Gardening in North Otago 13th September 2011

Such beauty all around to enjoy but the ever changing weather of spring certainly came into focus this week.
For me it has been on again off again frost cloth and the hose has been full on after the strong, drying winds. It is very important to keep the water up to newly planted trees and shrubs right now while they are putting out new growth and staking is another must with newly planted tall tree's, it takes at least two years before roots take a firm hold in the ground.
I have been planting out bedding plants and putting the finishing touches to new garden theme designs this week. I am sure every gardener enjoys trying new plants and colour combinations. I had a large clump of lambs ear growing in my rockery which did not need to be so large so I dug half of it out and broke it up into single plants to use around the border of a garden and as silver drifts in amongst low annuals. Silver is a shade to use as a break between strong and soft shades, will grow in sun or semi shade and lambs ear has the added bonus of being an interesting texture as well.

Keep an eye on seeds that have germinated, up until now I have had mine under frost cloth and looked at them only occasionally to see if they had struck. This week I noticed they were well up and in need of thinning out and regular watering.
I thinned them out by transplanting some like Pansy and lobelia which have shallow roots into deeper seed trays and those with longer deeper roots like lupin and oriental poppy into their own individual small root pots. The shallow rooted plants transplant well into the garden or baskets from a tray but it is best to have a well developed root ball attached to the stronger deeper rooted seedlings when planting out.

Baskets and pots need to be thought about now, again use only shallow rooted plants for baskets like pansy, lobelia, small type petunias, Virginia stock and nasturtium with lots of slow release fertiliser and water Chrystal's to keep them going.
With pots, the roots of what you want to plant will determine the size and depth of the pot. Potted roses need a deep pot which will not heat up and cook the roots at the height of summer. Tin foil around the inside of a pot before filling,( shinny side facing out) will help keep roots cool for roses, camellias, azales', hydrangeas and small trees & shrubs. All potted plants need excellent drainage and a consistent supply of food and water. if a potted plant is left to really dry out before each watering it will never thrive and look lush and healthy.

Now is the time to take tubular begonias out of dry storage, I see mine are starting to sprout a little. I have been cutting large tubas with a sharp knife into smaller individual pieces each with a noticeable shoot ready to plant into baskets and containers.
The showy red flamboyant begonias become nice big tubas in time and by cutting sections off them each year you will achieve a nice boarder of them in no time. It's best to lift them at the end of their growing season each year because like dahlias they can rot in wet ground. All begonias love any fertiliser with a seaweed of fish content.

I have just planted wild flower seeds thickly into gaps created from removing old trees and shrubs. The wild flowers will make an interesting change until I decide on permanent plantings.

Roses are really leafing up now and the warmer it becomes the more aphids ( green fly) will be about, aphids settle on the top new growth of rose bushes and are easily visible on new small leaves for you to dispose of them by removing with finger and thumb along with the fish emulsion deterrent which will confuse bugs with it smelling of protein. I leave pesticide and fungicide spraying until leaves are well grown and and hardened up a little.

New lawns can be sown now on the coast and as soon as we have a few more nice sunny days in a row to warm the ground up the grass seed will strike, as I have mentioned before seed must be sown thickly in spring to beat the annual weeds. Keep the mower blades up when cutting spring grass to allow it to thicken up and feed a little each time it rains and they will stay lush.

Vegetables
Here on the coast Plant lettuce plants at two week intervals and any spare ground could be planted out in new potatoes, they are so much better dug just before you cook them.
My board beans are well up, I was once told to plant each bean with a little pot ash to help with rust problems, they still get a little rust but I think that's probably due to them getting too dry between watering's, like corn their roots are well up near the surface, mounding soil up over their roots stops roots becoming exposed and drying out too quickly. The birds were making a feast of my young cabbage and broccoli plants so I have covered them with frost cloth weighed down at the edges with stones. It's a bit of a pain having to remove it when I water but without the birds devouring them they continue to grow well.

Cheers, Linda.