Gardening in North Otago Dec 18th 2009

Not much watering had to be done this week after the rain, and then Fridays wind soon had the hoses out again.

I have had the hedge trimmer on the go again and yes the plants and shrubs did shudder to their roots when I come their way!
If it needs it, it gets it! Trimming with secateurs is not practical with such a large garden and at this time of the year you can not do too much damage, the grow back rate is pretty quick.
This time last year I was lucky enough to find a young Man who loves trimming hedges, the box hedges have had a go over and what a great job he has done they are looking wonderful. It has been the perfect overcast weather for them to recover without the sun scorching them.
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My buddleia's are out in flower now attracting the butterflies, They are a great fill in bush, I cut them back by half, when they have finished flowering and again at the end of Winter. They push up new growth very quickly and look attractive with their blue green foliage even without the flowers. There are blues, pinks & white shades to choose from, Plant at the back of a border and you will not be sorry.

Catmint can be trimmed back now, I know it is still showing heaps of colour but trim the long growth back by half and in no time at all it will re-grow into a neater clump and continue to flower.
The same applies to aubrietia, it will stay in a neater clump after a trim back, lavatera's and English abutilon need cut back now as well and they will bush right back up and flower. Most people pull out forget-me-not when it has finished flowering, I cut it right back to almost nothing and it returns in nice green clumps stronger than ever and becomes a perennial which will flower for years every spring. As a woodland plant you can't go past forget-me-not as a pretty sea of blue in the spring.
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Anemones for winter flowering can be planted in the next two weeks, you will need to put a stick in where they are planted at this time of the year it's so easy to forget the spot and dig them up.Pop some in pots to replace all the Summer & autumn pots when finished flowering.

Lilies are flowering now, large clumps can be divided up and shifted straight after flowering and planted into good compost but they must never dry out so keep an eye on them through the dryer months. I have had clumps of Christmas lilies completely disappear and have not noticed until I miss them flowering at this time of the year. It takes ages for lilies to grow from little pup bulbs and seed so they are worth looking after.

It is time to shorten back fruiting leaders on grape vines, the growth is needed for the grapes that have started to form. If a leader has produced too many bunches remove some with shortening back.
I was told years ago that offal or a dead animal is what a domestic grape vine likes to have buried down around it's roots, too much nitrate fertiliser will produce leaves and leaders. like most fruiting plants a little pot ash to encourage fruiting is beneficial in spring.


If you don't like using sprays and you have a few flat weeds in the lawn try spot spraying them with vinegar, Most people would have vinegar in the kitchen. I was told about this recently and it works! I used white vinegar. It is also great for pathways and drives and leaves no dangerous residue to leach into nearby plants..
I am pretty sure it dose not kill clover, browns it off a little, but I am still watching to see how much it knocks it. The vinegar needs to be applied in dry sunny weather.

Keep mounding up potato rows to encourage bigger shores, corn likes to be mounded up also when it gets to about knee high. They have a shallow rooting system and the mounding helps to keep them upright in strong winds.
I have been faced with a great crop of weeds in the vegetable garden, like most other gardeners I am sure.
How fast they appear and grow, one thing is for sure you can put off doing what you should do but you cannot put off what nature wants to do when it comes to weeds, and ripening of fruit and veg, Nature will have it's way and if you are too late to respond the weed seeds pop, the fruit over ripens and the veg bolts.

Cheers, Linda.

Gardening in North Otago NZ December 5th 2009

Well this week we were back to a winter chill, no wonder the night beetle has not made an appearance yet, they are usually dive bombing around now along with the big fat moths, long may they both stay away. I have only just started to notice green fly about, and I am hoping this recent bout of cold weather will have given a few a short shift as it did a month or two back. I am keeping up the fish emulsion but have had to use a nasty on the underside of my hellebore leaves. This is where they love to hide and breed ready to make a bee line to roses and other ornamentals so zap them before they do.

If you have orchids it is the time to repot them now, use the orchid mix for the best results, it takes the guess work out wondering what to feed them.

The wind has been cool since the rain so the ground is still holding some moisture, scatter grass clippings around if your lawns have not been sprayed, they become good humus but don't pile them on to thickly because they are inclined to form a shield that stops the rain reaching the soil beneath. I throw them on to empty the catcher and the rake them out later.

It is probably a good time to attend to the vegetable garden as things are growing so fast and needing food we need to keep the food up to tomatoes, currants an berries, lemons and fruit trees... it takes a lot out of a plant to fruit.
Now day's there are specially prepared fertilisers for most things with instructions for how much to apply and when. Blood and bone is a good all rounder but can attract fly's at this time of the year so water it in well.
All fruiting trees and plants need lots of water now to create juicy plump fruit, that small amount of rain we had this week will have been perfect for them but it's the winds that have followed that do the damage so keep the water up.
Remember to cover your strawberries to keep the birds from eating them as soon as they show any sign of red. Strawberry netting stretches out to cover a large area and does the job well, the birds are helping themselves to my gooseberries so I have thrown some frost cloth over them until I get a chance to pick them.

As tomatoes grow be sure to remove laterals of the taller growing variety and stake them to keep them upright as the fruit gets heaver. They should be flowering now waiting for the bee's to pollinate them, if they are in a glass house and you do not see many bee's you can spray with a product call tomset.
Early morning soaking on the vegetable garden keeps moisture up to them all through the day and helps with the germination of seeds and successive planting can be kept up right through the Summer.
If you must use spray's on your vegetables make sure you read on the container to know how long the with holding period is before you can eat the vegetables. Why not try an organic option there are more on offer every year, or try companion planting.

Some plants have been proven to help and enhance others so I will list what has worked.

Carrots and onions together, the onions help keep the carrot fly at bay and carrots the onion fly.

Celery and the brassica family, i.e.: cabbage, caulis, and broccoli. the celery will confuse the white butterfly when wanting to land and lay it's larvae eggs.

Marigolds and beans/brassicas, the marigold emits a natural gas which protects surrounding plants from insects like aphids and white fly.


Make your own natural sprays: The following plant leaves can be boiled in water and the resulting liquid used on plants.

Basil will eliminate aphids

Chives prevent mildew occurring on cucumbers, squash and pumpkins.

Coriander also for aphids and spider mite.

Eucalyptus is a good general purpose insecticide.

Rhubarb has been found to help prevent black spot.

These may be only plants but in liquid form they can be harmful to children so keep marked bottles high up.
I found out that it is not a good idea to breath in fumes when bringing to the boil, and to keep doors and window open. the fumes from some of them can certainly make you feel really off colour.

Get corn and pumpkins in as soon as possible because they need a long growing and ripening season Cheers Linda