All recent comments/discussion

Showing 121 - 150 of 1577 comments

Taro (also Dasheen, cocoyam) 08 Apr, (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate): Maybe just cut the dead ones off.
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Luffa (also Loofah, plant sponge) 01 Apr, Jurgen (New Zealand - temperate climate): Also koanga gardens sells luffa seeds
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Kale (also Borecole) 26 Mar, Frank Williams (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate): Eating Kale flowers I had a period where there was not much to eat out of the garden and everything was going to seed, especially the Kale. So time to get creative... what I learnt was that the Kale flower stems, before the flowers emerge, make an excellent dish. Colourful, tasty and with such a nice texture on your plate. They are also good after the flowers emerge, but the early flower stems are best. Try it, I think you'll agree...
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Sweet Potato (also Kumara) 14 Mar, Malcolm (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate): I have grown a large bed of kumara in a school garden. The entire bed is covered in healthy top growth. But I can't feel any tubers when I lift up a section of top growth. I'm interested in the comments on pulling up runners, although I may be too late now, in mid-March. Do I just hack away at the long vines, cutting them back to where they enter the soil. Or am I wasting my time, since we are about a month from harvest?
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Sweet Potato (also Kumara) 09 Apr, Will (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate): No, you are not wasting your time growing them. Even if there are no tubers, the top leaves can be harvested. They are commonly harvested & eaten in the Philippines. Steam them. They commonly used them with raw tomatoes, in their summer.
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Sweet Potato (also Kumara) 15 Mar, Mike Logan (Australia - sub-tropical climate): In sub tropical Australia where I live, they grow them in rows. The rows are hilled up about 1/2m high and the slips are planted in the top of the hill. A slip is the last 200-300mm of the vine when they are about 10 weeks old. Plant the slip with the top part out of the ground, Keep soil moist until they start to grow. Your problem is you probably have over fertilised with nitrogen. Go by the time to harvest guide here if you don't have a crop by say 4mths then you probably won't. The potatoes will be around where you planted the tube or runner not along the vines.
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Strawberry Plants 09 Mar, Susan Marseglia (New Zealand - temperate climate): Hi there, I have moved into a new property with strawberry plants. How do i care for them as i presume its the end of the season ? Do i cut back all the leaves / stems ,and have read that i can cut off the runners but what do you do with them? Can they be stored over winter somehow and replanted? Any advice greatly appreciated thanks. novice gardener
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Strawberry Plants 11 Mar, Judy Lewis (New Zealand - temperate climate): Depends how old the plants are. Strawberries produce well for 2-3 years and then need to be replaced. If they look healthy - no black spot etc - then keep them for another year. Trim off any dead leaves and side-dress with compost. If there are runners, wait till they are firmly rooted in the ground before separating them from the mother plant. Any time from now, these new plants can be dug up and replanted where you want them. I have six rows, and each year, the first two rows are removed, and two new rows replace them on the other side of the bed, never in the same place.
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Strawberry Plants 11 Mar, Anonymous (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate): I live sub tropical Queensland Aussie. The commercial growers here plant new plants (runners) in mid April. So leave your plants alone until then. Prepare new ground now to put the new runners into in April.
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Strawberries (from seeds) 26 Feb, Dayna (New Zealand - temperate climate): I carefully took some seeds from a strawberry I purchased at a market. I never grown before but thought, I'll give it ago. The seeds are so tiny that I really didn't bury them, just placed on the top of the soil and gave a light water, this allowed the seed to move down into the soil, but not too deep. From memory it took about 5-6 weeks for anything to show. I thought, this is not working but decided to leave them alone, keep putting them on the window sill in the sun & kept them moist. Eventually a tiny little green stem appeared, yeah!. They were very slow to grow at first, but as soon as they have a few leaves on them there growing sped up, I put out side for an hour a day then back onto the window sill. I just re-potted all 8 plants into larger pots using just potting soil and sheep pellets. I've just put them outside in the full sun and will keep them moist. Hopefully they will continue to grow ready to be planted out onto our new property up north, at the end of this year. Gardening can be experimental and so rewarding, not to mention therapeutic, just have fun and try anything as you might just get lucky. I can't believe I've waiting this long to grow strawberries. All I can say is just give it ago, and with strawberries, just be patient.
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Strawberries (from seeds) 20 Mar, Jody Thomas (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate): I found a load of self sown strawberry plants (not runners) growing in my garden the year after I planted my heritage strawberry plants. They bushed up well but the leaves were smaller than a regular strawberry plant. They had tons of tiny, skinny strawberries; the taste was pleasant but more pungent than a regular strawberry but the texture was pulpy. I still scoff them whilst working in the garden. I would be inclined to make jam etc from them as they wouldn't be flash in a dessert...however, if its all you have they are still a good (if different) flavour and I am sure they have a good nutrient profile as they are very dark red and they are free!
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Strawberries (from seeds) 25 Nov, Aaron Haymes (New Zealand - temperate climate): I read that you should cut the flowers off in the first season to let the plant grow so perhaps that's why the fruit was small.
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Strawberries (from seeds) 05 Mar, Gretchen Brown (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate): Hi , loved reading your strawberry growing journey . I’m interested to know how you got the seeds ready to plant . Did you extract them from the strawberry with tweezers ? They’re so tiny . Did you dry them ? I would love you to talk me through the process . Thanks v much
