Anita's Garden
Volume 1, Issue 10
Nursery at Anita’s Garden
I’m open weekdays and weekend by prior appointment.
Your one stop shop for everything you need for the
garden. Text me on 021 02762091 to arrange a time to
come and visit the nursery.
Dok eggplant back in stock $2 each!
Dok is a long purple variety of eggplant similar to those
found in Indian grocers. They are great for ethnic and
western cuisine. Stock is limited. Please text me on
021 02762091 with your name and quantity required.
Loki gourd plants just $1.50 each!
Loki gourd plants are in stock now! Just $1.50 per
potted plant. Please text me on 021 02762091 to visit
the nursery and stock up soon before they all
disappear.
Rock melon plants just $1.50 each!
I still have some rock melon plants left for those keen
on giving melons a try this summer. Last year we had
an amazing harvest. Text me on 021 02762091 to
arrange a time to pick up some melon plants.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
2 The week in retrospect at Anita’s Garden – NEW!
3 Anita’s Garden nursery news – NEW!
4 Plants for sale in the nursery at Anita’s Garden –
UPDATED STOCK LIST!
6 Top 5 gardening tasks for the week
7 Reflections on Anita’s Garden 6 months on – Part II
8 Growing guide: Beans
11 Growing guide: Wildflowers
Anita's Garden 1
17 November 2017
Editorial
Welcome to the tenth issue of my monthly newsletter
filled with news fresh from Anita’s Garden.
The plant nursery at Anita’s Garden is open during the
week and over the weekend. For a list of available
stock and prices, please see pages 4 and 5.
To stay up to date with what is happening around
Anita’s Garden and follow my journey as a new
business owner, please follow my blog:
http://anitasgarden.weebly.com/blog
For gardening advice, ideas and inspiration, check
back on my website regularly and follow me on my
social media accounts:
Webpage: http://anitasgarden.weebly.com/
Facebook: Anita’s Garden
Twitter: https://twitter.com/anitakundu
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anitakundu.nz/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anita-kundu-
850100141/
Pinterest: https://nz.pinterest.com/anitakundunz/
Snapchat: anitasgarden
Newsletter - Back Issues
Click here to read back issues of my newsletter.
Mailing List
To receive this newsletter direct to your inbox, please
email me at anitakundu.nz@gmail.com so I can add
you to my mailing list.
Feedback
Send your feedback, news, photos and recipes to me via
email at anitakundu.nz@gmail.com and I will feature your
letter in a future issue of Anita’s Garden newsletter.
The week in retrospect at Anita’s Garden – NEW!

Anita’s Garden supplies fresh Anita’s Garden partners with

flowers for a Tangi in Northland
As mentioned in a recent blog post, I received my first
flower order! I have been waiting for this for a while and
was excited but at the same time saddened by the
purpose for which the flowers were used. I supplied
fresh flowers from the garden for the tangi (the Maori
word for funeral) of my friend’s aunt which took place in
Northland last Friday.
the Cordis Hotel in Auckland!
Formerly known as the Auckland
Langham, this is Auckland city’s leading
hotel and my personal favourite!
I am so proud to announce a partnership with my
favourite hotel in Auckland! Most of you will know
this hotel as the Auckland Langham on Symonds
Street, but it recently changed its name to the Cordis
hotel.

The concierge desk has kindly agreed to keep some

brochures about Anita's Garden for travellers
interested in visiting a private garden and seeing an
urban self-sufficiency project in action.

I am so excited about this development as it means

that the range of visitors to Anita’s Garden may
potentially be broadened to include foreigners from
Cut, packaged and ready to travel to Whangarei all around the world!

My client and her two relatives came to visit the garden Thank you, Cordis! I hope this will be the start of a
about a week prior to the Tangi. I asked that they do this lovely relationship with you!
incase the flowers in the garden were not appropriate, so
it would give them enough time to find an alternative
supplier. I gave the three ladies a tour of the garden,
focussing on flowers and greenery. As we walked
around the garden, I made a list of all of the flowers and
NEW - Gift Certificates!
plants that had caught their eye. They were particularly
impressed by our lilies, canna and calla foliage as well These just arrived in the post the other day! I am so
as the hydrangea foliage. We agreed that they would excited to introduce gift certificates for Anita’s
come and collect the flowers during the morning prior to Garden.
departing for Northland for the Tangi. The ladies asked
for just the flowers and plants, as they were happy to do
the arranging themselves. They needed enough flowers
and plants for approximately 25 tables at the Tangi.

