Advice. Ideas.
Inspiration
Anita’s Garden
Volume 4, Issue 38
Useful Links Editorial
Webpage
Blog Welcome to the thirty eighth issue
of my newsletter for Volume 4.
Newsletter back issues
I hope you have all had a great week.
Facebook Mine has been busy but I have had to
fit gardening in around the weather
Instagram
as there have been some very heavy
Twitter downpours lately in Auckland, mak-
ing it impossible to work outdoors.
Pinterest What has made life even more diffi-
cult is the unpredictability of the
downpours. Many a time I have got-
Contact me
ten completely saturated and it is not
 Feedback very nice feeling like a drowned rat!
 Newsletter input Here are some recent developments at
(tips, recipes, gar- Anita’s Garden. I was very lucky to
den photos etc) have been given some elephant garlic
by another Auckland gardener. For
 To be added to my some reason, this type has proven
mailing list extremely difficult to source this sea-
son. I just hope that spraying with
anitakundu.nz@gmail.com apple cider vinegar works and keeps
rust at bay, but I don’t have any bet-
ter ideas at the moment. Some gar-
Inside this issue: deners in a Facebook group I belong
to swear on using apple cider vinegar
not only on garlic, but on other plants
such as roses and fruit trees. I will
P ot te r ing aro u nd 2 report back on my spraying regime
Anita’s Garden with the results later in the season. If
the rain continues every day, it is go-
ing to prove impossible to get any
spraying done this winter!
Top 5 gardening tasks 2 Collaborations
for the week I also ended up purchasing more on-
ion seedlings! I have already put in
four punnets of Pukekohe Longkeeper
Collaboration news 2 onions that I found on clearance at
the Warehouse for $1 each. I was at
Kings Plant Barn yesterday looking
for red onion seedlings, but found four
punnets of Pukekohe Longkeeper
Anita’s guide to growing 3 brown onion seedlings that looked
lilies: Part II incredibly healthy and I could not re-
sist purchasing them! When I got to
the checkout, the operator told me
that I had a $10 voucher on my
24 June 2022
account from loyalty points I had ac-
crued. It was just the right amount to
pay for the onion seedlings and it
worked out perfectly! I ended up find-
ing five punnets of red onion seedlings
on special at the Warehouse for $1.50
each, so I got those as well. In all, I
think I have enough onion seedlings for
this year and won’t bother raising any
from seed in spring like I usually do. I
am a huge fan of propagating plants
from seed as it is more economical, but
if you find very good bargains on seed-
lings at the garden centre like I have
recently, then it might make more
sense to get those instead because it
saves a lot of time. Nothing is guaran-
teed, but I think there is sometimes a
bit more uncertainty with starting seed-
lings from seed. It has also saved me a
lot of work come spring. If anything
should happen to my seedlings in the
meantime, I can always sow onion
seeds in spring.
Blog
You can read my gardening blog here.
Social media
I have a Facebook page called Anita’s
Garden and maintain an active Insta-
gram account, too.
I have the following collaborations:
 Italian Seeds Pronto
 Awapuni
 Bulbs Direct
If you are interested in collaborating
with me, please get in touch by email.
Have a great weekend.
Anita Kundu
PAGE 2 A NI T A ’ S G A R D E N V O LU M E 4 , I S S U E 3 8

Pottering around Anita’s Garden

When I returned from my holiday
at our bach a couple of weeks ago,
I pulled out our zinnias which had
finished flowering and planted
ornamental kale. It is doing very
well.

Kale Crane Pink

I have also picked some orchids

and jonquils from our garden.
Kale Crane White and Bicolour

Top 5 gardening tasks for the week

1. Plant lily bulbs
Bulbs Direct stock a great range of
lily bulbs at very affordable prices.
They offer extremely friendly and
efficient customer service, too.
2. Lift dahlia tubers
If you are concerned that your
dahlia tubers may rot from all the
rain, it might be a good idea to lift
5. Plant strawberries
and store them.
Awapuni have the variety Cama-
3. Plant cyclamen
rosa in stock. Here are some of
They come in such bright colours our strawberries from last season.
and are ideal for adding some win-
ter cheer
4. Plant poppies
It is a bit too cold for seeds to ger-
minate in the ground but you can
plant poppy seedlings now.

Collaboration news
We are really lucky that Gillian
Hurley-Gordon has made a lovely
range of Franchi Italian heirloom
seeds available in NZ through Ital-
ian Seeds Pronto. Don’t forget
that the range includes herbs, as
well as veggie seeds. Packet sizes
are much larger than other compa-
nies and represent excellent value
for money. Seeds are heirloom and
can be saved for future seasons.
Oriental lilies are a favourite in
our garden and Bulbs Direct have
a great range available this sea-
son. I highly recommend the vari-
ety Gaucho. Like all Oriental
Trumpet lilies, it has incredibly
strong, long stems, making it a
perfect cut flower. We also have
the variety Sorbonne in our garden
and it is absolutely breath-taking.
Awapuni will be getting garlic in
stock soon. Keep an eye out on
their website for when it becomes
available or you can sign up to no-
tifications. Here are our plants
from last year.
 V O LU M E 4 , I S S U E 3 8
Anita’s guide to growing lilies: Part II
Last week, I started a series on
growing lilies. I began covering
the different kinds of lilies that are
available in NZ but ran out of
room so I will continue from where
I left off.
Tiger lilies
 Very unusual looking
 Multiply readily
 Come in a range of colours
 Something a bit different to
add to your lily garden
Patio Asiatic lilies
 Shorter stems than Asiatics
 Perfect for growing in con-
tainers
A NI T A ’ S G A R D E N
 Multiplies profusely
 While the stems are shorter,
they do make good cut flow-
ers
Patio Oriental lilies
Auratum Gold Band
 Shorter stems than Oriental
lilies
 Ideal for growing in contain-
ers
 Highly fragrant
 Make great cut flowers
 Multiply readily. I suggest
leaving the bulbs undis-
turbed in their container for
a few years
PAGE 3
Muscadet Patio Oriental lily
Some tips for buying lilies
 Bulbs Direct stock a great
range of lily bulbs at very
affordable prices. They also
offer very friendly and effi-
cient customer service
 Lilies are often sold individ-
ually or in larger lots, of 3, 5
and sometimes 10 of the
same kind. The price per
bulb drops when you pur-
chase more
 If money and space is tight,
you may wish to just pur-
chase one of each type that
appeals to you but don’t for-
get that the bulbs do multi-
ply so be patient and you
will be rewarded with more
bulbs and flowers in future
years
 The varieties that are of-
fered vary from year to year.
If you see something you
like, there is no guarantee it
will be offered next season
so it is better to purchase it
while you can
 Some varieties sell out fast
so be quick!
Happy gardening!
Have a great weekend