In 1883, English migrant Arthur Yates started business in Auckland and 10 years later launched a range of seeds marketed as "Yates reliable seeds". As time passed, the product range expanded to include fertilisers, sprays, pots, potting mix and tools.
Although it is often assumed that early gardeners had good gardening knowledge, this was obviously not the case, for in 1895 Yates produced the Yates Garden Guide. It has remained in print ever since and by the time the 60th edition was published in 1983, almost 1 million copies had been sold.
These days, the book is handled by commercial publishers, and as well as an updated edition this year, the Yates Garden Guide is now supplemented with other books, including Yates Vegetable Garden, a paperback with a plastic cover that should prevent disasters if it gets left in the garden.
The book is billed as a complete guide to growing vegetables and herbs in New Zealand, and writer Rachel Vogan does cover a fair number of veges but there are some exceptions - back-in-fashion seakale, salsify and scorzonera, for example.
Oka (or oca) is listed under yams, which is likely to cause confusion among those to whom yam means taro.
Calling it sweet potato muddles it with kumara, hence the need to push oka for this oxalis rellie.
The herb section is a bit lightweight, with the odd mistake popping up: for example, Russian tarragon is a perennial, not an annual as the book claims. Although it probably works best in Auckland as an annual.
In the section on garden pests, wireworms, grass grubs and Nasonovia ribisnigri (a nasty tiny aphid that attacks lettuce) are not mentioned. As the solutions to other problems all involve the use of Yates' products, one assumes they have yet to come up with solutions to these pests.
The book heavily promotes Yates products, a continuation of a practice begun more than a century ago by Arthur Yates, but to such an extent now that it can be irritating.
The strength of the book is its lavish use of colourful photographs. This will help novices unfamiliar with the likes of miners' lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata) or Florence fennel, but more experienced gardeners may prefer more information and fewer pictures.
Producing a book that covers all New Zealand and all gardeners is a balancing act and generally Yates Vegetable Garden does a fair job.
- Gillian Vine is a Dunedin writer and editor of The Star Garden Book.
