September already!! and what lovely mild days we have been enjoying but if other Septembers are anything to go by we should have a few more frosts yet.
My early magnolia Star Wars is in spectacular bloom right now but it will take only one good frost to spoil every bloom by turning them brown which is such a shame because these large baby pink blooms have been nursed in soft fury buds for quite some time.
Weeds have made a start with these unusually warm days,I have been pulling out chick weed and sticky biddy bid weed before they get a hold and I have been addressing flat weeds by spraying on the non windy days, zap them while they are small and the result is much better.
For paved areas and drive ways that have been cleaned of weeds there is a product call Ronstar that can be used to stop new seeds germinating. it comes in a granulated form and you sprinkle it on like salt. Concentrate on the cracks where weeds grow. it will have no effect growing leaves and roots but makes the ground sterile to stop seed germination.
Roses are leafing up now so start spraying with combination insecticide / fungicide spray like Shield at 10 day intervals. Add folia food at the same time, I use natures way organic sprays. Don't spray while the sun is at its strongest, the leaves are still very soft and tender and can be burned with hot sun shinning through droplets.
KEEP UP THE WATER AND FOOD TO ROSES FROM NOW ON, this is the best way to keep them healthy.
Two weeks ago I planted seeds and they have already popped through the soil, now it's just a matter of keeping an eye on the weather and nursing them until they are strong and can stand alone.
Enjoy the beautiful spring blooms but start thinking summer colour now... this is where you can paint your own picture in your garden.
Hot colours to zaz up an area or whites silvers and greens to tone down harsh background colours.
Where there is dirt fill with flowers, or weeds will grow instead. I plan to smother the garden with flowers. For low maintenance gardens with shrubs and bark cover you can create pockets of colour between the shrubs by scraping away the bark and with a craft knife cut a section of weed mat on 2 sides to a point, fold it under at the point edge and fill the dirt gap with annuals then replace the bark around them. Once they have finished flowering remove before they seed and pull the folded flap of weed mat back over the area then re- bark. A splash of colour among green shrubberies makes all the difference.
This weekend I will be ridding the pond of most of the oxygen weed, while the water is still too cold for fish to breed. I will leave enough weed for the female fish to blow their eggs into. If you wait to do this until the water is warmer you will be removing fish eggs with the weed. If you have a small pond and can catch the large fish I would remove them once you think eggs have been laid. Breeding starts when fish chase each other around the pond, when the chasing stops the eggs have been laid. By removing the big fish and putting them into a make shift pond (always filling with the original pond water) you will be removing the large predators who eat the eggs if they find them or eat the baby fish when they hatch out. Leaving the pond to grow all the baby fish to a size that the big fish will leave alone. A baby gold fish starts it's life a tiny grey fish as a camouflage, much smaller than a whitebait and changes to gold / orange when big enough to be out of danger from the bigger gold fish.
Vegetables & Fruit
I have put some corn and pumpkin seeds in which I will nurse for as long as it takes once they are up. I find the summer season to be too short for these two veg to ripen so an early start is the only thing that works here in my garden.
It is also the time to sow tomatoes seeds for the glass house right now, but don't let
seeds or plants go into the night cold and wet do the watering early in the day.
Fruit trees are beginning to blossom and if the sun keeps shinning the bees will be about to do their job.
Cheers, Linda http://nzstyleforever.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Gardening in North Otago 27th August 2011
How lovely it has been this week, nice sunny days to help spring come to life.
The Garden centers are filling up with wonderful well grown bedding plants, some even in flower which makes me think they will need protection in the garden when planted out while frosts are around. The best idea is to buy while there is a good selection on offer and hold them in a sheltered place to harden off for a week or two before planting out.
Roses on sale now are all leafing up in their bags, it is still ok to plant them for a while yet while the ground is moist and cold. They will be making feeder roots into the potting mix in their bags so planting will need to done carefully from now on so not to disturb those new feeder roots.
