The Star: September 17, 2020

Thursday September 17 2020 The Star
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
GARDENING 39
GARDENING ADVICE
Today’s winning question
came from Alwyn Perry.
Congratulations!
Why is my lime tree not
producing fruit and even though
Q
nearby my lemon tree is?
A
There are a couple reasons as to why your lemon plant may
be producing more fruit.
Limes are actually more of a tropical plant than lemons,
especially Meyer lemons which have been crossed
with sweet orange to make them more robust than other lemons.
Some Meyer lemons are grown from cuttings rather than grafted
like most other citrus, which means they fruit when they are
quite young trees. Limes, however, can often take up to fi ve to six
years after planting before they commence fruiting. But don’t be
discouraged, as once your lime tree begins fruiting, the quantity of fruit
will increase signifi cantly every year.
The key advice is to be patient and care for your lime tree well. Fertilise
with Daltons Garden Time TM Citrus Fertiliser during spring/early
summer (not during the peak of summer) and again through the
autumn months. Apply a good layer of mulch around the tree over the
dry summer months and ensure the area where the plant is growing is
well-drained because they do not grow well in wet cold soils. Other
products to try: Daltons Big Value Mulch and Feed.
You may fi nd it helpful to read our free How to Grow Citrus
Guide which includes tips from our experts:
www.daltons.co.nz/how-to-guides.
WIN a Veggie Garden Planting and Care Pack
Becoming more self-suffi cient by growing your own vegetables is empowering and saves you
money. No matter how big or small your space; you can successfully grow vegetables in regular
garden beds, raised beds or in pots and containers. Prepare your soil for planting by digging
in plenty of organic matter such as Daltons Compost or Garden Time Vegetable Mix which
improves the soil quality. Use fresh container mix for growing in pots or raised beds.
Each pack is valued at $70 and contains 2 x Garden Time Vegetable Mix, Daltons
Goldcote Vegetable and Herb Fertiliser, Besgrow Coir mulch and a Garden Time
Chicken and Sheep Pellets, plus a pair of comfortable, versatile Red Back gardening
gloves from Omni Products www.omniproducts.co.nz.
$70
PRIZE
PACK!
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 23rd September 2020
Springing into the salad season
• By Henri Ham
TYPICALLY, spring marks the
busiest season of the year at a
nursery.
While this year has been
anything but typical, it’s hard
to imagine Kiwi gardeners not
wanting to get out in their vege
gardens in the coming months.
If you’re not sure where to start,
I often point people towards a
few lettuces. Even for the novice
gardener, lettuces are simple to
plant, quick to produce and take
up relatively little room.
I like to keep lettuces in my garden
all year long, but from August
I try to plant a few more seedlings
every couple of weeks, to ensure
I’ve always got a constant supply
of fresh greens to eat.
To keep my salads interesting,
I try to plant a variety of lettuces.
Buttercrunch, mesclun and cos
are great for picking loose leaves
off as you need them. Iceberg, triumph,
and drunken woman are
more classic-shaped rounder lettuces,
where you pick the whole
head at once. Endive is a curly
variety that has a sweet centre
with slightly bitter outer leaves; so
very versatile.
Once you’ve got your seedlings,
plant them in a well-drained
spot 20cm apart from each other.
They’ll also work well in pots; try
having a couple close to the kitchen
for easy lunch time picking.
You can keep your lettuces
from drying out by adding a layer
newspaper around the base of
your plants and then covering
with pea straw. This mulching
will also keep the weeds at bay,
and it helps your lettuces from
drying out, which can make them
go slightly bitter.
At the same time, you’ll want to
deter slugs and snails from feasting
before you’ve had the chance.
If your wanting to avoid slug
bait, try making beer-baits out of
recycled plastic bottles, or scattering
broken eggshells around your
seedlings. These can also be great
jobs to assign out to kids, to get
them involved with the garden.
Depending on where you live,
lettuce takes between six to eight
weeks to mature. If you’ve got
room between your lettuces, try
popping a few veges or herbs into
these gaps.
Now that it’s warming up, it’s
also a great time to plant some
basil in between your lettuces
too. While sweet basil is a Kiwi
favourite, you’ll see other varieties
– such as lemon, Thai, red
and Greek – become available in
spring too.
In our kitchen, a simple
favourite salad combines a couple
different lettuce leaves, fresh
basil, shaved parmesan, and your
favourite dressing for an easy
summer dish.
SAVE up to
50%
AND MoRE
4 th to 20 th
September
2020
SEptEMbER
SpRiNg SAlE
T: 03 349 9240
E: info@allwood.co.nz
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