Advice. Ideas.

Inspiration

Anita’s Garden
Volume 3, Issue 21 11 December 2020

Useful Links Editorial

Webpage

Blog Welcome to the twenty first issue of
my newsletter for Volume 3.
Newsletter back issues
I hope you have all had a good week.
Facebook
This week, I’m going to write about
Instagram the ethnic varieties I am growing in
Twitter our garden.
Linkedin  Coriander Picante and Slow
Bolt
Pinterest
 Long hot chillies
 Long eggplant (Asian Bride,
Contact me Dok, Purple Comet, Farmers
Long Purple, Ho Chi Minh,
 Feedback Megadok, Ping Tung Long,
Pink, Pink Supreme, Purple
 Newsletter input
Judy, Tsakoniki, Violetta
(tips, recipes, gar- Lunga)
den photos etc)
 Round Eggplant (Prosperosa,
 To be added to my
Tonda Bianca, Listada de Gan-
mailing list dia, Florence Round Purple)
anitakundu.nz@gmail.com
 White eggplant (White Delight,
White Star)
Tips for growing ethnic veggies
and herbs
 Don’t plant too early. Typically
these varieties are heat-loving
and need the warmest possible
weather in order to thrive
 Choose a sunny site (ideally your
sunniest position)
 Prepare the ground well before
planting. I like to mix in lots of
compost, sheep pellets and gar-
den fertiliser beforehand
 Some varieties do well in pots,
such as chillies, eggplants and
okra
 Leave enough space between
plants as they need some room
 Water well regularly
 Liquid feed weekly with a water
soluble plant food or seaweed
tonic such as Seasol.

 Malabar Spinach (aloobati)  Harvest fruits as they become

Inside this issue: ready to encourage further fruit-
 Moringa ing

 Okra Burgundy, Emerald  At the end of the season, you may

P ot te r ing aro u nd 2 Green and Millionaire wish to save seeds from your
Anita’s Garden plants for future seasons.
 Snake Bean Dark Green
Useful links
Top 5 gardening tasks 2  Snake Bean Dwarf
for the week  Italian Seeds Pronto
 Snake Bean Orient Wonder
(long beans)  Awapuni
Herb of the week: Holy 2 
 Snake Bean Shanboo Bulbs Direct
basil (Tulsi)
 Snake Bean Taiwan Five Have a good weekend.

