Advice. Ideas.
Inspiration
Anita’s Garden
Volume 3, Issue 42
Useful Links Editorial
Webpage
Blog Welcome to the forty second issue of
my newsletter for Volume 3.
Newsletter back issues
I hope you are all well. I can’t believe
Facebook it’s already May! Where does time go?
May is a busy month in the garden, so
Instagram
I have put together an article on page
Twitter 3 with some gardening tasks for this
month. I have been flat out virtually
Linkedin every day. Recently I have done the
following:
Pinterest
 Planted dutch iris and freesia
bulbs
Contact me
 Planted some stock seedlings in
 Feedback the garden
 Newsletter input  Potted up rhubarb grown from
(tips, recipes, gar- seed into individual pots
den photos etc)
 Planted begonias and pansies
into large plastic terracotta
 To be added to my
mailing list troughs
 Planted some large French
anitakundu.nz@gmail.com
thyme Timo di Provenza I grew
from seeds given to me by Gilli-
an of Italian Seeds Pronto into
9 litre plastic buckets.
Inside this issue:
 Planted Italian parsley, curly
parsley and chives grown from
seed into plastic containers by
P ot te r ing aro u nd 2
Anita’s Garden our washing line
 Ordered more spring bulbs for
Top 5 gardening tasks 2 planting this month
for the week
 Set aside the superhot chilli
plants from which I intend to
save seeds. A little tip is to
News 2
save seeds only from your best
plants and wait for the pods to
ripen completely before remov-
What to do in the gar- 3 ing the fruit and extracting the
den in May seeds
 Obtained early and main crop
7 May 2021
seed potatoes for planting on the short-
est day. I laid them out in seed raising
trays and placed them under our beds
to start chitting (sprouting).
 Purchased some kumara from
the supermarket as it was on
special this week for $3.50 kg.
I’m putting these aside and hope
to obtain slips from them for
planting in late spring. I bury
the tubers (not completely!) in a
little dirt and place them in a
plastic Sistema crate in our
greenhouse with a lid on it. I
recommend checking on it daily
and keeping the mixture moist.
Eventually, sprouts will appear.
Let them grow. By October or
November, you can carefully pick
off the slips and pot them up, so
they form roots.
 Planted elephant garlic. This
year I’ve limited myself to plant-
ing only what survived last year
when my plants were hit by rust.
That left me with just three ele-
phant garlic cloves from a plant
that self-seeded near my roses. I
only planted two cloves as I gave
the other one to my cousin
Shireen, who lives in Whangarei.
Rust is a problem for me and I
am determined to keep the strain
going, so hopefully by sharing
what I have I can achieve this.
Useful links
 Italian Seeds Pronto
 Awapuni
 Bulbs Direct
Kind regards,
Anita Kundu
PAGE 2
Pottering around Anita’s Garden
Our hanging baskets by our wash-
ing line are already blooming! I
only planted these pansy seedlings
in them last month. I grew them
from seeds I purchased from Eg-
mont Seeds and sowed back in
January. They are the variety
Matrix Morpheus. It’s too late to
raise pansies from seed but you
can purchase established plants
from Awapuni, who conveniently
deliver direct to your door.
Top 5 gardening tasks for the week
1. Liquid feed bananas
Your banana trees may still be
producing fruit and will benefit
from a generous liquid feeding eve-
ry week. I recommend using a
seaweed tonic such as Seasol or a
water soluble plant food.
2. Prevent guava moth with
neem granules
News
I’m so excited that Italian Seeds
Pronto are offering the pepper
Friggitello again. This is a famous
Neapolitan sweet pepper which is
suitable for picking when green. It
can be sauteed or added to salads.
At maturity, it turns brilliant red.
I have grown this variety many
years ago and can vouch that this
is a very productive plant, making
it a great addition to the garden.
A NI T A ’ S G A R D E N
The first of our erlicheer have
flowered! I planted these bulbs in
mid-February. It’s not too late to
plant erlicheer (otherwise known
as jonquils). I obtain most of my
bulbs from the mail order company
Bulbs Direct, who offer a very wide
range, high quality products and
friendly and efficient customer
service.
In winter, guava moths bury in the
soil at the base of fruit trees, so
apply neem granules to deter
them.
3. Save seeds from superhot
chillies
Now is a good time to save seeds
from your best superhot chilli
plants.
4. Plant freesias
Bulbs Direct still have some beau-
tiful freesia varieties available this
season. I love freesias for their
fragrance and they make an excel-
lent cut flower. Doubles I recom-
mend include Golden Wave, Blue
Navy and Bloemfontein. Singles
we have grown in the past and
have liked include Golden Melody,
Montana, Blue Heaven and Rose
Marie.
V O LU M E 3 , I S S U E 4 2
These broad bean seedlings are
currently in my nursery. I raised
them for my cousin Daniel who
absolutely loves them and request-
ed more seedlings after I gave him
a first lot back in February. Most
people wait for them to pod up and
extract the beans inside but did
you know that you can also enjoy
broad beans as a whole green bean
if they’re harvested when they’re
young?
