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Anita’s Garden
Volume 4, Issue 14 7 January 2022

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Inside this issue:
Welcome to the fourteenth issue of
my newsletter for Volume 4.
Happy new year! It’s hard to believe
that it’s already 2022. I think the
pandemic has made time fly extra
fast.
We are rapidly approaching mid-
summer in the garden. I am still
busy, but have managed to make a bit
of time to simply enjoy the outdoors
and make the most of the wonderful
weather we have been having.
Here is the list of tasks that I need to
get through over the next week or
two:
 Weeding our zinnias. So far I
have planted Benary’s Giant
and Oklahoma Mix from the
Egmont Seeds Commercial Cat-
alogue. I also intend to pinch
out the tips of the first bud to
encourage the plants to branch
and be more bushy. In my
opinion it is well worth sacrific-
ing the first flowers to do this,
waste bag with rubbish for collection
next Thursday. We have recently
signed up for Green Waste’s monthly
collection service as our existing two
wheelie bins were not big enough to fit
all our garden waste in
 Remove spring bulbs from bulb
baskets and allow to dry out. I
usually leave them in the green-
house so they stay dry incase it
rains and they get spoiled
 Organise seeds for sowing over
autumn and winter. I am going
to make a list so I don’t acci-
dentally forget to sow anything
 Remove sunflowers along our
fence line as they finish flower-
ing. I’m going to use this space
to grow snake beans and zinnias
I grew from seed
 Continue weeding the garden as
I have time
 Stake dahlias that require sup-
port

P ot te r ing aro u nd 2 for a longer and better display
Anita’s Garden over the summer and autumn
months
 Planting okra. At the moment
Top 5 gardening tasks 2 it is in our greenhouse in 10cm
for the week pots. I will be moving it into 9
litre pots outside over the com-
ing week.
 Continue to make homemade
guava moth traps to keep control
of the population over the sum-
mer and protect our fruit trees
 Continue to harvest every 1-2
days
Have a great weekend.

