Get Growing

If you'd like to read what I wrote for this week's Get Growing, click on the image. I especially liked this  combination and hope, if you do read them, that you do too. The Southland Times, along with the other regional newspapers in the Fairfax stable, published this in their Saturday edition, as they do each time.

Hairy giants

Last weeks on-line NZ Gardener published some advice I had written a couple of years ago, about growing your own Supertom tomatoes. I learned the trick from an old chap who was revelling in the discovery that he could by-pass the expensive 'buy one from a garden centre' option by growing and grafting his own. I have since had a lot of feed back from the story and was interested to see it surface again.
Here's the article and a link to the on-line Gardener, which you can sign up for, free, and receive every week, if you so desire.

Q. Could you please tell me how or where I could get some seed of the tomatoes that are used for grafting to make Supertoms? I am keen to try to graft my own next year. I hope you or some of your readers may be able to help me. Bill Harrison, Geraldine
A. Here's some advice from Homegrown Tomatoes (though you'll have to wait to try this until next year, as you need to grow the plants on for a season to get the seed). Supertoms have been a big hit since their introduction. These grafted plants promise huge crops – and deliver them by the bucketful. If you’ve ever bought one of these extra-vigorous wonder tomatoes you’ll have noticed evidence of tampering on the lower stem. They’ve been grafted, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Grafting isn’t about genetic modification or other scientific tricks – it’s simply strapping the head of a top-fruiting type to the vigorous roots of a workhorse. Grafted tomatoes don’t come cheap, but canny gardeners can grow their own grafted plants. This is a two-year process but it’s well worth giving it a go. You need to start by buying a Supertom. Then – and this is the hard part – lop off its head. Chop off the ‘Moneymaker’ or ‘Kakanui 2000’ and let the rootstock grow into a wild, hairy looking beast. At the end of the season, let its small, hard, hairy fruit ripen and save the seeds. Sow these next year and – voila! – you have your own rampant rootstock on which to graft your favourite varieties. To graft two tomatoes, slice off a little section of the outer layer of the stem of both, then bind gently with tape. The two plants quickly become one as the wounds heal together. Once this has been achieved, cut the top off the wild tomato, leaving only the desirable fruiter to grow. It’s no great art and a lot of fun. Robert Guyton

Sunday morning coffee

NZ Gardener has an on-line supplement 'Get Growing' which comes flashing through every Friday. Last week's edition covered coffee grounds in its Q&A section:
If you've ever wondered ...

Q. I've seen lots of advice for using coffee grinds in the garden to deter snails and also to even out the spread of seeds when mixed with them at sowing time. I wonder if this has an any effect on the soil. Does it affect the pH balance (I think coffee grinds are acid)? Does it contribute too much of any chemical to the soil over the long term? Mandy Hewett




A. Coffee grounds have a reasonable level of nitrogen so they're useful as a fertiliser. The nitrogen is present as a protein and made available over time by microbes. Depending on the source, the grounds will be around 2 per cent nitrogen and 0.2 per cent phosphorus dry weight. The residual caffeine is also a stimulant to microbial activity. Adding 250g per square metre each year is likely to be near the upper limit and even less should be applied to areas that will be sown in the next couple of months. Otherwise seedlings may be more prone to fungal diseases. At these rates, the slight acidic effect of the coffee grounds won't be significant. Most plants will benefit from moderate applications of coffee grounds, and some gardeners report that acid lovers like azaleas, rhodos and blueberries thrive. Dr Tim Jenkins
 
Tim knows his stuff. I've not met him yet but I hope to sometime soon.