Palmers are your garden and outdoor living experts with over 100 years’ experience helping kiwis grow great gardens. Visit us online or at one of our 14 stores in the North Island. www.palmers.co.nz 0800 PALMERS (0800 725 6377) Red Blues has beautiful trumpet-shaped flowers that stand above its foliage. With a mounding growth habit, it works well in pots on the patio or as a border plant in the garden. Petunia Violet Bouquet Violet Bouquet is a strong-growing petunia with purple two-toned flowers. Perfect for bigger pots or to fill in that vacant spot in your garden, this variety has been grown and tested in local conditions for two years and has come up trumps. You will not be disappointed! edible made easy New and exclusive to Palmers, Popadome makes veggie gardening easy. Once you’ve got your vegetables planted, it’s important to protect them from harsh weather conditions and pesky pests. The new Popadome tents (in Palmers stores now) allow you to do just that. These tents come in a range of sizes and styles and can simply be placed over the top of your garden to provide protection. All of the tent covers have easy zipped access on one side, are made from UV-treated materials for long life, and feature unique sewn copper strips along the base line to deter slugs and snails! The tents come with 12 ground pegs and a handy carry case for storage. Before you put up your Popadome here are some veggie patch tips: 1. Take time to prepare your soil for a more productive season. A few weeks before you plan to plant, dig in any cover crops you may have planted over winter (lupin or mustard seed), then blanket your garden bed with an inch of good compost such as Kolush Manuka Mulch and Seaweed. The compost will boost the soil, help it retain water and feed your veggies during summer. 2. Next, focus on cultivating your soil. Heavy rain causes soil to become compacted over the winter months, so loosening it before planting is important. In heavy soils, use a border spade or border fork to turn the soil and break it up. This will prime your soil for planting by helping it dry out and warm up, and will allow roots to penetrate more easily. 3. Finally, apply an organic fertiliser such as sheep pellets, organic blood and bone, or seaweed flakes, depending on the crops you are planting. Light feeders with shallow roots, such as lettuces, will be fine with a small amount of organic fertiliser raked into the top few inches of soil. But for widely spaced plants that have big nutrient appetites, such as cabbage, broccoli, tomatoes and capsicums, add some compost and fertiliser to the individual planting holes before you add the seedlings. Resene Chill Out Petunia Red Blues Petunia Violet Bouquet planting feature