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First resource to share with y'all. This was posted on the NZ Garden email thingie I get. I haven't taken a good look at it yet but wanted to put it up here for those of you who might want to check it out. If you're in the Northern Hemisphere it might be late for some of these things but you can check out the videos and get some ideas for next season. It's the Tui products team and they've put up a bunch of instructional videos. They call them Webisodes and you can learn about planting potatoes, strawberries, lawns, tomatoes and preparing a veggie garden. There are a lot of different bits of info on the site too, like this fact sheet on how to grow potatoes. Very useful. You don't have to use Tui products of course, especially if you can't get them where you live. Even a pdf of their grow guide which includes tater types and maturity times.
And no, I'm not on Tui's payroll. Really.
As for the second part of the post. The earthquake in Christchurch has made me think about our gardens and natural disasters. Gardening is about coping with nature's different challenges. It's about balancing dry and wet, hot and cold, pests and beneficial critters. However what happens when things get out of control? When it's too hot and dry or too cold and wet? We do the best we can, try to counteract the extremes.
But when the earth moves, when the tornadoes rip through, the water table sinks, the levees break or when volcanoes erupt? How do you cope with such extremes? This short article on how to care for damaged plants and This one on how to deal with liquifaction have both come out of the Christchurch earthquake. This poor woman was voted NZ gardener of the year. Her garden is now contaminated with raw sewage due to burst pipes from the eq. After a natural disaster you have enough on your hands to care for your family, your furred family and your home/possessions. After dealing with all that you have your yard and garden.
Like your house, the most important first consideration is safety. Have trees been brought down? Are limbs hanging precariously? Have wires been exposed or have powerlines crossed your boundary fences somewhere along your boundary? Has your shed been compromised or damaged? Or, like the woman in the above article, has your garden been contaminated with sewage, heavy metals or anything else? Make your garden safe.
Look to the health of your plants and any animals/livestock. Make sure your critters have fresh water, food and clean/dry/safe shelter. Check your plants for signs of stress and instability. Stake those that need it, prune damaged limbs. Plant care will depend on what your natural disaster has been.
And here's an important safety point. If you have had sewage contaminate your garden don't eat your veggies. It's heartbreaking but you don't want to risk disease. You don't know if the sewage has penetrated the heart of your lettuce or gotten into your broccoli. It's not worth getting hepatitis or HIV. If you have fruit you can peel that might be safe if you wash it thoroughly in soapy water before peeling, but it's always better to be on the safe side. And of course it goes without saying that things like berries are out of the question.
Much of my garden is in pots, as you know. While I wouldn't have to worry about the plants themselves being unstable I would have to worry about the pots being stuck askew in liquified soil or tumbled end over end down our sloped lawn and spilling both plant and soil out, or damaging the plants severely if the did manage to stay in the pot while tumbling. If we had a sewage break some of my plants might be ok but it would depend on if the pots stayed upright or tipped over into the contaminated water/soil.
For those of you who live in a fire-adapted ecology, there isn't going to be much you can do if a wildfire rips through your garden. The best thing is prevention. Keep your fuel load down (minimize the dry, dead wood and plants), keep plants away from your house (build a fire break) and consider planting in small 'islands' with rock, sand, shell or cement paths between to reduce the chance of smaller fires taking out your entire garden. Don't store fuel (petrol, charcoal or bbq bottles) next to your house. Nothing will save your garden if a large wildfire comes through but you can try to protect it from smaller ones.
Any other thoughts? Have any of you had to deal with the consequences of a natural disaster in your garden?
And no, I'm not on Tui's payroll. Really.
As for the second part of the post. The earthquake in Christchurch has made me think about our gardens and natural disasters. Gardening is about coping with nature's different challenges. It's about balancing dry and wet, hot and cold, pests and beneficial critters. However what happens when things get out of control? When it's too hot and dry or too cold and wet? We do the best we can, try to counteract the extremes.
But when the earth moves, when the tornadoes rip through, the water table sinks, the levees break or when volcanoes erupt? How do you cope with such extremes? This short article on how to care for damaged plants and This one on how to deal with liquifaction have both come out of the Christchurch earthquake. This poor woman was voted NZ gardener of the year. Her garden is now contaminated with raw sewage due to burst pipes from the eq. After a natural disaster you have enough on your hands to care for your family, your furred family and your home/possessions. After dealing with all that you have your yard and garden.
Like your house, the most important first consideration is safety. Have trees been brought down? Are limbs hanging precariously? Have wires been exposed or have powerlines crossed your boundary fences somewhere along your boundary? Has your shed been compromised or damaged? Or, like the woman in the above article, has your garden been contaminated with sewage, heavy metals or anything else? Make your garden safe.
Look to the health of your plants and any animals/livestock. Make sure your critters have fresh water, food and clean/dry/safe shelter. Check your plants for signs of stress and instability. Stake those that need it, prune damaged limbs. Plant care will depend on what your natural disaster has been.
And here's an important safety point. If you have had sewage contaminate your garden don't eat your veggies. It's heartbreaking but you don't want to risk disease. You don't know if the sewage has penetrated the heart of your lettuce or gotten into your broccoli. It's not worth getting hepatitis or HIV. If you have fruit you can peel that might be safe if you wash it thoroughly in soapy water before peeling, but it's always better to be on the safe side. And of course it goes without saying that things like berries are out of the question.
Much of my garden is in pots, as you know. While I wouldn't have to worry about the plants themselves being unstable I would have to worry about the pots being stuck askew in liquified soil or tumbled end over end down our sloped lawn and spilling both plant and soil out, or damaging the plants severely if the did manage to stay in the pot while tumbling. If we had a sewage break some of my plants might be ok but it would depend on if the pots stayed upright or tipped over into the contaminated water/soil.
For those of you who live in a fire-adapted ecology, there isn't going to be much you can do if a wildfire rips through your garden. The best thing is prevention. Keep your fuel load down (minimize the dry, dead wood and plants), keep plants away from your house (build a fire break) and consider planting in small 'islands' with rock, sand, shell or cement paths between to reduce the chance of smaller fires taking out your entire garden. Don't store fuel (petrol, charcoal or bbq bottles) next to your house. Nothing will save your garden if a large wildfire comes through but you can try to protect it from smaller ones.
Any other thoughts? Have any of you had to deal with the consequences of a natural disaster in your garden?
