January 2012 Newsletter
by Clare Scott
Nichols Invercargill
IN THE VEGETABLE GARDEN the most important job is to get your winter greens planted before the end of January. Plant early and late varieties of cabbage and cauliflower for continuous greens through the winter months as some varieties mature in three to four months while others will take six to seven months. It is essential to get them well grown and hearting-up before growth stops in May.
Our vegetable garden kept us supplied with cabbages until the end of September so when we had to finally buy cabbage in October, and supermarket prices were really high, those few bought cabbages averaged out to be quite inexpensive over a whole year. Home grown is always best because they are picked and popped in the pot with every vitamin intact.
Don’t plant cabbage, cauliflower or broccoli into soil which has previously grown members of the cabbage or turnip family because of the danger of club-root disease. If 
club-root has been a problem for you we have the answer! (CLICK HERE for more information about Club Root). Our “Success’’ range of cabbage and cauliflower seedlings have been proven to be club-root resistant and our customers are singing the praises of this astounding discovery.
Also, keep the Derris Dust handy to control those White Butterfly cruising up and down your rows of greens, thinking they are in supermarket heaven!
This is your last chance to plant leeks and celery into trenches that have had plenty of compost worked into the bottom of each trench. When planting in hot weather, trim back some of the outer leaves to reduce moisture loss while the roots get themselves established. Regular watering is the key after transplanting to help get the roots growing well.
During high summer give the plants a really good soaking two or three times a 
week, preferably early morning. Deep watering will encourage roots to grow downwards to seek moisture and nutrients.
If tomato diseases are sneaking into the green house CLICK HERE to go directly to our “Tomato Trouble-shooting” handy helper – it has lots of useful information and pictures to help identify and solve any problems.
MEANWHILE, IN THE FLOWER GARDEN, Summer glory brings Dahlias into full bloom. When Dahlias first arrived on the scene in the mid nineteenth century they were simply prized exhibition blooms. Over the years they have been replaced by varieties that can hold their own with all sorts of garden plants. In the garden centre we have a stunning selection of dahlias, already blooming in large pots which are ready to be planted into the spaces created by the wreckage of cut down delphiniums, foxgloves and poppies (pictured left: Dahlia ‘Mystic Dreamer’).
Autumn roses often provide the best show of the year. Our modern roses need some light summer surgery to get the best autumn blooms. Dead heading isn’t the most favourite of jobs but it’s well worth doing to encourage the plant to produce more flowers. Cut the flowered canes back to an outward bud of five leaves and when picking roses cut long stemmed blooms which will encourage the rose to make new growth. If modern bush roses are not deadheaded the garden loses the romantic look and becomes the untidy look.
In high summer roses can become prone to black spot and powdery mildew if the weather is warm and humid. Black spot appears on the leaves as quite large round dark spots that spread over the leaf, then turns yellow and dies and drops off. Powdery Mildew looks like a dusting of white powder on stems, buds and leaves. Attack these diseases with any of these products - Yates Shield, Yates Super Shield or Yates Guardall. It’s important to water roses deeply once or twice a week in high summer as well as applying a dressing of Tui Rose food after deadheading to encourage even better autumn blooms.
Sweet Peas need to have their old flowers cut off or they will spend all their energy making seed. The more we pick sweet peas the more flowers they produce. Simply nipping spent heads off with finger and thumb as you walk around the garden can work wonders toward the revival of a fading plant.
Succulents can be the answer for areas robbed of nourishment and bathed in hot summer sunshine. They can add a surprising amount of colour and tolerate long periods without water. A pleasing effect can be created with buff gold sedums and glossy green ‘jelly bean’ sedums, that are flushed reddish bronze in sunlight , and with crassulas that have larger foliage ranging from greys, mauves, pinks and bronze colours. They don’t always demand a sun baked position, just a very dry place that can provide dry feet in the winter. (Pictured left: Sedum ‘Rubrotinctum’)
And just on a parting note, Poinsettias given as presents at Christmas can flower for up to nine months if they are enjoying a good light position in the house. Allow the potting mix to dry out a little between watering as over watering is usually the most common form of disaster with Poinsettias. Insignificant yellow flowers clustered in the centre are short-lived but the surrounding red leaves can remain colourful for many months. When the plant deteriorates allow the potting mix to dry, cut the foliage back one third, and put the plant in a warm dry place until shoots appear, then begin watering again. Transplant into a larger pot and pinch out the tips to encourage bushy growth.
Wishing you all a wonderful New Year
You can’t beat home grown vegetables for real freshness with all their vitamins intact.
And you don’t have to have green fingers to grow tasty vegetables ... simply give the soil a start by lightly forking in some Nichols Compost, a light dusting of fertiliser, remove a few weeds and you are ready to go! Frequent hoeing of the soil allows the sunshine to warm the soil.
