Your Garden Coach NZ
Guiding keen new gardeners to become confident vegetable growers no matter the size of your garden or your skill level.
We aim to share tips and tricks to help you grow healthy, nutrient-rich vegetables.
Based in the Central Otago region of New Zealand.
Happy gardening
Your Garden Coach NZ
Autumn Episode 29
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
We enjoy a cup of Dried Yarrow and Mint tea today - it’s a winner, Jen loves it.
Dr Compost joins us for a chat about… composting! He’s a mine of information and has a few ideas to help Jen get started with composing.
Take a look at Ben’s Socials @dr_compost & Dr Compost on fb, Ben talks about Bokashi composting in his latest video.
We learn about two lesser-known Vitamins G & G. That’s right, Gratitude and Green, we take stock of just how beneficial being grateful and spending time outside is for our health.
Vegetable of the Week is Micro-greens.
Our new segment is ‘Snapshot’. This is the spot where we connect with gardeners across the nation to uncover their latest endeavours and gardening adventures.
This week kicks off with us talking to Dr Compost, Ben Elms.
We announce our winner of the weekly $20 Gift Voucher from Kings Seeds.
Shelley Franks @mumofarainbow
And the Winner of the Gubba Moon Calendar Clock is….. Kate Grantley-Hogg, Congratulations to our winners, and huge thanks to our sponsors.
Sowing and Planting time - what should we be planting now?
Book of the Week - Your Well-being Garden and RHS publication.
You can contact us at coach@yourgardencoach.nz and follow us on socials @yourgardencoachnz
Welcome to Your Garden Coach Podcast. Our aim is to guide and support your vegetable growing journey. Whether you're a complete beginner or a competent grower, and no matter the size of your kitchen garden, there will be something for everyone. Your Garden Coach hosts Alex Soper and myself, Jen Anderson, aim to share tips and tricks required to successfully grow your own produce and feed healthy, nutrient-rich vegetables to your family. In each episode, we'll take a look at some of the main tasks for the coming week, so be sure to listen to the most current episode before you catch up on previous episodes. If you're wanting to start a kitchen garden at your home, we're here to help. Happy gardening. In today's episode, we are gardening by the moon. Of course, that's what we do sowing and planting time, what to plant and where. Our main topic will be vitamin G. Vitamin G? Anywho, you wrote this, Allie. Let's find out shortly. Introducing our latest segment. It's called Snapshot. In the snapshot interviews, we kick off this week's snapshot interview with Ben Elms, who is a composting king. And uh he's come into the studio, had a chat with us, giving us all his knowledge. Well, not all, because he's so full of information. We've got just a snapshot of it. Vegetable of the week. The vegetable is microgreens, the easiest way to maintain a healthy diet of greens over winter. What a great plan. I like that idea, Allie. Um Allie, what's been happening in your garden actually right now? Leaf picking up, mainly. That was a discussion we had in the coming upcoming interview with Ben.
SPEAKER_01Yes, lots of leaf picking up and tidying up. And I've just received our package from the lovely Charlotte at King Seeds. She sent through four different types of cover crops. We've got green manure carbon blend, green manure legume bend, green manure legume blend, the green manure traditional blend, and the fourth one is green manure autumn blend. So I'm going to trial those in different patches in my garden and get you to do the same and we'll see what happens.
SPEAKER_02Or what are the green man have they been grown in green manure? What does the green manure mean?
SPEAKER_01Oh, okay. Good question. The green manure That's why I'm here, Ellie. She's a she's onto it. Green manure is what you put down when you've harvested your crops about this time of the year and you've got spaces, chuck a couple of handfuls of this down, let it grow through, and it's actually going to become a green crop over winter in springtime before the flowers come on. Right. We chop those up and dig them into the garden.
SPEAKER_02So it's a ah, it's not a sh an animal manure, it's a green as in green waste manure.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, there you go.
SPEAKER_01Puts lots of lovely nutrients back into the ground. Who knew that?
SPEAKER_02Who didn't? Who was glad I asked that question?
SPEAKER_01And how are things in your garden, Jen? We've had some lovely rain over the last week.
SPEAKER_02You say that, Allie, and for that very reason, I have not been in my garden.
SPEAKER_01Oh, we did get a good dose of rain.
SPEAKER_02We did. Um I have had a wee oh no I have because I've had to go pull out a couple of carrots. They're still doing very well. But their interview with Dr. Compost, we took him up to my garden. Yes. And you and I both, we wish we had a recorder, a recording going of Ben with my raspberry bush. He was ecstatic. He had no idea and what I was doing of how I had a raspberry bush as successful, as tall as it is. And it's tall. Yeah. I'm like, it's just, it's pure talent, Ben.
