by Wally Richards
It’s been a busy spring with lots of new and not-so-new gardeners working to grow some vegetables and flowers for pleasure.
Doing the gardening show with Rodney Hide on Reality Check Radio has increased the phone calls to my 0800 number with a number of people saying that they have listened to the pod recordings and have been encouraged to get back into Nature and the garden.
A few have told me the likes of ‘I have been gardening for 50 years, but have learnt so much from listening to you’. That has amazed me and made me think that the information about gardening that I write about and talk about is, in some cases, news to some experienced gardeners several years older than myself.
Maybe I just have learnt a few methods along the way that others have not thought of or used to make gardening easier and more enjoyable. This brings me to a point: Gardening should be a pleasure, not a chore. Even mowing the lawn gives a certain amount of pleasure; as well as a bit of exercise. The pleasure comes when you finish mowing and you look at the lawns and they look so much better from your efforts, which is your reward.
Years ago when I used to be invited to judge gardens for various areas and awards, I often saw beautiful gardens spoilt by a shabby lawn which marked them down, while a great looking lawn increased the value of average gardens. The lawn is to a garden what the frame is to a picture.
Well as I am getting older by the day, like everyone else, I felt maybe its time I wrote another gardening book. So over the last few months I have been working on this new book which I have called Gardening with Wally Richards.
I have endeavored to write about various problems and methods that have happened since I wrote my original book, Wally’s Down to Earth Gardening Guide in 2006 and then the revised edition in 2011 the later is now out of print and the original is nearly out of print.
The new book is based on some of the articles that I have written over the last 20 odd years and more so on recent publications. I know that a number of gardeners keep my weekly articles for future reference and the new book puts the ones I consider the most important ones into a neat 200 page book.
I spoke to the printers about having the book printed by early December as some may like to have it for Christmas and it would be a suitable gift for friends and family. They said printing is no problem but getting the bookbinders to bind the book this time of the year is more of a problem cause they will be busy doing new school books for next year. So I opted to just have 500 books printed as my printer said great they will be ready on 8 December to pick up.
Here is what you will find in my book:
FOREWORD page 9
MY JOURNEY Page 10
CHAPTER One — Page 15 Gardening from past to present.
CHAPTER Two — Page 29 The Tomato/Potato Psyllid
CHAPTER Three — Page 39 Potato growing and Potato psyllid
CHAPTER Four — Page 44 Garlic Rust
CHAPTER Five — Page 50 Moths, Codlin, Guava and Army Worm
CHAPTER Six — Page 57 Curly Leaf Disease in Stone Fruit
CHAPTER Seven — Page 61 Raised Gardens
CHAPTER Eight — Page 68 Pollination
CHAPTER Nine — Page 74 Gardening with Cardboard
CHAPTER Ten — Page 78 Magic in The Garden
CHAPTER Eleven — Page 85 Germinating Seeds
CHAPTER Twelve — Page 90 HEALTHY VEGETABLES
CHAPTER Thirteen — Page 95 IRON VIS COPPER
CHAPTER Fourteen — Page 100 Growing food in Containers
CHAPTER Fifteen — Page 103 Your Food and Your Health go Hand in Hand
CHAPTER Sixteen — Page 109 Weeds
CHAPTER Seventeen — Page 117 Getting a better garden
CHAPTER Eighteen — Page 120 Companion Planting
CHAPTER Nineteen — Page 126 CO2 Carbon Dioxide
CHAPTER Twenty — Page 131 Sunlight
CHAPTER Twenty One — Page 135 Apple cider vinegar
CHAPTER Twenty Two — Page 138 Citrus trees
CHAPTER Twenty Three — Page 147 Germinating Seeds
CHAPTER Twenty four — Page 152 Vital Calcium
CHAPTER Twenty five — Page 158 Composting
CHAPTER Twenty six — Page 162 Strawberries
CHAPTER Twenty Seven — Page 166 Buxus Disease
CHAPTER Twenty Eight — Page 171 Spraying
CHAPTER Twenty Nine — Page 175 Health and Gardening
CHAPTER Thirty Page — 179 Potassium Permanganate
CHAPTER Thirty One — Page 184 House Plants
CHAPTER Thirty two — Page 189 Perkfection
CHAPTER Thirty Three — Page 193 Some Bits and Tips
As with all my books I autograph and put in a message and the name of the person the book is for. If you’re giving it to another person I am happy to include a very short message of your choice along with their name/s. Or for yourself a message such as Happy Gardening…. your name and my signature.
You place a order on our mail order web site at www.0800466464.co.nz
You cannot pay for it on the web site as I prefer to talk to my customers and I phone you and sort out all the details including payment method.
With only 500 copies printed I expect them to be snapped up quickly and orders after 500 will be catered for with another printing in the new year. The RRP as we publishers say is just $25.00 a copy
Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz