This week hot and cold, the plants will not know what season it is!
All of a sudden there is so much to be cut back in our garden, plants like tree peony which double in size each growing season. Don't let them swamp your garden and smother other plants, the older woody canes can be cut down to the second bud from the bottom leaving the new green stalks to be next years flower branches. By doing this now seed pods will be cut off as well which if allowed to ripen will pop all over your garden and grow. Other larger plants I have had to cut back are bush lavatera's, English abutilon, ornamental broom, false Valerian,and cat mint these I have mentioned will all grow back, look a lot nicer and flower again.
I have had to continue lifting the branches on trees that were casting too much shade over other plants. It's the lower branches that can be removed without making the tree look as though it has been cut. The upper branches will hide the cuts, so any branch growing downwards with a canopy branch directly above it can be cut back or removed altogether.
Begonias are really pushing through now and I see that I have lost a few of the ones I left in the ground from last year, I am guessing the rain we had in May rotted them. I did dig out and store most of them and have now been planting them out. The food begonias most appreciate is any fish based fertilser, as a folia spray or watered in around their roots.
Hydrangeas are producing flower heads now so it is important to keep the water and food up to them, blood and bone, dry or liquid or slow release fertiliser will keep them happy and flowering well. Remember it's lime for pink and Epsom salts or aluminum sulphate to keep them blue.
Fuchsias are making a lot of growth now as well, if you missed cutting any back do it now, they will flower later than the ones you have cut back but will soon catch up.
Tip cutting can be taken from fuchsias now, if you spot some you like in a friends garden ask for some cuttings.
Tip cuttings from Hebe's will root with no trouble as well right now. Use wet crusher dust or river sand to strike them in, never beach sand.
Fuchsias are on sale right now, they are wonderful in pots for a shady spot and because they put on a lot of growth in one season they soon become bushy and fill a pot.
If you are looking for something non invasive to make a show of colour against a wall why not try Abutilon (Chinese lantern ) I have seen it on offer this week in three Strong colours, yellow, orange and burgundy. I have planted yellow and burgundy together in a large container with nice lime green grass's below them, they are a rather spindly plant so I have been intertwining them as they grow, they are just starting to flower now and look great together. If you do train them against a wall you could leave some longer branches and shorten back others to get a good spread.
Lawns
keep feeding lawns, dry lawn fertiliser must only be applied when we get rain to wash it in but a liquid fertiliser is fine any time. Lawns get really stressed from now on as the hot summer progresses.
If your lawns are inclined to crack when dry they have probably been planted on clay soil. Apply gypsum ,
( soluble lime) and water in, after a couple of years of doing this your lawns will have a spring back in them. Gypsum works it's way through the clay and makes it become more like soil.
Vegetables
The vegetables and fruit are doing well this year, keep the hoe going because the weeds are doing well also. The little skiffs of rain and all the sunshine we have been getting are doing the trick, the days are warm and the nights a little cooler, just right for growing. I am amazed that the white butterfly is still not about in my garden! not that I want them laying their eggs on my veg plants, long may it last.
Tomatoes will be getting taller and fruiting well now, the removal of over half the leaves on a plant will benefit your plants by letting the fruit have more nutrients, and eliminating shade from the ripening fruit and letting sun in to encourage flowering and allowing flowers to become more visible to insects for pollination. Try it and see if you get a better crop.
Cheers Linda
Friday, December 10, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
Gardening in North Otago 4th December 2010
It's dead heading roses time again, I have been laying the rose petals out on a resale table to dry for potpourri. The fragrance is wonderful as they dry and It is nice to have some on hand for confetti when there is a wedding in the garden. It is 6 weeks from cut to new bud at this time of the year.
I have found the old hellebore leaves that I had not removed are absolutely loaded in green fly!! I will cut every last one out and burn them so they do not fly off onto my waiting roses, the hellebores will make new leaves quickly.
It is so important right now to keep the water up to the roses, constant feeding and deep soaking at the roots will keep them healthy an not in need of a lot of spraying. A rose that is struggling will be susceptible to everything bad.
