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