.com

Gardening, News

FROM WALLY RICHARDS

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As we close the door on the year 2023 and look to a new year in front of us and interesting times that lay ahead.

Let us hope that people are not so naive as they now know better; the world is not like we thought it was; from our comfort zone and it has been a bit of a rude awaking for many.

Readers that have followed my gardening articles for sometime will have seen how I encourage people to grow as much of their food, vegetables and fruit as able and to do so naturally with all the minerals and elements available and without harmful chemicals. Why? Good for your health and pocket.

By growing as much of your own healthy food as possible you are upsetting the pharmaceutical companies as well as the companies that make harmful chemicals and fertilisers.

I have also suggested that fertiliser companies, chemical companies and pharmaceutical companies appear to work hand in hand.

A food chain that has little goodness but ample chemical poisons is a money earner for the health sector and the pharmaceutical companies.

A book has recently been released which goes into detail about how this is done. Title is:

Sickening Profits: The Global Food System’s Poisoned Food and Toxic Wealth by Colin Todhunter.

Want some interesting New Year reading then go to https://www.globalresearch.ca/sickening-profits-global-food-system-poisoned-food-toxic-wealth/5844502

This new e-book begins by examining how the modern food system is being shaped by the capitalist imperative for profit, with specific focus on the situation in Ukraine, and discusses the role of the world’s most powerful investment management firm, BlackRock.

It then goes on to describe how people (not least children) are being sickened by corporations and a system that thrives on the promotion of ‘junk’ (ultra-processed) food laced with harmful chemicals and the use of toxic agrochemicals.

It’s a highly profitable situation for investment firms like BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street, Fidelity and Capital Group and the food conglomerates they invest in.

But BlackRock and others are not just heavily invested in the food industry. They also profit from illnesses and diseases resulting from the food system by having stakes in the pharmaceuticals sector as well. A win-win situation.

The book goes on to describe how lobbying by agri-food corporations and their well-placed, well-funded front groups ensures this situation prevails.

They continue to capture policy-making and regulatory space at international and national levels and promote the notion that without their products the world would starve.

Moreover, they are now pushing a fake-green, ecomodernist narrative in an attempt to roll out their new proprietary technologies in order to further entrench their grip on a global food system that produces poor food, illness, environmental degradation, the eradication of smallholder farming, the undermining of rural communities, dependency and dispossession.

The final chapter looks at the broader geopolitical aspects of food and agriculture in a post-COVID world characterised by food inflation, hardship and multi-trillion-dollar global debt. End.

My comment is ‘Forewarned is Forearmed’

Radiation the effects on all life forms which is another worry in regards to bees and other insects pollinating our plants and food crops… Here is an interesting study….

On December 19, 2023, in the journal New Phytologist, French researchers published a study on yet another aspect of the decline of life on Earth. The study link is:

See https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19422

The populations of bees and other pollinators have declined so much that flowering plants that required insects in order to reproduce efficiently have evolved in less than 25 years to become better self-pollinators and to not need insects to reproduce.

Field pansies from seeds collected in the late 1990s and early 2000s were grown next to pansies from seeds collected in 2021.

Self-pollination rates were 27% higher in the plants grown from the newer seeds. The flowers were smaller.

The petals were shorter. The labella — the landing platforms that attract insects — were smaller. The flowering time was shorter. Fewer flowers opened per day.

The nectar spurs were shorter, there were fewer nectar guides, and the flowers produced less nectar.

More bumblebees visited the flowers that grew from the old seeds than from the new seeds.

The authors warned of cascading effects on insect populations:

“These decreases in nectar production may then reinforce pollinator declines if nectar levels fall below those necessary to sustain wild bee populations. Environmental changes may thus present a double jeopardy to pollinator populations, as they become victims of both the changes themselves and of plant trait evolution.”

The authors listed only pollution, habitat destruction, and alien species as causes of pollinator collapse.

I (Arthur Firstenberg) have sent the authors a letter, with links to literature reviews, informing them that RF radiation is the biggest cause of insect decline.

I have invited them to join the coalition of scientists, organizations and individuals that we are forming to address the global radiation emergency.

From Arthur Firstenberg

President, Cellular Phone Task Force

Author of The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life

Which is a book well worth reading.


All the best for the New Year


Wally Richards

Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at  www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz

New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Part II of the Act covers a broad range of Civil and Political Rights. As part of the right to life and the security of the person, the Act guarantees everyone:

1The right not to be deprived of life except in accordance with fundamental justice (Section 8)

2The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment (Section 9)

3The right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation without consent (Section 10)

4The right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment (Section 11)

 Furthermore, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 guarantees everyone: Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion.
This includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief,
INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO ADOPT AND HOLD OPINIONS WITHOUT INTERFERENCE (Section 1)

Image by Lubos Houska from Pixabay

Gardening, News

Gardening: What to plant & when (Wally Richards)

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With a great number of first time gardeners growing their own vegetables, a question that I am often asked is; when is the best time to plant various crops?

This is a difficult question to answer as conditions vary greatly in different parts of the country.

To make matters more complicated, you can have a situation where the growing conditions can be different just half a mile away which is a result of what we call micro-climates.

A gardener with a good micro-climate; as a result of the terrain, or by established trees, making a sheltered hot spot which can be planting out a month or more before it is safe for another gardener to do so, a bit further down the road.

When you buy packets of seeds you will find on the packet the average best sowing times for various regions.

This information is general and unless you know your own growing conditions, succession sowings should be made about 2 to 4 weeks apart.

If the early plantings fail through weather conditions, your later ones will be more successful, as the weather settles.

Over a period of years you will become a better judge of when to sow and plant out.

A gardening diary giving weather conditions each week and sowing times will make a great reference for the future plantings.

Keen gardeners like to beat nature and grow plants out of the normal season so they can have early crops and this can be done with a glasshouse, or the use of plastic film over wire hoops to warm the garden soil and protect the germinated seedlings from adverse weather conditions.

Early plantings can also be assisted by placing plastic bottles over the individual plants after cutting the bottom off and removing the cap.

The most important aspect is when not to plant out seedlings of vegetables.

Late plantings of vegetables towards the end of autumn means they have only a small window of growth, which is progressively slowing down day by day.

In mid winter growth can reduce to zero and immature crops will just sit waiting for better times.

As the daylight hours extend and the soil warms, they then get a growth spurt but because of the previous conditions the plants feel their lives have been threatened and will only grow on a bit and then go to seed. (Bolt)

Thus the crop is a failure, a waste of time and money. Crops of winter vegetables are planted in summer to grow to near maturity as winter sets in.

In doing so they will mature ready for use in winter and hold nicely over the cold winter months.

For instance leek seedlings will be planted out in December through to February for succession, winter harvesting.

Brassicas, such as winter cabbage and Brussel sprouts will be planted out later in January through till March, dependent on varieties (maturity times) and succession requirements.

The worst problem with brassicas grown for winter is that the young plants have to face the problem of the white butterfly’s caterpillars when the pests are most active.

By placing Neem Tree Granules in the planting hole and sprinkling some onto the soil, around the plants will greatly assist in control.

Refresh the granules every 6 weeks with a few more onto the soil.

Stress on vegetables that are not grown for their fruit (cabbages etc as apposed to say tomatoes) can make them go to seed prematurely.

Two ways this can happen, one is purchasing seedlings that are in punnets and have become root bound and likely have suffered stress through inadequate waterings.

Always look for the very young fresh seedlings of non fruiting plants to purchase, even if you need to grow them on in their punnets till they are of a nice size to plant out.
The next problem can occur during the spring when weather conditions fluctuate from nice warm sunny days to cold miserable days.

The plant’s growth responds to the sunny warm days and then they sulk in the cold windy days.

This stress of change, makes the plants believe that conditions are not good and their lives are threaten, so all they want to do then is reproduce themselves, so then they go to seed.

Often not straight away as they have to reach a certain level of maturity to be able to flower and thus several gardeners have contacted me recently to ask why their early spring plantings have gone to seed.

Either of the above can be the cause of bolting.

A number of gardeners also like to do late plantings if they live in areas not prone to early frosts.

Late plantings of sweet corn in January can often result in a second harvest of cobs before winter sets in.

Tomatoes sown from seed in December and January should give you more ripe fruit after your earlier plantings have finished.

You do not even have to sow seed, as you can strike the laterals (side shoots) to make a new young plant, once it has rooted up.

To do this; fill a small pot two thirds full of compost and fill the balance to the top with sand or fine pumice.

Remove a lateral which should be about 6cm long and place it into the sand to about the depth of the sand.

Moisten down and keep moist. When the plant stands up and shows some new growth then the early roots have formed.

If you spray the laterals with Vaporgard a day before you remove them off the parent plant, you will have a new young tomato plant quicker.

When removing laterals off tomatoes or old leaves, it is most important that you do not do this during humid or moist times as a disease can enter the wound and you lose a good plant.

Remove laterals on a nice sunny day when the air is dry and as you remove each lateral, spray the wound with Liquid Copper.

It is still not too late to plant seeds of summer crops unless you live in an area prone to early frosts.

Keep the soil moist at all times using non chlorinated water. (Put a filter onto your tap to remove the chlorine) it makes the world of difference and your crops will grow quicker and healthier.

Gardeners that use tank water or are fortunate to live in a town/city that does not dose the water supply with this chemical poison, do not have to worry about a filter.

If you do not have room for a vegetable plot then use containers or planter boxes to grow as many vegetables as possible.

 Fill the containers with a good purchased compost, not potting mix.

Much better for your health and pocket.

Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at  www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz

New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Part II of the Act covers a broad range of Civil and Political Rights. As part of the right to life and the security of the person, the Act guarantees everyone:

1The right not to be deprived of life except in accordance with fundamental justice (Section 8)

2The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment (Section 9)

3The right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation without consent (Section 10)

4The right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment (Section 11)

 Furthermore, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 guarantees everyone: Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion.
This includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief,
INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO ADOPT AND HOLD OPINIONS WITHOUT INTERFERENCE (Section 1)

Photo: pixabay.com

Gardening, News

Save the earth and better yourself: 8 reasons why growing your own food is the best decision you will ever make (Wally Richards)

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Hello Readers

It has been a very busy week with the pre-sales of my new book ‘Gardening with Wally Richards’ and to date over 200 copies have been spoken for which is wonderful.

