The Star: January 18, 2018

The Star Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Thursday January 18 2018 51
Gardening
GARDENING
ADVICE with
Regular watering and garden management is critical for plant health
during the hot summer months. Adding a thick layer of mulch around
plants will help prevent soil moisture evaporating. Avoid watering
during the hottest part of the day when plants are heat stressed;
instead water in the early morning or evening.
QUESTION
I need some advice and tips for using
planter boxes for my vegetables (tomatoes,
lettuce etc). How often should I water and
fertilise? Am new to this! Plus, what’s the best way to deter the local
cats from using my planter boxes as their toilet?
Today’s winning question came
from Candice Johnson. Congratulations!
We have a Daltons Garden Mulch Pack to giveaway.
Each pack is valued at over $85 and contains:
• 3 x Daltons Mulch & Grow
• 3 x Daltons Nugget Bark
• 4 x Besgrow Coir Briquette
• PLUS a pair of comfortable,
versatile Red Back gardening
gloves from Omni Products
(www.omniproducts.co.nz)
$85
PRIZE
PACK!
z
Depending on the position of your planter
ANSWER boxes, they will need to be watered regularly
and thoroughly in the height of summer;
possibly every second day. We presume you have used good quality
potting mix and/or container mix which is purposely designed for
growing vegetables in planter boxes.
Most container mixes have nutrients included, but with regular
watering and plant uptake, these readily available nutrients are used
up over time. Therefore, apply side dressings of Daltons Goldcote
Vegetable and Herb Fertiliser every 2-3 weeks throughout the
summer months.
In order to keep cats out of your garden, it may be necessary to
enclose your garden in some chicken mesh supported by stakes that
are high enough to allow suffi cient room for the veggies to grow, while
preventing the animals from accessing the growing plants. There are
some products on the market which are meant to deter cats from
entering parts of the garden through their pungent odour. You might
wish to try these and experiment for yourself.
For more information and expert advice, check out our How to Grow
Summer Vegetables guide at www.daltons.co.nz/how-to-guides
Product to try: Daltons Garden Time Planting Mix
• By Henri Ham
BEAUTIFUL bupleurum – that’s
a bit of a tongue-twister. If you’re
not sure how to pronounce it – it’s
boo-pler-um.
This pretty plant, which is sold
under the ‘flower’ category, is actually
a herb. But unless you have
experience in herbal medicine or
the like ingesting it isn’t recommended.
These days, bupleurum
is more commonly grown to add
colour and texture to gardens and
for cut flowers – it lasts really well
in a vase.
It has beautiful eucalyptus-like
leaves on tall stems with greenyellow
flowers and grows to around
80cm tall. It’s closely related to fennel
and dill, and you can see why
– they have quite a similar look
due to the fact they are all umbelforming
plants.
What’s an umbel? This word
comes from the Latin word umbella
which you’ve probably guessed
means parasol, sunshade – much
like an umbrella. And it’s used to
describe the short flower stalks
which spread out from a common
point on each stem – like the ribs of
an umbrella.
While there’s a bit of information
you can learn about bupleurum,
growing it is quite simple.
It likes full sun and each plant
should be planted around 40cm
apart from the next. Once it’s planted
it’s very easy-care and doesn’t
attract many pests or insects. And
will flower in around four to five
weeks.
It’s a short-lived perennial which
means if you live in an area that
gets frosts you will probably get one
flowering from your bupleurum.
But if you live in a frost-free area
of New Zealand, you should get
two or more flowerings out of your
bupleurum.
Regardless of where you live, if
you’re lucky, when they’ve finished
flowering they may self-seed and
pop up again the next year.
BE IN
TO WIN!
Send us your
gardening
question to be
in to win!
Email your question
and glove size to:
chchstar@daltons.co.nz
Entries must be received
by 25 th Jan 2018
Tongue-twister will add colour and texture to your garden
SIMPLE: Bupleurum likes full sun and is easy-care.
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