A d v i ce . Id e a s .
I n sp i ra t i on
Volume 3, Issue 11
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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: Rose-
mary
How to grow cucumbers
Anita’s Garden
Editorial
Welcome to the eleventh issue of my
newsletter for Volume 3.
I hope you have all had a good week.
Plant nursery
To see a current stock list of plants
available for sale in the nursery,
please visit my website or see the
pinned post on my Facebook page.
Seed sowing
If you sowed capsicums, chillies, egg-
plants and tomatoes in August and
September, your seedlings may be big
enough to transplant into larger pun-
nets or pots. Don’t be in a hurry to
prick out seedlings, otherwise they
won’t survive. I like to wait until
they’ve grown three strong leaves
first.
It’s around this time of the year that I
start to sow cucurbits. I normally
start with the most robust, zucchini,
followed by pumpkins, squash, cu-
cumbers and finally melons, which
are the most sensitive to the cold and
are planted out last.
I’m excited to be growing three zucchi-
ni varieties from the Franchi Seeds
2 centre, Sunrich Golden Yellow and Sun-
range (distributed by Italian Seeds
Pronto, see next column for website):
Fiorentino, Romanesco and Striato
d’Italia. I’m also growing the pump-
2 kin varieties Marina di Chioggia and
Butternut Rugosa after having great
success with them in the past. For
cucumbers, you can’t beat the Franchi
2
variety Beth Alpha. If you’re growing
melons this year and are looking for
an unusual and interesting variety to
3 grow, I highly recommend Zatta. You
certainly won’t find it in grocers in
New Zealand! I grew this variety suc-
cessfully a couple of years ago.
2 October 2020
Flower garden
To be on the safe side, I’m waiting until
Labour Weekend to plant my dahlias
when it’s a bit warmer. I’m also looking
forward to growing two new gladioli
varieties which I purchased from Bulbs
Direct —Zizanie and Nori. I’m also
sowing my favourite marigold varieties,
Durango Flame and French Vanilla,
from Egmont Seeds’ Commercial cata-
logue. As it’s still a bit cold outdoors,
they’ll be going on my heat pads. I’m
also looking forward to planting bed-
ding begonias and petunias which I’ll be
getting from Awapuni later this year.
If you are game enough to try starting
them from seed, then Egmont Seeds is
the place to get them, but it’s supposed
to be very difficult to propagate begon-
ias and petunias from seed. I have
tried to grow petunias from seed in the
past without any luck. In a couple of
weeks, I’m looking forward to sowing
tall branching sunflowers. I am sowing
Sky Scraper, Zohar, Taiyo, Evening
Sun, Fantasia, Mardi Gras, Red Wave
and Teddy Bear. For cut flowers, I am
sowing Vincent Choice DMR, Vincent
Choice Orange with dark disc, Sun-
bright Supreme, Premier Light Yellow
(Cream), Premier Orange with dark
rich Orange DMR (all from Egmont
Seeds)
Useful links
 Italian Seeds Pronto
 Awapuni
 Bulbs Direct
Have a great weekend.
Kind regards,
Anita Kundu
PAGE 2 AN IT A’S G AR D E N V O LU M E 3 , ISSU E 1 1

Pottering around Anita’s Garden

Every spring, I always sow micro- During winter, I purchased some

My latest addition to the garden is
this beautiful petunia called
Queen of Hearts that I purchased
from Mitre 10. It is supposed to
be pink with yellow stripes on the
petals but at the moment, it only
has very small yellow flecks on the
edge of the petals. The plant’s
colouring will change when the
weather becomes warmer. It is
interesting how the colouring can
vary according to the weather.
greens. Our favourite is fenugreek
(methi). The leaves are slightly
bitter but are very good for you.
Fenugreek can be used in cooking
but we tend to eat the young
leaves raw in salads. The other
microgreen we like sowing is cress,
which can be used in salads, sand-
wiches and omelettes. I always
sow microgreens in a foil roasting
tray with holes in the bottom.
polyanthus that were already
planted in containers and were in
flower. I put them in our patio
and they haven’t stopped flower-
ing! Bedding plants bring so much
colour and cheer to borders and
containers. In winter, I like pan-
sies and polyanthus. In summer, I
like petunias, marigolds and be-
gonias. Awapuni have a great se-
lection of bedding plants.