The night beetles are on the wing again, newly planted young trees are the worst targeted... they can strip the leaves right off, If this happens don't be too alarmed because another lot of leaves will grow and hopefully the beetles will have finished their business and laid their eggs to inflict next years grass grubs upon us! The way I dealt to them when our trees were young was to wait until just on dusk when they were thick on the trees tucking in, I then sprayed them with a kill on contact spray, this way you get rid of heaps of beetles and keep the future grass grub numbers down. Night beetles usually sleep through the day under a tree they are feeding on.
Spittle bug is here as well! this little blighter is very damaging to grass and the plants they choose to live on. The spittle is actually the sap from the plant they are feeding on which is taken in from the stem then excreted out to protect them from birds and to keep them moist.
Get rid of them as they lay eggs every 2 to 4 days. Insecticidal soap spray will get rid of them, it needs to make contact with them and will not kill eggs so keep the spraying up as new spittle bugs appear. If you would like to make your own spray try the recipe below.
Organic spittle bug killer recipe
1/2 cup hot peppers, diced
6 cloves garlic, peeled
2 cups water
2 teaspoons liquid soap (without bleach)
Puree peppers, garlic and water together. Let sit for 24 hours. Strain and mix in the liquid soap. Spray ( not a forceful spray) all parts of the plant, it's the animal fat in the soap that dehydrates the bug so lightly spray off the spittle and make contact with the spray on the bug.
There is still time to get rid of weeds like biddy bid, their seeds are still green and will not spread and grow at this stage, where ever you see it pull it out, don't let the seeds ripen to grow hundreds more all over your garden. Convolvulus is another ramped weed growing right now, it has long runners that form a mat of roots just below the serface of the ground, if even a small section of root is left behind it will grow. Fat-hen is another weed that is not quite ripe yet and needs to be dealt to, all these weeds are easy to pull right now.
Most flag iris have flowered now so large clumps can be broken up and transplanted in a sunny spot. Prepare the bed by digging in fresh compost and some lime then plant, leaving half the root exposed to bake in the sun over summer. Long leaves can be cut half way back to a tent shape to reduce transpiration while reestablishing.
While you can still see where your spring bulbs have been cover them with mulch to stop them drying out over summer, mushroom compost or any clean weed free compost is fine then you can plant annuals on top to fill the gaps. If large clumps of bulbs have flowered poorly this is a good time to break them up and plant out into smaller groups again using fresh compost to give them a good start.
The lawns are really doing their thing now after the moister days we have had, mine are looking good and I have just spot sprayed weeds and daisies as it is a good time while they are actively growing. Put liquid fertiliser in with the weed spry and feed the grass at the same time. Don't use sprayed grass clippings around the garden or in the compost, it is written on the spray container how long the with holding time is.
Some Montana clematis have finished flowering but wait a little longer before trimming back because they have not finished their new growth spurt yet which means if you do it now you will have to do it all over again in a couple of weeks. However wisterias can be dealt to now, if you already have nice strong flowering hard wood branches that flowered well and don't need any more remove all the new long trailers being put out, each and every one of these trailers if left, in time will grow into hard wood branches.
A wisteria is like a climbing tree and will take over and out grow it's place in no time if you let it.
Vegetables:
In the veg garden I have started to dig up the garlic and hang in a cool dry place, and I am picking broad beans which are producing well. Also Picking heaps of gooseberries before the birds get them.
I am madly planting out seedlings that I have grown from seed. The coolest time of the day is the best time to plant seedlings out, you are asking too much off them by planting in the heat of the day.
Don't feed leaf veg now or have the soil too rich, they will put out too much soft growth and bolt, all that is needed is moisture when dry.
I am experimenting with some of the plant concoctions to keep the white butterfly and aphids away.
there are lots of stinging nettle around now so I have followed a recipe which said Cut up 2lb of stinging nettle and leave in water for 24 hours, then sieve, so far so good but I really have not seen too many white butterflies around just yet.... I will let you know the results at a later date. The fish emulsion really dose work on the roses and is the best fertiliser for begonias but may fed the veg to richly I feel.
Cheers, Linda
I have found the old hellebore leaves that I had not removed are absolutely loaded in green fly!! I will cut every last one out and burn them so they do not fly off onto my waiting roses, the hellebores will make new leaves quickly.
