SPECIAL GUEST: Parris Goebel
Parris' presents The Parris Project on Oct 28th 2016 at the BNZ Theatre, Vodafone Centre, Manukau. Tickets from www.ticketdirect.co.nz

Darren Bevan: Movies
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Darren's verdict: Wait for the DVD.

Magnificent 7- Darren's verdict: Wait for the DVD.

X: Men - Apocalypse - Darren's verdict: Give it a miss!

For all Darren's reviews and info go to Darren's blog http://www.darrens-world-of-entertainment.blogspot.co.nz/

NICI WICKES: Food
It's cheese month! Nici has the perfect accompaniment for cheese ... homemade walnut & oat crackers. The recipe is on our website and for more inspiration visit http://www.niciwickes.com/ or her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/#!/niciwickes

LYNDA HALLINAN: Gardening

Asparagus. There are so many spring delights in a garden: ornamental cherry blossoms, strawberries flowering and starting to form fruit, fruit trees in blossom... but there's not much that's ready to actually harvest at this time o the year.

Except asparagus. My first spears shot up this week, which was an encouraging sign as I moved my plants last winter and was hoping I hadn't killed them in the process.

Asparagus is an intriguing crop to grow. The subterranean crowns can produce spears for decades, and what you see (and eat) is truly like the tip of an iceberg. The roots are thick and fleshy and look very similar to thuggish agapanthus, with a cluster of buds in the middle that produce the spears.

If you've never seen asparagus growing in a garden, and only ever bought it in bunches at the supermarket/fruit shop, the spears we eat are the young stems of the plants. If you leave them unpicked, they eventually branch out into ferns. Not like a ponga, but more like a giant fennel or dill plant up to 2m tall with red berries.

Asparagus is traditionally established from dormant crowns in winter, or you can sow seed now and cosset the baby ferns on for a season in a pot, then plant them out next winter. Seed is dirt cheap - a single packet would produce enough plants to keep you in asparagus for the rest of your life, so it's jolly good value.

Keep in mind that because it crops year after year, you should give it a good spot: full sun, fertile soil, but out of view because it's not particularly attractive (ever). Hence my decision to shift mine, which was in full view of our lounge window...

BOB CAMPBELL: Wine
Bob's wine of the week:
Terra Sancta 2016 Pinot Noir Rosé – deliciously delicate and seductively scented wine that’s both charming and refreshing.

Visit Bob's website with over 22,000 wine reviews! http://bobcampbell.nz/

MIKE YARDLEY: Travel
Freiburg and the Black Forest. For more tips on tripping Freiburg, Mike's article will be loaded up on our website in a week or so. www.newstalkzb.co.nz/lifestyle

CATHERINE RAYNES: Books
Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved and Died in the 1940s by Anne Sebba , Orion $40
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, Penguin $26

ANDREW DICKENS: Music
Shawn Mendes 'Illuninate' - Andrew's verdict: 7/10 for ability but a 5/10 in terms of moving me. Very good middle of the road pop from a teen. Hints of Bieber and John Mayer in his guitar playing. However to my ear there’s an inauthentic feel to it, but is it art when you sing other people’s words about experiences you’ve never had?