Grow it Yourself

Words by Laurence Frost – Farmlands Technical Advisor

With food prices soaring, more and more Kiwis are starting their own backyard vegetable patches. Farmlands Technical Advisor Laurence Frost talks about the dos and don’ts of home-grown vegetables.

If you rub your eyes in disbelief every time you go to the supermarket, you are not alone. According to Statistics New Zealand, the average New Zealand household experienced a 7.7 percent increase in costs in the year to March 2023. For those of us who like to eat, the numbers are especially grim, with food prices overall up 12 percent and vegetables up a whopping 21 percent.

The high cost of food has driven increased interest in backyard vegetable growing to supplement budgets. But while farmers and lifestyle block owners have more room than the average Kiwi to plant a food garden, Farmlands Technical Advisor Laurence Frost says there are some common mistakes beginner gardeners make that can hamper their results.

The most common mistake, he says, is failing to pick the right site to plant your vegetables. “Lots of morning sunlight would be my preference, and then we’ve got lots of sunlight through the daytime. If you’ve got raised gardens, they can be very productive because you’re taking care of one of the other main problems, which is overwatering.” 

Laurence says people often put their gardens in cold or poorly-lit places because it works within their housing landscape. “They say, ‘We’re not going to use the nice prime piece of lawn the kids play on to put a vege garden. Why would we want to put our weedy vege garden where someone can see it?’ They end up hiding it away somewhere and they are doomed to fail because they’ve not given it the best opportunity to thrive.” Safe access to the site is another factor to consider, he says.

Once your new garden site has been carefully chosen, the next step  is to turn or ‘dig in’ the soil, Laurence says. “You’re digging and then inverting the spade 180 degrees so what was at the top is now spade depth underground. You bury your weeds and provide organic matter where it can provide food for the plants when the roots get there.”

If your garden is already established, you can use a ‘green crop’ between harvests to provide that green organic matter to turn into the soil. Morton Smith-Dawe’s Blue Lupin, Mustard and Grain mix is one product that could be used for this function. Laurence also recommends using quality tool brands like Dewitt and Farmyard, which are more durable.

Once the soil has been dug in, he advises to wait for about a week or so before adding fertiliser, such as Tui Blood and Bone or Daves Sheep/Chicken + Humate Range along with Agricultural Lime. “I suggest using about a handful per square metre, not scientific but you don’t have to be. Work that into your topsoil about 10cm, building up the bed, so it’s looking nice and level.”

A common mistake he sees people make with backyard gardens is not understanding their nutrient requirements. “People are either heavy-handed or do not apply anywhere near enough,” he says. “If I need to get from here in New Plymouth up to Auckland, and I try to do it on half a tank, I might get to Piopio but I’m never going to get to Auckland because I haven’t put enough in it. The same applies to plants.”

The next step is to plant the plants, which can be either bought from a Card Partner or grown yourself. Laurence says gardeners often make the mistake of buying poor-quality plants because they are cheap. “Why don’t you just buy good stock and be done with it?”

When planting, gardeners should use a string-line such as Donaghys Builders Line to make good straight rows. Laurence warns not to plant the crops too close together, as things can get crowded when they grow. “Allow for the fact that if you plant a cabbage it’s going to be fairly big, so don’t put your carrots next to it because they’re going to get drowned out by the cabbage leaves.” 

Once the garden is ready and the plants are in the ground, the next challenge is to protect them from predation. “You need slug bait, such as Yates Blitzem and various other kinds of slug and snail baits. Also consider blackbirds, they can sometimes hook out your seedlings while they’re trying to get a worm. If you’ve got pukekos, they just terrorise seedlings, they pull them out for fun,” Laurence says. “We sell Grazers Rabbits, Possums and Birds Spray, which comes in a 750ml bottle and is harmless to pets and humans.”

Another method of pest control is called ‘companion planting’, where crops are placed next to other plants that can repel their predators. “Companion planting is a good thing,” Laurence says. “For example, you should plant marigolds where carrots are because the marigold exudes an oil the carrot fly doesn’t like. It doesn’t affect us but makes it a bit funky for them.” 

Depending on the season and where you are located, frost protection such as Cosio Frost Cloth, or even straw, may be needed for some plants. “Cabbages and others in the crucifer family handle frosts okay but there are some veges that are frost-tender,” Laurence says. “With pumpkins and cucumbers and courgettes, along with early potatoes, they’re definitely a bit more frost-prone, frost-tender than you’d like them to be. The grower needs to have proactive systems in place prior to any frosty weather conditions.”

Follow these steps and you will have homegrown vegetables on the dinner plate in no time. But how do you select the best vegetables to grow in your area? Laurence says local knowledge is crucial. “The easiest thing you can do is to ask, what do all the other growers in the neighbourhood grow? There’d be a reason for it. Talk to your community or go to your local garden centre because they are pretty knowledgeable about it.”

Top tips for your vegetable patch:

1.  Pick a warm, well-lit part of your section
2. Tap into local knowledge about which plants to grow
3. Buy quality seeds and seedlings
4. Don’t skimp on fertiliser
5. Allow enough room for plants to grow