SPEAKER_01He was very excited and we've organized a day to come and take some cuttings with him.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Brilliant. Do you know? Do you know what, Allie? Actually, between you and I, I should have the pallets ready and go, oh, how do you think this should go, Ben?
SPEAKER_01Get him to make your own compost heap.
SPEAKER_02Bingo! That's not a bad thing. At least, at least help. No, no, other than that, it's it's pretty stagnant in my garden. Um, there's a lot of fungi popping up in the c in the woods in the ground.
SPEAKER_01Is that good? Yeah, it is good. Yeah. It's a good sign. Yep, it's a good sign you've got mycorrhizal fungi going on underground. Some good fungi popping up out of the ground. Brilliant.
SPEAKER_02I got a fungi in the house too. Bum bum. Anyway, let's move on. Hey, don't forget, you've got a um a chance to win the $20 gift card that we do weekly from Kingseeds. All you have to do is tag at Kingseeds NZ. So that's Kings with an S, Seeds with an S. So you're two S's beside each other, NZ, and us here at your garden coach underscore NZ. So do that every week. Uh we randomly select one lucky winner. All you have to do is share your garden successes on Instagram, and you could be the next recipient. How cool is that? This is only open to New Zealand residents, though. And this week's winner will be announced later on in the episode. But Allie, talking about winners, Gubba. I know.
SPEAKER_01The Gubba clock. The Gubba moon clock. The Gubba Moon calendar clock. Yes. Yeah. Do we have a winner? We certainly do. The lovely Kate Grantly Hogg. Congratulations, Kate. Yes, we will have Gubba.co.nz. Send that through to you. ASAP. You're gonna love it. It really will streamline your gardening. Now, interestingly, um people wrote in with a variety of different moon calendar phases, which was the question that we asked for. And um it seems that we're not getting that message across quite clearly enough. So, what are the moon phases, Ellie? So we've got the four stages. We've got the cultivate, the sow implant above ground, the barren period, and the sow root crops. So these are the four stages that we deal with. The other thing that people are getting confused with is the phases of the moon. So we've got the full moon, we've got the new moon, the waxing moon, and the waning moon. I can understand the confusion.
unknownThere.
SPEAKER_01Because it would confuse me. Absolutely. So we need to work harder on that with or I need to work harder on that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, to get me because you're the one with the knowledge. I just sit back and listen. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Listen carefully when we're talking about what the moon is doing and what we're up to in the garden.
SPEAKER_02Well, I'm listening very carefully now as to what I'm drinking because this, as a tea, is very yummy.
SPEAKER_01You like it? I do it's similar to something we've had, but different. Okay, good spotting, Jen. It's actually a blend of two of the things that we've used before. So previously we've had yarrow on its own, the yarrow flower, and we've also had mint. And this is just the common mint. It's not a peppermint or a spearmint, it's just a common mint that grows really well in my garden. I really like it as a tea, and I've blended um equal parts of this, and this is what we're drinking today.
SPEAKER_02Well, it's very nice.
SPEAKER_01It is a yummy one. Um, same as usual, just put a couple of teaspoons actually per cup into boiled water, let it steep for about 10 to 15 minutes, and this is a really good tea to have after a big meal. Um, or if you're just feeling a little bit of indigestion or something like that. Okay. Um it's very calming.
SPEAKER_02Cool. Okay, well, it's a very delicious tea, I'm quite. Could you pour me another one, please? It's very refreshing, isn't it? It is, thank you. Um now, while you're doing that, question What is the moon up to right now? And what are our garden jobs this week?
SPEAKER_01All right, listen very carefully. I just say this only once. We're in the waxing moon phase, the first quarter, the beginning of the first quarter.
SPEAKER_02Which is looking very cool in the sky on a clear night.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we haven't had too many of those, have we? So that's what we're that's the that's the moon phase. What it's telling us to do is sow and plant.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01So when you're looking up at that moon and you can see that lovely crescent, we're sowing and planting all above ground fruiting crops. So this week up until the 21st of April. You can also take cuttings and plant some fruit trees. It's a great time for grafting, but this is when we're in the high sap run, so no pruning.
SPEAKER_02What's the difference between grafting and pruning then?
SPEAKER_01Grafting is when you put you're attaching a scion, um, which is the fruiting part of one plant, onto a rootstock.
