A d v i ce . Id e a s .
I n sp i ra t i on
Volume 2, Issue 52
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Inside this issue:
Po t t e r i n g ar o u n d
Anita’s Garden
Top 5 gardening tasks
for the week
News
Tips for growing roses
Anita’s Garden
Editorial
Welcome to the fifty second issue of
my newsletter Anita’s Garden for
2020.
I hope you have all had a good week.
This is a rather special issue because
it marks one year (52 issues) since I
started writing Anita’s Garden as a
weekly publication.
I thought I would write a little sum-
mary of what I have been up to in the
garden over the past week.
Transplanting roses
I was busy transplanting my roses.
They are in exactly the same spot, but
I am just lifting them a bit higher as
they were planted too deeply. I’m
pleased to say that the ones I have
already done look much better and I
have now finished this task.
Dahlias
Over the weekend, I stored all my tall
and container dahlia tubers in boxes
filled with sawdust and potting mix
(there wasn’t enough of the former,
hence using some of the latter, which
is also fine to use for this purpose). I
am keeping them in the greenhouse.
I haven’t divided them yet (except for
2 It seems that it pays to sow peas in
the ones that naturally came apart).
I’m waiting for shoots to appear in
spring so I know where to make the
division(s). Each tuber needs an ‘eye’
2
otherwise it will not grow.
I have two types of dahlias—tall ones
which grow in the ground and small
2
ones which are suited to growing in
containers. I am keeping them sepa-
rate to avoid confusion when it comes
3 to planting. Unfortunately I haven’t
been very good when it comes to label-
ling them so it will be a lucky dip
when it comes to planting and
17 July 2020
swapping them with friends.
Weeding
The weeds around our onions are very
thick so I have had to take extra special
care not to pull out the onion seedlings
with the weeds. This is a job which I
have found hard and one which I have
not enjoyed much, it is even harder
than transplanting the roses.
Spraying roses and fruit trees
I’m still using lime sulphur on our roses
and fruit trees while they’re dormant.
I’m just waiting for a sunny day so I can
do a reapplication. There are showers
most days, which is annoying when you
need to do spraying in the garden.
Lime sulphur is a fantastic spray to use
to help prevent fungal diseases such as
black spot, brown rot and leaf curl.
Snow peas
Much to my surprise, our snow peas
have been cropping since June. Nor-
mally our peas only crop from Septem-
ber onwards, when the weather warms
up and bees start coming to the garden
again. But we have been harvesting
bowls of “Goliath’ snow peas from our
plants at the back by our washing line.
April if you can, for an early harvest. If
you miss out, you can sow peas in Sep-
tember for summer cropping.
I hope you find this week’s issue inter-
esting. I have enjoyed writing it, as
always.
Have a great weekend.
Kind regards,
Anita Kundu
PAGE 2
Pottering around Anita’s Garden
Here is a selection of photos from
our garden for you to enjoy.
This is our first lime from our
dwarf Bearss lime tree! We plant-
ed the tree in a 35 litre container
last year. I did some research and
the advice was to wait until it
turns yellow before picking it.
Top 5 gardening tasks for the week
1. Store dahlias
If you haven’t already done so, lift
your dahlias and store them in
some sawdust or potting mix for re
-planting in spring. You can di-
vide them now or as the weather
warms up and they develop shoots,
so it’s easier to know where to
make the divisions. Remember to
make sure that each piece has an
‘eye’.
News
Bulbs Direct have just launched
their new catalogue online! This
year’s selection of dahlias is per-
haps the largest and best ever,
with plenty of favourites such as
Café au Lait, Penhill Watermelon,
and Penhill Dark Monarch to
name a few. In fact there are so
many great varieties that choosing
what new varieties I wanted to
add to my existing collection was
AN IT A’S G AR D E N
As I mentioned in my editorial,
our ‘Goliath’ snow peas have
been cropping prolifically, even
though it’s in the middle of
winter and bees usually aren’t
around in the garden to polli-
nate the flowers. I sowed these
from seed direct to the ground
back in April.
