Gardening

Gardening Articles

The Wild and Wonderful World of Perennial Brassicas

25 Jul 24

Fancy growing a hardy vegetable that will provide nutritious food for a few years? Several members of the brassica (cabbage) family grow as perennials, not setting seed for years. By Peta Hudson and Philippa Jamieson.

Winter Jobs for Blueberries in the Home Garden

25 Jul 24

There are many blueberry varieties available to the home gardener. Large and small, sweet and sour and everything else in between. They can be notoriously difficult to grow. So if you have some blueberry plants, here are a few winter jobs to help your plants to thrive. By Andy Jeffs.

Bio-boost Your Compost!

26 Jun 24

Christine Grieder shares her expert compost recipes and dives into the world of using beneficial microorganisms in compost.

Miner’s Lettuce – Claytonia Perfoliata

20 May 24

It is prolific, grows just about anywhere with minimal care, and self-seeds for the following season. Anna-Marie Barnes describes an easy-care plant that provides fresh greens all winter long.

Life Underground – A Guide To Aotearoa’s Soil Food Web

16 May 24

Without the diverse organisms within our soil there would be no land- dwelling life on Earth. Duncan Smith describes the creatures and critters that underpin our plants, and ultimately, ourselves.

The Significance Of Degrees

16 May 24

The single biggest influence on an organic garden is temperature. As Dr Charles Merfield explains, a comparatively minuscule variation can have dramatic consequences.

Keep your garden growing

15 May 24

Though growth will slow as the cold sets in, Diana Noonan gives ideas on how to keep your garden producing to offset the cost of living. While doing that, she advises that we must also look to the future and prepare for the coming spring.

Japanese wineberry: where and how to grow

01 Mar 24

Japanese Wineberry thrives in forest margins and produces tasty morsels of delicious flavour. Anna-Marie Barnes introduces a hardy bramble suitable for those who like plants that look after themselves.

Preparing for winter: organic gardening tips and tasks for autumn

01 Mar 24

Autumn is traditionally viewed as a time for winding down the food garden, but it doesn’t need to be that way. With a cost-of-living crisis on our doorstep, Diana Noonan gives practical advice on adopting a waste-free approach to harvesting and preparing a garden that will provide fresh produce throughout the chilliest (and priciest) periods of the year.

‘Tis the season of bounty: summer gardening tips

18 Jan 24

School holidays, trips to the beach, and a house full of visitors – all great fun – but not so helpful when it comes to finding time for a garden in full swing. Diana Noonan shares labour-saving techniques so you can keep on top of the garden chores while enjoying the summer and the culinary delights it produces.

Elderberry: where and how to grow, maintenance, and uses

18 Jan 24

If a plant should have multiple uses to justify itself, the elder is overqualified. Anna-Marie Barnes describes the uses of this hardy and robust plant that is easy to tuck into every hedgerow or shelterbelt – even if just for the insects and birds.

Summer is here! The trick to getting abundant berry crops and other organic garden tips

01 Nov 23

Summer is such a waiting and watching period. All the hard work of spring is about to come to fruition – if we protect and nurture our precious plants and their ground crew. Diana Noonan shares her experience of growing food organically and reminds us, as we tinker in the garden, to enjoy the riot of colour all around and to marvel at how the earth, the essence of life, really can bring forth food in abundance.

Summer is here! Berry crops and other organic garden tips

26 Oct 23

How-to: urban composting with bokashi, worm farming, and more!

26 Oct 23

Recycling plant matter into plant food is half of the cycle of life. Kaitlyn Lamb describes how this can be done on any scale, in any place – even the most urban situation.

The weird and wonderful Japanese raisin tree

27 Jul 23

It looks like a fruit from another world, brown and knobbly and forked like a twig. The Chinese have long known of its restorative power on the liver and used it as an antidote for alcohol. But best of all it belies its looks and tastes just like it sounds – sweet and tasty with the slightly chewy consistency of a raisin.

Get ready for spring: seasonal gardening tips and tasks

27 Jul 23

Winter reserves and preserves are still holding up for many, but Diana Noonan says if we are to eat through the lean months of spring and into summer, now is the time to prepare

An Aunty to all: supporting those affected by Cyclone Gabrielle

26 Apr 23

When disaster strikes, the basics of food and shelter become challenging. Meghan Read hears from Arohanui Lawrence about how her spray-free community garden demonstrates the strength of local food resilience.

Conquer the cold: seasonal gardening tips and tasks for late autumn

26 Apr 23

With autumn settling into winter, what better advice than turning to the sun and letting the shadows fall behind you could gardeners take? Especially those who have lost so much in recent weather events. Wherever you are in the country, make the most of the little heat that still lingers, by trapping it in cunning ways

Azolla: a simple and sustainable biofertiliser

22 Feb 23

It is the ultimate fertiliser for your garden. It is free, only needs a bucket of water, removes greenhouse gases, fixes nitrogen, and enriches your soil. Sheryn Dean describes a simple and sustainable biofertiliser.

Growing good food: seasonal gardening tips and tasks for autumn

22 Feb 23

March and April are such surprising and exciting months in the garden. Just when it seems the world is winding down and our edible beds are readying themselves for sleep, a whole new season of opportunity presents itself. That’s because, apart from a few of the coldest spots in the country (and even then, there is potential for growing undercover or indoors), nature never sleeps. So while autumn is very much the season for harvesting and storing, it’s also a time to be out with the fork, the seeds and the seedlings – and to start growing all over again!

Gardening Articles

The Wild and Wonderful World of Perennial Brassicas

Winter Jobs for Blueberries in the Home Garden

Bio-boost Your Compost!

Miner’s Lettuce – Claytonia Perfoliata

Life Underground – A Guide To Aotearoa’s Soil Food Web

The Significance Of Degrees

Keep your garden growing

Japanese wineberry: where and how to grow

Preparing for winter: organic gardening tips and tasks for autumn

‘Tis the season of bounty: summer gardening tips

Elderberry: where and how to grow, maintenance, and uses

Summer is here! The trick to getting abundant berry crops and other organic garden tips

Summer is here! Berry crops and other organic garden tips

How-to: urban composting with bokashi, worm farming, and more!

The weird and wonderful Japanese raisin tree

Get ready for spring: seasonal gardening tips and tasks

An Aunty to all: supporting those affected by Cyclone Gabrielle

Conquer the cold: seasonal gardening tips and tasks for late autumn

Azolla: a simple and sustainable biofertiliser

Growing good food: seasonal gardening tips and tasks for autumn

Proudly published by the Soil & Health Association NZ

Proudly published by the Soil and Health Association NZ