Welcome to the absolute rock bottom beginner guide to gardening. This episode is for you if you expect it to take about 5 minutes a day to garden, don’t compost properly, don’t particularly love the idea of gardening, and think you can put a seedling in an abandoned old garden bed and it will have everything it needs.

We asked 20 of New Zealand’s top gardeners from around the country to share the very best of their advice.

Top suggestions on what to plant going into winter.

• Leafy greens (e.g. Silver beet, kale, spinach, winter lettuce pak choi, rocket) 
• Broad beans
• Parsley
• Herbs
• Garlic chives
• Spring Onions
• Choko (didn’t say on the episode but well worth checking out – its grows like an out of control weed, so perfect for a beginner gardener – follow advice from rediscover.co.nz:
• https://rediscover.co.nz/oh-the-places-youll-grow-choko/

How to beat slugs and snails

• Healthy mature plants can beat slugs (learn how to sheet mulch and compost) 
• Number one tool is picking off at night with a torch 
• Make a beer trap from a 4cm high saucer sunk into the soil, clean and refill weekly if populations are high.
• More tips here: https://rediscover.co.nz/natural-ways-to-deter-slugs-snails/

Recommended resources for beginner gardeners, in New Zealand. 

Kiwi’s first 

• What to grow in winter by NZ region from edible backyard: https://www.ediblebackyard.co.nz/what-to-plant-in-your-vegie-patch-in-winter/
• Buy trusted organic sprays, or let the experts come to you:
  •  https://biologix.myshopify.com/  make your way to the Home Garden page.
  •  www.growinspired.co.nz 

Read
How to Grow Your Own Food (Real BOOK, $25. Hamilton-based)

Connect

• • Organic Edible Garden Sign up to the newsletter here and connect on Facebook here. 
  • Taranaki based Farm Next Door, sign up to their newsletter coming soon. 

Best of The Rest

• Square Foot Gardening (USA). Good overview of the method from this Australian site.
• Eliot Coleman's book, 4 Season Harvest. Works well for South Island (Maine, USA)
• Anything by Charles Dowding on Youtube.  Somerset UK. Excellent videos. “His method is the easiest I've see anywhere - and with great results!”

   

Thank you to the gurus, market gardeners, educators and communicators who gave their time. Here they are with links to any helpful projects they are involved with – heaps of great resources: 

• • Sophia Xiao-Colley, organic market gardener  
  • Caity Endt, organic market gardener
  • Judy Keats, Compost Collective
  • Te Radar, broadcaster and comedian
  • Therese Mangos, Pacific Vision Aotearoa, 
    and @pacificvisionaotearoa
  • Richard Main, Gardens4Health
  • Permaculture guru’s Betsy Kettle and Trish Allen. 
  • Lynda Hallinan
  • Carl Freeman  
  • Estella Lee, Chinese Conservation Trust
  • Sally, Waimarama Community Garden
  • Team from Organic Edible Garden 

Thanks to Auckland Council and Live Lightly for supporting this podcast!