[AliJax]

Any gardeners going to NZ?

I've had a subscription of Amateur Gardening in the UK, which gives free seeds in nearly every issue (can't bring myself to give them away)

These seeds have piled up and some are of the variety I would like to grow.

The MAF website (http://www.maf.govt.nz/biosecurity/imports/plants/index.htm) has a checker to see if the seeds are able to be brought into the country but its not very reliable to say the least.

Does anyone know of a more reliable source for this info ?

[Lil]

That's one thing I am really looking forward to is gardening in NZ and growing all kinds of things that we can't in the UK. My understanding is that you cannot take any seeds with you of any kind. That's why they won't allow xmas decos, dried flowers etc

Perhaps you could drop MAF an e-mail to check the facts though.

[Raeven]

Hi, Lil,

Quick correction to a common misunderstanding: You can take Christmas decorations, dried flowers, etc., provided you are prepared for them to treat these items to render the seeds not viable. But people should not have the impression that they cannot take these items into NZ; they can, they just need to declare them and expect them to be treated to render any seeds non-viable. (Unviable? Inviable?)

AliJax,

Bringing seeds in is not permitted. I mean, you can bring them, but MAF will order them destroyed or treat them so they won't sprout. (Non-viable? Unviable? Inviable? :wah )

You can e-mail MAF directly to ask them about all this: enquiry@maf.govt.nz

I'm throwing away lots of favorite seeds, too... love gardening, and it's really too bad!!!

All the best, Rae

[Nicola]

Glad I am not the only gardener around.

I am so sad to be leaving some of my plants behind. Especially my birthday tree. But really looking forward to growing different species that I could not do over here.

BTW does anyone know what the population of slugs is like in NZ. I am an organic gardener and slugs have destroyed loads of my Hostas, Lupins and Sunflowers.

[Radders]

Here's a question for you. As some of you may know. It is the time of year in the UK when Spartan apples arrive on our shelves. I just love them. My kiwi wife does too, but she can not remember having this variety in NZ. It would be good to have my own tree, but I don't think MAF would look too favourably on a packet of spartan seeds!
Can you get Spartan apples out there??? :hopeso

[veronica]

Can't answer for sparton apples but I have seen varieties of both apples and pears that I hadn't noticed in the UK.

I am not an avid gardner like you guys but i am interested and have been going round the 2nd hand bookshops for southern hemisphere gardening books. got a few but am struggling to find any with just natives in. Anyone come across any.

re lupins, again havent seen any slugs but doubt they would dent the lupins here on the south island. they have escaped into the country side and grow wild.

[Raeven]

BTW does anyone know what the population of slugs is like in NZ. I am an organic gardener and slugs have destroyed loads of my Hostas, Lupins and Sunflowers.

Hi, Nicola,

Have you tried the beer trick? It works extremely well with snails, and I should think slugs would be equally attracted.

Set out containers (small buckets work well) of beer -- not good stuff, obviously, and stale and/or flat will do just fine. Snails climb in, drink their fill, get drunk, can't climb out and expire. Shocking how many you will accumulate, and it puts you off escargot for life.. but works very well!

Might we worth a try..? :cheers

All the best, Rae

[clg]

I can second Rae's beer suggestion. It works very well for snails and we also find slugs when we do it. I normally use a bunch of small bowls near areas we are having problems.

Chris

[veronica]

be aware when using the beer trick. it does work but can kill off birds that then eat them, or so I have been told

[Raeven]

Hi, Veronica,

I wasn't aware of bird deaths and never saw any evidence of same, but thanks for mentioning it -- I'd hate to do in any of our beautiful birds in getting rid of the snails! I will mention that we put the beer containers out in the evening and bring them in in the morning, so maybe that keeps the birds from perishing. I usually find that after doing this for a week or so, the snail population is sufficiently reduced so we don't have to do it again for awhile.

All the best, Rae

[Nicola]

Hi Rae

Yes I have tried slug pubs. I think it just attracts them. Also my slugs seem to drown and not wander off to poison birds.

I thought that it was the slug pellets that poison birds. As I garden organically I do not use slug pellets.

I have even seen slugs climb up my broom plant to make the branches droop over on to my Hostas. And they say they have small brains. :?