SPEAKER_02Ah so you've already got the piece from something else that you are now attaching to the live one.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So if you are wanting to produce your own quince tree, for example, you would take a scion from the quince and you would add it to probably a pear rootstock.
SPEAKER_02Wow.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And if you're looking at apples. Would that be a prince? A peer in a quince?
SPEAKER_02A prince tree. You can grow your own prince. That's awesome. Is that right or is that totally wrong, Ellie?
SPEAKER_01Let's go with that, Jen. Um, last year, Ben Elms actually uh did a workshop on grafting apple trees. And we grafted some beautiful scions of lovely fruits. And don't ask me which varieties at the moment, but we grafted that onto a more of a dwarf rootstock.
SPEAKER_02So are you creating a whole new fruit or you're just using the host of something else?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So it doesn't change what the fruit is. No. Ah. So it's not a prince tree then, Ellen.
SPEAKER_01And you can get some some people actually graft um you can call it a prince tree if you like. But some people will graft two, three, or even four different apples onto one rootstock. So that you've got a tree that's three different apples.
SPEAKER_02How cool and scientific and ironsteiny is that?
SPEAKER_01So it's a good time for doing that. If you're using the four-bed crop rotation system, and we're going to talk about two systems quickly today, in bed two, specifically today, um, that's where your broad beans are going in. They're companion planting beautifully with broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower, and perhaps kale. Broad beans will also companion well with lettuce and spinach. I can see Jen looking at her. Might be two on there.
SPEAKER_02Those leafy greens and brassicas. That's right. But you didn't you just say what'd you just say? I was too busy looking at my crop rotation poster than listening to you, sorry.
SPEAKER_01So embed two, which is what, Jen? Leafy greens and brassicas. Mm-hmm. We're companion planting. Oh, I've missed the companion word. There we go. She's companion planting now broad beans with those brassicas. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Oh, that's right.
SPEAKER_01And we're just going to use them as a cover crop.
SPEAKER_02Right. Okay. Not but when it's a cover crop, can you get the fruiting the caution? That's not a problem.
SPEAKER_01But because it's a cover crop that we're looking at, we don't want them to grow really big here. We're just wanting to cover the soil over winter. So hopefully, if we plant if we've planted them at the right time, we're going to get a period of growth where they'll go up to about seven centimetres and they're just going to sit in a holding pattern over winter. They're not going to grow very much more, especially in our climate.
SPEAKER_02So they'll grow up out of the ground.
SPEAKER_01They'll grow up out of the ground about seven centimetres, and then they'll just fill in all the gaps.
SPEAKER_02Oh, so they'll bush up and essentially How do you plant them? Do you have to make them specific spots?
SPEAKER_01What I tend to do is like once I've cleared the soil, um, I will just scatter a whole load of broad beans on the top, and then I'll just poke them in about five centimetres deep at quite close together. Yep. And they're going to create a a a complete coverage of the soil, which is is that's what we want to do. We want to stop weeds from the biggest.
SPEAKER_02You don't need structure for this.
SPEAKER_01Not at all, no, not at all.
SPEAKER_02So they're gonna grow about eight to ten centimetres high and just keep them at that height so they just have a weed bed cover, like a mat.
SPEAKER_01They won't grow anymore because of the winter.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_01So and we're gonna we'll leave them sitting like that, and then in springtime we'll just get the sh the sharp uh spade and we'll chop it all up, and that will be even more goodness going into the soil. So we don't want those ones to grow to full maturity. We've got other areas that we're putting those in.
SPEAKER_02By goodness, by gracious, I think I might have it, Allie.
SPEAKER_01Thank you. Now, so that's the four-bed crop rotation system that some people are using. Others are using the more of a permaculture system, um, a mixed bed system, you could call it. Um they look gorgeously wild, just as good. It's just a different technique. So if you've if you've harvested something from that permaculture area, just throw in a couple of broad beans and let them do their thing. Um, it's all going to be good. You're essentially keeping the ground covered, you're putting more nutrients back into the soil, it looks good, makes you feel good, and you know you're getting something.
SPEAKER_02I feel I have a mixture of both going on, don't you?
SPEAKER_01You do, you do, indeed.
SPEAKER_02That one bed has got murascas and everything, the other bed is a bit of everything going on, and the and I although we I am the Virgo and I like that structure, I'm quite liking the wild garden look. It is lovely. When I know there's actually goodies in there to be able and I thought all my lettuces tour of stuff had gone to seed, and I desperately needed lettuce for Riley's wrap for school the other day, and I went up and had I still got a heap of lettuce off that. And it was tasty? Wasn't it bitter? No, nope, I don't think so. I didn't eat the wrap. Riley didn't complain.
