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