The day before, I picked the flowers and plants that the
client had requested and put them into vases and
buckets of water. Some plants, such as the canna
foliage, were too large to keep inside so I kept the plants
in buckets of water outside the house.

The day of collection, I packaged the plants by wrapping

them in damp newspaper, as you can see in the picture
above. I put the plants into Sistema crates as they were
too big to fit into cardboard boxes
If you would like fresh flowers from the garden for any
occasion, be it a wedding, funeral, Mother’s day, or a
birthday, please get in touch with me at
anitakundu.nz@gmail.com or text me on 021 02762091
to find out what is available at the moment in the garden.
Take the stress out of shopping for birthday and
Christmas presents, and give a gift that keeps on
giving!
These nifty vouchers can have any value and do not
have an expiry date, meaning that the recipient can
enjoy shopping at Anita’s Garden at any time in the
future.

Anita's Garden 2
Anita’s Garden - Nursery News!
Order and collect – NEW!
In a hurry? Know exactly what you want? I’ve made
life easy for you! Email me your order at
anitakundu.nz@gmail.com and collect later on!
Mail orders - NEW!
Want to purchase plants but is Anita’s Garden too far
away? I can post plants from my nursery anywhere in
NZ! A shoe box filled with plants sent by overnight
courier (and tracked) costs just $12 + cost for plants. $3
extra for RD. Great value as my prices are lower than
garden centres, I stock interesting and unusual varieties
that aren’t available commercially and also you will save
yourself a trip to the garden centre! Email me at
anitakundu.nz@gmail.com if you wish to place an order.
Here is the feedback that Richard from Mangawhai gave
me after he received his plants on the overnight courier
service (you can also read this review on my Facebook
page):
***** (5 stars!!)
Well good people, I was recommended this site as being
a place that I could buy some Asparagus Crowns and
hence my relationship with Anita started. I bought 30
Crowns and whilst discussing delivery etc I saw that she
had some Snake Bean plants (been after these for ages)
so ordered some of those as well. Anita then packaged
up the plants and Couriered them to Mangawhai where
they arrived on overnight Courier well packaged and in
perfect condition. I would thoroughly recommend her to
you all as being a top person forgetting that her plants
are so cheap it's unbelievable I'm sure she will upset the
big players in the industry due to awesome prices. Check
her out you won't be sorry.
Here is the feedback that Noelle from Te Kuiti gave me
after she received her plants on the overnight courier
earlier this week (you can also read this review on my
Facebook page):
***** (5 stars!!)
I had placed an on line order of mixed vegetable on
Monday to Anita and I received it this morning nicely
packed in a shoe box. I have already potted them to get
them settling before planting them in the garden. It was
a pleasure to do business with Anita she offers some
interesting vegetable varieties and is so diligent in her
Anita's Garden 3
replies. Thank you very much Anita I’ll definitely keep
an eye on your nursery.
10% discount for orders $50 and
over
All orders $50 and above (both post and pick
up) will receive a 10% discount on the total
price!
Let’s recycle!
Please return all your empty punnets, pots and
seedlings trays on your next visit! $2 rebate per tray,
which you can redeem on your next purchase.
Ethnic veggies here now!
I’m pleased to announce that the following ethnic
veggies are available in my nursery. Stocks are
limited, so I highly recommend that you place an
order to secure what you want! Please let me know
the quantity of each item that you require. I will then
let you know when they are ready for collection.
There is still PLENTY of time to grow these heat
loving veggies. In fact it’s a good idea not to start
them too early when temperatures are still unstable.
Mid-late November is perfect timing. You can either
email me your order at anitakundu.nz@gmail.com or
text me on 021 02762091.
o Snake beans (long green) $2 per punnet
o Okra $2 per punnet – AVAILABLE SOON
o “Double beans” (Lima del Papa) $2 per
punnet – AVAILABLE SOON, PREORDER
NOW
o Loki Gourd (a favourite of mine!) $1.50 each
o Hot chillies $1.50 each
o Dok eggplant (long purple like the Indian
shop!) $2 each
o Round eggplant $1.50 each
o Malabar spinach ($1.50 per punnet of 6
seedlings or $8 per tray)
o Purple kohlrabi – a Kashmiri favourite
($1.50 per punnet of 6 seedlings or $8 per
tray)
o Edible luffa gourds (great for curries) –
COMING SOON – PREORDER NOW
o Gem squash (a South African delight!) –
COMING SOON – PREORDER NOW
I may be able to grow other ethnic veggies upon
request. Please contact me and I will see what I can
do. Email your request to anitakundu.nz@gmail.com
or text me on 021 02762091.
Plants for sale at Anita’s Garden

