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Kiwi Gardener
"The magazine for gardeners who like to get their hands dirty!"
New Zealand owned and operated.
In our latest special edition, "Homemade" you’ll find awesome cracker and dip recipes including water crackers, hummus, quark dip and tapenade. Get ready to welcome visitors while sharing the treasures from your herb garden!
Find “Homemade” on our website and at your local supermarket or bookstore.
On the other side of the world, kissing someone under the mistletoe is a tradition believed to reflect the concept of Christmas being a time of forgiveness. Before that, mistletoe was a symbol of fertility, with the Greeks using it in marriage ceremonies, while the Celts believed hanging it indoors would bring good luck.
There is one European species, Viscum album, that has white, pearl-like berries in winter, so – along with the red-berried holly – it was a good choice for Christmas decorations. European mistletoe was introduced into New Zealand and was known in the Greytown-Masterton area until the 1960s but it seems to have died out.
Pikiraki, pikirangi or red mistletoe (Peraxilla tetrapetala) is one of our nine native mistletoes, all endemic to New Zealand. Most are now endangered and a northern species, Adam’s mistletoe (Trilepidea adamsii), is considered extinct as it was last collected east of Cambridge in 1954, and searches over the past 30 years have failed to find any plants. Maybe a sharp-eyed Kiwi Gardener reader will spot one – wouldn’t that be a find?
This month, Gillian Vine explores our native mistletoes that leave their European relative in the dust.
New spuds will be on the menu this month – plants indicate they are ready to harvest by flowering or when the main stems begin wilting. Late-season potatoes can be planted now; often, these can go into the ground where the new potatoes have been growing. Sow another batch of sweet corn seed to extend the harvest season. If the vegetable garden is full, plant a few in the flower garden or in large tubs and containers. Nip off laterals on tomatoes. Cover strawberries with netting to keep the birds away from ripening fruit.
We have been eating new potatoes for a month now. We don't wait until leaves wilt or die back, you can eat them as soon as the potatoes are big enough, new potatoes don't flower either.