SPEAKER_01As if as we've said before, if it is a little bit bitter, just soak it in water for as long as you can.
SPEAKER_02Perfect.
SPEAKER_01Um, up to about an hour, and that that will help it. I know I keep going on about broad beans, but they really are my heroes in the garden. And when your broad beans are actually sort of knee height, that's a good time to come in. So this will be later on in the season, early spring, that's a good time to come in with a barrow load of really good compost, homemade compost that you can chuck all over it. Um, a sprinkle of wood ash is good. Maybe if you've got some leftover tomato fertiliser from the previous season, you could throw that on. And maybe even rose fertilizer if you have any you want to use up, but do that well before the flowers arrive. So you might want to put that in your diary. Um, in some parts of the country, the broad beans will be ready August time. We're we're a little bit later down here. Um in the cooler parts of the country. Winter brassicas. You know, there are cabbages and then there are cabbages, and it does pay to know the difference in the variety of your different brassicas and indeed other vegetables. Um some of them we plant in summer for summer summer harvest, and some we plant in winter. They're a lot more cold hardy. So if you're wanting to put some winter brassicas in, um I've just gone through the King's catalogue and had a look at some of the things that I traditionally plant. So we've got broccoli winter rudolph, that's a sprouting broccoli, Brussels sprouts, um, they're obviously the overwinter vegetable. The cabbages, we've got the mini red and the verona purple Savoy. Now they're very reliable over winter. Okay. Really good. The kale, of course, scarlet kale, beautiful. And with your cauliflowers, look at early whites. They're a compact variety, but if you have a bit more space, you could go for the giant of Naples. That was a much bigger one. So that's just a couple of ideas for you. I mean, it is daunting when you're looking through the catalogue.
SPEAKER_02But it's handy to have someone like you who knows and direct us to go, okay, these are the best ones. Give those a go.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah, yeah. At this time of the year. So yeah, know the difference between your winters and your summers. And that's up until the 21st. From the 22nd, we're just in the cultivate period. So no planting or sowing if you are working with the moon. Um if you're not, that's it, that's entirely up to you. That's fine. So, this period of cultivating your soil, that's when we're really looking after the soil. We're turning the compost, adding compost, we're dealing to the weeds, and of course, we're pickling and preserving. There's still a lot of that going on.
SPEAKER_02My mother-in-law had her kitchen going with stewing apples a couple of days ago. Apples everywhere. And then my chickens got the remainders of it.
SPEAKER_01Lucky. Yes, lucky. So if you're in the cooler areas, plant your brassicas out. You may want to put some um covers over those. Not a bad idea to just have some covers, loose covers as the plants grow, then they're going to push those covers up, or you could put hoops in, whichever you prefer. Um, onions, kale, parsley, spinach. If you're looking to put some flowers in, there are a huge variety of flowers that you could be planting now.
SPEAKER_02We're talking edible flowers?
SPEAKER_01Edible and regular flowers. Yep. Um and it the nice thing is if you plant those now, then they're going to stratify over winter, they're going to get really cold, and then they're as soon as the soil starts to warm up, they'll burst through. So things like forget me knots, snapdragons, calendula, um, poppies, those sorts of things. I know, I know. Pop those in now. Just scatter them. Fruit trees. You, as I said before, you can put some fruit trees in now. It's still a good time. In warmer areas, you could still be putting in carrots, leeks, rocket, mescline, peas. Do your research for your region and uh and then make accurate recordings in your diary. You may have a hiccup this year, but you'll certainly know for next year. So if you can do that, that would be great. Um later on uh down the track, maybe in a few weeks, we'll talk about different zones within the country. Okay.
SPEAKER_02Um you must have read my mind because I was about to ask you. What are there any warm zones in South Ireland?
SPEAKER_01We've got we've got the the mountain zones and then we've got the more temperate regions right around the edge. So yeah, when I show you the map in a couple of weeks, Jen, you'll it'll all be as clear as mud.
SPEAKER_02It certainly will be.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Mind you, when you look out of our window at the moment with the snow on the hills, and speaking of which, if you're a bit reticent about gardening outside at this time of the year, try your windowsill gardening. As we approach winter, some people find it just that little bit too cold, and that's just fine. There's no need to stop growing. You can grow really nutritious food for your family inside. If you've got a glass house, great, but you can grow these um miles. Yeah, microgreens, that's the way to go.