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Strawberries (from seeds) 30 Apr, Cate (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate): Gretchen, I used a veggie knife to slice a thin layer of the strawberry - like peeling an apple - which gave me the skin with seeds attached. Put these on a paper towel and leave in a warm sunny place (I used a shelf in my greenhouse) for a few days. When the fleshy layer has dried, you can just hold it over a container and push the seeds off. Then put them in an envelope or plastic bag (sealed), and then in a paper bag or some other light-blocking method. Put in the fridge for 4 weeks. After that, remove the package from the fridge, and leave unopened on the bench for 24 hours (this is important). Then you can sow them.
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Tomato 20 Feb, Debbie (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate): Hi I live in Central Otago and have a variety ot tomato plants that have flowers but no fruit. Am I wasting my time, will they produce fruit & ripen?
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Tomato 31 Mar, Wendy (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate): I find the shorter growing tomatoes like early girl do much better - anything longer than 8 weeks seems to only just have fruit at the end of the season and then no time to ripen
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Tomato 22 Feb, Anonymous (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate): It says plant spring/summer, give them time to grow.
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Sweet corn (also corn,maize) 14 Feb, Julia (New Zealand - temperate climate): Hello I planted corn glass gem and because I had a few gaps in the plot I planted about half again with sweet corn. It has been 15 weeks since planting on 25oct and they are tall but the cobs and not cobbing very much. They seem immature. Is this perhaps as I planted the two types?
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Sweet corn (also corn,maize) 04 Mar, guggerlugs (New Zealand - temperate climate): When I plant sweetcorn seed I usually plant a few more than needed if you have failures they are readily transplanted then you can fill the gaps, if they all germinate if you leave a bit of space at the edges you can shift them there.Don't plant too many but plant batches about 4 weeks apart if you have the space then you won't get over run with corn my third crop is just forming tassles now as we finish the last few cobs.
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Sweet corn (also corn,maize) 22 Feb, Anonymous (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate): Did you over plant the plot? Corn needs to be spaced as the directions say and it needs to be well watered and fertilised. Plants that germinate later than some can be left behind and not grow well, small thin weak.
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Sweet corn (also corn,maize) 17 Feb, Celeste Archer (Canada - Zone 7b Mild Temperate climate): I'm not certain - but when I read your post the first thing that came to mind was a Boron deficiency -- corn likes boron the same way that sunflowers like boron. From the net a study of corn and boron results: It was concluded that: (1) a lack of boron can cause blank stalks and barren ears; (2), the supply of available boron must be continuous; and (3), the critical level of boron in the upper leaves appears to be in between 11 to 13 ppm. I suspect you can apply boron the same way you would to sunflowers (though I am not certain)-- from the net for sunflowers: When the plants are 30cm (12) tall, dissolve 5ml (1 tsp) of borax (for boron) in 350 ml (12 fl oz) of water and spread the solution over 5m (15′) of row. Be careful not to over-apply this solution.
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Cape Gooseberry (also Golden Berry, Inca Berry ) 10 Feb, B Welch (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate): I plant the public road fences of my farm with various edibles. Our Cape Gooseberrys are dropping fruit on the ground, some of which I assume will grow. I intend to drill holes about 3m apart, 150mm deep, just to loosen the clay, then push a whole fruit in, and cover with 10mm of clay, hide it from birds etc. I know that sounds rough, but it's a lot of planting, so I'd like to keep it simple. what are my chances? What extra must I do? Slow release fert? Thanks B.
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Cape Gooseberry (also Golden Berry, Inca Berry ) 06 Mar, Kiwi Permaculture Beginner (New Zealand - temperate climate): Just wondering if you tried your drill method for planting up your fences with cape gooseberry (or anything else for that matter) & what your results have been like?
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Cape Gooseberry (also Golden Berry, Inca Berry ) 17 Feb, Celeste Archer (Canada - Zone 7b Mild Temperate climate): Clay soil is a massive topic, I suggest you read a few articles - here is a very positive one: https://www.provenwinners.com/learn/dirt-dirt-clay -- like the article states your soil is probably loaded with nutrition, water is the real issue; the way clay soil gets water logged and heavy. The standard rule of thumb with clay soil is: load it up with organic matter (manure, leaves, kitchen compost, etc.). You can just LAYER these on the soil. Additionally, choosing plants that tolerate/like clay soil -- I think the hardy kiwi can tolerate this soil as well as American Persimmon, osage oranges and lots of other plants. They have online plant finders that can help you isolate which plants have the highest probability of success. One thing I did notice when working with heavy clay soils was that plants take a lot longer to establish and grow. I suspect I wouldn't make the effort to plant anything other than plants that are specifically listed as clay tolerant -- you have to go right down to the type of plant: for example: OSAGE oranges not just any oranges .... but maybe all oranges can tolerate clay... you need to check by the type.
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Cape Gooseberry (also Golden Berry, Inca Berry ) 11 Feb, Anonymous of Bundaberg (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate): You need better soil than clay. It is like anything, the better the preparation the better the result. A shovel load of good soil will have better results.
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Tomato 29 Jan, Ash (New Zealand - temperate climate): I sow tomatoes in Nov. the tomatoes are still green. Should I leave them on the vine and let them ripen indoors?
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Tomato 31 Jan, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Just let them ripen - it takes awhile.
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Beans - climbing (also Pole beans, Runner beans, Scarlet Runners) 14 Jan, Midhun (New Zealand - temperate climate): Hi I’ve planted scarlet beans this year and they were growing good and producing good numbers of beans but after few days the leaves started turning yellow and the plant is dying very quickly, any one know what is the problem here? Thanks
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Beans - climbing (also Pole beans, Runner beans, Scarlet Runners) 24 Jan, Anonymous (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Check for bean fly grub in the stems. I dont grow beans in Autumn for that reason, grow mine in Spring
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Watermelon 06 Jan, Jen (New Zealand - temperate climate): Can I grow watermelons in Christchurch or is it too cold
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Showing 121 - 150 of 1577 comments

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