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Shai Magic

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Raglan organic grower, compost maker, gardening educator and permaculture landscape designer Shai Brod shares his compost-making and spring gardening tips with Mynda Mansfield.  

Shai Brod

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Mynda Mansfield is a writer and long-time organic gardener who lives in Raglan. She runs a homeschool group for 12 children using Waldorf education principles, and has published a book called A Eurythmy Teacher’s Handbook.

www.myndamansfield.com  

The Wild and Wonderful World of Perennial Brassicas

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By Peta Hudson and Philippa Jamieson

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Peta Hudson is a permaculture teacher and gardener, and former proofreader of Organic NZ. 
Philippa Jamieson is a writer, editor and author of The Wild Green Yonder: Ten Seasons Volunteering on New Zealand’s Organic Farms. 

Article first published in Organic NZ November/December 2019 

Winter Jobs for Blueberries in the Home Garden

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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. Words and pictures by Andy Jeffs.

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Andy Jeffs manages a BioGro certified organic blueberry orchard at True Earth in Hawke’s Bay. He enjoys growing food at home using principles that regenerate the earth. In life he seeks, shares, grows and connects.  

Photos by Andy Jeffs, taken at True Earth 

Bio-boost Your Compost!

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Story and photos by Christine Grieder 

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Christine Grieder lives with her partner on a four-acre property at Wakefield, near Nelson. She gardens using permaculture principles and tries to grow as much as she can of the things they need. 

Live2Give

Live2Give: Focusing on foundations, making good ethics a viable business

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Two Manawatū couples with a big vision made hard choices, distilling their operation down to its essence. Rachel Rose talks to the owners of Live2Give about how their business has grown, diversified, adapted, and prioritised, all the while keeping the culture of doing it for good.

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For more than five years, Wholegrain Organics had a commercial kitchen, bread bakery, café, and retail outlet on The Square in Palmerston North, and its team ran food technology and hospitality classes at local schools, under the Hands-On Food banner.

It was underpinned by a big philanthropic vision of serving people and planet, but the operation had become a complex, sprawling operation. By mid-2022, it was fragmented and financially unsustainable – some hard choices were required of founders Naomi and Rob Hall.

“We had a tree with 10 branches, but it was not financially viable,” explains Naomi. “We pruned off eight of the branches and left the two that we saw as foundational, where we can make the greatest difference. The farm is our number one priority – it’s pioneering work, a research farm that shares what we learn. The online shop is the connecting link between the farm and the rest of the world.”

A year on, Live2Give Organics grows vegetables on leased farmland in Aokautere, just south of Palmerston North. Their innovative farming methods produce organic food bursting with nutrients while also improving soil. They are creating healthy, diverse ecosystems on former lifeless paddocks and documenting practices so other growers can benefit.

The relaunched online shop has steadily grown to 160 orders per week, a mixture of subscriptions and one-off orders. It sells certified organic fresh fruit and vegetables grown on the farm (and from other organic suppliers), and a wide range of dry goods from wholesalers.

Lessons hard-earned at Wholegrain Organics have informed the shape and structure of the new enterprises. “Wages are a huge thing, but so are fixed overheads,” notes Naomi. “So now we work from home, out of our garage. It’s tight but we make it work, we’ve reorganised the space four or five times! We also have two chillers, 4.8m and 2.4m long, sitting in the driveway. This way we are not duplicating overheads like rent, phone, internet, and electricity.”

The online shop shares the name and a public face with the farm but is a separate company, run by Naomi and Gosia Wiatr. Rob and Tobi Euerl (husband and fiancé respectively) are responsible for the farming operation, which is a not-for-profit enterprise [see bottom section] but each team helps the other out during peak demand, whether that’s urgent orders to pack or long rows of onions that need weeding.

Supporting other organic growers

Naomi and Gosia are forging relationships with other organic growers to offer diversity to their customers and support to new, small-scale growers. One of these is Crooked Vege Ōtaki, a social enterprise that operates a CSA (community-supported agriculture) intent on regenerative food production that is accessible to all.

“Crooked Vege is an absolutely beautiful start up. Sometimes they have excess produce and we can take that because we sell bigger volumes,” says Naomi. “This week

it was 70 bunches of pak choi and a crate of zucchini. I basically say yes to whatever they have. It was an $800 sale this week, that’s a big boost for them.”

