Your Garden Coach NZ

Season 4, Episode 3 – Late Spring: It's Tomato Time!
November is here and the garden is gathering pace! This month we're talking tomatoes - from their fascinating history to getting our heat-loving plants established in the garden.
We'll also be enjoying lemon balm tea, looking for fresh ingredients for our Spring salads, observing nature's seasonal calendar, and meeting another Kiwi gardener.
And we're delighted to welcome Kings Seeds as an official sponsor of Your Garden Coach NZ. A big thank you to Charlotte and the team for their support.
November Moon Gardening Calendar
1–4 November | Barren Phase
Prepare soil for root crops.
Tidy beds and get organised for the month ahead.
5–6 November | Root Crops
Sow carrots, beetroot, parsnips, and other root vegetables.
A good time to prune and add disease-free prunings to your compost.
Remember to aim for a balance of approximately 50% greens and 50% browns in your compost.
7–10 November | Soil Preparation
Prepare beds for the coming sowing and transplanting period.
Keep checking plants for pests.
Explore companion planting to help discourage pests and attract beneficial insects.
11–21 November | Sowing & Planting
Our main above-ground sowing and transplanting period.
Heat-loving vegetables can begin moving into the garden where soil temperatures and frost conditions allow.
Tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, zucchini, and pumpkins are on the agenda.
22–25 November | Soil Preparation
A great opportunity to weed and prepare the next growing spaces.
26–27 November | Root Crops
Another opportunity to sow root vegetables.
28 November – 4 December | Barren Phase
Tidy up, maintain your garden, and get organised for December.
The moon calendar helps us organise our gardening workload. Always consider your own growing conditions, soil temperature and weather.
In This Episode
Tea of the Month – Lemon Balm
A lovely herbal tea and a little history of lemon balm.
What Am I Foraging?
What can we find growing around us to add something fresh and interesting to our Spring salads?
Phenology – Nature's Calendar
Taking time to notice what's happening in nature and how those observations help us understand our own growing seasons.
Main Topic – Tomatoes
It's tomato time! We're talking about growing this much-loved Summer vegetable, along with a little tomato history. And sadly, I couldn't find a family connection to Henry Harrington - the influential Southland Tomato grower, and avid seed saver!
Meet a Kiwi Gardener – Nic Mullen
Introducing our new regular segment, Meet a Kiwi Gardener. This month we're meeting Nic Mullen from @nicsurbangarden.
Dishes with Del – Peas
Del joins us to talk about making the most of fresh Spring peas.
Kings Seeds
We're delighted to have Kings Seeds officially joining us as a podcast sponsor. Thank you to Charlotte and the team for supporting New Zealand gardeners and Your Garden Coach NZ.
Happy Gardening!
Late Spring is a busy time, but remember that you don't need to do everything at once.
Keep observing your garden, sow little and often, and enjoy watching the season unfold.
Support the show
You can contact us at coach@yourgardencoach.nz and follow us on socials @yourgardencoachnz

This month we head to Essex, England, where I'm joined by Gemma Sturges, Kitchen Garden Supervisor at the magnificent Audley End House and Gardens.
Gemma has spent 15 years working in this extraordinary walled kitchen garden, where Victorian gardening traditions are very much alive.
Set within historic brick walls, the garden covers almost three acres and is home to an impressive collection of heritage fruit and vegetables, including more than 120 varieties of apples, 70 varieties of pears, and beautifully trained fruit trees.
We chat about what it takes to maintain a Victorian kitchen garden today, how traditional gardening methods have been adapted to suit modern organic practices, and what we can learn from the gardeners who worked these productive gardens more than a century ago.
From four-year crop rotations and soil management to historic glasshouses, heritage varieties and the practicalities of growing food on this scale, Gemma shares her experience of caring for a garden that is both a piece of living history and a working kitchen garden.
There are plenty of ideas here for those of us gardening on a much smaller scale, too.
Join us for a fascinating look behind the walls of one of England's remarkable historic kitchen gardens.
Support the show
You can contact us at coach@yourgardencoach.nz and follow us on socials @yourgardencoachnz

Season 4 Episode 2. 
You’ve waited patiently — now it’s time to get going!
But before you start sowing and planting, take a little time to understand your own microclimate.
Support the show
You can contact us at coach@yourgardencoach.nz and follow us on socials @yourgardencoachnz

Season 4 Episode 1
Know your Microclimate - resist rushing in, tempting as it may be.

Support the show
You can contact us at coach@yourgardencoach.nz and follow us on socials @yourgardencoachnz

Maura is heading home! SO, I NEED A LITTLE HELP TO KEEP THE PODCAST GOING

Recently, we asked you whether you’d like Your Garden Coach NZ to continue.

The answer was a very definite YES — and I can’t tell you how much that meant.

But I also need to be open with you.

Producing the podcast takes a considerable amount of time, research, and work, and I simply can’t keep doing it without more support from our listeners. My lovely WWOOFer, Maura, is heading home in a month - My search for her replacement means I will have to pay for the expertise she has brought to the podcast

I want to keep bringing you practical, independent New Zealand gardening advice - advice that understands our seasons, our climate and the way we garden here. 

So, if the podcast has helped you grow better vegetables, understand your soil, garden with the seasons, try something new - or simply kept you company while you’ve been out in the garden - would you consider helping us keep it going?

Even a small regular contribution from more of our listeners would make an enormous difference.

There’s absolutely no pressure if supporting us financially isn’t possible. Listening, sharing the podcast, and telling another gardener about us all helps too.

But if you can support us, now is the time we really need you. Link below

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2256022/support 

Thank you for listening — and for helping us work out what the next chapter of Your Garden Coach NZ might look like.

Support the show
You can contact us at coach@yourgardencoach.nz and follow us on socials @yourgardencoachnz