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Home and Garden

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...

Gardening with Wally Richards: The importance of potassium and magnesium – Fruit + Flower Power

Potassium is often referred to as Potash because the ash from wood burn contains a good amount of potassium, and magnesium sulphate is often...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Food and Health

The father of medicine, Hippokrátes ho Kôios (c. 460 – c. 370 BC) apparently said the historic words: 'Let Food be Thy Medicine and Let...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Grass grubs – now is the time

I am often asked is it the best time to do certain things in the garden and more often than not when asked it...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Sprayers and spraying

Gardeners and horticulturists can at times take things for granted as we are often doing certain chores and don't stop to realise that what...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Household items useful in gardening

There are a number of items that can be used in your garden to the benefit of plants. For instance a year ago I wrote...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Winter Preparations

This week I noticed a distinct chill in the air, first thing in the morning, which could be described as a very light frost. Others...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Weeds (a new way to deal with them)

This week I received a book from an old friend of mine, Julia Sich which she has written and called 'Julia's Guide to Edible...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Wake Up Call

Our heart-felt sympathy to all those that have suffered from the adverse weather events of recent. It is already past the time that we needed...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Iron vs. Copper

Recently a reader sent me an article which I found very interesting so I will share this with you. Iron gardening tools versus copper gardening...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Pollination

Most plants flower to produce seeds so their line will continue through their off spring. When it comes to our gardening efforts we want plants...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Gardening tips

There are many tips that can assist you in achieving better results from your gardening pursuits. Over the years I have collected so many of...

Gardening with Wally Richards: Brambles

Brambles is the general term used to cover a range of thorny berry fruit from the Rubus family such as black berries, raspberries, logan...

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