A d v i ce . Id e a s .

I n sp i ra t i on

Anita’s Garden
Volume 2, Issue 35 20 March 2020

Useful Links Editorial

Webpage
Contributions
Blog
I welcome all contributions to the
Newsletter back issues Welcome to the thirty fifth issue of newsletter, including:
my newsletter Anita’s Garden for
Facebook  Feedback
2020.
Instagram  Requests for articles
I hope you have all had a good week.
Twitter
Plant nursery  Suggestions
Linkedin
In light of Coronavirus, I have made  Input (tips, recipes, photos of
Pinterest the decision to close my nursery for your garden etc)
the remainder of the season.
Please email me at anitakun-
Cut flowers from Anita’s Garden du.nz@gmail.com and I will incorpo-
Contact me rate them into future newsletters
In parallel with selling plants in my
 Feedback nursery, I am trying to develop a side- Collaborations
business selling cut flowers from our
 Newsletter input garden. In the winter months, plant I am pleased to announce that I am a
(tips, recipes, gar- sales in the nursery are slow as peo- brand ambassador for the following
den photos etc) ple aren’t as active in their gardens. gardening businesses:
It is during this time that our garden
 To be added to my  Awapuni Nurseries
is arguably at its best. As many of
mailing list you are aware, Anita’s Garden is re-  Bulbs Direct
anitakundu.nz@gmail.com nown for its display of spring bulbs
every year.  Egmont Seeds

At this stage, I am looking for some-  Italian Seeds Pronto (the NZ

one or an entity to supply cut flowers distributor of Franchi Seeds)
Inside this issue: to on a regular basis, rather than sell-
ing them on an ad hoc basis. If you or Mailing list
someone you know may be interested,
If you haven’t already subscribed to
please contact me at anitakun-
Po t t eri n g ar o u n d 2 my newsletter, you can do so by email-
du.nz@gmail.com
Anita’s Garden ing me at anitakundu.nz@gmail.com
Social media and writing “subscribe” in the subject
field. Advantages include receiving
Top 5 gardening tasks 2 I am currently developing my social the newsletter direct to your inbox eve-
for the week media accounts (see useful links, left), ry week and being the first to know
especially Twitter and Pinterest. about specials in the plant nursery.
Tips for growing hyacinth 2 Blog I hope you have enjoyed this week’s
column. Have a great weekend.
Please don’t forget that I maintain an
active blog on my website. Due to its Anita Kundu
How to grow spinach 3 brevity, I’m not able to cover every-
thing in this newsletter so feel free to
persue my blog posts to inform your-
self about all things gardening related
PAGE 2
Pottering around Anita’s Garden
Here is a selection of photos from
around Anita’s Garden for you to
enjoy.
My Atlantic Giant pumpkin grown
from a free seedling from
Awapuni.
This is the first time that I have
grown this variety and I am very
impressed with the results. This
kind of pumpkin is suitable for
pumpkin growing competitions, as
the name suggests.
Top 5 gardening tasks for the week
1. Harvest melons
By now, your melons should be
ready to be harvested, so you can
remove them from the vines.
2. Plant spinach
This winter staple is incredibly
easy to grow. Put in seedlings now
so they can become established
before cooper temperatures set in.
Tips for growing hyacinth
In last week’s column, I covered
growing daffodils. This week, I
thought I would provide some tips
for growing hyacinth. Bulbs Direct,
have a fantastic range. It’s not too
late to get your order in but don’t
leave it any longer or you may
miss out on popular varieties.
Here are some of my top tips:
 For warmer climates,
AN IT A’S G AR D E N
Homegrown watermelon and rock-
melon.
Despite not being the greatest of
summers, we have had a glut of
melons! So far we have been har-
vesting rockmelon and watermel-
on, but it looks like there may even
be a couple of honeydew melons as
well if I’m not mistaken.
3. Sow kale
It’s not too late to sow kale if you
haven’t already. I have just plant-
ed out our first seedlings but
sowed some more seeds about a
week ago. I highly recommend
Cavolo Nero in the Franchi Seeds
range (distributed by Italian Seeds
Pronto in NZ). It’s great for mak-
ing kale chips and using raw in
green smoothies
it’s best to pre-chill bulbs prior to
planting. Don’t do so any earlier
than April or it will damage the
bud formation
 Opt for firm, healthy bulbs.
 Hyacinth look stunning
grown in containers. Be
sure to use a high quality
container mix
V O LU M E 2 , ISSU E 3 5
A self-seeded passionfruit
We have also been having a great
season for passionfruit. We are
still getting fruit from our three
vines. As a bonus, we now have an
extra vine thanks to a self-seeded
passionfruit plant that popped up
during winter!
4. Order spring bulbs
To avoid missing out on popular
bulb varieties, get those orders in
quick! My preferred supplier is
Bulbs Direct.
5. Plant kale
Now is the perfect time to pop your
kale seedlings into the ground, so
they become established before
winter.
 You can also grow hyacinth
in a glass vase
 Sprinkle a little a slow re-
lease bulb food prior to
planting
 I find that hyacinths are
only good for a season and
are not worth replanting the
following year, so order
fresh bulbs next season.
 V O LU M E 2 , ISSU E 3 5 AN IT A’S G AR D E N PAGE 3