The books purchased will start being sent out on the 11th December.

Below is an article I wrote sometime ago and the information is very important for you and your family.

Save the earth and better yourself: 8 reasons why growing your own food is the best decision you will ever make.

I received an email article from Natural News.com which echoes much of what I have been encouraging people to do for many years.

The following is what they have to say:

(Natural News) Have you ever thought of growing your own fruits and vegetables? If not, now is the time to start considering it.

It may seem tedious and overwhelming, but in reality it is actually easy and simple. You can start by growing them in your backyard, or if you do not have any yard, consider container gardening in your balcony, patio, or on a windowsill.

Still not convinced? Here are eight reasons on why you should start growing your own food.

1/ Have a healthier family – Nothing can beat the freshness of fruits and vegetables that are homegrown.

Serving your family fresh fruits and vegetables is one of the most valuable things you and your family can do to be healthy.

Fruits and vegetables grown in your backyard are the best because you harvest them straight from your garden and eat them fresh.

Another proven health benefit of homegrown produce was shown in a study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

Results of the study showed that preschool children who almost always ate homegrown produce were more than two times likely to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables per day than those kids who rarely or never ate homegrown produce.

2/ Spend less on groceries – Growing your own food will help you save money and ensure you food security as you will not have to buy fruits and vegetables from the supermarket.

Most fruits and vegetables from the supermarket have already lost their nutritional value as they have been stored for a long time.

With less than a dollar, you can buy a packet of seeds and start planting your own produce.

3/ Help the environment – By growing your own produce, you are already helping the environment in different ways.

One way is growing your food without using pesticides and herbicides.

This lessens air and water pollution. You will also help reduce the use of fossil fuels.

Moreover, pollution from the transportation of fresh produce from around the world to the supermarket will also be lessened.

4/ Increase your physical activity – Since you will be doing all the planting, weeding, watering, and harvesting, you are also exercising at the same time.

Remember to warm up and stretch your muscles before and after gardening though!

Exercising also helps you relax, de-stress, refresh your mind, inhale fresh air, and get vitamin D.

5/ Indulge in more tasty food – Nothing beats the freshness of picked out fruits and vegetables straight from the backyard.

A study found that homegrown tomatoes are sweeter and richer in nutrients than those sold in the supermarket.

6/ Have a sense of accomplishment – Witnessing the seed you planted grow and become the food that you and your family can enjoy is satisfying.

Home gardening helps you thrive, nourish your family, and improve health.

There is a sense of accomplishment and self-satisfaction in growing your own food.

7/ No more worries on food safety – Because you know how your plants are grown, you don’t have to worry about food safety.

With backyard gardening, you have control over the chemicals and products used during the growing process.

8/ Reduce food waste – You are less likely to throw away food. You’ll only pick what you need.

And, you wouldn’t want your time, effort, and hard work go to waste, right? End.

During the week a lady gardener rang with a couple of questions and during the conversation she told me that a friend had given her a freshly cut broccoli out of their garden. That night she cooked the broccoli and added it to the evening meal.

Her husband wanted to know what the name of the delicious vegetable that looked like a broccoli was.

He could not remember ever eating any vegetable that tasted so good.

He was told it was their friend’s Home Grown Broccoli. He wished that they were able to buy vegetables that tasted that good.

Goodness equals Taste, you grow a few vegetables without chemicals in your garden using only natural plant foods and minerals and picked fresh the taste is amazing.

Not only is the taste amazing your body is getting the minerals and nutritional goodness that you need to be healthy.

Your savings are immense, no need to purchase sauces and condiments that you need to put into your meals to make the bland food appear tasty (they are just chemical sugars, salts and fats anyway and bad for your health).

You save on health related costs, doctors, pharmacy products, time off work or school and possible hospital costs.

Often children with behavior aspects will improve.

Besides you cannot put a cost on poor health which is the ultimate cost of eating a food chain that lacks in fundamental goodness replaced by a list of chemical poisons likely as long as your arm.

Our conventional food chain is Insidious.

If you are not familiar with the meaning of the word it is: proceeding in a gradual, subtle way, but with very harmful effects.

Conventionally grown produce not only lacks in taste and goodness it goes off far quicker than natural home grown produce.

The reason is that it is already going off before it was even harvested.

They are weak plants having grown and sustained by chemical poisons.

Example strawberries conventionally grown look great, big berries but bland to the taste so we have to slice them and sprinkle icing sugar over them to make them taste good.

Home grown and they are sweet as; picked ripe off the plant. Plus they are full of minerals and antioxidants to make your immune system strong and you healthy.

Tomatoes conventionally grown lacking in flavour and bland need salt to make them appealing.

Home grown wow taste the difference.. Now thats a real tomato.

Another important aspect is that home grown produce is very filling and you dont need to eat much before you feel satisfied.

The reason is because your body has received its requirements and is happily utilizing the bounty of nutrients to fortify your organs and immune system.

Conventional food chain you eat a big meal and afterwards you still feel hungry.

Its not long before you are munching on some chippies or something to try and satisfy your hunger feelings.

Reason is your body has not received its list of needs for being healthy and is calling out for them so you stuff some more rubbish in and the best you achieve is being over weight and sickly.

You would excise to get rid of the fat but you dont have the energy (except for the sugars you consume) and besides you feel lethargic with the poisons your body is trying to cope with.

Not feeling so good best see the doctor who can prescribe some pharmaceutical chemicals to your Pandora’s box of chemicals.

Once upon a time the medical person would have inquired on your diet and likely suggested more fruit and vegetables but that was 50 odd years ago when the commercially grown produce had a lot more goodness than today.

Wallys formula: The more goodness (nutritional values) equals greater taste.

Home grown using natural elements means very healthy you and family.

You can be healthy and happy.

Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at  www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz

New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Part II of the Act covers a broad range of Civil and Political Rights. As part of the right to life and the security of the person, the Act guarantees everyone:

1The right not to be deprived of life except in accordance with fundamental justice (Section 8)

2The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment (Section 9)

3The right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation without consent (Section 10)

4The right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment (Section 11)

 Furthermore, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 guarantees everyone: Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion.
This includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief,
INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO ADOPT AND HOLD OPINIONS WITHOUT INTERFERENCE (Section 1)

Image by Alexander Fox | PlaNet Fox from Pixabay



Gardening

Growing giants by encouraging your children to garden (Wally Richards)

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We need to encourage our children and grandchildren to appreciate Nature by including them in some gardening activities. I believe that young children have a natural infinity with plants and insects when they are allowed to explore our gardens.

Children learn many things by mimicking their parents and are often keen at a young age to assist in various gardening activities.

I remember as a toddler spending many hours in the garden collecting caterpillars off the cabbages and feeding them to our chooks.

I was given my own little spade and wheelbarrow when I was about three and had a lot of fun moving the weeds my mum removed from gardens

to the compost bin or to feed them to the chooks.

I can still remember how good it felt to be part of Nature back then and the same feeling pertains today when I work or wander around my gardens.

It was about that time, when I was given my own little plot of ground to grow plants in.

Seeds would be planted and I would be taught which seedlings were weeds and which were plants.

My own little watering can would nurture the baby plants till maturity.

A great ado would be made when one of my cabbages, silverbeet or lettuces was harvested for the evening meal.

Even though I hated eating silverbeet back then, I had to enjoy my own grown silverbeet, because I grew it!

It was the fuss that the adults made, that gave me a feeling of importance and likely kept me gardening for the rest of my life.

Plants that move have a fascination for children and a great one for this is Mimosa pudica, the Sensitive Plant, which folds up its leaves when touched.

They are easy to grow from seed as a pot plant for a windowsill. Nice pink flowers also.

As the plant matures it has thorns on the branches which incidentally are another attraction for children.

(Available from Kings Seeds..https://www.kingsseeds.co.nz/products/sensitive-plant)

Cacti with their prickles often appeal to young boys and I had a small collection when young and still keep a few.

Two awesome plants for children to grow are the super giant sunflowers and pumpkins.

Called My Giant Sunflower these extra tall sunflowers will grow up to 5 metres tall (17 odd feet). Grown in full sun in soil that has excellent drainage.

The giant pumpkin is called My Giant Pumpkin and these monsters can weigh over 1000 pounds at maturity (half a ton).

Some garden centres run competitions for the tallest sunflower and the biggest pumpkin with various prizes for the winners. Check your garden centres.

Designed for children but may also be open to big kids like me. The seed packets contain information on growing and recording the progress of your plants.

 Another interesting aspect is to encourage the children to give their giant plant a personal name after it is established.

Naming the plant makes the giant more personal and helps the children to have respect for plants and nature.

If I was going to grow either of these giants, here is what I would do: In an all-day-sunny area, I would dig a hole about a spade depth and width, chop up the bottom of the hole, so the soil is loose, then fill the hole with chook manure to about two thirds full.

(Other manure could be used if chook manure is not obtainable, but chook is best).

Fill the rest of the hole with a good compost and soil mix, 50/50 making a small mound about 12cm tall above the filled in hole.

Place one seed in the middle of the mound and wet it down with Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL), (20 ml of MBL to 1 litre of water).

Water the mount to keep moist with plain water and then every 2 weeks with the MBL.

Overseas the biggest record vegetables have been achieved with products very similar or the same as MBL.

Spraying the foliage of your Giants every 2 weeks with MBL (10 ml to a litre) will also assist in a bigger healthier plant.

After your plants are established and growing well, give them a drink using Cucumber Booster, once a week.

This is a high nitrogen product that is a combination of sulphate of ammonia and potassium nitrate, which you diluted in water.

Cucumber Booster is excellent for any plants that enjoys a boost of nitrogen after establishment.

It is used for growing cucumbers, pumpkins, zucchini and gourds.

The MBL and Cucumber Booster can be combined for watering into the soil near the base of the plant.

Because of the weather patterns we are experiencing, after you plant your seed, cut off the base of a 2 to3 litre plastic fruit juice bottle and place this over the mound with the cap removed. This will give your seed and seedling its own little glasshouse.