Trees and shrubs
There are some lovely magnolias and michelia's on offer now as well, they are all in bud and look as if they need hardened off before planting, to get plants to look as good as that this early in the South Island they will have had some pretty special growing conditions. One lovely small magnolia I noticed was called Fairy blush, it is an evergreen which grows bushier and smaller than the original grandiflora magnolias. This one can be grown as a hedge or in a large pot. magnolias resent having their fleshy roots disturbed so be very careful when planting.Also keep an eye out for flowering camellias and rhododendrons now in the garden centers, most are showing buds and flowers, this is the time to choose the right shades for your garden
Lawns
It will not be to long before lawns start growing again, if there is any hint of rain I will be feeding mine with nitrophoska blue which I have found is a great boost for grass coming back from winter conditions. it requires being watered in before it can become available to roots and rain is best for this. Lawn fertilisers will burn grass and roots if left sitting on dry lawn.
Herbs
With the popular modern cooking trend these days a kitchen herb garden is a pleasure to grow and have close to the house.
It is wonderful to be able to pluck needed herbs from your kitchen garden like parsley, thyme, sage, rosemary, bay, basil, to name just a few. Herbs grow happily together and all like the same growing conditions, full sun and a well nourished good draining sweet soil. This means they can grow in a small area or even a large deep good draining container. A dressing of lime in winter will sweeten the soil in time for their growing season, mid spring through to winter.
Rosemary being a woody herb will produce strong roots that will encroach on softer growing herbs so in small herb gardens plant this in the top a bucket with the bottom cut out and buried in the ground. The bucket will contain the roots. Mint can be contained this way as well.
Never plant lemon balm in a kitchen herb garden because in no time at all it will spread and choke every other plant. Best planted in a container.
Tall plants like pineapple sage, fennel and upright rosemary can be planted as a low hedge divider if you wanted to section off an area in the veg garden for herbs. A standard bay planted at each end of a herb divider hedge looks good.
Vegetables
Its all on now for sowing as many seeds as you have room for and planting leaf veg before the white butterfly's arrive here on the coast,
keep the hoe moving between rows to keep weeds down, this movement will keep soil warmer.
Protection will still be needed further inland.
Seed Potatoes are available now for sprouting – place on a tray in a dry area for a couple of weeks until the ‘eyes’ are at least 2cm long. Early varieties around now include Swift, Rocket and Cliffs Kidney
Onions – spring, red or the popular Pukekohe ‘Long Keeper’ can be planted now, provided the soil is draining well.
Last weekend I cut back the leaves on strawberries that fruited for the first time last summer, added manure enriched compost to existing plants then planted out a few new runner plants. I created a raised strawberry bed last year by using two logs high edging to raise the bed up higher than ground level, Strawberry plants benefit from manure buried in shallow trenches along the side of the rows then when they start growing a dressing of fertiliser high in potash for good fruit development.
Putting out runners weakens a strawberry plant, best to remove the runners before new growth begins. I don't keep plants any longer that two fruiting seasons and always plant a bed of new runner plants which will take place of the second year fruiting plants once removed.
Cheers, Linda
The Garden centers are filling up with wonderful well grown bedding plants, some even in flower which makes me think they will need protection in the garden when planted out while frosts are around. The best idea is to buy while there is a good selection on offer and hold them in a sheltered place to harden off for a week or two before planting out.
Roses on sale now are all leafing up in their bags, it is still ok to plant them for a while yet while the ground is moist and cold. They will be making feeder roots into the potting mix in their bags so planting will need to done carefully from now on so not to disturb those new feeder roots.
Trees and shrubs
There are some lovely magnolias and michelia's on offer now as well, they are all in bud and look as if they need hardened off before planting, to get plants to look as good as that this early in the South Island they will have had some pretty special growing conditions. One lovely small magnolia I noticed was called Fairy blush, it is an evergreen which grows bushier and smaller than the original grandiflora magnolias. This one can be grown as a hedge or in a large pot. magnolias resent having their fleshy roots disturbed so be very careful when planting.Also keep an eye out for flowering camellias and rhododendrons now in the garden centers, most are showing buds and flowers, this is the time to choose the right shades for your garden
Lawns
It will not be to long before lawns start growing again, if there is any hint of rain I will be feeding mine with nitrophoska blue which I have found is a great boost for grass coming back from winter conditions. it requires being watered in before it can become available to roots and rain is best for this. Lawn fertilisers will burn grass and roots if left sitting on dry lawn.
