Yates Growing With You New Zealand - Summer Edition 2020 by Yates Gardening

SUMMER 2020

Summer

flowers & vegies

WHAT TO SOW & GROW NOW

Christmas COLOUR

EUREKA! Growing luscious lemons

swooning over

succulents SUMMER lawn care blitz

Plus holiday garden prep, gifts for gardeners, tasty tomatoes & more!

NEW

DROUGHT-PROOF YOUR GARDEN Many gardens are suffering from heat stress or lack of water or both (!) this summer. Plus many Kiwi gardeners are also faced with watering restrictions – so every drop of water is precious. The NEW YATES® WATERWISE® RANGE is a great choice for drought-proofing your garden. It works in three different clever water management ways, to protect our gardens.

YATES® WATERWISE® SOIL WETTER Helps water penetrate to the plants’ roots in hard-to-wet or repellent soils, lawns and pots Reduces water usage Improves soil condition Perfect for pots where soil has become repellent, ie water runs down the side of a pot and not through the potting mix.

Added seaweed and trace elements to promote healthy growth Soil conditioners improve soil fertility Available in a 1L concentrate (perfect format for a watering can, for gardeners unable to use garden hoses due to water restrictions) and a 2L hose-on (which can be clicked onto a hose, or used in a watering can)

1 PENETRATE REDUCE WATER USAGE

STORE 3

2 PROTECT

GET WATER TO THE PLANT’S ROOTS

PROTECT PLANTS FROM WATER LOSS

YATES® WATERWISE® WATER STORAGE CRYSTALS Perfect for both potted plants and garden beds, to store water and keep plants healthy

YATES® WATERWISE® DROUGHTSHIELD

Prevent the soil drying out, improve soil aeration and drainage

Protects your precious plants from extreme conditions

Plants can tolerate drier weather conditions and less frequent watering

Forms protective clear biodegradable film, to help slow down transpiration of plant Protects plants from heat, water loss, drying winds, sunburn, droughts and transplant shock

Crystals rehydrate themselves with each watering Effective for up to 5 years, then biodegrade harmlessly Swell up to hundreds of times their weight

Allows you to water less often Lasts up to 90 days Prevents water loss by up to 50% Stretches up to 100% with plant growth Available in a 750ml and 2.5L ready-to-use spray

Go to yates.co.nz/water-saving to find out more, including tips & tricks on gardening during droughts and water restrictions ®Yates and Waterwise are registered trade marks of DuluxGroup (Australia) Pty Ltd.

Letter

FROM THE EDITOR

Summer is brimming with much anticipated backyard harvests of vegies and herbs like tomatoes, zucchinis, cucumbers, beans, sweet corn and basil and some delicious stone fruit from our young orchard. Keeping the naughty birds at bay is a constant challenge and I’m dreaming of installing a large net structure over our entire food forest. For the moment it’s me running out into the garden (often in my pyjamas), arms waving madly and screeching. It’s fortunate I have enthusiastic gardening neighbours who appreciate my birds scaring techniques!

delicious fruit. With backyards shrinking and more people living in apartments, it’s more important than ever for people to learn how to grow edible plants in small spaces. In addition to information on how to grow 50 different edible plants, the book includes important details about what to grow and when, special care for potted plants and loads of fabulous photos. I’m very fortunate to be supported by Yates and Harper Collins Publishers in my book writing adventures and I hope that lots of lovely gardeners, both current and gardeners-to-be, will be inspired to grow some of their own fresh food.

Zinnias, sunflowers, nasturtiums, and cosmos are gearing up for a floral festival and are a welcome sight during summer. It’s lovely to wander out into the garden in the cool of the morning to see the bees foraging in these flowers and also pick a few stems to bring indoors. After a spring filled with vases of sweet peas, freesias, jonquils and daffodils, it’s lovely to be able to continue picking home grown flowers during summer.

Have a wonderful summer in your gardens,

I am pleased to report that our Araucana chickens, Lady Gaga and Heihei, have started to lay their gorgeous blue shelled eggs. I’m a proud chicken mum! Having raised them from week old fluff balls, they’re super friendly too and come up for a cuddle. Chicken cuddles are a perfect way to start a day! One of the things that has kept me wonderfully busy this year has been writing another gardening book and I’m very proud to reveal that 'Yates Top 50 Edible Plants for Pots and How NOT to Kill Them' will be available from early 2021. It’s all about how to grow your own food plants in pots, from fresh vegies, herbs and spices to a wide range of

Angie Thomas

Editor, Horticultural Consultant to Yates

Indoor Orchid care made easy! Orchids are an ever-popular indoor plant. Yates has made it easy to pot (or re-pot) and feed them with a range of indoor orchid plant care products.

POTTING To give your orchids the perfect foundation, use Yates® Orchid Potting Mix. It is specially formulated as a free draining mix - with a coarse blend of naturally composted bark, bark chips, lime, dolomite and a 6 month plant food.

NO MESS FERTILISING Yates® Thrive® Plant Food Spikes Orchids are specially designed to feed orchids where they need it most, at the roots. Each plant food spike contains slow release nutrients that feeds orchids for up to 2 months. It’s easy to use and out of sight – simply insert into the potting mix and sit back and relax!

READY TO USE LIQUID FERTILISER Yates® Thrive® Liquid Plant Food Drippers are specially formulated to help easily feed indoor orchids. Each dripper contains the right NPK balance to feed indoor orchids for 4 weeks. To use the dripper, simply snip off the tip of the dripper and insert into the orchid potting mix. They are perfect for those who want an easy and convenient way to feed orchids! Ideal for when indoor orchids need a quick boost feed! Yates and Thrive are registered trade marks of DuluxGroup (Australia) Pty Ltd.

WHAT'S INSIDE

SUMMER GARDENING ESSENTIALS

It’s time to get busy in the garden! Learn about key summer gardening jobs to keep your garden looking fantastic.

Grow your own juicy, tangy lemons.

LAWN REPAIR & CARE

EUREKA!

DEVIL’S IVY 101

Tips for caring for one of the most popular indoor plants around.

SUMMER CITRUS CARE

INTERVIEW WITH AN INTERIOR PLANTSCAPER

Fixing lawn bare patches & giving the lawn a quick & easy weed tidy up and feed.

Our top tips for keeping your citrus healthy during summer.

When indoor plants are your private & professional passion.

SUMMER ROSE CARE

WASP PATROL

SWOONING OVER SUCCULENTS

How to keep your roses looking fabulous over the warmest months.

How to control common pest wasps.

Feast your eyes on 3 top succulents - agaves, echeveria & sedums.

PETAL POWER

CHRISTMAS COLOUR CREATIONS

Bring vibrant floral colour into your summer garden with dahlias.

Add pizzazz to your Christmas festivities with fabulous flowers.

HEAVENLY HOME GROWN TOMATOES

PREP YOUR GARDEN FOR CHRISTMAS & THE HOLIDAYS

FABULOUS FLOWERS TO SOW & GROW

Keep the blooms coming with our handy guide to what to sow in summer.

NATIVE SUMMER STUNNER

Grow the tastiest tomatoes at your place.

Quick & easy tips for sprucing up the garden for Christmas.

New Zealand’s Pohutukawa is in the floral spotlight during summer.

SUMMER VEGIE & HERB CARE TRANSFORMATION

Getting the most out of your summer vegie patch.

VEGIES & HERBS

Keep the fresh, home grown produce coming with lots of delicious vegies & herbs to sow & grow in summer.

GIFT IDEAS FOR GARDENERS

Buy something special for the gardener in your life.

GARDENING IN DIFFERENT CLIMATES

Handy summer gardening tips for around New Zealand.

SUMMER LOVING

Add summer colour to your garden with eye-catching flowering trees & shrubs.