2. Plant roses
This is the perfect time to plant
new roses. My new rose ‘Evelyn’ (a
David Austin standard) should be
arriving from Tasman Bay Roses
soon
3. Plant potatoes
If you live in a frost-free zone you
can plant seed potatoes now for
harvesting in spring.
a difficult task! There is also a
lovely range of gladioli, begonias
and special bulbs as well. This
summer I am going to grow the
Sonatini Amaryllis Eye Catcher
and Hymenocallis Sulphur Queen
Italian Seeds Pronto have also
recently uploaded their new cata-
logue onto their website. They
stock a fantastic range of Franchi
Italian heirloom vegetable and
V O LU M E 2 , ISSU E 5 2
These are some of the mandarins
that we picked from our dwarf tree
which is grafted onto Flying Drag-
on rootstock. Our tree is planted
in a half wine barrel and I feed it
with slow release citrus tree ferti-
liser throughout the year. Despite
being small and grown in a con-
tainer, it has rewarded us with so
many mandarins over the years!
4. Plant lilies
Now is a good time to plant lily
bulbs. Check out Bulbs Direct’s
gorgeous selection of lilies this sea-
son.
5. Keep an eye out for new
seasons dahlia tubers
Bulbs Direct have already released
their catalogue (see below).
herb seeds, as well as Beeline and
Seedyworks seeds.
Awapuni are all about strawber-
ries and potatoes at the moment!
They’re your one stop shop for eve-
rything you need to grow them
successfully this spring. Check out
their website for their amazing
selection of strawberry plants,
seed potatoes, fertiliser and much
more.
 V O LU M E 2 , ISSU E 5 2 PAGE 3
AN IT A’S G AR D E N

Tips for growing roses

When I first started gardening, I Recommended roses
was a little daunted by the idea of
Here are the varieties which we
planting roses. However, I was
have in our garden.
attracted to their elegance and
beauty and was determined to  Just Joey
make them part of our garden.
The truth is that roses are not as  Blackberry Nip
difficult to grow as you might
think and they are very tough  Mum in a Million
plants. Roses are best planted
when they’re dormant, which is  Friesia
during winter so this is the perfect  Loving Memory
time to be planting them. They’re Grace (David Austin)
also readily available in garden  Hamilton Gardens
centres and from mail order rose compost and sheep pellets. I like
nurseries. For the best selection, to use some Kings 24 Plus, which  Sharifa Asma
it pays to order well in advance. is a two year slow release fertiliz-
er.  Winchester Cathedral
Types of roses
3. Make sure that the hole you  Grace
There are different kinds of roses dig is deep enough to accom-
you can get—standard (grafted), modate the rose.  Absolutely Fabulous
bush, climbing and miniature.
Standard roses look stunning in a 4. If you’re planting standard  Dublin Bay
row or lining a pathway. You can roses, insert a stake on ei-
ther side of the rose at the  Diamonds Forever
have them in just one colour for
maximum effect or different varie- time of planting, to avoid
damaging the roots later on
 Golden Gift
ties, as I have in our garden. They
come in different heights— patio, 5. Leave adequate space be-  Champagne Moment
80cm and 1.8 m (weeping). Bush tween roses.
roses are perhaps the most com-  Grace
mon type and are what you usual- 6. You can
 Elina
ly see in rose gardens. Climbing mulch your
roses require a sturdy trellis and roses with “The truth is that roses are
not as difficult to grow as  Kathryn
look stunning rambling over an pea straw to Morley
arch. Miniature roses are perfect keep the you might think and they
for growing in containers. weeds down are very tough plants”  Abr aham
and add ni- Darby
Varieties trogen to the soil.
 The Alnwick Rose
There are lots of different varieties 7. Water deeply at the time of
but two of my favourites are the planting and afterwards  Charlotte
Hybrid Tea and David Austin (old- (unless it rains)
fashioned English roses). Every  Golden Celebration
rose has a name given to it by the 8. Liquid feed weekly with a
breeder. water soluble plant food or  Ali Mau
seaweed tonic
There are also some great New  Claude Monet
Zealand varieties. Two of my fa- 9. Get into the habit of spray-
vourites are the yellow roses Dia- ing your roses regularly. In
 Auswonder
monds Forever and Golden Gift. winter, I use lime sulphur  Princess Alexandra of Kent
while they’re dormant,
Tips for growing roses which helps protect them  The Lady of Shalott
1. Roses grow best in a sunny, from fungal diseases such as
well drained spot. black spot in summer. In Have a great weekend
spring I use liquid copper
2. Prepare the ground well and in summer I use Super Happy gardening!
beforehand. Mix in lots of Shield.