Gardening

from Nelson Magazine - November 2021

Health

Gardening advice with Daltons

We all need a bit of help in the garden sometimes, and the Daltons gardening experts are here to help. NZ family-owned and operated, Daltons have been manufacturing and supplying growing media made from natural and renewable resources to Kiwis and their gardens for over 75 years. Send in your gardening question and you could win a Daltons gardening prize pack! See entry details below.

Tackling fungal disease in tunnel houses

What can I use to clean my tunnel house, without killing all the good things in the soil? My brassicas get a fluffy fungi on the edge of the leaves and planting fresh plants doesn’t get rid of it.

Garden hygiene is always critical when growing vegetables in a tunnel house. In between crops (seasons), make sure you remove finished plants and wash the covering material of the tunnel house (inside) with strong soapy water and/or vinegar. For the soil, take off the top 10 centimetres to help remove any residual fungi that may be present in the topsoil. Replace the soil with fresh Daltons Garden Time Compost and Daltons Garden Time Enriched Garden Mix.

It’s critical to keep refreshing and adding nutrients back into your soil between crops (seasons). Rich organic matter like compost stimulates microbial and earthworm activity. It also improves soil structure and drainage. The Enriched Garden Mix contains added fertilisers and nutrients for healthy veggie production. You also need to check the ventilation to ensure that it is adequate – this is very important in tunnel houses, and often overlooked. The movement of air can help significantly reduce the number of fungal infections. Note that brassicas thrive in winter conditions, so it may be more prudent to grow them outside, rather than in the tunnel house. This may be better utilised for cultivating more marginal vegetables that require shelter from cold winters. Other products to try: You may also find it helpful to read our free How to Grow Vegetables Guides for more gardening advice: daltons.co.nz/how-to-guides Congratulations to Sarah with her question about fungal disease in her tunnel house.

Win an $85 Daltons Summer Flower Care Pack

Summer annuals and perennials bring scent and beauty to the season, whether grown in pots, garden beds or hanging baskets. Keep your summer flowers blooming with our Daltons Summer Flower Care Pack. To enter, email your gardening question to nelsonmag@daltons.co.nz with Daltons prize pack in the subject heading. Giveaway entries must be received by Monday 22 November 2021.

The one-stop solution for tomato growing.

TESS JAINE

Belinda Wilson in her South Street studio.

Artist finds a home in South Street

It’s been a year since Belinda Wilson brought her considerable artistic talents to Nelson and she’s finding new inspiration in her new city.

There are very few corners of Belinda Wilson’s beautifully renovated premises in Nelson’s South Street that don’t benefit from the sun. Evidence of her talent with oil and acrylic paint hang on the walls of her home and garden studio; some small and perfectly formed while others are almost larger than life.

Born in Calcutta but largely brought up in Timaru, for Belinda the prospect of studying at Auckland’s Elam School of Fine Arts was never in any doubt. In this she had the full support of her parents, particularly her father who, despite his own creativity, had been denied the opportunity and was thus determined that his daughter should be encouraged to develop her talent. After obtaining her Diploma of Fine Arts, Belinda moved to Christchurch where, not long afterwards, she held her first one man show at the CSA gallery and then, in 1976, she won the highly prestigious Kelliher Art Prize. Some years of travelling followed, during which time she worked in London and also spent time in the United States, but it wasn’t until she settled in Sydney that she got back into her art. “I got wonderful jobs in Sydney,” she recalls. “I would get commissions to do forty paintings or pastels for a particular hotel, murals in Queensland, apartments in George Street…I had a lovely time.” Her medium of choice at that time was large format pastels which she then sprayed to achieve a series of textured layers but on her return to New Zealand she started working with acrylics for a few years. Since the early 1990s her work has featured in an impressive number of shows. These days she likes to work with oils but is happy to “oscillate” between the mediums.

Although it’s been not much more than a year since she and her husband moved from Auckland to Nelson, Belinda feels very much at home here. An enormous amount of work has gone into their historic cottage and her current plan is to turn one of the rooms into a small gallery which will be open by appointment. As for utilising the garden studio, she’s keen to offer lessons to small groups as well as individuals, something she did on a regular basis in Auckland and which she enjoyed enormously. “Visually I’ve been very stimulated by our move to Nelson because the light is so different,” she says. And after a break of nearly two years, she’s delighting in the way her return to painting is working out. “I’m just starting to get back into it – you end up making completely different marks after you haven’t worked for a while.”

Belinda’s work can be seen at a number of galleries in New Zealand and also be seen on her website.

Open every Saturday, 10am - 2pm and by appointment. 021 731 007 15 South Street, Nelson belindawilson.co.nz