How to grow spinach

Spinach is a staple vegetable in
our garden. It grows year round.
Spinach is easy to grow and in-
credibly versatile. It can be used
in many dishes. It is also incredi-
bly nutritious.
Tips for growing spinach
 Spinach can be grown year
round. You may find that it
bolts to seed as the weather
warms up in spring.
Ideas for using spinach
Spinach is a very versatile vegeta-
ble and can be used in many ways.
Here are some ideas to get you
started.

Growing spinach from seed  Seeds usually germinate  Steamed

easily, with the exception of
Spinach is incredibly easy to grow NZ Spinach. I usually soak  Sauteed
from seed. If you are a new gar- seeds for a few hours in
dener or have run out of time, you
 Creamed
lukewarm water beforehand
may want to start from plants ra- to improve the germination  Used raw in green smooth-
ther than seed. Awapuni stock a rate ies
really good range of seedlings and
deliver direct to your door, which  Don’t prick out seedlings for  U s e d r aw i n s al ad s
is convenient. potting on to individual 6 (especially baby leaf)
cell punnets or seed raising
Here is some advice for starting trays too early. It’s best to  Soups
spinach from seed. Simply sprin- wait until plants have devel-
kle the seeds in a punnet filled oped three large leaves first.  Quiches
with some seed raising mix and
cover lightly. Always look for a  When working with seed-  Muffins
seed raising mix that is fine in tex- lings, take special care to
avoid damaging the roots.  Paneer
ture. Some contain pieces of bark
which are no good when trying to  Pasta
germinate fine seeds! The seeds  Spinach is suitable for grow-
are very fine, so don’t sow too ing in containers if you are  Risotto
many or place them too close to short on space
each other. Water regularly, as  Pizza
 As a leafy green crop, spin-
plants tend to dry out easily in the
ach can be grown in part  Pancakes
heat of early autumn. March can
shade but it
be quite hot! When seedlings are  Lasagne
does best if it
large enough, prick them out of the
receives lots “Spinach is easy to grow
punnet and pot them up individu- and incredibly versatile.  Curries
of sunshine
ally into 6-cell punnets. If I have It can be used in many
lots of seedlings, I sometimes plant  Water plants  Stews
dishes. It is also
them into a seedling tray. At this regularly. incredibly nutritious”  Pies, past-
stage it’s fine to use potting mix. They need it,
You don’t need to use an expensive ies and tarts
especially as (i n c l ud i ng
one. I find that Dalton’s potting temperatures in early au-
mix from Bunnings is sufficient Spanakopita)
tumn can still be quite
for potting up all my seedlings. warm.  Pilaf
Recommended varieties 8. For best results, liquid feed  With eggs
plants weekly with a soluble
 Perpetual (Egmont)
plant food or tonic such as  Frittata
 NZ spinach (Egmont) Seasol
 Quesadillas
 Malabar spinach (summer) 9. Like most veggies, spinach
is an annual and will go to  Gratin
 Matador (Franchi) seed when temperatures
increase in spring. For this  Dips
 Merlo Nero (Franchi) reason, I have found it is
 Dahl
best planted in autumn for
 Teton Baby (Egmont) the winter garden. In
spring, it starts running to Have a great weekend
 Oriental Imperial Green
seed.
(Egmont) Happy gardening!