We sure have had a taste of winter temperatures this week, not the weather to encourage us into in the garden. The autumn colours are amazing, becoming more intense as this month moves on making up for the lack of warmth.
Time to start bedding the garden down for winter, I have been cutting back summer flowering perennials and annuals which have become long and lanky to clear the ground in readiness for the compost each plant will receive before the pea straw is placed around. The piles of soft plant matter go onto the compost but the stringy hard wood piles are dumped or put through the shredder. The more we can put back on the garden the more the garden benefits. I am leaving the hydrangeas to finish the wonderful autumn show they are offering right now, but have been taking some hard wood cuttings as I cannot get enough of these wonderful plants and it takes a few seasons for cuttings to grow into a good sized bush. Still time for sowing seed out side here on the coast and getting it to prick out size before the days become and growing stops. Once they are pricked out into punnets or pots they will need to be nursed through until spring. Sowing seed now gives you a head start and the seedlings carried through are much stronger and will do better than the new punnets of seedlings on offer come spring. Seeds to sow outside now: Alyssum, aquilegia, calendula, cornflower, perennial lupins, statice, stock, sweet peas. Seeds to sow under cover: Antirrhinum (snap dragon) dianthus, pansy, viola, poppy, scabious, sweet William, pollyanthas, primrose and primulas Lift gladioli and clean corms, after drying dust with flowers of sulpher before storing in old panty hose or paper bags, never plastic.Do not disturb peony roses, just cut back dead tops and lay on top of clumps, if they need divided leave until spring.
Winter roses: will benefit from feeding now, take most shabby old leaves off because they harbour green fly over the cold months, but leave enough to protect the new growth. They can be removed when the flowers come up.
Any one growing tall asters should have had them flowering for a while. If they are falling all over the place and need support you need to remember to trim back the new growth by half at the end of next September. this will make them grow bushier rather than tall.
Make a not on your calendar to do this. I must remember to remind you then. Asters exhaust the soil as the clumps get bigger so divide often when finished flowering.
The lawns are slowing down now, I have given mine a dressing of lime to keep them sweet over winter, lime takes a season to work it's way down and do its job so if put on now the benefits will be had in spring.
Keep off wet lawns as much as possible too much traffic will compact the soil which encourages grass to die off leaving bare patches where grass will not rejuvenate.
If you notice patches of lawn Browning off and the birds showing interest and scratching grass out, you will probably have grass grub eating the roots of the grass. This month is the very last chance you will have to deal to them with grass grub granules, they start their winter hibernation in May. The granules need to be rained or watered in.
Vegetables
Watch pumpkins don't get frosted from now on, if they are big and sound hollow when you knock them they can be picked and sat in a sunny place to ripen more away from the frosts.
Anzac day is traditionally the time to plant broad beans,if you missed that day any time now is good.
Cheers, Linda.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Gardening in North Otago 16th April 2011
Leaves, leaves, leaves so many on the ground and yet to fall, "groan" but to compensate we do have a beautiful gold, red and orange wonder land out here right now.
Most of the leaves turn into good compost but I do not compost oak or walnut leaves, they take too long to break down in my heaps, I burn them and then add the ash. Always good to add lime to Compost heaps now as well, lime will sweeten heaps as they break down over the next few months. I add the compost left over from last years heaps in between layers of leaves and grass clippings and horse or cow manure and water now while the sun is hot to get things cooking enough to keep cooking through the winter months.
Camellias are budding up now and some of mine need opening up to let in light needed for buds to develop well so I have been removing inward facing and cross over branches. I will feed camellias and rhododendrons with acid fertiliser, water in well and mulch soon, then forget about them until they reward me in spring.
Don't feed azaleas now, do this as soon as they have finished flowering.
Prune back perennial wall flowers now to encourage new growth for a good winter flowering. On the coast only, do the same to Marguerite daisies. further inland take hard wood cuttings, pot up and protect over winter as a lot of Marguerite daisy bushes are lost due to continuous frost.
Break up clumps of viola like Maggie Mott and the clumping primula vulgaris, plant sections with root attached into pots or trays, they will grow and clump up from now on ready to be planted out in spring. Both of these make lovely edging plants.
I planted out different shades of ranunculus this week, They are so worth while and a good investment for your garden because the multiply well and give vibrant or soft mid height colour to an early spring garden. Renuculas look very dried up and brittle in the packet when bought, soak them over night and they will become nice and plump before planting. Plant at least five together in groups to get the best effect.