Usually I plant twice as much in hope that the slugs will leave me some for being kind.

[veronica]

apparently over time it damages the birds livers, in effect they get alcohol poison.

[Moorf]

It's a bit laborious but have you tried broken egg shells around the base of plants?

Plus, I read once that copper wire deterred them.

We're avid gardeners and I so miss the garden. We have one here and I've promised the landlords I'll transform it - it was only then that I realised I know nothing about the sorts of plants they have here and pruning seasons etc!! I think a long conversation with the local garden centre manager is required!

Just out of interest - we have 5 gorgeous camelias in this garden - I haven't dealt with them before (they never did too well in Scotland) and they have soooo many blooms on them that they appear in danger of toppling over/breaking in two! I assume it is okay to deadhead them and would it hurt to cut them back a bit or should I wait?!

Cheers
Moorf

[nisse]

Just out of interest - we have 5 gorgeous camelias in this garden - I haven't dealt with them before (they never did too well in Scotland) and they have soooo many blooms on them that they appear in danger of toppling over/breaking in two! I assume it is okay to deadhead them and would it hurt to cut them back a bit or should I wait?!

Cheers
Moorf[/quote]

Hi Moorf,

it is not a very good idea cutting back camelias as it often has the effect that they don't bring any flowers the next year. They're very finicky plants, better left alone as much as possible. Deadheading should be okay. I have two on my balcony and they flower every year, have to be treated like babies, though.

Cheers

NIsse

[Moorf]

Whew - glad I asked - woulda been brutal if I'd left them with no blooms next year - thanks for that Nisse :nice1

[Nicola]

Veronica - Thanks for the info re slug pubs and bird's livers. I will just drink the bear myself from now on and not pour it in the garden.

I have also tried egg shells, copper tape, grit, and sand to no avail. I will just have to stick to the plant twice as much trick.

The camellias sound lovely, another good reason to add to my list of reasons to move to NZ.

Moorf you should keep us informed of your gardening adventures, what plants do well, what pest there are and what plants do not do well.

Ali - Those seeds you have, if you can not bring them with you. What about emptying them into fancy envelopes and giving them to people as christmas pressies. Sorry, yes I know I am a total cheap skate, trying to save all our money for a trip to NZ.

[Moorf]

With all that we have to sort I am still excited at the prospect of our first trip to the garden centre - although I feel I may blow the budget!

The camelia's ARE lovely, and so prolific, and around Chch the gardens are all in bloom - amazing cherries and gorgeous magnolias abound - and seeing huge succulents and cacti growing wild is amazing!

Haven't seen any gardening progs on telly though... perhaps someone out there (who doesn't have Sky) could let me know if I'm missing any...

[Stu]

I had to comment... please, PLEASE, do not leave beer around in the garden in NZ. I mean, hello? This is New Zealand, yeah? How long will it be before a few of the boys will be around draining your beer traps every night as soon as you re-top them? Slugs and snails and all too I'd bet.

No, never leave a beer in the open in NZ........

Slugs? Yes we have them, of course, not too bad though. There are plenty of organic types (not me though, slug-slam them to the max, that is my motto) around who can help with these sortsa problems.

Just at the moment, my tulips are looking great down at the farm, and the wildflowers I have sown are knee-high, and should be ready to flower before too long I hope. Daffs, Irises and bluebells all look great, and have a heap of pansies, gazanias and polyanthus planted for colour until the wildflowers come out... largely poppies (Soldier and californian), cornflowers, toadflax and clarkias.

Perhaps check out www.wildflowerworld.co.nz (or is it .com?) , they are the folks I get my bulk seeds through.

Asparagus is coming along now, harvesting every other day, only got about 80kg today, but that should soon be up to around 300kg.

Grass is starting to grow, dairy prodn is steady, Fonterra (Dairy co-op company) announced an increase of their pre-season estimate of around 20c per kg, should make it up to around 4.50/kg I think. Our smallish 135 acre farm is doing around 60,000kg a season, so that is nice. Calving is finished, mating will be starting in a week or so. Silage is ready to be made in a week or two, so the ground can be prepped for maize silage to be planted at end of hte month.

Anything else you'd like to know? :-)

cheers,
Stu.

[Nicola]

Thanks for the link Stu. :cheers You guessed what my next question was going to be.

