-
1 week ago | 
newstalkzb.co.nz | Ruud Kleinpaste
This is the time of the year when my training sessions begin in all speed: teaching silvereyes and some other birds to come and visit our garden.
-
2 weeks ago | 
newstalkzb.co.nz | Ruud Kleinpaste
Damage in the garden can strike at any time. Serious leaf damage (chewing and molesting of foliage all the way down the branches of a tree or shrub) is not something that small birds tend to do.
-
3 weeks ago | 
newstalkzb.co.nz | Ruud Kleinpaste
Sometimes I feel like the “Labourer” in our household. “Darling, can you please dig me a large hole for a Nikau Palm” followed by “pruning the fruit trees” and “covering the soil against blackbirds” or “create a nice pathway”. Of course I have my own stuff to do/plant/remove/mow, but once I start the Hansa Chipper I am in my element.
-
1 month ago | 
newstalkzb.co.nz | Ruud Kleinpaste
The Vespula group of invasive wasps are still active, but starting to show signs of slowly shutting up shop for the winter. Vespula germanica (German wasp) and Vespula vulgaris (common wasp) are the two species with no sense of humour in New Zealand. At this time of the year the action is all about the queens: the old queens (as well as the males and old workers) are facing the end of their lives, and the brand-new queens are preparing for hibernation.
-
1 month ago | 
newstalkzb.co.nz | Ruud Kleinpaste
A common problem in our homes, especially in the cooler areas of Aotearoa: gazillions of flies settling into your spare room, on the ceiling of a quiet place, or in the roof cavity. The flies arrive at your place in autumn and find a good spot to hibernate – just like they do in their countries of origin: Sweden, Finland, Netherlands, Germany, the UK, the USA, and Canada. Pollenia pediculata is the cluster fly species we discovered on the North Shore for the first time in 1984.
-
1 month ago | 
newstalkzb.co.nz | Ruud Kleinpaste
Last week we discussed the six-month hiatus between noticing troubles with stone fruit and the time of activating prevention. Peach leaf curl is a rather ugly fungal disease that commences 6 months from now – in spring the leaf curl starts to become obvious on the newly emerged leaves of your peach trees. Taphrina deformans is the name of the disease that targets peaches and nectarines.
-
2 months ago | 
newstalkzb.co.nz | Ruud Kleinpaste
I’m trying a different tack on Newstalk ZB. It’s something I use with teachers and kids at school: the meaning of scientific names of living organisms helps to remind us how certain creatures operate or how they can be identified. Once you get that in your gardening vocabulary it becomes a lot easier to prevent or control the problem that’s causing you regular troubles.
-
2 months ago | 
newstalkzb.co.nz | Ruud Kleinpaste
A week ago I noticed one of those beautiful red toadstools in our garden – the classic red fungus with white dots all over the skin. Amanita muscaria or Fly agaric – there are a few different sub-species with different colourations (orange-red to yellow, and various colours of the “dots”). This is a Mycorrhizal fungus that is associated with a few common host trees: Birch, beech and pine trees. It’s not very edible – in fact, it’s better not to muck around with.
-
2 months ago | 
newstalkzb.co.nz | Ruud Kleinpaste
Believe it or not, I did hear a cicada chirping just a few days ago. Must have been a Late-Comer Boy, trying to attract a female. The buzzing sound is made in the Tymbals (on the belly side of the insect). It literally is a quick clicking sound that creates a smooth buzzing. If you hear clapping as well, it will be smacking the wings on the abdomen. Egg-laying is very easy to spot: a characteristic “Herring bone” pattern on twigs with a thickness of a pencil.
-
2 months ago | 
newstalkzb.co.nz | Ruud Kleinpaste
Seeing as it’s now autumn, a number of bulbs can be planted in the garden. Here’s a few of them: Tulip A fabulous early spring colour. There’s some historical stuff with the Dutch making heaps of money out of often virus-ridden “varieties” (early 1600-s AD) selling them for Fl 3000.00 per bulb (while the average yearly wage of a skilled craftsman was around Fl 300.00) – the bulb bubble burst in 1637 AD. These days they are a bit cheaper and more reliable.