Herbs
With the popular modern cooking trend these days a kitchen herb garden is a pleasure to grow and have close to the house.
It is wonderful to be able to pluck needed herbs from your kitchen garden like parsley, thyme, sage, rosemary, bay, basil, to name just a few. Herbs grow happily together and all like the same growing conditions, full sun and a well nourished good draining sweet soil. This means they can grow in a small area or even a large deep good draining container. A dressing of lime in winter will sweeten the soil in time for their growing season, mid spring through to winter.
Rosemary being a woody herb will produce strong roots that will encroach on softer growing herbs so in small herb gardens plant this in the top a bucket with the bottom cut out and buried in the ground. The bucket will contain the roots. Mint can be contained this way as well.
Never plant lemon balm in a kitchen herb garden because in no time at all it will spread and choke every other plant. Best planted in a container.
Tall plants like pineapple sage, fennel and upright rosemary can be planted as a low hedge divider if you wanted to section off an area in the veg garden for herbs. A standard bay planted at each end of a herb divider hedge looks good.
Vegetables
Its all on now for sowing as many seeds as you have room for and planting leaf veg before the white butterfly's arrive here on the coast,
keep the hoe moving between rows to keep weeds down, this movement will keep soil warmer.
Protection will still be needed further inland.
Seed Potatoes are available now for sprouting – place on a tray in a dry area for a couple of weeks until the ‘eyes’ are at least 2cm long. Early varieties around now include Swift, Rocket and Cliffs Kidney
Onions – spring, red or the popular Pukekohe ‘Long Keeper’ can be planted now, provided the soil is draining well.
Last weekend I cut back the leaves on strawberries that fruited for the first time last summer, added manure enriched compost to existing plants then planted out a few new runner plants. I created a raised strawberry bed last year by using two logs high edging to raise the bed up higher than ground level, Strawberry plants benefit from manure buried in shallow trenches along the side of the rows then when they start growing a dressing of fertiliser high in potash for good fruit development.
Putting out runners weakens a strawberry plant, best to remove the runners before new growth begins. I don't keep plants any longer that two fruiting seasons and always plant a bed of new runner plants which will take place of the second year fruiting plants once removed.
Cheers, Linda
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Gardening in North Otago 16th August 2011
Ohhh yes the forecasters were right, that was a polar blast! and boy did it set people back from normal day to day living. But from the garden and land point of view surely a good dollop of snow is just what a known drought area like North Otago needs. A good deep watering will come from this and the benefits will be obvious in the spring through to early summer. It is still very wet and sticky under foot but plants and new lambs are pushing on and making it feel more like spring everyday.
This week I have been doing inside stuff but did manage a bit of the final winter clean up around the gardens I don't mulch with pea straw.,These gardens get a covering of the lovely black compost we get each year from the Pukuiri freezing works, which allows the bluebells, and daffodils to take center stage for the next couple of months. I do have pea straw in other areas where bulbs are growing and now that I can see where where they are popping up I push it away from them so light can get to them.
It is at this time of the year I notice yellowing of some plants, the ground gets depleted of nitrogen during winter especially when plants are shallow rooted like camellia and rhododendrons, and potted plants with a lot of roots trapped out grow the container. With applications of complete plant food and compost this condition will be rectified, with all the slow release fertilisers on offer now it's makes it easy, each time it rains or you water food is released to the plant.
Trim back ornamental grass's now, cut back the old seeded ends and clean out the dead thatch around the base, its amazing how much you will need to cart away after this hair cut but they will look wonderful and will grow back to their soft wafting shape in no time. Use what you have cut off as mulch around the garden, a cover for the compost or in the chook or calf shed if you have any.