Pick up is in Papatoetoe, Manukau. Please email me at Potted vegetables - $1.50 each

anitakundu.nz@gmail.com or text me on 021 02762091
Plants are in 10 cm pots, ready to plant out!
to arrange an appointment week days or weekend. Know
exactly what you want? I accept orders by email for you o Capsicum Colour Salad Selection
to collect later in the week. For large orders or o Capsicum Early Red
transactions over $50, I offer a 10% discount. Thank you. o Capsicum Early Wonder
o Capsicum Giant Bell
SPECIAL! Assorted veggie punnets - $1.50 each!
o Capsicum Hot Mix
Each punnet contains 6 seedlings. Great value! You o Capsicum Jingle Bells
can mix and match to have a variety. o Capsicum Long Italian
o Capsicum Long Perennial
o Frilly green lettuce (cut and come again)
o Capsicum Long Sweet Red
o Red lettuce (cut and come again)
o Capsicum Orange Sweetie
o Malabar Spinach (doesn’t bolt in the heat)
o Capsicum Purple Beauty
o Purple Kohlrabi
o Chilli Bell Shaped
o Asparagus – one year old crowns (just two
o Chilli Long Sweet Red
more years until you can harvest them!)
o Chilli Pequin St Croix
o Chilli Picante Calabrese
o Chilli Sweet Banana
o Chilli Toppepo Rosso
o Cucumber Apple
o Cucumber Beth Alpha
o Cucumber Continental
o Cucumber Long Green
o Eggplant Florence Round Purple
o Eggplant Prosperosa
o Eggplant Tonda Bianca
o Gherkins
Malabar spinach seedlings
o Gourd Asian (Loki)
Trays of seedlings - $8 each o Pumpkin Australian Butter
Contains lots and lots of seedlings. Includes a re-usable o Pumpkin Butternut
seedling tray (very handy to have around the garden!) or o Pumpkin Galeux D’Eysines
return to me later for a $2 rebate towards your next
purchase of a tray of seedlings from Anita’s Garden! o Pumpkin Grey Crown
o Frilly green and red lettuce (cut and come o Pumpkin Long Island Cheese
again variety) o Pumpkin Queensland Blue
o Lamb’s lettuce o Pumpkin Whangaparoa Crown
o Purple kohlrabi o Rock Melon (Italian/Franchi)
o Asparagus – one year old crowns (just two o Rock Melon Hale’s Best

more years until you can harvest them!) o Rock Melon Western Express
o Silverbeet o Spaghetti Squash
o Malabar spinach o Tomato Container Choice
o Leeks (Winter Giant) o Tomato Costoluto
o Tomato Dwarf Maja
. o Tomato Grosse Lisse
o Tomato Henry’s Dwarf Bush

Anita's Garden 4
Plants for sale at Anita’s Garden (cont from page 4)
o Tomato Honeybee NEW! Herbs - $2 each
o Tomato Kiwi
o Borage
o Tomato Marmande
o Chives
o Tomato Moneymaker
o Coriander
o Tomato Patio
o Dill
o Tomato Principe Borghese
o Mint
o Tomato Red Cherry
o Oregano
o Tomato San Marzano
o Parsley – Italian
o Tomato Small Fry
o Parsley – Triple curled
o Tomato Tangela
o Tarragon
o Tomato Tommy Toe
o Thyme
o Tomato Windowbox Red
o Sage
o Zucchini Amanda (green)
o Zucchini Mixed
o Zucchini Nero di Milano (dark green)
o Zucchini Partenon (green)
o Zucchini Solar Flare (yellow)

Veggie punnets - $2 each

Each punnet contains 6 seedlings. Great value!

o Celery
o Okra (green and purple) AVAILABLE SOON Lettuce seedlings $8 per tray
o Purple asparagus
o Spinach New Zealand

NEW! Flower punnets - $2 each

Each punnet contains 6 seedlings. While they are

small, they will grow quickly. Great value!

o Marigolds African Ivory (tall cream flowers)

o Marigolds Jolly Jester (tall red/orange/yellow
flowers)
o Marigolds Sugar and Spice (mix of orange,
yellow and white marigolds)

Loki gourds just $1.50 each! An Indian favourite!

