Advice. Ideas.

Inspiration

Anita’s Garden
Volume 4, Issue 25 25 March 2022

Useful Links Editorial

Webpage

Blog Welcome to the twenty fifth issue of
my newsletter for Volume 4.
Newsletter back issues
I hope you have all had a good week.
Facebook
By now, your autumn garden is hope-
Instagram fully taking shape. Here is some in-
Twitter spo from one of our autumn gardens a
few years ago. I can’t remember ex-
Pinterest actly which month the picture was
taken. I think it might have been a
bit later than March.
Contact me
Don’t forget that herbs can also be
grown in containers. Infact, I have no-
ticed that they sometimes do even bet-
ter in containers than in the ground.
Here is an oregano plant that I grew
from seeds kindly given to me by Gilli-
an Hurley-Gordon, the owner of Italian
Seeds Pronto.

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 Newsletter input
(tips, recipes, gar-
den photos etc)

 To be added to my
mailing list
anitakundu.nz@gmail.com

Inside this issue: Blog

This week, I continue my series on
page 3 about Italian Seeds Pronto’s You can read my gardening blog here.
marvellous range of veggie seeds for
autumn and winter sowing. Social media
P ot te r ing aro u nd 2
Anita’s Garden
If you’re running short on space, don’t I have a Facebook page called Anita’s
forget that you can grow many au- Garden and maintain an active Insta-
tumn and winter veggies in contain- gram account, too.
Top 5 gardening tasks 2 ers, including lettuce. Here is some of
our Mesclun Misticanza di Lattughe, Collaborations
for the week
which is in the Italian Seeds Pronto I have the following collaborations:
range.
 Italian Seeds Pronto
Collaboration news 2
 Awapuni

 Bulbs Direct

Italian Seeds Pronto: The 3 If you are interested in collaborating

autumn garden Part III with me, please get in touch by email.

Have a great weekend.

