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Anita’s Garden
Volume 4, Issue 3 6 August 2021

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Blog Welcome to the third issue of my instant cheer. My favourite is polyan-

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Inside this issue:
P ot te r ing aro u nd 2 in stock.
Anita’s Garden
Top 5 gardening tasks 2 stock.
for the week
Collaboration news 2 frosts in order to flower well so
Tips for growing pota- 3 also have a beautiful selection
toes
newsletter for Volume 4. I hope you
have all had a good week.
It’s August! How did time pass so
quickly? Winter is nearly over, but
not quite. I thought it might be useful
to set out a list of tasks to get through
this month.
What to do in the garden in August:
 If you haven’t already done so,
get garlic into the ground asap.
Awapuni still have some plants
in stock.
 Now is also a good time to plant
strawberries. Awapuni also
stock high quality strawberry
plants.
 Plant potatoes in frost-free
zones. In more temperate are-
as, you can purchase seed pota-
toes now and chit them, so they
are ready to go into the ground
when the weather is warmer
and the risk of frosts has
passed
 It’s not too late to plant onion
seedlings. Awapuni have them
 Plant asparagus crowns. Bulbs
Direct have a great selection in
 Plant peonies in cooler cli-
mates. They need a few hard
don’t bother trying to grow
them if you’re in Auckland or
further north. Bulbs Direct
of peonies in stock.
 Plant some potted colour for
thus.
 Spray roses and fruit trees with
lime sulphur while they’re
dormant to help keep fungal dis-
eases such as black spot and
brown rot at bay in summer
 Spray garlic to help prevent rust.
I have yet to find an effective
solution but am trialling two new
products, Wally’s Silicon plus
Boron Soil Drench and his Cell
Strengthening and Super
Spreader, which are available
here.
 Order dahlias, gladioli, begonias
and other summer flowering
bulbs. Be sure to check out
Bulbs Direct for the best range in
NZ
 Frustrated that travel re-
strictions meant that you could-
n’t quite make it to Italy for the
summer? Why not bring a bit of
Italy straight to your garden this
summer with Italian Seeds Pron-
to’s lovely range of heirloom
Franchi Seeds from Italy. You
can start sowing tomatoes, pep-
pers and eggplants undercover
this month
Have a great weekend.
Useful links
 Italian Seeds Pronto
 Awapuni
 Bulbs Direct
Kind regards,
Anita Kundu
PAGE 2
Pottering around Anita’s Garden
Our garlic is coming along nicely.
These plants were kindly given to
me by Awapuni, who still have
some available on their website if
you haven’t already gotten yours
into the ground. The advantage to
starting with plants rather than
from cloves is that it gives you a
head start so the bulbs will have
hopefully developed before rust
hits in spring.
Top 5 gardening tasks for the week
1. Plant more brassicas
If you have space, you can plant
more brassicas. Awapuni have
them in stock.
2. Plant garlic
Before it gets too warm, get your
garlic into the ground if you have-
n’t already done so. Awapuni still
have garlic in stock.
Collaboration news
Italian Seeds Pronto have an
amazing selection of seeds to make
your summer garden look and
taste great. This season, I am
growing the following tomato vari-
eties—Principe Borghese,
Costoluto Fiorentino, Cuor di Bue
and Red Pear. These are all an-
cient seed varieties and have a
depth of flavour which modern
hybrids lack.
A NI T A ’ S G A R D E N
Our dwarf Cleopatra avocado tree
is doing so well. We planted it
back in 2017 and there is so much
fruit on it! I am not sure when to
harvest the fruit so made an en-
quiry to the grower.
3. Spray roses and fruit
trees with lime sulphur
I know I’ve been saying this a lot,
but now really is the perfect time
to do this while they’re dormant.
The benefits are immense. Just
think, no fungal diseases such as
black spot and brown rot in sum-
mer!
4. Plant potatoes
For those of you in a cooler climate
(unfortunately this rules out Auck-
land!), Bulbs Direct have a lovely
selection of peonies available on
their website. One of the great
things about peonies is that they
are incredibly drought tolerant.
We have been seeing drier sum-
mers every year so this is a really
good thing! Peonies make wonder-
ful cut flowers.