SPEAKER_02Tell us more.
SPEAKER_01Well, in the King's catalogue, there's a huge variety of microgreens, all sorts of different things. Um, I'm gonna talk about just a couple today. Broccoli sprouts, but they're a super food packed with goodness. Antioxidants, which help to reduce cancer risk, and an anti-inflammatory, and they're also cholesterol reducing. The goodness is released when we chew those sprouts. So putting them on salads and things where you know you're gonna be chewing really well is a good idea. Um that helps to break down the sprout into its healing goodness.
SPEAKER_02So is that gonna be if you kept it going, it would turn into a broccoli? Or is it completely different?
SPEAKER_01Theoretically, yes, microgreens can grow to full size when you give them the space to do so, a nice environment. But we're growing these really, really close together, densely, um, and that's going to halt their growth. They're not gonna get very big because they haven't got the space or the nutrients to do so. Um, did you know that half a cup of sprouts a day is all you need to reap the rewards?
SPEAKER_02Really? Yeah. Perfect.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But a lot of I found a lot of that stuff um quite peppery. Is they do they all are they all like that or they're not all peppery?
SPEAKER_01Specific. Yep, yep. Yem your mustards and and crestes and things like that. But the honestly, have a look. Go on the King's website and have a look. You and put in microgreens, and you'll come up with a whole list of things that you can try. And and grab three or four packets. Give it away. Give it a go, see what you like. Yeah. It's so easy to do. Just choose your specific method of sprouting and enjoy your sprouts when they're just uh just a few days old. It's really three, four, five, depending on what they are. I think the the bit that people find tricky is um just maintaining them every day. Yeah. But if you've got them somewhere that you can see them, just give them a rinse, pour out the water. On the um King's Seed website, they have skit kits, don't they? They do. They've got these fantastic little microgreen um kits, and they'll they they've got a packet of seeds for you, and they've also got the cap that goes onto one of those agy jars. Look at those sprouting kits, they're $29.40, and that'll get your your sprouting going. Awesome. Um, one of the things that I like is broccoli for micros. Um, broccoli's health benefits are well documented in all its forms. Um, the compound responsible is sulfurophane. It's a big word. I know, it's quite a hard one to remember actually. Studies that show that this may provide benefits, as I said, in cancer prevention. Um the light green stems with mid-green heart-shaped leaves look beautiful too. They're a nice crisp texture and they've got a mild flavour intensity, and they taste sort of unsurprisingly of broccoli.
SPEAKER_02Really? They're a broccoli seed. Hey, and don't forget, when you do order from Kings, when you get to the end of your cart, put into the um the code that's there, coach in capital letters, C-O-A-C-H, and you will get yourself 10% discount score.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02Loving a bit of savings.
SPEAKER_01Thanks to the team. That's absolutely amazing, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So there we go. Sprouting your own microgreens is going to be good for you all winter.
SPEAKER_02I might actually start doing that because I've got our house was built in the early 90s, and it's got one of those boxed window things in the kitchen by the when my sink is a glass house in your kitchen.
SPEAKER_01It is, and it's like it's really perfect. Imagine you could fill that whole plat. That's you've got what, about a metre and a half by a metre? Yeah. Oh, you could grow loaves.
SPEAKER_02You should see Ellie's face and her eyes just look like they had stars glistening in them.
SPEAKER_01Well, if I was gonna be here all winter, I'd be yeah.
SPEAKER_02Because my kitchen. Now let's On to the main topic, Allie. What are we talking about?
SPEAKER_01Oh well, this is uh this is what we said in the intro. Intro, yeah, it's vitamin G. It doesn't exist, Allie. Yes, it does, Jen. It doesn't! A, B, C, D. What do we go up to? E. It's an intriguing topic. Well, tell me more then, please. Well, the benefits of two lesser known vitamins, vitamin G and vitamin G.
unknownG G.
SPEAKER_01Are they made up? Yeah, well, they so they they kind of are. What are they? We're gonna dive deep into the fascinating world of these not so commonly discussed vitamins and uncover the numerous benefits that they can bring to health gender. Spit it out. What are they? Well, the first vitamin G, vitamin G number one, is gratitude. You heard it? Gratitude.
SPEAKER_02You heard it right here.
