Traditionally the shortest day of the year - 21 June, is the time to plant garlic but anytime from May through till the end of July/ August is usually fine. The trick is that garlic needs a good winter chill for the bulbs to develop. However, last year a lot of people struggled with rust (pictured).
Rust is a fungal disease that affects garlic, leeks and onions. It can impact bulb development and also kill your whole crop.
Rust doesn’t cause too much of a problem if the garlic bulb is well-established before it gets the rust but it can cause stunted plants if your garden gets hit with it early.
So, to avoid that happening we recommend getting your garlic plants in as early as possible. Look for a place with good air circulation and if you had rust in the last 2-3 years on your garlic or onions, make sure you plant them in a different spot this year. Dig in some compost, and a good general fertiliser or use a potting mix if you're planting in baskets or pots. Dig a little hole and place each garlic plant inside it. Fill it in with soil so the leaves stick out the top.
We also found that keeping your garlic growing actively is key to preventing rust. What we mean by this is to keep an eye on your garlic and if you notice that it's a bit dry add a bit of fertiliser and not wait a month or so do to this. If things are slow this is generally when diseases such as rust appear. We also recommend watering the base of the plant rather than leaves, this stops any diseases from spreading. To encourage larger bulbs apply Tui Organic Seaweed throughout the season.
Once a month put 20ml of liquid copper in a watering can and water your garlic.
If you do get rust on your garlic go here for tips on what to do. For tips on harvesting your garlic go here.
Read full articleWe keep our ghost and reaper plants growing year-round. We keep them in a glasshouse and give them a regular feed a top dressing of NPK fertiliser. And we also water when the plants start to look dry. If you wanted to over winter the plants at home and you don’t have a greenhouse you could move the plants inside (if they are in pots) put them in a conservatory or by a sunny window. If the upper branches are looking scrappy you can prune the bush back to healthy growth and the plants will take off from there. Make sure you feed the plants if they start to look yellow.
Read full articleFor the best vegetables use well-rotted compost to add nutrients and texture to your soil, promoting greater worm activity and better growing conditions.
Rotate your crops to get the best soil yield and to keep down pest and disease levels.
Grow green manures, crops that can be turned back into the soil, to provide a natural fertiliser. In this process quick growing crops like mustard are grown and turned in just before the planting or sowing of the main crop occurs. alfalfa, broad beans, lupins and red clover are among the nitrogen-fixing green manures.
Bacteria on the roots of these plants turn nitrogen gas into forms that other plants can use. Non-nitrogen fixing types of manure include buckwheat (for acidic soils), black oats (good in winter), comfrey (have nutritious leaves) and Mustard which is the most popular of all green manures. An excellent weed suppressant, mustard grows quickly, can be sown at any time, and is best dug in before flowering.
First-timers might like to follow our green manure suggestion of using blue lupin as a nitrogen additive; otherwise, use mustard as a good soil conditioner in spring and summer, changing to black oats in the autumn.
Read full articleStopping your veges from going to seed is all about planting at the right time of the year. You need to plant when the temperature is relatively stable. For example, if you plant during the middle of winter, the season quickly turns to spring, the soil temperature increases quite rapidly and your veges go to seed. This is a common problem with brassicas (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage etc) and happens with the changing of the season. To help eliminate this problem plant your seedlings at the start of a season as opposed to halfway through or closer to the end.
You may also want to try eating your vegetables sooner. When veges are left maturing for too long, they also go to seed. To prevent your vege from maturing at the same time, stagger your planting and plant out new vege every 4-6 weeks. This allows you to have a constant supply of veges throughout the season without them maturing all at the same time and going to seed.
Read full articleYour pumpkins will be ready to harvest when the stalks and leaves dry up. Once they're ready don't leave them on the ground too long or they will rot underneath. Harvest them with the stalk still on and make sure the pumpkins are clean before you store them - this will stop them rotting. Then store them in a dry place with air circulation. Lastly, check them often and remove any rotten ones.
Read full articleIn the past there was. However, as people have trended towards greener and more organic gardening a lot of these types of fungicides have been taken off the market. Your best bet would be to ask at your local garden centre if they stock this type of product. My advice would be to rotate your crops more often and try adding some lime to the soil before you plant.
Read full articleIt sounds to me like humidy is affecting your plants. Grow your celery where there is more air circulation and you should see improvement.
Read full articleWait until the stalks and leaves dry up to harvest the pumpkins. You can eat them straight away but if you plan on storing the pumpkins you will need to ensure they are harvested with the stalk still on. You don’t want to harvest the pumpkins too early but also be careful not to leave them on the ground too long otherwise they will rot underneath.
Before you store the pumpkins make sure they are clean to stop the dirt from rotting them later on. Store them in a dry place which has air circulating. And remember to check them often and remove any that rot so they don’t cause the others to rot as well.
Read full articleLeave them in, but mound the soil up around the base of the plant, and continue to do so as it gets taller, this way the potato will produce more root systems.
Read full articleStore your red onions the same way as you store normal onions. Don’t cut the tops off too short when you harvest as the onions will last longer and store in a paper bag.