How to grow bitter mel- 3  Snake Bean Yard Long Runner Kind regards,
on
 Snake Bean Yulin Green Anita Kundu
PAGE 2
Pottering around Anita’s Garden
All of this goodness came from our
garden—potatoes, carrots, beet-
root, leeks and radishes. Mum
has been making yummy meals
with produce from the garden
while I have been working outside.
Top 5 gardening tasks for the week
1. Plant melons
It’s not too late to plant watermel-
ons, rockmelons and honeydew
melons if you haven’t already done
so. Make sure you give them your
sunniest spot in the garden.
2. Sow okra
If you haven’t already sowed okra
it’s not too late to sow seeds for
transplanting later on.
Herb of the week: Holy basil (Tulsi)
Holy basil is native to Southeast
Asia. It is also known as Sacred
basil or Tulsi. It is used in Hindu
culture and Ayurvedic medicine.
Holy basil is a common ingredi-
ent in Thai cuisine and is also
used in tea. It aids digestion and
supports the immune system.
Holy basil is very nutritious and
contains Vitamin A and C, calci-
um, zinc, iron and chlorophyll.
A NI T A ’ S G A R D E N
Our Degli Ortolani lettuce from
Franchi Seeds (distributed by Ital-
ian Seeds Pronto in NZ) is doing
well in a container. This is cos
lettuce as its very best. What is
great about this variety is that it is
a cut and come again type of let-
tuce, meaning you pick what you
need rather than having to harvest
the entire lettuce. It does well in
both the ground and in containers.
3. Sow lettuce
You can sow more lettuce for
planting during the hottest sum-
mer months but when planting it
make sure it is in a shady position
to protect it from the sun.
4. Water plants regularly
Water frequently and deeply to
keep plants hydrated. If you’re on
watering restrictions make sure
It can also help reduce your blood
sugar.
Holy basil needs higher tempera-
tures than normal basil in order to
germinate and grow, so it’s a good
idea to sow it a bit later than you
would regular basil. You can ei-
ther sow seeds into a punnet filled
with a little seed raising mix and
transplant the seedlings later, or
sow it directly where you want to
V O LU M E 3 , I S S U E 2 1
A wee throw back to our garden in
spring. I love how lush and green
everything looks at this time of the
year. I’m particularly proud of our
leeks. I have never mastered the
art of growing large leeks before
but this time I planted them in
August. By October, we were har-
vesting enormous leeks! You can
purchase high quality leek seed-
lings from Awapuni.
you respect these to help conserve
water and avoid getting into trou-
ble with the council!
5. Buy special petunias
There are many special petunia
varieties available. This year I’m
growing the Queen of Hearts and
Night Sky. If you’re after the reg-
ular varieties, Awapuni have a
fantastic range in stock and I’m
growing some of their plants, too.
grow it. Sow and plant holy
basil in a sunny position. It’s a
good idea to enrich the soil
with compost and fertiliser
first, but holy basil will toler-
ate poor soil Holy basil does
well in containers, which is
ideal if you’re short on space or
are in a cooler climate. Keep
your holy basil plants well wa-
tered (but don’t overdo it).
 V O LU M E 3 , I S S U E 2 1
How to grow bitter melon
Bitter melon isn’t for every one.
As the name suggests, it is bitter
in taste. However, it is also very
good for you. Bitter melon is wide-
ly used in ethnic cuisine.
Tips for growing bitter melon
 Bitter melon is easy to prop-
agate from seed or you can
purchase plants to put in.
 The seeds have a hard coat-
ing. I like to soak the seeds
overnight to improve germi-
nation rates.
 Sprinkle the seeds in a pun-
net or egg carton (I prefer to
use the latter) filled with
some seed raising mix and
cover lightly. Don’t use gar-
den soil.
 I usually raise bitter melon
in October and find myself
using a heat pad to aid ger-
mination. If you’re sowing
bitter melon in December, it
may not be necessary to do
this. In that case, just leave
the punnet outside in a pro-
tected, sunny place and
keep moist.
 When the seedlings have
germinated, allow them to
grow a bit and carefully
transplant them into indi-
vidual pots. I like to wait
until they have grown a bit
more before doing this.
 Don’t plant bitter melon out
until at least mid-November
or early December, when the
temperatures are warmer.
 Select a sunny site for grow-
ing your bitter melon.
 Bitter melon is a vining
plant and is ideal for grow-
ing vertically. It needs some
support, so grow it against a
trellis which it can cling to
as it grows.
 Prepare the ground well
before planting. I
PAGE 3
A NI T A ’ S G A R D E N
recommend mixing in lots of com- Tip
post, sheep pellets and garden fer-
To extract the bitterness from bit-
tiliser beforehand.
ter melon, soak it in salt water
10. Water your bitter melon before cooking.
deeply at the time of plant-
Ideas for using bitter melon
ing and regularly thereafter.
Depending on where you  Stir-fries
live, you may be on watering
restrictions, so this may  Sautéed
mean using a watering can
if you’re at Level 1  Soup
(Auckland at present).
 Salads
11. Get into the habit of liquid
feeding your bitter melon  Omelette
weekly with a water soluble
 Stuffed
plant food or seaweed tonic
if you’re gardening organi-
 Curries and stews
cally, to encourage flowering
and fruiting  Juices
12. Harvest fruits as they ma-  Smoothies
ture on the plant to encour-
age further fruiting.  Paired with eggs
13. At the end of the season,  Pickle
you may wish to save seeds
from your plants for growing  Chutney and relish
in future seasons. To en-
 Chips
sure the purity of the seeds,
it’s best to  Roast
grow only one
variety so “Bitter melon isn’t for  Sweet and
they don’t every one. As the name sour karela
c r o s s - suggests, it is bitter in
pollinate. taste. However, it is also  In puri
very good for you”
14. If you can’t  In daal
get through
your bitter melon all at  Kebabs
once, it can be stored in the  Pakora
fridge until you can use it.
 Served with a black bean
Nutrition
sauce
Bitter melon is low in calories and
 Served with chicken or beef
high in vitamins and minerals. It
is especially rich in vitamin C,  Frittata
which helps prevent disease and
aids bone formation and wound  Tacos
healing.
 Raita
Bitter melon is of particular inter-
est to diabetics, as it lowers the  With scrambled eggs
blood sugar.
Have a great weekend
In addition, it may have caner-
fighting properties, can decrease Happy gardening!
cholesterol and aid weight loss.