Saturday Morning With Jack Tame

Lots of moaning early January 2025: coolness and wetness in many different places. Wellington and Christchurch were the biggest moaners in New Zealand – the West Coast was just lovely.   Canterbury (after a few good weeks in spring) started getting wetter and colder as Summer commenced.   In the garden there was no amazing speed of growth, but that rainwater reminded me of a transplantation trick to get tomatoes, lettuce, spring onions, and other vegetables really taking root!   Transplanting in a dry garden is tricky – you would have to water the young tomato plants twice a day to allow them to survive.  That in itself is really tricky to execute. Too little water and the patch of soil is not wet enough to make the plants spread its roots. The young plants simply struggle to develop. Too much watering makes the young plants far too wet around the roots, causing all sorts of trouble, especially fungal diseases before the plants are even 30 centimetres tall.   This year’s cool and wet