Kohlrabi seedlings $1.50 per 6 plants or $8 per tray

Anita's Garden 5
.
Top 5 gardening tasks for the week
1. Plant herbs!
We just love adding fresh herbs from the garden to
dishes. To see what herbs I have in stock in my
plant nursery, please see page 5 of this newsletter.
All herbs are just $2 each. To request plants or to
arrange a time to come over, please text me on
021 02762091 or you can email me at
anitakundu.nz@gmail.com.
2. Plant more zucchini
Even if you’ve already planted zucchini over
Labour Weekend, it won’t hurt to slip in a few more
plants. Zucchini are incredibly versatile and so
easy to grow. I still have a wide range of varieties
left. See page 5 of my newsletter for available
stock in my plant nursery. To arrange a time to
visit the nursery, please text me on 021 02762091.
3. Plant more cucumbers
You can never plant too many cucumbers. If
you’ve already planted some over Labour
Weekend like me, why not plant a couple more if
you have space. It’s a good idea to stagger
plantings so you have a continuous supply of your
favourite veggies all summer long.
I still have a large range of cucumbers in my
nursery. See page 4 for a list of available stock.
To arrange a time to visit the nursery, please text
me on 021 02762091.
4. Plant lettuce
Lettuce is an essential ingredient for summer
salads. The bagged stuff at the supermarket just
doesn’t cut it! For the freshest, tastiest lettuce, it’s
best to grow your own. It is so easy to grow lettuce
and it does well both in containers and in the
ground.
I still have some trays of frilly green and red lettuce
left for just $8 each. If you return the tray to me
afterwards, I will give you a $2 rebate towards your
next purchase. These plants are very large so it
won’t be long before you’re harvesting your own
fresh lettuce straight from the garden!
To arrange a time to visit the plant nursery and
purchase some lettuce seedlings, please text me
on 021 02762091.
Anita's Garden 6
5. Plant more tomatoes
There’s always room for more tomatoes! They’re a staple
for summer salads, sandwiches and an array of other
dishes. I still have lots of varieties left, including some
interesting heirloom ones. It’s a great time to plant more
tomatoes to follow up the ones put in over Labour
Weekend. By staggering your planting, you can enjoy a
continuous supply of tomatoes right until the end of April!
For a list of available stock, please see pages 4 and 5 of
this newsletter.
Please text me on 021 02762091 to arrange a time to visit
the plant nursery. I am happy to spend time with you and
help you find the plants best suited to your family’s needs.
Anita’s Garden
Organic urban homestead in Manukau, Auckland
Anita’s Garden is an enterprise aimed to educate
locals about how they can grow their own food in
order to improve their health and reduce grocery
bills.
It’s possible to be largely self-sufficient, even if you
live in the city. Let me show you how!
I offer the following services to the public:
o Consulting on garden design and
development
o Plant nursery
o Workshops
o Kids programmes (including home school)
o Talks on a range of gardening topics
o Tours of the garden
o Fresh flowers for arrangements for all
occasions
Anita’s Garden is open 6 days a week by prior
appointment only. Closed on Tuesdays.
For all enquiries, please contact Anita directly
Email: anitakundu.nz@gmail.com
Mobile: 021 02762091
Thank you for your support.
Anita Kundu
Some reflections on Anita’s Garden 6 months on - Part II
I launched my start up, Anita’s Garden, about six months
ago. It’s a good time to look back and reflect on how my
business has evolved in that time and discuss my vision for
its future. In last week’s newsletter, I covered my first two
major reflections on Anita’s Garden. I would like to cover a
further three thoughts about my business this week.
1. For business development, listen to your
customers!
Feedback from customers should be taken into account
when considering how to develop your business. If you really
engage with your customers when they come to your
business, as I do, they should provide you with valuable
feedback about your products and services. Listen to what
your customers want and try to accommodate them! In the
short time that my plant nursery has been open, I have
received many requests for eftops. This is something which I
am seriously considering in future, especially as I am aware
that it is now possible to pay by eftpos via your smartphone.
Another example is mail orders. Initially, I didn’t envisage
that the scope of my business would extend to posting
plants. Then I received my first mail order request. I realised
that it was in fact a simple process; the plants arrived in a
timely manner on the overnight courier service and were in
perfect condition. I am now in the middle of processing my
second mail order. I also received a request for a seed
order. Again, I wasn’t intending to sell seeds as part of my
business but really wanted to try and help the customer
obtain an unusual ethnic veggie so she could grow it in her
garden this summer. I sourced seeds for her, packaged
them up and posted them to her. This also went really well,
so I am happy to take orders for seeds in future.
2. Marking up stock and making a profit is
essential to the continuation of a business (and
doesn’t make you a bad person!)
I still struggle with this. I’ve always felt that I’m just not cut
out to be in business. While I know that most shops import
stock cheaply (usually from overseas), mark it up and then
on-sell it for a profit, I’ve never felt entirely comfortable about
doing this myself. It’s not that it’s morally wrong. After all,
making a profit is essential to the survival of a business. It
just seemed a little soulless to me. However, I’ve had to
rethink things and have had a complete shift in mindset.