SPEAKER_01First research has shown that cultivating a grateful mindset can have profound effects on our overall well-being, Jen. I can see that. And our physical. It can lower our blood pressure, it can improve our immune function, it can help us sleep better. And grateful individuals tend to have more meaningful and fulfilling relationships, just like us. We're grateful for each other. Cultivating gratitude has been linked to increased resilience in the face of challenges too.
SPEAKER_02And you know what I've always been taught in the last few years I've been doing it. I get out of bed, I put my feet on the ground, I say thank you for another day. Because there's not too many people, there's a lot of people out there who don't get it.
SPEAKER_01If you start every day being grateful, being grateful and you're breathing, concentrate on your breathing. Because we're gonna we we start breathing the day we're born and we stop the day we die, right?
SPEAKER_02Well, that's generally how it goes, Ellie.
SPEAKER_01And if you breathe properly, you're gonna have much more fun during your life, I think. Anyway, let's move on to vitamin G number two. Please tell me what first is gratitude. What is the second? Well, this one's a bit easier. This is vitamin green. Not the greens that you eat, but there have been several studies about the effects of immersing ourselves in nature. So the the na the green of nature. And you don't even need to be outside. Some studies have shown that having a hospital bed with a garden setting just out the window can it can restore your health more quickly than a room that faces a corridor or something like that. So these are the sorts of things we need to remember every day. A bit digressing a little bit off gardening, but I think it's worth looking at. For example, my youngest daughter, Abby, um, shout out to Abby, she's never had her name mentioned on the podcast. So maybe she's stopped listening, I don't know. Um, but she was living and working in London for about eight months, and she said, Mum, over winter it's just grey. It's not even grey clouds, it's just grey. It's just like somebody's got one colour and painted the whole thing. Research shows that every 10% increase in green, um, your or your exposure to green translates into an improvement in health, making you feel five years younger.
SPEAKER_02Stop it!
SPEAKER_01I know. So you put those microgreens on your kitchen bench and you're gonna feel five years younger. 41 again. Get back to me on that. Actually, this this subject has been fascinating reading. There's a really, really good book that I will just flicker over because I've put it in the book. This will be our book of the day. Our book of the day, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Or book of the week.
SPEAKER_01It's called Your Wellbeing Garden. How to make your garden good for you. Rural Horticultural Society Professor Alistair Griffiths with Matt Kitely. Um, they're garden design specialists in well-being gardens. So they garden specifically to create well-being gardens. So those of us that are really into our garden and we're spending a lot of time outside or as much time as we can, we we get those benefits. But if you're new to gardening, just start becoming aware of how it's making you feel. I'm I'm sure you're gonna feel so much better. The more you garden, the happier you'll be.
SPEAKER_02It's real. It is. The earth breathes. We all know that because it got a big, massive sigh of relief in 2020 when everything stopped.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well that's where all a lot of this research came out of.
SPEAKER_02Oh, really?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, for sure. Um, even if you're working a really full day, park your car a little bit further away from work, or if you're catching the bus or a train or whatever, take the scenic route. Go around the under the trees and just just feel the benefits that you get. You'll definitely have reduced stress levels.
SPEAKER_02You will thank Ellie for this. And you do it. You will, seriously, you will.
SPEAKER_01So there we go, folks. That's just a bit of a bit of a function. Fun and cheek.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I love it. No, I do like those uh vitamin G's. All right, welcome to our new segment of the show. It's called the snapshot segment, and basically it's just a snapshot of what's happening in different people's gardens. And uh our very first snapshot is Ben, and we may know him also as Dr. Compost. And we do want to send out a very big warm welcome to you today, Ben. Thank you for joining us. Delighted to have you here. Um, it's a spot basically where we could connect with gardeners across the nation to uncover basically their latest endeavours and gardening adventures. So I'm gonna leave Ally to do the questions with uh Ben. And welcome to the studio, Ben.
SPEAKER_01Hi Ben, it's so good to have you here. Really pleased we could bring you in here today. Um, so what's happening in your garden currently?
