Another strange weather week for January just past, Not enough moisture to get down into the ground here on the coast in North Otago, only enough to be a nuisance.
This week I have been keeping on top of the weeds with spray. Gravel walkways and drives are great germinating areas for weed seeds. I need to use round up on the established weeds as have found that organic weed spray works well on weeds at the early stage of growth but I have little success when they get bigger.
The hedges have Had a light trim, overcast days are the best time to do this so that the growth beneath is not stressed by the hot sun. Just a bit of a tidy up at this time of the year.
All plants can do with a good feeding now because they have flowered well since the beginning of Summer, foliage feeding is great, if feeding fertiliser around roots water in well, if left to sit on top it will burn exposed roots.
.
Keep dead heading the roses but, to those new gardeners ( repeating myself I know) dead heading means more than just removing the spent bloom, you must cut down to a new strong bud, usually about 3 buds down from the spent bloom. Remove all old leaves with black spot and rust, don't leave them lying on the ground around the roses. Spray fortnightly with a fungus and pesticide mix as well as liquid fertiliser, (all together is fine) There are some organic options available but the fortnightly ritual must be kept up.
I have been breaking up large clumps of daffodils and bluebells and planting them in areas where needed, it is safe to do this once the green has been used up by the bulbs.
I fed the lawns well while it was raining I plan now to not cut them as low as I have been - I have found if they are encouraged to make top growth grass will develop deeper stronger roots to sustain it, a little sprinkle of water now and then on dry grass will produce weak growth, a good soak and the natural rain will do the job but do not be tempted to scalp once it greens up they still have a long hot Autumn to tolerate yet.
Nip back the growth on grapes to let the sun in and to stunt leaf growth, the fruit needs all the vine can give now to ripen.
I have been digging potatoes and do not want the dug space to fill with weeds so I have raked the bare areas and planted barley to grow and then dig in while soft and green, this well add humus to the soil and keep it covered until I am ready to plant a winter crop of veg soon.
Cheers, Linda.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Gardening in North Otago 21st January 2011
Sunshine for only a couple of days in the past week to remind the garden it is actually summer. All this overcast damp weather is not good for roses. Just as well most rose bushes and climbers have been cut back to encourage the second flowering. Those flowering can, and will soon rot at opening bud stage in this overcast weather. Remove damaged buds and flowers and cut back to a new outside bud to start all over again.
Spray roses on a dry day with a fungus spray to keep mildew under control. The plants that seem to have suffered the most in the drying winds we have been having, are rhododendrons and hydrangeas. I have had to buy a large bale of peat to spread around the roots and water in. I mixed it with some vermicast to make it go further. A good long soak is best for a dry Rhododendron and then a shift to another more suitable location in the garden if the area in which it is growing is too dry for it. Once another spot has been found to transplant it to, dig a hole twice as large as needed and half fill with peat. Soak the peat and sit the rhododendron, spreading roots on top. Push the wet peat around the rhodo roots, cover with soil and mulch with wet straw or un-sprayed grass clippings. Once recovered, the rodo will probably show signs of stress next season, by developing brown tips on its leaves. This is ok, if you know the Rhododendron is doing better in the new location. Just cut the brown tips off. The hydrangeas are staying in bud longer in my garden, which I do not mind, but in this soft stage they dry out and wilt in a strong wind, so it is important to keep the water up to them right through Summer - they will reward you well.
It is not unusual for some deciduous trees and plants to lose all their summer leaves in dry windy conditions and then grow another lot. If there are still signs of green when you break a twig, you will know that your bush or tree is still alive and will probably recover. If the twig is brittle and snaps off then you have lost it. Mulching is so important now to take the garden into what could be a long dry Autumn. All bulbs that have died down will need a good watering and mulched to hold the moisture in. From now on is when bulbs dry out and whole clumps can disappear if they get too dry for too long. I have been cutting lavenders and bunching for drying. If you have very woody lavenders, it's a good time right now to cut them right back almost to the ground. They will regrow fresh and bushy and make hard wood again before winter.