When a business generates income, it is used to cover
expenses such as overheads (the day-to-day costs of
running a business) and also capital expenditure, known as
the purchase of assets. In this way, profits enable you to re-
invest in your venture so that you can continue to provide a
service or supply a product. If you sell at cost or below it,
there is no windfall so how will you purchase further inventory
to replace outgoing stock? This is really the key to the
continuation of my business. For example, part of the
Anita's Garden 7
revenue generated from plant sales is used to
purchase further inventory (stock), so I can continue to
meet demand and supply customers with plants in my
nursery. I am also looking into purchasing more heat
pads so I can raise more seedlings simultaneously to
meet customer orders in a more timely manner. In
order to provide a better service and broader range of
products to customers in future, I do need to generate
income over and above meeting overheads.
The bottom line for me is that running a business is
about more than merely making a profit. It is about
exchanging something of value with customers.
When customers come in to purchase plants, they
leave not just with things for their garden, but also
advice, ideas and inspiration, which is the slogan of
Anita’s Garden. I’m not ripping people off. This is
simply how a healthy business should function and it’s
something that I’ve had to come to terms with as a new
business owner.
3. There’s nothing wrong with paying
yourself a salary as a business owner
Originally, I envisaged Anita’s Garden as a not-for-
profit entity, as I have a heart for the community. As
mentioned in a previous blog post, I have always had
trouble accepting money from other people. This
situation was avoided in my former career as a lawyer,
because I was simply paid a salary by the law firm.
However, I have come to realise that I do need to pay
myself a salary so I can look after myself, especially
my health. I was recently hit with a number of different
expenses at the same time – new frames and lenses
for my glasses, extensive dental work and the cost of
seeing a specialist for a medical issue. An old injury to
my neck has also resurfaced, so I have to pay for
treatment at the physio and need to see a chiropractor.
In order to be able to help other people, I need to be in
a good state of health. This means that I do need to be
able to cover bills of this nature. Now that I have
dedicated myself to Anita’s Garden full time, I have no
other revenue streams. In short, I can’t do everything
for free. While I will continue to take on work on a pro
bono (without payment) basis, paid work is essential to
not only the survival of my business but also my
personal well-being. As an adult, I need to be
responsible and support myself financially. This all
became clearer to me as I began reading a book called
God, Money and Me by Paul de Jong, the head pastor
of Life. Over a five week period, we are discussing
each chapter at church. I am only part way through
this book but it has already helped me to adopt a more
healthy approach towards money and running my
business.
Growing Guide: Beans
Snake beans in the garden last summer
Beans are a favourite in the summer garden and children
usually love growing them. Beans are usually green, but
come in a variety of other colours, including yellow, purple,
white and black. If you want to eat coloured beans, you’ll
probably have to grow your own as they can’t be found in
supermarkets, at least not in New Zealand.
Beans are rich in many nutrients, including protein,
carbohydrates and fibre. Beans also contain many
vitamins and minerals. Beans can be consumed in a
variety of ways. My favourite way to eat homegrown
beans is freshly boiled, served with some butter, salt and
pepper. Simply delicious! Beans are extremely versatile
and can be used in other dishes such as salads,
shepherd’s pie, curries and casseroles.
You can expect to pay an average of $8-$10 per kilo in
supermarkets in New Zealand during the summer when
beans are in season. Homegrown beans taste so much
fresher, sweeter and nicer than store bought ones. They
are also very easy to grow and the yield is usually very
high for the space they take up in the garden. Beans of
course can be grown vertically, which means they take up
less ground space that can be used for other veggies that
need room to spread out, such as pumpkins and
squash.
Anita's Garden 8
There are so many different varieties of beans on the
market. There are dwarf beans, climbing beans, broad
beans (which are usually grown over the winter and crop
in spring, and are sometimes grown as a cover crop), dry
beans (which can be used in casseroles and soups) and
snake beans (which are used in Asian cuisine and are
delicious in Thai fish cakes).
When to sow
Beans need warm conditions in order to grow well. In
the Auckland region, start sowing beans from late
October onwards. For tall varieties, you don’t want to
leave it too late otherwise you run the risk that your
beans won’t mature in time before the cool weather sets
in again. To be on the safe side, it’s a good idea to sow
tall beans by early December at the latest, but you can
sow dwarf beans until January as they are much quicker
to mature.
To soak or not to soak?
There are two broad schools of thought on this issue.
Some gardeners prefer to soak hard-coated seeds prior
to sowing them, including beans, in order to aid
germination. Other examples of seeds that gardeners
might soak include edible sweet peas, snow peas,
ornamental sweet peas, corn and okra. Some
gardeners believe that there is no need to soak the
seeds and that doing so may cause them to “drown”. I’m
going to do a bit of both and hope for the best.
Sowing beans directly from seed v transplanting
seedlings raised in punnets