SPEAKER_00In my garden, uh in my garden right now, it's really wet. We've just had three days of torrential downpour after four months of no rain. But what's happening in my garden? Well, okay, in my garden, I'm about to I'm a bit late. Um I'm about to clean out my tunnel house, leave a few things just to hopefully get a few tomatoes still ripening. I've got a few chilies, a few capscombs, my cucumbers are pretty much done. My zucchinis are pretty much done. So everything's pretty much done. So I'm going to clear the beds and I am going to plant them out with a mix of seedlings and seeds. Um I'll be doing things like celery, spinach, kale, spring onions, and a few um Mizuna, mabuna, um, some tatsoi, and that's about as much as I can remember at this moment. So that's why I'm gonna be doing it there, and then outside I'm starting to uh sow some winter crops uh outside, more green manure style. So I'm gonna be doing lots of broad beans. Broad beans is my new favourite, and it's all I do. I say new, I've been doing it for years now, um, but it still feels new. Uh so I'm gonna do lots of broad beans, so I'll do a mix of uh compost and straw and the broad beans. So I'm trying to do them, trying to inoculate the soil still with the compost, um, get lots of goodies in there, get the organic matter in there, um, mulch. I'm just trying to protect in case we have a wet winter, protect the soil from compaction, and the broad beans. I'm still means that sure I'm getting the nitrogen fixing, but I'm also keeping the soil alive, if that makes sense. I'm I'm trying to encourage that you know the bacteria to still have some life in there rather than me trying to go through winter without any life. Uh our winters are getting warmer, so the soil's not as necessary, as inactive as it has been in the past. So keeping things growing in that soil is actually beneficial to the soil health.
SPEAKER_01And what about composting? Are you composting Dr. Compost?
SPEAKER_00Uh I'm about to um completely, I've got a nine bay compost system all out of wooden pallets. I'm about to pull it all out and start again because they have come to the end of their, they're coming to the end of their life, those wooden pallets. Um, I've had many, many, many years out of them. So I'm gonna pull it out, start it up, and clean it out. Um, and so I do batch hot composting mainly. So that's when I've got lots, like I gather lots of materials and I'll make a compost in one go. So I've gathered my manure, my you know, my my wood chips, my things out of the garden, around, you know, leaves, whatever I've got, and I'll do it in one hit. And so I do that. Um, but on a day-to-day basis, I am I've I used to have chickens. I love my chickens, and I used to do the composting system with wood chips with my with my chickens, but I've got a dog that eats chickens, um, so we gave away our last couple of chickens, and she's an old dog, and so we've just decided to wait till she passes um till we get chickens again. Um, so now I've moved into four systems. I've got well, four units, should we call them? I've got two hungry bins that I I got for nothing. So they're the worm farms, New Zealand um designed and probably made overseas, but worm worm bins. Uh I've also got the sub pod, which is an in-ground worm bin. They've actually stopped making those. So I've been promoting those and they've just stopped making them. Um so you can make one of those out of a you can make those yourself, go online. There's lots of ways of making in-ground worm farms. I'm a big fan of them, but you can make one out of a 50-litre bucket bin. Um, but I've just so I've got them, and then I've also doing the Pikachi buckets as well. So between them, I am dealing with all our food scraps going to all of those systems. And I love the Pikachi because this year um I had some insane thick crops. You know, some things were insane just from the Pikachu and embeds like I had the biggest broccoli I've ever grown in my life. This year's good and tasty as well. I can probably flick it to you. Bigger than my head. Wow, I've got a big head. Um it was bigger than my head. Every every piece was was one piece lasted a week. It was just like, oh my god, and tasty and delicious.
SPEAKER_01And you put that all down to Bakashi.
SPEAKER_00Well, I'll tell you what, these beds are on are on my fence line where my windbreak is, and the tree roots get into these beds, and so they're the worst beds in my whole veggie garden. And you'd every year you're going, I can't swear, but tree roots, um, you know, and you'd chopping them and you're trying to introduce new ingredients, and you and you see the curve, you see the vegetables just kind of they start really small and slowly get bigger, and right at the end of the furthest away from the from the tree roots. Um, this year, the whole bed just chocker with these giant broccoli. Wow.
SPEAKER_01Performed really well.
SPEAKER_00Bakashi.
SPEAKER_01That is really good.
SPEAKER_00There is no other better um if you want to get a huge amount of nutrients into soils where you have got poor soils, um, there is no better way of of getting huge nutrient bombs using the Bakashi buckets. Uh yes, in in the Queenstown area, yes you can. Yeah, yeah. And they're subsidized, they're like pretty much two for the price of one, two, two units.
SPEAKER_01Um, Ben, that's really useful information. Thank you. And we've been meaning to get you to uh onto the podcast to talk about composting, but we might go into Bakashi a little bit more later on down the track. So, one last question I've got for you here. Who are your garden mentors, Ben?
