5 minutes with... Tammie CarpenTer

Business Owner of MultiDig & TC Developments

 Are you a dog or cat person?

Dog, love having cuddles on the couch & walks with our fluffy little dog Snoopy.

 My friends would say I am…

Super organised, loves to chat, a good listener and hopefully fun.

 The best advice I ever received was?

Don’t sweat the small stuff (still learning this one).

 What would you buy if money was no object?

A bach.

 Local coffee haunt?

Streetwise Coffee Cart in Springlands.

 Favourite takeaway?

Indian.

 The shop you can’t walk past is...? Augustine.

 What’s the most thoughtful gift you’ve ever received?

Mother’s day cards from the kids.

 Where is your happy holiday place?

Gold coast or camping in the caravan.

 Favourite programme or series currently watching?

The Royals on Netflix.

 What’s one thing on your bucket list?

A road trip on Route 66.

Gardening currently: By Wally Richards

It is certainly interesting times we are living in and also some gardening problems to overcome. Recently I went looking for some vegetable seedlings and seed packets of vegetable that I wish to add to my gardens at this time.

I was after cauliflower seedlings to grow and harvest in winter and some onion seeds to sow now.

I had to visit several gardening places before I found the items I required.

This means that a lot of people have woken up to the fact that fresh produce in the supermarkets are several times dearer currently than they would normally be in March.

In fact in March there should be a glut of cheap fruit and vegetables available from spring and summer crops. There isn’t.

The supermarkets are now starting to import vegetables that are normally available in abundance from NZ growers.

Imported produce is much more expensive than local grown hence if you are paying $5 for a small cabbage now soon you will be paying $10 or more.

I was talking recently to a check out operator at local supermarket who was saying there are several customers that are not at all friendly, nowadays.

I can understand why, people with limited money for buying food can’t afford all the groceries that they are used to buying; their budget just does not stretch that far. Hence they can be grumpy and even a bit nasty to the supermarket staff.

The same people are in a Catch 22 they don’t have the money to grow their own produce and/or don’t have land that can be used for gardening.

Readers of my columns are good gardeners, in the main, and even if on a budget they are able to grow a reasonable amount of their own food which is not only a big saving but also much more healthy for us gardeners.

There are problems that are currently happening and one of these is as I found; a shortage of seeds and seedlings in many gardening outlets.

Cabbage and cauliflower seedlings I have purchased recently have caterpillar eggs on the leaves and if you don’t rub them off they will be eaten alive not too long after planting.

So check leaves for the little lightly yellow eggs and rub them off before you plant.

I use Wally Neem Granules when I plant cabbages etc a little in the bottom of the planting hole and more on the soil surface by the seedlings.

This has a very good control of the caterpillars and even though I have caterpillar eggs on my plants and holes on the leaves there is not any caterpillars on the foliage.

The holes are made by hungry birds not caterpillars.

It is even worse on my silverbeet which young seedlings I planted have either disappeared or they have damaged foliage.

More mature silverbeet will likely have a lot of leaf damage from birds feeding.

The best way to keep birds off silverbeet and brassicas is to use what I call Crop Cover or what shops call, Bug Mesh.

Either laid loose over crops or supported over crops with hoops made from ridged plastic irrigation pipe or number 8 wire.

The crop cover is good for many seasons and will keep birds and just about all pests off your crops including neighbourhood cats. Old curtain netting could be used instead of the more durable crop cover.

When you buy vegetable seedlings look for the smaller, fresher ones not the over grown ones which have likely been stressed and will go to seed prematurely. Even if you take them home to grow on a bit to make handling easier, then do so.

First thing I do when I get punnets home is plunge them into a bucket of water that I have thrown some sheep manure pellets into some time ago.

I hold them down into the liquid manure and watch them bubble away.

This not only gives them a good soaking of the mix but some natural liquid food as well. Let them drain and place in full sun till you are ready to plant them. Water as need be in the meantime and prior to planting plunge them into the bucket again.

Seedlings will pull apart better when the mix is wet and they have ample wet mix on the roots when you plant. After planting give them a watering with the hose to bed them in.

Then you can put your crop cover over them if you are going to use this method.