The challenge for small growers is always freight, Naomi explains. Growers can’t access chilled delivery unless they have an entire pallet of produce to move. But Live2Give runs its own chilled delivery truck from Palmerston North to Wellington every week and can backload Crooked Vege’s produce to its hub. It’s a win-win-win situation for both businesses and their customers.

Selling seconds is another considered strategy that helps growers as well as households. “Last year we had crooked cucumbers and cauliflowers that were slug-damaged. We discussed it and decided to let the customer decide,” says Naomi. “We take very realistic photos so people know what they would be getting. We find lots of people don’t mind if organic [produce] doesn’t look perfect.”

They’ve found offering seconds doesn’t harm their sales of first-quality produce. “We still move the ‘firsts’. Also, what we’ve found is people will buy two or three seconds instead of one that’s top quality.”
Selling cheaper seconds is hugely beneficial for budget-conscious customers and great for growers who don’t have a market for imperfect produce. An organic avocado grower in Tauranga, for instance, could only irregularly supply export-quality fruit, but has loads of very slightly imperfect avos. Live2Give customers are loving them.

Live2Give prefers to source from certified organic growers, but make exceptions for small-scale growers they personally know are using organic methods.

While customers are welcome to just buy what they want as they need it, or customise their box subscriptions on a week-to-week basis, it is the regular orders that are incredibly valuable to an organic grower.

“You do feel vulnerable because you’re waiting to hear the dings on the phone as the orders come in,” reflects Naomi. “There’s absolutely no guarantee that people will order anything. It’s really heartwarming how order numbers have steadily increased this year.”

Growing the business

Gosia and Naomi knew they’d miss the personal interaction they had with customers and students through Wholegrain Organics so thought hard about how to stay connected. Gosia launched a weekly email before they had produce to sell and now their mailing list is over 5000 people. They use Shopify for ecommerce and their email campaigns. Gosia gathers a lot of insight based on what people read, what they click on, and what they buy.

She observes that some people may subscribe to the email for months before they start to order and thinks that an online retailer needs to win people’s trust and that may take time. The newsletter, website, and social media feeds are important ways to educate people about the benefits of regenerative farming, to show the passion and labour involved, and to illustrate the costs behind organic production.

Social media is a clear winner when it comes to growing their customer base with 80-90 percent of new customers acquired from advertising on Facebook and Instagram. Gosia says it is useful to be able to target very specific audiences. Their advertising highlights the freshness of their food, the way it is grown, and the benefits to the environment and those who eat it.

Everyone involved puts a lot of effort into providing the freshest possible produce: harvesting at the ideal time, immediately chilling vegetables to remove field heat, and using sturdy reusable crates to keep produce cool and undamaged in transit.

The vertical interaction of their operations starts on the farm and finishes with handing produce personally to their customers. Gosia has been at the wheel of their chilled truck all last year, dropping off boxes to customers right down to Wellington every week. They’re looking to hire a driver but want to find the right person to be the face-to-face link with customers. “It’s important to have someone who has worked on the farm, in the shop, and shares the same values around connecting with the community, working with nature, and having a healthy lifestyle,” says Gosia.

Community connections

Live2Give hosts an open day once a year at the farm sites, one for customers and another for farmers interested in knowing more about the innovative regenerative agriculture techniques they are using.
Happily, the new business model hasn’t seen an end to interactions with youth. “We’re so close to Massey and IPU [universities]. We have students that seek us out; it’s great to work with young people who are interested in what we do,” says Naomi. And Gosia thinks being hands on, at the farm or in the packing room, is a more powerful learning experience than simply reading about regenerative agriculture. As well as part-time staff, there are a couple of older volunteers who like to help out because of a shared commitment to Live2Give’s goals.

“What I love about this business is we’re holding hands with our customers to get to the same goal,” says Naomi. “Us, the growers, our customers, all together we’re making it work.”

Live2Give are pioneering farm-scale regenerative horticulture in Aotearoa, building on 12 years of research and development in Germany by a farm of the same name. “Always cover, always roots” is their mantra: the soil is protected and improved by growing carbon crops in between cash crops. The roots are left to decay in the ground, improving structure and feeding the soil microbiome.