SPEAKER_00Um well, that's a good question. Um back in the day when I read and read and read hungrily for information, um, some of the key people were people like Elliot Coleman, four seasoned gardener, and he's got a few quite a few other books. Um he was a huge influence. And then other people like um I was kind of heavily influenced by would you believe the RHS books, the Royal Hocultural Society books, some incredible knowledge and information in those books. So I'm I'm an avid reader, so it was pre- you know, pre-internet, um which wasn't that long ago, but obviously was a lot of influence in the permaculture field. So people like Jeff Lawton and Bill Mollison, I was lucky enough to go to a uh do a PDC with those guys. So that was quite a big influence, and and that just that just that area of that movement, I guess. And then another bigger influence in more latter years, maybe the last 10 years, people like Graham Sate, um, you know, biology and minerals. Um but if you haven't listened to if you had a plug of a podcast, um check out Graham Sate's uh podcast. Well, that's good to know. But they're they're dense, and I listen to them repeat, you know, I I I keep listening to them over and over again, just to let it sink in. But so those would be some of the key, yeah. Um I think the one of the best ways of obtaining knowledge is actually talking to other gardeners. Absolutely, and actually visiting other gardeners or having gardeners visit your garden. I know look, gardener gardeners are really um proud, and I, you know, I'm I don't like people visiting my garden without being, you know, without a bit of warning. Um, but actually people learn so much from visiting your garden or you visit someone else's garden. And even if you know, I like to think of myself as a you know, I've got a little bit of experience and I learn so much, whatever garden I go to, yeah. I just you know, you go, oh, you're doing it that way. Every day's a school day. Yeah, and just seeing how people approach stuff, and and it doesn't mean it will work in your backyard, it may. Uh, but that's you know, that's the other exciting thing about gardening, is you get to experiment all the time.
SPEAKER_01Thank you so much. We really appreciate you being here today. Awesome. And um, by the way, I'm really loving your reels on Instagram, absolutely amazing.
SPEAKER_00Awesome, thank you.
SPEAKER_01Keep it up.
SPEAKER_00I can't look at them.
SPEAKER_01So if you haven't seen those yet, have a look at at Dr Compost.
SPEAKER_00I guess so. I'm not too sure. Whatever the handle is. Yeah, but if you you know, on Facebook as well, you can I think there are links there as well.
SPEAKER_01Ah, where would we be without him? Honestly, we are so lucky here in Central Otago to have Ben. He he flips around all over the place talking to different people, different people.
SPEAKER_02But you have to look up really high because he's a very tall man.
SPEAKER_01Okay, Ali glossary, gardening term of the week. Okay, so going back to vitamin G, um, we're looking at biophiles. That's a term that describes humans who have an affinity with the natural world and the emotional and physical well-being we gain from being in nature, just to have that green around us. Biophiles.
SPEAKER_02Instagram account of the week, Allie, and of course our winner of the $20 King Seeds voucher.
SPEAKER_01Now, $20 goes a long way when you're buying seeds. Oh, I bet it does. It goes a long way. So um, I'm happy to announce that Shelly, her Instagram handle, is Mum of a Rainbow. She tagged us in a photo of her fabulous tomato harvest. Shelly made pasta sauce with those tomatoes for the first time this year. She said she also grew agria potatoes for the first time, and she put a photo up of her cheesy potato bake, which looks yummy. Go and have a look. So, congratulations, Shelly. Thank you for tagging us and for tagging King's Seeds. We really love this relationship we've got with King's. So the more tagging you do, the better. And we really do love to hear what you're doing in your garden. So email us or tag us um with your garden highs and lows. We are really creating a lovely, supportive community together. And I, for one, am really proud to be part of it.
SPEAKER_02Oh, we pretend. I love being a part of it too. Although I'm still learning, but it is so cool just to be getting all this feedback. So thank you, everybody. And remember, if you've got those bloopers, send them on to us and just keep in touch with us. We love hearing from you. Coach at yourgardencoach.nz. So for now, that is us, Sanara of Wakite. Happy gardening. Thank you for joining us on this episode of Your Garden Coach. If you've enjoyed listening and you've found the advice helpful, please give us a five-star rating as this helps the algorithms reach more king gardeners, novice, or experienced. Remember to like and subscribe so that you never miss an episode and do tell your friends and family about it. You'll find more details in the podcast notes below. Head on over to our Instagram account, Your GardenCoach underscore MZ, for more information, photos, reels, and competition entry details. And to ask any garden questions. We're also growing our website, leak by leak at www.yourgardencoach.x. And if you'd like a personalized kitchen garden consultation with the fabulous Allie, email coach at your gardencoach.x. Allie's Garden is open to view via www.secretgardens.co.nz and you can book yourself a visit online.
