Open Home - Sunday 18 October

Sustainable Living in Spreydon
The October open home in Spreydon was a great success, with over fifty people turning up to learn more about Elvira’s productive orchard and no-dig vegetable beds. Having a relatively large section – just under 1000m2 – has enabled Elvira to devote a large area of her garden to food production, while still allowing space for a wide border of native trees and shrubs. “When I bought it, the house was a ‘handyman’s dream’ and the garden was a big area of grass with a few new trees (tags still on them) planted strategically”, says Elvira. Twenty years later large native trees create a lush evergreen backdrop, contrasting beautifully with deciduous fruit trees and berry crops. Close to the house two large vegetable beds and a small glasshouse provide the family with year round produce.

No-Dig Yes-Mulch
To maintain the health and productivity of her trees, berries and vegetable beds, Elvira regularly mulches with compost, sheep manure and leaf mould. “I use a thick layer of leaves, mainly oak, which I collect from a kindergarten, parks and Church Square, Addington”. No organic matter leaves the property, old plants and weeds are either chopped up and left on the garden as mulch or are composted in a heap along with kitchen waste. Any prunings too woody to be applied directly are piled up at the back of the shed and left to slowly decompose.


Fertilisers
To get seedlings off to a good start Elvira usually throws a small handful of compost, Zoodoo, sheep pellets or worm compost into the planting hole. Homemade seaweed brew also helps to boost growth and keep plants healthy. “I also dig in bokashi from time to time and have found it is great for brassicas’, says Elvira.

Tree Health
As well as regularly mulching her fruit and nut trees with compost, Elvira also underplants them with calendula and nasturtiums. Elvira successfully grows a diverse range of fruit and nut trees – peaches, plums, nectarines, apples, walnuts, hazelnuts, citrus and feijoas – as well as grapes, currants and berries. Mulching and companion planting keeps her plants free of disease. However, last year one of her ‘Gravenstein’ apples got a white fungus for the first time, so any tips on how to combat this would be much appreciated. She is currently trying a baking soda spray and has heard that diluted milk can also be used to combat fungal diseases.

Water Recycling
Elvira also showed just how easy recycling water can be. You don’t need a fancy grey water system, or even a network of pipes. Elvira simply places a large bowl in her kitchen sink to collect waste water which she then empties into the garden. “If you only use a small amount of detergent (Ecostore brand) you can safely use the dishwater to water plants”.

Plant Sale
Inspired by the popularity of Diana’s honey and grapes at her open home in March, committee members potted up a range of seedlings for sale on the day. There was an interesting array of plants on offer; purple sprouting broccoli, Argentinean tomatoes, lettuce ‘marvel of the four seasons’, to name but a few. The seedlings sold quickly and the sale proved to be a great fundraiser.

A big thanks to Elvira Dommisse for hosting the day’s event, a great afternoon was had by all.



Posted by Charlotte McHaffie

Open Home Discussion – Sunday 22nd of March

Diana Kirpensteijn’s Food Forest
The unsettled weather on Sunday didn’t deter the large group of gardeners keen to visit Diana’s home and garden. Diana (left), a long time member of Soil and Health, has lived at her Opawa property for 23 years. In that time she has converted a barren suburban section - once dominated by a large macrocarpa windbreak - into a fruitful forest. ‘For every plant I removed, I planted three fruit trees,’ says Diana. A diversity of flowers, herbs and edible perennial plants co-exist under the groves of fruit trees, and raised garden beds provide areas for intensive vegetable production. ‘It was important that the garden was low maintenance,’ says Diana, which makes a lot of sense when you consider the size of the garden - ½ an acre if you include the adjoining property which the Kirpensteijns also own.

Nutrient Cycling
In keeping with organic principles Diana cycles all her organic waste back into the garden. Green leafy weeds and kitchen scraps are given to the chooks, and the manure is put through the compost heap. ‘Occasionally I buy some blood and bone, or sheep pellets, but overall I try to avoid bringing in a lot of materials from outside as it involves a lot of extra work. However, I have recently started adding rock dusts to my compost heaps to correct mineral deficiencies,’ says Diana. Diana also makes comfrey tea which she feeds to tomatoes and other heavy feeding vegetables.