Rob and Tobi grow crops on three parcels of leased land, of which approximately four hectares is in full production. The sites have no history of chemical use and are certified with OrganicFarmNZ. In addition to the mulch, crops are fed with granulated fertiliser. Seaweed sprays, bought-in compost, and EM (effective microorganisms) sprays are currently being trialed.

Only the greenhouse crops are irrigated. It’s not a high rainfall area, about 900mm/pa. Drought years are a concern but dumping rain is just as much of a problem. The main site has a gley (sticky clay) soil, wet in winter and spring.

Detailed crop planning balances a strict seven-year crop rotation while also ensuring the farm can supply produce for 12 months of the year. Their record-keeping is exemplary and the numbers feed into farm planning and fine-tuning their methods.

About a quarter of the farm’s produce is currently sold through the Live2Give online store; the rest is sold to organic retail outlets in the major cities. Having multiple outlets creates flexibility and ensures they won’t be left with more produce than a single market can sell.

Some 70 percent of the vegetable offerings in the Live2Give shop are from its own land. It could be more says Rob, but that would limit the time he and Tobi have to devote to research, which they see as fundamental to their purpose. The farm has funding from MPI’s Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures for an almost four-year proof-of-concept trial, of mulch-direct planting for commercial vegetable production in New Zealand conditions.

What’s ahead? “We are unsure of what [growth] to project for the next 12 months but our aim is food security. The Covid lockdowns highlighted that need and extreme weather events are a constant reminder of how difficult the environment can be for food production. We are caring for both the environment and the local community, connecting these things together. This needs healthy growth for ground level food producers, not skyrocketing demand because of a pandemic, or scarcity because of flooding or drought,” reflects Rob.

(Photo Credits: Rachel Rose / Live2Give)

When she returned to New Zealand in 2010, Rachel Rose retrained, studying organic horticulture, biodynamics, and permaculture. She used her knowledge to establish extensive gardens and orchards on a 1400m2 urban plot, and is now applying it to a 28-hectare farm near Whanganui.

Japanese wineberry: where and how to grow

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It 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.
Rubus phoenicolasius
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The Japanese wineberry is a strikingly attractive bramble, with a strong upright growth habit and tall canes densely covered in bristly red hairs (phoenicolasius – from the Latin ‘with purple hairs’). The ripe fruit look like small, shiny raspberries but are a bit firmer, juicier, and tangier – not quite as sweet, but with its own unique appeal.

The plants are hardy and ornamental and the fruit, which ripens in mid-late summer, is a refreshing change and usually slightly later than the standard raspberry and, for some reason, not targeted by birds (at least with one grower I know). Flourishing in semi-shade or full sun, the Japanese wineberry thrives in a forest garden or in a berry patch with a bit of space.

There are numerous hybrids in the Rubus family and Japanese wineberries are often used as breeding stock as they carry a recessive gene which produces yellow fruit, and hence are useful for producing yellow-fruiting hybrid berries.

Plant family: Rosaceae
Relatives: Raspberry, blackberry, and other bramble berries
Native to: Japan, Korea, and China

Where to grow

Given the right conditions, Japanese wineberries are potentially invasive as their long canes will droop to the ground and form roots like a blackberry does, so you’ll want to keep rampant growth in check. They prefer a slightly acidic soil pH and a well-drained loam with good water-holding capacity as the plants are thirsty, with surface roots that are not at all drought-tolerant. Mulching in summer helps keep the roots moist while fruiting. In terms of cold-hardiness, established plants will tolerate temperature drops down to about -15°C.
Allow one to two metres between plants if planting several – you may find that given the vigour, length, and height of the canes (up to four metres), one is enough in smaller gardens.

Maintenance

Like many brambles, Japanese wineberry fruits on one-year-old canes (wood in its second year of growth) so don’t expect a crop in the first year of growth – these canes will be vegetative, initiating flower buds in the autumn which will develop and go on to produce fruit the following year.

Because Japanese wineberry canes grow so long, in a smaller patch you might like to cut them back to a more manageable 1.5-2 metre length in year one, and anchor them to a support structure (a wooden trellis or wire framework). This also prevents them from trailing on the ground and self-rooting.

