Selwyn Times: September 05, 2018
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44 Wednesday <strong>September</strong> 5 <strong>2018</strong><br />
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi<br />
Gardening<br />
• By Henri Ham<br />
Local<br />
News<br />
Now<br />
SELWYN TIMES<br />
Fire rages, homes at risk<br />
Grow great gazanias<br />
Dive into salad season<br />
• By Henri Ham<br />
SPRING IS officially here. And,<br />
while I do enjoy winter and I love<br />
hearty winter soups and casseroles,<br />
I’m really looking forward<br />
to some lighter meals now that<br />
salad season is right around the<br />
corner.<br />
If you also want to enjoy a tasty<br />
salad or two during spring and<br />
summer, it’s now time to plant<br />
some leafy vegetables. I like to<br />
stagger my planting of different<br />
varieties from now right through<br />
summer to ensure I always have<br />
some fresh greens to graze on.<br />
Endive is always in my first<br />
line-up of salad plantings because<br />
it’s so tasty and versatile. But also<br />
because its super quick and easy<br />
to grow.<br />
Endive is a curly leafed lettuce<br />
with slightly bitter leaves. Not to<br />
be confused with Belgian endive,<br />
which has white broader thicker<br />
leaves (also called whitloof). And<br />
also frisee, a similar milder variety<br />
with fine lacy leaves.<br />
Unlike other lettuces endive<br />
doesn’t grow with a heart, which<br />
means you can pick as it grows.<br />
The leaves in the centre of endive<br />
are sweeter and more delicate<br />
than the outer leaves, which have<br />
a slightly bitter taste.<br />
Plant your seedlings in a welldrained<br />
spot 5cm apart from each<br />
other. I’ve just planted some in<br />
pots to have close to the kitchen<br />
as my soil was still a bit wet from<br />
winter.<br />
Now all there is to do is watch<br />
out for snails and slugs, and keep<br />
it watered. If you let your endive<br />
dry out it will taste bitter and also<br />
go to seed faster.<br />
On a side note, when endive<br />
goes to seed it grows a fabulous<br />
purple flower. If you don’t need<br />
the space straight away in your<br />
garden let it go to seed and enjoy<br />
this.<br />
In four to six weeks you’ll be<br />
cutting leaves for your salads.<br />
Harvest the leaves from several<br />
plants at once. That way you<br />
encourage new growth from your<br />
plants.<br />
Got children? This is a great<br />
job for them to be in charge of.<br />
Let them go out at dinner time<br />
TASTY: Endive<br />
seedlings grow<br />
well in pots.<br />
Watch for slugs<br />
and snails.<br />
and select which leaves they want<br />
for the salad.<br />
And now for some serious<br />
salad talk. I use an old salad hack<br />
with endive. First I roughly chop<br />
the inner leaves and then finely<br />
slice the outer leaves. This gives<br />
the illusion your salad has two<br />
types of leaves in it. At the same<br />
time adds great texture to your<br />
salad.<br />
Endive is heartier than other<br />
lettuce greens, which makes it<br />
delicious to use as a bed of greens<br />
to place your grilled chicken or<br />
fish on top of.<br />
I find it works well with creamy<br />
dressings, eggs and toasted nuts.<br />
I sometimes like to use it as an<br />
alternative for cos in my homemade<br />
caesar salads. It’s also very<br />
popular as a base for a classic<br />
French bistro salad that has bacon<br />
and egg on it.<br />
If you’re already feeling ‘saladed<br />
out’ before you begin, you might<br />
be pleased to know it also tastes<br />
great in a cheese toasted sandwich.<br />
Add ham, cheese and endive<br />
then toast.<br />
LOOKING FOR some easy-care,<br />
bright and beautiful flowers to lift<br />
your garden spirits?<br />
How about growing gazanias to<br />
bring some fiery orange blooms<br />
to your garden?<br />
With names like kiss orange<br />
flame, sunshine and kiss rose,<br />
these guys are bold, bright and<br />
best of all blooming easy to grow.<br />
Sometimes called the African<br />
daisy, gazanias have the same<br />
shape as the English (common)<br />
daisy. But their flowers are much<br />
larger (up to 10cm across) and<br />
come in vibrant colours like<br />
orange, red and pink.<br />
They can grow to 30cm high<br />
and are best used for mass planting<br />
in garden beds, as ornamental<br />
ground cover and to edge lawns.<br />
They also look great in pots, tubs<br />
and window boxes.<br />
The best thing about gazanias is<br />
they survive with almost no care.<br />
They’re very tolerant of poor,<br />
dry and sandy soil. Making them<br />
ideal for a house at the beach or<br />
areas that you don’t get around to<br />
watering much.<br />
Gazania are super easy to plant.<br />
Simply dig a small hole and space<br />
each seedling 20cm apart.<br />
Although they are drought<br />
resistant you will get bigger and<br />
more flowers if you do water<br />
them. I always try to pinch off<br />
fading flowers with my fingers to<br />
encourage more to bloom.<br />
In late winter or early spring,<br />
give your gazania plants a prune<br />
by cutting the foliage back to five<br />
to 10cm above the ground. You<br />
can do this with pruning shears<br />
(another reason why they are<br />
super easy to look after) and it<br />
will revive the plant and bring on<br />
new growth.<br />
And now for a fun flower<br />
fact. Gazania flowers close up at<br />
night. Why? To reduce their risk<br />
of freezing. And if it’s cloudy the<br />
next day they won’t open fully.<br />
COLOURFUL: If you water your gazanias you’ll get bigger flowers..<br />
PATIOS - OUTDOOR AREAS - CAR PORTS<br />
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0800 742332 • Cell 0274 981239 • www.shadecraft.co.nz
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