Renegade Chooks
Diana originally planned to ‘tractor’ her chickens around the garden using them to dig over empty beds, however the chickens had alternative plans and were forever escaping to greener pastures. ‘If you’re going to have a “chicken tractor” make sure your chickens can’t dig their way out,’ says Diana, recalling the loss of leek and garlic seedlings scratched up by a runaway chook. ‘I’ve decided that it’s easier to have a permanent chicken run, and cycle the waste through the compost’.

Friendly Bees
Unlike the chooks, Diana’s bees are free to go where they please. Being in close proximity to a neighbouring school Diana always makes sure she buys friendly queens. The four hives, situated in the far corner of the garden, supply the family with 110kg of honey a year. But being a bee keeper is no easy task, you need to be registered, and MAF carries out regular hive inspections. Unfortunately, with the arrival of varroa mite, Diana is faced with a tough decision, treat her hives with chemicals, or stop being a bee keeper altogether. Although organic solutions do exist they are unlikely to effective during the initial establishment phase, which is expected to last 3 to 4 years.

Living Mulch
When asked how she kept her fruit trees free of pests and diseases, Diana explained the importance of a living mulch. Fruits trees do a lot better when they don’t have grass growing up to their trunks. A living mulch of organic matter (straw, leaves, bark . . .) combined with perennial herbs like parsnips and comfrey, creates a great habitat for ground beetles. Ground beetles are voracious predators that like to snack on juicy larvae, codling moth larvae being no exception, so having a healthy population of ground beetles helps to control this unwanted pest. A living mulch also helps to reduce fungal diseases, as it encourages microbial diversity and increases the chance that fungal spores will be out competed or consumed by beneficial microbes.

Pest Barriers
One of the downsides of mulch, is that it can harbour slugs. Diana avoids mulching in the spring when the slugs are most prevalent, and protects her tender seedlings with plastic pottles that have had their lids cut out. Another physical barrier that Diana finds essential is shade netting over the carrot beds, ‘growing carrots is a waste of time unless you have nets to keep out the carrot fly,’ says Diana.


Tasty Treats
Those people who were lucky enough to be able to stay until the end of Diana’s talk were rewarded with pink grape juice made from Diana’s favourite grape ‘Iona’. Diana had also baked a spiced apple cake – recipe courtesy of the late Rod Donald – and had potted up plants and honey for sale. Diana insisted that people weren’t to leave until all the ‘black boy’ peaches had been picked and given away. All in all everyone had enjoyable afternoon, and no one left empty handed!

Posted by Charlotte McHaffie

Southshore Self-Sufficiency

You wouldn’t expect to find an edible garden paradise at the end of Southshore Spit, but that is exactly what Pete and Marion Neal have created, albeit with some help from willing neighbours. “At the moment five neighbours give us all their garden waste and kitchen scraps, unfortunately one is leaving, so hopefully we will be able to train up somebody new,” says Pete. Pete has even modified his fence to make it easier for neighbours to deposit their waste into his compost bins.

Compost Secret to Success
Each year Pete and Marion produce about 1.5 cubic metres of compost; after living on their property for 38 years they have managed to build the soil up 30cms in places. ‘We’ve never brought in any top soil, when you do that you end up with other people’s problems,’ says Pete. Apart from compost, the only other fertilisers they are use are sheep manure, blood and bone, and lime. Looking at the rich layer of organic matter its hard to believe that a couple of spade widths down its pure sand.

Two Bin System
To make their compost the couple use a two bin system, each bin measuring approximately 1 metre x 1.5 metres. When the first bin reaches capacity, the contents are turned over into a second bin. If the compost appears dry, water is added during the turning process. “You need enough water to keep the process going, but not so much that you put out the fire,” says Pete. After turning, the compost is covered with an insulating lid, which helps to keep the compost hot and prevents the rain from getting in. Pete uses a piece of metal coated polystyrene as a lid, but you could use two pieces of 6mm plywood separated by a 20mm gap.

Food in Abundance
Marion and Pete grow more vegetables than they need, which means they always have surplus to give away. ‘The neighbours give us their garden waste, and we give them vegetables,’ says Marion. The couple grow enough potatoes, pumpkins and onions to last them the whole year. A small orchard also supplies them with peaches, pears and apples.

Although Pete is quick to point out that he isn’t a ‘greenie’ because he doesn’t ‘have a beard or wear jandals,’ the couple’s self-sufficient lifestyle tells a very different story.

