A d v i ce . Id e a s .
I n sp i ra t i on
Volume 2, Issue 45
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Inside this issue:
Po t t e r i n g ar o u n d
Anita’s Garden
Top 5 gardening tasks
for the week
Franchi vegetable soaps
How to grow radicchio
Anita’s Garden
Editorial
Welcome to the forty fifth issue of
my newsletter Anita’s Garden for
2020.
I hope you have all had a good week.
Contactless plant nursery
We are now at level 2, but as this is
all unchartered territory I am keeping
the service contactless for the time
being. This means you must order
and collect outside our home in Papa-
toetoe, Manukau in Auckland.
Punnets are $3.50 each or 3 for $10.
Punnets contain at least 6 seedlings
I have the following in stock.
 Silverbeet/spinach (I’m sorry I
can’t say with certainty which
it is as the writing on the plant
labels faded and I can’t tell
them apart)
 Lettuce (cut and come again)
 Mixed brassicas (they are a mix
of cabbage, broccoli and cauli-
flower. I can’t sell these indi-
vidually as the writing on all of
these labels faded and I can’t
tell the plants apart)
2
The steps for ordering are as follows:
 Place order
2
 Receive confirmation
 Make payment via internet
banking
2
 Receive a message when plants
are available for collection
3 If you wish to place an order, please
contact me via my Facebook page or
email me at anitakun-
du.nz@gmail.com.
29 May 2020
New Franchi Seeds!
I recently received a collection of Fran-
chi Italian heirloom seeds to grow in
our garden from the lovely Gillian
Hurley-Gordon of Italian Seeds Pronto,
the New Zealand distributor of Fran-
chi Seeds. The varieties are, from the
back row, the Mesclun Quattro Sta-
gioni, Mesclun Misticanza, Rocket Col-
tivata, Radish Zlata and Lettuce Degli
Ortolani. Middle row—Eggplant Ton-
da Bianca, Eggplant Prosperosa, Cu-
cumber Beth Alpha, Butternut Rugosa
and Black Tuscan Kale. Bottom row—
Zucchini Fiorentino, Zucchini Striata
d’Italia, Basil Italiano Classico, Orega-
no and Thyme Timo di Provenza.
I would like to thank Gillian for her
generosity. I look forward to growing
these varieties in our garden in
2020/2021 and following up on their
progress in my blog, weekly newsletter
and on social media. I endorse Franchi
Seeds for their high quality, terrific
varieties and great value, generous
sized packets. To shop the range, visit
http://www.italianseedspronto.co.nz/.
Have a great weekend.
Anita Kundu
PAGE 2
Pottering around Anita’s Garden
Here is a selection of photos from
our garden for you to enjoy
This year we have been extremely
successful in growing red cabbage,
after a not-so-successful attempt
last year. I think planting them
early helps. They do take a bit
longer to mature than green cab-
bage. I think it’s also helpful to
plant them in late summer (as I
did) or early autumn as it’s warm-
er and they have enough time to
mature before the cooler weather
sets in.
Top 5 gardening tasks for the week
1. Plant tulips
For growing tips, see my blog post.
2. Plant strawberries
You can plant strawberries now.
3. Prepare the ground for
seed potatoes
Stores should be getting seed pota-
toes in during June. I spoke to
Franchi vegetable soaps
Did you know that in addition to
selling an amazing selection of
seeds from the Franchi Seeds
range, Italian Seeds Pronto also
stock some lovely vegetable soaps
hand made by Green Paradise in
Milan, Italy.
These fragrant soaps are made
from the finest vegetable based
ingredients. They have a silky
AN IT A’S G AR D E N
Our lemon tree is laden with lem-
ons and they started to turn yellow
in May. I think citrus is some-
thing we take for granted here in
New Zealand. Nearly all the
wwoofers we hosted were in awe of
our lemon tree, despite it being
very common in the Kiwi back-
yard. Citrus can’t tolerate snow,
which makes it unsuitable for
growing in many parts of Europe
and North America. We enjoy us-
ing lemons in salad dressings and
having lemon drinks.
someone at Mitre 10 and they said
they are running a bit late in get-
ting stock in due to Covid19. In
the meantime, prepare the ground
by digging in lots of compost and
sheep pellets. You can also use
some general garden fertilizer, too,
if you wish.
4. Tidy your storage shed
texture, are softly scented and free
from colorants. The stylish outer
is made from eco-friendly paper
and can be used to lightly scent
your drawer. Last year, Gillian
kindly gave me a Tomato soap
from the range to try and it was
simply divine! I highly recom-
mend these soaps and they make a
great present. They retail for
$10.20 each.
V O LU M E 2 , ISSU E 4 5
We made the most delicious kale
chips from our Black Tuscan Kale
from Franchi Seeds, distributed by
Italian Seeds Pronto. We mas-
saged it in some olive oil, paprika
and salt before baking it on trays
in our oven for 4-5 minutes at
200ºC. Kale is a superfood. It’s
great for you and so delicious!
Other ideas for using kale include
having it raw in green smoothies
and making a delicious vegetarian
Eleanor Ozich recipe of cooked
kale with brown lentils.