Collaboration news 2  Planting marigolds. I raised Useful links

the variety Chamelon from seed
in early December  Italian Seeds Pronto

 Potting up rudbeckia seedlings.  Awapuni

Tips for growing snake 3 I raised them from seed in early
beans December. It is my first time
 Bulbs Direct
growing rudbeckia Kind regards,
 Filling out a 600 litre garden Anita Kundu
PAGE 2
Pottering around Anita’s Garden
This week we picked the first of
our sweet corn. This variety is
Honey and Pearl from the Egmont
Seeds Commercial Catalogue. I
am very happy with our crop so
far this season. Last year was ter-
rible for growing corn. The ker-
nels were rotten inside. This year
our corn matured very quickly. I
started sowing seeds on our heat
pad in early October and planted
out seedlings over Labour Week-
end.
Top 5 gardening tasks for the week
1. Organise autumn and
winter seeds
While it’s quiet, now is a good time
to sort through your seed collection
and get your seeds for the coming
autumn and winter season ready
for sowing.
2. Pick blueberries
They ripen at an alarming pace so
Collaboration news
Italian Seeds Pronto has a wonder-
ful cucumber variety called Beth
Alpha which has been so produc-
tive in our garden this summer. It
does well over a trellis but can also
be grown on the ground. Pick
around 15 cm long for the best fla-
vour and texture. Each packet con-
tains approximately 180 seeds so
you will certainly have plenty of
plants!
A NI T A ’ S G A R D E N
An example of our harvest. We
have been having an abundance of
zucchini, beans, cucumbers, straw-
berries, blueberries and cape
gooseberries lately. We are so
lucky to be enjoying fresh veggies
from the garden but it has come at
a sacrifice. We have chosen to stay
home and look after the garden
rather than go to our bach at Tau-
ranga Bay.
make sure you check on your
plants and pick them every day.
3. Stake dahlias
Check to see if your dahlias need
staking so they don’t fall over.
4. Water, water, water
It has been especially hot and dry
lately so make sure that your
plants have been getting enough
Just a little heads up that Bulbs
Direct have a number of growing
guides to help you on their web-
site. They contain all the advice
that you need for planting your
bulbs and edibles. Kayne and the
team have also helpfully put to-
gether some gardening ideas and
inspiration. They can all be found
under the “Grower’s Corner” tab of
the menu.
V O LU M E 4 , I S S U E 1 4
This year has been our best ever
crop of cape gooseberries. Last
year I sowed some plants from
seed and they overwintered, de-
spite it being an incredibly cold
winter last year. Mum and I have
discovered that cape gooseberries
are delicious! They are also in-
credibly easy to grow.
water.
5. Feed strawberries
Give your strawberries a huge
feeding with some granular or slow
release rose fertiliser. I also like to
sprinkle banana skins around our
roses as they contain potassium,
which is an excellent fertiliser.
We collect them in a container and
let them amount so there is a good
amount to place around the roses.
Awapuni has a great deal on for
you at the moment. Get 15% off
selected veggie bundles. The deal
ends at 10 January 2022 or while
stocks last.
This is an online special only.
Prices on the Specials page are
already discounted. No discount
code is required.
 V O LU M E 4 , I S S U E 1 4
Tips for growing snake beans
Last year I raised some snake
beans from seed and planted them
in the second week of December,
thinking it was warm enough by
then. I ended up losing most of my
plants. This year I was a bit wiser
and waited until mid-December to
sow seeds on my heat pad. I only
planted the first lot of plants about
a week ago and I still have two
and a half trays to plant out,
which I will do when our sunflow-
ers finish flowering and I have
some space along our fence line.
Varieties
This year I am growing just two
varieties, Yard Long Runner from
Kings Seeds and Orient Wonder
from Egmont Seeds (I got a big
packet from the Commercial Cata-
logue which you have to request).
Asian Seeds also stocks a broader
range of snake bean seeds.
Tips for growing snake beans
 Don’t make the mistake I
did last year and sow seeds
too early. Snake beans are
a heat loving plant that
thrives in really hot weath-
er. I recommend sowing
seeds no earlier than mid-
December.
 I recommend using a heat
pad or your hot water cup-
board to aid germination.
At night time the tempera-
ture can drop. Snake beans
need a really warm temper-
ature in order to germinate
 Once seedlings have germi-
nated, move them to your
greenhouse so they can grow
a bit more. Once they are
big enough, you can slowly
start hardening them off by
exposing them to the out-
doors gradually, before you
plant them outside.
 Unless you are growing
dwarf snake beans (Asian
Seeds do stock these), they
will require some support.
A NI T A ’ S G A R D E N
Homegrown snake beans
5. Snake beans require full
sun in order to grow well.
6. Prepare the ground before-
hand by mixing in some
compost and a little fertilis-
er.
7. If you don’t want to raise
your own plants from seed,
you can purchase snake
bean seedlings from
Awapuni, who sell them in
bundles wrapped in newspa-
per.
8. Water plants
well at the
“Snake beans require
time of plant- full sun in order to
ing. To get grow well”
plants estab-
lished, I like to
water them twice a day, in
the early morning and again
in the evening
9. To encourage healthy
growth, liquid feed plants
weekly with a water soluble
plant food such as Seasol or 
Thrive
10. Harvest snake beans as they
become ready to encourage
further cropping.
11. Snake beans can be stored
in the fridge if you cannot
use them all at once.
PAGE 3
Nutrition
Snake beans are very nutritious.
They are a good source of protein,
vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin,
iron, phosphorus and potassium.
They are also a very good source of
vitamin C, folate, magnesium and
manganese.
Snake beans in cuisine
Snake beans are widely used in
ethnic cuisine.
In West India, they are stir-fried
and served with potatoes and
shrimp. In Odisha, they are used
to make a sour dish with mustard
and lime. In the Philippines, they
are stir-fried with soy sauce, garlic
and hot pepper and are also eaten
in an all vegetable dish called
Utan. In Malaysian cuisine, they
are stir-fried with chillies and
shrimp paste or used in cooked
salads.
Ideas for using snake beans
 In Thai fish cakes
 Stir fried with eggplant
 Stir-fried with tofu
 Stir-fried with chicken
 Stir-fried with
chicken
 Stir-fried with
shrimp
 Curry
 Omelette
 Salad
 With noodles
Sambal
 Chicken wings with snake
beans
 Roasted snake beans
 Achar
 Soup