Opinion is also divided on this issue. As with the
question of whether or not to soak seeds prior to sowing,
there are two schools of thought. For best results, sow
bean seeds directly where you want to grow them.
However, sowing directly leaves bean seeds vulnerable
to rot, as well as being scratched up and eaten by mice
and birds. Then there are snails who will quite happily
decapitate your seedlings! Therefore, try to protect them
if you can. It’s for this reason that I became attracted to
the idea of sowing beans in punnets for transplanting
later on. In the past, I’ve found that bean seeds sowed
direct to the ground germinated but the seedlings were
subsequently consumed by snails. As with the issue of
whether to soak seeds prior to sowing or not, I’m also
going to both sow bean seeds directly and transplant my
own seedlings raised in punnets to see which works
best.
Growing Guide: Beans (cont from page 8)
Sowing beans directly from seed
Make sure that the soil is well drained in the area you are
planning on growing beans. Add compost, sheep pellets
and some general garden fertiliser. Dig into the soil and
rake the area so that it is nice and level. Sow beans at a
depth of 15-20 mm maximum. Space the seeds 10-15 cm
apart.
Bean varieties
If you’re planning to grow beans from seed, you’ll find that
they come in an impressive array of colours. Traditionally,
beans are green, as mentioned above. There are quite a
few different varieties on the market in New Zealand. This
season I’m growing the following selection of tall beans
from the Heritage Food Crops Research Trust, as these
varieties performed so well for us last year:
o Peruvian Goose dry climbing bean
o Fat Goose climbing bean
o Hidatsa Shield Figure dry climbing bean
o Cherokee Cornfield climbing bean
o Hopi String climbing bean
o Talla Matua climbing bean
o Cornplanter purple climbing bean
o Tarahumara dark purple climbing bean
o Indian Hannah climbing bean
o Hopi Black Pinto climbing bean
o Apache red dry climbing bean
o Persian climbing lima bean
o Hopi Beige climbing bean
I’m going to grow snake beans from the Egmont Seeds
range later in the season, when the weather is a bit
warmer.
I’m also going to grow the following varieties of dwarf
beans, all of which are available in the Egmont Seeds
range:
o Climbing Butter bean
o French Hicock
o Cherokee Butter
o French Top Crop
To order seeds from the very extensive Egmont Seeds
range, visit http://www.egmontseeds.co.nz/.
Bean seeds will last for many years so you don’t have to
sow them all at once. Store them safely in your seed
collection for sowing in future seasons.
Growing beans from transplanted seedlings raised in
punnets
Beans can be started from seed indoors in October or
even earlier if you live in a more temperate zone and have
Anita's Garden 9
a hot house to protect them from the cold. Bean seeds
need warmth in order to germinate. I germinate seeds in
punnets filled with seed raising mix from Gardn Gro. I
like Gardn Gro’s seed raising mix as it is very fine in
texture, enabling seeds to push through the mixture
easily as they rise to the surface. I place the punnets
inside plastic incubators which you can purchase from
garden centres. I then place the incubators on a heat
pad indoors and spray plants with water once daily or
twice if the seed raising mixture is very dry. If you don’t
have a heat pad you can also use your hot water
cupboard which will provide seedlings with a warm
environment so they can germinate successfully.
How to care for bean seedlings
For new gardeners, those who don’t wish to start their
bean seedlings from seed or if you’ve simply left it too
late, plants are available for sale in nurseries from
September onwards. Palmers stock a great range of
bean seedlings. Awapuni also sell high quality, large
grade bean seedlings delivered direct to your door. If
you order 7 or more bundles of seedlings, delivery is
free.
I plan to sell a variety of different bean seedlings in my
own boutique nursery later in the season. Keep an eye
out for details in my newsletter, on Neighbourly and my
Facebook page as to when they become available.
During October and November, I will also circulate
updated lists of available stock in my plant nursery to
subscribers of my free weekly gardening newsletter.
To be added to my mailing list and receive these
notifications, please email me at
anitakundu.nz@gmail.com.
I’ll probably be selling seedlings a bit later than stores
because I’m merely a home gardener, germinating and
caring for seedlings in our patio at home without the help
of the horticultural technology that you would expect to
find in a commercial operation. Without a hot house, I
simply don’t have a head start on the season like large-
scale nurseries. To compensate for this, I do try and
offer seedling varieties which are unusual and can’t be
found in garden centres or online retailers. This is a
good thing as it enables me to collaborate with other
businesses in the industry and promote their brands.
You can achieve a lot by working with other people in
the same field (no pun intended), as opposed to simply
trying to compete with them. To read my further
thoughts on this issue, please click here.
Whoever you decide to buy plants from, take care to
keep seedlings undercover until early October as beans
are frost sensitive. The weather can be temperamental
Growing Guide: Beans
(cont from page 9)
in spring and the nights are often still quite cool. From
then on, start “hardening them off”. This is the process of
exposing plants to the outdoors incrementally, for
example, for two hours in the middle of the day for the
first week, increasing to four hours per day for the next
week. Continue to bring the plants indoors at night. By
the third week of October, it should be safe to leave
plants outdoors overnight.

