A d v i ce . Id e a s .
I n sp i ra t i on
Volume 3, Issue 4
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Inside this issue:
Po t t e r i n g ar o u n d
Anita’s Garden
Top 5 gardening tasks
for the week
Herb of the week: Cori-
ander
Tips for growing rhubarb
Anita’s Garden
Editorial
Welcome to the fourth issue of my
newsletter for Volume 3.
I hope you have all had a good week.
Plant nursery
I am excited to announce that I will
be running a plant nursery this
spring and summer! Keep an eye out
in this column for announcements,
including when I will start selling
plants.
Italian Seeds Pronto
I’m really excited to be growing a
range of veggies in the Franchi Seeds
range again. Last year, I grew the
tomato Red Pear for the first time. It
is a very meaty, beefsteak type tomato
ideal for using in sandwiches or stuff-
ing. I highly recommend this variety
to other gardeners.
2 Useful links
The tomato Red Pear, in the Franchi
Seeds range
2 
Awapuni—gift vouchers
Just a little reminder that Awapuni
sells gift vouchers. They make the
2
perfect birthday or Christmas present
and are great if you’re struggling to
think of what to buy someone who
3 loves gardening! Click here to pur-
chase gift vouchers.
Italian Seeds Pronto – Gift vouch-
ers
14 August 2020
Italian Seeds Pronto also sell gift
vouchers. To purchase them, click here.
Bulbs Direct—almost plastic free!
Did you know that the leading mail or-
der bulb company Bulbs Direct is al-
most entirely plastic free? Everything
except for the packaging tape is com-
postable at present, and this will soon
change, with compostable tape being
introduced!
Awapuni and the environment
The mail order company Awapuni also
cares deeply about the environment and
uses newspaper to package all their
seedlings. Awapuni is the only seedling
company in New Zealand that uses
newspaper for packaging. You can read
more about Awapuni’s techniques here.
Awapuni—coming soon
 Tomato Moneymaker
 Poppy Californian Ballerina
 Poppy Iceland
 Chrysanthemum—Moonlight
 Sweet Willie
 Italian Seeds Pronto
Awapuni
 Bulbs Direct
I hope you find this week’s issue inter-
esting.
Have a great weekend.
Kind regards,
Anita Kundu
PAGE 2
Pottering around Anita’s Garden
We have been enjoying fresh car-
rots lately. They were sown to-
wards the end of April, during
lockdown. I grew these ones in 35
litre buckets with some old potting
mix and added a little superphos-
phate and blood and bone fertiliz-
er to the mixture. I made sure I
loosed all the mixture as I filled
the container, as carrots will be-
come forked if they hit an obstacle
such as a stone or lump of soil.
We have just been picking them as
we need them.
Top 5 gardening tasks for the week
1. Wash seed raising pun-
nets
If you raise plants from seed, it’s a
good idea to give any punnets you
use a wash with some bleach and
water to kill any germs, which
might lead to diseases later on (see
above)
2. Spray fruit trees with
lime sulphur
Herb of the week: Coriander
Coriander is one of my favourite
herbs. It is incredibly fragrant
and is an essential ingredient in
ethnic cuisine. Here are some tips:
 Coriander grows best in
cooler temperatures, so
avoid growing it in summer
when it tends to bolt to seed
 Sow seeds directly to where
AN IT A’S G AR D E N
I have filled our plastic hanging
baskets by our washing line with
some pansies and viola to re-
place the existing plants which
were starting to look tired.
I love bedding plants as they give a
continuous display of colour and
are so easy to grow. Awapuni
stock a fantastic range of pansies
and viola. Their plants are a good
size, too, so it won’t be long before
they reach flowering stage.
If your fruit trees are still dormant
(ie don’t have leaves on them),
there’s still time to give them a
spray with lime sulphur. Doing so
will help combat fungal diseases
when the weather warms up.
