Advice. Ideas.
Inspiration
Anita’s Garden
Volume 3, Issue 44
Useful Links Editorial
Webpage
Blog Welcome to the forty fourth issue of
my newsletter for Volume 3.
Newsletter back issues
I hope you have had a good week. It’s
Facebook been another busy week in the garden
for me. I have managed to power
Instagram
through the following tasks:
Twitter
 Planting more daffodils in the
Linkedin ground and some miniature
ones in pots
Pinterest
 Potting up rhubarb I grew from
seed from 6-cell punnets into
individual 10 cm pots
Contact me
 Extracting seeds from chillies
 Feedback
on my superhot plants and
 Newsletter input leaving them to dry. I will later
(tips, recipes, gar- label and store them for sowing
den photos etc) next season
 To be added to my  Planting two more tamarillo
mailing list trees that I grew from seed in
spring.
anitakundu.nz@gmail.com
 Planting some more rhubarb
which I grew from seed in
spring
Inside this issue:
 Preparing the space where I
intend to plant tulips this sea-
son. My bulbs for this year are
P ot te r ing aro u nd 2 coming from Bulbs Direct, who
Anita’s Garden have kindly been chilling them
for me.
Top 5 gardening tasks 2  Harvesting more Wombok cab-
for the week bages (see my photo on page 2)
 Repotting a pineapple pup into
News 2 a 35 litre container. I used Tui
Pot Power, a very high quality
container mix, to help it get off
to a strong start. Pineapple
How to grow garlic 3 plants are precious so they’re
well worth looking after.
 Lifting dahlias. The decision
21 May 2021
whether to lift and store your dahlias
over winter is a personal one. I needed
to do it because I need the room to grow
tulips over winter. I’m keeping them in
boxes filled with potting mix and saw
dust and spray them with a bit of water
every day to keep the tubers viable,
otherwise they will dry out and die. I’ll
divide them in spring if they need do-
ing. Some gardeners prefer to keep
their dahlia tubers underground over
winter and lift and divide them in
spring. Either way, the eyes will be
easier to see in spring if you make the
divisions then, as the tubers should
have resprouted by then.
My task list for the coming week is as
follows:
 Plant new season’s and last
year’s tulips, which have been
chilling in our fridge over the
past six weeks.
 Plant anemones. I always plant
them towards the end of May
when the ground is cooler. Soak
the corms beforehand to aid ger-
mination.
 Pot up strawberry plants when
they arrive. Sometimes they are
sold bare-rooted. Normally I pop
them straight into the garden but
the bed still has brassicas grow-
ing in it.
Useful links
 Italian Seeds Pronto
 Awapuni
 Bulbs Direct
Kind regards,
Anita Kundu
PAGE 2
Pottering around Anita’s Garden
Over the weekend, we harvested
the last of our Wombok cabbages.
Mum and I have really been enjoy-
ing them. We like having them
raw in coleslaw. They are also
nice in rice paper rolls.
Top 5 gardening tasks for the week
1. Plant shallots
You can plant shallots between
now and July, with most gardeners
aiming to get them in the ground
around the shortest day (21st
June)
2. Chit seed potatoes
If you live in a frost-free climate
and are hoping to get your spuds
News
Italian Seeds Pronto have recently
added Fennel Romanesco to their
range. I grew this variety many
years ago, with great success.
Fennel does best in cooler condi-
tions. I recommend growing it in
spring and autumn. Sow seeds in
punnets and transplant when they
are large enough. Keep an eye on
plants regularly as they can form
bulbs quite quickly.
A NI T A ’ S G A R D E N
It took awhile to form roots, but
our pineapple pup was finally
ready to be potted up into a 35 li-
tre container, which will be its fi-
nal resting place. I used Tui Pot
Power for this, which is an excel-
lent high quality container mix. I
now have six pineapple plants, all
potted in these containers. They
don’t produce every year but I like
having them in our garden.
in on the shortest day, start chit-
ting them now so they have
enough time to sprout
3. Use neem granules
Did you know that neem has many
uses? It acts as a soil conditioner.
It also helps deter the dreaded
guava moth. Sprinkle some gran-
ules around the base of your plants
every few months.
Bulbs Direct now have garlic, shal-
lots and lily bulbs available on
their website. There’s still a great
range of spring bulbs, but get in
quick as they won’t last long. I try
and plant all my spring bulbs be-
fore the end of May, so they have
enough time to grow and flower
before the end of spring. If you
leave it until after May, you risk
that your bulbs won’t flower.
V O LU M E 3 , I S S U E 4 4
Our Misi Luki banana tree has
two bunches of bananas growing
from it! We will cover them with a
bag soon to help them ripen.
4. Order lily bulbs
Bulbs Direct have a great range to
choose from this season.
5. Plan your strawberry
patch
Strawberries will be arriving at
Awapuni soon! Plan your patch so
you’re ready to get your order in
when they become available as
they sell out fast.
