Articles by Ruud Kleinpaste
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Ruud Kleinpaste: Spotting fungi
Saturday, 19 April 2025, 12:19pmA week ago I noticed one of those beautiful red toadstools in our garden – the classic red fungus with white dots all over...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: Wintering insects
Saturday, 12 April 2025, 11:46amBelieve it or not, I did hear a cicada chirping just a few days ago. Must have been a Late-Comer Boy, trying to attract a...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: Autumn flowers - Invest in some bulbs and corms!
Saturday, 5 April 2025, 12:01pmSeeing as it’s now autumn, a number of bulbs can be planted in the garden. Here’s a few of them: Tulip A fabulous early...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: Gardening Kiwi
Saturday, 22 March 2025, 12:24pmA couple of weeks ago our Kiwi Trust (Save the Kiwi) visited Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari (Waikato) – not just for a...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: Bumblebees are ready for winter
Saturday, 15 March 2025, 12:07pmA few months ago, we chatted about the bumblebee project started at Tekapo School. The kids and teachers created some raised...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: It's time to stay vigilant in the garden
Saturday, 8 February 2025, 11:44amI’m proud of Jack. His gardening skills are increasing, with useful observations every day. Last week it was Passionvine...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: Learning from our trees
Saturday, 25 January 2025, 12:36pmOur holiday on the West Coast of the South Island (Punakaiki) was just what we needed – weather in Christchurch was cold...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: The pros and cons of the summer weather
Saturday, 18 January 2025, 11:50amLots of moaning early January 2025: coolness and wetness in many different places. Wellington and Christchurch were the biggest...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: No-Mow November, December, January
Saturday, 14 December 2024, 12:41pmNo-Mow November started a few weeks ago. For me it started on the grounds of Tekapo Primary School, where we had a decent...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: Dinner from the Garden
Saturday, 7 December 2024, 12:13pmThis is the moment when adult Huhu Beetles emerge from their rotting logs. If you are nearby a forest (especially a pine...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: Timing is Everything: Fluffy Bums
Saturday, 19 October 2024, 12:41pmPassionvine Hoppers came up in conversation a week or so ago: a nuisance for gardeners, especially in the warmer north (but...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: Planting before the dry season sets in
Saturday, 5 October 2024, 12:13pmIt’s already getting dry in Canterbury, and I still need to do a lot of planting in order to save us from starvation. Juuls...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: Spring snow and bugs needing attention
Saturday, 28 September 2024, 12:33pmPlanting from now on is becoming a much better idea. The chances of frost have diminished, but there will be still possibilities...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: Native Bees and Mistletoe
Saturday, 21 September 2024, 12:05pmA week or so ago, a wonderful kids book couriered its way to my front door. It’s a book about our native bees in Aotearoa,...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: Cool tools for the garden
Saturday, 14 September 2024, 11:58amI’ve been pretty busy in the garden, tunnel house, and grassy building site. That always seem to happen with me just before...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: Clematis the Climber
Saturday, 31 August 2024, 12:21pmA few weeks ago we talked about an “early Spring”, simply because I thought some of my plants were flowering a lot sooner...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: Hibernating chewers
Saturday, 24 August 2024, 12:42pmA few weeks ago, after that yucky and cold spell in the middle of winter, I was checking my mistletoe to see how it had been...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: Pruning back the berries
Saturday, 17 August 2024, 12:06pmBlackcurrants pruning Oh… good old Ribes nigrum! It’s one of our favourite fruits – Juuls makes pretty mean jam out of those...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: Winter Colours in the garden
Saturday, 3 August 2024, 1:06pmAfter a few weeks of really misty, cold, and awful weather, I needed to get out of bed and find some inspiration for the...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: Tauhou – The Numbers
Saturday, 27 July 2024, 1:35pmA couple of weeks ago we talked about feeding birds in your garden. In view of a decent week off, Jack was training his birds...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: Apples for next year
Saturday, 13 July 2024, 11:43amFlowering and fruiting seems like a long way from now, but honestly, it’s time to get out and prune the trees that will give...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: Disruptors and invaders
Saturday, 6 July 2024, 11:47amMy dear darling sister (with the beautiful name of Roos) sent me a picture from the Netherlands; it was a pretty orange slug...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: The compost gardeners science quiz
Saturday, 29 June 2024, 12:14pmI’ve always thought about creating the Greatest Hits (or Greatest Myths) for gardeners. There are so many things you should...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: The Walking Tree
Saturday, 22 June 2024, 12:34pmA few weeks ago, the New Zealand Arboriculture Association stunned New Zealanders with a remarkable Tree-of-the-Year competition...
