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OILY
RAG
INDEX
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Send in your gardening saving tips.
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Gardening
off the smell of an oily rag
Bugs
- Place crushed eggs at the base of plants, on top of leafy
greens to avoid being munched/sabotaged by slugs/white
butterflies/caterpillars. They don't like the feeling
of sharp bits under their bodies so you may be able to go a
whole season without a half munched garden. - A-OS,
Wellington.
- Forget about buying expensive netting to protect your
strawberry plants from greedy birds! Go to your nearest 2$
shop and buy a couple of lengths of Christmas tinsel and
drape them around your plants. I did just that and have just
eaten the most perfect, juicy berries ever! - Emma,
Auckland.
- Instead of expensive sprays to protect your brassicas try
potting up mint and placing the pots in and around your
young plants. The cabbage white butterflies do not seem to
like mint at all and stay away. Just don't plant the mint in
your garden direct or it will take over. - Canny Scot,
Christchurch.
Cabbage
- If requiring a small amount of fresh
cabbage at a time, simply cut a wedge from the cabbage and leave the
rest growing. - B.P.
Cauliflower
Cauliflowers.
Years ago I cut the cauli out and forgot to pull out the
plant. Months later I discovered at least 6 had grown up
from the original root, and in diminishing size, each
produced a cauli! In due course, more grew from those roots,
and 6 months later another crop of caulis. It is a fun
thing! I suggest you dig deep and dig in peelings, compost
fertiliser, in a sunny sheltered spot and plant one cauli.
When the older ones die, I cut them out being careful not to
disturb the roots, and from the same spot, every six months
or so, lo! Six or so caulis! - Ann of Whakatane.
Compost
-
I have a tip that may make people a little queezy. I collect
dead possums and rabbits from the roadside and place them on
a wire rack (a fair distance away from my house!). I put a
large bucket underneath to collect the maggots as they drop
off the carcass. I then feed them to my chickens. They love
them! After the
maggots have had their fill, and my chickens theirs, the
remains go into my compost bill. - Joanne, Kaitaia.
-
I always had a problem composting, till at a night class I
was told to simply wrap peelings etc in newspaper and put in
the compost. The
newspaper provides carbon and so balances the green
nitrogenous waste. -
Glenn, Wellington.
-
Compost. To date I
can't put my veges in but all the agrapanthus/leaves now
noxious weed. I cut off the green leaves and add to my
compost. We have
tons of it here as well as Ginger which is excellent for the
compost heap. Don't
forget to layer with brown vegetation. This will speed up
the break down. On top
of that seaweed, some soil, and also use as mulch around
your trees/plants. - R.W., Tekaha,
Opotiki.
-
When planting my strawberries I have given them a mulch of
wet shredded paper from my shredding machine. It matts
together nicely keeping light out to prevent weeds and I
should have nice clean strawberries to eat. Makes use of
your old bank statements too. Or your advertising junk is
very colourful when shredded. Will break down eventually and
feed the worms helping the soil. - Canny Scot, Christchurch.
-
If you have the space available, a great place for
collecting your kitchen scraps is in the top draw! If your
cutting board is above a utensil draw, move these utensils
and create a compost draw. Of course you will need a plastic
container to put the scraps into. A long shallow dish works
best(similar to a kitty litter tray) but whatever fits. We
are using a old ice cream container at the moment. My mum
taught me this. So handy when tidying up the left overs on
the cutting board - open draw and sweep in. Does need to be
cleared regularly so scraps
don't end up jamming against the top of the draw. Also helps
to line draw with newspaper in case of any spills... Hides
the unsightly piles of scraps in the corner of your kitchen
as well. (My other half has taken to using newspaper to line
the plastic container as well to save him rinsing
constantly.) - T.B., Palmerston
North.
- I have four round black plastic compost
bins. I fill these with the household scraps and clean garden weeds. When
bin 1 is full, I start bin 2, etc. By the time bin 4 is full, bin 1 is ready
to use. If there is any uncomposted material in the "using bins",
transfer it to one at the far end of the line. It will eventually break
down. – G.B.
- To
make rich compose, place lawn clippings, weeds and other
garden waste into a big black plastic bag (such as a big
garbage bag). Seal the bag and leave. Turn it once a week an
after three months you will have good garden compost.
