Gardening in North Otago February 26th 2010

Another lovely week but oh so dry.

Parts of my garden are really tired now, particularly the long boarders which I plan to attack this weekend!

Cut back border and rockery perennials as they finish flowering and top dress the clumps with compost.
To get superior blooms on gerberas, dahlias, delphiniums and chrysanthemums give fortnightly feeds of liquid fertiliser, remove excess buds from large flowering chrysanthemums.

I would dearly love to shift shrubs but I know they would suffer by being shifted at this time of the year even if the water was kept up to them. Best to wait until the end of Autumn when the sap has gone down in most plants.
However trees and shrubs can be wrenched to cushion them from the shock of being moved at this time of the year. Wrenching is when one half of the roots are dug around and lifted, then compost is added under them which will encourage new feeder roots to grow into the compost. It is important to keep the water up once roots have been cut or disturbed. The tree or shrub will survive with being fed from the remaining untouched roots. Wrenched trees and shrubs have a much higher transplant success rate than tress and shrubs that are lifted in one and transplanted. Wrench now and transplant in winter when plants are dormant.

I am gathering seeds for planting next spring an with all this hot weather there are plenty to be had, like foxglove, poppy, dianthus, lupin, marigold, sweet pea, even rhododendron and azalea.
Store them away in a dry place in brown paper bags and plant them into seed raising mix at the end of winter.

Watering plants is a priority now but it is best not to water in the heat of the day, wait until it cools down and your plants will absorb and retain the moisture.
Mulching is also beneficial right now, but always apply mulch to ground that has been well soaked then forget about watering for a while because the mulch will do the job of keeping that moisture in the ground.

If you are thinking of sowing lawn this autumn, prepare the ground now by getting rid of perennial weeds which is easily done by using round up then rotary hoe the area to ensure there will be no hard pan, then rake and rake to create a fine tilth on top. Then test the PH and if it is very acid adjust to about 6 with dolomite lime. The lime will take a few months to be absorbed so leave applying fertiliser to your new lawn until Spring. Then once or twice a year there after.

The vegetable garden should be abundant now, keep the water up to corn and pumpkins to ensure a juicy crop, they both need a long ripening season.
Dig out old spent strawberry plants that have finished cropping and discard, Plants that are being kept for another season should have runners cut off now to preserve the strength of the main clumps.

Cheers, Linda