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Showing 1171 - 1200 of 1608 comments

Celery 15 Apr, Bob Bradley (New Zealand - temperate climate): What diseases affect celery and what steps can one take to avoid attacks.
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Celery 15 Apr, (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Celery is susceptible to various fungal diseases which cause the stems to go brown and rot so keep the beds weeded to allow good air circulation. Fungal problems can also be caused by overhead watering and heavy rain. You can't control the rain but ensure celery is planted in an open, sunny spot with good airflow, Good soil and balance in your garden planting to provide food sources for beneficial insects such as ladybirds, hover fly and damsel flies will control aphids, etc that turn up. Any 'daisy' type flowers are good beneficial host plants
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Onion 11 Apr, nik (New Zealand - temperate climate): I planted 50 red onion seedling last year and they all split into 3 or 4 more like shallots, so after 6 months I gave up and pulled them out What went wrong ? there is no red shallot variety is there?
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Onion 11 Apr, John (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Onions are like daffodils and other bulbs in that they will grow extra bulbs as a form of multiplication. This can be caused by planting at the wrong time of the year for the variety. Check this on the seed packet and plant accordingly. Sadly nurseries sometimes sell 'out of season 'plants that look good. Tomatoes are a classic example with many plants sold after a few sunny days in late Winter or Early Spring. Trust this helps.
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Pumpkin 10 Apr, Raymond (New Zealand - temperate climate): I am retired and live in Masterton and would like to grow pumpkins for a little extra income.My father grew triable variety in New Plymouth.Can they grow down here. Thanks
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Pumpkin 11 Apr, John (Australia - sub-tropical climate): You should be able to grow pumpkins successfully in Masterton. About four years ago a little chap (3) from Masterton won the biggest pumpkin competition run by Mitre 10. To get a good start plant the seeds in toilet paper cylinders filled with potting mix and kept on a sunny windowsill. You could start them in mid-October ready to plant out in early November. Plant the cylinder as well to save any root disturbance (it will rot). Triamble is a great old variety. If you can get seed of 'Queensland Blue' it will probably give you a higher net yield per plant at an average of 17 kg. Properly ripened pumpkins always sell well. Try pubs, restaurants, etc. All the best.
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Pumpkin 25 Apr, Raymond (New Zealand - temperate climate): Many thanks for your helpful comments
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Pumpkin 02 Oct, Heather (New Zealand - temperate climate): Hi. A friend once gave me a triable pumpkin, it was firm when cooked and very tasty. He said that they take a long time to mature
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Beans - dwarf (also French beans, Bush beans) 06 Apr, carol o'shea (New Zealand - temperate climate): I have done several plantings of dwarf beans this past summer - green, yellow and purple varieties. The returns have been poor to say the least - perhaps 6 beans per plant if I am lucky. What am I doing wrong, if anything? It has been my first season of gardening in Tauranga and I'm told the weather has been somewhat abnormal but even so I would expect better than this. They have been grown both in the open ground, in varying situations and in planter troughs, also in differing locations, i.e. facing in different directions. Any help would be appreciated.
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Beans - dwarf (also French beans, Bush beans) 27 Dec, Scott McMillan (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate): Hi Carol, 1: Have the plants been getting plenty of hours of sunlight, ie not shaded by other plants and well spaced apart? 2: Do you water regularly early morning? 3: Did you pick the beans early to encourage further production? 4: Was the soil prepared at all or do you use compost, worm tea or the like? 5: Any pest problems? 6: Do you mulch? Hope this helps Regards Scott
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Beans - dwarf (also French beans, Bush beans) 11 Apr, Nik (New Zealand - temperate climate): dont worry it wasnt you this has been the worst growing season I have ever had cold wet spring followed by cold wet spring followed by cold wet summer means plants took ages to get going or died off (happened twice!!) and then I had to start again this applied to everything except I got 8 large pumpkins instead of 1 the year before I live in "sunny" nelson so the rest of NZ had no hope !!! Consider this your 1 in 10 year disaster year also consider planting one of each in a corner somewhere and saving the pods ( pick them when dry and brown and dry) for next years seed, the different colours of bean should grow equally well though you can also get purple and yellow climbing beans but yellow is a bit miserable compared to bush yellow plants good luck
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Tomato 05 Apr, Aloese (New Zealand - temperate climate): I have small tomato plants growing up now everywhere in my garden. Can they still produce fruits or it's the waste of time and get rid of them?
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Tomato 07 Apr, John (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Unless your area is frost-free they are not likely to survive. We have them coming up in our garden because of a warm Autumn but the first frost will finish them.
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Zucchini (also Courgette, Summer squash, Baby marrow) 05 Apr, Aloese Lefono (New Zealand - temperate climate): Can they still grow and produce from April on?
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Zucchini (also Courgette, Summer squash, Baby marrow) 07 Apr, John (Australia - sub-tropical climate): By April, zucchinis and other members of the Cucurbit family (pumpkins, cucumbers, etc will be starting to die off. You may get a few more days that will ripen some of them but you are probably better to remove them and plant cabbage, cauliflower, etc or prepare the soil for broad beans. Check the page for your climate zone for other things to plant.
