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  1. ❂ Seed Potatoes, Multiplying Onions & Elephant Garlic ❂

    Posted on

    Buy Potato Seed Pink Fir Sethas Seeds NZ

    We are happy to announce our Seed Potatoes, Multiplying Onion Seeds and Elephant Garlic are all in stock on the website. We have had a great season and have more of these on offer than in recent years. And for those spud lovers out there, we have 3 new varieties of seed potatoes on offer this year. Pink Fir, Jersey Bennes and Agria all available for the first time. So, head on over to our website to take a look at those old favourites, or try something new!

    For the 4th year, we are sending out bulbils with each Shallot and Tree Onion bulb pack! We have had a great season with these crops, and this is one way to pass that on to you all our valued customers. We are also selling the bulbils separately too, as you get so many of these beauties with the harvest, and they work just like a bulb for seed! We do recommend planting the bulbils first in trays and transplanting out for best results.

                                                    ❂ So what is a bulbil!? ❂
     
    Bulbils are the top setting seeds on both the Egyptian Tree Onion and Henry's Flowering Shallot. These top setting seeds are why these crops are sometimes referred to as "walking onions." If left in the ground the tops will fall over and the seeds will grow and give the appearance that the crop is walking across the garden! This also makes them a great food forest crop as they will multiply on their own without needing to be harvested and replanted. For those wanting to grow them in a small garden fear not! These really work well in any situation. 

    An easier choice than growing onions from seed. I find onions to be hit or miss when grown from seed, depending on the season. With multiplying onions, they seem to produce well with a lot less effort! When planted in a well fertilised bed and mulched, pretty much nothing can go wrong. And did I mention how sweet they taste! They are delicious raw or cooked. We hope you love them as much as we do!
     
    Buy Shallot Bulbils Sethas Seeds NZ
     
    We are listing today all of the stock we have for these products. So even if a day after this newsletter goes out our website states: “we are sold out some of the varieties.” I am sorry to say this will be the truth.

    And remember the best thing you can do is to save some of your harvest of potatoes and multiplying onions or garlic for next seasons planting! So, we wish you all bountiful harvests and some spare to hold back for the following year.
    ❂  â‚  â‚
     
    What to sow now:
    Besides the Multiplying onions, and Elephant garlic, make sure you get in some of these scrumptious winter veges!
     
    Broccoli Purple Sprouting and Romanesco are designed for autumn sowing as they will not produce a crop if sown in spring until the following winter! So, try these delicious vegetables now. Broccoli De Cicco, Broccoli Raab Spring Rapini, Cabbage Chi Hi Li, Silverbeet Fordhook Giant, Spinach Bloomsdale, Corn Salad, Cress Land, Mustard Giant Red, Orach Red, Coriander, and Salad Burnet can all be sown now. 
     
    We sow lettuces each month to keep in constant supply, now we focus on the cooler season varieties like Winter, Lollo Rossa, Tree, and Speckled. Now is also a good time to get Asian greens like Mizuna, and Tat Soi in, as well as Rocket and Wild Arugula to keep in supply. If these all sounds good, try our Easy Pick Greens Mix! 
     
    Remember, with all brassicas they are susceptible to the white cabbage butterfly, so to protect from this, we recommend covering your crops while they get established with fine frost cloth, or remove the caterpillars by hand. Of course, there are organic sprays available, but we do not use these. We prefer instead to create a barrier so the butterflies cannot lay their eggs. Problem solved.
     
    Don’t forget about flowers for the winter garden! Calendulas, Poppies, Lupins and Sweet Peas are frost hardy and beautiful!
     
    ❂  â‚  â‚

  2. ❂ Seed Garlic Now Available!

    Posted on

    Garlic 2024 Sethas Seeds nz
     
    It is impossible to write this newsletter to you without thinking back to what was happening this time last year. We were on the eve of the cyclone (or at least we were when I starred this newsletter!) and had no idea what was coming or that the newsletter I was drafting to go out that afternoon, would be another 2 weeks in sending. We have come so far from those first few days after the cyclone, and as the 1st anniversary of the storm comes round it is a time to offer gratitude for all we have and how much closer we are to life as it was before. Our local community came together for a BBQ on the cyclone anniversary to acknowledge this time and how were came together and helped each other. I also think of those who lost loved ones to the storm and send out condolences knowing this time of year will be hard for some.
     
