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LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Send us a
letter about your garden, your neighbour's garden, your favourite plant,
or best gardening tip, and be in to win a pair of Fiskars Powergear
Pruners. The best letter published each issue will win a pair of these
handy pruners. Send your emails to: wgpubs@xtra.co.nz
or write to: Letters, WG, PO Box 8185, Symonds St, Auckland.
Read letters
from the current issue below:
Overfed Roses
Did you know you can overfeed your roses in the hope of bigger and better blooms? I found this out for myself this summer. Not only did I apply generous applications of Nitrofoska Blue and blood & bone, which I believed were the thing for beautiful roses, but for good measure I also applied a good covering of animal manures in my mulch.
Because we have had such a wet summer the effect was foliage that was too soft, and large blooms with disfigured outer petals. The bushes were particularly prone to attack by mildew and other fungus disease because of the oversupply of nitrogen.
It is important to remove all leaves showing rust, as well as any that have fallen, as the fungus spreads rapidly if left lying around on the soil. Also remove soggy buds as these will not flower.
I alternate my spraying every two weeks with Shield and your recipe for tomato leaf spray. It is so easy to make and safe for bees and pets.
When buying new roses visit as many nurseries and public gardens in your area as possible to see the roses in bloom. Roses are like any other flower or vegetable – some are more suitable for the climate you live in.
Eleanor Kennedy, Wakari
Great tips, Eleanor. Congratulations, you’ve won a pair of Fiskars PowerGearTM pruners. – Ed.
Copper works
Having seen lots of copper garden ornaments in magazines and liking the ideas of many talented people, imagine my delight on receiving this photo from my daughter on the West Coast.
Working to a strict budget she has transformed a very wet area into a delightful outdoor living space for summer enjoyment. At one end of the paved area there is a giant 2m iron chair under a sycamore tree. The cabbage trees are recycled copper, as are the planters on the house and the plaques on the corrugated iron planters. All these and the pavers she has made herself.
Her garden is a delight with a corrugated iron pukeko family and copper herons, complete with fish in their beaks by the pool. I am so proud of what she has achieved. Can't is not a word in her vocabulary.
Carol Dixon, Levin
Enticing monarchs
To those of you that have no monarchs, or too many monarch caterpillars, there is lots of advice on our website
(www.monarch.org.nz)
about wasps and other predators, alternative foods to swan plant, and other organic gardening tips. In particular, check out the forum on that site.
To encourage monarchs gardeners must plant now to ensure plenty of host plants growing when the monarchs return to lay their eggs.
On the website there are also ideas on how to foster New Zealand’s endemic butterflies in your garden; these are quickly disappearing from our environment. NZ has fewer butterflies than other countries – so we must protect what we’ve got before we lose it.
And remember that butterflies serve as pollinators as well as living ornaments.
Jacqui Knight, Monarch Butterfly NZ Trust
Sweetcorn tip
We are visiting from Canada and I am “driven” to send a copy of your excellent February magazine to my friend at home and also to my mother in England at 93! We have gardened in France, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, England, Canada and Norway besides here in NZ. The most amazing thing for me was to discover that weeds are truly international – chickweed, groundsel and so on.
I do have a tip to share on cooking sweetcorn. To be at its best you must cook and eat it on the same day it is picked. Peel back a couple of sheaths – if you press your thumb into a kernel the juice should spray into your face. Drop cobs, peeled into boiled sugared water for one minute only. Then eat slathered with butter.
Jenny Gaskin, Sumner
Open garden
This year for the first time we opened our home and garden for the Hibiscus Coast Hospice Home and Garden Tour. The hospice did a fantastic job and raised an astounding $55,000, so the day was a huge success and enjoyed by all. I have enclosed a picture of a flower border, Zephyranthes candida, that many people commented on.
This plant is a bulb with grass-like foliage that is evergreen. It is very hardy and looks lush and fantastic even when it is not in flower. Thanks to all who supported the hospice.