G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

SUMMER GARDENING

Essentials

Summer can be a challenging time for gardens (and gardeners!) around New Zealand, from parched soil and hot temperatures to humidity and drenching rains. With a few gardening tips and tricks, it can also be a celebration of vibrant flowers, a time to enjoy lots of delicious home grown produce and a chance to relax and recuperate with friends and family on a lovely lush green lawn.

Ensuring plants are getting enough moisture is key to keeping lawns and gardens thriving during summer. Over time, and particularly during hot and dry conditions, soil and potting mix can become water repellent. This can result in moisture pooling on the surface and not moving down into soil or potting mix evenly and effectively. To make the most of any irrigation and rainfall, using a soil wetter helps break down the waxy, water repellent layer and enables moisture to penetrate down into the root zone where it’s needed. The Yates® range of Waterwise® Soil Wetters can be used on garden beds, lawns and potted plants to help fix water repellency and promote improved moisture levels in soil and potting mix. Yates Waterwise Concentrated Soil Wetter is a liquid formulation for mixing in a watering can and applying over soil and potting mix. It also contains added seaweed and trace elements to promote healthy plant growth.

Lawn lovers tip! You won’t see it, but soil underneath lawns can also become water repellent. It’s quick and easy to fix with hose-on Yates Waterwise Soil Wetter. The handy 2L pack will treat 130m2 of lawn.

BEFORE

AFTER

Summer soil health Soil that’s rich in organic matter has a higher moisture and nutrient holding capacity, improved structure and drainage and encourages earthworms and beneficial soil microorganisms. Yates® Dynamic Lifter® Organic Plant Food is an ideal way to add a concentrated source of organic matter to the soil when preparing new garden beds for planting and planting new plants, as well as applying around the root zone of established plants. Yates Dynamic Lifter contains an organic blend of chicken manure boosted with the goodness of blood and bone, fishmeal and seaweed and is pelletised for easy application.

Mite control Mites, often called red spider or two-spotted mites, love summer’s hot dry weather. Mites are very tiny pests that are difficult to spot with the naked eye. They can attack a wide variety of plants, including tomatoes, roses, strawberries, beans, azaleas and indoor plants. The first symptoms include yellowing or mottled leaves and as mite colonies increase, they form masses of spidery like webbing. Yates Nature’s Way® Natrasoap Vegie Insect Spray is an insecticidal soap, made from natural vegetable oils, that is very effective against mites. It works by contact action so good coverage of the mites is important, including underneath foliage where mites often hide. Spray plants every 5–7 days to keep mites under control. Yates Nature’s Way Natrasoap Vegie Insect Spray will also control other common summer pests like aphids and whitefly and is approved for use in organic gardening.

Easy feeding As we race around preparing for Christmas festivities and holiday adventures, don’t forget to give the garden a well-deserved feed. It will encourage healthy green growth and promote lots of beautiful summer flowers. Yates Thrive® Natural Fish & Seaweed Hose-on comes in a quick and easy hose-on applicator, so you can feed and nurture your garden in a matter of minutes. It’s a complete plant food that's rich in natural ingredients like fish, seaweed, and molasses, plus humates for improved plant nutrient uptake and bio-active microbes to unlock plant nutrients in the soil. It also contains fast acting nutrients to promote strong, lush plant growth. A 2L pack feeds 100m2 of garden beds and lawns.

Water saving During the hottest months we need to make the most of every drop of water. Greywater from the laundry or shower can be collected and used to water the lawn and garden. Add Yates Greywater Fertiliser to your greywater to help neutralise the alkaline effect of soaps and detergents on soil pH, help kill unwanted microbes in the greywater and reduce the potential negative effects of greywater on soil quality. Yates Greywater Fertiliser also contains the nutrients nitrogen, potassium and chelated iron to promote healthy plant growth. G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

LAWN

Repair & Care Bare spots in lawns can be as a result of many different factors, including lawn insect pests, diseases, drought and wear and tear from kids and pets. In addition to ruining the look of the lawn, weeds are opportunistic and will quickly invade bare patches in the lawn if you don’t repair them. Summer is a great time for repairing bare patches with lawn seed, as new grass seedlings can establish quickly with regular watering. To prepare the bare patch for repair: »

Remove any dead grass or weeds and gently cultivate and loosen the soil to create a nice soft and crumbly surface for the seeds to grow in.

Scatter Yates® Quick Fix over the patch and gently rake into the surface.

Yates Quick Fix contains a premium blend of turf type annual ryegrass and creeping fescue that is ideal for patch repair in both sun or shaded lawns and high traffic areas, creating a rich green, fine textured grass cover. Yates Quick Fix also contains fertiliser that will feed the new patch as it establishes and the seed is coated in ACTive-GRO Advanced Coating to help protect the seed against fungal disease and bird theft.

It’s very important to water the patch regularly while the new grass establishes. Watering the patch several times a day may be required in hot, windy or dry weather.

And as we’re all keen to enjoy time in our backyards over summer, it’s time to control any untidy, prickly or invasive weeds in the lawn like thistles, plantain and capeweed. You can easily control the most common broadleaf weeds in lawns, before they take over, in only a few minutes by using hose-on applicators. »

Yates Weed’n’Feed® contains a combination of two effective herbicides to control common broadleaf weeds, plus added surfactant to aid spray coverage and weed penetration. Yates Weed’n’Feed will also give the lawn a quick burst of nutrients to promote rich green growth. If you prefer using a pressure sprayer, dilute Yates Weed’n’Feed Concentrate or Yates Prickle Weedkiller Concentrate in a sprayer and apply over weed affected lawn areas. These concentrates can also be applied using a watering can.

For small lawns or small patches of weeds, Yates Turfix® Gun is a handy ready to use spray for controlling broadleaf weeds in lawns.

Time to go green! Your lawn is made up of thousands of small but very hungry grasses. To create a beautiful lush green lawn that you’ll love relaxing and playing on, it’s important to feed it regularly with a blend of nutrients that’s been specially designed for lawns. Yates® Lawn Fertiliser is a premium granular lawn food designed to give you a strong, green and healthy lawn. The fine granule formula quickly filters down to the roots and dissolves when watered in. Yates Lawn Fertiliser can be used on all lawn types and contains a unique balance of slow and fast release nitrogen. It provides rapid visible results as well as feeding your lawn continuously over a 12 week period. It encourages thick lawn growth, which helps to crowd out weeds, and promotes a strong, deep root system. The formulation also includes zeolite, a mineral which improves the soil’s ability to hold water and nutrients, helping to reduce leaching from the root zone.

Yates Lawn Fertiliser also contains iron to help promote deep rich green growth.

Apply Yates Lawn Fertiliser once at the beginning of summer and you’re done for the season!

For all lawns great and small Make it Yates

Whatever type of lawn you have, caring for it is easy with Yates Scientifically formulated to do two jobs at once; eliminate broadleaf weeds, like Thistles and Clover, while at the same time giving your lawn a quick burst of nutrients to promote healthy, green growth. Yates and Weed ‘n’ Feed are registered trade marks of DuluxGroup (Australia) Pty Ltd

SUMMER

Rose care

IT’S COMING UP ROSES! Keep your roses in fragrant and fabulous condition with our top summer rose care tips: Summer can bring heat, hot dry winds and high humidity, which all affect the health and appearance of roses. And if your roses have developed leggy or sparse growth and spindly stems it’s a sign that your roses need a summer prune. Summer pruning roses refreshes and reinvigorates the plants and they will respond in a matter of weeks, putting on new growth, ready for another flush of flowers. In fact, you can time rose re-blooming if you have a special event coming up, as they’ll flower again around 6–7 weeks after pruning. Perhaps time your rose pruning so you’ll have beautiful home grown blooms to give your Valentine on February 14th! Rose pruning is not tricky, just trim off around 30% of the overall growth and also remove any dead or thin stems. You can use hedge shears or a good sharp pair of secateurs. Don’t forget to protect your hands, arms (and face!) from rose thorns with sturdy gloves, long sleeves and glasses. After pruning, collect up all the fallen leaves and stems, which helps to reduce the incidence of disease, and apply some Yates® Thrive® Rose & Flower Liquid Plant Food and water in well. It’s a complete and balanced liquid fertiliser that has been boosted with extra flower promoting potassium.