Some lilies become available in shops this month and established clumps may be lifted if necessary, but do not disturb them unless they are very crowded or unsuitably sited. Instead top dress them with a mixture of compost and blood and bone. (A cup full of blood and bone to each bucket of compost. be sure to keep lily bulbs moist while they are out of the ground, roots must never dry out. Almost all lilies need to be planted as deep as three times the height of the bulb. the only exception to this deep planting is the Madonna lily which is planted just below the surface and prefers to be shifted in mid summer straight after flowering. This is also one of the few lilies which also prefers limy soil.
Keep planting evergreen shrubs, still time to get them settled in before winter.
Give evergreen hedges a last trim during this month
Vegetable garden
I have mentioned growing a green crop in vacant areas of the vegetable garden, oats is probably the best one to plant in the autumn, it will grow in no time, dig in while still soft and green.
first timers might like to follow the green manure suggestion of using blue lupin as a nitrogen additive . other wise, use mustard as a good soil conditioner in spring and summer, changing back to oats in the autumn.
Green vegetable seedlings will be targeted by birds right now so best to cover them with strawberry net while small, birds will not be so interested when they plump out a bit.
Broad beans can be planted now, try a little potash in the soil just below the bean when planted, it is said to help prevent rust.
Most of the leaves turn into good compost but I do not compost oak or walnut leaves, they take too long to break down in my heaps, I burn them and then add the ash. Always good to add lime to Compost heaps now as well, lime will sweeten heaps as they break down over the next few months. I add the compost left over from last years heaps in between layers of leaves and grass clippings and horse or cow manure and water now while the sun is hot to get things cooking enough to keep cooking through the winter months.
Camellias are budding up now and some of mine need opening up to let in light needed for buds to develop well so I have been removing inward facing and cross over branches. I will feed camellias and rhododendrons with acid fertiliser, water in well and mulch soon, then forget about them until they reward me in spring.
Don't feed azaleas now, do this as soon as they have finished flowering.
Prune back perennial wall flowers now to encourage new growth for a good winter flowering. On the coast only, do the same to Marguerite daisies. further inland take hard wood cuttings, pot up and protect over winter as a lot of Marguerite daisy bushes are lost due to continuous frost.
Break up clumps of viola like Maggie Mott and the clumping primula vulgaris, plant sections with root attached into pots or trays, they will grow and clump up from now on ready to be planted out in spring. Both of these make lovely edging plants.
I planted out different shades of ranunculus this week, They are so worth while and a good investment for your garden because the multiply well and give vibrant or soft mid height colour to an early spring garden. Renuculas look very dried up and brittle in the packet when bought, soak them over night and they will become nice and plump before planting. Plant at least five together in groups to get the best effect.
Some lilies become available in shops this month and established clumps may be lifted if necessary, but do not disturb them unless they are very crowded or unsuitably sited. Instead top dress them with a mixture of compost and blood and bone. (A cup full of blood and bone to each bucket of compost. be sure to keep lily bulbs moist while they are out of the ground, roots must never dry out. Almost all lilies need to be planted as deep as three times the height of the bulb. the only exception to this deep planting is the Madonna lily which is planted just below the surface and prefers to be shifted in mid summer straight after flowering. This is also one of the few lilies which also prefers limy soil.
Keep planting evergreen shrubs, still time to get them settled in before winter.
Give evergreen hedges a last trim during this month
Vegetable garden
I have mentioned growing a green crop in vacant areas of the vegetable garden, oats is probably the best one to plant in the autumn, it will grow in no time, dig in while still soft and green.
first timers might like to follow the green manure suggestion of using blue lupin as a nitrogen additive . other wise, use mustard as a good soil conditioner in spring and summer, changing back to oats in the autumn.
Green vegetable seedlings will be targeted by birds right now so best to cover them with strawberry net while small, birds will not be so interested when they plump out a bit.
Broad beans can be planted now, try a little potash in the soil just below the bean when planted, it is said to help prevent rust.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Gardening in North Otago 8th April 2011
more rain this week and so cold, the first frost on the coast is not far away.
It's that waiting time of year again, waiting for the deciduous trees and shrubs to put on their spectacular autumn show and then drop their leaves, waiting for plants to finish flowering so I can cut them back, waiting for the roses to make seed and not be tempted to cut them back until pruning time in July. It is important not to dead head them now, I know they can look untidy at this stage.