- Getting rid of Cutigrass. We
have the misfortune of having almost a dozen of these huge
weeds in our garden. After much pondering I decided to chop
down around the base & leave them to decompose. Instant
mulch. Not only has it covered some bear ground &
stopped numerous other weeds from taking hold, it has also
provided valuable humus on a steep clay bank as it breaks
down. No poisons, some effort but free compost. - S.P.
Fertiliser
- A dead electric
kettle/jug is good for watering plants and giving them
liquid fertiliser. The kettles with a gauge that tell you
how much water is in them are particularly useful if you're
mixing liquid fertilisers. Also, if you know how much water
a particular plant needs you can mark the water gauge with a
permanent marker pen (eg Sharpie) and/or write a list on the
kettle (eg "Venus fly trap 500ml weekly"): this
avoids overflows. A kettle with a small leak is fine if
you're using it outdoors. The kettles that have a detachable
cord usually use a common type that will fit other
appliances, so they're worth keeping (especially if you have
a habit of melting kettle cords!). -Boaz,
Auckland.
- Instead of buying blood
and bone for your Garden, get a Fisherman's heavy duty meat
grinder (Burly Maker) and Grind up the bones to use as
fertiliser. Dry the bone meal in the oven as you cook your
next Roast, or just dig it straight in. - TXMA,
Glenfield.
- Don't throw away your plastic milk
bottles. When they are empty fill with cold water. Place lid on and
shake. There is a good milky residue. Use the contents to water your pot
plants. It acts like a pick me up. My African daises thrive
as do my many other indoor plants. It saves you from having
to buy costly fertilisers. - D.B.
General
-
After
years of dirty nails and hands after gardening I recently
discovered that if I put disposable vinyl gloves on then the
knit type gloves on top - my hands remained wonderfully
clean, and the disposable gloves lasted a considerable time.
- N.W., Waverley
-
On my 1/8th acre
section I have a feijoa hedge, raspberries at the borders,
and apple, nectarine and lemon trees. Herbs in a small above
ground garden by the back door beans and peas climb up
fences on wire mesh. Asparagus in a plot and yams in an old
barrel as they spread into anything. Plus a small plot for
cabbage, broccoli, red onions, carrots, parsnips cauliflower
plus many more seasonally. I plant veges that are more
expensive to buy and live well. - Grandma C, Christchurch.
-
We
have a decent sized vegetable patch, with raspberries,
strawberries and blackcurrants under netting. We have a row
of coppicing gum trees (which means they regrow after being
cut at the base) for firewood, lemons, apples, plums,
walnuts [which we trade for hazel nuts and almonds), sweet
chestnuts, feijoas and peaches all help, and our three hens
lay up to 10 eggs a week (which means a couple have a day
off!]. Various herbs can be found amongst the flowering
plants. - H M K, Waipukurau
- We have just moved into a rental in Auckland and heard from
our neighbours that last summer the landlady charged the last
tenants a lot for 'summer water rates.'
We want to avoid any drama with unexpected
unaffordable fees and have arranged with the landlady to
attach a big plastic drum under the vertical spouting pipe
coming off the the garage.
It will be easy to fix together when we move out and
its another great water source for our garden. - Cat,
Auckland.
- Small garden and greens all winter. Silverbeet (perpetual)
(chard to some) if planted
about mid summer is just huge before the winter stops
it growing but before it bolts into seed. The leaves are so
big that on leaf feeds one person for greens. And continuous
picking lettuce also lasts all winter if planted about mid
summer or later the secret is to plant say a month apart so
that both silver beet and continuous picking lettuce are at
their best as the first frosts come and they last most of
the winter. 4 meters of garden plot feeds two for most
greens all winter. - Kay Edgecumbe, Christchurch
- Why complain about the
high price of parsnips, carrots, leeks and silver beet in
the supermarket when growing even a few winter vegetables is
so easy and much cheaper. One packet of seed or one punnet
of seedlings plus the fertiliser is less than one kilo of
vegetables on sale. Winter vegetables require fewer sprays
and big killers than summer ones. - Dorothy, Whangarei.
- If you lack gardening knowledge, do so some research. Go and
ask the elderly – grandparents, neighbours, oldies groups
and how to go about it. -
Dorothy, Whangarei. - Dorothy, Whangarei.
- A large section is not necessary. Some vegetables like
leeks, silver beet and lettuces can be popped in among the
flowers. A dog or cat is less likely to scratch them.