This is removed once the seedling starts to fill the bottle and needs more room.

With the Giant Sunflower a tall strong stake should be put in the ground at seed planting time on the edge of the mound.

This will be needed later to give extra support to the plant.

Another interesting thing to do is once the sunflower gets up about a metre tall, plant 3 or 4 climbing bean seeds at the base of the plant.

These will grow up the sunflower and also provide extra nitrogen for the sunflower.

It is a lot of fun plus a great way to get the children way from the TV and video games, showing them there is more to life than a screen.

AROUND THE GARDEN

Aphids are likely to be found on your roses at this time and they can easily be controlled with a safe spray of Wallys Super Pyrethrum

and Wallys Super Neem Tree Oil combined. Spray very late in the day just before dusk to obtain the best results.

Stone fruit trees that had the curly leaf disease will now be producing new leaves free of the problem.

The damaged leaves will fall off over time. You can if you like, spray the newer leaves a couple of times with Liquid Copper Nutrient just to be sure, but if the disease has finished for the season the sprays will help build up resistance for next season.

A few sprays of molasses at a tablespoon per litre of water will give the tree some extra carbs and help hold the crop.

Codlin Moths will start to be on the wing about now so obtain a pheromone trap from your garden centre or from our Mail Order site at www.0800466464.co.nz

so you can monitor the best time to spray. A number of gardeners have found that a spray of Wallys Neem Tree Oil with Raingard over the young apples, applied about 5-7 days after an influx of moths into the traps, has resulted in only a very small scar on the mature apple, where the grub took its first and only bite.

Repeat spray 14 days later and then wait for another influx of moths before repeating.

Tomatoes should be doing well if in a sunny, sheltered spot. Only remove laterals on a sunny day when it is not humid or moist.

Spray the wound immediately with Liquid Copper to prevent disease entering the wound resulting in the possible loss of the plant.

Ensure that the tomato plants are well supported on stakes during windy times.

If you are concerned about blight spray the plants with Perkfection as a preventative, once a month. The same applies for your potatoes.

For general health of any plants, especially roses and food crops, a two weekly spray of MBL and Mycorrcin works wonders.

Spray both the soil and the foliage.

Avoiding the use of chemical sprays and fertilisers is a must for healthy plants.

Had the case of a lady this week that used a common chemical rose spray on her roses for aphids and found that the roses shed many of their leaves a few days later.

Plants hate poisons as they kill all the beneficial things in nature.

I have a saying that if you work with Nature, you will have great gardens, if you try to work against nature, you have chemical warfare.
Happy, Healthy Gardening.

Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at  www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz

New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Part II of the Act covers a broad range of Civil and Political Rights. As part of the right to life and the security of the person, the Act guarantees everyone:

1The right not to be deprived of life except in accordance with fundamental justice (Section 8)

2The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment (Section 9)

3The right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation without consent (Section 10)

4The right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment (Section 11)

 Furthermore, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 guarantees everyone: Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion.
This includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief,
INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO ADOPT AND HOLD OPINIONS WITHOUT INTERFERENCE (Section 1)

Image by Raksa R from Pixabay

Gardening, News

GROWING POTATOES AND THE POTATO PSYLLID (Wally Richards)

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Many gardeners will know the trick of planting a tomato plant deep into the soil right up to if not beyond the first set of leaves.

The reason is that the plant will create roots all the way up the trunk which is buried, making for a bigger root system and a better plant.

In fact later on the trunk that is above the soil level will likely produce bumps which are the beginnings of aerial roots

and like potatoes you could mound up around the base of the tomato to have those bumps become more roots.

Now with a seed potato planted it will send up a shoot or shoots; which if they are stretch, then new tubers will be produced

all the way up making for a much bigger harvest of new potatoes.

To achieve this you dig a trench about one to two spade depths putting the dug out soil next to the trench which we will use later on.

The seed potato should have produced small shoots from the eyes and if they have not done so just put them some where in the kitchen and they will soon sprout,

just like the ones you buy to eat. (Temperature change to warm initiates shoots.)

Once they have some sprouts you put them outside in a sheltered sunny spot to ‘green up’ the sprouts which hardens them up.

Done correctly the sprouts will be green and about 1 to 2 cm long.

Then the seed potatoes are placed at the bottom of the trench about 20 to 25cm apart.

Under each seed potato place a few sheep manure pellets, a level teaspoon of BioPhos, a table spoon of gypsum and

level table spoon of Wallys Neem Tree Powder. (The Neem powder helps prevent damage from soil insects like wire worm)

As many of the green shoots should be pointing upwards and then you just cover so the shoots are hidden using the soil at the side of the trench.

Check every day and as soon as you see the green leaves of the shoots poking above the soil once again with a little soil just cover them.

You keep repeating this until you get level with the surrounding soil and then you likewise keep covering forming a mound.

Continue mounding, keeping the foliage covered as they poke through till the mound is about 20 to 25 cm tall above the level of the surrounding soil.

You have then stretched the shoots so they are about 40 to 50 cm long and all the way up that distance should be your new potatoes to harvest.

If you dont cover soon enough and the foliage gets between 4 to 6 cm out of the ground then you have lost the plot and you will only get the potatoes below that;

so waste of time continuing to cover any more.

You let the foliage grow and ideally spray it with Magic Botanic Liquid once a week till harvest.

Now if you grew potatoes last season and found that when you harvested you only had potatoes about the size of marbles which were re-shooting or if you had

reasonable size tubers to harvest but they had dark rings inside when you cut them in half, then it means you have psyllid problems in your back yard.

The cell strengthening products we talked about last week for tomatoes will solve the problem for you.

What you do is this: when you do the second covering of the sprouts in the trench you give each plant a drink of the Wallys Silicon and Boron Soil Drench about 200mils per plant.

Apply again the same amount when you do the 4th covering of the sprouts and that is it for that product.

Once you have finished mounding and you are going to let the tops grow free; then you spray weekly over the foliage with Wallys Silicon Cell Strengthening spray

with Wallys Silicon Super Spreader added (which drives the former into the plant)

If you have it, add also Magic Botanic Liquid to the spray.

The spray made up keeps well so use a trigger spray bottle and after wetting the foliage with the spray just leave it handy to use next time till all is gone,

then make up a fresh batch.

Later on when the crop is mature and you harvest one or two plants and find they are good you can harvest the whole crop if you want the ground for other vegetables

or if not you can leave the crop in the ground to harvest as required but if you do this then cut the tops off and cover the stubble so nothing is exposed

to any psyllid attack.

If you do not have garden space to grow a few potatoes then you can always grow some in buckets or plastic bags (PB24 or bigger is ideal)

To do it you place a layer of Daltons ‘Value Compost’ at the bottom of the container and then the products as mentioned above.

Once again you keep covering as the foliage comes though with more compost and treat the container and coverings just as explained above in the trench method.

The best potato variety to grow in the containers is Swift.

Once you have reached the top of the container and allow the foliage to grow you may need to support the container with bricks or similar so it does not get

blown over with the wind.

Watering is important in containers or open ground as potatoes need to be kept moist while growing but not happy if too wet.

There are some novel ways potatoes can be grow and one that comes to mind is in a barrel with some compost and goodies at the bottom of the barrel and only

covered with more compost once after the sprouts come though.

After that you use polystyrene balls (like used in Bean Bags) to keep covering the foliage till its near the top of barrel.

At that time you need to put a cover over the barrel made out of plywood with a hole for the foliage to grow through.

The cover will lift as the new potatoes displace the polystyrene balls but you should if successful end up with perfect clean potatoes and a barrel full.

Obviously if this is the case you will need to remove surplus polystyrene balls on a calm day.

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)

If you enjoy our posts, check out our sister site truthwatchnz.is

Gardening, News

GARDENING FOR HEALTH (Wally Richards)

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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.

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)



Food, News, Pesticides

The Dirty Dozen & Clean Fifteen: The Most & Least Pesticide-Contaminated Fruits and Vegetables

2 Comments

From foodrevolution.org

Summary

Organic fruits and vegetables cost more than conventional ones — sometimes a lot more. But if you want to avoid pesticide exposure, is it always necessary to choose organic? Or are some conventional fruits and veggies less contaminated? In this article, we go in depth into the Environmental Working Group’s US-based report on the 12 dirtiest and 15 “cleanest” items of produce, to help you make smart decisions to protect yourself and your loved ones from harmful pesticides.

The agricultural industry is addicted to pesticides, and the entire world is paying the price. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that global pesticide use in 2012 amounted to approximately six billion pounds. Unfortunately, they haven’t published a report since then, but the number likely hasn’t improved and may have gotten worse.

While the term “pesticide” implies that these chemicals target and kill “pests,” a better name would be “biocides” (destroyers of life) because they do a lot more than poison pests.

Pesticides poison insects and pollinators; contaminate soil, water, and air; and can cause harm to farmworkers, agricultural communities, and people who eat produce sprayed with pesticides.

[Read More: Pesticides in Food: What You Should Know and Why it Matters

How common is it for US produce to have pesticide contamination? “Nearly 75% of nonorganic fresh produce sold in the US contains residues of potentially harmful pesticides,” according to the Environmental Working Group (EWG).

In this article, we’re going to review the most and least pesticide-contaminated produce, so you can make more informed fruit and vegetable purchases.

READ AT THE LINK

Gardening

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

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 21st 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

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 Helena from Pixabay

Gardening, News

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

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

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)

Food, Health

FOOD AND HEALTH (Wally Richards)

6 Comments

The father of medicine; Hippokrát s ho Kôios; (c. 460 – c. 370 BC) apparently said the historic words;

‘Let Food be Thy Medicine and Let Medicine be Thy Food’

Fairly logical and common sense; if you eat healthy you will be healthy.

But what is healthy food and where do you get it from?

Vegetables and fruit that are grown naturally in fertile soil which is teaming in soil life (Earth worms, microbes and beneficial fungi) is a healthy base to start with for grow in.

Vegetable plants that receive adequate sunlight, chemical free water and natural nutrients and are allowed to grow at their own pace will be rich in goodness and taste great.

