A lovely early summer week just past in North Otago, the ground is warm and will grow anything as long as the water is kept up.
I have been spending a lot of time watering over the last few days, plants are at their best if moisture is consistently available. If plants, tree's or shrubs get too dry between watering they become stressed and this will lead to disease and poor growth.
Keep a eye on rhododendrons, after flowering they are intent on making seeds and as I mentioned last week the old flower heads need to be removed before they do start to set seeds. Removing all on very large rhododendron bushes is not possible but it is important to keep the water up to these large bushes through the warm seasons. Rhododendrons are very shallow rooted, if they dry out during this season it will not show up in the leaves until the next season when the leaf tips will go brown. If you would like to grow another rhododendron from one you have doing well in your garden try layering a branch down into a trench of river sand in the ground. Pin it down with bent wire and cover with sifted soil and compost. Place a rock on top of the branch if it wants to spring up. Keep the water up to the layered branch and it should send out roots. Leave until next spring before cutting from the Mother plant and bagging up to make more roots before planting out into the garden. Hydrangeas can be layered this way as well.


If you have a lot of forget-me-not just finished flowering don't pull it out, cut it back and let it grow again. forget-me-not is usually treated as an annual but if cut back I have found it becomes a perennial and clumps up into strong growing ground cover plants which will flower well again next spring.
Along with forget-me-not I have been cutting back other ground covers like aurbretia, iberis, phlox, erica's, and thyme. All of these will grow back into fresh clumps over summer.


In the past week I have been lifting branches on trees like flowering cherries,maples, oaks and any others that put out a lot of new growth over spring, All trees are designed to put out branches to shade their roots bit in a garden situation we usually have plants growing beneath them that require light.
Cut the offending branches back, and take out any branches which are crossing over others. If two branches are doing the same job take out completely to a slanted cut so the little remaining will not hold water.
Sterilize saws and loppers with spraying on diluted jays fluid or methylated spirits in between cuts on different flowering cherry trees to avoid spreading the dreaded contagious silver leaf should any of your trees be affected. You will know if you have a flowering cherry infected with silver leaf, leaves loose their dark sheen and become faded. There is no cure for this infection, eventually the tree will produce weak unhealthy growth.


Grapes are turning their flowers into fruit now, I have a few wine grapes planted growing along wires.
At this time of the year I shorten back the leaders to encourage new side shoots. I also have to cut out all new growth developing from below the trunk graft. This is the root stock which will undermine the main vine if not removed, the leaves are usually different from the grafted plant. Grape growth goes ballistic from now on, remove all new wild growth which will take necessary nutrients away from the fruiting Kane's.


Vegetables:
We are into bolting weather now, green leafy veg grow fast to seed before we can use them all, keep trimming and using or drying herbs to prevent them running to seed. Plant small amounts of seed in seed trays at 2 to 3 week intervals, once germinated water and feed with liquid fertiliser only when soil is dry on top, very wet soil will encourage fungus and the collapse very small seedlings. Plant well grown seedlings into the garden on overcast days.


Cover ripening strawberries, the birds will have their eye on them and will nab when ripe. Old net curtains or frost cloth will cover them from birds view while still letting needed light in for continued flowering and fruiting.


Cheers, Linda.