I am sure that every gardener has experienced the unpleasant taste of bitter lettuce leaves during their gardening journey. Lettuce is one of the easiest plants to grow, however it also tends to change from sweet and juicy to bitter quickly. So, how can we prevent this and grow fresh tasty lettuce for our summer salads? Interestingly, lettuces are cool climate plants although we tend to grow them during the warmer months of the years. Heat is the first culprit when it comes to bitterness as temperature change causes the lettuce to want to start to seed which is characterised by a plant with ..read more

Last month was Bee Aware Month 2021 so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to discuss how we can supply bees with an ongoing supply of pollen and nectar throughout the year by planting bee-friendly trees and plants in our gardens. Bees are incredible insects; however, they are under threat all over the world. Bees and other insects play a vital role by helping to pollinate our food. When bees forage for nectar and pollen they pollinate each flower that they visit which increases crop yield. Without bees many food crops that need pollination by insects could not be grown on a scale large ..read more

Tomatoes are one of the most popular vegetables to grow and nothing beats eating fresh juicy tomatoes straight from your own garden. Growing tomatoes takes a bit of effort but the rewards of biting into a delicious home-grown tomato that’s full of flavour and vitamins are well worth it.   First steps   To create the best quality tomatoes, you need good, healthy, fertile soil as the nutrients from the soil will fuel the growth of your tomato crop. Add good quality compost to your growing area to ensure your tomatoes have the best start to life. The compost created from your Zing Boka ..read more

The days are growing longer and we’re experiencing warmer afternoons which means that spring is just around the corner. The arrival of spring means a new and fresh start to a new growing season for all avid and budding gardeners. In this blog, we’ll look at a few simple jobs we can do to give us a flying start on our spring gardens and how to get started on planting your potatoes, so you have lovely new potatoes ready to harvest for Christmas Day. Prepare your soil By now you should have turned in any green manure crops back into the soil. However, if you haven’t done this you can do it over ..read more

I need to wind the clock back to over 20 years ago when I developed our first Bokashi product (Compost Zing) to share the story of what makes our Bokashi so good.  Starting in 1999, I spent over two years developing New Zealand’s first Bokashi product and was lucky enough to receive technical assistance from the late Dr Ravi Sangakkarra; a professor of agronomy in Switzerland and Sri Lanka. After Compost Zing went to market, Dr Sangakarra described Zing Bokashi’s Bokashi as the best Bokashi in the world. The word “Bokashi” doesn’t reveal much on its own as it’s a generic word meaning “fe ..read more

By now, you will have harvested your late summer and most of the autumn crops from your garden and will still have winter vegetables growing. After the last harvest of summer crops, my rule of thumb is to ensure that any bare ground that remains empty is “covered” during the cooler months ahead. This is my way of “putting the garden to bed” over the winter. Just like humans and animals enjoy resting when the temperature drops, so too do our gardens. “Putting the garden to bed” ensures that no bare soil remains and is thus protected from any heavy winter rain and ice while also preventing valu ..read more

We have had some requests from customers to provide more information on getting started with your first Zing Bokashi Composting System. Like anything new, getting started with Bokashi can be exciting but also daunting. Luckily, our Zing Bokashi composting process is simple and easy to master. One of the greatest advantages of our composting system is that you can put all your kitchen food waste in your composting bucket including citrus, raw or cooked meat, fish, and chicken (including small bones).  This means you can lessen your environmental footprint and avoid food waste going to lan ..read more

Composting toilets are a popular alternative to a flush toilet and as they use no water, they are an environmentally friendly option. They are becoming increasingly popular for use in tiny houses and for Airbnb-type accommodation which has a focus on minimising environmental impact. They can also be used in a traditional house setting. We have various composting toilet options for a wide range of situations. It is important to consider how many people will be using the toilet and whether it will be used full-time or part-time (as in a holiday house-type situation). If you would like to see ou ..read more

With the arrival of hot dry summer days, it is essential that our plants receive increasing amounts of water in order to flourish. My rule of thumb is that a single deep soak beats many light showers of water. The most efficient method of watering or irrigation is “deep watering”. This involves watering to thoroughly soak the soil to what is known as “field capacity” – the point at which the soil cannot hold any more additional water. You may only need to water your garden once a week using this method. Deep watering is highly recommended throughout East Coast areas of New Zealand (i.e., Hawk ..read more

Last month we discovered the importance of building healthy soil to combat pests and disease and this month we are going to focus on dealing with an infestation of pests on plant foliage in a natural way. The juice from your Zing Bokashi bucket can help to prevent diseases and anecdotal evidence has shown that regular “juice” applications can help to control black spot and scale insects. Learn more about how to create the best juice for your garden here.  To use your juice for spraying crops, dilute by using 1tsp of juice to 5 litres of water and spray every 7-10 days. Good ‘juice’ is a ..read more