Next, spread a layer of mulch, like bark chips, lucerne or pea straw around the root zone, which will help keep the soil moist and protect the top soil from baking sun. Reapply Yates Thrive each week to encourage healthy new foliage growth and lots of gorgeous flowers. Tender new stem and leaf growth, together with fresh flower buds, are susceptible to attack by pests like aphids and caterpillars. Mites can also wreak havoc, as they love summer’s hot and dry conditions. Yates® Rose Gun Black Spot & Insect Pest Killer controls the most common pests on roses in one easy, ready to use spray. Spray plants every 2 weeks to help keep plants healthy and protected. For larger gardens, or people with lots of roses, Yates Super Shield® is a concentrated rose spray that is diluted in water and applied via a sprayer.

Yates Rose Gun and Yates Super Shield also contain a fungicide to control common rose diseases such as black spot, rust and powdery mildew.

Petal power

Bring vibrant colour into your summer garden with dahlias. Dahlias are one of the ultimate summer floral statements, with showy flowers in beautiful colours that are a wonderful treat after spring flowers have faded.

Dahlias are often planted as tubers during spring, but if you didn’t get around to planting some, there’s no need to miss out on this spectacular flower, with potted dahlias being available in garden centres during summer. The Dahlinova™ series of dahlias from Rainbow Park Nurseries (www.rainbowpark.co.nz) have been specifically chosen for their eye catching and uniquely shaped flowers. They’ll flower from spring until autumn and come in a spectacular range of colours and bi-colours including 'Dahlinova Florida' which has white and deep pink double flowers, 'Dahlinova Lisa Burgundy' with double burgundy flowers, creamy white 'Dahlinova Lisa White' and 'Dahlinova New York' which has double white flowers with pink accents. Dahlinova dahlias create a stunning display in garden beds and pots, where they’re perfect for a brightening up a patio or veranda. They like a warm, sunny spot and these dahlias have outstanding rain and temperature tolerance. To keep these dahlias looking their best, keep the soil or potting mix moist and remove spent flowers to promote repeat flowering. They’ll also appreciate feeding every 1–2 weeks with a high potassium plant food like Yates® Thrive® Rose & Flower Liquid Plant Food, which will encourage healthy leaf growth and lots of gorgeous flowers.

Pest watch Snails and slugs love devouring tender dahlia foliage. Keep snails and slugs under control with a light sprinkling of Baysol® Snail & Slug Bait.

Dahlinova images courtesy of Rainbow Park Nursery

G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

heavenly

home grown TOMATOES

From the largest garden to the smallest sunny balcony, there’s room in your life for home grown tomatoes! They’re so sweet and tasty and are a perfect vegie to have on hand for delicious salads, pizza toppings and home-made pasta sauce, or perhaps some sneaky garden snacking. In temperate areas there’s still time to sow tomato seed in early summer and in cool areas, head to your local garden centre for a punnet or pot of tomato seedlings. There’s a range of tempting tomato varieties to choose from, including large juicy beefsteak tomatoes, where a single slice can almost cover an entire sandwich, Italian tomatoes that are ideal for cooking and sun-drying and bite-sized and flavour packed cherry tomatoes.

Here are some terrific tomatoes for you to grow at your place: » Yates® 'Small Fry’ has masses of sweet, bite-sized fruit. It’s a dwarf plant that doesn’t need to be staked and is ideal for growing in a vegie patch or in pots. » Yates Tomato ‘Sweet 100’ is a prolific variety that produces 100 or more fruit on each plant. The plant requires staking, but is quick to grow, with fruit maturing after around 10 weeks from sowing.

Tomato seeds can be sown direct where they are to grow, or seedlings raised in punnets of Yates Black Magic® Seed Raising Mix and transplanted when they’re around 5cm high. For best results, dig some Yates Thrive® Natural Blood & Bone into the soil before sowing seed or transplanting seedlings. This adds valuable organic matter to the soil, improves soil structure and attracts earthworms and beneficial soil microorganisms. If your tomato variety needs staking, insert the support at the time of planting or sowing to avoid damaging the roots later. Once the seedlings are established, each week apply a tomato specific plant food, like Yates Thrive® Tomato Liquid Plant Food, to help promote healthy leaf growth as well as lots of flowers that will turn into delicious, juicy tomatoes.

It’s important to water tomato plants regularly to ensure the soil (or potting mix) is consistently moist. Inadequate or irregular watering, which contributes to calcium deficiency, can predispose tomato fruit to develop a condition called blossom end rot, which results in a dark, sunken area at the base of tomato fruit. An application of Yates Hydrangea Pinking Liquid Lime & Dolomite can help reduce the incidence of blossom end rot by supplying plants with calcium.

Top tomato growing tips Don’t let your much anticipated tomatoes be ruined by pests and diseases such as aphids, caterpillars, tomato potato psyllid (TPP), mildews and blights. Keep your tomatoes healthy and protected by using a few simple products during summer: » Aphid and tomato fruitworm control – aphids and tomato fruitworm (caterpillars) are two of the most common tomato insect pests. To protect tomatoes from damage, spray tomato plants every week with Yates Nature’s Way® Organic Citrus, Vegie & Ornamental Spray. » Powdery mildew & blight control – during summer tomatoes are often affected by diseases like powdery mildew and blight. Yates Nature’s Way® Fungus Spray contains a combination of copper and sulphur fungicides to control common tomato diseases. Thoroughly spray tomato plants every 10–14 days to keep diseases under control.

G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

Summer

vegie care Spring planted vegies & herbs are literally jumping out of the ground during summer’s warm weather. Here are some summer vegie care hints to keep your patch or pot wonderfully productive.

Beetroot »

Beetroot is a versatile and delicious vegie that’s rich in folate, fibre and antioxidants. The roots can be roasted or pickled and used in relish or hummus and the colourful young leaves mixed into salads.

There are large round varieties like Yates Beetroot Super King or petite and space saving Yates Baby Beets that are perfect for pots.

To promote tender sweet beetroots, feed each week with Yates Thrive® Vegie & Herb Liquid Plant Food.

Watch out for snails and slugs, which like to devour the leaves. Control them by lightly sprinkling Yates Blitzem® Snail & Slug Pellets around the base of the plants.

You can continue to sow beetroot seed during summer. Soak seed for two hours before sowing to ensure water penetrates through the corky outer coating and into the seeds.

Zucchini »

Whether it’s zoodles, zucchini slice, stuffed zucchini flowers or hiding zucchini in anything from bolognese to brownies, zucchinis are a summer essential.

Promote healthy leaf growth and lots of zucchinis by feeding each week with a complete plant food that’s rich in flower-promoting potassium, like Yates Thrive Flower & Fruit Soluble Fertiliser. Zucchini fruit grow very quickly! They’re best picked when they’re small and tender.

Zucchinis can be susceptible to the disease powdery mildew, which looks like a dusting of talcum powder over the leaves. Help reduce the incidence of powdery mildew by watering plants gently at the base (rather than wetting the leaves) and spray the plants with Yates Nature’s Way Fungus Spray.

Yates Zucchini Blackjack and Yates Zucchini Solar Flare seed can still be sown in early summer in cool areas, and throughout summer in temperate and warm climates.

Beans »

Beans love warm weather and will be growing rapidly during summer. Whether you’re growing dwarf (bush) beans or climbing beans, to promote a long and productive harvest season, pick beans regularly, keep the soil (or potting mix) moist and feed each week with high potassium Yates Thrive Flower & Fruit Soluble Fertiliser.