    We have had some extreme weather recently where we lost power due to very high winds and we were all transported back to our last experiences with power outages and some of the trauma remembered of those early weeks we lived without modern conveniences. Fortunately, most of the garden survived the winds and the tunnel houses stood strong. It was hard to see the wind battered leaves and broken over sunflowers, none the less. I hope the damage was not too bad for all your gardens. Mother nature is a powerful force, and we cannot assume that any crop we plant will come to fruition. We do see that with good wind breaks, attention to soil health and ideal succession planting times, we can succeed with most we plant regardless of what mother nature has in store for us.
     
    And now onto some brighter news. Our Early Garlic Seed is now available for sale! We had a good year with good size bulbs despite the crop getting some rust in late spring. It is a testament to our strategies we use to be able to grow good sized garlic in the presence of rust. If you have not read up on our rust strategies, you can find them in our News section.
    Our multiplying onions and elephant garlic will be listed later this autumn. But first, we have our early garlics available, as these are best planted in March/April. 
    ❂  â‚  â‚
     
    What to Sow Now:
     
    January, February and March are the months to sow seeds for your winter garden! I know it is hard to believe that we need to be thinking about our winter veggies now, but if you want broccoli in June, sow now! Here is what we are planting:
     
    Broccoli Purple Sprouting and Romanesco are designed for autumn sowing as they will not produce a crop if sown in spring until the following winter! So, try these delicious vegetables now. Broccoli De Cicco, Broccoli Raab Spring Rapini, Cabbage Chi Hi Li, Silverbeet Fordhook Giant, Spinach Bloomsdale, Corn Salad, Cress Land, Mustard Giant Red, Orach Red, Coriander, and Salad Burnet can all be sown now. We sow lettuces each month to keep in constant supply, now we focus on the cooler season varieties like Winter, Lollo Rossa, Tree, and Speckled. Now is also a good time to get Asian greens like Mizuna, and Tat Soi in, as well as Rocket and Wild Arugula to keep in supply. If these all sounds good, try our Easy Pick Greens Mix! 
     
    Remember, with all brassicas they are susceptible to the white cabbage butterfly, so to protect from this, we recommend covering your crops while they get established with fine frost cloth, or remove the caterpillars by hand. Of course, there are organic sprays available, but we do not use these. We prefer instead to create a barrier so the butterflies cannot lay their eggs. Problem solved.
     
    Don’t forget about flowers for the winter garden! Calendulas, Poppies, Lupins and Sweet Peas are frost hardy and beautiful!
     
    ❂  â‚  â‚

  3. ❂ Gift Vouchers & Our Solstice Gift 🎁to YOU!

    Posted on

    Sethas Seeds Give the Gift of SeedsAs another calendar year draws to a close, the garden year is ramping up into full steam ahead! We have harvested our early garlics!!!!! Watch this space, they will be available in the New Year, and they look fab. We are still dashing about at the transplant hour to make sure all the little seedlings get in the ground! Will we ever be on schedule!? This year we have some amazing help, so if it were not for mine and Roddy’s over-zealous springtime planning, we might truly be on top of our game! But gardeners seem to have a rap for always wanting to plant more PLANTS!
     
    If you have a gardener in your family, consider giving the gift of seeds this year. And seed packets make great stocking stuffers too! Not sure what seeds to give, we’ve got you covered with Gift Vouchers, starting at $25.00, you can choose the amount that suits your budget. 😊 Best thing about print your own PDF Gift vouchers is you either don’t have to print it (save the trees) or you can save on shipping fees and time for those last-minute gifts.
     

  4. ❂ WIN an AMAZING 🎁 Eco Gift ❂

    Posted on

    final-wahine collaboration giveaway gold gifts and border[12206]

    As I sit here writing this to you all, I am hoping everyone has had a fantastic spring in the garden and hopefully most, if not all your crops are planted and watered and mulched and maybe even some things are at harvest stage! I know we have been enjoying the spring salads and garden peas and asparagus (hopefully in the range next season)! Not to mention making kimchi from our chi hi li cabbage and daikon radishes. Here is hoping they set seed beautifully so we can add this fantastic radish to our range next year!

     

    But the real reason I decided to stop the gardening and hit the keyboard was to let you all know about an amazing Giveaway I have put together with some other amazing NZ based eco businesses for you this holiday season.

     

    For all the permaculturists, gardeners, and planet loving folks out there, check out this Gift Basket we have crafted with you all in mind. See details below and how to enter to win. Best of luck to you all, and if you win it, you could give it away, but I bet you will want to keep it as there are so many goodies included 😊