- Dorothy, Whangarei.
- A use for old guttering: board up the ends and fill half with spagnum moss and
then soil on top. Plant
out with parsley which will grow nicely even over winter.
Probably can do little lettuces too. -
Glenn, Wellington.
- Broken ceramic and earthenware pots? Knock them into small
pieces and use as drainage material at the bottom of tubs or
in soil. Larger shards of colourful glazed pots can look
very effective when used to accentuate borders in flower and
vegetable plots. - Thirties
Depression Baby, Auckland.
Garlic
-
Garlic
is impossibly easy to grow.
Don't plant supermarket bulbs as they are sprayed so
they don't sprout. Go
to your farmers market, garden centre or friendly neighbour.
One bulb will produce 10 or more the next year and so
on and so on. We
had over 150 this year.
It also keeps the bugs down in the garden.
We're always giving them away! - M C Geisser,
Invercargill.
Greenhouse
- A cheap "glasshouse". I made mine by purchasing
clear plastic shower curtains (Kmart seems the cheapest and
Bunnings the more expensive) and attaching them to the
inside of my balcony with curtain hooks. Apart from the
easterly breeze which blows them around, have managed to
keep my plants warm and sprouting nicely. - Trixie,
Christchurch.
Herbs, basil
- Another basil tip. The basil in a pot that you can buy at
the supermarket is not a single plant but a cluster of about
20 seedlings. Choose
one with lots and then plant them out in the tunnel house or
a sheltered corner of the garden. Much cheaper than buying a
pack of basil plants at the warehouse or garden centre. - Allie,
Nelson.
- When you are harvesting basil, as well as making pesto,
freeze some leaves in very small plastic bags.
They will last all year in the freezer. Just take one
out, crumble it (while it is still crunchy) into pasta
dishes. It keeps all the fragrance and flavour of fresh
basil. - Allie,
Nelson.
Kids gardens
- When my grandchild was a preschooler and I looked after her
during the day, we spent many long hours in the organic
veggie garden One thing Emma
wanted to do was to grow something herself, by her
self We chose the silver beet that we purchased, then Emma
planted, them watered them & cared for them Now I am
thrilled to say that she will go down to the garden, pick
the leaves, wash them & above all loves to eat her
silver beet. All you Nannies give it ago!!!!! - Nannie
Suzanne, Okere Falls -Rotorua.
Lawns
- Use a
push mower instead of a petrol driven mower. They are
cheaper to buy, cheaper to run, create no pollution, and
will keep you fit.
Planting
& propagation
- Seed propagating kits from retailers are so expensive, and
you can easily make your own. Save flat, shallow plastic
trays (the black plastic trays used to sell sausages and
mince in are perfect) to use for the base/saucer. Grab an
old cardboard egg tray (the ones that hold 30 eggs) and cut
it to the size of your plastic meat tray, so that it fits
nice and evenly inside the tray....and voila! seed
propagating kit. Instead of going about the finicky business
of watering fragile seeds, you simply fill the plastic tray
instead, and the cardboard egg tray will constantly absorb
water from the plastic tray, keeping the soil and the seeds
evenly moist. I use this technique to get a head start on
the season, placing my home made seed kits in an old, unused
vehicle, which acted like a greenhouse. You can also use old
plastic bags, put the seed kit inside and leave in a sunny
location, but be sure to open for a brief period daily to
let the germinating seeds breathe.
Also, I have used the hot water cupboard with great
success, to germinate seeds. Thumbs up to all the other
comments, fantastic kiwi "number eight wire"
attitude. love it!- K.O., Mahia.
- Use broken up polyurethane packing in the bottom of your pot
plants. it keeps them warm and is lighter when you need to
move your large pots. - Denis, Opotiki.
- Recycling milk cartons are great for potting up seedlings.
Cut in half with knife, trim bottom corners with scissors
for drainage. Ready to go, Plants should be removed when
ready to plant as plastic coating doesn't breakdown. - M.T.,
Dunedin.
-
My
husband is growing ALL our garden veges from seed.
He has found a useful way of using 2 litre milk
bottles as seedling pots.
He cuts it halfway up, fills the bottom with soil,
then cuts the top into 4 divider slots & slots them in.
We use every container, yoghurt pottle, plastic
bottle, polystyrene container we have coming out of our
house.
And best of all, they are reusable. - A Hume, Wairoa.
