Advice. Ideas.

Inspiration

Anita’s Garden
Volume 4, Issue 43 29 July 2022

Useful Links Editorial

Webpage

Blog Welcome to the forty third issue of
my newsletter for Volume 4.
Newsletter back issues
I hope you have all had a good week.
Facebook
I am still a bit ahead of myself but
have decided to release future issues
Instagram
early as some of you may have some
Twitter spare time on your hands if the
weather is horrible and you are stuck
Pinterest
indoors. Just bear this in mind if you
are contemplating any tasks, as they
are written with the date of the news-
Contact me
letter in mind. At this time of the
 Feedback year though, I don’t think it will do
much damage being a bit ahead of
 Newsletter input myself. I might have to rein myself in
(tips, recipes, gar- during spring, although that is such a
den photos etc)
busy time for me that I can’t see my-
self pumping out lots of issues in ad-
 To be added to my
vance!
mailing list
anitakundu.nz@gmail.com
I have spent a great deal of time tidy-
ing up the property infront and also in
our patio. There is so much to do! At
some point, I need to prune one of our
Inside this issue: camellia trees (I did the other at the
time I planted spring bulbs as the tree
was crowding the area I was going to
plant them). I also need to extract
P ot te r ing aro u nd 2
Anita’s Garden seeds from our chillies and dahlias,
which have been drying inside. On
rainy days, I am going to wash plastic
punnets and rub the writing off plant
Top 5 gardening tasks 2 labels so they can be reused. I also
for the week need to check on my potted dahlias
and lilies. I might need to lift the
dahlias as they could rot over winter.
I’m not sure if I will divide and repot
Collaboration news 2 the lilies. I might leave them in con-
tainers for another season but will
add a scoop of bulb fertiliser. I also
need to check on my calla lilies and
will probably do the same for them.
Anita’s guide to growing 3
dahlias: Part III
I have been busy thinking about seed
orders. I received a copy of the Eg-
mont Seeds Commercial Catalogue in
the mail. Thanks John! I have been
very busy thinking about what I would
like to grow in summer and autumn
this year. The commercial catalogue is
available only by request and is what
commercial nurseries and cut flower
growers use as they purchase on a larg-
er scale and require speciality seeds.
This is my fourth year of purchasing
from the Commercial Catalogue and
every year I discover new gems. A re-
cent discovery is ornamental kale (see
the picture on page 2). I also managed
to propagate bedding begonias from
seed, which I planted into troughs in
autumn. There is also a great range of
veggie and herb seeds.
Don’t forget that Italian Seeds Pronto
has a great range of veggie and herb
seeds, including the Italian heirloom
Franchi Seeds Range.
Blog
You can read my gardening blog here.
My latest post is about my winter gar-
dening activity.
Social media
I have a Facebook page called Anita’s
Garden and maintain an active Insta-
gram account, too.
Collaborations
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
Pottering around Anita’s Garden
Here are some more jonquils I
picked from our garden. They
started flowering for us in May
and I have been picking and bring-
ing them inside since then.
Top 5 gardening tasks for the week
1. Keep on top of weeds
I have been doing quite a bit of
weeding lately to try and keep on
top of the weeds in our garden.
2. Wash plastic punnets
Winter is the perfect time to wash
all your plastic punnets with a
little bleach diluted in some warm
water. This means you will be
Collaboration news
Spring isn’t too far away and Ital-
ian Seeds Pronto have a great
range of seeds for your spring gar-
den. I highly recommend the rock-
et seeds. I have grown the variety
Coltivata in the past with great
success, both in the ground and in
pots. There are four other varie-
ties of rocket available on the web-
site too, which are well worth
checking out.
A NI T A ’ S G A R D E N
This is our ornamental kale. It is a
mix of Crane White and Bicolour. I
grew these plants from seeds sown
in autumn in our patio.
ready to go in spring.
3. Wipe plant labels for re-
use
I save all my plastic plant labels
and scrub them with a little Jiff (a
cleaning product in NZ) so they
can be used again.
4. Plant lily bulbs
It’s not too late to plant lilies.
Bulbs Direct have a great range of
dahlias available for you to order
online. Don’t worry if you missed
out on the first round. Kayne and
the team will be uploading more
varieties so keep an eye on the
website. You do have to be quick
with purchasing dahlias, as popu-
lar varieties tend to sell out very
quickly. Have your wishlist ready
to go!
V O LU M E 4 , I S S U E 4 3
Our miniature daffodil Sun-
disc has started flowering! I
planted the bulbs in a small
plastic terracotta trough. My