Keep cutting back all early summer perennials and shrubs before they make seed. Cutting will promote a new lot of blooms, but remember to feed what you cut back because they will need it to make the new growth required of them.
Lawn weeds can be sprayed out during dry overcast days. Use the product at the suggested strength and consider spot spraying for the sake of the worms. If too heavy handed even the grass will be affected. There are a few different lawn weed sprays on offer, even one that weeds and feeds at the same time.
The best time to put dry fertiliser onto lawns, is when rain is promised to wash it in. Any patches left exposed to the hot sun will leave burnt patches. I have been having great success with Nitrofoska on the lawns. It seems not to be too detrimental on the grass, if a bit patchy after the rain and it keeps the lawns dark green.
The lack of sunshine and the strong winds have been hard on the fruit and berries. The apricots, plums and peaches are not ripening and the apples and black currants are littered beneath with fruit blown off. The root vegetables is growing but my potato tops are leggy and not producing flowers as they should. My corn and pumpkins will need to hurry up for the growing season to be long enough for them. Looking back through my notes, this has been the growing pattern for the last five years, if as is told this happens in seven year cycles we have two years to go!!
Keep rotating root and leaf vegetables to get the best results, i.e Where carrots have been growing, plant lettuce.
I have just sown carrots and parsnips. They should hold to be dug when the frost begin.
Cheers Linda
Spray roses on a dry day with a fungus spray to keep mildew under control. The plants that seem to have suffered the most in the drying winds we have been having, are rhododendrons and hydrangeas. I have had to buy a large bale of peat to spread around the roots and water in. I mixed it with some vermicast to make it go further. A good long soak is best for a dry Rhododendron and then a shift to another more suitable location in the garden if the area in which it is growing is too dry for it. Once another spot has been found to transplant it to, dig a hole twice as large as needed and half fill with peat. Soak the peat and sit the rhododendron, spreading roots on top. Push the wet peat around the rhodo roots, cover with soil and mulch with wet straw or un-sprayed grass clippings. Once recovered, the rodo will probably show signs of stress next season, by developing brown tips on its leaves. This is ok, if you know the Rhododendron is doing better in the new location. Just cut the brown tips off. The hydrangeas are staying in bud longer in my garden, which I do not mind, but in this soft stage they dry out and wilt in a strong wind, so it is important to keep the water up to them right through Summer - they will reward you well.
It is not unusual for some deciduous trees and plants to lose all their summer leaves in dry windy conditions and then grow another lot. If there are still signs of green when you break a twig, you will know that your bush or tree is still alive and will probably recover. If the twig is brittle and snaps off then you have lost it. Mulching is so important now to take the garden into what could be a long dry Autumn. All bulbs that have died down will need a good watering and mulched to hold the moisture in. From now on is when bulbs dry out and whole clumps can disappear if they get too dry for too long. I have been cutting lavenders and bunching for drying. If you have very woody lavenders, it's a good time right now to cut them right back almost to the ground. They will regrow fresh and bushy and make hard wood again before winter.
Keep cutting back all early summer perennials and shrubs before they make seed. Cutting will promote a new lot of blooms, but remember to feed what you cut back because they will need it to make the new growth required of them.
Lawn weeds can be sprayed out during dry overcast days. Use the product at the suggested strength and consider spot spraying for the sake of the worms. If too heavy handed even the grass will be affected. There are a few different lawn weed sprays on offer, even one that weeds and feeds at the same time.
The best time to put dry fertiliser onto lawns, is when rain is promised to wash it in. Any patches left exposed to the hot sun will leave burnt patches. I have been having great success with Nitrofoska on the lawns. It seems not to be too detrimental on the grass, if a bit patchy after the rain and it keeps the lawns dark green.
The lack of sunshine and the strong winds have been hard on the fruit and berries. The apricots, plums and peaches are not ripening and the apples and black currants are littered beneath with fruit blown off. The root vegetables is growing but my potato tops are leggy and not producing flowers as they should. My corn and pumpkins will need to hurry up for the growing season to be long enough for them. Looking back through my notes, this has been the growing pattern for the last five years, if as is told this happens in seven year cycles we have two years to go!!
