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<strong>Selwyn</strong> <strong>Times</strong> Wednesday <strong>October</strong> <strong>11</strong> <strong>2023</strong><br />
38<br />
GARDENING<br />
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz<br />
A rocket-paced grower<br />
NOTHING QUITE matches the<br />
speed and ease of salad rocket.<br />
In fact, once you have it in<br />
the garden you often don’t need<br />
to re-plant as it readily seeds –<br />
almost everywhere.<br />
Rocket is a wonderful salad<br />
green.<br />
The deliciously mustard/peppery<br />
taste adds flavour and depth<br />
to salad dishes, sandwiches or<br />
even as a pizza topping to give<br />
an interesting combination of<br />
flavour.<br />
Used either on its own or drizzled<br />
with balsamic and parmesan<br />
or blended with other leafy<br />
greens, it’s a must for any vege<br />
garden.<br />
The most common variety is<br />
common rocket – Eruca sativa.<br />
A similar tasting and looking<br />
rocket or arugula is Diplotaxis<br />
tenuifolia.<br />
This spicy salad green, great<br />
for cut and come again leaf<br />
harvesting. Similar in taste to<br />
the cultivated rocket, it is much<br />
slower to bolt and has deep lobed<br />
or indented dark green leaves.<br />
Rocket will happily grow all<br />
year round in a sunny spot.<br />
Constant moisture and fertile soil<br />
with a good mix of drainage is<br />
essential.<br />
If you let your rocket dry out it<br />
will quickly go to seed.<br />
• Prepare the soil well by adding<br />
lots of well rotted manure or<br />
compost<br />
It’s hard to go wrong planting in pots<br />
• Soil should be well drained<br />
• Sow seeds direct and shallowly<br />
into the garden or pots.<br />
They are quick to germinate and<br />
establish.<br />
• Plant seedlings out 30cm<br />
apart all year round<br />
• Spring, summer and autumn<br />
sowings will ensure a constant<br />
supply of rocket for the table<br />
• Rocket takes approx four<br />
weeks to grow<br />
• Gently pick leaves of the plant<br />
constantly<br />
• Trim back stems hard to<br />
encourage a fresh new crop<br />
• If the plants go to seed,<br />
don’t worry. Just leave them and<br />
in a few weeks you will have new<br />
plants popping up everywhere.<br />
DELICIOUS:<br />
Rocket has<br />
a mustard/<br />
peppery taste<br />
which adds<br />
depth to salads.<br />
PHOTOS: GETTY<br />
GARDENING IN pots is a<br />
spectacularly rewarding and low<br />
labour hobby.<br />
Instead of battling the elements,<br />
treating tired old soil, weeding<br />
and digging frantically, you<br />
simply tip the prepared perfect<br />
potting mix into the container,<br />
follow it up with the plants,<br />
water and wait. It’s hard to go<br />
wrong.<br />
You just move the pot around<br />
until you’ve found the perfect<br />
sunny or shady spot, without<br />
disturbing the root system,<br />
because a container garden is<br />
portable.<br />
You can move it about your<br />
home, patio or garden to fill bare<br />
spots at any time of year. And best<br />
of all, when you move house, you<br />
don’t have to leave your cherished<br />
garden behind – they all shift<br />
with the furniture.<br />
Growing in pots is also a great<br />
way to get children involved with<br />
planting. You can also get creative<br />
and decorate pots for extra fun.<br />
Furthermore, container gardens<br />
look great anywhere – as hanging<br />
baskets on terraces and pergolas,<br />
half round containers spilling<br />
colour down a wall or fence, or<br />
simply sitting on paved areas,<br />
decks and steps. For best effect,<br />
plan your planter by height as<br />
well as colour.<br />
You can mix annuals with a<br />
central perennial until the perennial<br />
gets well established, and in<br />
the meantime, enjoy a miniature<br />
garden rather than a miniature<br />
plant surrounded by bare earth.<br />
You can dispense with the annuals<br />
when the perennial takes<br />
over.<br />
Container gardeners can<br />
pretty much give up weeding<br />
altogether. But you don’t need<br />
to do a bit of soil maintenance<br />
from time to time, because the<br />
plants aren’t in a self renewing<br />
environment – they’re relying on<br />
you to give them nutrition and<br />
moisture.<br />
Potted plants can dry out fast.<br />
Some will need watering up to<br />
twice a day in the hotter months,<br />
particularly those in terracotta<br />
and other porous pots.<br />
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