- Making a seed propagator is quite easy, any container with
drainage. Just sow seeds, water and bend some wire in a
hoop, then cover with gladwrap. This should act like a mini
glasshouse. - Trixie, Christchurch.
- Being a "keen as mustard" type of Oily Ragger I
decided to build a large raised garden in the paddock next
to the house with enough room, I thought, to grow enough
veges to feed an army, to lower the food bill and generate
some nature time and of course a great excuse to get a bit
grubby! - which I in later months had to double in size and
am at present thinking about a bit more room! After hours of
begging, borrowing etc a certain gardening magazine, and
armed with my rather tatty Yates guide, I was prepared to
sow my first seed and did so in the egg cartons I had
ferreted away for my project of the year.
After the third seed sowing expedition I ran out!
"Help a world wide egg carton shortage" I
thought - then remembered that these are sold in the
millions at shops so someone should have some.
Promptly putting on my thinking cap I begged and
bribed, with fresh veges, my friends and family to get more
but alas this was not meant to be by the fifth sowing that
is - I had cleaned everyone out!
Given that we have our own chocks things were looking
rather grim on the egg carton front!
When all else fails "google it" and that
was when I found that I could fold up and make paper pots in
a number of ways. Ah-ha!
A good way to use up newspaper, non-shiny pamphlets,
photocopying paper, invoices, statements, phone bills,
electricity bills etc - you name it I have a seed sown in
it. Once the
seedling has formed it's first set of real leaves these can
be hardened off and planted into the garden with - like the
egg cartons and toilet rolls - no disruption to the precious
root system and the pot will disappear very quickly so the
plant can grow through and establish it's self to help me
pay for the egg cartons that I traded for veges!
So I now look forward to getting my junk mail and
bills as all I can see is the food that they will start.
All I need now is a gardening guru on tap - seen as I
am a relatively beginner gardener and wished I had listened
more to Nana and granddad when it came to what is what and
why this and that happens! But as always any help is
gratefully received and recycled!
Also a seedling in a paper pot is great to give as a
living gift ready to go into your recipients garden - no
waste and if you save seed from the previous year very, very
cheap. I put together
a "house warming" pack for a young family which
had paper pots folded, home made seed raising mix in a
couple of ice cream containers, 5 packets of self collected
seed complete with growing instructions and some hand made
row labels to finish it off. - Keen as Mustard, Rural
Palmerston North
- Place seeds such as
peas, beans, luffa, etc in warm water for two days then
plant. We are having a gardening competition so we are
looking for ideas like this. We will be judging in December
and taking a bus around to see all the gardens. - Manawahe
School, Whakatane.
- If planting large seeds like beans, use the
inners of toilet rolls, part fill with seed mix, put in the seed and top up.
You can get about 12 of these to stand up in an ice cream container. And in
due course plant out the whole tube. No transplant shock. The cardboard will
rot away quickly. – G.B.
- Go to an organic shop.
Purchase lentils, chick peas, haricot beans (navy) etc and
come home and pop them in punnets. They will grow for you,
Plant them in the gaden as normal and harvest when ready. -
K.S., Morrinsville.
Plant
markers
- Be sure to write the name
on the lower part of the label as well
as it won't fade so quicly underground. - P.J.H.,
Waverley.
- Next time you think
about throwing out your old ice cream boxes cut them into
strips and make little plant markers with them. Make sure
you use a waterproof marker when writing on them. - Canny
Scot, Christchurch.
Plants
- When the milk bottle is
emptied fill with cold water with lid on shake well, and use
the residue on all your plants. If you have a fish tank,
when emptying save the water for pot plants etc. These hints
work well - you don't have to buy plant food. - D.M.
-
We had no luck growing capsicum from packeted seed so
brought a fresh capsicum, scooped out the seed and planted
that fresh and Walah -
lots and lots of plants. - K.S., Morrinsville.
-
Keep you packets of seeds in the bottom of the fridge in a
container and they will stay useable for years. I once grew
carrot seeds that were 5 years past the use by date. - K.S.,
Morrinsville.
Potting
mix
-
Reuse potting mix safely .I fill a 3 ltre plastic ring basin
with the old mix (moist) and give it 12 minutes
on high in the microwave. Give it a stir at about 10
mintes. I test with my big thermometer
and if
its reading over 90 degrees so all the nasties have
been zapped. If
you don't have a
suitable thermometer give it 15 minutes in the microwave
to be sure. This
is much better than fresh potting mix for sowing seeds in
just as it is . But
for planting out plants some slow release fertiliser needs
to be added. - P.J.H.,
Waverley.