When a spent bloom sets seed the sap continues to be drawn up to feed these seeds and keep them developing. When this is happening the bud shoots going up the steam are not activated because the sap is bypassing them to get to the seed. If we cut the seed head off the sap will go into making new growth which will be too soft to go through the winter and will most probably die back. this will encourage disease and stunt the growth of the bush. Hard wood is needed for pruning so all I am doing with roses right now is removing and disposing of all the diseased leaves from and around the bushes, plus spraying to prevent the over wintering of rust, black spot and mildew. Guild or super shield is ok for this and will hold the bushes until a lime sulphur spray next month.
It is a good time to shift camellias, rhododendrons and conifers now, if still smallish. Larger conifers and shrubs may need to be trenched now and shifted in the winter. If a lot of roots have been removed in the shifting a third of the top growth should be removed, if you do not do this nature will do it for you.
I sprayed weeds around our garden, drive way, paved areas, and lawns this week. I chose to spray at the end of a warm dry day when weeds were thirsty, already I notice wilting. Frosts will take care of the next lot of weed seeds that germinate so the weed spray can go away now until spring.
If the dampness stays around get the grass grub granules on, the grubs are actively eating grass roots until May and then they go dormant and will re-emerge as the night beetle around November.
There is still time to dethatch lawns and resow thin patches of lawn, the ground is still warm enough to get a strike but not for long the nights are cooling down fast. This is the time I give lawns that have not done well a dressing of sifted compost, about 1/2 a bucket to the sqm working it down to the roots with the back of a rake. It will improve both very light and very compact soils. For really compacted areas gypsum can be added to compost.
In glass houses begin to give plants more light, remove any shading and give plants less water.
Vegetable & fruit
Clean up sprays should be applied to all fruit trees and fruiting shrubs that have shown leaf spots. Super copper or Natures way fungus spray can be used. Any citrus bushes that have shown signs of leaf or fruit spot spray with super copper as well.
Still time to sow a green crop when space becomes available in the vegetable garden, dig in veg gone to seed and annual weeds before they go to seed, it's all good humus.
Keep planting winter veg.
Cover pumpkins still growing if there is frost predicted
Cheers, Linda
It's that waiting time of year again, waiting for the deciduous trees and shrubs to put on their spectacular autumn show and then drop their leaves, waiting for plants to finish flowering so I can cut them back, waiting for the roses to make seed and not be tempted to cut them back until pruning time in July. It is important not to dead head them now, I know they can look untidy at this stage.
When a spent bloom sets seed the sap continues to be drawn up to feed these seeds and keep them developing. When this is happening the bud shoots going up the steam are not activated because the sap is bypassing them to get to the seed. If we cut the seed head off the sap will go into making new growth which will be too soft to go through the winter and will most probably die back. this will encourage disease and stunt the growth of the bush. Hard wood is needed for pruning so all I am doing with roses right now is removing and disposing of all the diseased leaves from and around the bushes, plus spraying to prevent the over wintering of rust, black spot and mildew. Guild or super shield is ok for this and will hold the bushes until a lime sulphur spray next month.
It is a good time to shift camellias, rhododendrons and conifers now, if still smallish. Larger conifers and shrubs may need to be trenched now and shifted in the winter. If a lot of roots have been removed in the shifting a third of the top growth should be removed, if you do not do this nature will do it for you.
I sprayed weeds around our garden, drive way, paved areas, and lawns this week. I chose to spray at the end of a warm dry day when weeds were thirsty, already I notice wilting. Frosts will take care of the next lot of weed seeds that germinate so the weed spray can go away now until spring.
If the dampness stays around get the grass grub granules on, the grubs are actively eating grass roots until May and then they go dormant and will re-emerge as the night beetle around November.
There is still time to dethatch lawns and resow thin patches of lawn, the ground is still warm enough to get a strike but not for long the nights are cooling down fast. This is the time I give lawns that have not done well a dressing of sifted compost, about 1/2 a bucket to the sqm working it down to the roots with the back of a rake. It will improve both very light and very compact soils. For really compacted areas gypsum can be added to compost.
In glass houses begin to give plants more light, remove any shading and give plants less water.
Vegetable & fruit
Clean up sprays should be applied to all fruit trees and fruiting shrubs that have shown leaf spots. Super copper or Natures way fungus spray can be used. Any citrus bushes that have shown signs of leaf or fruit spot spray with super copper as well.
Still time to sow a green crop when space becomes available in the vegetable garden, dig in veg gone to seed and annual weeds before they go to seed, it's all good humus.
Keep planting winter veg.
Cover pumpkins still growing if there is frost predicted
Cheers, Linda
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