Vegetables that are grown in a chemical environment of man made fertilisers and with chemical controls; forced to grow quickly with applications of nitrogen’ will not have the health attributes of the above instead it will be fairly tasteless.

This produce is likely contain several chemical residues from sprays that were used to kill insect pests (Chemical insecticides) and prevent plant diseases (Chemical fungicides).

Lets look at each of these aspects; plants do best when they grow at their own speed which allows them to take up minerals and elements available in the growing medium.

They have a vital relationship with the soil life that helps provide the plants with moisture and nutrients in a form that the roots can take up.

Beneficial soil fungi attach to the plants roots sending out microscopic strands which collect moisture and nutrients and pass them to the roots in exchange for some carbohydrates.

This can increase the root catchment area of the plant by up to 800%.

The bigger the root system the bigger and healthier the plant.

Microbes in the soil break down organic matter which makes it more available to the plants and their ability to take up.

Nitrogen is vital to plant growth and when it is available naturally in the soil from actions of the soil life and from nitrogen brought down from the atmosphere with rain; the plant grows strong and steadily.

As opposed to synthetic nitrogen fertiliser?

Synthetic nitrogen fertiliser is any solid or liquid substance that is more than five per cent nitrogen by dry weight and is applied to land as a source of nitrogen nutrition for plants.

Examples include manufactured urea, diammonium phosphate, Nitrophoska and sulphate of ammonia.

These compounds force plants to grow fast and unnaturally which means they have less chance of taking up beneficial elements that are available.

They are weak through forced sappy growth and thus vulnerable to attack by insects and diseases.

They are lacking in flavour and fairly tasteless.

If a plant or fruit you eat has good flavour and tastes great that means it has excellent nutritional values.

If on the other hand you have to apply garnishes or condiments to obtain a favorable taste then the health benefits are minimal.

Growing vegetables and fruit commercially is a very expensive occupation these days and one that has a myriad of problems which include weather, cost of fertilisers, chemical sprays, labor, diesel and returns to pay for all the outgoings.

Also the more crops that can be grown in a year means more produce to sell hence the faster the vegetables are grown and ready for harvest the better they are off .

The produce has to be perfect on the supermarket shelves, no holes or blemishes thus the crop needs to be sprayed regularly with chemical sprays to control pests and diseases.

The vegetable absorb these chemical poisons through their foliage and the run off into the soil is taken up by the vegetables roots.

NZ Food Safety does annual checks to find out what chemicals are in local grown foods as well as imported foods.

See https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/36612-FRSP-2017-2019-Plant-based-foods-survey-interim-report

Have a look and be amazed and note the glyphosate (Roundup and other trade names) is not even tested for and yet one of the most used chemicals in horticulture?

The 2015-2016 survey did however have glyphosate in relationship to wheat see:

https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/19922-The-20152016-Report-on-Pesticides-in-Fresh-and-Frozen-Produce-A-survey-under-the-Food-Residues-Surveillance-Programme-FRSP-

There was in the past some discussion about people intolerance to gluten which is a health concern but it was also suggested that some of this was an intolerance to glyphosate?

My point being that in commercially grown produce that is not organically certified there is likely to be a number of chemical poisons that you are taking into your elf through your food chain.

So your fresh (not so fresh actually days old from harvest) produce at supermarkets is not as healthy as it is promoted to be. Fast grown, lacks taste and goodness and may contain a number of nasty chemicals.

A reader past me an article recently from their archives written by Chris Wheeler, former head of New Zealand’s foremost organic farm lobby group, the Soil & Health Association. Written in 2000…

See here https://truthwatchnz.is/cancer-related/cancer-the-poisons-in-our-food-nz-medicine-s-apparent-unofficial-wall-of-silence-around-the-pesticide-issue

The guts of the article is how chemicals used in horticulture food crops have a strong connection to cancers and cancer rates in NZ and else where.

Abstract from above article: ‘Who can seriously say there is really any serious interest in lowering breast cancer rates, or, for that matter, ANY cancer rates in New Zealand?

Certainly not our clapped out Ministry of Health, the Cancer Society, the breast cancer surgeons and oncologists or the farcical Australia New Zealand Food Authority who ‘police’ what contaminants are allowed into our daily diet.

They recently INCREASED for goodness sake(!) the allowable levels of the now well-established carcinogenic herbicide Roundup/glyphosate in our food just to help Monsanto’s sales figures.’

Home grown vegetables and fruit grown naturally with minerals added such as those found in Wallys Unlocking your Soil and Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) taste great and are full of health giving nutrients for you and your family.

As it is very hard to avoid chemicals in the environment and our food chain then the answer is to get them out of your body by using any of the detox methods available.

Leaving chemical residues in cells and fat tissue can certainly lead to health issues.

Do detox regularly and grow some good healthily stuff in your garden or in containers to reap the health benefits.

  • You are what you eat.

THIS WEEKS  Special is a 10kilo bag of Unlocking your Soil normal price is $50.00 plus shipping 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..

Unlocking your Soil is mineral rich from crushed rocks and organic materials, place a little in planting hole or sprinkle a little to side dress food plants.

The 10Kilo bag will be in a carton which can fit other products from our mail order web site but not other bulk goods.

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

Regards

Wally Richards

Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at  www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz



New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Part II of the Act covers a broad range of Civil and Political Rights. As part of the right to life and the security of the person, the Act guarantees everyone:

1The right not to be deprived of life except in accordance with fundamental justice (Section 8)

2The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment (Section 9)

3The right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation without consent (Section 10)

4The right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment (Section 11)

 Furthermore, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 guarantees everyone: Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion.
This includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief,
INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO ADOPT AND HOLD OPINIONS WITHOUT INTERFERENCE (Section 1)

RELATED: See our pages here on glyphosate

Photo: pixabay.com



Gardening, News

Gardening: beating the veggie shortages … (Wally Richards)

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

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 Mark Valencia from Pixabay

Gardening

Time to deal to those garden pests (Special offers – Wally Richards)

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( 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

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 jumyoung youn from Pixabay

Food, Gardening, News

A Christmas message from Wally Richards

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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


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 Aline Ponce from Pixabay

Gardening

No dig garden using cardboard (Wally Richards)

2 Comments

I’m currently doing this with my garden plot. Brilliant idea. Especially if you’re a bit past digging extensively! EWR

Cardboard boxes are everywhere.

A lot of products are transported in cardboard boxes, most products we ship out are in cardboard boxes.

Supermarkets have heaps of medium to large cardboard boxes which they often put into a cycling bin as a friendly way of disposing of them.

During the week I chanced to have a chat with a gentleman that is doing similar as our company with a range of products to enhance your gardens.

During the conversation he told me of a method that he suggests to people and gardeners for starting or extending their vegetable gardens.

A method using cardboard that I had never thought of.

I have in the past suggested using cardboard as a mulch to suppress weeds which works very well.

This method is using cardboard to convert part of a lawn area into a productive vegetable garden very simply and very quickly.

In the past when I have converted a lawn to a growing area I have lifted the turf taking the top 50mm of turf off in squares, stacking them somewhere, grass side down, to rot down.

Then I would dig over the bare soil before raking off nicely for planting.

A bit of work but it made a new growing area.

Now this new way is that you firstly mow the area that you want to convert as low as the mower will let you.

You then cover the area with cardboard over lapping to ensure a total coverage of the area.

Do this on a calm day as it is difficult to do when it is windy.

Over the cardboard you put a layer of purchased compost about 20mm thick and lightly water to settle into place.

The reason for the purchased compost is that it will be weed free as long as it did not come from a re-cycling source.

I prefer Daltons Compost as it is good quality and herbicide free.

Most of the others I wouldn’t give you tuppence for as many are just fine bark with some nutrients added or bark with recycled garden wastes.

Once you have the cardboard and compost down then it is time to put minerals and nutrients onto the layer of compost.

I suggest Wallys Unlocking your Soil, BioPhos, Wallys Ocean Solids, Wallys Calcium & Health, Blood & Bone, animal manures, chicken manure, sheep manure pellets and Bio Boost. (As many as available)

Then we are going to place over these products a further layer of compost 40 to 50mm thick.

You need to choose a area that is fairly sunny and well away from trees, shrubs and vines as you are creating a great food source for your vegetables and those other bigger plants will try and robe your garden creating lots of fibrous feeder roots in the plot.

The first season will be ok but the fol,lowing season it will be full of roots and nothing will grow.

To help prevent this happening and to ensure your vegetable plot has good drainage make a trench around the plot area about to a spade depth.

This will allow surplus water to drain into the ditch where it will evaporate from sun and wind.

It will also help prevent some robber roots happening.

You could lay fence palings on top of this trench to allow a place for the wheels of your mower to ride on when cutting the rest of your lawn.

Give them a couple of coats of acrylic paint to seal in the tanalised chemicals.

If you only make your plot about a metre wide then you can work the area from one side.

If more than a metre wide you need to have a mowing strip on the far side to work all around the bed.

You should avoid walking on the b ed as it compacts the growing medium.

One time I did several parallel vegetable beds about a metre wide with lawn in between them at the width of my mower. This allowed me to mow between each growing bed and a nice place to work the gardens from.

I love the idea of cutting the lawn low, covering with cardboard to suppress the weeds and then covering that with goodies and compost. Instant vegetable plot.

On existing vegetable gardens that are currently empty except for weeds the same can be done.

Cover the area with cardboard as above, then the other things ready to plant up.

The cardboard will break down over time and the worms and soil life love it.

Then the following year you may want to put new cardboard down over the bed and repeat as above.

If you have a garden with say oxalis this will bury the plants and tubers and make gardening easier for a while.

Go to your local supermarket and ask them for their used cardboard cartons or help yourself out of the dumpster.

If you happen to be near where we are in Marton then I can supply you with some large cardboard boxes to use.

We are getting g close to Christmas and if you are looking to plant up containers to give away as Christmas gifts then you better get started so they have a bit of time to settle in before you given them away.

