by Wally Richards

BASICS

I have noticed from phone calls and people listening to Rodney Hide and myself doing our monthly gardening program on RCR that a lot of people have either returned to gardening or have taken up gardening.

Due to the economic situation that New Zealand currently has, people are staying more at home, eating more at home and of course considering what best to do with their dollars.

They also have come to realise that the commercial food chain is not healthy like it was back in the 1950’s and 1960’s. That is because the way food was grown and processed back then is entirely different to what is done these days.

Chemicals unheard of back then now saturate our food chain replacing the nutritional values of days gone by. (Research shows that we have lost 80% of the nutritional value in fruit and vegetable compared to 50-70 years ago)

Readers of my age will remember how healthy everyone was (by in large) back then in comparison to people today. Little or no obesity and people were happy and loved living in New Zealand, land of plenty and opportunity.

Here is an interesting thought: back when I was a kid I caught the measles and my friends came around to spend time with me so they to would also catch the measles; no one died; we spent a couple of weeks at home recovering and got on with life. No vaccinations no health warnings, no news items in newspapers or radio. (we did not have TV back then of course )

So why has measles become an issue nowadays? [Follow the money —Eds]

My thoughts are that our food chain was so good back then, we were really healthy and our immunity was tops.

We got out into the fresh air and sunlight, gaining ample amounts of Vitamin D from sun on our skin with no sunscreens to prevent our body from converting sunlight to Vitamin D. We were not silly and didn’t at the beginning of summer go out with winter lily-white bodies to spend hours in the sun burning; we exposed progressively to get a good protective tan, then we would be able to spend all day in the sun without burning (20 minutes at a time each day was a golden rule; progressively extending it.)

Now that I have had my rant, let’s get onto the real source of your health, gardening.

Many people prefer to buy vegetable seedlings from their local garden shop as they have a head start in comparison to germinating your seeds at home.

Vegetable seedlings come in three forms, punnets where a number of seeds have germinated and their roots intermingled; cell packs of 6 cells that have one and sometimes more than one seed in each cell that has germinated, and finally small pots where larger more expensive single plants are growing. The last is often reserved for the likes of tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, capsicums etc.

Experienced gardeners will likely know what I am about to explain but take it as a refresher course of understanding.

Nurseries that supply these plants are very careful to ensure the seedlings have adequate moisture while in their care as they know full well that if the growing medium dries out the plants will go into stress and even though when watered, they recover, they are no good any more to grow to maturity. Instead once stressed they will grow on for a little while and then as soon as they are able they go to seed.

Thats Nature protecting itself so that the future generation will have hopefully a better chance. But it’s very disappointing for the home gardener as they don’t get the cabbages etc to eat.

But on the other hand, for plants that flower and fruit it’s not a problem (tomato, capsicum, cucumbers etc) if they are stressed other than they will crop earlier as a result, the fruit may not be as good as if they had not been stressed.

So when buying seedlings look for the younger vegetable plants in cells and punnets and take them home and if need be, grow them under your care till they are ready to plant out.

Now when it comes to planting out, I have a bucket of water that has had a little manure in it and some Magic Botanic Liquid.

I plunge the punnet under the water to watch the air bubbles come out. I do that every day or so while I am waiting to them plant out.

They get a good soaking and a bit of food from the solution.

When I want to plant out I once again soak till they stop bubbling and on a bench I partly turn the punnet on its edge and tap so that the seedings of which the mix is nice and wet all fall safely onto the bench.

I could pull them out instead, but that’s the way I have being doing it for years.

Now like in a punnet when you have several seedlings growing together with their roots intertwined, then take them back to the bucket of water and while holding them underwater I carefully separate them apart which means little or no damage to their roots.

Now as individual plants I can plant them out or put them into larger containers to grow,

In the planting hole I put a few goodies such as a little manure like sheep manure pellets, a pinch of Ocean Solids, Biophos, Neem Powder, Unlocking Your Soil and Calcium & Health.

Just use a small amount of each which is placing the goodness in the root zone where it is most effective.

I prefer that as I have a Scottish heritage and have no great need of healthy weeds by feeding them the goodies.

After planting keep the area moist preferablly with non chlorinated water and it’s best to water earlier rather than later in the day.

A weekly spray of the foliage with Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) will make the world of difference to the health of the plants — and in the end your health also.

If birds or cats are a problem, then use our Crop Cover over hoops to keep the seedlings safe and also to keep insect pests, butterflies and others off the plants.

The crop cover makes an eco-climate and the plants, being more protected from elements such as wind, grow bigger and faster naturally.

Now another tip when you bring any plants home: check them carefully for any insect pests or their eggs.

If any are found then rub them off before you plant them.

Many insect problems are ones you have introduced on plants you have obtained from outside your property.

If you buy a punnet of seedlings and there are more than you want to plant out at that time, you simply bunch together the ones left over and make a hole and plant them as a clump.

Its called ‘Heeling in’ and they will hold nicely and only grow slowly till you are ready to lift them and plant more out a couple weeks later. Then you have succession planting without having to buy more seedlings.

Enjoy the stress-free hobby of growing your own food as much as possible and the incredible health benefits you will gain in this age-old endeavor.

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