Wage war against bugs on your Roses, Citrus and Fruit trees and Some favourites to plant for winter colour

Keep any gardening questions coming to their Facebook page called Palmers or their web site www.palmers.co.nz and I will answer in detail all of your queries.  Eden Living is still running in full swing as I work alongside NZ's largest garden retailer.

Wherever you are in the country you have a Palmers near by and everything I talk about here is available at a store near you. 

Sometimes you just have to take control!  Beautiful fruit trees in my garden are going to need some TLC and it is a good time to check out your own.  I had a friend call over and prep for pruning my out of reach and badly shaped peaches, nectarines and pear tree while I made dinner and planned the attack against the hedges with the trimmer to give more air flow and sun back into my neglected yard.  Being a recent resident here I am loving to see the quick transformation and wish I had taken before pictures!    Air flow is so important to keep down fungal infection and my poor orange tree has black soot all over it so the work we achieved over the weekend with the botanical hair cuts will make a big difference before I attempt to fight the scale on the trees.  Making a choice about synthetic or organic solution is a personal thing and is a valuable question to ask your retailer what is best for you.

  

Need help for your Citrus?  This week I have some solutions to common troubles with your citrus trees.

Yellow and pale leaves on Citrus - Apply blood and bone and a good wad of seaweed at the drip line as mulch.  Your citrus is lacking in nutrients and most likely Nitrogen

Leaves yellow from edges but green at the base - Low magnesium, give Epsom salts

Leaves are pale yellow and speckled with tiny red mites - Citrus red mite, provide adequate water and blast leaves with strong blast of water from the hose to knock them off.  Natural control - try a garlic spray of 3 x garlic cloves crushed and stirred into 2 cups of water with 2 tsp tsp of oil to adhere spray to leaves.  Stir in 3 T liquid eco soap leave for 48hrs then strain through cheese cloth and decant into spray bottle.  This is a useful mix as a fungicide and insecticide.  Chemical control - try Mavrik or Guardall.

Black soot on leaves - Sooty mould, Natural control - treat tree with garlic spray above to kill the scale.  Plant onions underneath and yarrow to bring in ladybirds, alyssum, coriander and cosmos all to attract the good guys in.  Chemical control - Confidor

Next week I will cover treatment for Peaches, Nectarine, Apple, Plum.

In my vege garden I have been enjoying packing in lots of edibles into my raised gardens.  The weekend was fun planting out my new 800 x 1800mm raised garden.  I was inspired by a great photo I saw with beans growing up an old ladder nestled in a vege bed, check out palmers facebook page to see a great pick of mosaic block gardens and the ingenious ladder bean frame.  My son and I took it a step further with setting up a similar stage with an old wooden ladder but also grabbed some potted colour and filled planters with them then settled the pots on the steps of the ladder while we wait until spring to plant cucumber, climbing beans and peas.  The garden space below is now chocker with lettuce, broad beans and perpetual spinach.  What a great way to fill a small space.

When the winter weather bring in the winter flu bugs these are some of the plants I love to clap eyes on

Vireya Rhododendron

My Vireya Rhodoendron.  Positioned in a lovely sunny spot, the colourful salmon flowers nod their head at the winter wet and have given a pretty outlook in my garden.  I have a client who has one that would be at least 10ft tall and bloomed a spectacular blast of rich yellow and orange right before her first born arrived just weeks ago.  What a welcome to motherhood! 

 Hardenbergia Violacea is a punch of purple in late winter.  This climber is smothered in rich purple blue pea shaped flowers and is a welcome sight that spring is not far away!

Flame Vine (Pyrostegia venusta) puts on a fiery show through the coldest months.  Prolific in flower upon an evergreen carpet of glossy green leaves is a hot tropic look to wake you up in winter!

Melia in winter in full 'bead'

Melia Tree.  This feature tree is my favourite.  Summer is full of leaf and delicately scented small white flowers with purple margins and in winter when the branches are bare the tree is covered in small marble sized round golden/yellow 'beads'. 

Flame Vine (Pyrostegia venusta)

Hardenbergia Violacea

What are your favourite winter shrubs, climbers and trees?  Let me know what you love to see.

Happy gardening everyone!

Maria Quayle-Guppy




 

Growing something different and beautiful plants to jazz up your garden!

I'm really excited to be taking on the role of Palmers ask our expert.  Keep any gardening questions coming to their Facebook page called Palmers or their web site www.palmers.co.nz and I will answer in detail all of your queries.  Eden Living is still running in full swing as I work alongside NZ's largest garden retailer.

Wherever you are in the country you have a Palmers near by and everything I talk about here is available at a store near you. 

This week in my garden I was soooo glad to see the rain!   I popped in some Kohlrabi and Turnips before the deluge and I'm sure today they look bigger already.  You may be asking "what do you do with them and what do they taste like?"  With the resurgence of growing food it is fun to pop in the garden some things that you have never heard of to try something a little different.

Kohlrabi is an interesting vegetable that looks like something from outer-space and gives your edible garden a bit of wowness.  For a while before I grew it, I thought I was looking at the root of the plant in pictures, however the part you use is a swollen part of the stem.  This yummy vege tastes like a cross between a radish and broccoli and is best grown with your other brassicas like broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts and kale. When you are planting any vege - just plant a few each week so that they are not all ready at the same time!  Palmers have a great range of their own quality compost and blood and bone to add to your prepared ground along with some dolomite to sweeten the soil.  I always grow a carpet of Nasturtium  (a hardy annual that is a great companion plant in your edible garden and the flowers you can use in salads too) under my current patch of this food group which acts as a deterrent to the white cabbage butterfly and aphids.  A Nasturtium carpet is one of my secrets to growing brassicas in summer when the pesky green worms and bugs can make such a mess of your garden that it is hard not to serve up their deposits or themselves in dinner which sadly puts lots of people off growing these in the warmer months.  The colour of the nasturtium flowers play a big part of what works with this companion plant.  It is a must to plant the orange flowering variety in your garden under brassicas and cucumber as this colour repels aphid, white butterfly and stink bug and plant yellow coloured ones away from your edible garden to attract the pest bugs so they are too busy to be bothering your edibles!   To take up some of the nitrogen from your soil when growing brassicas, pop in some french beans to grow between, this will encourage better growth of the florets and less of the leaves.

Harvesting and eating - Kohlrabi is best picked when between the size of a golf ball and tennis ball; it is not a produce that bigger is better as you will find that it will be quite tough and stringy.  I struggled with this first time as I am the queen of 'wow look how big this is' but sometimes a bit of humble pie is a better strategy and Kohlrabi is one for a touch of reserve on the size.   Once picked trim the leaves, these can be used as a leafy green.  Try sauteing in oil or butter with a few roughly chopped pistachios and a squeeze of lemon juice.  The bulbous funny tennis ball gone wrong part can be kept in the fridge for about a week if your not using it straight away.   For an addition to a yummy slaw peel the outer 'skin' until you have the tender inside then grate this globe, sprinkle with a tad of salt and let it 'sweat' for half an hour before squeezing the excess moisture and add to your salad.  If cooking your Kohlrabi, leave the outer tough skin and boil for 3 - 5 mins, drain water and peel off the skin jacket before serving hot with a bit of salt, lemon and splash of vinegar - yum!

Coming up at Eden Living, is a calendar of my new edible garden workshops on my events page.  Time and time again I get asked to teach and what better than in my home for you to see how my garden grows!  Visit my website to book yourself and friends onto an upcoming slot. First up on the 4th of August is all about composting, a chance to make some natural pest sprays and liquid foliar feed.  Make a huge difference to your garden by providing it with a variety of compost, your plants with grow bigger and better.  They say variety is the spice of life!  Spaces are limited at these affordable courses so please book early to avoid disappointment on www.edenliving.co.nz 

Not Just edibles in the garden!  I just love all garden plants and a variety of beautiful shrubs, annuals and perennials add accent and change in your garden.

Liriope muscari

Daphne rubra

Michelia figo flower

While visiting your in your local Palmers grab some Daphne to pop near your entrance to enjoy the rich scent and beautiful flowers on these cooler days. The intoxicating smell is lovely as you arrive home from work in the evening.  Planting that looks great with Daphne and gives a summer scent while your Daphne is dormant in flower is a Michelia figo, or port wine Magnolia.  The name says it all to describe the delicious scent and grows to 2m with pretty miniature deep pink and cream magnolia flowers. The glossy green leaves are a pretty backdrop when your Daphne is in full show.  To balance the base of the garden add some Day lilies for long flowering colour or Liriope muscari shown here look great as a skirt beneath. 

Until next time, 

Happy Gardening everyone

Maria Quayle-Guppy

www.edenliving.co.nz

Pizza herb boxes and Tea gardens

I was recently at a Mid Winter Christmas party and while sipping mulled wine the host and I shot outside with a torch to look at their garden.  This edible garden was a walk through stone paved patch with pockets of planting space that encouraged you to wander it's paths to be surprised at each turn.  I loved the concept and it blended so well in their urban yard.  I can't wait to see it in full swing in Summer. This gardener had also made a hub for summer with a pizza oven amongst the banana palms.  Either a DIY job like they did or a commercially purchased one from a company like Piazza Ovens www.pizzaovens.co.nz will see you set for summer entertaining at home.  I had to giggle when I saw this image of a New Zealander who has made his letterbox into a pizza oven! 

The best thing about a pizza party is most of your toppings and side salads can come straight from your garden.  All of this inspired me to at least begin with putting together some pizza herb gardens with my favourite 'supreme' flavours to punch up the flavour of my fare.  I quite like the look of using empty old wooden nail boxes as mini herb gardens or like here, if you have some fancy wine boxes around it is quite a classy spin to fill them with your edibles.  

