Gardening in North Otago 30th August 2011

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/