I highly recommend getting your
bulbs from Bulbs Direct, who have
a lovely selection (see below)
5. Pamper your mother this
Sunday
If your mother loves gardening,
why not take her out for lunch to a
café at a garden centre? She can
enjoy browsing all the plants and
other goodies afterwards.
Awapuni have a great promotion
on this week. Grab a regular bun-
dle of blue cornflowers for just $4.
This deal is valid online only until
9 am 10 May 2021 or while stocks
last.
Perfect timing for Mother’s Day.
This week Awapuni also have gift
vouchers on special for 10% of the
usual price!
 V O LU M E 3 , I S S U E 4 2
What to do in the garden in May
May is a busy month in the gar-
den. It marks the end of autumn.
It is still warm enough to plant
seedlings, although it’s best to pur-
chase established plants rather
than to try and propagate them
from seed.
Plant veggie seedlings
It’s not too late to get all your fa-
vourite winter veggies in the gar-
den if you haven’t already done so,
but don’t leave it too much longer
or the cooler temperatures will
make it harder for them to get set-
tled in. You can plant the follow-
ing: broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower,
kale, lettuce, mesclun, rocket,
spinach, silverbeet, spring onions
and leeks.
Plant herbs
Any herbs you raised from seed in
summer should be ready to be
popped into the garden or planted
in containers. At the moment, I’m
planting French Thyme Timo di
Provenza in buckets that I raised
from seeds the lovely Gillian of
Italian Seeds Pronto gave me last
year. This is a lovely fragrant va-
riety and will definitely be on my
list of herbs to grow next season.
Plant flowers
May is a great month to plant bed-
ding annuals in containers. I re-
cently finished planting begonias
in large plastic troughs along the
pathway to our front door. It’s
interesting because I always asso-
ciated them with summer, but I
keep seeing them in punnets and
as potted colour in garden centres
at this time of the year. I have
had them in the garden over win-
ter in the past and in my experi-
ence, the leaves only tend to go a
bit discoloured if frosts are severe.
Otherwise these tough plants will
keep flowering throughout the
cooler months.
Plant spring bulbs
May is the last month for planting
PAGE 3
A NI T A ’ S G A R D E N
spring bulbs. It may be that you Tend to weeding
haven’t gotten around to it yet or
Now that there’s a bit of rain, it’s
like me, you’ve planted some and
amazing how quickly weeds grow!
would like to put more in. For the
I like to do a bit of weeding every
best selection, highest quality and
now and then to keep on top of it,
fantastic customer service, you
so it doesn’t become too much of a
can’t go past the mail order compa-
chore.
ny Bulbs Direct, who I get most of
my bulbs from. They still have a Save seeds from your superhot
great range, but don’t leave order- chillies
ing any longer!
Superhot chillies only really seem
Plant strawberries to get going in autumn, which is a
shame because by then it is start-
Commercial growers put their
ing to get cooler. Set aside the
strawberry plants in this month,
plants you want to save seeds from
which indicates that May is a good
and make a note not to pick the
time for planting them. The
developing chillies from those
ground is a lot cooler, for one
plants. I also made sure that all
thing. Strawberries need some
my plants are correctly labelled,
time to settle in and form strong
which makes it easier when pick-
roots before they start flowering
ing chillies to save seeds from.
and fruiting in spring. Be sure to
mix lots of compost into the ground Liquid feeding
prior to planting. I like to lay out
my tunnel hoops (over which I Although liquid feeding is some-
drape bird netting when the ber- thing that is typically associated
ries ripen) at the time of putting in with spring, I have found that it is
the plants, as it gives me a frame- beneficial year round. I recom-
work to work within. I also like to mend using either a seaweed tonic
sprinkle a little slow release ferti- such as Seasol or a water soluble
liser formulated for plant food with a
strawberries at the good NPK ratio.
“May is a busy month in
time of planting to the garden. It marks the
get the plants off to Lift dahlias
end of autumn. It is still
a good start. Re- warm enough to plant It’s best to wait
member to water seedlings, although it’s until all the foli-
plants well, too. best to purchase age dies before
Plant garlic established plants rather lifting your dahl-
than to try and propagate ias for storage
You can plant garlic them from seed” over winter, as
in May and June. the leaves contin-
Good seed garlic is ue to feed the
hard to source these days due to plant. Lifting them prematurely
issues with rust, but I highly rec- will result in poor flowering the
ommend the varieties that comes following season. It may be that
from Bulbs Direct, who should this is a task you can’t do this
have stock available on their web- month, however much you may
site later this month or next. Gar- want to. Our Penhill Watermelon
lic is a gross feeder, so prepare the dahlia is still flowering its heart
soil well, mixing in plenty of com- out, so it certainly won’t be lifted
post and sheep pellets beforehand. anytime soon. Make sure your
I like to also sprinkle some bulb dahlias are labelled to make it eas-
fertiliser into each hole before ier to identify them later on.
planting. A few weeks before you
plant your garlic, start separating Have a good weekend
the cloves of your seed garlic .
Happy gardening!