Keep rotating root and leaf vegetables to get the best results, i.e Where carrots have been growing, plant lettuce.
I have just sown carrots and parsnips. They should hold to be dug when the frost begin.
Cheers Linda
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Gardening in North Otago 12th January 2011
Happy New gardening year to all.
What a strange January we are having, dull days but when the sun is out it is sooo hot. This weather is kinder on plants than baking hot weather but the lack of sun is evident in most plants flowering ability. The roses are beginning to get mold in their leaves and buds which is usual when sun is limited, keep the fungus spry up to them to hold them until they see the sun again. Don't use sprinklers in this overcast weather, keep plants leaves as dry as possible. Deep watering around the roots is what I recommend to keep fungus at bay.All my roses have had a summer pruning after their first flowering, cut a spent flower stem down to an out facing bud on a thick part of stem. If it is just the flower cut off the remaining stem it will die back to the first bud which will be on the thin part of the stem which will be too weak to support new blooms.
Cut back summer flowering perennials and shrubs to encourage continuous flowering, I have just cut back my daisy bushes, delphiniums, lavaterias, dianthus, lupins and most of the herbs because they were all going to seed. Feed with slow release or a liquid fertiliser, they will all come back fresh and most will flower again.
I have cut some chrysanthemums back for the second time, they flower in the autumn on shorter steams by doing this. I cut some back 3 times before I let them flower. Plant some tip growth from chrysanthemums into river sand and they should root, plant out and next year they will be a clump like the Mother plant. Put stakes in now to support all Chrysanthemums.
Foliar feeding is very important to encourage fresh new growth after cutting back anything at this dry time of the year.
If we get another decent rain out of all this overcast weather feed the lawns and they will bounce back like fresh spring lawns.
I cannot believe how long it is taking my apricots and peaches to ripen, I remember it was the same last year, even my plums are taking a while . The gooseberries and black currents did well with those nice warm days we had earlier on and with out the hot weather now I have not had to rush to pick them.
The vegetable garden is doing fine, no sun, no bolting. My lettuces are just sitting waiting on me to pick them, but the corn is very slow and my main crop potatoes are taking their time to flower and I find myself telling the pumpkins to hurry up as they and corn need a long hot ripening season.
Keep planting all veg , we have the best growing and ripening time ahead.
Cheers, Linda
What a strange January we are having, dull days but when the sun is out it is sooo hot. This weather is kinder on plants than baking hot weather but the lack of sun is evident in most plants flowering ability. The roses are beginning to get mold in their leaves and buds which is usual when sun is limited, keep the fungus spry up to them to hold them until they see the sun again. Don't use sprinklers in this overcast weather, keep plants leaves as dry as possible. Deep watering around the roots is what I recommend to keep fungus at bay.All my roses have had a summer pruning after their first flowering, cut a spent flower stem down to an out facing bud on a thick part of stem. If it is just the flower cut off the remaining stem it will die back to the first bud which will be on the thin part of the stem which will be too weak to support new blooms.
Cut back summer flowering perennials and shrubs to encourage continuous flowering, I have just cut back my daisy bushes, delphiniums, lavaterias, dianthus, lupins and most of the herbs because they were all going to seed. Feed with slow release or a liquid fertiliser, they will all come back fresh and most will flower again.
I have cut some chrysanthemums back for the second time, they flower in the autumn on shorter steams by doing this. I cut some back 3 times before I let them flower. Plant some tip growth from chrysanthemums into river sand and they should root, plant out and next year they will be a clump like the Mother plant. Put stakes in now to support all Chrysanthemums.
Foliar feeding is very important to encourage fresh new growth after cutting back anything at this dry time of the year.
If we get another decent rain out of all this overcast weather feed the lawns and they will bounce back like fresh spring lawns.
I cannot believe how long it is taking my apricots and peaches to ripen, I remember it was the same last year, even my plums are taking a while . The gooseberries and black currents did well with those nice warm days we had earlier on and with out the hot weather now I have not had to rush to pick them.
