Gardening News & Opinions

What do you get when you cross an eco-conscious Kiwi cafe owner with a Swiss soil scientist? A totally natural and eco-friendly new product for busy gardeners that feeds the earth, repels slugs and snails and even diverts waste from landfill - fodda. Dismayed by the amount of waste such as organic coffee grounds she was throwing away at her bus...

GARDENING AND HEALTH On Sunday, 21st of February, Rialto TV showed a film/documentary called “Real View: Food Matters”. The program was a discussion on the importance of Nutrition & Natural Therapies for the prevention and reversing of chronic illness. The program presented numerous facts about our bodies and how our food chain can heal or cre...

Why not grow your own lettuce – it is simply to grow and you can enjoy eating organic, fresh lettuce throughout the year. You will also save on cash – how many times have you purchased lettuce from the supermarket only to find it goes off in the fridge? Buy a packet of seeds and all going well it will keep you supplied with lettuce for most for the...

Sumner Bays Union Trust has two community gardens under its umbrella in Christchurch. They are Sumner Community Garden and Redcliffs Community Garden "The Onion Patch". Each garden is different and defined by its physical location. Redcliffs is located on a former children's play area behind the Union Church on Augusta, and the Sumner gar...

MyGarden has teamed up with members of the directory to offer our members some quality gardening gifts and other products such as greenhouses and raised bed gardens.

Some general tips for your garden this February. February is the last month of summer and the time when many pest insects have built up big populations if you have not been on the ball with your controls. It is very easy to miss a build up of bugs and then a lot harder to gain control over your garden. I got caught out recently with my zucchini...

It is Saturday in Palmerston North, and while I am writing this, nice showers are wetting the soil and plants are growing in response. It has been a poor spring and summer so far for gardening, but hopefully conditions will improve in February, if they don't then its going to be a bad season overall. Poor seasons are accepted as part of the life ...

Gardens can be blessed or cursed by our four legged friends and the winged ones, dependant on your own attitude to the pleasure or harm that they may contribute. We are talking about dogs, cats, hedgehogs, chickens and other bird life wild or in captivity. Dogs are mankind's best friend, loyal, loving and devoted to a caring family. They are best...

The weather has certainly not been great for gardening this spring and here we are into the first month of summer and still receiving weather as if we were in the first days of spring. Plants suffer just as we do when temperatures plummet, cold winds and rains wrecking havoc making for a hard time in and out of the garden. Normally in the spring ...

A video about greening the desert using a permaculture garden - very interesting!

Gardening is an amazing skill to be learnt, and basic knowledge is picked up simply by doing. If you are a non-green-fingered urban gardener, with a desire to expand your growing knowledge, peas are a simple-grow vegetable to start with. Peas are delicious, very easy to eat, and also require a limited amount of space, perfect for urban spaces! P...

The world economic situation is in a upheaval and by the looks of things it is only going to get worse. At this time in New Zealand things are not too bad as yet, so as we used to say, ‘Make hay while the sun shines’ There are two aspects to growing your own food to be more self-sufficient, these are the short term and the long term. For instance...

Read the latest newsletter from the Festival of Flowers, Christchurch.

Every so often I am asked how long will such and such plant or tree are likely to live for? A good question but a difficult one to answer. Some plants which are called annuals will germinate, grow, flower and produce seeds then die. Most vegetables and bedding plants fall into this category and are often referred to as seasonal. Then there are t...

It’s spring (not that the temperature gauge is aware of it yet given the recent snows!) so its time to think about planting for the summer harvest. Did you know that gardening is the fourth most popular leisure activity in New Zealand? (The top three are: watching TV, reading, and socialising with friends). Every household should have a garden – it...

Recently a number of gardeners and garden centre staff have contacted me asking if products such as Neem Tree Oil and Neem Tree Granules are safe to use on food crops? This sudden interest, in the safety of these products, has come about from two sources in the Gardening Industry, one from a major supplier of gardening products whom has been stati...

A tradition developed many years ago in so much as the right time for planting out in the new season was around the holiday weekend we call Labour Weekend. Logic says this must be a good time as it is in the middle of spring and about half way to the longest day. Plant growth is determined by firstly the hours of light in a 24 hour period, the so...

People that garden regularly are generally more healthy and happier than people that do not, or seldom garden. There are a number of reasons for this such as getting out in the fresh air and the exercising of the body while doing various garden chores. That is on the first level. While out gardening on a sunny day for 15 minutes or more, two or ...

With lots of people trying their hand at gardening for the first time, either last season or for this new season it is timely to give a few tips on how to garden and have the best results. There is nothing worse for new gardeners who put in the effort and money then end up with poor results. It is very disheartening and can lead to some people qu...

I feel that one of the worst problems that is going to face gardeners this season will be insect pests especially the potato/tomato psyllid. I spoke to a lady gardener recently, from the Hawkes Bay area, and she told me that a number of her gardening friends were not going to grow tomatoes and potatoes this season because of the psyllids ruining t...

The met service has reported that we had the warmest August ever since records began with about 1.5 degrees above average, which does not seem a much on those odd cold days, but for a lot of insect pests it means an early arrival. A good hard, cold winter takes its toll on insect populations from last summer, dramatically reducing their numbers bef...

Spring is the time when the new season’s growth really starts to happen which is a result of the extending day light hours along with the warmer temperatures. One thing that you will notice is that the new growth on roses and other plants is very healthy. There are a few reasons for this which includes; spring vigor after winter dormancy; no man...

Last season a number of gardeners lost potato and tomato crops to an insect called the potato psyllid which releases a toxin into the plants and causes the young potatoes or tomatoes not to grow much larger than a marble. My suggested treatment is a combination of Neem Tree Granules and sprays of Neem Tree Oil.

There's a vegetable plot you can set up which is not only productive year-round but is small enough to nestle on a windowsill. The latest trend in gourmet dining is for micro-greens - salad crops which are harvested just a few weeks after they have germinated. For decades, keen health nuts and vegetarians have claimed that catching plants at thi...

A 6,000 square-foot rooftop farm in New Your is commercially growing fruits and vegetables for restaurants in the area. The restaurants are flocking to the farm to buy fresh produce. The rooftop farm also helps fight pollution by way of the plants absorbing carbon dioxide from the air.