Gardening in North Otago 22nd November 2011

The gusty winds have been doing a good job in blowing any remaining blossom off, I guess it is time to concentrate on the next stage of spring now, roses, peony roses, delphiniums, begonias and lots of other beautiful happenings soon make us forget about the bulbs and blossom. With all the rain we have had I can all most see and hear plants growing.

I have learned over the years that it is a waste of time and money nursing plants that need warmer conditions and more rain than North Otago offers. Plants such as hibiscus, gardenia, banana palm,
any plant that requires a tropical seasonal rain is going to struggle if not in a hot house with the right humidity.
After writing all that Bougainvillea is growing here on the coast and I have managed to keep mine going out here at Weston for many years. After some harsh winters it has looked very sad but I have it under an eve against a sunny Oamaru stone wall and most years it becomes a mass of vibrant magenta in summer through to Autumn. If you have a bougainvillea right now is the time to really get the water into it along with some all purpose fertiliser (not slow release) to simulate a rainy season. Once this has been done and your plant is established like mine do not water or feed it again, they do the best flowering when they are stressed. A newly planted bougainvillea will need watered now and then to get it established but NO food, if fed often they put out leaf not flowers.
Read the labels when buying to make sure that our conditions are right for the plants on offer at this time of the year.

Roses:
Time to start spraying roses for green fly and disease if you have not already started. A product like Shield takes care of both if you follow the instructions and spray at the suggested intervals. Keep the food up as they flower, it's hungry roses that are more susceptible to disease. Slow release rose fertiliser will feed each time you water.

The for-get-me-no'ts and spring bulbs have finished flowering, tie a knot in the leaves of daffodils rather than cut them off yet as they need to take all the top green into storage. Tulips collapse quickly and can be dug up and stored in a dry place until planting out again in May next year. Blue bells need to be left to seed if you want them in mass, they increase in the bulb but also seed successfully. I cut forget- me -not's back and give them some blood & bone because they grow back fresh green leaves and sit in nice clums until they flower again next spring.

Keep the water up to Lillie's, they are making rapid growth now and the ground they are in must never dry out, stake them now before they become too heavy.

I have been spraying the weeds again, germination from the first lot of spring weeds have scattered their seeds and blown in on the wind, an every three week job from now on.
There are a number of organic weed sprays available now, these need to be spayed on the weeds when they are small and really hot and thirsty.
As I have mentioned before the most economical weed control is good old common table salt, purchased in bulk or in kilo bags at agricultural outlets. Use it at the rate of 240 grams (about 12 heaped tablespoons) to a litre of warm or hot water to dissolve it, and then spray it on the foliage of the weeds, again in sunny dry conditions.
This works very fast on annual weeds but perennials probably needing further salt treatment.
If spraying only the foliage, at the above rates, there will be, little residual damage done to the soil. To make absolutely sure, give the area a good watering after the weeds have died.
Lawns
Lawn mowers will be mowing flat out everywhere with all this lush growth, now that my compost bins have been treated to many full catchers I will spay out the lawn weeds now which means the clippings will need to be spread in areas where plants will not be affected by the contamination. On lawns where there are just a few flat weeds I will spot spray. Never spot spray weeds on lawns with anything other than a lawn weed spray which will not effect the surrounding grass. I have seen disastrous results where normal weed spray has been used to spot spray lawns which has leached from the weed into the grass leaving bald patches everywhere that need to be resown with grass seed.
Vegetables:
Keep mounding the potatoes to keep them producing, consistent watering is important for potatoes and all root vegetables so we should have some good crops after the rain we have had.
Leafy veg tends to run to seed during hot days so no extra feeding to help them do this.
Plant as many plants you think you would use when ready to pick and hold back other small seedling plants from the same batch to plant at two week intervals. The small plants will hold if watered only when too dry (don't over water seedlings they do not have enough root growth to absorb and will rot, keeping them in a semi shaded place will hold them back until required for planting.
Keep pumpkin and squash plants mulched, their roots are fragile until their large leaves grow to create the root shade needed.
All new small plants can be over watered to the point where their roots cannot cope and they collapse, the soil should be dry on top between watering's and good drainage is essential .
Gardening by the moon
LAST QUARTER
Saturday, 19 November 2011
Garden:
Weed, mulch and water.
Continue pricking out and transplanting.
Watch carefully for insects/diseases and learn what they are, how they impact you and what the best ways are to manage them.
Continue harvesting flowers and herbs for drying.
Orchard:
Continue watering and mulching.
Observe which trees are happy and which ones are stressed and why
Mulch all fruit trees, scythed grass is more beneficial than grass clippings.
Cheers, Linda