other favourite miniature
daffodil is tete-a-tetes.
Bulbs Direct have a great range
available on their website.
5. Order dahlias and other
summer bulbs
Bulbs Direct have released their
summer catalogue online. Be
quick, as popular varieties tend to
sell out fast. It does pay to revisit
the website from time to time as
stock does get added.
Awapuni have all your winter fa-
vourites in stock right now: garlic,
strawberries, red onions and
brown onions. Strawberries and
garlic come in convenient mega-
bundles of 50 and 100 plants,
which are ideal for large gardens.
Awapuni also have a great range
of winter flower, veggie and herb
seedlings in stock.
 V O LU M E 4 , I S S U E 4 3
Anita’s guide to growing dahlias: Part III
This is the third part in a series
about growing dahlias. I know it
is very early to be thinking about
growing dahlias. In fact, I only just
finished lifting mine last month.
What prompted me to write this
article was Bulbs Direct, who re-
leased their dahlia catalogue
online on 1st July. Kayne and the
team have an even bigger selection
this year and there are tons of ex-
citing new varieties available.
Kayne told me that this is because
they have brought a new supplier
from the Netherlands on board to
help satisfy customer requests for
highly sought after varieties. They
will be adding more varieties to
the website, so don’t worry if you
missed out in the first round.
Following on from last week’s arti-
cle, I just wanted to mention that
it is not obligatory to divide your
dahlias every year. Some garden-
ers prefer to leave them in the
ground for a few years before di-
viding them. I do tend to divide
mine every year as I lift them for
storage purposes and it makes
sense to divide them when they
start shooting away in spring as I
can see where the eyes are and
where to make the divisions. Some
varieties such as Penhill Water-
melon are such monsters of a tuber
that it is a good idea to divide it
every year. I personally find that
lifting and dividing my dahlias
every year makes the task of both
lifting and dividing them much
easier, as they are not as big. If
the tubers are allowed to get very
big, I think there is a greater risk
of damaging them in the process of
lifting them, no matter how careful
you are. And the bigger the tuber,
the more difficult it will be to di-
vide it. It’s up to you. You can try
both ways and see what works for
you. But as I mentioned in last
week’s article, if your tubers are
very precious and you anticipate a
lot of rain over winter, it might be
safer to lift and store them so they
don’t rot in the ground over winter.
Tips for planting dahlias
A NI T A ’ S G A R D E N
Labyrinth Twotone, another excit-
ing addition to Bulbs Direct’s new
catalogue
 Don’t plant dahlia tubers
too early! If there are frosts
and/or cool weather, they
may rot or die. It’s best to
wait until at least Labour
Weekend. I only started
planting mine from mid-
November onwards after
some heavy rain subsided
 As mentioned in last week’s
newsletter, it’s up to you if
you want to pot your dahlia
tubers up first and then
transplant them, or plant
the tuber direct to the
ground
 I don’t usually use compost
or sheep pellets when plant-
ing flowers as I find they do
better without it. I do like to
sprinkle a little bulb fertilis-
er in the ground prior to
planting my dahlias
 Stake dahlias at the time of
planting to avoid damaging
the plants later on
 You may wish to plant taller
varieties eg dinner plates at
the back and shorter dahlias
at the front
 Label dahlias at the time of
planting. I tie some flagging
tape around the base of each
PAGE 3
plant and write the name of the
variety with a marker
 Because dahlias are prone
to rot, I don’t recommend
watering them after you
have finished planting
Aftercare
 To encourage branching,
pinch out the bud of the
main stem before it flowers
 As your dahlias begin to
bud, you can sprinkle a little
sulphate of potash around
the base of your plants to
encourage flowering
 To encourage further flower-
ing, dead head plants regu-
larly
 You can take cuttings from
your dahlias either when
they are in pots or when
they are planted in the
ground. For the best chance
of success, it is recommend-
ed to take cuttings in spring.
That way your cuttings have
a chance to grow a bit before
the cooler weather sets in
during autumn
 As the foliage begins to die
at the end of the season,
sprinkle a little bulb fertilis-
er around the base of the
plants so that the tuber
stores all the nutrients for
the next season and flowers
well
 You can save seeds from
your dahlias but beware
that they may not come true
to type ie be identical to the
parent plant
 Dahlia pre-orders occur
throughout the year so keep
an eye on when suppliers
have pre-sales. I have al-
ready written a wish list for
next year!
Happy gardening!
Have a great weekend