In temperate and warm zones you can keep sowing bean seeds throughout summer, in cool areas sow up until mid summer.

Beans can be prone to infestations of mites. Also called red spider or two spotted mites, you may start to notice leaves yellowing or mottling and spidery webbing developing between leaves and stems. Control mites by spraying the plants every 5–7 days with Yates Nature’s Way Natrasoap® Vegie Insect Spray. It’s a soap based spray made from natural vegetable oils and is approved for use in organic gardening.

Sweet basil »

Picking handfuls of your own richly fragrant sweet basil is a summer delight. There’s no need to buy bunches from the supermarket when you can so easily grow your own. During summer you can continue to sow basil seed, direct where the plants are to grow, in sunny or partly shaded vegie patches or pots.

Keep basil plants well-watered and feed each week with Yates Thrive Fish Blood & Bone. It’s rich in nitrogen to encourage lots of lush leafy growth, contains fish sustainably sourced from the Southern Ocean and humates to condition and improve the soil, stimulating worm activity and enabling plants to absorb nutrients faster.

Trim off any flowers that develop, or let a basil plant or two mature and flower, as the flowers are magnets for bees and other beneficial insects. Keep sowing more seed to give you an ongoing supply of this delicious herb.

Sweet corn »

Sweet corn devoured raw, fresh and amazingly juicy from the garden is divine. It’s well worth devoting a square metre or two in your backyard to growing sweet corn. It’s best planted in blocks of short rows (rather than one long row) to aid pollination.

Corn is a hungry plant and should be fed each week with Yates Thrive All Purpose Soluble Fertiliser to encourage healthy leaf and stem growth and cob development.

Sweet corn can be susceptible to attack by caterpillars, which can chew into the developing corn cob. Regularly monitor for caterpillars themselves or signs of their damage or droppings. Spray plants every 7 days with Yates Nature’s Way Pyrethrum to control caterpillars. It contains a natural insecticide derived from pyrethrum flowers and can be used right up until one day before harvest.

Pick when the fine ‘silk’ at the top of the cob has just browned.

In temperate and cool climates, sweet corn seed can continue to be sown until the end of December and in warm climates sowing can start at the end of summer. G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

vegies & herbs TO S OW I N S U M M E R

During the year’s hottest months, there’s a fantastic range of vegies and herbs to sow, that will help keep your kitchen well stocked with delicious and fresh home grown ingredients.

Seeds by

All around New Zealand you can sow: » Beetroot – Golden, Bull’s Blood, Baby Beets, Cylindra, Superking, Derwent Globe » Cabbage – Racer Drumhead, Red Mini, Sugarloaf, Chinese Cabbage Wong Bok

» Radish - French Breakfast,

Gentle Giant, Salad Crunch, White Icicle, Amethyst, Radish Sprouts » Rocket – Large Leaf, Wild » Rockmelon Hales Best

» Carrot –, Baby, Manchester Table, Topweight, Egmont Gold, Early Chantenay, Express Hybrid, Majestic Red, Purple

» Silverbeet - Compact Deep

» Capsicum – Giant Bell, Corno di Toro

» Spring Onion

» Cauliflower All Year Round Hybrid

» Sweetcorn – Honeysweet,

» Celery Green Crunch » Cucumber – Crystal Apple, Burpless,

Continental, Lebanese, Long Green » Dwarf beans –Dwarf Mix, Freezer,

Golden Wax, Long John, Topcrop, Tendergreen » Climbing Beans –Purple King, Blue Lake,

Humongous MegaPods, Shiny Fardenlosa, Scarlet Runner » Eggplant – Blacknite, Baby Brinjal » Lettuce – Baby Combo, Buttercrunch,

Frilly Mix, Great Lakes Iceberg, Cut & Come Again, Salad Mix, Webbs Wonderful » Parsnip - Hollow Crown, Yatesnip

Green, Fordhook Giant, Perpetual Green, Ruby Chard, Bright Lights

Sun’n’Snow » Tomato - Heirloom, Patio,

Sweet Bite, Tommy Toe, Grosse Lisse » Zucchini - Blackjack, Solar Flare, Greyzini, » Watermelon – Candy Red, Country Sweet,

Sugar Baby » Herbs – Chives, Garlic Chives,

Coriander, Dill, Italian parsley, Curled Parsley, Sweet Basil, Gourmet Mix Basil, Thai Basil, Basil Genovese, Holy Basil Tulsi Consult seed packs for the best sowing months in your area.

» Pumpkin – Buttercup, Butternut, Golden Nugget,

Hybrid Grey Crown, Queensland Blue G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

Here are the three easy steps to sowing and growing

delicious vegies & herbs IN SUMMER

Step One Choose a sunny spot in the garden that receives at least 6 hours of sunshine a day. There are some vegies and herbs, such as Yates Lettuce Baby Combo and Yates Coriander that can be grown in part shade. Many vegies and herbs are also perfect for growing in pots, so you don’t need a big backyard to grow some of your own produce. Consider delicious options like colourful Yates Dwarf Bean Mix and Yates Parsley Italian Plain Leaf. Seed packets include helpful information about how much sunlight your chosen vegie or herb needs and whether it’s suitable for growing in pots.

Step Two Follow the directions on the seed packet and either sow seeds direct where the plants are to grow or sow into trays of Yates Black Magic® Seed Raising Mix. Water gently and keep the soil or potting mix moist. For beans, limit watering until seedlings emerge as seeds can rot before germinating if the soil is too wet. For seedlings grown in trays, transplant them into their final home once they’re large enough to handle. During summer’s warm temperatures, ensure young seedlings are kept well watered.

Step Three Once the seedlings are established, encourage lots of healthy growth by feeding each week with Yates Thrive® Vegie & Herb Liquid Plant Food.

Eureka!

Growing luscious Eureka lemons Eureka lemons (Citrus limon ‘Eureka’) are a popular New Zealand lemon. They’re thin skinned, have minimal seeds and the fruit is large, juicy and acidic. One of the advantages of Eureka lemons is that although winter is their peak fruiting season, in warm areas they can produce fruit almost year round, so you’ll always have tasty lemons on hand.

Eureka lemon trees can grow up to 5m tall, however growing one in a pot will help keep the tree more compact. Choose a pot around 40cm in diameter with good drainage holes and fill with a good quality potting mix like Yates® Premium Potting Mix. When planting a new Eureka lemon out in the garden, choose a spot with welldrained soil that receives at least 6 hours of sunshine a day and enrich the soil in the planting hole first with some Yates® Thrive® Natural Blood & Bone. It promotes increased soil organic matter content and water holding capacity, in addition to providing the new tree with gentle slow release organic nutrients as it establishes.

Keep new citrus trees well-watered for several months as they settle into their new home, particularly during summer’s hot weather. Potted citrus trees will dry out much faster than in-ground trees. For established citrus, it’s important to keep deep watering and feeding during summer while the small fruit are developing. Moisture and nutrient stress can adversely affect the quantity and quality of the fruit harvest. Feeding is as simple as diluting 2 capfuls of Yates Thrive® Citrus Liquid Plant Food into a 9L watering can and applying over the root zone each week.

Insider Tip: Planting Don’t think youTip: can feed your citrus every week? Try Yates Thrive Citrus & FruitaGranular Plant Food. It’sinto a complete, rich fertiliser When planting new navel orange tree the ground, mix ®specifically for nutrient-hungry ® designed citrus and contains some Yates Dynamic Lifter Soil Improver & Plant Fertiliser release nitrogen to hole. slowlyYates feed Dynamic citrus trees for up to intocontrolled the bottom of the planting Lifter 12 weeks. It’s perfect for citrus trees in both gardens and pots. improves the quality of the soil and supplies the newly planted orange with gentle, organic nutrients as it establishes.

