Kakanui Garlic

Was in Kakanui and visited the man responsible for the Kakanui Garlic line. He calls himself the Dirt Doctor. Very nice gentleman who spent some time showing me his plot and talking about organic growing. His greenhouses are very well established with tomatoes, corn, pumpkin, zuccini, and other stuff too. It turns out you can be very successful growing vegies in the south of the South Island.

He recommended two books:
[1] Joseph Smillie and Grace Gershuny, The Soul of Soil: A Soil-Building Guide for Master Gardeners and Farmers. Chelsea Green Publishing Company ISBN:1-890-132-31-4.

[2] John Jeavons, How How to Grow More Vegetables: And Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine. Ten Speed Press ISBN:0-89815-767-6.

The second in is held by the Dunedin Public Library. Also held at the library is Jeavons' other book

[3] John Jeavons and Carol Cox, The Sustainable Vegetable Garden: A Backyard Guide to Healthy Soil and Higher Yields. Ten Speed Press ISBN: 1-58008-016-2

So I borrowed [2] and [3]. The latter is very good. The take-away message is to double-dig to a depth of 2 feet, dig in tons of compost (1 inch into the top 4 inches of topsoil) and never to stand on the beds (loose compact for air and water retention).

The Dirt Doctor also gave me a tour of his compost-tea making methods. He uses the Encironmental Fertalisers home garden compost / fertaliser brewing kit. They have a Compost Tea which they call a microbial inoculant - what ever that means. Seems to be a one-size-fits-all cure for all ills while also being a liquid fertiliser. This stuff is being used by the Dirt Doctor to cure fungal infections and (I think) as a fertaliser.