3. Spray roses with lime
sulphur
You can also spray roses with lime
sulphur.
you want it to grow in spring and
autumn
 To aid germination, soak
seeds overnight before sow-
ing
 Avoid transplanting corian-
der as its roots don’t like
being disturbed
 Coriander grows well in pots
V O LU M E 3 , ISSU E 4
On rainy days, I can be found in
our laundry hand washing all my
seed raising punnets with a so-
lution of bleach and water. I do
this to kill any germs that may be
present, so they don’t spread any
diseases to my seedlings. This is a
time consuming process but one
which I feel is thoroughly worth-
while. Now that I have finished
with my Stage 1 punnets, I plan to
move onto my six-cell punnets.
4. Divide rhubarb
Now is a good time to divide any
old rhubarb plants
5. Plant asparagus
Asparagus crowns are available
from mail order suppliers such as
Bulbs Direct and can also be found
at garden centres. Starting with
crowns rather than seedlings gives
you a one year head start.
 If you
d o n ’ t
h a v e
l u c k
growing
corian-
der from
s e e d ,
you can
obtain
s e e d -
lings from Awapuni.
 V O LU M E 3 , ISSU E 4 PAGE 3
AN IT A’S G AR D E N

Tips for growing rhubarb

Rhubarb makes a great addition to Ideas for using rhubarb
any veggie garden. It’s easy to
Rhubarb is mainly used in des-
grow, delicious to eat and can be
serts. It goes very well with
used in many ways.
strawberries. Here are some ideas:
Rhubarb can be grown from seed
in summer, purchased as plants or  Crumble
divided from an existing plant.  Cheesecake
Make sure you don’t ever eat the
 French toast
leaves, as they are poisonous.
 Puddings
Raising rhubarb from seed
Fresh rhubarb from the garden
Because rhubarb takes a long time  Stewed with some plain un-
Ideally, it should be twice the sweetened yoghurt (our fa-
to grow and become established,
there is little to be gained from depth and width of the plant vourite!)
rushing to sow seeds in spring. I  Chutney and relish
6. Water well after planting
prefer to wait until summer to sow
and from then on.
rhubarb. Sprinkle the seeds on top  Cordial
of a punnet filled with some seed 7. Liquid feed rhubarb once a
raising mix and cover lightly. week with a water soluble  Gin
Keep moist. When seedlings are plant food or seaweed tonic
large enough, they can be pricked  Tart
such as Seasol.
out and potted up into six-cell pun-
 Cake
nets. 8. Leave new plants for a year
to grow and become estab-  Jam
Varieties lished, before harvesting
any stalks  Tarte tatin
Egmont Seeds stocks the reliable
variety Victoria. 9. Pick rhubarb when the  Eton Mess
stalks are thick enough, as
Tips for growing rhubarb
needed.  Cobbler
1. Rhubarb does best in full “Rhubarb makes a great
10. R hubar b  Slices
sun so bear this in mind addition to any veggie
stores in the
when you select a location garden. It’s easy to grow,  Pies
fridge for up
to a week. delicious to eat and can be
2. Prepare the ground well  Pavlova
beforehand. Mix in lots of Rhubarb can used in many ways”
compost, sheep pellets and also be frozen  Muffins
fertilizer prior to planting for up to three months.
 Salsa
3. Alternatively, rhubarb can 11. Rhubarb can be divided to-
be grown in large contain- wards the end of winter,  Pancakes
ers. Make sure you fill them when it is dormant. It’s a
with a high quality contain- good idea to do this every  Panna cotta
er mix, not garden soil. few years otherwise the
quality of your rhubarb will  In salads
4. Before popping in your decline. Carefully dig up
plants, soak them in some  With porridge
the plant taking care not to
seaweed liquid fertilizer damage the roots. Drive a  Compote
such as Seasol first. This spade through the crown of
minimizes the risk of trans- the plant, making sure there  Fritters
plant shock and ensures are at least two buds on
that your plants get off to a each piece. Immediately re-  Bread
healthy start. plant or pot up to share.
 Dumplings
5. Make sure that the hole 12. Rhubarb plants can be pur-
that you dig is deep enough. chased from Awapuni Have a great weekend
Happy gardening!