Awapuni have a great promotion
for you this week. Spend $45 and
receive a FREE Tui Quash Slug
and Snail Stoppa! This deal is
valid until 9 am 24 May 2021 or
while stocks last.
Awapuni will be getting garlic in
soon. It’s a good idea to get your
order in as soon as it becomes
available, as it is hard to come by.
 V O LU M E 3 , I S S U E 4 4
How to grow garlic
I’m not sure I’m qualified to write
an article about growing garlic,
since my attempts to grow it over
the past two seasons have been a
dismal failure. Like a lot of gar-
deners, I’ve struggled with rust
and am still searching for a solu-
tion to the problem. Unfortunate-
ly, I can’t share a magic spray to
help prevent this dreaded disease.
Last year, I planted seed garlic
from my previous year’s stock,
which I sourced from Bulbs Direct.
I diligently sprayed my plants eve-
ry fortnight, alternating between a
concoction Wally suggested and
Aqua Glow, a spray recommended
to me by Kings Plant Barn in
Botany. The plants started off
very promising, but by spring, the
rust looked terrible. When I har-
vested them on the longest day,
they looked like spring onions.
The funny thing was that an ele-
phant garlic self-seeded near my
Mum in a Million rose, which I
planted mum for Mother’s day a
number of years ago. Unlike my
garlic crop, I didn’t spray it or give
it the slightest bit of attention. It
didn’t even get a sprinkling of bulb
food, which I use as a fertiliser at
the time of planting garlic. It nev-
er got rust and by December, I had
harvested an enormous bulb con-
taining three cloves.
This year, I decided not to go to
the expense of purchasing seed
garlic, given my lack of success at
growing garlic in recent years. I
decided to replant my elephant
garlic cloves near my roses and not
bother spraying the plants. I Don’t plant a whole bulb of garlic.
planted two cloves between my
roses Evelyn and Friesia and gave
the other clove to my cousin
Shireen, who lives in Whangarei
and also loves gardening. I facing upwards.
thought it would be a good idea to
gift one so there is a better chance
of keeping the strain going should
my garlic succumb to rust again. I
advised Shireen not to eat the
cloves from the first year and re-
plant them so she can build up her
stock.
A NI T A ’ S G A R D E N
As mentioned in my news column,
Awapuni will be getting garlic in
shortly. I’ve never grown their
garlic before and this year, they
are kindly giving me some along
with two varieties of strawberry
plants, when they become availa-
ble in June.
Here are some growing tips to help
you get the best from your crop.
Choose high quality seed gar-
lic
Getting your hands on good seed
garlic can be quite difficult these
days, given growers’ problems with
rust. Choose healthy, big bulbs.
Separate the cloves a few weeks
prior to planting to prepare them
for the next stage. Don’t peel the
cloves.
Select the site well
Traditionally, I have always grown
garlic in its own bed but this year,
I’m squeezing my new plants in
between some of my roses, because
the self-seeded elephant garlic
plant that cropped up there did so
well last year.
Make sure the site “Lik e a lot
is sunny and well gardeners,
drained. Mix in lots struggled with rust
of compost, sheep and am still searching
pellets and fertiliser for a solution to the
(I like to use bulb problem”
food) into the
ground prior to
planting.
Planting garlic
Make sure you separate the bulb
into the individual cloves. Each
clove will yield a ball of garlic.
Plant cloves with the pointy side
Weeding
Garlic hates competing with weeds
for nutrients, so make sure you
keep on top of them. It’s best to
weed manually ie by hand to avoid
damaging the garlic as it grows.
PAGE 3
I like to mulch garlic with some
pea straw, to help keep weeds
down and add nitrogen to the soil,
You can also use compost as a
mulch.
Liquid feeding
When your garlic surfaces, start
liquid feeding it every week with a
water soluble plant food or sea-
weed tonic.
Spraying your garlic
To help prevent diseases, most of
all rust which has become a terri-
ble problem in recent years, you
may decide to spray your garlic.
As I mentioned before, I haven’t
found commercial sprays very ef-
fective in the past, so I’ve decided
to go back to doing things organi-
cally. If you do decide to spray,
Liquid Copper is a good option and
it is organic for those of you who
enjoy gardening that way.
Harvesting your garlic
Resist the urge to lift your garlic
early, as it won’t have developed. I
once read in an arti-
cle that garlic does
of
most of its growing in
I’ve
the last couple of
months. If you plant-
ed it around the
shortest day, it will
be ready to be har-
vested on the longest
day (21st December). Resist the
urge to pull up your garlic by
hand, as the stalk may break. It’s
best to use a spade to lift them.
Brush or wash away the dirt and
leave them in a sunny spot to cure,
so that the skin hardens and they
are ready for storage. Keep in a
cool, dry place and allow the air to
circulate. You may wish to store
them in netted bags. Don’t forget
to set aside your best bulbs for re-
planting the following season.
This will become your seed garlic
stock. You may wish to share
some of your seed garlic, as I have
done, to help a fellow gardener to
get started.