Make the most of these sunny days to sow a few spring onions, early carrots, spinach, radish, snowball turnip as well as some early potatoes such as Jersey Benne, Liseta, Swift, or Rocket. Digging the humble spud is part of the magic and mystery of gardening ... it’s like buried treasure!
Broccoli is absolutely choc-o-block full of vitamins. And the common cabbage has become a designer plant now with round heads, conical heads, some with puckered leafy heads and purple heads but all are packed with vitamins. Then there are our simply superb club-root resistant ‘Success’ cabbage plants. Our customers are singing the praises of this new discovery.
Don’t forget to lay some slug bait around all your new seedlings because snails love nice tender vegetable plants too, and, believe it or not, they can gobble eight times their body weight in just one night!
TOMATO PLANTING time is here again.
There are an astounding number of varieties in all shapes and sizes – just remember, whatever the variety, always buy sturdy plants that have a short space between leaf joints. Plants that are tall and puny have been grown in overcrowded conditions and will never thrive or fruit well.
Nichols tomato plants are grown here in the south. There are brand new hybrids as well as the old favourites, not to mention my favourite - TastyTom - which is just the perfect ‘snax biscuit’ size and ever so sweet to eat.
The aristocrats of the tomato family are our ’X Generation’ grafted tomato plants which are strong and healthy - and the healthier the plant, the more resistant it is to diseases.
Plant each tomato plant at least 5cm deeper than they were in the punnet into fresh clean soil. And don’t over water in the early stages - small plants don’t need much water and wet cold soil is far too cold for tiny new roots to grow away strongly. Space the plants for good air circulation because planted too closely will result in weak spindly plants.
Tomatoes need tying to a stake, or twined up strong strings hanging from the glasshouse roof, and laterals (these are the side shoots at the junction of leaf and stem) should be pinched out as they appear.
It’s a glorious time of year with warm sunshine turning the garden into green and gold as daffodils shout ‘we are back again’ as they nod their heads in the breeze.
The Primula brigade are starting their spring performance as well. Our garden centres have a wonderful range of Ballerina and Barnhaven double primroses in shades of lilac, plum and pink which are truly irresistible as well as lovely soft colours of lemon, apricot and white.
Look out for the Candelabra Primulas with tiered swirls of flowers carried on long stems, flowering until early summer, in sumptuous tones of crimson with dark eyes of purple or red to softer pink tints.
Boronia Megastigma or Brown Boronia is one of the most loved fragrances of spring and always a winner in our garden centre. Though they have a reputation of being a short lived shrub they are so worthwhile.
And here’s a couple of tips to improve your success ... It’s important to know that the brown boronia are an Australian bog plant and so if planted in a cooler semi-shade position with compost they will grow much better than the hot sunny place most of us choose, where their poor roots frizzle in the heat. The other secret is to cut back the plant by one third, after flowering, then mulch with compost.
Magnolias are among the most glamorous trees or shrubs. They range from deciduous shrubs to magnificent tall evergreen trees. Early magnolias furry buds are now rapidly opening on naked branches so that we can enjoy their lovely goblet blooms. We have a fantastic range now in stock at Nichols, and it’s a fantastic time to plant trees and shrubs, before the heat of late Spring and Summer sets in. (Pictured: Magnolia ‘Ian’s Red’)
Spring suggests blossom and the Crab-apples are charming garden trees that have the prettiest pink and white blossom then later delight us when their autumn fruits appear. Crab apples are the perfect trees for small gardens with their pleasing shapes.
The Clematis tribe arrive this month. If space is at a premium put in a pole or two and this will allow you to grow more than would otherwise be possible as well as adding much more interest to your border. When planting clematis give them a good start in life and dig a decent sized hole, work in some compost and plant so that the stem is at least 10cm deeper than what the base is now.
For a large sunny wall there is nothing more beautiful than Wisteria with long racemes of lilac blo
You can’t beat home grown vegetables for real freshness with all their vitamins intact.
And you don’t have to have green fingers to grow tasty vegetables ... simply give the soil a start by lightly forking in some Nichols Compost, a light dusting of fertiliser, remove a few weeds and you are ready to go! Frequent hoeing of the soil allows the sunshine to warm the soil.
Make the most of these sunny days to sow a few spring onions, early carrots, spinach, radish, snowball turnip as well as some early potatoes such as Jersey Benne, Liseta, Swift, or Rocket. Digging the humble spud is part of the magic and mystery of gardening ... it’s like buried treasure!