Once canes have fruited, they will look a bit old and tatty and it’s time for them to be removed at ground level. Once you’ve removed the worse-for-wear spent canes, train and tie in some new, flexible shoots ready for cropping the following year. It’s good practice to burn old canes in case pests or pathogens are lurking.
Left to their own devices, they will ramble and produce without any maintenance but choose your site carefully – Japanese wineberries have attained problem weed status in several US states.

An application of compost or sheep pellets at planting, plus a couple more in spring, will go a long way in keeping your Japanese wineberry productive. As with most fruiting plants, too much nitrogen-rich material ends up encouraging the plant to produce foliage over fruit.

Harvest

Japanese wineberry fruit ripens in mid-late summer to autumn (December to April). The flower buds open November to January, revealing snowy white blooms that are enclosed by a bristly red calyx. The calyx splits open at flowering, forming an attractive star-shaped backdrop for the bright red fruit. Unlike blackberries, the fruit picks cleanly from the receptacle. Eat the fruit fresh within a couple of days – like raspberries, they don’t store well. They have a similar nutrient profile to standard raspberries and can be substituted for them in desserts and fruit salads. Enjoy fresh or they make fantastic jam, pie fillings and of course, fruit wine.

Where to source

Specialist nurseries may stock plants but you may have to track down your wineberry from a friend or shout out to NZ Tree Crops members on their Facebook page – anyone with a clump will be able to pass on a rooted shoot tip or two.

(Photo Credits: Claire Flynn and Gianni Prencipe)

Anna-Marie Barnes is the New Zealand Tree Crops Association’s South Island Vice-President. She holds a Bachelor of Science (Primary Production) with a background in agroecology and entomology, and a Graduate Diploma of Teaching and Learning (Secondary). A lifelong gardener, she is a dedicated self-sufficiency enthusiast and endeavours to grow as much of her own produce as possible on a lifestyle block on the West Coast, with three unruly Orpington hens.

Preparing for winter: organic gardening tips and tasks for autumn

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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. With plenty of heat still in the sun, and soil as warm as toast, there’s every reason to be gardening and growing right now!

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Ngahuru, kura kai, kura tangata –
Harvest-time, wealth of food, the wealth of people.

Care for the chaos!

At this time of year, the garden can look tired and unruly. But beneath the chaos, there’s a wealth of food. Check beneath long grass, browning vines, and wilting bushes for pumpkins, squash, and marrows (overgrown zucchini). If they’re mature, snip them off with about 4cm of stem attached, and leave them in a warm, dry spot (turning daily) for a week, to harden up their shells so that they store well for winter. Remove dead leaves from silver beet, celery, and brassica to prevent disease setting in. Hoe up around carrots and parsnip (and any potatoes you are not ready to dig) to prevent roots and tubers from turning green.

Autumn action

There is a whole raft of autumn and winter vegetables that can go in the ground now (see ‘sow and transplant’ suggestions below and right). If you don’t already have a garden bed established, chip off grass and weeds from a patch of healthy ground, dig and chop up the soil, add organic nutrients such as seaweed and compost, and cover in a mulch of organic pea straw or organic pine needles to prevent weeds re-establishing. This fresh, rough ground is best for seedlings, but can still be used for sowing providing you create shallow depressions of fine compost to receive the seed.

Already established gardens (and greenhouses) will have served you well over summer, but now the soil is hungry. Dig (or stir), into any spare sections of garden, mature compost, chopped seaweed, organic bone meal, and rock phosphate. Water well with liquid fertiliser before sowing seed, or transplanting seedlings. If seedlings include brassica (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kale), cover with insect mesh to prevent white butterfly destroying them before they gain traction. Pick off slugs and snails after dark, using a torch to spot the pests. Your best chance of success with winter vegetables is to give them the best possible autumn start while there is still warmth in the soil.

TIP: Interplant brassicas with strong-scented companion plants such as mustard, marigolds or
pyrethrum daisy to disguise them from white butterfly.

Protein power

Autumn is the season of garden protein. Those peas and beans you missed when you were harvesting back in summer are now a valuable winter food source. If the weather is fine, leave them on the vine to finish drying. If there’s dampness in the air, pick them and finish off their drying on a sunny window ledge indoors before packing into jars with sachets of food-grade desiccant. Reconstitute by soaking, then boiling or steaming, and use in winter soups and stews.