Summer citrus care

Keep your citrus trees protected and promote the best possible fruit harvest with our top summer citrus care tips. 1. Sweet sugary sap that’s flowing through citrus plants is a magnet for sap sucking pests like scale. Scale insects can be brown, white, pink or grey and appear as small raised bumps along leaves and stems. Sometimes the scale are hard to spot themselves, however if you see sooty mould developing on the leaves (a black ash like film) or ants moving up and down the stems then they’re indicators of a sap sucking insect pest like scale. Regular sprays of Yates® Nature’s Way® Organic Citrus, Vegie & Ornamental Spray, on both the upper and lower leaf and stem surfaces, will help keep scale under control. It’s based on natural pyrethrin and vegetable oil and is certified for use in organic gardening, so is ideal for gardeners wanting to use organic methods of insect pest control. Yates Nature’s Way Organic Citrus, Vegie & Ornamental Spray will also control aphids, which are attracted to tender new citrus leaves that can appear in late summer. Aphids are small sap sucking insects that can be green, brown or black and can cause leaves to curl under and twist. The damage caused on new leaves by aphids is permanent. It’s easy to control aphids on citrus by spraying the foliage, including on the undersides of leaves where aphids often hide, every 5–14 days.

SCALE

APHIDS

2. Citrus trees have a shallow root system and can dry out rapidly during summer. Moisture stress can adversely affect fruit quality and tree health, so it’s important to keep the soil or potting mix moist with regular, thorough watering. Applying Yates Waterwise Soil Wetter around citrus trees will promote improved moisture penetration down to the roots and spreading mulch around the root zone will help retain soil moisture. 3. Feeding reminder! Fertilising citrus regularly is the key to promoting a bounty of winter fruit. Citrus are very hungry plants! Yates Thrive® Citrus Liquid Plant Food is a complete plant food that has been specially formulated to provide citrus with the nutrients they need. Apply Yates Thrive Citrus Liquid Plant Food around the root zone of in-ground and potted citrus trees every 1-2 weeks during summer, while citrus trees are busy developing their fruit.

G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

WASP PATROL

Summer is wasp season. Some of the wasps found in and around New Zealand gardens are German, common social and paper wasps.

German and common wasps are introduced wasp species which can be aggressive to humans, particularly when their nests are disturbed. They have a painful sting and unlike bees can sting multiple times. German and common social wasps look similar, with bright yellow and black bands along their abdomen and black triangular markings at each band. A warm and dry winter followed by dry weather in summer can lead to a rapid increase in wasp numbers. German wasps will often construct their nests underground (you may notice a single entrance hole) or in wall cavities or ceiling voids. Nests can become enormous and be home to thousands of wasps. Paper wasps, introduced from Australia and Asia, are, generally tan coloured with darker stripes, 1015mm long and narrower than the German wasp. Paper wasps build small papery nests, made from chewed wood fibre and saliva, with a distinct honeycomb structure. These nests often hang from horizontal surfaces such as underneath window sills and eaves and in shrubs and trees. Each nest can contain up to 20 wasps. Paper wasps can sting if they are disturbed.

Blitzem!ÂŽ Wasp Killer & Nest Destroyer is an effective way to control common wasps, including German wasps, and their nests. It comes in a ready to use jet spray can, which can spray up to 4 metres. This allows access to hard to reach wasp nesting zones, such as underneath the eaves and roof voids, and allows you to spray wasps from a safer distance. Blitzem! Wasp Killer & Nest Destroyer is fast acting and kills wasps on contact and destroys their nest. When spraying wasps, best results are achieved when the wasps are contacted directly. Wear protective clothing and treat in the evening when wasps are in the nest and are less active. Stand a safe distance from the nest (at least 2 metres) and not directly underneath. Wind should be coming from behind you, blowing towards the wasps or nest and use a sweeping motion to saturate the nest.

German wasp tip: Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t leave sugary drinks, meat (including pet food) and sweet food unattended outdoors as German wasps are scavenger feeders and can be attracted to these foods and drinks.

Blitzem! Wasp & Ant Nest Destroyer Dust is another method to effectively control wasps. The ready to use dust can be applied through the nest entrance via the nozzle applicator. The dust kills wasps on contact. Treat nests at night and wear protective clothing to avoid being stung.

G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

IT’S P S A W ON! S A E S AGGRESSIVE INTRODUCED EUROPEAN WASPS ARE OUT AND ABOUT üKILLS WASPS ON CONTACT üDESTROYS THEIR NESTS üSPRAYS UP TO 4M

! M E BLITZ

G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S Blitzem! is a registered trademark of DuluxGroup (Australia) Pty Ltd

Christmas

colour

Whether your Christmas colour theme is purest snowy white, sparkly silver and purple or traditional green, gold and red, you can coordinate your decorations with some gorgeous pots of flowers to brighten up your Christmas dinner table or outdoor entertaining area. An added bonus is that your floral creation can last for months! Here is some inspiration: »

Crisp white lobelias, alyssum and geraniums combined with trailing Dichondra ‘Silver Falls’.

Hanging baskets or pots filled with white and vibrant red and calibrachoas or petunias.

A planter bowl with a showy red geranium in the centre surrounded by a halo of white alyssum.

Purple and white petunias and grey leafed cineraria ‘Silver Dust’ planted together in a decorative trough.

A bright red, soft pink or snowy white poinsettia in a matching pretty pot.

For sheltered and shady spots, a combination of eye-catching red and white impatiens.

To promote lots of healthy growth and festive flowers, keep the pots well-watered and feed each week with Yates® Thrive® Rose & Flower Liquid Plant Food. It’s a complete plant food that’s boosted with additional flower-promoting potassium. Regularly trim off any dead flowers to help keep the plants looking tidy.

Insect pests like aphids and caterpillars will unfortunately enjoy feasting on your Christmas colour creation. A quick spray with Yates Rose Gun™ as soon as any pests are noticed will help keep your display protected from common insect pests, as well as diseases like rust and powdery mildew.

Festive touches

Before guests arrive you can add some final pizzazz to the pots such as ribbons, baubles, sprigs of holly and tinsel or even magical fairy lights.

Red & white floral extravaganza If your Christmas theme is traditional red and white, then Living Fashion has your living floral decorations covered! Dianthus are a gorgeous family of flowers that bring cottage style, colour and fragrance to garden beds, borders and pots. Dianthus ‘Memories’ has pure white beautifully scented flowers held on sturdy stems. It's a hardy and drought tolerant plant, growing to around 30cm high and 40cm wide. It’s perfect as a low garden border plant, massed ground cover or potted plant. It flowers for a long time and requires little maintenance. The flowers can also be cut for a fragrant vase display. Dianthus ‘Rebekah’ is another beautiful dianthus, with masses of heavily perfumed vibrant red flowers. Growing to 30cm high and 60cm wide, it’s a low maintenance plant that loves a full sun or partly shaded position in garden beds and containers. Create a stunning Santa-worthy Christmas display and position pots of these red and white dianthus around outdoor entertaining areas. Salvias are fantastic dry tolerant plants that bring rich floral colour to both modern and cottage style gardens during the warmer months. Salvias from Living Fashion include a beautiful range of flower colours, including soft lilac, bright pink and salmon, however it’s bright red 'Ember's Wish' and crisp white ‘Glare’ that are perfect for a festive Christmas theme. ‘Ember's Wish' grows to around 80cm tall and wide and ‘Glare’ to 70cm tall and 1m wide. They both have aromatic foliage and can be grown in a sunny or partly shaded garden bed or in large pots. When planting these gorgeous dianthus or salvias into a garden bed, enrich the soil first with some Yates® Thrive Natural Blood & Bone. When planted into a pot, use a good quality potting mix like Yates Premium Potting Mix. Once the plants are established, feed each week with Yates Thrive® Rose & Flower Liquid Plant Food, which is rich in potassium to promote lots of flowers. Prune the salvias back after the main flowering flush to help promote further flowering and a tidier habit and regularly remove spent flowers from dianthus. Dianthus and Salvia information and images courtesy of Plant Growers Australia (www.pga.com.au).