Broccoli is absolutely choc-o-block full of vitamins. And the common cabbage has become a designer plant now with round heads, conical heads, some with puckered leafy heads and purple heads but all are packed with vitamins. Then there are our simply superb club-root resistant ‘Success’ cabbage plants. Our customers are singing the praises of this new discovery.
Don’t forget to lay some slug bait around all your new seedlings because snails love nice tender vegetable plants too, and, believe it or not, they can gobble eight times their body weight in just one night!
TOMATO PLANTING time is here again.
There are an astounding number of varieties in all shapes and sizes – just remember, whatever the variety, always buy sturdy plants that have a short space between leaf joints. Plants that are tall and puny have been grown in overcrowded conditions and will never thrive or fruit well.
Nichols tomato plants are grown here in the south. There are brand new hybrids as well as the old favourites, not to mention my favourite - TastyTom - which is just the perfect ‘snax biscuit’ size and ever so sweet to eat.
The aristocrats of the tomato family are our ’X Generation’ grafted tomato plants which are strong and healthy - and the healthier the plant, the more resistant it is to diseases.
Plant each tomato plant at least 5cm deeper than they were in the punnet into fresh clean soil. And don’t over water in the early stages - small plants don’t need much water and wet cold soil is far too cold for tiny new roots to grow away strongly. Space the plants for good air circulation because planted too closely will result in weak spindly plants.
Tomatoes need tying to a stake, or twined up strong strings hanging from the glasshouse roof, and laterals (these are the side shoots at the junction of leaf and stem) should be pinched out as they appear.
It’s a glorious time of year with warm sunshine turning the garden into green and gold as daffodils shout ‘we are back again’ as they nod their heads in the breeze.
The Primula brigade are starting their spring performance as well. Our garden centres have a wonderful range of Ballerina and Barnhaven double primroses in shades of lilac, plum and pink which are truly irresistible as well as lovely soft colours of lemon, apricot and white.
Look out for the Candelabra Primulas with tiered swirls of flowers carried on long stems, flowering until early summer, in sumptuous tones of crimson with dark eyes of purple or red to softer pink tints.
Boronia Megastigma or Brown Boronia is one of the most loved fragrances of spring and always a winner in our garden centre. Though they have a reputation of being a short lived shrub they are so worthwhile.
And here’s a couple of tips to improve your success ... It’s important to know that the brown boronia are an Australian bog plant and so if planted in a cooler semi-shade position with compost they will grow much better than the hot sunny place most of us choose, where their poor roots frizzle in the heat. The other secret is to cut back the plant by one third, after flowering, then mulch with compost.
Magnolias are among the most glamorous trees or shrubs. They range from deciduous shrubs to magnificent tall evergreen trees. Early magnolias furry buds are now rapidly opening on naked branches so that we can enjoy their lovely goblet blooms. We have a fantastic range now in stock at Nichols, and it’s a fantastic time to plant trees and shrubs, before the heat of late Spring and Summer sets in. (Pictured: Magnolia ‘Ian’s Red’)
Spring suggests blossom and the Crab-apples are charming garden trees that have the prettiest pink and white blossom then later delight us when their autumn fruits appear. Crab apples are the perfect trees for small gardens with their pleasing shapes.
The Clematis tribe arrive this month. If space is at a premium put in a pole or two and this will allow you to grow more than would otherwise be possible as well as adding much more interest to your border. When planting clematis give them a good start in life and dig a decent sized hole, work in some compost and plant so that the stem is at least 10cm deeper than what the base is now.
For a large sunny wall there is nothing more beautiful than Wisteria with long racemes of lilac blossom and there are lots of these arriving this month too.
If the scent of Sweet Peas matters to you we have ten different enchanting varieties of Dr. Hammet's sweet pea plants in a whole range of colours from ‘Almost Black’ and navy to pinks through to bright lipstick reds.
A new consignment of Hostas has arrived with their big expanse of leaves that make scintillating focal points in the garden and soothe the eye. They look superb mass planted in a semi-shaded area in your garden.
And lastly, it’s time to plant Dahlias which are a must for pure brilliance of flower colours combined with beautiful shapes, some with interesting purple-black foliage.
by Clare Scott,
Nichol’s Invercargill
ssom and there are lots of these arriving this month too.
If the scent of Sweet Peas matters to you we have ten different enchanting varieties of Dr. Hammet's sweet pea plants in a whole range of colours from ‘Almost Black’ and navy to pinks through to bright lipstick reds.
A new consignment of Hostas has arrived with their big expanse of leaves that make scintillating focal points in the garden and soothe the eye. They look superb mass planted in a semi-shaded area in your garden.
And lastly, it’s time to plant Dahlias which are a must for pure brilliance of flower colours combined with beautiful shapes, some with interesting purple-black foliage.
by Clare Scott,
Nichol’s Invercargill
