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Home and Garden

Gardening with Wally Richards: Confirmation

I have in my articles and books for some years stated that our commercially grown food chain is poor in nutrition but high in...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Minerals from the ocean

A reader recently asked me to write an article about the advantages of using pure salt from the ocean in the garden for its...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Winter is coming … get ready your gardens

Firstly those reading this during Easter; I wish you all a happy Easter and travel safely. If not traveling then enjoy your garden and get...

Gardening with Wally Richards: The Invisible Rainbow

Firstly I give you fair warning this weeks article is not directly about gardening but it is very important to all living species on...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Camouflage

The dictionary definition of camouflage is a condition in which the appearance of someone or something when placed against a background makes the person...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Potting mixes

Having been part of the horticulture industry for most of my working life I have noted many changes and one which I and others...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Serious Stuff

On Saturday mornings I normally write my gardening article for emailing out on Sunday, after proof reading it. Being doing this for so long now...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Gardening for high health nutrition

Anyone can grow some food crops for their health without having to be a active gardener, in fact anyone can grow a range of...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Looking after Citrus trees

Growing citrus trees for their fruit, glossy foliage and heavenly perfume is a New Zealand tradition. In years gone by just about every garden had...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Sulphur

There is a range of minerals and elements which plants need to have to be healthy and grow well; one of these is sulphur. Sulphur...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Dry Spot

Dry spot is the term that is used when the surface tension has increased because of a long period of dryness (in some cases...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Garden problem solutions

The tomato/potato psyllid has caused a few headaches for gardeners when the populations of this relatively new pest build up and they affect not...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Summer pests

Gardening should be a pleasant past time and not just another chore that has to be done. If you find it a chore then maybe...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Wishing you a great gardening New Year

As we close the door on the year 2023 and look to a new year in front of us and interesting times that lay...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Pestie Pests

Insects that eat, or feed off, our garden plants we call them pest insects but they are just part of the Natural World we...

Gardening with Wally Richards: For the week ending 9th December

With a great number of first time gardeners growing their own vegetables, a question that I am often asked is; when is the best...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Perkfection

Here is an interesting story: Many years ago the New Zealand supplier of several products we repackage for the home garden market suggested a...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Growing giants

We need to encourage our children and grandchildren to appreciate Nature by including them in some gardening activities. I believe that young children have a...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Mycorrcin, getting a far better garden

I was asked a very interesting question a while back which went like this, 'How come my parents and grandparents had such bountiful gardens?' 'Everything...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Gardening tasks

Now that we are halfway through Spring and quickly heading to Summer (December) there is a fair bit to do in our gardens so...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Codling, Guava Moths and Army Worm

It is that time when fruit is setting and soon to be attacked from the grubs of moths: Codling and Guava. Guava moth is mostly...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Pollination

I wrote an article on pollination and published in February this year as a number of gardeners were concerned that fruit was not setting...

Gardening with Wally Richards: The perfect raised garden

Several years ago in the place where I was living; I had given over the back yard to a flock of chickens which made...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Bringing the ocean to your garden

The first thing too realise is that plants will take up any minerals or elements that are in the growing medium along with any...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Control garden pests early

Spring not only brings forth a new season of gardening it also is the starting time for a several pest problems. If you dont want...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Tomato Psyllid problems

True to form spring started on the 1st September across New Zealand and with it a surge in gardeners visiting gardening shops and buying...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Worm farming

Many years ago I learnt about worm farming and how to turn kitchen wastes into rich foods for the garden. A Palmerston North firm of...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Sunlight

Plants convert sunlight to carbohydrates which is the energy that makes them grow. This is called photosynthesizing. The more direct sun light the faster the growth...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Spring seed germination time

There are two basic places to germinate seeds, one is where they will ultimately grow and mature the other is in suitable containers to...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Tomato starting time

August for my money is the start of a new growing season, the day light hours are increasing every day plus dormant plants and...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Gardening for health

I am very conscious of people that have only small sections or live in flats, retirement villages and apartments which means they have either...

Gardening with Wally Richards: A new plant disease control

Plant diseases appear when a plant is lacking in one or more elements or the plant is in stress for whatever reason. Normally we spray...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Growing healthy roses

There are a number of things that are vital to a healthy plant besides sunlight, food, water and a healthy 'Soil Food Web'. That is...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Starting off the new season

The daylight hours are slowly extending and soon dormant plants are going to wake up and spring will be just around the corner. Already I...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Then and Now

Having lived for nearly four score years one can recall what things were like 50 odd years ago and relate that to a comparison...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Strawberries and Garlic

New seasons strawberry plants are now available in garden centres. The nurseries that grow the plants lift them after the autumn rains have moisten the...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Fresh greens in winter

Like to grow some fresh, highly nutritious greens this time of the year when sunlight hours are short and stuff is slow to grow? This...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Prepare for the new season

The year is slipping away and now there are only a few weeks till the shortest day which heralds in a new season for...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Visiting life underground

There is a saying which reads as... As Above So Below, and with plants and trees what is above the soil level is replicated...

Gardening with Wally Richards: The importance of Phosphate

Phosphorus stimulates budding and blooming. Plants need phosphorus to produce fruits, flowers, and seeds. It also helps make your plants more resistant to disease. Phosphorus helps...

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