G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

Prep your garden for

Christmas

Christmas festivities are the perfect motivators for whipping your garden into shape before guests arrive. Plus it’s time to prepare your garden before going away on holidays, so it still looks great when you return home.

Here are a few simple ways to spruce up outdoor areas for the Christmas and holiday season: TRIMMING HEDGES Give hedges a light trim to create a lovely crisp look. For less formal hedges and shrubs, just trim back any untidy, wayward or dead stems as well as any spent flowers.

control weeds in paths, driveways and along fencelines and lawn edges, as well as weeds growing in garden beds.

MULCHING Applying mulch around flower and shrub beds helps unify the garden, fills in bare spots and also is a great water saving strategy during the hottest months. An additional bonus is when organic mulches are used (such as bark chips), as they break down they add valuable organic matter to the soil.

QUICK LAWN GREEN UP

FEEDING Give garden beds an allover quick and easy feed with hose-on Yates Thrive® Natural Fish + Seaweed Plant Food. It’s a naturally based complete fertiliser with fish, seaweed, humates, molasses and microbes, boosted with fast acting nutrients, to encourage healthy green growth and promote lots of gorgeous flowers. A 2L pack feeds 100m2 of garden beds.

WEED CONTROL Weeds can ruin the look of your garden. Spot spray weeds with fast acting Yates® Zero® Rapid 1-Hour Action Weedkiller. You’ll see visible results on some weeds after just 1 hour and it’s rainproof within 30 minutes. Use to

A lush deep green lawn looks fantastic and creates a great space for entertaining. It’s easy to give your lawn a quick makeover with a hoseon pack of Yates Lawn Fertiliser. It contains fast acting nutrients and will begin to green up an actively growing lawn withina few days.

WATERING Give your garden some thorough, deep waterings in the weeks leading up to Christmas and holidays. This moistens the soil down into the root zone, encourages plant roots to grow deeper and helps freshen up the garden.

MOWING Don’t be tempted to give your lawn a harsh low mowing just before Christmas. This can scalp the lawn and create bare patches, which are unattractive and will invite in weeds. It’s better to mow little and often, removing no more than a third of the grass foliage each time.

G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

Gardening Christmas

gift ideas

Choosing Christmas presents can be really challenging, but not if you’re buying for a current or budding green thumb! Here are our top gift ideas for the gardener in your life.

Yates® Garden Guide

Indoor plants

With over 1 million copies sold, the Yates Garden Guide is New Zealand’s best-selling and most trusted gardening book. The 79th edition is packed full of helpful information, from growing your own fresh fruit and vegies, to filling your garden with fabulous flowers and creating a beautiful lush green lawn. RRP $39.00

Indoor plants are on trend and make a perfect present for someone special. To create a complete indoor plant themed gift, combine a lush and leafy plant with a decorative pot, some Yates Thrive Indoor Potting Mix and easy to use Yates Thrive® Plant Food Spikes Plants & Ferns.

Seed starter kit

Potted roses

Put together a practical gift of a collection of Yates flower or vegie and herb seeds, a bag of Yates Black Magic® Seed Raising Mix and some gardening gloves and plant markers. Everything a keen gardener needs to start sowing and growing!

A sweetly fragrant potted rose is a gift that will delight the recipient for years to come. You could even choose a rose with a meaningful name for that someone special, such as ‘Adorable’, ‘Beautiful Girl’, ‘Mother’s Love’, ‘Bellisimo Mum’, ‘Dear Father’, ‘First Crush’, ‘Best Friend’, ‘Grandma’s Rose’ or what about a cheeky ‘Kiss Me Kate’. Don’t forget a bottle of Yates Thrive Rose & Flower Liquid Plant Food to complete the gift!

Home grown cocktails

Potted edible inspiration

For the margarita lover, a young Tahitian lime tree, a bag of Yates Premium Potting Mix and a stylish pot to grow the lime tree in. And perhaps a cocktail shaker…

Hot off the press, the new book ‘Yates Top 50 Edible Plants for Pots and How NOT to Kill Them’, which is a comprehensive guide to growing 50 different delicious fruits, vegies and herbs in pots. Perfect for balcony, patio and small space gardeners, it’s filled with beautiful photos and detailed information about how to grow a fantastic range of edible plants.

Summer LOVI NG

After the spring floral frenzy has finished and while we’re relaxing and entertaining at home over summer, it’s wonderful to have trees and shrubs that will flower during the hottest months. Vibrant blooms also help to bring visual relief to landscapes bleached under harsh sunshine. Could your garden do with some summer loving?

Fragrant frangipani A frangipani can create a lush tropical look in your garden, make a superb summer shade tree and of course the flowers are beautiful and heavenly scented. Frangipanis are predominantly deciduous trees that come in a range of gorgeous colours, from the traditional white through to apricots, pinks, yellows and rich burgundy, with many varieties having multi toned blooms. Frangipanis are most at home in temperate to tropical climates and can grow up to 8m tall, however for small spaces and pots look for dwarf varieties. Here are some tips to help keep your frangipani looking fantastic: Feeding – frangipanis will appreciate a feed during summer with a fertiliser that will provide a good blend of nutrients for encouraging lots of flowers and healthy leaf growth as well as enriching the soil with valuable organic matter. Yates® Rose & Flower Granular Plant Food is a complete, fertiliser that gives frangipanis, and other flowering plants, a quick nutrient boost as well as controlled release nitrogen to feed plantes for up to 12 weeks. Apply around the root zone of both in ground and potted frangipanis and water in well. Watering – if the weather is hot and dry, frangipanis will appreciate deep watering once a week, especially if the tree is still young and the root system is small. There’s no need to keep the soil constantly moist, as frangipanis do best in slightly drier conditions. Regular watering however is important for potted frangipanis, as pots can dry out very quickly. A 3–5 cm layer of mulch over the surface of the pot will help minimise moisture loss. Disease & pest control – one of the most common problems with frangipanis is rust. Rust appears as yellow or orange coloured pustules underneath the leaves with corresponding yellow spots on the upper leaf surfaces. It ruins the look of the foliage and can cause the leaves to drop prematurely. Damage can be minimised by spraying early infections regularly with Yates® Super Shield® which contains a systemic fungicide that travels through the plants sap system to control rust.

Crepe myrtles Crepe myrtles are stunning deciduous trees that have attractive bark, colourful autumn foliage and are smothered in bee-attracting flowers in summer. They’re very hardy and come in a range of gorgeous flower colours, from white through to light and dark pink, lavender and almost red. ‘Diamonds in the Dark™’ are compact crepe myrtles with striking, almost black leaves and flower colours include white, red and pink. Dwarf crepe myrtle varieties grow to around 3-4 m tall, so are great for a small backyard. Some crepe myrtles can be susceptible to powdery mildew, which is a disease that looks like a film of light grey ash over foliage and flower buds. Powdery mildew can deform leaves and weaken the plant as well as damage flowers. Powdery mildew is easy to control with a systemic fungicide, which moves around the sap system of the plant to target disease. Yates® Super Shield contains the systemic fungicide myclobutanil, which controls diseases like powdery mildew. Spray as much of the tree as possible every 14 days, from the first sign of disease.

Heavenly hydrangeas Hydrangeas are spectacular flowering shrubs that make a beautiful inclusion in cool to sub-tropical gardens. New gorgeous varieties of hydrangeas are being released regularly and flower colours include the traditional brilliant blue, white and bright pink, as well as ruby red, lime green and multi toned and lacecap flower heads. Here’s how to keep your hydrangeas fabulously showy: Feeding - scatter Yates® Thrive® Rose & Flower

Granular Plant Food around the root zone of hydrangeas every 12 weeks and then water in well. In addition to controlled release nitrogen to promote healthy leaf and stem growth, it’s boosted with fast acting nutrients, including extra potassium to promote lots of flowers as well as phosphorus to encourage a strong root system and calcium and iron for improved flower quality.

