The Star: October 04, 2018

The Star Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Thursday October 4 2018 35
Gardening
Pot your petunias
• By Henri Ham
OCTOBER MARKS the
middle of spring – the
most popular planting
season of the year. Many of
you will have your summer
vege crops of lettuce, peas,
courgettes and tomatoes
top of mind right now. And
rightly so.
But have you thought
about which flowers you’d
like to pot up in your garden
this summer?
For a colourful injection
of beauty into your pot
plants and garden you can’t
overlook petunias. Petunias
have a cheerful flower that
can bloom nonstop from
summer through to late
autumn.
They are also incredibly
diverse. Petunias come
in an amazing range of
colours, shapes and sizes.
They can have a single
or double layer of petals,
being ruffled or smooth.
Many have a gramophone
shaped flower. Petunias are
ideal for bedding, borders,
pot plants and hanging
baskets.
Larger petunias (referred
to as grandiflora) can grow
up to 80cm across (if you
really let them go) and
have huge flowers spanning
15cm. Their impressive
size make a real statement
but with this comes more
responsibility. The large
flower means if it is planted
in an exposed place, it will
get hammered from wind
and rain. And you need to
deadhead them to encourage
more flowering.
The medium-sized varieties
will grow between 25
– 50 cm high, with flowers
that span 5cm. Flowers on
the smallest petunia plants
only span 2cm. They are
great for path borders and
cutting gardens too.
I recommend mixing a
few of the smaller varieties
BLOOM: Duo burgundy is a new variety of petunia,
it has strong colour.
and combining them in
pots together. Petunia mini
picobella and duo red and
white are early bloomers
suited to pots. And they
don’t need much deadheading.
I recommend two new
varieties – duo burgundy
and double mix. So get in
now to plant something
truly unique in your gardens
this summer.
Planting-wise petunias
are pretty easy. They like
a sunny well-drained,
fertile spot. Plant seedlings
between 15 to 40cm apart
depending on their size.
Individual guides come on
their labels. If your planting
plot is partially shaded,
plant them slightly closer
together.
Watch out for snails and
aphids on petunias. If they
stop flowering sooner than
you expected aphids could
well be the cause. Petunias
can also catch diseases.
One method to reduce
your chances of disease is
to avoid overhead watering.
In about six to eight
weeks your pots should
start to look perky with
petunia colour.
• By Henri Ham
ARE YOU keen to step it up in your vege
garden this year and try something new?
Then let’s talk about turnips.
Turnips are basically so old I’m re-trending
them as new. But they’re one of those
vegetables that may not be the first to spring
to mind when plotting your garden. So this
month I’m re-introducing turnips.
Turnips actually come in many different
varieties. Purple top, orange, amber
and baby globe. There is also a stock white
turnip. It produces a smooth, semi-globe
shaped root with a tangy taste. It’s great for
eating raw in salads or lightly steamed with
plenty of butter and salt.
Turnips can be used in cooking much
like you would use a potato. I like to cube
turnips up and throw them into stews. Or
julienne them (cut into raw matchsticks)
and use them as a small side salad on my
dinner plate.
Now that you’re reacquainted with
turnips, let me introduce you to another
member of the brassica family - kohlrabi.
This unusual-looking vegetable combines
several features of its relatives. It resembles a
swollen broccoli stem but grows in the shape
of a turnip, sitting just above the ground.
And like cabbage, its skin can be purple, red
or green.
Given its resemblance to other members
of the brassica family, it probably won’t
surprise you to learn kohlrabi translates in
German to ‘cabbage-turnip’.
Its flesh is always pale green and crisp like
Local
News
Now
Try cooking turnips
Orchid
Show
Canterbury Mineral and Lapidary Club
110 Waltham Road, Christchurch
October 6th & 7th
10am - 4pm
Beautiful displays and lots
of sales tables
Tuckers Orchid Nursery
will be here again
Admission $5
Raffles and refreshments available
Fire rages, homes at risk
VERSATILE: Turnips can be used in
cooking much like a potato.
an apple but it tastes more like a cabbage,
although sweeter and milder. And it also
grows large edible leaves.
Kohlrabi confuses many as it looks like it
should be a root vegetable, however, it hovers
just above the ground.
Kohlrabi is certainly worth growing and
eating. Try it boiled, roasted, mashed or
raw. Just like turnips, it is a great addition
grated into coleslaw or chopped into sticks
for salad.
Growing both turnips and kohlrabi is
pretty straight forward. They both like fertile
soil, in a sunny well drained spot.
Plant your turnips 20cm apart and
harvest when they are 5-15cm in diameter
(they will sit above the ground slightly).
This will happen 30-60 days after planting
your seedlings.
Plant kohlrabi 25cm apart and harvest
it when the swollen stem is about 8cm in
diameter. This will take 45 – 60 days. They
can taste a bit woody if left too long.
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