Path preparation

Wild weather will soon be on its way, and with it, the danger of slips and falls in the garden. Don’t leave it until winter to prepare or improve your garden paths. If using gravel or grit, make it deep so that soil and debris wash well through and doesn’t create an environment for grass and weeds to flourish. Better still, consider laying down organic, untreated sawdust over a weed-proof layer. Sawdust provides grip (except in icy conditions), and as it weathers and rots down, it can be shovelled up and placed on the compost before a new layer is added to the paths. As well as providing safe access around the garden, well-constructed paths also avoid soil compaction and help keep vegetables healthy.

TIP: Use cardboard, layers of newspaper and/or bio-degradable underlay or carpet to create weed-proof layers under paths. Check to ensure the carpet does not have a nylon weave.

Take stock!

Avoid food waste by harvesting any leafy herbs that are past their best or which have run to seed (think: dill, fennel, parsley, and parcel). Gather vegetables such as over-mature celery, spring onions that are running to seed, and corn which is no longer tender. Chop up your harvest finely, and dry it in a slow oven or dehydrator. Wizz the dried edibles into powder, and combine with brewers yeast and seasoning to create dried stock for winter soups and casseroles. Check the internet for recipes.

TIP: Dry herbs by hanging bunches in a well-ventilated area. They look and smell great. When dry, crumble into jars for winter use.

Cold composting

Autumn is clean-up time in the garden and this material can be used in a winter compost. While summer composts heat up with relative ease, cool-season composts break down more gently, and as they do, they don’t ‘cook’ the micro-organisms that are so beneficial in the garden. Just remember, however, that a cool compost is unlikely to destroy plant material completely, so keep perennial weeds out of it. And when you use it on your garden, cover it with a deep mulch to prevent the germination of composted seeds. A cool-season compost will benefit from a waterproof covering to avoid nutrients washing through over the rainy season.

TIP: Spent plants, twigs, and dead and decaying vegetable leaves provide habitat for beneficial insects, skinks, and geckos, but also for slugs and snails so hunt out the pests. 

Let there be light!

Over the summer, your greenhouse covering will have collected a decent layer of dust. As you oust the remains of your warm season plants, and before you bring in the next lot of seeds and seedlings, wash down the inner and outer sides of the greenhouse glass or polythene with warm soapy water. This will allow the maximum amount of light and heat to enter into the undercover space and promote winter growth.

Grape work!

Table grapes are coming on stream thick and fast – sometimes a little too fast for us to take advantage of. While the traditional way to deal with a grape glut is to juice the fruit and discard the skins and pulp, we all know that whole foods are healthy foods. This year, instead of saving only the juice of excess grapes, pick off the ‘berries’ and pop them into the freezer to use over winter. They can be added to smoothies, as a natural sweetener, along with kale and beetroot.

Sow me now 

(In all but the coldest regions.)
Flowers: Hollyhock, nasturtium, phacelia, viola, spring bulbs.
Herbs: Coriander, chervil, rocket, chives, spring onions.
Veges: Autumn mesclun mix, Asian greens, cornsalad (Valerianella locusta), radish,
daikon radish, winter spinach, broad beans.
In warm regions only: carrot, beetroot, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale.
Note: in very cold regions, sow quick-growing pea shoots and micro-greens under cover.

Transplant me now 

Flowers: Winter colour (polyanthus, primula, Iceland poppies, pansies).
Herbs: Most woody herbs including rosemary, sage, thyme, marjoram, and already-established potted lavender. Hardy leafy herbs including parsley, parcel, and sorrel.
Veges (by early February in cooler regions, and by March in warmer places): Brassica – especially spring cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli (including purple winter-sprouting broccoli), winter-lettuce, silverbeet, perennial beet, leeks, and celery.

Diana Noonan lives in the Catlins where she grows 70 percent of her food using a variety of methods including permaculture food forest to French intensive. 

‘Tis the season of bounty: summer gardening tips

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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.

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I orea te tuatara ka puta ki waho –
A problem is solved by continuing to find solutions.

