Gardening

Scary headlines about the cost of buying fresh veges are all too common. s gardeners, we re in a privileged position. any of us grow a few veges and know we could grow more if it became a necessity. ood waste is another hot topic. Shameful amounts of edible crops are wasted at all stages of commercial production from farm to supermarket to kitchen. here s waste in our own gardens too veges gone to seed before they re harvested and fruit left lying on the ground. he least we can do is eat what we ve grown and find good uses for the surplus.

Five ways gardeners can avoid food waste

· Eat it all leaf to root Just as chefs plan snout to tail recipes so no part of a butchered carcass is wasted, you can do the same by eating all of your veges leaves, stalks, flowers, pods, fruit, peels, seeds and roots.

Do your research first. Some parts of some veges are toici feat en in large amounts, fore ample the leaves of rhubarb, tomatoes and potatoes. ut sometimes the bits we routinely throw away are not only edible, they re delicious. Just ask my sons who loved eating crisp raw cabbage cores and gobbled up fritters made of silverbeet stalks when they were toddlers.

· Explore new recipes and cooking techniques uisines from around the world teach us how to use parts of veges in ways that we may not have considered. Kūmara and broad bean leaves are useful additions to stir-fries and so are the growing tips and tendrils of pea plants.

Presenting food in different ways can trick fussy eaters into trying a once spurned vegetable again. If randma s slimy, boiled silverbeet stalks in white sauce once filled you with horror, try them Italianstyle and you ll be pleasantly surprised.

Pop veges in a pie, wrap or taco simmer in a curry, hotpot or stew grate into fritters or whi them raw in smoothies the possibilities are endless.

· Grow what you (and your family) like to eat in manageable quantities here s no point in growing rows of perfect broad beans or kohlrabi if no-one eats them. y all means try new things each season, but if they all end up in the compost try something else instead.

Plant in succession, a few of each crop every couple of weeks, so there is something to harvest every day without an oversupply going to waste.

· Pick and preserve arvest crops when they re at their best to save for later. earn about freeing, bottling, dehydrating, pickling and fermenting and which methods are suitable for each crop.

· Share your surplus hances are there is somebody near you who would appreciate the et ra crops you can t cope with. Share with friends, family and neighbours and reach out to community groups organising food banks. ou may be able to arrange a swap for crops you don t grow yourself.

ow do you make the most of your harvests and reduce food waste? Share your tips by emailing inbo getgrowing.co.n .

Sow and plant cabbages

These hardy veges take up a fair bit of space, but can feed you for up to a week per plant and you can harvest a second crop of mini cabbages after the first head has been picked more about that later).

abbages take between - days to produce a compact head, so pop in a punnet or a couple of seedlings every fortnight. r sow seeds in trays they ll be ready to transplant outdoors by the first week of July, which means they ll be ready to harvest in mid-spring.

hat might seem like a long time to wait, but aside from laying a little slug bait and in warmer areas covering with mesh to keep off the white butterflies, you can ignore them until then.

Purple, green, savoy and small space-saving cabbages plus mi ed brassica seedlings including various combinations of cabbages, cauliflowers, broccoli and kale) are available now in punnets.

So, how do you get si or more cabbages from one plant? When harvesting, just cut off the edible portion of the head. ut a cross into the top of the remaining stem and leave it and the lower leaves) still in the soil. Within a couple of months, you ll have small side-sprouting cabbages

nother harvesting tip for small families or if you re cooking for one, is to just cut a wedge the si e you need for a single meal and leave the rest. he remaining cabbage will stay fresher in the garden than in your fridge.

Free leaves for composting

Seaweed isn t the only gardeners gold free for the taking. Public parks and roadside berms are full of trees that drop thousands of leaves each autumn, creating mess, blocked gutters and unsightly sodden heaps. ather than a curse, such leaves should be viewed as a boon to any gardener. eaves in public parks are easier to collect than seaweed from the beach and nobody will accuse you of stealing from mother nature . lthough not overly useful for composting on their own, dry leaves make a superb carbon base for mi ing with wetter materials such as grass clippings and manure. lternatively, they can be slowly rotted down in heaps or if you are lucky enough to have chickens tipped into the hen run. hickens quickly stomp and shred the stuff into line, and over the course of several months, convert it to a rich, black compost that s ready in spring.

Put garden beds that won t be in use over winter to sleep under a thick layer of autumn leaves, garden debris and prunings. s they rot down they ll protect the soil from leaching or washing away during winter storms.

Stop wayward leaves blowing away by corralling them within an enclosure of chicken wire held in place with a couple of waratah stakes. In time, they ll turn into humus-rich leaf mould.

Avoid root and collar rot

utdoor plants can easily succumb to root and collar rot over winter. his is because they neither grow nor transpire well at low temperatures. his means that wet, airless soil stays that way until sun and wind can dry it out again. touch of companion planting can work wonders. asturtiums work well as they have large leaves for rapid transpiration, meaning they quickly and steadily pull water from the soil. Simply press a few seeds around vulnerable plants or buy seedlings) then pull them out in mid-spring. Did you know the leaves and flowers are delicious in pesto, smoothies and salads? hoose the compact topflowering nasturtium varieties to avoid smothering the plants you re trying to protect. his trick works especially well for overwintering summer bulbs.

Pest patrol

Down south where there s been a nip or two of frost, take some comfort in the knowledge that many a garden pest will by now have kicked the bucket, so to speak.

he upper orth Island s warm, sunny autumn seems to have slid towards cooler, wetter weather, but there are still troublemakers, including cabbage white butterflies sniffing around my brassicas.

Whitefly, which are usually thin on the ground by now, and aphids still proliferate, due perhaps not just to warmer than usual temperatures, but the resulting glut of tender plant growth too. phids can be very destructive but are easily and

most importantly) effectively controlled by way of largely non-to icmeans.

last them loose with the garden hose and follow up a few days later with a targeted spray with soapy water.

couple of rainy days has got the snails out in force too. o on an evening snail hunt before the marauding molluscs chew all your pea and broad bean seedlings down to stumps.

Passionfruit growers should keep an eye out for snails over autumn and winter. While these slimy plunderers clearly enjoy carving their initials into passionfruit leaves, their fondness for the bark is of greater concern. Snails can and do completely ringbark long-established runners, or worse, the entire plant at ground level.