A growing enthusiasm

When southern gardeners were huddling inside last month, Andrew Steens was planting out lettuce and spinach seedlings, and putting in his first early potatoes.

That is one difference between living north of Auckland and gardening in the South, a difference that made writing his new book, Grow It Yourself: Vegetables, a real challenge.

"New Zealand is a really complex country in terms of climate," the horticulturist/writer says.

Steens gives as an example a trip he made to West Otago 18 months ago. He left Auckland in muggy weather, when the temperature was about 30degC and arrived in Tapanui to 12degC. As he was wearing a T-shirt and shorts, it was rather a shock.

That reinforces his point that if you like tomatoes, "get a glasshouse or put a conservatory on your house. Otherwise, grow what you can".

We may lose on temperature but we win on some fronts. Steens cannot grow brassicas over the summer as they get hammered by white butterflies but southerners have fewer pests and diseases to contend with.

He urges readers not to "fall into the trap of wearing rose-tinted glasses" but to be realistic about what grows in your area, not just in the good years but in the bad ones, too.

In Grow It Yourself: Vegetables Steens has attempted to give a round-up of the main vegetables New Zealand gardeners can grow.

Each featured vegetable has a page or two devoted to its cultivation, with notes on the soil that best suits it and the pH level that gives best results. Missing from the line-up are several that do well in Otago and Southland - globe and Jerusalem artichokes, Brussels sprouts, salsify and scorzonera - but overall the list is fairly comprehensive.

For many readers, the strength of the book lies in his clear explanations as to why we should grow our own. As Steens says: "Even with the best [commercial] growing, storage and transport techniques, the quality of fruit and vegetables is bound to deteriorate on the journey from soil to plate."

Then there are the issues of food safety - "consumers have little control over what goes on crops, especially those grown overseas; and the cost-effectiveness of growing your own, especially as world food prices are tipped to increase significantly in future".

Two interesting sections are on solarisation (using sunlight to sterilise soil to kill pests and diseases) and how to plant by the moon, not as wacky as some maintain. There is also a section on controlling pests and diseases.

The book took Steens just over a year to write.

"The photos were the hardest for me because if I missed something, I had to wait a year to get a photo."

He describes Grow It Yourself: Vegetables as pretty basic, concentrating on good soil and keeping up the watering.

For a newcomer to vegetable gardening, he recommends starting with potatoes.

"Get in and dig up a chunk of lawn, fertilise the hell out of it and put in spuds."

 

• The book
Grow it Yourself: Vegetables, is published by David Bateman, $40.