Gardening in North Otago September 3rd 2010

SEPTEMBER,the season of new beginnings and this past week has convinced me that spring has arrived in Weston after a later start than past years, more sunny days needed I feel.
Everyday something new is happening in our garden, sweet peas, ranunculus, anemones and tulips are through and putting on good growth each day. I am now watching what is pushing through the pea straw and clearing a space to let them through and needed light in.
I have very wide perennial boarders which insist on growing couch, biddy- bid, and chick-weed which I try to get rid of now while still small and while all the flowering plants are still low, with the ground still being so wet they all pull out easily. While doing this weeding I can see what needs attention like delphiniums needing stakes in to give support while growing, removing mulch from around iris rhizomes and peony rose crowns and removing self sown plants and natives before they settle in.

The weeds are off to a flying start as well, I have been spraying over the last two weeks and notice the first lot has worked, so all good, get them before they flower and make seed. There are organic weed sprays on the market that work best when weeds are new and small so now is the time.
All plants, shrubs and trees will respond to feeding now, the sap is well up and buds are swelling and bursting open. We have a number of deciduous magnolia trees and they are taking center stage right now with beautiful blooms pushing through their huge furry buds.
Liquid feeding on all perennials and bedding plants making growth and a good general fertiliser for trees and shrubs to help them along now.
Azaleas and tulips are the exception, azaleas like fed after flowering and tulips store enough food in the bulb for their requirements. if you load them up with more they will grow more leaf than needed and hide the blooms. (No feeding for Australian or South African shrubs such as leucodendron, protea, waratah and grevillea.)

I cut the old growth from the cat-mint this week, I leave it on over the colder months to protect the new growth, once the new leaves are seen to be making good growth the old can be removed.

It's time to dress your garden for late spring and summer, think colour and where you want it and what colour is needed where, at this time of the year concentrate on the sunny areas in the garden because these will be the warmest to get bedding pants and perennials moving. There are still roses on offer and they do not need to all grow together in a rose bed, use them as gap fillers in boarders. To give those new to roses an idea of what to look for I will list the different types below.
ROSES (modern type)

There is a rose for every sunny situation and a few that will tolerate light shade.

Miniature Roses

A dwarf growing bush rose with all parts scaled down. Their height will be listed on the label - I find these not as long lived as the larger bush rose.
If you have one that is not performing now, and has been growing for a few years, dig it out, change the soil and plant another.

PATIO ROSES
About knee high for front boarder planting, about 80 cm apart when grouping.
These can be grown in containers as long as the roots are cool and they are fed right through the growing season.

FLORIABUNDA
Flowers grow in clusters - bushes grow to about waist high on average, space these about 1mtr apart when grouping. Cut off spent flower clusters and they will reward you with masses of colour right through the growing season.

HYBRID TEA
This is the rose to give you the large exhibition one steam bloom. They grow about chest high. These are the picking rose and need feeding well right through the growing season to give the best results.

The secret to keeping roses free from disease is to remove all last years' diseased wood and leaves from the ground around them and burn. Keep the food up to the bushes, starting now while they are beginning to leaf and continue right through until the end of summer. Manure enriched compost around them now will feed and protect the roots but keep it off the graft. Blood & bone, vormacast or the liquid form is also good right now. When the ground warms up a little sprinkle the man made balanced rose fertiliser around them, these fertilisers have been designed to promote just the right amount of leaf and flower growth, and need the warmer soil to activate. Don't waste them by using them too soon.
I have learned through selling and growing roses which are the good doers and which are the poor - But in saying that there are growers of roses that raise better healthier roses than others.
From my experience a rose-planted bare rooted in the winter or early spring will do better for me than a rose planted going into the summer.
But I understand the new gardener likes to see the bloom's before buying and now days a large range of roses are on offer in the late Spring, bagged, in bud and flower ready to plant. They take a little more care to become settled.

Here I am heading on into summer already! but at the same time enjoying the spring splendor happening around me right now.

Vegatables
All green crops need to be dug in now, before they flower and get stringy. Keep planting seeds and seedlings and enjoy the absence of white butterfly! I worked on my gooseberry bushes last year and again this week,Thinning branches before the leaves arrive out and cutting up the bottom branches to get the bushes higher off the ground for picking.
I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner, so much easier to pick the fruit from underneath and not have to fight my way through a tangled mess of prickly branches.

Cheers, Linda.