Lawns
After all the snow & rain moss will thrive in lawns, pathways and garden structures. There are a lot of products out there to deal with moss but killing the moss in lawns is simply a short term measure they do nothing by way of treating the basic problem of moss in lawns. They simply kill the moss which is there. It will return
If you really want to eradicate moss from your lawn, then you have to find out the actual problem that is causing it, the reasons are various, but not too difficult to isolate. Moss is a sign that something is basically wrong with your lawn.
Things that would be causing moss in your lawn could be:
Water logging - in winter or summer.
Poor feeding regime - usually shown by light green grass.
Soil too acid - carry out a test, lime may be needed.
Shaded Lawns - overhanging trees or large shrubs.
Mowing lawns too close is a very common cause, for it weakens the grass allowing moss to take hold
Drought - if severe enough to harm or kill the grass. Not to be confused with a bit of summer-browning
Sandy - free-draining soils. This can weaken the grass and allow moss to take over. Some mosses are quite happy in these conditions. Add humus (compost or sieved soil) to add more body and rake in, this will encourage worms as well.
Compaction - continued use by children and pets with no remedial attention by way of aeration in the Autumn.
Generally, lawns that are well maintained - which includes being well fed, cut properly, aerated and de-thatched - problems which result in moss will not occur in the first place. Moss rarely competes with strong growing grass in lawns. Get the grass growing properly starting with the first spring feeding when temperatures rise soon. Slow release grass fertliser is ideal when the ground is wet and rain is about.
Treating small areas of lawn moss can be carried out with sulphate of iron watered on at the strength displayed on the pack per sq meter. After a couple of weeks you can rake out the dead moss and re-seed.
Vegetables
Pick winter crops while still at their best - Fold cauliflower leaves over and tie to protect from frost and keep florets tight.
Asparagus is a vegetable that repays planting over many years. To prepare beds cultivate deeply and add generous amounts of compost. Existing asparagus beds should be cultivated carefully to avoid damaging the crowns that lie just below the surface, add a new layer of mulch.
Here on the coast get spring sowings off to an early start now, use a row of cloches or a stretch of clear polythene to warm and dry out the soil.
Further inland the soil will take a bit of thawing out before any planting Can be done.
Fruit
My peach trees are just at bud burst right now so I am waiting for the rain to stop to enable me me to spray with a copper spray which will help with leaf curl.
If you have not already pruned your peach or nectarine tree I will run through how to go about it although it is late enough with the sap up and trees coming into blossom.
1. For the glass shape pick four main scaffold branches and simplify, cut larger branches needing removed close to the trunk, leaving a collar will encourage tree borer.
2. Remove small weak upright branches on trunk or main branches.
3. Leave 50 to 75 pencil thick shooting wood per tree.
Both peach and nectarine fruit on wood developed last summer. Inspect the buds on newer wood, single buds are leaf buds, double buds are immature fruit buds and triple buds are mature fruit buds. Cut to an outward facing double bud, try to leave triples.
Citrus are susceptible to water logging so remove saucers from under potted lemon bushes while it is so wet and always ensure that your bushes in the ground have good drainage and are not sitting in a puddle of water.
Cheers, Linda
This week I have been doing inside stuff but did manage a bit of the final winter clean up around the gardens I don't mulch with pea straw.,These gardens get a covering of the lovely black compost we get each year from the Pukuiri freezing works, which allows the bluebells, and daffodils to take center stage for the next couple of months. I do have pea straw in other areas where bulbs are growing and now that I can see where where they are popping up I push it away from them so light can get to them.
It is at this time of the year I notice yellowing of some plants, the ground gets depleted of nitrogen during winter especially when plants are shallow rooted like camellia and rhododendrons, and potted plants with a lot of roots trapped out grow the container. With applications of complete plant food and compost this condition will be rectified, with all the slow release fertilisers on offer now it's makes it easy, each time it rains or you water food is released to the plant.
Trim back ornamental grass's now, cut back the old seeded ends and clean out the dead thatch around the base, its amazing how much you will need to cart away after this hair cut but they will look wonderful and will grow back to their soft wafting shape in no time. Use what you have cut off as mulch around the garden, a cover for the compost or in the chook or calf shed if you have any.