Delay harvest

When so many garden edibles come on stream in early to midsummer, it can feel overwhelming, especially when you want to do your best to avoid food waste. But there are ways to slow down the rate at which you need to harvest. Peas and beans don’t have to be picked fresh. In fact, left to mature on their vines, they will dry into autumn, and provide a valuable source of protein for winter storage. They will also supply you with seeds to sow next season.

Unless you require the garden space for another crop, roots such as potato, Jerusalem artichoke, yacón, and beetroot, store best when left in the ground (at least until the cold, wet weather arrives). Other than in a wet summer, where fungal disease can be a problem, alliums such as shallot, onion, and garlic, will all but dry off, in situ, so leave them where they are to get on with the job. Devote your limited harvesting and processing time to hearting brassica, leafy salad greens, squash, corn, and greenhouse produce. The rest will wait for you.

Going green

Constructing a well-made compost stack is enjoyable, but it’s no walk in the park. So, whether you’re busy with a young family, or not as energetic as you once were, a ‘green manure crop’ is an excellent alternative. And in cooler parts of the country, late summer (rather than the traditional autumn period) is the time to sow it.

A green manure crop produces plants that can be chopped down and lightly dug back into the soil in late winter or early spring. It will provide similar garden nutrients to compost, but is easy-care, and also acts as a living mulch to protect the soil in harsh weather. When choosing a green manure crop for your garden, consider what will grow best in your region, and also your crop rotation plan (don’t, for example, grow a manure crop in the brassica family if you plan to grow brassica in the same spot immediately after it). Seed for green manure crops include mustard, lupin, vetch, field peas, buckwheat, rye, and tick beans.

Pick and choose!

Let’s face it, there are only so many hours in a day, even in summer, and sometimes it’s simply not possible to attend to ousting all the weeds at once. Over summer, when weed growth is at its height, I prioritise. Anything in flower is chopped and dropped. This stops seed setting, and also provides a nitrogen-rich mulch for the soil. Weeds which smother from above, such as cleaver and Chilean flame creeper, are next on my list because they quickly shut out light and put paid to whatever is underneath. Deep-rooted weeds (think dock and buttercup) are time-consuming to dig, so they are doused in a pine needle mulch until I can attend to them. Serious invasives, such as couch and kikuyu grass, go under black plastic to be solarised. Nitrogenfixers, such as clover and vetch, stay where they are, contributing to the soil, until there’s time to dig them up and add them to the compost

Warning: water can harm your plants!

In summer, our thoughts automatically turn to keeping our soil damp. But even in dry periods, there are situations where water can do more harm than good. The first is in the deep-root crop beds. Carrot, parsnip, salsify, burdock, and horse radish grow strong, straight roots only when they are required to head down deep in search of moisture. Water these roots, especially lightly, and you’ll only encourage them to head up and out to lap up the moisture. If drought conditions absolutely require you to water these crops, do so infrequently, and be generous with the moisture so it sinks down deeply.

Over summer, water can also be a danger in the greenhouse. In this hot environment, we can easily overestimate the amount of moisture plants require, and saturate the soil. This inhibits oxygen penetrating down into the root zone where it is vitally needed. I use the knuckle test to decide when my greenhouse requires water. I insert my finger into the soil to the second knuckle. If my finger comes out clean, it’s time to water. If soil adheres, I wait.

Water can also be a killer in summer, when sprayed onto crops with dense foliage (runner beans and peas are a classic example). Evaporation in these situations is slow, and before you know it, fungal disease has set in, and your plants are succumbing. I try to water all my plants at ground level to keep moisture off foliage, and I water early in the day when there are plenty of sunshine hours left to dry off any splashes

Flower power

It’s sap-sucker season – in both the garden and the greenhouse! But when you’re growing organically, these pest insects don’t need to spell disaster. That’s because your aim isn’t to eliminate them entirely from your garden, but simply to keep them in balance so that they don’t overwhelm your crops.

I achieve this in several ways. First and foremost, I keep my plants in top condition, because sap-suckers are opportunistic, and prey on the weakest first. I water regularly and deeply, and mulch to lock in moisture. I feed my greenhouse plants every ten days with liquid fertiliser so that they develop strong, mandible-resistant stems. I make sure my garden beds are well-stocked with nutrients before planting, so that leafy green growth is rapid enough to out-compete attack. I allow my herbs, which are scattered throughout the garden, to flower profusely so that their blooms are a haven for the beneficial insects that devour sap-suckers. And if the battle is a tough one, I don rubber gloves, and squish pests with my fingers (my aim is to knock them back, not to get every last one). As a last resort, I treat foliage (that isn’t intended to be eaten) with a liquid soap spray*.