Anita Kundu
PAGE 2
Pottering around Anita’s Garden
About a month ago, I planted
some pansies in containers to
brighten up our patio. They were
quite large plants in big 6-cell
punnets and in flower when I pur-
chased them. Since then, they
have grown considerably and
started blooming.
Some tips for growing pansies
 Pansies make great bedding
plants. They are also ideal
Top 5 gardening tasks for the week
1. Sow brassica seeds
I have written a guide to growing
brassicas from seed on page 3.
2. Plant herbs
You can plant parsley, coriander,
chives, oregano, sage, thyme, mint
and many others.
3. Plant cosmos
Collaboration news
Italian Seeds Pronto have all of
the brassicas that I have featured
in the article on page 3 in stock
right now. Broccoli Calabrese is
$7.80 and contains 7g//1,200 seeds.
Cauliflower Romanesco is $8 and
contains 4g/1,000 seeds. Cauli-
flower Macerata contains 4g of
seeds and is $8. Black Tuscan
Kale is $7.80 and contains 8g of
seeds.
A NI T A ’ S G A R D E N
for borders and in containers
 Always fill containers with
potting or container mix, not
garden soil
 Use a scoop of slow release
fertiliser in each container
 I don’t bother using water
storage crystals or a wetting
agent such as Saturaid at
this time of the year as the
weather is cooler and there
is more rain
 For maximum impact and
no gaps, plant pansies close
together
 Pansies planted in contain-
ers will need to be watered
more often than ones plant-
ed in the ground
I have just planted some Apricotta
seedlings which I raised from seed.
I am excited to see how this fares
as I am growing it for the first
time. Cosmos is a great bee and
butterfly magnet.
4. Photograph dahlias
In some years, dahlias are past
their prime by now but ours are
just taking off! I have been
Bulbs Direct still have a great
range of peony (double flowering)
tulips available. Some of my fa-
vourites from last year include
Verona (yellow), Orange Princess,
Red Princess, Renown Unique and
Columbus. They look stunning
planted in clumps and in bouquets.
Some varieties such as Menton
Unique and Double Price have al-
ready sold out so be quick!
V O LU M E 4 , I S S U E 2 5
 To keep the display looking
fresh, you can deadhead
flowers ie pull off the spent
blooms. This will also en-
courage further flowers
 Keep plants healthy by liq-
uid feeding them with a wa-
ter soluble plant food or sea-
weed fertiliser such as Sea-
sol every week
 Enjoy!
uploading photos to my Instagram
account. Make sure you keep your
own record so you have something
to look back on during the winter
months
5. Plant spring onions
I started growing mine in large
containers a few years ago to save
space and found they actually do
much better.
Awapuni have a great range of
brassicas available if you want to
get a head start this season.
Choose from Broccoflower Alverda,
Broccoli, Broccoli Precoce, Brussel
Sprouts, Cabbage Golden Acre,
Cabbage Hybrid, Cabbage Savoy,
Cabbage Spring, Cauliflower, Kale
Cavolo Nero and Kale. Plants are
$5.99 per bundle.
 V O LU M E 4 , I S S U E 2 5
Italian Seeds Pronto: The autumn garden Part III
Over the past two weeks, I have
been covering the range of autumn
and winter veggies in the Franchi
Seeds range, available through the
NZ retailer Italian Seeds Pronto.
So far, I have covered lettuce, mes-
clun and rocket in Part I and spin-
ach and silverbeet in Part II. This
week, I cover all of the brassicas
which I will be growing this sea-
son.
Broccoli Calabrese
This is a quick growing variety
which will mature in 60-80 days
from planting. If left in the
ground, it will form side shoots
which will grow back again after
harvesting.
Broccoli Calabrese
Cauliflower Macerata
This is a bright lime green variety
which forms a compact head. It
will mature in around 90 days
from planting. It keeps its colour
when cooked. Gillian Hurley-
Gordon, the owner of Italian Seeds
Pronto, suggests making a winter
tabbouleh with lots of parsley,
mint and pomegranate seeds.
Cauliflower Macerata
A NI T A ’ S G A R D E N
Cauliflower Macerata and Broccoli
Calabrese
Cauliflower Romanesco
This is sometimes known as Broc-
coli Romanesco but Franchi classi-
fy it as a cauliflower. It is light
green in colour and has long green
pointed heads that spiral into a
point. It has a sweet, nutty taste.
Seed packets are 4g and contain
approximately 1,000 seeds.
Black Tuscan Kale
This is a staple in our winter gar-
den. It is a dark green colour that
turns almost black when cooked.
Tuscan kale is more tender than
other types so baby leaves can be
eaten raw in salads.
Black Tuscan Kale
plants in our garden
“Weeds
plants
try to
them”
Homemade kale chips
PAGE 3
Tips for sowing brassicas
 At this time of the year I
advise using a greenhouse,
cold frame or even a mini
greenhouse made of a plas-
tic crate with a lid because
dampening off can be a
problem if seedlings are left
outside to germinate
 Always use seed raising
mix, rather than potting mix
because the finer texture
makes it easier for seeds to
germinate
 Prick out seedlings when
they are big enough and
transplant them into 6-cell
punnets or seedling trays
filled with potting mix
Tips for growing brassicas
 Brassicas can be planted
throughout autumn and
winter
 If putting in plants from
May onwards, I suggest pro-
tecting them with a cloche
made by cutting a milk bot-
tle in half and placing it
over the plant. This will
offer protection from frosts
which might kill young
seedlings
 Don’t forget to protect young
seedlings from snails and
slugs
 Brassicas benefit from liq-
uid feeding weekly. I recom-
mend using a water soluble
plant food or sea-
weed fertiliser
compete with such as Seasol
for nutrients so
keep on top of  Weeds com-
pete with plants
for nutrients so try
to keep on top of
them
Have a great weekend
Happy gardening!