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

RELATED:

Here is a video from Charles Dowding’s YT channel demonstrating this method. For those like myself who like a visual demo. There are other related vids at YT that are also helpful if you search. EWR
New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Part II of the Act covers a broad range of Civil and Political Rights. As part of the right to life and the security of the person, the Act guarantees everyone:

1The right not to be deprived of life except in accordance with fundamental justice (Section 8)

2The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment (Section 9)

3The right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation without consent (Section 10)

4The right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment (Section 11)

 Furthermore, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 guarantees everyone: Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion.
This includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief,
INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO ADOPT AND HOLD OPINIONS WITHOUT INTERFERENCE (Section 1)

Photo: screenshot Charles Dowding YT channel

Food, Gardening, News

Some useful gardening tips (Wally Richards)

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For most of the country it has been a poor spring and slow start of the growing season.

We have the daylight hours, in fact we are now only about 7 weeks away to the longest day of the year.

It is the temperatures that are the problem, we are not getting the constant warm temperatures during the day and night.

That does not matter to hardy plants and vegetables that can be grown outdoors all year around such as cabbages. (On line shopping today New World whole cabbage $9.99 at Countdown $7.69)

Lettuce between $3.00 to $4.00 each?

Wow, I currently have so many lettuces that I give then to my chickens.

Not only that as a result of letting one lettuce (Drunken Woman my favorite) go to seed, it self seed giving hundreds of seedlings.

Some of which I have transplanted and currently have lettuce from small seedlings to mature plants going to seed.

I don’t bother growing much cabbage, broccoli or cauliflower as they take longer to mature and we seldom use them anyway in preference to Bok Choy which is much quicker to mature and takes less room.

Silverbeet is an excellent vegetable to grow as it has high nutritional value and you harvest only the outer leaves for use as it will keep producing till it goes to seed.

Whether you grow in open ground, raised gardens or in containers you can produce hardy vegetables that will not only be inexpensive compared to current cost of purchased vegetables but will also have great flavour be free of chemical poisons.

The stuff you buy from Supermarket is not only bloody expensive but are chemically grown and sprayed with chemicals thus having little goodness and a bland flavour.

If it tastes good without having to use condiments then it is good for your health.

Basically no matter how you grow you apply natural products to the soil/growing medium such as any animal or chicken manures, blood & bone, sheep manure pellets at the base.

Garden Lime such as Wallys Calcium & Health, minerals from Ocean Solids and Wallys Unlocking your soil.

Then over this a layer of Daltons Compost. (Most others I do not trust because they can contain recycled green waste which maybe full of herbicides).

Then into this you plant seeds or seedlings and spray them every week with Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) they will grow twice as fast and twice as big and be very advantageous for your health and budget.

I expect that vegetables in the supermarket are only going to get dearer because of high cost of imported fertilisers, cost of chemical sprays to keep the plants looking perfect on the shelves and the cost of diesel.

Because of the milder temperatures heat loving plants are not fairing very well.

My tomato plants grown in a plastic house in the Auto-pot system are doing ok but plants that like much more heat such as cucumbers, capsicum and chili are sitting and sulking even with the high quality nutrient they have to grow with.

I hate to think how poorly these plants wound do in open gardens along with pumpkin and other cubits.

They would really sulk until the temperatures became better which is most unusual for weather after Labour Weekend in NZ.

If, as some predict, we are heading into a solar minimum which reduces the global temperatures to the extent of a mini-ice age or worse then that would be far worse for food growing than a global warming.

Most of you will have planted or are planting tomato plants currently, if in a glasshouse you will have better results than out doors. Outdoors you need a very sunny, sheltered spot for best results.

Treat the soil with the products mention but don’t use Calcium & Health instead buy some Dolomite.

Tomatoes and Potatoes like a slightly acidic soil pH.

Now this is important to get the best results out of a tomato plant; you make a deep hole and plant it deep, up to the bottom leaves or even deeper.

The reason is that a tomato plant will produce roots all the way up the trunk and often on a more mature plant you will see knobs near the base of the trunk which are beginnings of roots.

If that is seen then mould up growing medium so the root system is increased.

The bigger the roots to feed, the better the plant.

You can place a little of Wallys Neem Tree Powder in the planting hole and sprinkle some of Wallys Secret Tomato Food with Neem Granules on the soil.

That will assist in deterring whitefly especially in a glasshouse as well as feed the plants.

The Secret tomato food contains a good amount of potash which I have noticed lacking in other brands, likely because potash is expensive.

If your tomato, capsicum, chili do not have ample potash then your fruit will lack flavour.

Wallys Secret Tomato Food with Neem Granules was created on the request of a specialist tomato grower who wanted the very best tomatoes.

He told me many years ago that he had tried all the brands but none of them produced really great flavored fruit.

So along with fertiliser experts we created the product, Wallys Secret Tomato Food which over the last 15 plus years has been well sort after by people that love to grow the best tomatoes possible.

There are two types of tomato plants; Indeterminate and Determinate the first is tall growing and is actually a climber the later is a bush type which is short with a wide spread such as dwarf types.

In the Indeterminate type there are very large fruiting ones such as Boy o Boy which can produce fruit weighing 500 grams. Some you need only one slice to cover sliced bread!

To do that you need to not only remove the laterals but also reduce down the amount fruit per truss to get a monster tomato.

Laterals form between the trunk and the leaf branch and in Indeterminate tomato plants it is best to remove them otherwise you get a plant that requires lots of staking and support.

On a determinate plant the laterals are often left on to make the plant bushier and produce a lot more trusses and thus a lot of smaller fruit.

If you allow a lateral to grow about 8cm long you can strike it as a cutting and get free extra tomato plants.

If last season your tomatoes were affected by the tomato psyllid that we wrote about recently then you need to use Wallys Cell Strengthening Kit to protect your plants and be able to harvest tomatoes like you did in the past.

Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at http://www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at http://www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at http://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 Urszula from Pixabay

Food, Gardening

Phosphorous for your garden (Wally Richards)

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When we buy plant foods or fertilisers for our gardens we see on them the letters N:P:K followed by numbers which indicate the amounts of each of these elements. The NPK stands for Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium.

Nitrogen provides growing power and helps make plant leaves and stems green.

Nitrogen is used to form basic proteins, chlorophyll, and enzymes for the plant cells. In short, a plant can’t grow without it.

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

Potassium promotes strong vigorous roots and resistance to disease.

Potassium is a nutrient your plants need for good internal chemistry.

Plants use potassium to produce the sugars, starches, proteins and enzymes they need to grow and thrive. Potassium also helps your plants regulate their water usage, and better withstand the cold.

I believe of the three elements its the phosphorus that is least understood by some gardeners.

In the distant past phosphorus was obtain from manures especially bird or bat droppings called guano. Phosphorus was 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 it was discovered that a process using sulfuric acid, early in the 1900’s,

would breakdown the reactive rock phosphate so 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 and with their demise leads to unhealthy plants/grasses.

Not only that, it is now known that Super laden plants and grasses can cause health problems in stock including cancers.

(Chlorine and acidic products also destroy soil life including earth worms. Overt time through continued use soil becomes inert or lifeless)

I read a very interesting book some 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 changes that occurred.

If you are interested the book can be obtained by mail order. The book made me reconsider the use of Super phosphate in garden fertilisers.

Interestingly I have never been an advocate of Super phoshate and to the best of my knowledge have never purchased it as a stand alone fertiliser for my gardens.

Though I have on odd occasions in the past used General Garden Fertilisers.

Fortunately I have always preferred sheep manure pellets, animal manures and natural products as my general plant food.

Now days I avoid using chemical fertilisers or chemical sprays including any herbicides anywhere on my property.

But I have noticed in the past, that even though I have obtained good healthy crops and plants, there is some factor that appears to be missing and the crops are not as lush as I feel they could be.

I have 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 who make a product called BioPhos.

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

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 full) 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.

Gardeners that use Biophos for the first time around their gardens often contact me tell how much their gardens have improved within a few weeks of using the product.

Maybe because the gardens are missing phosphate and a sprinkling gives the plants what they have been wanting.

Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at  www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz

New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Part II of the Act covers a broad range of Civil and Political Rights. As part of the right to life and the security of the person, the Act guarantees everyone:

1The right not to be deprived of life except in accordance with fundamental justice (Section 8)

2The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment (Section 9)

3The right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation without consent (Section 10)

4The right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment (Section 11)

 Furthermore, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 guarantees everyone: Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion.
This includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief,
INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO ADOPT AND HOLD OPINIONS WITHOUT INTERFERENCE (Section 1)

Photo: Image by Ville Mononen from Pixabay



Gardening, News

Spring in the garden: things we might miss or forget (Wally Richards)

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It is an very interesting spring and start to the new season.

Most of us are saying where is spring? It is already into October and not much springy in the air.

Mind you before the Polar Blast that had us adding another layer of clothes and lighting the fire we did have some not too bad days.

Hopefully those mild days were sufficient to bring some of the pests out of their winter hiding places to be stuck dead by the cold blast.

If in spring we have an early start with sunny days and warm temperatures, then it turns to custard with a few days of bitter cold then all the pests that came out will shiver to death and our pest problem will be significantly reduced.

It then will be into the new year before their numbers multiply and cause problems.

It is now not long before Labour Weekend arrives and that is the New Zealand Traditional time for planting out the tender plants such a tomatoes and Impatiens.

More tender plants such as cucumbers should not be planted till the weather really settles otherwise they just sit there and sulk.

If you do early plantings of non-hardy plants then only do a couple or so and then two to three weeks later another little planting.

Follow that pattern and you cant go wrong.

It is a timely reminder to check grafted fruit trees, ornamentals and roses.

Grafted means they are growing on a similar family plant’s root stock.

This is done for several reasons such as preventing suckering, giving what is supposed to be a better plant such as High Health in Roses and also to determine the end result size of the tree.

The root stock can and often does start producing foliage and if that is allowed to grow then the energy from the roots is grabbed by the root stock’s development and likely at some time the tree that is grafted onto the root stock will fail and die.

Normally it is fairly easy to see the union where the tree is

connected to the root stock.

So any foliage that appears there on the root stock should be rubbed off or cut off to prevent it growing bigger.

Sometime the foliage may appear from under the soil near the trunk. Once again remove.