How to care for beans plants

With the exception of dwarf varieties, beans are usually

planted against a trellis for support.

Be sure to water plants every day, preferably early in the

morning or in the evening. In November and December,
plants are in their most active growing phase. Liquid feed
beans weekly to encourage the growth of healthy leaves
and the formation of fruit after pollination. Tall beans
usually grow to a height of around 200 cm.

Pollination of beans

Bean plants will produce flowers as they grow. Generally,

beans need to be pollinated in order to set fruit, but bees
should do this job for you.

Harvesting your beans

It can take what seems like forever for your first beans to
be ready for picking but be patient! It depends on the
variety, but normally it takes around 100 days for beans to
mature.

Got a glut of beans that you can’t get through all at once?
Beans can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks prior
to consumption, or you can do what we do and give some
away to family, friends and neighbours.

To read this article in my blog, please click here.

Gardening Questions and Answers

We are taking a break from our Gardening Questions and

Answers column as we enter the busiest time of the
gardening calendar. I’ve been flat out preparing growing
guides to help give everyone the information they need in
order to have a great growing season!

If you do have a gardening question, please contact me at

anitakundu.nz@gmail.com and I will feature the response
in a future issue of Anita’s Garden newsletter.

Anita's Garden 10
Growing Guide - Wildflowers
I discovered wildflowers a few seasons ago, when I sowed
a packet of Wildflower Bee Attracting Mix from Egmont
Seeds in early spring. Just a couple of months later, I was
amazed by the variety of flowers – poppies, cosmos,
borage, phacelia, alyssum, nigella and many others – that
sprung up and bloomed. What’s more, they kept popping
up in autumn and spring in subsequent seasons, so I
dedicated that area in the garden to wildflowers.