Top 5 gardening tasks for the week

your plants so you know what vari-
1. Sow cucumbers into six-cell punnets. Make sure
eties they are later on. Don’t wa-
there are at least three leaves on
For growing tips, see my article on ter the tubers after you plant them
capsicums, chillies, tomatoes and
page 3 of this newsletter. otherwise they may rot.
eggplants before pricking them
2. Plant rosemary out, otherwise they won’t survive. 5. Plant avocado trees

For tips, see my article below.
3. Pot up seedlings
By now, seedlings sown in August
should be large enough to pot up
4. Plant dahlias It’s now warm enough to plant av-
ocado trees in frost-free climates.
In some places, it is warm enough
They do well in a sunny spot.
to plant dahlias. Make sure you
Stake the trees securely at the
insert a stake at the time of plant-
time of planting to avoid damaging
ing to avoid damaging the roots
the roots later on.
later on. It’s a good idea to label

Herb of the week: Rosemary

Rosemary is essential in a herb
garden. It is a perennial and does
well in a sunny position. It has
beautiful purple flowers which are
attractive to bees. Rosemary pairs
well with roasted meats, particu-
larly lamb. It is also an essential
ingredient in focaccia bread.
Our rosemary plant (see right)
came from Awapuni. You can
grow rosemary from seed, but ger-
mination rates can be low. A few
years ago, I purchased a bulk
packet of seeds and only a handful
germinated. They also take a very
long time to grow, which is why I
recommend starting with a plant.
Rosemary also grows from cut-
tings, so once you have an estab-
lished plant, you’ll be able to prop-
agate more plants to share.
 V O LU M E 3 , ISSU E 1 1
How to grow cucumbers
Cucumbers are a staple in the
summer garden. They are an es-
sential ingredient in summer sal-
ads. Cucumbers are incredibly
easy to grow and are very prolific.
This year I’m excited to be growing
the variety Beth Alpha from
Franchi Seeds (distributed by Ital-
ian Seeds Pronto in NZ)
Tips for growing cucumbers
 Cucumbers can be started
undercover from September
until December. It’s a good
idea to stagger your sowing
for a continuous supply.
 A head pad (or your hot wa-
ter cupboard) will aid germi-
nation.
 Sprinkle a little seed raising
mix (not potting mix or gar-
den soil) into a punnet or
egg carton and sprinkle
seeds. Cover lightly.
 I like to keep my seedlings
in an incubator (mini green-
house) which sit on top of
my heat pad
 Make sure you keep seed-
lings moist. I mist mine
with a spray bottle twice a
day and wipe off the conden-
sation on the incubator lids.
6. Avoid shocking your plants.
When they come off the heat
pad, move them into your
greenhouse before gradually
exposing them to the out-
doors, an hour at a time, in
October. Eventually, build
up to leaving them outdoors
overnight.
PAGE 3
AN IT A’S G AR D E N
They are mainly made up of water.
Cucumbers contain protein, fibre,
vitamins and minerals.
Ideas for using cucumbers
 Salads (my favourite being
Greek salad and Thai beef
salad)
 Tzatziki
 Raita
 Pickled
Homegrown cucumbers
 In sandwiches (the best be-
7. Prick out cucumber seed- ing club sandwiches with
lings and pot them up into cream cheese)
individual pots when they
have developed two leaves  Cocktails
and have grown a bit.
 Soup (for example, gazpa-
8. Get into the habit of liquid cho)
feeding your plants weekly
with a water soluble plant  Over your eyes as a home
beauty remedy to relieve
food or seaweed tonic if
you’re gardening organically puffiness and dark circles
9. Only plant your cucumbers  Relish
into the garden when it’s
 Crudités
warm enough. Normally,
this is around  Juice
L a b o u r
Weekend. “Cucumbers are a staple in  Sushi
C uc um ber s the summer garden. They
can also be are an essential ingredient  Tacos
planted in in summer salads”
November  Nourish
and December for later crop- bowls
ping.
 Ice blocks
10. Plant your cucumbers in full
sun.
12. Water your plants regularly.
Depending on where you
live, you may be on watering
restrictions, so this may
mean using a watering can
if you’re at Level 1
(Auckland at present).
13. Keep an eye on your plants
every day and harvest cu-
cumbers as they become The mini cucumber Iznik from Eg-
ready. mont Seeds
Nutrition Have a great weekend
Cucumbers are low in calories. Happy gardening!