V O LU M E 4 , I S S U E 3
If you follow me on Instagram, you
will have noticed that we planted
quite a few brassica seedlings in
early July, which we covered with
cloches (a plastic milk bottle with
the bottom cut off). In less than a
month, the plants were hitting the
roof and it was time to remove the
covers! We are very happy with
the plants, which are very healthy.
They are a mix of mini cabbage,
cauliflower and broccoli.
If you live in a frost-free area, you
can plant seed potatoes now. See
my article on page 3 for growing
tips.
5. Feed potted fruit trees
Even though it’s still winter,
there’s no harm in feeding any pot-
ted fruit trees with a slow release
fertiliser (don’t use bagged granu-
lar fertiliser as that is designed for
fruit trees planted in the ground).
Awapuni has even more great
deals for you this week!
Grab a bundle of beetroot seed-
lings for just $4 (9 seedlings).
AND grab any bundle of pansies
for just $4 as well (9 seedlings)
These offers are only available
online until 9 August 2021 or
while stocks last.
 V O LU M E 4 , I S S U E 3
Tips for growing potatoes
If you live in a frost-free zone in
New Zealand, you can plant pota-
toes now. Doing so means that you
will be harvesting freshly dug
spuds from your garden in mid to
late spring. The advantage of this
is that you can then use that space
to plant a summer crop such as
pumpkins or melons (it’s best to
avoid planting another root crop
straight afterwards). Potatoes are
very easy to grow and the potential
yield can be great, depending on
which variety you grow. There are
two main varieties—early
(typically with waxy, soft skins)
which mature in around 60-90
days and main (these are floury in
texture and mature later, in
around 100-150 days). What I like
to do is grow one of each, so we
have a continuous supply during
the season and can do different
things with them. Early potatoes
are great for boiling, whereas main
crop varieties are good for roasting
and baking. This year, we’re grow-
ing Liseta as our early variety and
Summer Delight as our main crop
variety.
Tips for growing great pota-
toes
 Don’t plant potatoes too ear-
ly. In most regions, it
should be safe to start in
spring when the last frosts
are over. In areas with mild
winters such as Auckland,
you may be able to plant
them as early as the short-
est day. If you live in a very
cool region, it may even be
best to wait until Labour
Weekend.
 If you want fresh potatoes
from your garden on the
table for your Christmas
meal, you can time your
planting accordingly. Just
have a look at the back of
the packet of seed potatoes
to see how long it takes for
them to mature and work
backwards from Xmas day.
PAGE 3
A NI T A ’ S G A R D E N
the pantry, but ask yourself
whether it is worth the risk as you
don’t know where they have come
from.
7. After you have purchased
your seed potatoes, you need
to “chit” or get them to
sprout. I lay mine in seed
raising trays and leave them
under our beds. It usually
takes around a month,
sometimes a bit longer, for
them to sprout.
8. When planting potatoes, lay
them out in trenches and
carefully cover them with
soil, being careful not to
Homegrown potatoes from last knock off any sprouts in the
spring process.
Early varieties are best for a
Christmas harvest, as main crop
varieties may not be ready in time.
3. Potatoes need full sun in
order to do well so bear this
in mind when choosing your
site.
4. If you’re short on space or
live in an apartment, you
can always try growing po-
tatoes in a growing bag or
container. Bear in mind
that the yield won’t be as
Our potatoes laid out in trenches
high as grow-
ing them in “”Potatoes are 9. After about six
the ground. very easy to grow weeks, give your potatoes
and the potential a side-dressing with a
5. If you’re plant-
yield can be great, fertiliser formulated for
ing potatoes in
depending on potatoes.
the ground,
work in lots of which variety you
10. When they are
compost and grow”
ready, you can either dig
fertiliser be- the whole lot up with a
forehand as they are gross fork or you can do what I do
feeders. I like to use some and “bandicoot’ them from
sheep pellets. I also recom- the side without disturbing
mend using a fertiliser that the plant.
is designed for growing po-
11. Make sure you store your
tatoes.
potatoes in a cool, dry place.
6. In order to avoid diseases, We like to put them in
it’s best to use certified seed brown paper rubbish sacks.
potatoes. It’s very tempting
to plant the odd few pota- Have a great weekend!
toes which are sprouting in
Happy gardening