Read full articleThese are smallish onions which will grow on top of the ground rather than under it. Don’t worry, they won’t need any special care, just plant as you would regular onions.
Read full articleIf you’re not going to grow any winter veges, try growing a cover crop. A cover crop (green manure) will suppress weeds and put nutrients like nitrogen back into the soil.
Mustard is a good cover crop to grow (particularly in clay soil because it grows fast and it can be dug in before winter when the soil gets too hard), but not if you’re planting it where you’ve previously grown brassicas as it’s also a member of the brassica family and if there’s any club root in the soil it will promote it.
Another good cover crop is blue lupin, which isn’t a member of the brassica family. Before you sow the cover crop, dig the soil over and remove all weeds. Once sown, give the soil a water.
When the cover crop has matured (usually do this before it flowers), dig it into the soil. Do this around one month before planting at the latest and this will get the soil all ready for next season’s planting.
Read full articleAwapuni has a range of small veges, such as mixed brassicas, which would be perfect. To ensure they're not all ready to harvest at once, stagger your planting to a few weeks apart.
You also need to plant vegetables when the temperatures are steady - not too cold, not too hot. Plant vegetables about eight weeks before you want to eat them.
Read full articleRailway sleepers are a great way to create a vege garden and add a lot of character. Don’t worry about the creosote – it won’t seep out. Another handy tip is to line the vegetable garden with weednet – this is often done at garden centres with great results.
Read full articleLime is the key to healthy beans. My advice is to stick with the lime and make sure you keep the soil moist. Try placing some newspaper on the ground around the runner beans, and add some rotten grass on top – this will keep the moisture locked tight into the soil.
Read full articleThis is called blossom end rot (BER) and is caused by a calcium deficiency which can also be found on tomato and pepper plants. It appears as dark circles at the end of your fruit which causes it to soften and eventually rot. BER is caused by a calcium deficiency which occurs when the plant is not watered on a regular basis and causes the blossom end of the fruit to rot into a dark, sunken canker.
Calcium comes into the plant as it absorbs water through the roots and the best way to prevent this from occurring is to make sure you consistently water your zucchini throughout the season. Remove any zucchini that is affected.
Read full articleTo grow large root vegetables, add potash to the soil and make sure you water them regularly.
Read full articleIt sounds like the soil around your Brussels sprouts wasn't firm enough or they didn’t have enough support. When the buds mature in an open manner instead of nice and tight it is called ‘blowing out’. Brussels sprouts like the soil to be nice and snug so when you plant them push all around your seedlings with your foot to make the soil firm. Ideally plant them in a sheltered spot so the wind won’t snap the roots, or make sure they have some support to stay firm in the soil. This should ensure you have nice, tight balls rather than loose, open ‘cabbages’.
Read full articleThis sounds like white butterfly, white fly or leaf hoppers. Simply hose them off with a strong stream of water and spray the plant with Neem. White fly love tomatoes but they don't like basil, so plant basil next to your tomatoes to help repel the whitefly.
Read full articleMesclun lettuce mix is a blend of small lead lettuces which allows you to grow your own gourmet salad leaves. Because the mix made up of lettuce that don’t heart (have that white core), you can pick off the leaves and use them as required - straight from the garden! Click here to find out how to get the best out of your mesclun lettuce mix.
Read full articleRust (pictured) is a fungal disease that affects garlic, leeks and onions. It can impact bulb development and also kill your whole crop. But unless, you had a really bad case of rust or it happened early on in the bulb development stage, you should be able to harvest your garlic as normal and eat it. Chop off the infected leaves as soon as you spot rust and discard of them in the rubbish – not your compost bin as this will spread the infection. Also, give your hands, clothes and gardening tools that might have come into contact with the fungus a good wash to stop the spread. Harvest the garlic when you normally would – don’t pull it up early.
Read full articleOnions & carrots: the onions help to keep the carrot root fly at bay, while the carrots do their bit by repelling the onion fly.
Celery & brassicas (the cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli family of plants): the celery will help to minimise, though not eliminate, damage caused by white butterfly larvae.
Marigolds & beans/brassicas: the marigolds emit a natural gas which protects surrounding plants from insects like aphids and white fly; in addition, the marigold’s root system attracts nematodes and disrupts their reproductive cycle.
Basil & tomatoes: Tomatoes are susceptible
Read full articleNeeding to pinch the laterals off your tomato plants? This only applies to indeterminate tomato plants. "Determinate" tomatoes are bush types of tomatoes that grow to a compact height. "Indeterminate" tomatoes tend to have longer stems and fruit along the stem, not just mostly at the end like determinate varities do. On a shorter variety of tomato it's best to leave the laterals and they should fruit all laterals
Read full articleTraditionally, you should harvest on the longest day of the year - 21 December. However, I like to keep an eye on the leaves and when they start to yellow and begin to dry off I gently uproot them with a fork. Be careful not to yank the leaves or you might rip the stalks off. Then simply brush off any dirt and hang them in a dry, airy spot inside. Like other produce that is stored for a long time, it makes sense to eat any damaged ones first and store the rest.
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