Lawns
After all the snow & rain moss will thrive in lawns, pathways and garden structures. There are a lot of products out there to deal with moss but killing the moss in lawns is simply a short term measure they do nothing by way of treating the basic problem of moss in lawns. They simply kill the moss which is there. It will return
If you really want to eradicate moss from your lawn, then you have to find out the actual problem that is causing it, the reasons are various, but not too difficult to isolate. Moss is a sign that something is basically wrong with your lawn.
Things that would be causing moss in your lawn could be:
Water logging - in winter or summer.
Poor feeding regime - usually shown by light green grass.
Soil too acid - carry out a test, lime may be needed.
Shaded Lawns - overhanging trees or large shrubs.
Mowing lawns too close is a very common cause, for it weakens the grass allowing moss to take hold
Drought - if severe enough to harm or kill the grass. Not to be confused with a bit of summer-browning
Sandy - free-draining soils. This can weaken the grass and allow moss to take over. Some mosses are quite happy in these conditions. Add humus (compost or sieved soil) to add more body and rake in, this will encourage worms as well.
Compaction - continued use by children and pets with no remedial attention by way of aeration in the Autumn.
Generally, lawns that are well maintained - which includes being well fed, cut properly, aerated and de-thatched - problems which result in moss will not occur in the first place. Moss rarely competes with strong growing grass in lawns. Get the grass growing properly starting with the first spring feeding when temperatures rise soon. Slow release grass fertliser is ideal when the ground is wet and rain is about.
Treating small areas of lawn moss can be carried out with sulphate of iron watered on at the strength displayed on the pack per sq meter. After a couple of weeks you can rake out the dead moss and re-seed.
Vegetables
Pick winter crops while still at their best - Fold cauliflower leaves over and tie to protect from frost and keep florets tight.
Asparagus is a vegetable that repays planting over many years. To prepare beds cultivate deeply and add generous amounts of compost. Existing asparagus beds should be cultivated carefully to avoid damaging the crowns that lie just below the surface, add a new layer of mulch.
Here on the coast get spring sowings off to an early start now, use a row of cloches or a stretch of clear polythene to warm and dry out the soil.
Further inland the soil will take a bit of thawing out before any planting Can be done.
Fruit
My peach trees are just at bud burst right now so I am waiting for the rain to stop to enable me me to spray with a copper spray which will help with leaf curl.
If you have not already pruned your peach or nectarine tree I will run through how to go about it although it is late enough with the sap up and trees coming into blossom.
1. For the glass shape pick four main scaffold branches and simplify, cut larger branches needing removed close to the trunk, leaving a collar will encourage tree borer.
2. Remove small weak upright branches on trunk or main branches.
3. Leave 50 to 75 pencil thick shooting wood per tree.
Both peach and nectarine fruit on wood developed last summer. Inspect the buds on newer wood, single buds are leaf buds, double buds are immature fruit buds and triple buds are mature fruit buds. Cut to an outward facing double bud, try to leave triples.
Citrus are susceptible to water logging so remove saucers from under potted lemon bushes while it is so wet and always ensure that your bushes in the ground have good drainage and are not sitting in a puddle of water.
Cheers, Linda
Friday, August 12, 2011
Gardening in North Otago 10th August 2011
So much is beginning to awaken in the garden, I feel spring in the air with the fragrance from winter sweet, witch hazel and Daphne wafting to the music of Chopin around our garden. The birds are beginning to nest and my first jonquils have opened. I do love the beginning of a new growing season as you can surely to tell!
After months of hard stuff going on in this garden it is now time to create and dress the garden by planting out, feeding and watering. I have been liquid feeding with worm juice from my worm farm, which I add at black tea strength to a full watering can then apply generously to all new leaf and budding plants like pollyantha's, forget-me-nots, dianthus, sweet peas, pansy, viola and winter roses. Helping them along with feeding now will get their roots going and keep them green and strong through the cold snaps yet to come.
Slow release fertiliser is a great idea now as well, sprinkle around established ornamental and newly planted trees and shrubs to be there ready when the plants needs food.
This week the chain-saw was on the go again removing shrubs that had become woody and trees too close to each other, I look forward to filling all the gaps and creating a new look.
