Advice. Ideas.
Inspiration
Anita’s Garden
Volume 4, Issue 44
Useful Links Editorial
Webpage
Blog Welcome to the forty fourth issue of
my newsletter for Volume 4.
Newsletter back issues
I hope you have all had a good week.
Facebook
Gardening tasks for August
Instagram
 Place seed orders if you haven’t
Twitter already done so
Pinterest  Purchase and chit seed pota-
toes. I have written an article
with tips for growing potatoes
Contact me
on page 3
 Feedback  Start kumara slips undercover
 Newsletter input
 Plant strawberries if you have-
(tips, recipes, gar- n’t already done so
den photos etc)
 Wash plastic punnets and pots
 To be added to my with a little bleach diluted in
mailing list
warm water to kill any germs
anitakundu.nz@gmail.com before they are reused in spring
 Remove the writing on plastic
plant labels with a little house-
Inside this issue: hold cleaner (I use Jiff) so they
can be reused
 Keep on top of weeding. They
P ot te r ing aro u nd 2 will grow in spring but putting
Anita’s Garden
in some work now might make
the task easier later on. In any
event, the garden will look tidi-
Top 5 gardening tasks 2 er and you will feel better!
for the week
 Later this month, you can start
sowing seeds undercover. I per-
sonally like to start with the
Collaboration news 2 ones that take ages to germi-
nate, such as begonia semper-
florens (bedding begonias)
 Check on any dahlias that are
Tips for growing pota- 3 being stored daily for signs of
toes rot and diseases, including gall.
I spritz mine with a water bot-
tle to keep the tubers moist. If
they dry out and shrivel up,
5 August 2022
they won’t be viable anymore.
 Plant asparagus crowns. Bulbs
Direct will be getting them in
stock soon. A more economical
way is to propagate asparagus
from seed. It is very easy to grow
and it only takes an extra year as
opposed to starting from store-
bought crowns. Italian Seeds
Pronto stock a lovely French
heirloom variety called Argen-
teuil that reminds me of what I
saw in the markets in France
when I used to live there years
ago
 Order summer flowering bulbs,
including dahlias, begonias and
gladioli. Bulbs Direct have a
great range available on their
website
Blog
You can read my gardening blog here. I
have recently written a post containing
ideas for using bananas.
Social media
I have a Facebook page called Anita’s
Garden and maintain an active Insta-
gram account, too.
Collaborations
I have the following collaborations:
 Italian Seeds Pronto
 Awapuni
 Bulbs Direct
If you are interested in collaborating
with me, please get in touch by email.
Have a great weekend.
Anita Kundu
PAGE 2
Pottering around Anita’s Garden
Our jonquils have been pumping
out blooms since May, after we
returned from our annual holiday
at our bach! I have been picking a
bunch of flowers like this every
week to bring into our home and
enjoy in a vase. There are still
more buds on the plants and hope-
fully many more flowers to come!
Jonquils are extremely hardy
bulbs. They come back year after
year and multiply prolifically.
Top 5 gardening tasks for the week
1. Chit seed potatoes
You can chit seed potatoes in a
cool, dark place for planting in
spring. For tips on growing pota-
toes, see my article on page 3.
2. Start kumara slips
Pop whole kumara in a crate or
box filled with some dirt and keep
it in a warm place. In spring, they
Collaboration news
Italian Seeds Pronto have a great
range of herbs which can be sown
on your heat pad now. Herbs in
the Franchi Seeds range that can
be sown undercover now include
chives, French thyme, marjoram,
oregano, parsley Gigante di Napo-
li, tarragon, rosemary and sage.
Star of the Earth looks very inter-
esting. Capers are also available,
which are difficult to source.
A NI T A ’ S G A R D E N
Our miniature daffodil Sundisc
has produced another flower! I
planted five bulbs in a small plas-
tic trough and they all have buds.
will start to develop shoots, which
will grow into slips you can plant
out in late spring/early summer.
3. Sow begonia semper-
florens seeds (bedding
begonias)
They take ages to germinate and
grow, so be patient!
4. Order seeds for spring
and summer
Bulbs Direct have a lovely range of
gladioli available. New varieties
this season include Plum Tart,
Cantate and Rose Supreme. Did
you know that gladioli typically
take around 90 days from the time
of planting to flowering? For a con-
tinuous display of blooms, consider
staggering your planting. I like to
mix a little bulb fertiliser into each
hole when I plant the bulbs.
V O LU M E 4 , I S S U E 4 4
This bed contains two varie-
ties of ornamental kale,
Crane White and Crane Bi-
colour I raised these plants
from seed in autumn.
Italian Seeds Pronto stock a won-
derful range of Italian heirloom
veggie and herb seeds.