Greywater your garden!

Greywater is a valuable source of water to use in the garden. Make the most of your greywater with Yates Greywater Fertiliser. It is specially formulated to add missing nutrients to laundry, bath & shower greywater so that it can be used to feed your home garden plants and lawns.

Watering - most hydrangeas prefer growing

in a position that is protected from harsh sun. Morning sun and afternoon shade is ideal or dappled sun all day. Keep hydrangeas wellwatered, as the large leaves can rapidly lose moisture and wilt. Hydrangea foliage can also be susceptible to sunburn during hot dry weather. Disease control - watch for white talcum powder

looking spots on leaves which could indicate the damaging disease powdery mildew. Regular sprays of ready to use Yates Rose Gun® or Yates Super Shield will keep powdery mildew under control.

to find out more visit YATES.COM.AU YATES.CO.NZ O W I N G trademark W I T H YO - YA T E S (Australia)22 Yates isGaRregistered ofUDuluxGroup Pty Ltd

Devil's Ivy 101 ~ r

Devil’s ivy (Epipremnum aureum), also known as pothos, should be one of the first plants on your wish list when starting out on your indoor plant growing journey. Then there are collection-worthy varieties like variegated white and green ‘Marble Queen’ and lime green ‘Neon’ that definitely deserve a place in your indoor jungle. Devil’s ivy has a trailing or climbing habit, so its long stems can be draped over and down shelves or trained up a totem, or it can cascade luxuriously out of a hanging basket. They’re super tough plants, which will thrive in a brightly lit spot indoors that’s protected from direct sunlight, however they’re also tolerant of more dimly lit areas. They’ll also do well in humid areas like bathrooms and kitchens.

Top Devil’s ivy growing tips: » Choose a pot with good drainage holes and use a good quality potting mix like Yates® Thrive Indoor Plants Potting Mix. » The potting mix can be allowed to dry out slightly in between waterings. You can check the moisture level in the potting mix by gently digging around in the top few centimetres with your finger. » To promote lush healthy foliage growth, from spring to autumn feed every 2 months with Yates Thrive® Plant Food Spikes Plants & Ferns. It’s as simple as pushing a spike into the potting mix towards the edge of the pot. The spike is out of sight and there’s no mixing or measuring required. » Remove any brown leaves to keep the plant looking tidy and gently wipe the leaves regularly to remove any dust. » If stems become too long or you’d like to promote thicker, bushier growth, stems can be trimmed. You can propagate more plants using these stem pieces by simply placing them in glass or vase of water. Make sure each piece has at least two nodes (bumps on the stem) where roots and shoots can develop.

Green thumb tip To retain their leaf colours and patterns, variegated Devil’s ivy will require brighter light than greener varieties.

INTERVIEW WITH AN

interior plantscaper Being immersed in indoor plants for a living sounds like a dream come true for indoor plant fanatics. Angie Thomas interviewed interior plantscaper Nerida Hills about her passion for creating lush and leafy spaces for her clients.

Tell us about your business Nerida’s Interior Plantscaping specialises in the hire and maintenance of stunning indoor plants and containers within the commercial, residential, event hire and home staging sectors. Our philosophy is about creating healthy, beautiful and practical interiors with living plants.

When and how did your interest in indoor plants start? I remember being in high school and having read somewhere that indoor plants are good for increasing productivity and your mood. I happened to mention this to my Dad who promptly went out and bought me a little syngonium for my room. His theory was I now had no excuse not to complete my homework!

What are some of the challenges in your business? Right now it’s sourcing enough indoor plants to meet the current demand! There has also been issues around access due to COVID restrictions. I worry about how the plants are surviving without our regular maintenance visits but I’m looking forward to seeing what I can save.

What are your best tips for maintaining indoor plants? Cleaning your plants is really important! I use a spray bottle with diluted horticultural oil then wipe over the leaves. Not only does this create a lovely shine, it keeps any pests under control before they become a problem. And have a regular day each week to check your plants. If there is still moisture in the soil do not water. When you do decide to water, make sure you give the plant enough to run all the way through the pot. Sit back and enjoy! Images courtesy of Nerida Hills

What is it about indoor plants that you love? It must be that connection to nature that makes me feel happy when I see thriving indoor plants. I also love the challenge of finding the perfect plant for a particular location and great satisfaction when it continues to grow happily over the years.

Do you have lots of indoor plants at home and do you have a favourite plant? I have many indoor plants at home, they are constantly changing. I tend to end up with many plants left over from jobs, so they find a spot in my home. It’s a jungle! Not sure if I can choose just one favourite… though it’s hard to beat a big, lush fiddle leaf fig. I also love all varieties of Rhipsalis, they are so easy to grow in a wide range of conditions.

@neridasplants

G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

swooning over

succulents Succulents have a pretty impressive resume. They’re hardy, low maintenance and drought tolerant, come in a myriad of beautiful leaf colours, textures and shapes and there are succulents to suit the tiniest pots to the largest gardens. Here we’re featuring three super popular succulents - agave, echeveria and sedum.

Agaves For a striking garden feature, Agaves have stiff leaves that form large rosettes which can reach up to 1m across. Some have spiky margins while others, such as the very popular Agave attentuata, has smooth edged grey-green leaves. Agaves need a frost protected position in full sun to part shade and although they are drought tolerant, will appreciate a deep watering each week during hot dry conditions. Agaves also look fabulous in pots. For the larger agaves like A. attenuata you’ll need a pot at least 40cm in diameter. Flower spikes reaching several metres high can emerge from the centre of mature plants. Once an agave has flowered, the plant will slowly die however will produce numerous small ‘pups’ around the base which can be separated and replanted.

Echeveria Echeverias are succulents that form neat rosettes of overlapping leaves in shades of green, blue-grey, burgundy or silver, with many having interesting two-toned or attractive wavy leaves. Echeverias are sometimes known as ‘hens and chicks’, due to the delightful way that small plants will develop around the mother plant. These can be easily separated, making it simple to grow your echeveria collection. Echeverias will also produce yellow, red or orange flowers on tall stems, held high above the plant. Most echeverias grow to around 15cm tall and wide and make fantastic potted plants, either one variety en masse or a range of different varieties grown together in the one pot. When growing succulents in pots, a free draining potting mix, together with a well-drained pot, is essential. Yates Thrive® Cacti & Succulent Potting Mix is a coarse, free-draining sandy mix that’s ideal for succulents.

Sedums

Secrets to growing

Succulents! Sedums are a diverse range of succulents, from the cutest jelly bean sedums (Sedum rubrotinctum), to gorgeous flowering ‘Autumn Joy’ and cascading donkey’s tail (Sedum morganianum). When it comes to ground cover and low growing sedums, there are colours and textures for every garden design. They can create attractive focal points in rockeries, garden beds and dry garden designs or to edge paths and driveways. Sedums also make fabulous potted plants. Look for sedums like ‘Makinoi Ogon’ which has lime green fine rounded leaves and loves a shady spot, ‘Gold Mound’ with masses of soft yellow foliage, striking burgundy Sedum ‘Voodoo’ and fast-growing Sedum reflexum which creates a mat of blue-ish green leaves. Most sedums only need watering once their leaves start to soften or shrink, which is more common during periods of hot weather.

Succulents will really appreciate being fed between spring and autumn, to promote healthy leaf, stem and root growth. Feed potted succulents with Yates® Thrive® Plant Food Spikes Cacti & Succulents. It’s as simple as pushing a spike into the potting mix, midway between the stem and the pot edge, until the spike is just below the surface. The spikes contain a complete blend of nutrients, specially designed to feed cacti & succulents for 2 months.