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Zucchini (also Courgette, Summer squash, Baby marrow) 09 May, Katherine (New Zealand - temperate climate): I am in Tauranga and still have zeeks growing. Yellow variety. This is the plant that really keeps on giving.
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Burdock (also Gobo (Japanese Burdock)) 04 Apr, Claire (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate): Hi Lanya, Some on-line suppliers have burdock
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Carrot 03 Apr, Catherine (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate): Thank you. My soil is very free draining and deep as it is on a hill and has sands with it. I will plant next season's carrots where this season's peas were.
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Chilli peppers (also Hot peppers) 02 Apr, Greg (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate): I use tomato fertilizer and it works well for me.I grow chilli in pots inagreen house.
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Chilli peppers (also Hot peppers) 30 Mar, Guy (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate): What fertilizer are people using in New Zealand? I see a lot of sites recommending a 10-10-10 or a 5-10-5, most of NZ fertilizer seem to be high nitrogen.
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Chilli peppers (also Hot peppers) 31 Mar, (Australia - arid climate): I use this in temperate Queensland. General all round fert for garden and lawn. Bit low in P but I add a bit more. Go to a farmers fert depot and ask. Buy a 25kg bag, a lot cheaper than shops. $25 for 25 kg at the moment. In a shop 3x the price the other day for 3 kg. CROP KING 88. The fertilizer name. N-P-K-15-4.3-11.3. These indicate that it contains 15% nitrogen, 4. 3% phosphorus and 11. 3% potassium. The forms in which the nutrients are present are indicated in the following table: 15% Nitrogen (N) Ammonia form 4.1% Phosphorus (P) Water Soluble 0.1% Phosphorus (P) Citrate Soluble 0.1% Phosphorus (P) Citrate Insoluble 4.3% Phosphorus (P) Total 11.3% Potassium as Muriate of Potash (i.e. the chloride form) 13.6% Sulphur (S) as Sulphates 48.5% The remaining 51.5% is made up of elements such as hydrogen, oxygen and carbon that are part of the chemical compounds that contain the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium nutrients.
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Chilli peppers (also Hot peppers) 31 Mar, John (Australia - temperate climate): Maybe I am biased but I wouldn't use chemical fertilisers like you mention as they destroy soil life. Healthy soil teeming with soil life is the answer. Build your soil up with old manure, compost and any organic matter and 'numbers' won't be necessary.Use crop rotation starting with a leaf crop after you have added manure, etc to the soil. When the leaf crop is finished plant a fruit crop (beans, capsicum, tomatoes zucchini, etc), then finally a root veg crop. Re-fertilise the soil ready to start the cycle again. plants need more than N-P-K and organic matter will achieve this, building up the soil life, increasing the capacity of the soil to hold water, increasing disease resistance and making more micro-nutrients available to your plants. adding some lime in late autumn or winter will also help. Trust this helps.
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Carrot 28 Mar, Kate (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate): I sow carrots every year but since living near the sea most of my biggest carrots split. I can make soup of the split carrots as they are tender but that is all. I do not put them in manured areas although I generally have grown a green crop in the winter and have it well dug in before I sow. Should I save an area from the green crop?
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Carrot 30 Mar, Jack (Australia - temperate climate): Splitting carrots in fruit and vegetables is generally an indicator of too much water suddenly. The skin of the fruit or vegetable that is affected can't handle the increase in water intake and will split. I have seen tomatoes, carrots, apricots, capsicums and oranges affected. In your location extra rainfall can't be controlled so ensure that drainage is good. Fresh manure causes forked and twisted roots as the decomposers working on the manure can damage the growing root tip causing it to fork. A leaf crop followed by a fruit crop (beans, tomatoes, etc) then a root crop is a good rule of thumb to follow.
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Potato 25 Mar, Rod Cooke (New Zealand - temperate climate): Can I plant potatoes now- if not why not
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Potato 13 Jul, (New Zealand - temperate climate): Planting a crop is about planting at the right time for germination (soil temperature) and then the right air temperature for growing the crop. Then consideration should include hot or cold weather, likely hood of heavy rain, possibility of frosts. It is just not a case of I will plant something when I want to.
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Potato 27 Mar, Ken (Australia - temperate climate): Potatoes will not tolerate frosts so if you get frosts delay planting till after the last frost. If you are in a frost-free area their is no reason why you couldn't plant them anytime.
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Potato 23 Mar, euan cooper (New Zealand - temperate climate): what type of potato are in nz
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Potato 24 Mar, (Australia - temperate climate): If you contact Tui Seed Potatoes they have a list of available 'certified virus free' potato seed available, New Zealand Potatoes and Eurogrow also have potatoes where you could get a list of varieties available in New Zealand. They are suppliers to farmers and resellers but could direct you to retail outlets.
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Pumpkin 20 Mar, Barbara Sharp (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate): Hi, there are pumpkins in garden with big flowers, about 7 crab apple size fruit on each of 5 trailing stems. In Dunedin, what care do they need to produce good fruit.. ie reducing amount of stems, reducing fruit on stems, mulching etc. Have lots of healthy green leaves, have kept them watered and off the ground on boards. Thanks for any advice you can offer. Last year possums got to my only beautiful pumpkin just as it was ready to harvest, so need to cover them this year!! Thanks Barbara
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