Lynda Hallinan answers your gardening questions
Former NZ Gardener editor Lynda Hallinan is a mad-keen gardener a former 65-acre smallholding in the Hunua Ranges, south-east of Auckland and is here to answer all your gardening questions. She has a bounty of tips - from how to deal with snails and slugs, to when to plant your tomatoes...
Photo: Wikicommons
Ron Finley: The Gangsta Gardener
Gangsta gardener Ron Finley, who once had a warrant out for his arrest for planting up his berm in Los Angeles, visited New Zealand this year to promote his documentary Can You Dig This? about his quest to bring fresh food back into the lives of people in the cities.
Ron Finley Photo: supplied
Making soil the superhero and hot and cold composting
British-born Ben Elms (also known as is Dr Compost) has lived on a lifestyle block in Central Otago for more than 20 years. He says the key to great yields is 'superhero' soil and is passionate about the difference between dirt and soil.
Ben Elms Photo: supplied
Why your garden needs weeds
The scruffy weed-filled corner of your yard could be the key to making a thriving garden. Queensland ecologist Wendy Seabrook has long argued the case for keeping a few weeds around the place.
Photo: Supplied
Getting on top of your weeds
Even the concept of a weed is a social construct, says Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research ecologist Colin Meurk. Better to cut them down and lay them on the bare soil to protect it from erosion as they rot down than letting them just do their thing, or they'll compete with desirable plants for nutrients, water and sunlight.
Bryan Crump's chickweed Photo: RNZ / Bryan Crump
Thank You Very Mulch!
Spreading a layer of mulched vegetative material over the soil is the single best thing you can do for your garden, according to mulching educator and enthusiast Paul McLaren. Nights listeners will be aware the programme has had a bit of a weedy theme over the past few months.
A collar of Kikuyu grass containing a layer of mulch in Paul's garden. Photo: Supplied / Paul McLaren
New Zealand's flourishing gardens and the women behind them
The extraordinary women behind 26 of the most admired home gardens in the country are celebrated in Flourish - a new book published to coincide with the 125th anniversary of women's suffrage in New Zealand.
Photo: Supplied
Lynda Hallinan answers more of your questions
From non-flowering kōwhai to kitten poo, to tickling your seedlings – Lynda Hallinan answers more of our listeners' gardening questions.
Lynda Hallinan Photo: Sally Tagg/NZ Life and Leisure
Some plants like it hot - with Xanthe White
Getting out the garden sprinkler in hot weather might seem logical but landscape designer Xanthe White says pouring on the water isn't the best way to help your plants endure the heat.
Photo: Pexels
Philip Hulme: 'NZ is one of the weediest places on earth'
Introduced plants are already taking over the New Zealand landscape, and ornamental garden plants could 'jump the fence' and get out of control too, says bioprotection specialist Philip Hulme.
Ohau Lodge lupin field, New Zealand Photo: Wikimedia Commons