Succulents come in a huge range of colours, shapes and sizes and with the right care, make them a plant that’s perfect for even the most novice gardener. Yates has made it easy to care for your cacti & succulents, with a range of plant care products tailored specifically for them!

POTTING To give your cacti & succulents the perfect foundation, use Yates® Thrive® Cacti & Succulent Potting Mix. It is a special free-draining blend of barks & organic material, pumice, lime, dolomite, and a 6 month plant food. Perfect for desert & tropical cacti, and a range of succulent plants.

NO MESS FERTILISING Yates® Thrive® Plant Food Spikes Cacti & Succulents are specially designed to feed your cacti & succulents where they need it most, at the roots. Each plant food spike contains slow release nutrients that feeds for up to 2 months. They’re easy to use and out of sight – simply insert spikes into the potting mix and water well. Yates and Thrive are registered trade marks of DuluxGroup (Australia) Pty Ltd.

FLOWE R S

to sow IN SU M M E R

It’s time to sow a fabulous range of flower seeds, to bring glorious floral colour into your garden over the coming months. And it’s very important for us all to grow lots of flowers, to provide food for insects such as bees, butterflies and other beneficial pollinators.

Seeds by All around New Zealand you can sow: » Bee Pasture » Butterfly Field » Cottage Garden Mix » Freesia Giant Masterpiece » Gypsophila Baby’s Breath » Marigold Safari Mixture » Nasturtium - Cherry Rose, Jewel Mixed » Nigella White » Poppy Iceland Artist’s Glory » Rudbeckia Cherry Brandy » Village Green Mix » Wildflowers of the World » Wildflower Mix - Carpet of Blue Wildflower Mix, Carpet of Pinks Wildflower Mix, Mexican Fiesta, Tough & Hardy, Shady Woodland. Wildflower Meadow Check the seed pack for the best sowing time in your area.

Seedling tip Protect seedlings from damaging snails and slugs with a light sprinkling of Baysol® Snail & Slug Bait.

Here are the easy steps to starting a fabulous flower patch: step 1 Choose a sunny spot in a garden that receives at least 6 hours of sunshine a day. If there are any weeds or grasses in the area, spray with Yates Zero® Weed Killer and let them die back completely (usually around 2 weeks).

step 2 Mix some Yates Thrive Natural Blood & Bone into the soil, to enrich and improve the quality of the soil and help give the new flowers the best possible start. Follow the directions on the seed packet and either sow seed direct where the flowers are to grow or sow into trays of Yates Black Magic® Seed Raising Mix. Water gently and keep the soil moist. For seedlings grown in trays, transplant them into their final home once they’re large enough to handle.

step 3 Once the seedlings are established, encourage lots of healthy growth and promote masses of vibrant flowers by feeding each week with Yates Thrive® Rose & Flower Liquid Plant Food. It’s as easy as adding 1–2 capfuls into a 9L watering can and applying around the plants and soil.

Native summer stunner Pohutukawa The festive season heralds vibrantly coloured Pohutukawa. Also known as the New Zealand Christmas Tree, its stunning red flowers are a feature of New Zealand’s coastline in mid-summer and are a rich source of nectar for bees and native birds. Pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsea) can be grown from seed or potted plants and will eventually reach around 5–8m tall when mature. There are also dwarf varieties that grow to a much more compact 1-3m and can be planted into containers or grown as a dense hedge. They’re hardy plants, tolerating dry and coastal areas and a position in full sun. New Zealand native plants like Pohutukawa will benefit from being fed each spring and autumn with Yates® Dynamic Lifter® Organic Plant Food. It’s a pelletised blend of composted chicken manure, blood & bone, fishmeal and seaweed and releases organic nutrients slowly to gently feed plants. Regular applications of Yates Dynamic Lifter will help to improve the levels of organic matter in the soil, which encourages earthworms and beneficial soil microorganisms as well as promoting improved soil moisture and nutrient storage. After the floral frenzy of spring, it’s fantastic to be able to include summer flowering plants like Pohutukawa in your garden, to help ensure an ongoing supply of food for birds, bees and other beneficial insects.

Tidy tip After flowering, give New Zealand Christmas trees a good trim to help keep them neat and compact. G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

Gardening in

different climates All around New Zealand, there are lots of things to keep you wonderfully busy out in the garden during summer.

IN COOL CLIMATES

it’s time to:

» Sow seeds of dwarf and climbing beans by mid-summer, now that the soil has warmed up. Try growing colourful beans like Yates® Purple King Climbing Beans or Yates Dwarf Bean Mix. » Watch for powdery mildew on grapes, which will appear like a dusting of white powder over the foliage. At the first sign of this disease, spray the leaves with Yates Nature’s Way® Fungus Spray. » Keep feeding strawberry plants to promote healthy foliage growth and encourage further flowering and fruiting. Yates Thrive® Strawberry & Berry Fruit Liquid Plant Food is a complete fertiliser designed especially for feeding berries like strawberries. » Continue monitoring for skeletonising pear slugs on pears, cherries, apples and plums and control with Yates Nature’s Way Pyrethrum. » Control tough, woody and invasive weeds like blackberry, ivy, gorse, wandering trad, convolvulus, onion weed, bamboo, oxalis, pampas grass and ladder fern with ready to use Yates Zero® Tough Heavy Duty Weedkiller. It contains a vanishing blue ‘highlighter’ to see where you’ve sprayed and weeds will typically exhibit symptoms within 7 days of spraying.

P OW DE RY MILDEW

IN TEMPERATE CLIMATES

it’s time to:

» Prevent the disease brown rot from destroying stone fruit, particularly during periods of wet and humid weather, by spraying trees with Yates Nature’s Way Fungus Spray. » Treat zinc and manganese trace element deficiencies in citrus, which can appear as small, pale or mottled leaves, with foliar sprays of Yates Citrus Cure Zinc & Manganese Chelate. » Cut back spent kangaroo paw flower stems to the ground. » Take semi-hardwood cuttings of shrubs like azaleas, camellias and hibiscus. Choose firm 10-15cm pieces of leafy stems, dip the ends into Yates Clonex® Purple Rooting Hormone Gel before inserting into a pot of moist Yates Black Magic® Seed Raising Mix. Keep the pot in a protected spot while roots develop.

And all across New Zealand, get the kids involved with gardening over summer and try growing some of the fun new kid-friendly seeds in the Yates range: » Yates Behemoth Giant Pumpkin – grow a mighty mammoth pumpkin! Sow seeds in December and watch this fantastic variety develop a massive pumpkin! » Yates Dinosaur Gourds Prehistoric Monster Mix – grow some crazy dinosaur shaped gourds! They’re all warty, have super long necks and you can even decorate them with eyes and teeth! Sow seed in December and the gourds will be ready in 15–18 weeks. » Yates Pop Star! Strawberry Popcorn – grow your very own movie snacks with this special heirloom corn that produces cute little cobs with ruby-red kernels. Sow seed in December in a sunny vegie patch. » Yates Yummy UFOs Alien Scallopini Zucchini – let your vegie patch be invaded by extraterrestrial flying saucers! Sow seed in December and these funky bright scallopini are delicious and will be ready to harvest in just 6-7 weeks. » Yates Little Ted Fluffy Sunflower - a delightful short-growing sunflower with super cute and fluffy golden pompom flowers. Sow seed during December for a flower show in 8–10 weeks time. » Yates Magical Creatures Fairy Flower Mix – sprinkle these seeds like fairy dust in a sunny or partly shaded garden bed to grow a colourful home for magical creatures like bees and butterflies. G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

GARDEN CLUB

JO IN NO W

G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S Yates is a registered trademark of DuluxGroup (Australia) Pty Ltd