While on the go I set to cutting back my wigelias and spirea, removing all the old branches that have flowed long enough, you can tell which branches they are because the wood looks really old and spent compared to the new fresh wood there ready and waiting to take their place.
A few more hydrangeas have been prunned as nice fat buds are swelling on the stems. Cut only those stems that have flowered at the second bud from the bottom, leave all other stems because these are the flowers for this year.
Grow some cuttings from the hardened hydrangea, flowered steams which have been removed. A shaded moist area is best for planting these and hopefully roots will grow to feed the buds on the cuttings. Some times I get good results by covering the cuttings with a box keeping the light out which holds the buds back to encourage roots.
I have also been taking cuttings from the hardened off geranium steams, fresh grown geraniums give amazing colour to a warm sunny garden for all of the growing season and even into the winter, they are so easy to grow from cuttings. Take short cuttings with semi hard wood, (not a new green steam) and let them dry out a little before planting them, which means you don't have to deal with them straight away. plant them into a soil and river sand mix and firm down, Potting mix is too light to get a tight seal around the cutting. I am forever taking cuttings from geraniums I like when I come across them in friends gardens, and giving cuttings from mine.
Trim dentata lavender now, (that's the tall growing hedging lavender with bumblebee flowers) as they are budding up now ready to burst into flower, but leave trimming other lavenders a little longer. All lavenders like sweetening up with a little lime,
Cut back bush lavatera now also, they get very woody if left.
Dahlias, gladioli, and peonies are still available in the Garden centers this month, they can be planted from now until September.
Apply a dressing of Rose Food to establish Rose's and Water in well.
Vegetables & fruit
Fruit Trees are still available in most Garden Centres. If you think your garden is too small for fruit trees, I have seen dwarf Peach and Nectarine Trees on offer. What better if you need a little tree to add height in an area of your garden, why not have one that blossoms beautifully and then gives you fruit.They are perfect for the smaller garden as they only grow to a width and height of 1.5 metres. They can also be grown in a tub and require very little pruning.
The vegetable garden is still enjoying a frost or two, although my raised gardens are in such a sunny location I would have liked a few harder frosts to break up the soil. I am still digging carrots and using silver beet and broccoli, and the leeks are growing well, it is so good not to have to worry about the bugs during these colder months. If your veg garden is still cold and frosty there is not much for you to do apart from adding some compost and a little lime in readiness for when you plant out later this month.
I have finished pruning my wine grapes - this year I have had to remove some old leaders, replacing them with new growth leaders along wires. The result of this will be vertical budding and fruiting next year. To prune a fruiting leader remove all new long growth on the vine other than the fruiting leader, on the leaders prune each new growth back to the second bud. These fruiting buds should be around a hand space apart to ensure adequate sized fruit, this means removing some of the new bud growth along the top of the leader and all of the new bud growth growing underneath. Some of these new budding top growths will throw two lots of bud branch, remove the least stronger one leaving only one lot of double buds to produce fruit.
I see the bees at work already which is a good sign for the soon to be happening fruit blossom pollination .
Cheers, Linda.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Gardening in North Otago August 2nd 2011
The start of another new month!! and a lovely week for working out in the garden this week for me, all the rose pruning now completed so will spray all this weekend with winter oil.
The wisteria is next to be pruned, All the long slim leaders growing out in all directions will
be removed.
Once your wisteria has reached the length you require with a chosen leader, or maybe two going in opposite directions all other leaders can be removed. If allowed to grow, a wispy new leader will eventually become as thick as a tree branch, and too many of theses become a tangled mess and very heavy if being trained along a balcony.Don't prune any other part off a wisteria at this time of the year because you may remove the flower buds being formed right now. Reduce the size of large established wisterias once flowering has finished.
Clumps of hellebore's are looking fantastic in our garden right now and with the sun we have been blessed with the bee's are out and about pollinating them. once pollinated the center of the flower changes with the forming of seed pods, when this has taken place the stems become firmer and will last in water when picked. Hellebore's seed down very readily growing masses of baby plants beneath the mother plants. These seedlings can be transplanted or potted up in the second year when they have developed two strong leaves, but will not flower until around the forth year.