 To make them last longer line with plastic and then add a layer of stones for drainage and fill with soil.  I like to use the new living earth Vege mix as it has Dolomite and sheep pellets already in it.  Another classic is always the half wine barrel and the hard wood here has a longer life span to fill without having to line first; whatever the vessel you use, to make it easy for the not so inclined to cook in your family to harvest the right ones under your instruction - group the herbs in relevant boxes to make sence of your garden, then if your like me (the one stuck in the kitchen with messy hands making) can carry on with the food prep.  In my new herb gardens planted on the deck for easy reach I have grouped what I call a 'pizza box' in one box that will sit in full sun - Oregano, Golden Oregano, Thyme, Marjoram.  My Christmas lunch barrel has Dill for the fish and Sage, parsley, Rosemary and Lovage for the red and white meats.  In a shady area there is Coriander that I have potted in bulk.  Keeping it growing in shade will prevent it from bolting and getting nothing other than flowers and seeds... however I do plant a certain amount each year in full sun so I can harvest seed for cooking and growing more plants from. Then there is the lemon balm box in the shade and the last two boxes will have one filled with Basil as we use so much of it and this year after inspiration from another friend I am planting a 'tea' garden for fresh herb teas - divine.  This will be a mix of chamomile, Valerian, lemon balm, peppermint and an old rose that has beautiful hips will be centre stage.  

 

I have been carting one from place to place for years, roses are so hardy they can take the lift and cart treatment.  Rugosa roses are my favourite and the only thing that fails me with this one is the name that is long gone.  Now is the time to plant your roses so visit your local garden centre for your favourite summer time blooms.

Happy Gardening and Happy School Holidays!

Gardening by the Moon this week

July 9 - 14 Prune Roses

July 15      Spray for pests and diseases.  My Easy Edible Gardens CD has a collection of great home made sprays that you can put together now. Order from my website www.edenliving.co.nz

Time to think about baskets, compost prep and onions!

Now that we are over the 'half way point' of the year it excites me to daydream about Spring.  My overall favourite season I think - when I drift off in thoughts of intoxicating spring bulbs, fresh bright new foliage on hedges, I can not wait to see my fruit trees burst in flower - it really will be a sight!  Knowing that Spring is not too far away now and already I've been seeing some confused daffs popping up this brings to my attention that we really only have one more month to get fruit trees planted in your garden.  Nothing can to be sweeter than picking your own fresh fruit from home so visit your local garden centre for the right trees for your location and get them in the ground!

These school holidays we are having fun already, planning the hanging baskets that we will plant.  I want lots of herbs close to my kitchen for adding to salads, pizzas and dressings so I have set a competition amongst the kids for the most thoughtful hanging basket conglomeration of herbs.  So far we have old colander stacks, cane baskets that are literally hanging and the traditional brush-stick that are great for slitting holes in the sides and having seedlings grow from all sides and underneath.  First tip for you is to retain water so make sure you mix some water retentive crystals available from all garden centres into your soil.  Follow the preparation instructions but essentially add them to the soil as a wet jelly.  These moisture gems will make or break your final result as mid summer they can quickly dry up and collapse under the intense heat.  Hanging baskets are particularly ideal so that you save using up too much 'walk' space on your outdoor deck or patio with lots of random post as with elevated gardening you lift your gardens above head height out of the way.  To rev things up a bit make some of the baskets a mix of bright coloured annuals for interest.  Lobelia, petunia and primula have such a long flower season and the combination of flower shape and contrast in foliage look great together.   Visit my pinterest page on http://www.facebook.com/pages/Eden-Living-Garden/169973749722833?sk=app_305927716147259 for some pins I have found with the kids that pull together great inspiration of hanging and leaning garden baskets and beds. 

In your edible garden from today until the 6th find some time to douse your plants with liquid feed - I have lots of great recipes and my favourite is on my Easy Edible Gardens CD available on the web site www.edenliving.co.nz.  While you're there check out the latest video on composting and learn a bit more about the practical and simple method of Bokashi composting - a non smell solution to dispose of everything from raw meat and fish to all other food scraps. Book now for my upcoming workshop on the 4th August and tell your other interested green (or blue) fingered friends.  All my courses flow on well from each other so the composting and liquid feed workshop is a great place to start.

Coming up in your garden

July 1 - 6 Feed your plants with liquid food.  Easy to make yourself and gives a boost to your edibles

July 3 - 6 Till only again (don't worry soon you'll be wishing you could till only as in no time you'll have extended plant and sow only on the way!)

July 7 and 8 Pop in some more Garlic and get Onion seedling planting - time consuming as it is plant out the grass-like seedlings 6cm apart in anticipation of big bulbs.  Another trick an old timer gardener taught me was to plant them on their sides for a better take

Happy Gardening everyone xx