Articles by Ruud Kleinpaste
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Ruud Kleinpaste: Looking for unexpected winter beauty
Saturday, 16 August 2025, 12:11pmWhen rain and cold weather stops for a day, I go out into the garden. Just looking – Julie often has new inhabitants in...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: It's time to start gardening again
Saturday, 9 August 2025, 12:26pmIt’s been a weird winter – cool and often wet. Indeed, I grew a few edibles in my tunnel house after most of the tomatoes...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: Common nutrient deficiencies in the garden
Saturday, 2 August 2025, 12:22pmPlants need a couple of really important chemicals to give them a healthy life and growth. We all know the top three elements:...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: A short synopsis of the jobs Invertebrates hold
Saturday, 19 July 2025, 12:35pmJust spent a week with 30 teachers in various environmental locations of Auckland. The Sir Peter Blake Trust do this every...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: Things to consider when planting and transplanting trees
Saturday, 12 July 2025, 12:35pmWinter dormancy is the best time to shift a tree or a shrub (or plant a new one), especially when they originate from a “temperate...
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Ruud Kleinpaste's struggle with growing happy indoor plants
Saturday, 28 June 2025, 12:17pmI’m quite happy to touch on this little trouble inside the house: what is a good spot to grow certain plants? Julie and...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: The science of training birds
Saturday, 21 June 2025, 11:51amThis is the time of the year when my training sessions begin in all speed: teaching silvereyes and some other birds to come...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: The cause of weird damage patterns and awful noises
Saturday, 14 June 2025, 12:30pmDamage in the garden can strike at any time. Serious leaf damage (chewing and molesting of foliage all the way down the...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: Queries about cluster flies in houses
Saturday, 10 May 2025, 11:50amA common problem in our homes, especially in the cooler areas of Aotearoa: gazillions of flies settling into your spare room,...
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Ruud Kleinpaste: The importance of timing
Saturday, 3 May 2025, 11:47amLast week we discussed the six-month hiatus between noticing troubles with stone fruit and the time of activating prevention....
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Taphrina deformans: Treating peach leaf curl
Saturday, 26 April 2025, 11:41amI’m trying a different tack on Newstalk ZB. It’s something I use with teachers and kids at school: the meaning of scientific...
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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...