Alison Lally, Dairy Flat
Winning treat
Winning one of the Kiwibackyard chemical free timber raised beds (WG, Issue 210 draw) put big smiles on the faces of participants in our enabling gardening programme at Wai Ora Trust, Christchurch. When the unassembled bed arrived recently, the group excitedly tackled the construction by first doing a trial run inside the tunnel house and then reconstructing it in a permanent spot outside in the shade area. Next week we’ll load it with compost from the worm bin and then decide what to plant. There’s already talk of “winning” another one!
Thanks to Kiwibackyard Products for a terrific user-friendly raised bed.
Judith Kidd, Christchurch
Floral masterpiece
When I planted my artichokes I had every intention of marinating some for antipasto platters. But time got away on me and now they are flowering. I am so taken with the blooms that I had to photograph them to send in.
Does anyone have any special artichoke recipes they would like to share?
Jan Dempsey, Mt Albert
High praise
Thank you for featuring our organic garden in WG, Issue 211. We have had a tremendous response about the organics and are only too pleased to pass on remedies we use to other gardeners. Avid gardeners have lots in common and hopefully we will meet these people. Weekend Gardener must applaud themselves also as we have discovered quite a few of our recipes from New Zealand’s best garden magazine - Weekend Gardener. I have kept and indexed them all from the first issue.
Keep up the good work you are doing in informing gardeners of garden features, hints, tips and recipes.
Lyn Mason, Timaru
Great pruners
Thank you very much for the Fiskars PowerGear® Pruners that I won last month for my published letter. At last I have had time, opportunity and weather to give them a good workout. I am rapt.
I spent most of yesterday tidying rose bushes and deadheading, and it was so easy. I felt none of the usual hand and forearm strain or soreness, and could have gone on for hours longer. I found the rotating handle a trifle disconcerting to start with, but very soon got used to it. As well as the really sharp cutting power, I also appreciated the small cutting head, so that did not cut by accident anything I did not intend to, as has been not infrequent in the past.
But a caveat - the point of the opened cutting blade is needle sharp, so the right hand needs to know what the left hand is doing! The plastic protective cover for storage, though, is a bonus and is very efficient and easy to use.
Fiskars pruners will solve the next gift problem for the gardeners in our family. With appreciation.
Atheline Greenhough
Impressive Lily
My favourite mail is every second Tuesday when I receive Weekend Gardener.
I have enclosed a picture of one of my brother’s oriental lilies that was published in our local newspaper. He advertises in your classifieds as The Lily Man in Christchurch.
Frances Dolan, Pleasant Point
The best letter published each issue will win a pair of these
handy pruners. Send your emails to: wgpubs@xtra.co.nz
or write to: Letters, WG, PO Box 8185, Symonds St, Auckland.
Email addresses and other
contact details submitted on this website will be used by Weekend Gardener
Magazine for their own marketing purposes only.
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THIS
ISSUE
12 - 25 April 2007
MELBOURNE
ON SHOW
At the recent Melbourne Internation Flower & Garden
Show Aussie designers came up with a raft of gardens aiming to enhance the
quality of outdoor living. Editor Jane Wrigglesworth was there to soak up
their creativity.
MOUNTSIDE'S
MAGIC
Artifice and ingenuity characterise this paradise under Mt
Taranaki. Ben May is enthralled by its diverse influences and abundant
plant life.
LATE
SEASON SPLASH
Pamela McGeorge is enjoying a colour explosion in her Wanaka garden.
OFF
THE WALL
Floral designer Adrienne Patterson creates a living picture using an
artist's canvas and a single bunch of flowers.
WHAT'S
IN THE SHOPS?
Our regular garden centre guide. We visit Garden
Lane Plant World and Nursery in Marton.
HAVE
A HOME ORCHARD
The first of expert John Dean's two-part introduction to growing your own
pip and stone fruit.
SPOTLIGHT
ON SPINACH
Tips on growing this cool-season staple.
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