While we enjoy their cheerful colourful display, the main

reason we sow wildflowers is to attract bees to the garden
in the springtime. Bees aid the pollination of fruit trees,
which are normally blossoming at the time wildflowers are
in bloom. This is important for us as we recently added a
mini orchard to our garden, consisting of dwarf fruit trees.
There are already tons of fruits developing on our apple,
peach and nectarine trees which is exciting, so we must
have done the right thing!

Wildflowers can be sown in spring and autumn. For spring

sowings, it’s best to wait until the risk of frosts has well
and truly passed. For autumn sowings, you need to
ensure that the ground is sufficiently moist to aid
germination, so wait until around April when it starts to rain
occasionally. In saying that, it does depend on where you
live. New Zealand’s climate varies dramatically from
region to region and I do have to remember that not all of
my audience lives in Auckland or even New Zealand for
that matter. My personal gardening experiences are
limited to our urban homestead in the Auckland region,
so please take this into account when considering my
advice. On the same token, what grows well in my
environment may not necessarily thrive in your own
microclimate.

Sowing wildflowers from seed Wildflowers in the garden

It’s really easy to grow wildflowers from seed. It depends
on the variety, but it normally takes about 90 days until
maturity if you sow seeds in spring, sometimes even less
than that. Mine usually flower in December and January.
Autumn sowings will grow slowly over winter and flower in
late spring, for me, it’s normally around November. It’s
nice to sow wildflowers in both spring and autumn for a
staggered display of flowers.
Awapuni delivers direct to your door. Delivery is free if
you order seven or more bundles of plants.
Wildflower seeds are very fine, so when you scatter
them, you may find that they end up very close together.
You can try thinning them out by transplanting seedlings,
but be careful when doing so as you don’t want to
disturb their roots too much.

For the best results, sow wildflowers seeds directly where Varieties in a packet of wildflower seeds
you want to grow them. You don’t really need to raise
wildflowers in seedling trays and go to the effort of If you’re planning to grow wildflowers from seed, you’ll
transplanting them later as they are one of those flowers find that they come in an impressive array of varieties,
that does best when sown direct. If you don’t want to grow
colours, sizes and heights.
wildflowers from seed or the wildflower seeds you sowed
failed for some reason, Awapuni sells a bundle of flowers
called Bee Mix, which is a variety of plants guaranteed to
attract bees to your garden in spring and summer.

Anita's Garden 11
Growing Guide: Wildflowers
(cont from page 11)
As mentioned above, Egmont Seeds have an amazing
range of wildflowers in their packet of seeds called
Wildflower Bee Attracting Mix. To order seeds from the
very extensive Egmont Seeds range, visit
http://www.egmontseeds.co.nz/.
How to care for wildflowers
Most wildflowers need at least 6 hours of sunshine per
day, so be sure to sow seeds in the sunniest spot in your
garden.
They are generally not a plant for the shade. Before
sowing wildflower seeds, take the time to prepare the bed
properly so plants receive adequate nutrition. Dig the
area over that you wish to plant your seedlings in. Mix
plenty of compost and some sheep pellets into the
ground. Rake the ground so that it is nice and level. For
some reason, there are people that think that wildflowers
will grow if you simply scatter them in the garden and
leave it to mother nature! While they are not high
maintenance, they do require being covered with dirt (like
most other seeds) in order to germinate.
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Be sure to water plants every day, preferably early in the

morning or in the evening. Liquid feed wildflowers weekly
to encourage the growth of healthy leaves and the
formation of flowers.

Wildflowers can be picked and put into a vase or left

outside to admire and attract bees. We tend to do the
latter, as they make for such a beautiful display and help
us tremendously with pollination.

Most types of wildflowers are an annual which means that

they will grow, set seed and die after one growing season.
You might find that your wildflowers self-seed as mine did
and pop up in the same area in future seasons. In this
case, you can do what we did and make that area
dedicated to wildflowers in future seasons, or you can
simply resow fresh seed where you want to grow
wildflowers next year.

To advertise in the Anita’s Garden

newsletter and for all enquiries, please
Have a great weekend! contact me at
anitakundu.nz@gmail.com
Happy gardening

Anita's Garden 12