The vegetable garden is doing fine, no sun, no bolting. My lettuces are just sitting waiting on me to pick them, but the corn is very slow and my main crop potatoes are taking their time to flower and I find myself telling the pumpkins to hurry up as they and corn need a long hot ripening season.
Keep planting all veg , we have the best growing and ripening time ahead.
Cheers, Linda
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Gardening in North Otago 17th December 2010
Great growing weather with the warmth and the little rain from time to time through the week. How fortunate we are to have had that down pour yesterday, I was out in the rain with the fertiliser for the gardens and lawns.
When it gets dry again soak hoses are great for deep soaking, they drip away continuously there is no water waste, the water goes where it is needed.
This week has been another cutting back time for me, late spring and early summer perennials and annuals that are past their best. Once they have been cut back I am left with gaps which I have been topping up with, yes you guessed it, sifted soil! . The plants which I have cut back are already starting to bush up again with fresh new growth and will soon fill out, enjoy the new soil and cover the unsightly gaps.
My delphiniums have grown so tall and strong this year they pushed over the supports I put around them, its hard to stand them up again with out breaking them and ending up with them looking a bit wonkey. I have been just cutting them back to the point where they have broken and I guess they will put out the smaller flower heads they send up once the main bloom has been taken. A dressing of blood & bone or slow release fertiliser and a good soaking will help them last longer looking good.
Well it is count down time now for Christmas and the end of another busy year for most.The garden I am sure will be taking a back seat for everyone. If you are going away pop all your pot plants in the bath with a little water to keep them going and baskets and manageable pots around the to the shady side of the house until your return.
Dead head as many roses as you can so they can get going on their second flowering, deep water and mulch if you have the time. Then let the garden look after it's self while you have a well deserved break.
Vegetable garden:
So much is ready for picking in the veg garden right now, cover the black current and rasberry bushes from the birds if you are heading off for a few days and give away from your garden what you cannot use. How wonderful it would be to receive a basket full of fresh produce just before Christmas.
I would like to thank the Lady who kindly rung to alert us about seeing sheep in our garden as she drove past, (she did not leave her name), we managed to get them back where they belonged and thanks to you there was no damage done.
Thats it from me for this year, our tree is ready and waiting for the pitter- patter of many tiny feet on Christmas morning and not one of them will need to hunt for Nana in the garden.
I wish everyone a very happy Christmas and all the very best for 2011.
When it gets dry again soak hoses are great for deep soaking, they drip away continuously there is no water waste, the water goes where it is needed.
This week has been another cutting back time for me, late spring and early summer perennials and annuals that are past their best. Once they have been cut back I am left with gaps which I have been topping up with, yes you guessed it, sifted soil! . The plants which I have cut back are already starting to bush up again with fresh new growth and will soon fill out, enjoy the new soil and cover the unsightly gaps.
My delphiniums have grown so tall and strong this year they pushed over the supports I put around them, its hard to stand them up again with out breaking them and ending up with them looking a bit wonkey. I have been just cutting them back to the point where they have broken and I guess they will put out the smaller flower heads they send up once the main bloom has been taken. A dressing of blood & bone or slow release fertiliser and a good soaking will help them last longer looking good.
Well it is count down time now for Christmas and the end of another busy year for most.The garden I am sure will be taking a back seat for everyone. If you are going away pop all your pot plants in the bath with a little water to keep them going and baskets and manageable pots around the to the shady side of the house until your return.
Dead head as many roses as you can so they can get going on their second flowering, deep water and mulch if you have the time. Then let the garden look after it's self while you have a well deserved break.
Vegetable garden:
So much is ready for picking in the veg garden right now, cover the black current and rasberry bushes from the birds if you are heading off for a few days and give away from your garden what you cannot use. How wonderful it would be to receive a basket full of fresh produce just before Christmas.
I would like to thank the Lady who kindly rung to alert us about seeing sheep in our garden as she drove past, (she did not leave her name), we managed to get them back where they belonged and thanks to you there was no damage done.
Thats it from me for this year, our tree is ready and waiting for the pitter- patter of many tiny feet on Christmas morning and not one of them will need to hunt for Nana in the garden.
I wish everyone a very happy Christmas and all the very best for 2011.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
