Sunday 18 May Show me the way to Tamarillo
Manaku village nursery - Sue and Geoff Stent took us round their one and a half acre liner nursery. They produce in the region of 350 000 units annually, all for the domestic market. This was a great example of a well run nursery. It was tidy, well organised with systems set to match production. It communicated clearly to me the type of people Sue and Geoff are and I felt very comfortable walking round, particularly when I saw a sticker pronouncing that we were in a nuclear weapon free zone ! The photos I hope tell their own story.
They concentrate on growing trees and shrubs both from seed and cuttings with lavandula being an important crop. As a small producer they cannot always compete on price, range or volume, so instead emphasise customer care and quality. (same days delivery is not unusual) One third of production is contract grown. The remainder is sold as free stock, with the nursery producing an annual catalogue and monthly availability lists.
Next we visited Starter Plants and Eddie and Jan Walsh. We arrived at 11.20 and would you believe, we sat down to lunch. Eddie is one of those 100% kind of guys and lunch was all home made with most ingredients being home grown. He is someone it is very difficult not to immediately like.
Lunch included a choice of pumpkin and a broccoli parsnip and pototo soup, recently baked quiches and a selection of cakes, all washed down with freshly squeezed juices including feijoa and tamarillo. As a vegetarian this was definitely the culinary high point of our trip- thank you Eddie and Jan !
The nursery is equally impressive, its open ground, and concentrates on just a few genera including liriope, agapanthus, libertia, phormium and, most impressively, eucomis. Eddie has bred a range of eucomis which are now being trialed across Europe. The range of flower and foliage colours was very impressive.
The nursery is producing young plant material to the highest quality. The nursery itself is of a manageable size , with most operations not needing to be overly mechanised. The eucomis bulbs are lined out on I m long shade cloth and covered with saw dust. The bulbs are harvested by simply lifting up the netting and then knocking off onto a bench.
Eddie has one hectare under production and a second hectare on which he grows fruit and vegetables and has set up a box scheme for the residents of Palmerston North.
In mid-afternoon we set off to experience yet another NZ highlight as we spend the night within the volcanically active Tongariro National Park.
Mt Ruapehu is the more active volcano having last seriously exercised its lungs in 1997, though it is the neighbouring mountain Mt Ngauruhoe which shows off classical volcano lines.
Manaku village nursery - Sue and Geoff Stent took us round their one and a half acre liner nursery. They produce in the region of 350 000 units annually, all for the domestic market. This was a great example of a well run nursery. It was tidy, well organised with systems set to match production. It communicated clearly to me the type of people Sue and Geoff are and I felt very comfortable walking round, particularly when I saw a sticker pronouncing that we were in a nuclear weapon free zone ! The photos I hope tell their own story.
They concentrate on growing trees and shrubs both from seed and cuttings with lavandula being an important crop. As a small producer they cannot always compete on price, range or volume, so instead emphasise customer care and quality. (same days delivery is not unusual) One third of production is contract grown. The remainder is sold as free stock, with the nursery producing an annual catalogue and monthly availability lists.
Next we visited Starter Plants and Eddie and Jan Walsh. We arrived at 11.20 and would you believe, we sat down to lunch. Eddie is one of those 100% kind of guys and lunch was all home made with most ingredients being home grown. He is someone it is very difficult not to immediately like.
Lunch included a choice of pumpkin and a broccoli parsnip and pototo soup, recently baked quiches and a selection of cakes, all washed down with freshly squeezed juices including feijoa and tamarillo. As a vegetarian this was definitely the culinary high point of our trip- thank you Eddie and Jan !
The nursery is equally impressive, its open ground, and concentrates on just a few genera including liriope, agapanthus, libertia, phormium and, most impressively, eucomis. Eddie has bred a range of eucomis which are now being trialed across Europe. The range of flower and foliage colours was very impressive.
The nursery is producing young plant material to the highest quality. The nursery itself is of a manageable size , with most operations not needing to be overly mechanised. The eucomis bulbs are lined out on I m long shade cloth and covered with saw dust. The bulbs are harvested by simply lifting up the netting and then knocking off onto a bench.
Eddie has one hectare under production and a second hectare on which he grows fruit and vegetables and has set up a box scheme for the residents of Palmerston North.
In mid-afternoon we set off to experience yet another NZ highlight as we spend the night within the volcanically active Tongariro National Park.
Mt Ruapehu is the more active volcano having last seriously exercised its lungs in 1997, though it is the neighbouring mountain Mt Ngauruhoe which shows off classical volcano lines.
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