Gardening in North Otago 20th November 2009

This was a better week,apart from the wind. it was good to get some warmth yesterday.

I have been weeding, weeding,!! and cutting back heaps of stuff that has finished flowering, alyssum, ground cover phlox, aubrietia and aquilegias, if you cut them back now they will green up again and look good over summer. same goes for Erica's, cut all the brown spent flower stems off and they will green up again in no time.
I have also been changing the flower beds from Spring to summer, all the forget-me-not is gone along with the died down bulb tops.
I spread my compost on the cleared ground and then covered that with some pig and sawdust manure and mushroom compost because it is clean with no weed seeds, I have started filling every gap with flower seedlings like cosmos, static, blue salvia, natushims, lavatera and lobelia not leaving any room for weeds to grow.

All trees have leafed up now, don't be afraid to cut out over crowding branches to let light in to what is planted underneath. If there are two branches filling the same spot take the lower one out. Maple trees tend to grow thick canopies so I have been thinning mine out. I remove heaps but when I stand back and look it is not noticeable and now there is ice dappled light coming through.

Dahlias can be pinched out like chrysanthemums to encourage bushiness' but they will still get tall so put stakes in now before they begin to bend and fall.

There are autumn flowering bulbs in now, like belladonnas, crocuses, nerines, plant in full sun where they will not be disturbed.
Lift tulips now. Store in paper bags in a cool place to be replanted in the autumn.
If your daffodils did not flower so well this spring, It's a good time to break up large clumps while you can still see where they have been, flowering can be restricted when the clumps get over crowded. Plant out in small groups in about 20cm of compost...plant to a depth of double their height then feed with blood and bone and mulch so they don't dry out over summer.

Lawn mowers need to be lifted a notch now, try mowing without the catcher now and then, and rake the clippings out over the lawn to add humus to the lawn. Lawns need fed regularly through the growing and cutting seasons but never feed a dry lawn, if you do you are in danger of burning it. Have some fertiliser on hand for the next rain or feed each area when watering. I sprayed the daisies and weeds two weeks ago, then fed them in the rain and already the gaps where the weeds died have almost filled in with grass.

Water lilies can be added to ponds now that the water is warmer, if buying one it should be in leaf now so plant into a plastic pot using thick news paper first then rich manure and garden soil. Manure first with soil on top plant the lily and top with a thick layer of stones or gravel. It is important not to let any fertiliser or manure leach out into the pond water because it will encourage the water to go green with slime which is harmful to fish when caught in their gills.
If your pond is stagnating it means that it is not working ... try putting in some old unsprayed straw or hay, weigh it down with a rock so it does not float around on the surface of the water. At first the pond water will not look too healthy but soon you will be amazed at how fast it will clear and stay clear once things start working naturally. To work naturally the bottom of the pond can and should be a little muddy, but the top should be clear, you can easily tell when it is.
A way to fill your pond with fish now the water is warmer is to put oxygen weed in from a pond already filled with fish, the fish blow their eggs into the weed so there is sure to be eggs that will hatch out in your pond and no big fish around to eat them.
If the pond is working well you will not have to feed fish in the warmer months, they will get plenty of bugs from now on.

Check your fruit trees now for over crowded bunches, thin the bunches out by snipping small fruits off with sharp scissors. Give each fruiting tree and bush a good root soak now and then in this dry weather.

Keep planting all vegetables but not too many of the same at one time.