Next question is do you have any pics of your wildflowers. It is just coming into Autumn here, winter is on its way. Most of the flowers have finished flowering, the nastersiums etc are just hanging on but will go with the first frost, which will be soon. The leaves on the trees are changing colour. There are loads and loads of berries on the trees this year, very pretty but very worrying. If the old wifes tale is correct we are in for a very bad winter. :? I am not looking forward to dark nights and dark mornings, only seeing the daylight at the weekend. So we could do with some pictures of spring flowers from NZ.

Will not use slug pubs in NZ then, it is a waste of good beer anyway.

[AliJax]

Thanks for all you input Gardners. My solution for slugs is brutal - Squash em' :eek

They never come back.

To save your hostas if getting really chewed on is to put them in containers, and put the copper around the planter, looks great when polished.

:nice1

[Stu]

hmmm... the only pic I have of the wildflowers on the roadfroont last year is not that great, just a quick snap that didnt get the best areas....doesn't look like much (indeed, looks like all grass...) but here you go....
http://www.myfishingpictures.com/img/035945.jpg
Not much of a pic really, but there you go...now if it was a pretty FISH you wanted a pic of, wellllll, mate, then I could help! ;-)

cheers, Stu.

[miep]

Hi Nicola,

You will just love gardening here, it's soooo much easier than in colder climes. Everything we had difficulty growing in holland thrives here. Camelia's and rhodo's grow into massive trees here. Sadly the weeds also do really well, we live on a hillside so we don't have lawns to mow but we could (should) spend every weekend pulling weeds. We use roundup (weed killer) only for noxious weeds such as Old mans beard (a type of clematis) because it is impossible to get rid of any other way. It is incredible how invasive these weeds can be, old mans beard basically strangles everything around it and is a real hazard for the native bush. If you have some on your property the council asks you to get rid of it or they come and do it themselves.
Bugs are pretty much the same here, slugs and snails are certainly around but I plant too much of everything so I' usually left with enough. Whitefly and aphids are my biggest concern, I haven't found anything organic that really works so I mostly remove them by hand, YUCK!

Check out this link http://www.kingseeds.co.nz/ they have a large range of organic seeds with quite a few "out of the ordinary" varieties.

If you want info on any specific type of plant just give me a yell, but in general anything that grows in the mediteranean will grow well here.

Happy gardening! :cool

[Stu]

I was gonna take a buncha pic of flowers on the farm today, but forgot, remembering just as I was going out the gate, so took a quick snap on the way out of the easiest bunch nearest me...
http://www.myfishingpictures.com/img/036166.jpg

sorry it is only a little pic, I will try to remember to get better ones soon...
cheers, Stu.

[Nicola]

Stu - Thanks for the pics they look really good. The road front looks great, even though you say that is not the best bit. My eldest son would be interested in the fishing pics, but not me. He has spent all his summer holidays fishing on the Tweed and only caught one trout.

Miep - Thanks for the link I will go and browse there now. Seems odd to me killing off clematis(old mans beard), I spend so long coaxing them to grow over here. I can appreciate why they want to get rid of it. We have a pest plant up here that colanizes the river banks kills of all other plants underneath it. Giant hog weed, it is exceedingly toxic, just a small amount of sap on your skin produces large blisters. Have you tried nettle potion or washing up liquid for the aphids. I do not have a lot of problems with aphids, we have loads of wild birds and ladybirds to eat them.

Off to dream about gardening in NZ.

[jo b]

[quote="AliJax"]Any gardeners going to NZ?

I've had a subscription of Amateur Gardening in the UK, which gives free seeds in nearly every issue (can't bring myself to give them away)

Ali,

if you really need to give them away my Dad is gardener extraordinaire :mrgreen: . Belive me he had to give away hundreds of plants this year from his green house as he had now where t left to plant them.

In all seriousness though gardening for me in NZ will be part of the new adventure.
When we are over there we can share tips/seedlings :nice1

Jo

[Annierobrigado]

would orchids thrive in nz?

am not much of a gardener, don't even know my taxonomy, i could water the weeds and pull out the real plants, i don't remember how i passed botany in college!

i would like a vegetable garden, so i can have salads!

willing to take up gardening 101 with all of you...

annie