September 11th Gardening in North Otago

What a great week it has been here in North Otago weather wise.

I have been watering different areas of the garden each day each day to keep things going until the next Spring rain arrives.

Roses are top priority right now : Things to watch out for

Watch for die back after the Winter not all canes make the grade, cut them right back to new growth if they have been affected.

Watch for growth below the graft, it comes up from the rootstock, it is usually a different colour to the other grafted canes. Cut it right out because it is stronger and will leave the grafted canes behind. All roses are grafted onto strong disease free root stock that is not an attractive flowering rose.

Spraying begins now to keep your bushes healthy, use what has worked well for you every 10 to 14 days if you are new to roses good old shield or guild will do the job, they combated both insects and disease.

I prefer maintaining mine organically with fish emulsion and pyrethrum spray plus a natures way fungicide.

Fish emulsion feeds the buses and fools the insects into thinking that the foliage is protein.

I have spotted green fly all ready on my roses.

Keep the crowns clear of soil and remove most lower leaves that come in contact with the ground, they allow fungal infections to travel up into the bush especially after rain.

Do not water roses at the end of the day, don't let them go into the night wet, mildew thrives on wet rose leaves at night.

Eliminate stress right from the start of the season by supplying lots of food for new growth and not letting the roots dry out. Always water powder fertiliser in, a rose will always let you know if it is stressed by dropping leaves or being susceptible to black spot and rust, it is hard to bring it back to good health after stress

I have been sowing grass seed in the areas of lawn that have been effected by grass grub, I am sure the birds were delighted when they saw me doing this and were down on the seed as soon as I turned my back! I covered as much as I could with frost cloth and shade cloth, this still allows light and moisture through and I leave it on until the seed has germinated. once the young grass is up keep the moisture up to it but do this early in the day so the ground is not attracting fungus's by being wet and cold through the night.

I would have treated the moss in the our lawns with sulphate of iron but we have the first wedding of the season in the garden today so I didn't want to have black patches everywhere. Sulphate of iron is great for getting rid of moss in lawns, buy a small bag from a garden centre which will tell you how much to put into a watering can and water on effected areas.

It is now time to plant cyclamen outside in a cool shady spot, to finish their growing year. keep an eye on them over the summer and make sure they have plenty of moisture in Autumn, pot them up just before Winter and bring them back inside to flower. They will continue to do this for many years. I find mine respond to a little dried blood.

Hosta's are starting to make a move now but there is still time to put the spade through clumps that are big enough to divide. Just slice cleanly through and transplant small clumps where you need them. Be ready with the slug bait because the slugs will be ready for the fresh new leaves. I use fish emulsion on these and cinerarias, it confuses the slugs and butterflies for a while but if I forget to keep applying they are in like Flynn.

Keep the water up to every thing now as the ground is really drying out, rhododendrons, camellias, azaleas, hydrangea & roses have shallow roots and suffer when it is so dry,

The nights are still too cold for new young seedlings and plants without covering them with frost cloth, this goes for vegetable plants too in colder area's, I have a lot of seedlings planted early to get the roots going but the cover still goes on at night.

Get seed potatoes and peas in now and they should make good growth and be ready for Christmas and all herbs can go in now there are heaps on offer for summer cooking. Always harden new flower and veg plants off before planting out, leave them outside in a sheltered lightly shaded spot for 2 or 3 days to get them used to your outside temperature Never plant them out in the heat of the day, they will only wilt and then take a while to recover.

Cheers, Linda.