A New Look At Market Gardening

Most New Zealanders are keen gardeners and endeavour to grow as many varieties of vegetables as they can on their home sections. But there is still a tremendous market throughout the Dominion for vegetables and this demand is met by market gardeners. Many commercial gardens are situated at Hope, and all contribute produce to the markets. One of the biggest, and undoubtedly the most efficient unit is that of Mr Tais Zwart, who has applied to market gardening in New Zealand the lessons he was obliged to Jearn in Holland before he was permitted to operate a garden there. For five years Mr Zwart had to study the scientific and practical facets of market gardening before he was awarded his diploma in this field, but his hard work and knowledge have stood him in good stead in New Zealand, From his 26 acre garden he takes three crops a year (in Holland as many as 13 crops are taken off a garden a year), and much of this finds its way into the shops and homes of Christchurch. In this three-page story we have endeavoured to show his methods in use. This picture shows a section of the huge area of permanent cloches under which the young plants are nurtured before being planted out.

Mr Zwart employs a staff of 10 on the garden, four of them women, and casual staff is also employed at times. During the 11 years he and his family have been in New Zealand, Mr and Mrs Zwart have returned to Holland for visits to catch up on the latest developments in gardening there. To ensure that the young plants are not disturbed from the time they are first planted, Mr Zwart employs a moulding machine which provides for each plant its own individual block of earth (a mixture of compost and soil). Into these the young plants go and there they stay, even when they are planted out. Last year he and his staff made more than 250,000 of these soil moulds.