*Dissolve 1/4 tsp of hard bathroom soap in 1 litre of hot water. Allow to cool before spraying onto non-edible foliage every 3 to 4 days.

Sow me now 

Flowers: Ageratum, calendula,
cleome, cornflower, cosmos,
nicotiana, nasturtium, phacelia,
sunflowers, sweet William, zinnia.
Herbs: Basil, borage, dill, chervil,
marjoram, oregano, summer savory,
tarragon.
Veges: Beetroot, broccoli, bunching
and spring onions, cabbage, carrot,
cauliflower, dwarf beans, late
potatoes, leeks, lettuce, radish.

Transplant me now 

Flowers: Asters, coreopsis, cosmos,
dwarf sunflowers, marigolds,
nasturtiums, rudbeckia.
Herbs: Basil, borage, chives,
lemongrass, marjoram, rosemary,
sage, thyme.
Veges: Broccoli, cauliflower and
cabbage (in cooler regions only),
cucumber, lettuce, leeks, purple
winter-sprouting broccoli, tomato,
zucchini.

Diana Noonan lives in the Catlins where she grows 70 percent of her food using a variety of methods including permaculture food forest to French intensive. 

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

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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.

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Get ready for spring: seasonal gardening tips and tasks

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Tips and tasks for the July/August māra,
by Diana Noonan

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Tohea! Ko te tohe i te kai –
Be strenuous – it is a struggle for food.

While the the days are short and nights are cold, there’s still so much we can do to make sure our gardens are in the best possible state to enter the growing season. From clearing out pest insects and adding nutrition to the soil, to encouraging the earliest food-bearers, and even sowing some super-hardy vegetables, winter is a much more active gardening season than you might imagine!

Bring in the birds

Birds are one of our greatest assets in the organic garden, especially in winter. They come into my garden in flocks and return again and again to devour overwintering pest insects such as spider mites, aphids, mealy bugs, caterpillars, and scale insects.

Silvereyes appear to be especially deadly hunters, gobbling insects all day. To take advantage of their appetites, I make sure that all nets are removed from berry bushes and fruit trees and sections of the garden that don’t require protection from rabbits and possums.

If conditions are dry enough in the garden, use a rake to disturb mulches. This exposes pests such as grassgrub, slugs, snails, and their eggs, and allows other birds, such as thrush and blackbirds, to discover them. I scratch around the base of my fruit and nut trees with a rake to achieve the same results. Providing bird baths and feeding tables will encourage even more birds into your garden.

Dig in!

Towards the end of winter, if the ground is dry enough, I take the opportunity to dig my green manure crops (also known as cover crops) into the soil. In my garden, these are lupin, vetch, grain, or tick beans, the seeds of which I sowed en masse in autumn.

These plants take 6-8 weeks to break down in the soil, so digging them in now means they will be ready to provide nutrients to spring-sown plants. I dig my green manure crops to a depth of just 10-15cm (I want to disturb the soil as little as possible), turn them over, and lightly chop them back into the ground. If the weather is horribly wet, I’ll cover the bed with black plastic to protect the soil while the goodies decompose.

Sow early!

In winter, it’s not so much what early seed we sow, but how we sow and protect it, that’s important. Birds are more desperate for food in winter than in any other season, so netting or covering what you sow is essential. I always cover small seed (such as spinach and mesclun mixes) with clear plastic, raising it a few centimetres off the ground with the help of narrow boards.

This keeps the plastic just high enough to trap the heat beneath, hurry along germination, and let the seedlings develop their first true leaves. After that, it’s on with the bird netting.

To combat the winter wet, I sow smaller seed into slightly raised rows to assist with drainage and cover them, to the recommended depth, with light, dry, soil or friable compost.

In warmer months I always soak larger, more robust seed, such as pea and broad bean, before sowing to hurry along germination, but I never do this in winter. In winter, soaking the seed often causes it to decay in the already-damp ground before it has time to sprout. And even though the seed is larger, it is also netted.

