Central’s Tips

February 2023

The winterless north has now become the summerless north and so gardeners have a few hurdles to overcome in the aftermath of Auckland January floods. We offer some advice here -

The fruit and vegetable garden

• Splitting tomatoes – this is usually a symptom of lack of water, but also occurs when there is too much rain. Remove the split ones as soon as they occur and cook into a delicious pasta sauce. Leave healthy tomatoes on the vines a few days to soak up the sun and increase flavour

• Rotten strawberries? Time to send them to the compost heap! This year strawberry plants have put on lots of leafy growth because of the rain, and that is hiding the strawberries that need to ripen. Gently lift the stems of unripe strawberries to lie on top of the foliage to get exposure to the sun turning them red and juicy

• Leaving vegetables and fruit on the plants a little longer when there’s sunshine will improve fruit flavours and make them less ‘watery’.

• Potting and Garden mixes will have depleted nutrient after the recent deluges. Topdress with controlled release fertilisers or take an organic approach by liquid feeding with Aquaticus Garden Booster

• What’s bugging the plants after the rain? Larger colonies of snails than usual, so go to war on them. Plenty of whitefly in sheltered humid areas. Use an organic pesticide such as Bugtrol for broad spectrum control, but it will need to be repeated weekly. Spray very early before bees are active

The ornamental garden

• Plants that cope with intense water, but can be just as happy in dry periods are the old reliables such as daylilies, Peruvian lilies (alstroemeria), large shrubby salvias and some grasses – NZ Oi oi, NZ Carex virgata and Carex secta, ornamental miscanthus

“Either the Board will accept our application without the need to publicly call for expressions of interest from other parties for the reserve, or it will approve the application subject to possible interests from other groups,” Hurdley says.

Once the club has final Council approval, it will call a special meeting of all members to discuss and vote on the planned move.

In 2021, the club unveiled plans to build a $7.5 million bowls facility, which would include a social club, three fully covered greens, parking and a sky bar – a raised viewing platform with a bar area running between the two playing areas.

The club has been on its current site for 100 years and hopes the sale of the land will finance the new build.

• Dahlias are the modern craze – these plants will go on flowering right through autumn if kept watered, staked and deadheaded

• Softwood cuttings of camellias, fuchsias, eriostemons, and lavenders can be struck now. There’s nothing more satisfying than free plants. YouTube offers great ‘how to’s’ on propagation by cuttings

• Hand weeding is easier than it’s ever been at this time of the year because the soil is so soft. Do it now so the desirable plants fill the spaces

Beef Hotpot

2 onions

300g carrots

1kg potatoes

450g minced beef

2 beef stock cubes

400g can baked beans splash of Worcestershire sauce handful of roughly chopped parsley

Cut each onion into eight wedges. Roughly chop the carrots and cut the potatoes into large chunks. Put the kettle on.

Heat a large non-stick pan, add the mince and fry quickly, stirring all the time, until evenly browned. Crumble in the stock cubes and mix well. Add the prepared vegetables, stir them around, then pour in 900ml/1½ pints of hot water from the kettle. Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes, until the veg are tender. Stir in the baked beans and a generous splash of Worcestershire sauce and heat through.

Taste and add salt and pepper if necessary. Scatter over the parsley, I love my Herb Scissors for this cuts it up nice and fine, then ladle the hotpot into bowls. Put the Worcestershire sauce bottle on the table in case anyone fancies a bit more spice

Great to freeze.