I have come to understand that grafted stone fruit trees are very likely to have curly leaf disease as the graft is a weakening aspect of the tree’s health and vigor.

I learnt this week an interesting thing; apparently if a person receives a transplant organ then over time that person may start to develop characteristics and even memories of the donor.

Which make s me wonder if a grafted tree starts to show aspects of the tree it is grafted too?

Dwarf stone fruit are the worst to have curly leaf problems.

If you grow a peach, nectarine or plum from a stone then apparently because it is on its own root system it will be far less likely to have curly leaf disease and maybe also less or none of other problems.

With roses we some times see what is often called a water shoot which is a strong upward shoot from near the base.

I think the recommendation is to cut them off but on one occasion I let it grow and with some cosmetic pruning over a couple of seasons turn a bush rose into a standard.

A reader today asked about her compost bins which are made out of tanalised timber.

She asked ‘Would the tanalised timber be harmful to the compost and would it be ok to use the compost on the vegetable garden’?

Tantalized timber has some nasty chemicals in them (Ask any older builder that has worked with tantalized timber for years about how they are faring)

I also learnt from a building inspector that tantalized fence palings that I screwed to my steel warehouse

(To attach steel cages onto for gas bottles and instant gas hot water unit) would overtime eat into the steel and cause corrosion.

So if the chemical can do that to colour steel what are they going to do to your food crops that will take up the chemicals that leach into the soil/compost?

Not a healthy outlook for sure.

The answer is to give the tantalized wood that has been cut to the right size a couple of coats of acrylic paint before assembling to seal the chemicals in.

This is also applied to raised gardens when using tantalized timber.

Container plants indoors and outdoors over winter required much less water but now as the day light hours increase and temperatures rise they will require more moisture.

A problem arises though in that the growing medium, when it became dry causes tension that does not allow the water to penetrate.

So when you water not all the mix/root system gets any moisture and you have a dry spot.

Water rather than staying in the mix a lot of it will run out into the saucer.

There are two ways to solve this problem.

Container that are not too large should be taken and plunged into a tub of water submerging the whole pot. It will start to bubble away which is the air being forced out of the medium as the water replaces the dry air pockets.

When the pot stops bubbling lift up and let the surplus water drain out before returning to its saucer.

That means next time you water the plant will get all the benefit.

If you have a large container that you cannot plunge into a tank of water then what you do is this.

Fill your watering can with warm water and then give a good squirt of dish washing liquid into it.

Lather up with your hand to make the water nice and soapy.

Water the soapy water into the container mix and this will break the tension and allow water to wet the whole mix till the same happens again.

Hanging baskets are prone to having tension and not getting a proper drink. This is especially so with hanging baskets outdoors.

Plunge into a tub of water and watch them bubble. During the summer outdoor baskets should be plunged once a month.

Another big problem with container plants is root mealy bugs and the easy way to fix is to sprinkle a little of Wallys Neem Tree powder over the mix then cover with a little more potting mix.

The powder with become mouldy as it breaks down and look unsightly.

Under a layer of fresh mix you will not see it.

Something extra which  I received this week that you may find interesting/shocking?

https://www.debtclock.nz/?utm_campaign=20221007_newsletter_jordan&utm_medium=email&utm_source=taxpayers

Someone has to pay for this and its not the ones that have caused this debt.

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 Eszter Miller from Pixabay

Food, Health

Load up on THESE plant foods to boost your iron intake

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From naturalhealth365.com

We’ve all heard about the importance of including iron in our diets.  However, it can be hard to know how to up your iron intake without eating tons of meat.

Dialing back your meat intake, even if you don’t completely cut it out, has been shown to reduce your risk of cancer and other chronic diseases.  But lowering your meat intake doesn’t mean sacrificing iron.  Several powerful plant foods rich in iron can help ensure you’re giving your body what it needs.

Iron maintains optimum health in MULTIPLE ways

Iron is a vital mineral that plays a role in good health.  One significant function of iron is that it helps your body make hemoglobin.  Hemoglobin is pivotal for transporting oxygen throughout your bloodstream.

But that’s not all.  Iron is vital for the immune system and cell function.  Without iron, you could be at risk of anemia, a condition where you don’t have enough red blood cells or hemoglobin to transport oxygen to your cells very well.

Pregnant women are especially at risk for anemia.  While the required iron intake varies from person to person, typically, men need about 8 milligrams a day, women 18 milligrams, and growing infants need 11 milligrams.

Eat these plant foods to boost your iron intake

So the question is, how can you maximize your dietary intake of iron?  Several animal foods are rich in iron, such as meat, wild game, poultry, and seafood.  There are two types of iron – heme and non-heme.  The difference between them is that it’s easier for your body to absorb heme iron.  So if you’re not getting dietary iron from meat, it’s a good idea to get plenty of  vitamin C, which helps you absorb non-heme iron.

Minimizing your toxic (factory produced) meat intake can benefit your overall health and lower your risk of certain chronic diseases.  Luckily, several tasty plant-based foods provide essential iron.

Nuts and legumes are good sources of iron for plant-eaters.

Green leafy vegetables are also ideal sources of the mineral.  For example, spinach contains 4 milligrams of iron in just one cup.  It can be used in soups, salads, and more.  You might even make it in a smoothie or use it as a pizza topping.  What’s even better is that it also contains many other beneficial nutrients.

READ MORE AT THE LINK

https://www.naturalhealth365.com/load-up-on-these-plant-foods-to-boost-your-iron-intake.html

Photo: pixabay.com

Food, Health

7 plant based foods for healthy eyes

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From thegoodinside.com

Our eyes are one of those things we all take for granted. They allow us to see the beauty in the world, read books, and carry out everyday tasks. So it’s important to step back and make an effort to take care of our precious eyes now and for the future.

Especially because vision loss is becoming an increasingly common problem. Rates of blindness and low vision in America are estimated to double, affecting more than 8 million people by 2050.

This trend is thought to be caused by the rising rates of chronic disease and an aging population. But there’s also another reason: very few of us give our eyes the nutrients they need.

In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 87% of people don’t get the recommended amount of vegetables in their diet and 76% of people don’t meet the minimum fruit recommendations.

That’s an issue because fruits and veggies contain nutrients essential for healthy eyes. Check out these eye-healthy foods and see how you can nourish your vision.

1. Orange Veggies

While carrots are, by far, the most well-known food that can boost your eye health, several orange veggies support vision. That includes sweet potatoes, pumpkin, and orange peppers.

These foods are abundant in carotenoids, the compounds that give the veggies their orange hue. One of the most recognized is beta carotene. It’s a precursor of vitamin A which means your body converts it into vitamin A on an as-needed basis.

Vitamin A is essential for good vision. Among many other things, it helps protect the surface of the eye (cornea).

Studies have shown that beta carotene, in combination with other antioxidants, can also decrease the risk of vision loss from macular degeneration or age-related vision loss.

Most importantly, seek out beta carotene from food sources. That’s because synthetic beta carotene is linked to a higher risk of some types of cancer.

READ MORE AT THE LINK

https://tinyurl.com/2cpzp8db

Photo: pixabay.com

Gardening

Tips for Planting plants (Wally Richards)

3 Comments

Gardeners are buying and planting plants now for the coming season.

This may range from seedlings of vegetables, annual flowering plants, fruiting plants and ornamental shrubs and trees.

There are a number of traps and tips which if known will make for a more successful growing season and thus more pleasure for yourself.

Lets start off with seedlings which will likely come in cell packs (each plant has its own little growth space with normally 6 cells to a pack.)

Then there is the punnets where a number of seedlings share the same growing area.

The first thing to do when looking for vegetable seedlings to grow is to see how old the plants are?

If they are on the large size in their cell/punnet then give them a miss as more than likely they have been stressed and may go to seed a couple of months after you plant them. A total waste of time and garden space.

This does not apply to flowering/fruiting vegetables such as tomato, capsicum etc as the bigger they are the further advanced they are to maturity the better.

It applies to brassicas, lettuce and such like.

Also don’t be silly enough to buy root crops in punnets such as beetroot, onions, carrots, parsnips, spring onions as they will never be any where near as good as the ones you grow from seed, planted where they will mature.

Big seeds such as beans, pumpkin should also only be grown directly from seed.

The results will be ten times better than transplants which for crops such as carrots are laughable as they will never become a nice specimen if they were grown from transplants.

The secret to seed growing in an area that they will mature in; is that they get their initial tap root or roots out and those roots do not get disturbed by transplanting.

With the likes of carrots either buy the seed that is on a seed tape or later on thin out the crop which gives you some baby carrots for salads.

I look for the younger smaller plants that are likely the freshest ones from the growers nursery.

These will likely have been kept moist in their growing medium and hence stress free.

Even if they are a bit too small to transplant that is ok; you can grow them on outside in a sheltered, sunny spot. While they are getting bigger you do not want to over water them or let them dry out.

Over watering makes them soft, under watering can lead to stress.

If you can pick the time and day that you plant out, best time is before rain or later in the day when the sun is going down.

If you are really smart you spray any plants you are going to transplant a few days before disturbing them with a spray of Vaporgard and Magic Botanic Liquid combined. (Spray for total coverage)

How many of you have planted out seedlings to see them lay down for several days on the soil till they pick them selves up and start to show growth? We have all experienced that I am sure.

Well the few days before transplanting spray of Vaporgard means that moisture loss through the foliage at transplant time is minimal and the seedlings sit up like little soldiers and start growing immediately.

This is very important: Before you try to remove the seedlings from their punnet or cell pack you plunge it into a bucket of water and watch them bubble.

This removes all air from the growing medium and also gives the seedlings a nice drink.

You then carefully tap out the seedlings without damaging the foliage.

They should, being so wet, slide out nicely.

Next we inspect the foliage for any pest insects or eggs.

In some cases you may have several seedlings in a cell pack or punnet that have their roots intertwined with each other.

You have two options you can plant the plug with more than one seedling and in a couple of weeks time cut the smaller ones off at soil level allowing the best fellow to grow to maturity.

Or in your bucket of water you can carefully separate the seedlings and have a lot more to plant out.

Down in; under water, they will tease out and separate nicely with minimal root disturbance.

