Gardening in North Otago May 14th 2010

The year is marching on! and May is the official beginning of winter for NZ . For me it is leaves, leaves and more leaves.

Leaves are soil food, they fall to the ground to creating humus but leaves falling around a garden are usually raked up, this is why it is so important to add compost to the garden and lawns.
I am adding to my compost daily layering with leaves. grass clippings, soft garden and hedge clippings and manure. The last rain we had gave the heaps moisture on the top but at this time of the year the moisture needs to get right to the bottom to generate heat and steam which will help the heap break down and turn into compost for spring. So the sprinkler left on for a while is a good idea.
Terry maybe you can explain what you do to make compost in your bins as I do not have any, I do know that the cold weather has a marked slowing down effect on compost organisms and any insulation wrapped around the bin will help them keep working. I do this on my heaps with a thick layer of straw.

The cut back is almost complete in my gardens now and the compost/ mulch is going on to provide food for the plants when they need it and to keep the soil a little warmer for them over winter. Once every plant, shrub and tree has been mulched and watered well the pea straw will go on.
After the rain I am finding a lot of snails in the garden, at this time of the year they will find a dark sheltered spot among pots or behind plants growing up against a wall, flax and agapanthus are especially bad for harboring snails which will multiply fast and be ready to destroy plants in spring. I have read that it is no good transporting snails to a vacant area away from your garden because the have homing instincts and travel long distances to return to their garden of choice. I cannot bring myself to stamp on them or drown them in a bucket so if you are like me you can gather up as many as you can find and put them in a plastic bag, close it up and put them in the freezer. This way they will go to sleep and not wake up.

Keep planting tulips until the end of this month, plant them deep because they like it cool, if you have a special tulips you would like to multiply plant them against a south facing wall and forget about them they will grow and multiply there for years.
Keep planting and dividing Lilly's now as well, there should be a good range in the garden centres.

Plan new plantings of deciduous trees and shrubs remembering they will grow both up and outwards. Deciduous trees and shrubs will not come into retail outlets until July, if your ground tends to get wet and sticky in winter it would be a good idea to dig the area up now while the soil is easy to work with. Dig out the soil ad peat or compost and blood and bone to it then fill back in again until you are ready to plant. If you know which deciduous trees and shrubs you require order them now from the garden centre and you will not miss out.

Don't prune hydrangeas yet, let them harden off for a while, in cold districts don't prune back until spring. Leave the tops on to protect the new growth.

Very strong rambler roses can be pruned now cutting out any dead stems and cutting back all side stems on canes to with in 2-3 buds from the main steam.Shorten back vigorous leaders by about 1/3 to promote branching. If the bush is out of control like some of mine reduce the size with a hedge trimmer then cut canes right out from ground level.

Veg:
Continue planting strawberries, raising the beds where drainage is suspect.
it is still not too late to sow a green crop in vacant areas of the vegetable garden , oats or blue lupin are a good nitrogen fix when dug in. Broad beans are also suitable, better than a single variety is a mixture of legume and a cereal. Dig them in while still soft and green, this tends to the nitrogen and bulk needed in the soil.
If worms are rare in your garden, this usually indicates that the organic content of the soil is very low, worms seem to always find manure but it needs to be spread as a layer low down under a soil bed for them to come up to it. This would be a daunting task to undertake in established gardens, although worth doing bit by bit. But worth remembering when setting out new gardens where the soil is dry and has clay content.

spring. Leave the tops on to protect the new growth.