5. Order asparagus crowns
Bulbs Direct normally stock sec-
ond year crowns. Or you can raise
them from seed yourself, which is
more economical. Italian Seeds
Pronto stock the white French
heirloom asparagus variety Argen-
teuil.
Awapuni have a great range of
seed potatoes in stock for planting
in spring! Choose from Agria,
Cliffs Kidney, Llam Hardy, Rocket
and Summer Delight. Awapuni
have a nice range of early, mid-
season and late crop varieties. For
an early, fast maturing crop, I rec-
ommend Rocket. My favourite
main crop variety is Summer De-
light. You also can’t go past Agria.
 V O LU M E 4 , I S S U E 4 4
Tips for growing potatoes
If you’re wanting to plant potatoes
in spring, now is the perfect time
to purchase seed potatoes and get
them chitted so they are ready to
go into the ground when the
weather warms up. Potatoes are a
staple in the kitchen and are really
easy to grow. If space is an issue,
you can always try growing them
in bags or containers.
When to plant
In some areas, it is possible to
plant potatoes on the shortest day
(21st June). The advantage to
planting this early is that the early
varieties are ready to be harvested
in early spring. However, last
year there were some severe frosts
in August and I ended up losing a
lot of plants. This year, I have
decided to hold back on planting
until September. It’s up to you
whether you decide to plant early
but remember that potatoes are
frost sensitive and need to be pro-
tected. You can try using frost
cloth (I recommend draping it over
tunnel hoops and clipping it down
so it doesn’t come into contact with
the leaves and stick) or Vaporgard,
which is a liquid frost cloth that
you spray onto plants. Vaporgard
can be purchased online from Wal-
ly. Beware that if the frost is very
severe, the plants may not survive
even if they are protected.
Before planting
I recommend planting certified
seed potatoes which are sold in
bags at garden centres and from
Awapuni (see photo on the right).
Some gardeners plant sprouted
potatoes from the bottom of their
pantry but the problem is that
they are not disease free, which
certified seed potatoes are, so
there is a bit of a risk.
When your seed potatoes arrive,
take them out of their bags. Mine
arrived by courier and were a bit
damp so I lay them out in some
cardboard boxes to dry for a couple
of days.
A NI T A ’ S G A R D E N
My Summer Delight seed potatoes,
which come from Awapuni
Potatoes ideally need to be chitted
(ie have sprouts) prior to planting.
To do this, lay them out in a box or
tray and store them in a dark, cool,
dry place. I normally lay mine out
in seed raising trays and keep
them under my bed. If you are
planting different varieties, be
sure to label each box or tray so
you know which is which.
Varieties
You can get early, mid-season and
main (late) crop varieties. Some
early varieties mature in as little
as 60 days. Midcrop varieties typi-
cally mature in around 90 days.
Main crop varieties usually take
longer, around 100-150 days. If
you want to store your potatoes,
you need to wait for the tops to die
down and this can take some time.
I like to plant one early and one
main crop variety, so we have a
continuous supply of potatoes in
spring and summer. This year,
the early variety I like, Liseta, was
unavailable, so I am only growing
Summer Delight.
Recommended early varieties in-
clude Swift, Rocket, Liseta and
Jersey Benne. A mid-season varie-
ty I highly recommend is Heather.
My favourite main variety is Sum-
mer Delight, which is very produc-
tive. Other common varieties in-
clude Rua and Agria. You can also
get heirloom varieties such as Pink
Fir and Maori potatoes. I really
like Urenika, which is deep purple.
The potatoes are shaped like yams.
PAGE 3
Planting
Like all root crops, potatoes need
to be grown in full sun, so bear
this in mind when choosing the
site.
Potatoes are gross feeders. I rec-
ommend adding lots of compost,
sheep pellets and potato fertiliser
to the ground prior to planting.
I dig trenches and lie the potatoes
down with the sprouts facing up-
wards.
If you are planting more than one
variety, you might want to insert a
stake at the end of each row with
some flagging tape tied around it,
noting the name of the variety.
Growing
As your plants grow, mound up the
soil around them so that the pota-
toes don’t come into contact with
sunlight. If this happens, they will
turn green and become toxic.
Liquid feed your plants weekly
once they have surfaced with an
organic seaweed tonic such as Sea-
sol.
When they are around the half
way mark, I like to add a side
dressing of potato fertiliser around
each plant.
When the suggested period to ma-
turity for the variety you are grow-
ing approaches, you might want to
have a little feel around the base of
the plant with your hands to see if
the potatoes are ready. This is
called “bandicooting”. If they are
large enough, we usually keep the
plants in the ground for awhile
and harvest potatoes this way, so
the smaller ones can continue to
grow and we can eat freshly dug
potatoes every day.
Don’t keep your potatoes in the
ground for too long or they might
start to turn green or sprout. Dig
them up carefully with a fork.
Good luck!
Have a great weekend