But now maybe you have more seedlings than you need for one crop and one harvest.

No problem you put all the extra seedlings to]gether in a clump and and plant them it the garden.

Being in a clump they will not grow much but will hold so that in say a couple of weeks you can lift, divide under water and plant a second crop. (An old trick which I have held surplus for several weeks in that manner)

Soil preparation is important unless you do what I do.

Clear the area of weeds and then sprinkle what goodies you like to use over the area such as animal manures, sheep pellets, blood & bone, Ocean Solids, Wallys Unlocking your Soil, BioPhos and Wallys Calcium and Health.

Now spread a layer of purchased compost over the area to the depth of 3-4 cm.

I prefer Daltons compost as it is herbicide free and nice to work with.

Into this layer you can plant your seeds or seedlings.

Spacing is important so you do not have over crowding.

Keep moist with daily light waterings and spray the plants with Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) each week.

Lets upscale to plants such as shrubs, vines and trees which once again you are either buying in a pot or plastic bag.

Follow the advise as for the seedlings but when you remove the plant from its grow container have a good look at the root system.

If the plant has been in the container for a while the roots will have filled the container and spiraled around the base of it.

If left like that and placed into a planting hole you may wonder months or even years later why has that plant not grown?

Simple the roots can not get out from the clump they formed in the container.

Some gardeners try to tease the roots out and that can help a little but really a waste of effort.

You take your secateurs and at the four cardinal points you cut the root spiral the depth of your blade.

Roots are like branches, you cut the end off a branch and that branch will create new branches back to the trunk.

You cut the roots and the plant makes a lot of new roots and that is what you want for growth.

It is a busy time ahead so get cracking with small plantings now followed by more each month.

Thank you for the many ‘Get Well’ emails I received in regards my virus/cold, getting better now but it does take a while. I saw on the TV channel, Al Jazeera TV News Channel that there is now good evidence that America released the initial Corona virus and have also done the same with the Monkey Pox virus.

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

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)

Food, Gardening, News

ALL OF US CAN GROW FOOD IN CONTAINERS

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The Seed Guy

It’s June 12th, and most Families have planted their Gardens by now. Some may have run into issues that are causing them to to plant late. Just to let you know, everyone can grow in containers, even if you live in an apartment or condo. You can also grow vegetables and herbs in containers indoors during the Winter, and have those fresh salads you always crave.

Please Plant a Garden. If you don’t have a big yard, or any yard at all, you can still plant in containers. I feel now more than ever that we will need to grow Home Gardens, and be able to help Feed our Families. We are in a very uncertain time in our Countries history, and we need to be prepared.

There are several types of containers that can be used for growing vegetables including polyethylene plastic bags, clay pots, plastic pots, metallic pots, milk jugs, ice cream containers, bushel baskets, barrels, and planter boxes. It is important to use containers that can accommodate roots of the vegetables you want to grow as the vegetables vary in sizes and rooting depths.

The container needs to have good drainage, and should not contain chemicals that are toxic to plants and human beings. Most vegetables grown in backyard gardens can be grown in containers, although a container’s diameter and depth needs to be considered when selecting what vegetables to grow. The plant density (number of vegetable plants per container) depends on individual plant space requirements, and rooting depth.

It’s best to use one of the potting mixes in vegetable container gardening as they are light, disease-free, weed seed-free, and have good drainage. Some potting mixes have pre-mixed plant nutrients, so read the information on the label about how long the pre-mix will feed your plants before you start applying fertilizers. You can also make your own two bushels of potting mix using the following recipe: Shredded sphagnum peat moss (1 bushel), Vermiculite (1 bushel), Ground limestone (1¼ cups), Phosphate fertilizer either 0-20-0 (½ cup) or 0-45-0 (¼ cup), Slow release granular fertilizer such as 5-10-5 (1 cup).

Container-grown plants require more frequent fertilization than field-grown plants because of the limited space within the container for drawing nutrients. Fertilizers can be mixed with the soil mix before filling the container and can also be applied as a nutrient solution. Nutrient solutions can be made by dissolving soluble fertilizer such as 10-20-10, 12-24-12 or 8-16-8 in water following label directions. The nutrient solution is applied once a day when the plants are watered. How often you water may vary with vegetables, but once a day is adequate.

Leach the unused fertilizer nutrients from the potting mix once a week by applying tap water only. It is also very important to water occasionally with a nutrient solution containing micro nutrients such as copper, zinc, boron, manganese, and iron and follow label directions in order to give plants the right amounts.

Plants grown in containers need frequent watering as the containers dry fast. Watering on a daily basis is necessary to provide adequate moisture for plant growth. Apply enough water to reach the bottom of the container. Allow the excess to drain out through drainage holes. Avoid wetting the leaves when watering as this will encourage development of foliar disease. Try not to allow the containers to dry out completely between watering as this will lead to flower and fruit drop. Do not over water the plants as the container will be waterlogged and the roots will lack oxygen leading to poor growth and eventually, perhaps, the plant’s death.

The size of the containers needed will depend a lot on the vegetable or herbs you are planting. Most Herbs can be planted in 1/2 – 1 gallon containers. Cabbages, Cucumbers, Green Beans, Leaf Lettuce, Spinach, Swiss Chard, and Cherry Tomatoes can be planted in 1 gallon containers. Beets, Carrots, Eggplants, Peppers and Radishes need 2 gallon containers. Your regular tomatoes will need 3 gallon containers. (great info from the University of Illinois Extension).

CONTAINER GARDENING GUIDE (The Seed Guy)

If you LIKE US on our Facebook page, you will be on our list for more great Gardening Articles, new Heirloom Seed Offers, and healthy Juice Recipes. https://www.facebook.com/theseedguy/ Thank you, and God Bless You and Your Family. 🙂

RELATED VIDEO: Homegrown.garden (How to Grow Potatoes in Pots)

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Food, Gardening

Use This Companion Planting Chart to Help Your Garden Thrive

2 Comments

From livelovefruit.com

Most people plant their gardens with little thought as to what plants grow well together. The secret to an amazing garden, though? Companion planting! 

Companion planting not only takes nutrient uptake into consideration, but it also brings into account crop protection, pest management and positive hosting (aka. increasing the population of beneficial insects that will help manage your harmful pest population). 

For this very reason I created an interactive companion planting chart that will help you plant the perfect garden (and maybe even make your neighbors a little jealous!). But before we get into that, we need to understand what companion planting is, and why it works so successfully!

Use This Companion Planting Chart to Help Your Garden Thrive

Image by congerdesign from Pixabay

Food, Gardening

More magic for your garden (Wally Richards)

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Last week our article was about Magic Botanical Liquid (MBL) and how this natural product made an incredible difference to your plants and gardens.

Then a few weeks back we used information from a reader about how he greatly improved his fruit trees with another natural product ‘Apple Cider Vinegar’.

Lets now add another Magic product that is as common as salt.

In fact it is salt, raw, unrefined salt from the blue waters of the Ocean.

The deep blue water of the ocean is rich in minerals and elements, in fact all the 114 elements known to man. These elements are also in perfect balance for living organisms, health and well being.

Back in the 60’s/70’s a Dr Maynard Murry did a incredible amount of research into ocean solids and wrote the book ‘Sea Energy Agriculture’ Nature’s Ideal Trace Element Blend for Farm, Livestock and Humans. It is currently published by Acres USA.

Maynard dissected hundreds of ocean creatures and never once found tumors or disorders in their organs.

Doing the same to fish from streams and lakes, many were found to have tumors etc.

In one case he dissected a 100 year old whale and found its organs in pristine condition as good as a newly born whale.

Maynard realised it was the ocean water, rich in minerals that allowed the creatures living in it to be so free of the ills that effected land creatures.

We know that at various times, all land masses were for periods of times, under the sea.

When a land mass arises from the sea it is mineral rich and once plant life establishes on the land it too is rich in minerals.

But over time through rain, erosion and leaching a lot of the minerals gained by the land are lost back into the sea. It is interesting to note that in isolated pockets on the planet, where because of the terrain, that leaching does not take place.

People living in these pockets more often than not live to over a 100 years of age, in excellent health.

The reason, Maynard says, is because of the mineral rich diet they have, which allows the cells of the body to replicate perfectly, slowing right down the aging process and maintaining very healthy organs.

Maynard believed that if you give a plant all the possible minerals and elements it may need to grow as it should, then that plant would not be susceptible to diseases common to it.

Trials proved this point by supplying Ocean Solids to say nectarine trees in a row. Every second tree received the solids, the others being the controls. Then curly leaf disease was sprayed over all the trees.

After three years the controls had all died and the Ocean Solid trees never showed any signs of the disease. A number of similar trials were done on various plants with the same results!

Maynard took this a stage further by growing various crops of grains and feeding them to 200 female mice (C3H) that had been bred to always develop breast cancer which causes their demise.

200 more of the same C3H mice were fed conventional foods of whom all died within the normal 9 month period that their condition dictated, during which time they produced the normal two or three litters. (all to die later)

The Ocean Solid fed group were sacrificed at 16 months and a definitive examination revealed no cancerous tissue. This group also produced ten litters and no sign of the cancer in the off spring! The Ocean Solids foods had removed the cancer.

If we take this to the next stage then people that grow their own vegetables and fruit with Ocean Solids will be able to have in their food chain all the minerals that those vegetables are capable of taking up.

Maynard found that vegetables etc were capable of taking up about 20 to 40 odd elements dependent on the type of plant.

On the other hand wheat and barley are capable of taking up all the 114 odd elements if available. This is why wheat grass juice has become a very important plant in our health/ food chain.

Two aspects of this have become very important in my concerns for plant health and people’s health.

If we use Ocean Solids in our gardens along with other natural plant foods, building up the soil life populations, including the worms,

then we will have very healthy plants that will not suffer from diseases unless they become stressed for some reason, or reach the end of their days.

If we grow our own vegetables, fruit and wheat grass with Ocean Solids our health can greatly improve, markedly reducing the possibility of many ills such as cancer.

Think of it, healthy roses, plants and gardens along with better health for you and your family.