It is so important right now to keep the water up to the roses, constant feeding and deep soaking at the roots will keep them healthy an not in need of a lot of spraying. A rose that is struggling will be susceptible to everything bad.
The night beetles are on the wing again, newly planted young trees are the worst targeted... they can strip the leaves right off, If this happens don't be too alarmed because another lot of leaves will grow and hopefully the beetles will have finished their business and laid their eggs to inflict next years grass grubs upon us! The way I dealt to them when our trees were young was to wait until just on dusk when they were thick on the trees tucking in, I then sprayed them with a kill on contact spray, this way you get rid of heaps of beetles and keep the future grass grub numbers down. Night beetles usually sleep through the day under a tree they are feeding on.
Spittle bug is here as well! this little blighter is very damaging to grass and the plants they choose to live on. The spittle is actually the sap from the plant they are feeding on which is taken in from the stem then excreted out to protect them from birds and to keep them moist.
Get rid of them as they lay eggs every 2 to 4 days. Insecticidal soap spray will get rid of them, it needs to make contact with them and will not kill eggs so keep the spraying up as new spittle bugs appear. If you would like to make your own spray try the recipe below.
Organic spittle bug killer recipe
1/2 cup hot peppers, diced
6 cloves garlic, peeled
2 cups water
2 teaspoons liquid soap (without bleach)
Puree peppers, garlic and water together. Let sit for 24 hours. Strain and mix in the liquid soap. Spray ( not a forceful spray) all parts of the plant, it's the animal fat in the soap that dehydrates the bug so lightly spray off the spittle and make contact with the spray on the bug.
There is still time to get rid of weeds like biddy bid, their seeds are still green and will not spread and grow at this stage, where ever you see it pull it out, don't let the seeds ripen to grow hundreds more all over your garden. Convolvulus is another ramped weed growing right now, it has long runners that form a mat of roots just below the serface of the ground, if even a small section of root is left behind it will grow. Fat-hen is another weed that is not quite ripe yet and needs to be dealt to, all these weeds are easy to pull right now.
Most flag iris have flowered now so large clumps can be broken up and transplanted in a sunny spot. Prepare the bed by digging in fresh compost and some lime then plant, leaving half the root exposed to bake in the sun over summer. Long leaves can be cut half way back to a tent shape to reduce transpiration while reestablishing.
While you can still see where your spring bulbs have been cover them with mulch to stop them drying out over summer, mushroom compost or any clean weed free compost is fine then you can plant annuals on top to fill the gaps. If large clumps of bulbs have flowered poorly this is a good time to break them up and plant out into smaller groups again using fresh compost to give them a good start.
The lawns are really doing their thing now after the moister days we have had, mine are looking good and I have just spot sprayed weeds and daisies as it is a good time while they are actively growing. Put liquid fertiliser in with the weed spry and feed the grass at the same time. Don't use sprayed grass clippings around the garden or in the compost, it is written on the spray container how long the with holding time is.
Some Montana clematis have finished flowering but wait a little longer before trimming back because they have not finished their new growth spurt yet which means if you do it now you will have to do it all over again in a couple of weeks. However wisterias can be dealt to now, if you already have nice strong flowering hard wood branches that flowered well and don't need any more remove all the new long trailers being put out, each and every one of these trailers if left, in time will grow into hard wood branches.
A wisteria is like a climbing tree and will take over and out grow it's place in no time if you let it.
Vegetables:
In the veg garden I have started to dig up the garlic and hang in a cool dry place, and I am picking broad beans which are producing well. Also Picking heaps of gooseberries before the birds get them.
I am madly planting out seedlings that I have grown from seed. The coolest time of the day is the best time to plant seedlings out, you are asking too much off them by planting in the heat of the day.
Don't feed leaf veg now or have the soil too rich, they will put out too much soft growth and bolt, all that is needed is moisture when dry.
I am experimenting with some of the plant concoctions to keep the white butterfly and aphids away.
there are lots of stinging nettle around now so I have followed a recipe which said Cut up 2lb of stinging nettle and leave in water for 24 hours, then sieve, so far so good but I really have not seen too many white butterflies around just yet.... I will let you know the results at a later date. The fish emulsion really dose work on the roses and is the best fertiliser for begonias but may fed the veg to richly I feel.
Cheers, Linda
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