When it’s raining and you’re una-
ble to get outside, spend time in-
doors tidying your storage shed
and throwing away anything that
has finished (empty bottles lying
around, anyone else?) or outdated.
5. Organise your seed col-
lection
Organise your seeds so you know
what to order in July when the
new catalogues are released.
Gillian has the following varieties
available at the moment: Vegetale
Cannella (cinnamon scent), Veg-
etale Finocchio (fennel scent),
Vegetale Fiori do Cotone (cotton
scent), Vegetale Liquirizia
(liquorice scent), Vegetale Passi-
flora (passionflower scent) and
Vegetale Vaniglia (vanilla scent).
Click here to place your order.
 V O LU M E 2 , ISSU E 4 5
How to grow radicchio
Over the coming weeks, I will be
taking you through a range of unu-
sual veggies that you might not
have previously grown in the gar-
den. Please bear with me. I hope
you learn something new and give
some thought to trying some of
them in the future. You never
know, you could discover some-
thing you really like to eat!
Like endive and chicory, radicchio
is not a new vegetable to us as we
enjoy it raw in salads. We really
like the Mesclun Quattro Stagioni
from Franchi Seeds (distributed by
Italian Seeds Pronto in NZ), which
contains all three plus eleven other
salad green varieties. According to
Italian Seeds Pronto, radicchio has
been around for centuries. The
modern radicchio with its rich red
and white leaves was developed in
the mid 1800's. Today, radicchio is
the generic name of a few types of
leaf chicory. It is a staple vegeta-
ble in Italian cuisine. While radic-
chio is admittedly bitter, it is also
beneficial to your health. Bitter
foods aid digestion and help keep
you fuller for longer.
How to grow radicchio
I recommend sowing seeds in late
summer (for planting in autumn).
The colour is best in autumn and
winter. Simply sprinkle some
seeds in a punnet filled with seed
raising mix and cover lightly.
Make sure you keep them moist to
aid germination, as seeds tend to
dry out quickly in warm weather.
When your seedlings are large
enough to be pricked out, trans-
plant them into punnets or seed
raising trays so they can grow a bit
bigger. From here, you have two
options—either you can plant your
radicchio in the ground or grow it
in containers. If you opt for the
latter, your radicchio can be kept
baby leaf, sort of like Mesclun.
This makes it easy to harvest for
salads.
It may be best to sow radicchio
AN IT A’S G AR D E N
from seed than rely on finding it in
garden centres, given that it is an
unusual vegetable and may not be
readily stocked. It is not difficult
to grow from seed. If you can grow
lettuce, you’ll have no trouble
growing radicchio.
Varieties
Italian Seeds Pronto has an out-
standing range of radicchio. The
leading variety is Rossa Di Trevi-
so which comes in both the regu-
lar and "Selezione Speciale"
lines. There is also Rossa Di Ve-
rona, Variegata Di Chioggia,
Italico A Costa Rossa, Rosa, Pal-
la Rossa Precoce and Rossa Di
Verona Sel. Arca. The Mesclun
variety Quattro Stagioni also con-
tains radicchio and is a nice way of
having it if you prefer it mixed
with other salad greens so it
doesn’t taste too bitter. Egmont
Seeds stock Palla Rosa and Red
Traviso.
Tips for growing radicchio
1. If you’re short on space,
grow radic-
chio in con- “While radicc hio
tainers. You admittedly bitter, it is also
simply har- beneficial to your health.
vest what Bitter foods aid digestion
you need, and help keep you fuller
leaving the for longer”
rest of the
plant to continue to grow.
2. When choosing a seed rais-
ing mix for raising seed-
lings, look for one that is
fine in texture and doesn’t
contain stones and pieces of
bark
3. Don’t leave sowing seeds too
late—February and March
is perfect. It gives your
plants enough time to devel-
op before they are trans-
planted into containers or
the ground before cooler
temperatures set in.
4. Water seedlings well after
planting.
PAGE 3
5. To keep your plants looking
healthy, you might want to
liquid feed them weekly
with a water soluble plant
food or seaweed tonic if
you’re gardening organical-
ly.
6. When temperatures in-
crease in spring, you may
find your plants start going
to seed. To save seeds from
your crop, simply allow one
plant to go to seed and col-
lect seeds once they’re dry.
Label and put them away
for safe keeping until you
are ready to sow them the
following season.
Serving suggestions (most ideas
taken from Italian Seeds Pronto’s
website)
 Eat radicchio hearts raw
in salads (orzo and
panzanella salad sound
delicious!)
 Slaw
 As part of
crudités
is
 Sprinkle
with olive oil
and grill
 Try it
g r illed w ith
melted Taleggio
 Italian Seeds Pronto rec-
ommends having radicchio
in a risotto. The bitterness
of the radicchio works with
the creamy texture of a
well made risotto. Try a
risotto with Italian sau-
sage and parmesan or
grilled radicchio risotto
with balsamic vinegar
 Try having it roasted or
sautéed
Have a great weekend
Happy gardening!