I notice Marguerite daisies here that have been badly damaged after the snow, I will leave the damaged growth on top to protect the growth
below and cut back to hard wood when frosts have finished. Marguerite daisies like geraniums grow rapidly back to being bushy when the climate suits them.
Ordinary garden soils that missed a good conditioning in autumn would still benefit from a layer of Compost spread on top. It can be dug in around August once the temperatures begin to rise. Before then the worms will work their way up towards this new layer of organic matter
bringing the compost down into the soil for you!
Vegetables & Fruit
These lovely mid-winter days we are experiencing here in North otago seem perfect for planting at a time when we usually don't. There are edibles that go into the ground when it is cold and damp. But remember none of these will survive in boggy soils.I planted broad beans and peas three weeks ago and they are now well up.
Garlic and Shallots are available to plant - dig compost through your soil or fill a container and plant separated cloves of garlic approximately twice the depth of the clove. Take care not to damage cloves when separating out the bulb. You could get up to 20 cloves per bulb!
Strawberries are easy to plant in all kinds of containers or straight into sunny/raised garden beds along with slow release fertiliser. Strawberries also seem to do very well in a hanging strawberry bag, but it would pay to wrap it with bird netting once the fruit starts turning red.
I got really stuck into my gooseberry bushes this week, cleaned the middle out of cross over branches and took off the branches skirting the ground which lifted the bushes up enough for picking underneath, many of these lower branches had grown roots into the ground so I have potted these sections up, they will develop into good size bushes in a couple of growing seasons.
Cheers, Linda.
The wisteria is next to be pruned, All the long slim leaders growing out in all directions will
be removed.
Once your wisteria has reached the length you require with a chosen leader, or maybe two going in opposite directions all other leaders can be removed. If allowed to grow, a wispy new leader will eventually become as thick as a tree branch, and too many of theses become a tangled mess and very heavy if being trained along a balcony.Don't prune any other part off a wisteria at this time of the year because you may remove the flower buds being formed right now. Reduce the size of large established wisterias once flowering has finished.
Clumps of hellebore's are looking fantastic in our garden right now and with the sun we have been blessed with the bee's are out and about pollinating them. once pollinated the center of the flower changes with the forming of seed pods, when this has taken place the stems become firmer and will last in water when picked. Hellebore's seed down very readily growing masses of baby plants beneath the mother plants. These seedlings can be transplanted or potted up in the second year when they have developed two strong leaves, but will not flower until around the forth year.
I notice Marguerite daisies here that have been badly damaged after the snow, I will leave the damaged growth on top to protect the growth
below and cut back to hard wood when frosts have finished. Marguerite daisies like geraniums grow rapidly back to being bushy when the climate suits them.
Ordinary garden soils that missed a good conditioning in autumn would still benefit from a layer of Compost spread on top. It can be dug in around August once the temperatures begin to rise. Before then the worms will work their way up towards this new layer of organic matter
bringing the compost down into the soil for you!
Vegetables & Fruit
These lovely mid-winter days we are experiencing here in North otago seem perfect for planting at a time when we usually don't. There are edibles that go into the ground when it is cold and damp. But remember none of these will survive in boggy soils.I planted broad beans and peas three weeks ago and they are now well up.
Garlic and Shallots are available to plant - dig compost through your soil or fill a container and plant separated cloves of garlic approximately twice the depth of the clove. Take care not to damage cloves when separating out the bulb. You could get up to 20 cloves per bulb!
Strawberries are easy to plant in all kinds of containers or straight into sunny/raised garden beds along with slow release fertiliser. Strawberries also seem to do very well in a hanging strawberry bag, but it would pay to wrap it with bird netting once the fruit starts turning red.
I got really stuck into my gooseberry bushes this week, cleaned the middle out of cross over branches and took off the branches skirting the ground which lifted the bushes up enough for picking underneath, many of these lower branches had grown roots into the ground so I have potted these sections up, they will develop into good size bushes in a couple of growing seasons.
Cheers, Linda.
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