Sow me now 

Flowers
In warm and mild regions (undercover or outdoors in seed trays or individual pots, depending on location): foxglove, hollyhock, bachelor’s button, cosmos, evening primrose, echinacea, marigold, nasturtium, statice, sunflower, sweet pea.
In cold regions: As for warm and mild regions but sow into seed trays and place on heated propagation mats.

Herbs
In warm and mild regions (undercover or outdoors in seed trays or individual pots, depending on location): basil, chervil, dill, fennel, marjoram, mint, parsley, thyme.
In cold regions: As for warm and mild regions but sow into seed trays and place on heated propagation mats.

Veges
In warm and mild regions (outdoors): Asian greens, broad and dwarf beans, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, green manure crops, lettuce, parsnip, onions, potato, radish, rocket, silverbeet, spinach, spring onion.
(Undercover in seed trays or individual pots): aubergine, celeriac, capsicum, cucumber, celery, leek, melon, pumpkin, tomato.
In cold regions (undercover or outdoors, depending on location): brassica, broad beans, cool season microgreens, lettuce, peas, pea shoots, perpetual spinach beet, silverbeet.
(Undercover, in seed trays or individual pots): chili, capsicum, sweet corn, tomato

Healthy herbs

Some of the very first ‘greens’ to come through the soil toward the end of winter are hardy, tasty herbs. Chives, marjoram, fennel, and sorrel are longed-for flavour boosters in my late winter garden and I lavish attention on them. I make sure to mark their whereabouts in autumn (as some all but disappear beneath the ground as the days shorten), and toward the end of winter I clear the sites of fallen leaves and other debris.

I carefully scratch away any weeds, and mulch around (but not over) the spots. I pop a cloche (a cut off plastic soda bottle) over the delicate foliage as it emerges to lock in the heat and protect it from browsing animals.

I harvest cautiously at first, to keep the growth coming, and more vigorously after 2-3 weeks, as these ‘earlies’ are often the first edibles to run to seed.

Gear-up the greenhouse

If you’re lucky enough to have a greenhouse, this is the time to press it into service (if you don’t have a greenhouse, you can build a simple cloche from hoops of willow pushed into the ground and covered with clear plastic held down with a brick at each end). Whatever you do, don’t wait until the start of spring to raise your seedlings. It can take from 3-8 weeks, depending on what kind of seed you sow, before a seedling is ready to transplant. Wash down the greenhouse inside and out to let in more light, and remove any overwintering plants that may be hosting pest bugs (be sure the bugs don’t drop off inside the greenhouse as you shift them).

Set up staged shelving to hold your seed trays (staged shelving is similar to a set of steps, and allows all seedling equal access to the light). Cover seed-raising containers with a sheet of glass to stop mice scratching them up in search of food, and once the seeds have germinated, check nightly for signs of slugs and snails.

Don’t forget to keep the greenhouse door shut to keep out the birds.

Bare necessities

It’s fruit and berry planting time, and the best deal is to purchase those that are bare-rooted.

Bare-rooted plants are dug straight from the soil while still dormant. Their roots are wrapped in a covering to stop them drying out. Bare-rooted trees and bushes have a better start in your garden than potted plants, the roots of which are likely to have been restricted for many months. Niche nurseries often specialise in bare-rooted plants so you usually have a great choice of variety.

Transplant me now 

Flowers
In warm and mild regions: alyssum, Canterbury bells, dianthus, delphinium, gypsophilla, larkspur, marigold, sweet William, sweet pea, viola.
In cold regions (where conditions permit): alyssum, gypsophilla, larkspur, marigold, sweet pea, sweet William.

Herbs
In warm and mild regions: mint, parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme.
(Under cover or when danger of frost has passed): basil and lemon grass.
In cold regions: chives, parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme.
(Under cover): marjoram.

Veges
In warm and mild regions: asparagus crowns, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, onions, silverbeet, shallots, strawberry.
In cold regions (undercover, in planter bags that can be moved outdoors when space is required): brassica, celery, hardy lettuce, perpetual beet, rocket, silverbeet, spinach.

Diana Noonan lives in the Catlins where she grows 70 percent of her food using a variety of methods including permaculture food forest to French intensive.