Posted by Charlotte McHaffie

Gardening at the Beach

It was great to see such an awesome turnout on Saturday, when thirty people turned up to North Beach to hear Charlotte talk about her coastal garden.

Establishing the Vegetable Beds
When Charlotte and Scott first moved into their place eighteen months ago, the property already had a lot of established native trees and shrubs. However, to get their vegetable garden started a little more effort was required. Knowing just how hungry sandy soil can be, they decided to kick start their garden with a few cubic metres of top soil. A layer of topsoil (10-15cm deep) was laid onto the grass and edged with bricks from the old chimney. Before planting they lightly forked a layer of composted chicken manure into the new beds. ‘It is always a good idea to dig in some compost first, as topsoil often contains silt and clay, which can bake hard and crack in the sun’, says Charlotte. Compost is a wonderful substance that improves all types of soil; while compost helps light, sandy soils retain moisture and nutrients, it also improves aeration and drainage of heavy soils.

Green Manure and Seaweed
The best vegetable bed — seen above — was enriched with seaweed and green manure over the winter. Seaweed was laid in shallow trenches and covered with soil. Oats, lupins and broad beans were sown over the top in April, and the green manure was dug-in during August. The soil in the green manured area is noticeably better than the soil in other beds. The organic matter has broken down to create sticky humus, which binds the sand particles together, enabling the soil to hold water and nutrients.

Nothing Wasted
Scott and Charlotte don’t like to take any organic matter off their property. A huge pile of tree prunings sits in the middle of the garden as testament to this philosophy. ‘One day we will get a mulcher’ says Charlotte, ‘in the meantime the pile is home to many invertebrate species, and is fondly known as the “spider cave”’. Weeds, grass clippings and old vegetable plants are mixed with straw and composted; all the household’s kitchen waste is recycled using bokashi buckets. Occasionally the pair source enough manure and straw to make a large compost heap, but most of the time they just use rotted down seaweed, or buy in composted chicken manure. ‘If you are using manure make sure it isn’t contaminated with herbicides. Sometimes farmers spray herbicides on their fields to kill broadleaf weeds and these contaminants can get into the manure’ says Charlotte.

Hardy Coastal Plants
Although most of Saturday’s talk was devoted to the hows and whys of vegetable gardening, Charlotte found some time near the end to recommend some hardy coastal plants. ‘It is a good idea to plant wind and salt tolerant trees on your NE boundary ’, says Charlotte, ‘once you have established your first line of defence it is possible to plant more tender plants on the leeward side’. The plants Charlotte recommends for coastal gardens are listed below:


Trees
Ngaio Myporum laetum
Coprosma lucida, C. robusta, C. repens
Pittosporum tenuifolium, P. eugenioides, P. crassifolium
Broadleaf Griselinia littoralis
Kowhai Sophora microphylla, S. prostrata
Olearia paniculata, O. ilicifolia, O. avicenafolia, O. traversii
Akeake Dodonea viscosa
Kanuka Kunzea ericoides
Cabbage tree Cordyline australis
Corokia x virgata, C. cotoneaster
Coast banksia Banksia integrifolia*
Olive Olea europaea*

Shrubs
NZ lilac Heliohebe hulkeana
Hebe species (especially H. odora, H. salicifolia, H lewissii, H. speciosa, H ballensii)
Marlborough rock daisy Pachystegia insignis
Kaka beak Clianthus puniceus
Brachyglottis greyii
Muehlenbekia astonii
Coprosma propinqua C. virescens
Rock rose Cistus sp*
Coast rosemary Westringia rosmarinifolius*
Rosemary Rosmarinus officinalis*
Lavender Lavandula sp*
Wax flower Eriostemon myoporoides*
Grevillea sp (choose frost tolerant species)

Herbaceous
Rengarenga lily Arthropodium cirratum
NZ Iris Libertia peregrinans
Dianella sp.
Gazania hybrids*
African daisy Arctotis hybrids*

Ground cover
Native daphne Pimelea prostrata
Pratia angulata
Fuchsia procumbens

Ferns
Shield fern Polystichum vestitum, P. richardii
Hen-and-chickens fern Asplenium bulbiferum
Hound’s tongue fern Phymatasorus diversifolius

All plants are native to New Zealand, except those marked by an asterix* .

Posted by Charlotte McHaffie