Shane's Gardening Tips for Growers
This week - Tomatoes.Tomato Tips · Add a bucket of gravel or sand to your soil at planting time and it will warm up quicker and retain heat longer · Place Hangi rocks and rail way iron at the base of each plant. The sun will heat these up and then provide warmth in to the evening · Plant tomatoes “up to their neck” . Plant each seedling very deep, right passed the first set of leaves .Most plants cant, but Toms can form roots on the stem ,the more stem under the ground the more roots will form and more nutrients absorbed. · The barren stem area of of mature plants can be laid down on the surface and covered with soil about January. This will rejuvenate the plant by forming roots on the stem (which is now underground) ie the stem that had leaf and fruit back in Nov/Dec will now be underground growing roots thru March and April. The remaining tip of the plant is now back about knee high and will produce lots of fruit when prices are high · Use high potassium fertilizer when you see flowers start · Citrus and rose fertilizer work well on tomatoes · Banana skins contain potassium that will help with flowering · Insect like white fly and aphids are already on your plants NOW. · Make up a brew of Neem Oil, Pyrethrum and Copper as per the instructions on each packet. all three can go in the ONE spray tank together and be applied all together in a single application. Repeat fortnightly · Try growing some bush tomatoes like “Roma” or “San Mazarno” · Tomato SEEDS should be planted directly in the ground now. Dont use containers. Put a few seeds where you want each plant. When you current toms begin to fail in March these seedling started ones will take over and fruit right thru until June · A dutch grower taught me and Industry secret. Sow seeds of tomato on Christmas day,when everyone is lying around after lunch .Grow them outside in buckets until March and then move them into the glasshouse for tomatoes all winter. · Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad!
This week - Potatoes.
· Place comfrey leaves under and around the tuber at planting time(comfrey has a huge amount of nutrients that spud love). · Put you r spuds on a window sill in September and plant them in Late November · Keep mounding your plants until the foliage from each row touches ( January) · Try and keep leaves dry when watering. Place the hose on the soil and allow it to run /flow over the soil instead. · Potatoes should only spend 30 minutes from fork to fork
Tips and Tricks for Soil Preperation and Weed Removal· Look for where a cat sleeps during the day. This is often the warmest part of your section and may be good place for a garden or for a frost tender plant like Tamarillo · Plywood ,carpet or corrugated iron can be laid on a lawn for 6 weeks to kill everything prior to starting a garden there · 1 cup of vinegar with 4 table spoons of salt makes a very effective weed spray for paths ,driveways and around buildings · Most tea drinkers leave excess boiled water in the kettle to go cold. Get in the habit of using this boiled water (which you paid money for) by tipping it directly on weeds after filling the teapot · “One flowers seeds is seven years weeds” Dont allow weeds to flower, either remove the weed early before it flowers ,or if you notice flower s and are pushed for time then pick off the flower right then · A weed is a any plant in the wrong place. Maori potatoes, Horeseradish ,mint ,tansy and many others are plants that often get out of control and become a nuisance .Plant them in containers · Mother Nature hates bare ground. Cover it with what you want (vege or flowers) or she will cover it with what she wants (which is usually weeds) · Trench composting improves soil nutrition and aeration at the same time. Dig a hole or trench kneedeep. Throw all the weeds, fallen leaves and old plants in and cover it with soil. Wait 6 weeks and then plant potatoes on top · The best way to control Oxalis is to put a up a “For sale” sign |
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