WALLYS OCEAN SOLIDS, USE AT: New or existing gardens; 35 grams per square Metre on gardens, sprinkled on and watered in. Use at the above rate for first year and then at half the rate for years 2 to 5.

No further applications then for 5 years. Scoop supplied with product is 70 grams when filled to slightly heaped.

For traysor container plants use at a tablespoon per 4.5 litres of growing medium. (Scoop does 18 Litres Mix)

SPRAY APPLICATION: One tablespoon to 4.5 Litres of water spray over foliage to run off. The Purpose for the spray, is as a natural insecticide, fungicide and foliar feed. Use only Bi-Monthly and late in day when sun is off the plants.

PLANT FOOD: Use at 1 gram per Litre of water. (Also same for adding to Hydroponic solutions)

Wheat Grass For Juicing: A must to be added to a good animal manure based compost, at the table spoon per 4.5 litre rate. Wallys Unlocking your Soil can be added also and watered in with MBL.(Magic Botanic Liquid).

Wallys Ocean Solids are solar dried only, with no further refining, to ensure that as many of the mineral and elements possible, are present in this product.

Bear in mind that the above use rates on to gardens will over time, with other natural products, bring up the health levels of the plants.

Some plants will respond fairly quickly where others may take a season or two to see really good changes. Plants in stress because of lack of moisture etc can still have problems, even with this program.

A reader this week contacted me in regards to Wallys Ocean Solids.

I was told that he has been using the Ocean Solids for a few years now spraying the vegetables every two months and the results have been wonderful.

The same spray can be used on roses, flowers and ornamentals.

MBL can be added to the Ocean Solid Spray.

My goodness you will have gardens so good you will not need my advise anymore.

There are some important BITS if you email especially what is happening to our NZ Health System and Hospitals.

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

Photo: envirowatchrangitikei

Food, Gardening

GROW YEAR ROUND WITH AN UNDERGROUND GREENHOUSE

2 Comments

Excellent info thanks to The Seed Guy @ Facebook. Not an idea I’ve ever seen before. Brilliant if you wish to cover your plants. Becoming a necessity now with all the overhead spraying going on. EWR

If eating Fresh Vegetables and Fruits Year Round is important to You and Your Family, you might consider building an Underground Greenhouse. It will keep the temperatures warmer in the Winter and help prevent overheating in the Summer; making it possible to grow your garden vegetables year round.

For the vast majority of the country, 4 feet below the surface will stay between 50° to 60°F even if the weather above the ground gets to 10°F or colder. This is what they call the thermal constant, and what the Underground Greenhouse is based on.

The original design for an Underground Greenhouse was invented in Bolivia, and was called a Walipini, an Aymara Indian word which means “a warm place.” A Walipini is a rectangular shaped Greenhouse that is dug down 6-8 feet deep in the ground. The longest area of the rectangle will face towards the south (in the Northern Hemisphere) to take advantage of the most sunlight.

The design of the Underground Greenhouse isn’t that complicated, as it can be as simple as a hole with plastic sheets laid on top. The roof seals in the heat and insulates the area to keep a warm, moist environment for your fruits and vegetables.

The location of your Walipini will depend on how big you want it to be. You’ll need enough space to grow your plants and have a small area to walk into your greenhouse. The bottom of the Greenhouse will need to be at least 5 feet above the water table in your area. The recommended size for an Underground Greenhouse is 8 x 12 feet.

When planning where your Greenhouse will be located, remember that your roof will need to receive light during the winter, also. This means that you will have to make sure that trees or buildings don’t block it during the winter time when the sun is in the South. In most cases, your Underground Greenhouse should be set up East to West, with the roof facing South to take advantage of the Winter Sun.

Once it’s decided where your Underground Greenhouse will be located, you can start digging. Plot out the area above ground to keep track of where you should be digging. While you’re excavating, dig at least 2 feet deeper than your desired depth. Keep your soil close by to help prop up the roof.

The walls of your Underground Greenhouse should have a minimum 6-inch slope from the roof to the floor. This will greatly reduce the amount of crumbling and caving that will occur with the soil. You can also layer the walls with a clay to prevent erosion, or use bricks to stabilize the walls of the building.

While you’re digging the hole, dig an extra 2 feet below the desired depth. You’ll fill this area with stone or gravel and then 8 inches of soil. Ideally, you’d lay larger stones and gravel on the bottom layer and the gravel would become progressively smaller until you reach the soil.

The bottom of the greenhouse should be slightly sloped from the center to the edges. Along the perimeter, you should leave a space of 2-3 feet just filled with gravel. This is designed to help the water drain more easily. Many people have also created open gravel wells in the corners of the greenhouses that allows them to collect the water. This will allow you to draw a bucket into the hole and pull out water if you find you have too much.

Once the floor is filled in with the drainage system, and the soil required for growing, the doors can be installed. Place the door frame at the base of the ramp and fill in the areas around the door as much as possible with dirt and clay. Filling in these gaps will prevent heat loss in your greenhouse.

Many times, people will use 2-inch door frames that have holes drilled into the top middle and bottom of each side. They will then use wooden stakes, dowels or rebar to secure the door frame into the soil wall.

The angle of the roof will make a big difference on the sun’s ability to heat your greenhouse. Ideally, the roof should be facing directly at the winter solstice at a 90 angle. This angle will maximize the heat during the winter solstice and minimize the heat during the summer solstice.

Now, you can use that extra soil that you have left over to create a berm. The berm is basically an extension of the north wall of the greenhouse. This allows you to control the angle of the roof by adding or taking away dirt. Build up the berm to continue the slope that you used on the wall. If you’re using bricks – continue using them on the berm.

The most economical, durable material for your roof is 4-inch PVC pipe. Using PVC elbow pieces, joiners, etc, you can create a flat roof frame that will cover your Underground Greenhouse.

After you’ve created a PVC frame, lay it in place on the top of your hole. Then lay plastic sheeting across the top of the frame and make sure that it extends past the edge of the frame by at least 1 foot. This flap will prevent run off water from the roof from running back into the greenhouse itself.

Once the plastic material is put on top of the roof frame, move inside and tack another layer of plastic wrap along the inside of the roof frame. This internal plastic sheeting will create a 4-inch barrier between the inside and outside of the roof, and will act as an insulator that will keep the heat in more effectively.

You’ll want to make sure that you leave a few inches of plastic hanging down on the lower (south) end of your roof. This will force moisture that collects on the roof to drip off above the drainage system or on top of your plants instead of at the base of the roof. If you allow the moisture to run to the base of the roof frame, it may affect the soil at that location and break down your wall, etc.

Ventilation is always crucial. You have 3 options, such as: Installing two doors, one at each end; installing a vent roughly the size of the door at the top of the back wall; or installing a chimney at the center of the back wall. Good Luck on your Greenhouse.

If you LIKE US on our Facebook page, you will be able to see more of our great Gardening Articles, New Seed Offerings and healthy Juice Recipes. Thank you and God Bless You and Your Family.

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Food, Gardening

12 Perfect Vegetables To Grow in a Shady Garden Space

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When we think of vegetable gardening, we’re often convinced that FULL SUN is the only way we’ll be successful. This couldn’t be more wrong! There are plenty of shade friendly plants that will thrive in 2-5 hours of sun. On top of that, there are some plants that won’t LOVE being in shade, but will TOLERATE it, which allows you to squeeze out even more harvests from spaces you might typically ignore in your garden.

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Photo: pixabay.com

Food, Gardening, News

Back To Eden Gardening Documentary Film – How to Grow a Regenerative Organic Garden (MUST WATCH!)

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A timely and amazing doco that is well worth the watch if you are wanting to grow your own food. A necessity with the current, increasing (& planned) shortages. Little weeding or watering. It will revolutionize your gardening! EWR

Dana & Sarah Films 34.8K subscribers

Back to Eden Gardening Documentary Film – Learn how to grow a regenerative organic vegetable garden the best and easiest way! Grow fruits and veggies with less labor, less watering, fewer weeds, and an extremely abundant harvest! Paul Gautschi, featured in the documentary Back to Eden, has popularized the use of free wood chip mulch from tree trimmings in vegetable gardens and orchards. Discover the regenerative organic gardening movement that has made millions of people worldwide love growing their own food by watching the film, streaming online for free!

OFFICIAL WEBSITE: https://www.backtoedenfilm.com BACK TO EDEN DVD: http://www.backtoedenfilm.com/buyback…

SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/user/danasara…

FOLLOW ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/backtoedeng… FOLLOW ON FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/BackToEdenGa… Back to Eden shares the story of Paul Gautschi and his lifelong journey walking with God and learning how to get back to the simple, productive organic gardening methods of sustainable provision that were given to man in the garden of Eden. The food growing system that has resulted from Paul Gautschi’s incredible experiences has garnered the interest of visitors from around the world. Never, until now, have Paul’s organic gardening methods been documented and shared like this! You will walk away from Back to Eden Film with the knowledge of how to plant an organic garden and how to grow your own food. Back to Eden gardening is the best gardening technique!

much more info at the link:

WATCH AT THE LINK

Gardening, News

How to Grow an Indoor Survival Garden

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Growing my own fresh fruits and vegetables is one of my favorite pastimes. I love to harvest the sweet bounty of my labors. Sometimes growing your own food is a requirement for survival and not just a pleasant hobby.

Can I grow food inside of my home? Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, herbs, lettuce, and greens can all be grown inside of your home with a little bit of knowledge, the right supplies, and some tender loving care.

My adventure in growing food indoors began this year when the pandemic hit, and I realized that I needed to up my game when it came to growing our own food. I am not new to the home production scene, but suddenly I was driven to make it more than a hobby.

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https://theprovidentprepper.org/how-to-grow-an-indoor-survival-garden/?fbclid=IwAR29wk52Y_YQX_1HxdgF0RGPJrEQRuiYbQN91c18iWBtTdioHAOgolpx45s

Photo: jag2020 @ pixabay.com

Gardening

5 Container Gardening Options for Apartment Gardeners

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Epic Gardening 1.66M subscribers Apartment gardening and balcony gardening is challenging – you’re often limited on space and sun. You may think you “can’t grow much” in your small space garden, but with a few creative container gardening ideas you can still squeeze an impressive amount out of small spaces.

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