Raised
gardens
- Re-use old tyres available for free on Trademe to plant trees in if you have
waterlogged soil. Cut the centre
out using a short bladed strong knife. The
roots love the warmth and seem to grow well. I
use 4wd tyres that have fairly soft rubber easier to
cut. You stack two tyres on each other and fill
with dirt you cut the part out that would usually hold water
if you left it in so in effect you just have a rubber wall
around the dirt.
- P
Medland, Marton.
Seeds
-
When
raising seedlings, put old tea bags in a dish of water and
sprinkle or place your seeds on top. When they shoot and
grow up a bit, transplant them to potting mix in raising
cups with tweezers from your wife's manicure set (while
she's out!). This way you definitely get only one seed per
cup. - Shane Dumbell, New Plymouth.
-
Save seeds from supermarket or market purchased vegetables. If
the seeds are moist such as tomato, pumpkin etc, space them out
onto handitowels or toilet roll sheets. Write the date and
variety on the paper. I love checking out farmers markets for
unusual varieties of vegetables that contain seed to grow. You
get to have your cake and eat it too! I always have small
ramikins on my kitchen windowsill to scoop seeds into when
preparing meals. Once dried you can roll up, wrap in tin foil
and store for the next season. When planting time comes simply
unroll and lay onto a seed raising container ( cut paper to size
if required) and cover with another layer of potting mix. Plants
will grow well spaced. - Jules,
Napier
Silver beet
- I grow silver beet -
however don't always eat it all. I also had a problem with
the plants going to seed as I didn't pick it fast enough.
Now I just pick and chop up and freezing in bags works
nicely. Bags can also be reused. When I cook I just put the
frozen silver beet in.- Rocky, Napier.
Slugs &
snails
-
To keep slugs and snails away from newly planted seedlings,
just make a small flat container out of tin foil and put 3
or 4 slices of cucumber on it. The cucumber and tin
foil together seem to give off an unnoticed smell that slugs
and snails don't like. I put a couple of little holes in the
bottom so they didn't collect rainwater. We
have a raised garden about 2 1/2 x 3 meters and I used 3
small containers about 12 x 9cm approx.
- Trish, Tauranga.
-
Save on slug pellets etc. I cut the bottom off a two litre
bottle of milk or soft drink and put it over any new plants
until they are big enough for them to take off. Also they
grow faster, after coming out of the hot house. Slugs and
snails do not climb them – B Cassey, Te Puke.
-
Stop wasting money on
slug pellets, they don't work, slugs don't even like them.
save your eggshells , dry them in oven ,crush and sprinkle
round the plants you want to protect. Snails will not cross
them. They break down and benefit the soil too without
chemicals. P.S. I tried the newspaper tip but caught no
snails. - Canny
Scot, Christchurch.
-
We
want to share a wonderful moneysaver I stumbled on. I
crushed a piece of newspaper and shoved it among plants to
save going to the house. Next morning I recovered and in it
were 20 slugs of all sizes. I was so excited I put more
crumbled paper around the plants. By the following morning I
had 110 slugs. Prior to this I used expensive slug pellets
that didn’t seem to work. Crumbled paper is the answer.
It’s a plant and money saver. - P.M.
Spinach
- Grow NZ native spinach vine plants. They are a little known
vegetable, it is a vine that is really fast growing,
provides huge volumes, keeps weeds down and incredibly
delicious. Simply pluck the leaves from the vine and it
continues to sprout.3-4 plants will easily keep a family fed
for the winter. It grows all year round and is idiot poof! -
Jules, Napier
Tomatoes
- Every one has left overs and they go in the fridge and come out a week later
when you are growing tomatoes and taking a lot of laterals
off and you forget your gloves and have tomatoes on the vine
and you have lots of green on your hands from working with
the vines take one or two tomatoes and squash them between
your hands it will remove all the green of your hands we did
this when i worked for someone picking tomatoes commercially
so i know it works. - Tui, Thames.
- One can grow tomatoes inside.
Transplant seedlings, when need be put in a warm sunspot
& you've got a plant growing! - P & J Funnell
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