Raking and then more raking of leaves this week but each full wool pack is getting to the end of them. A mixed bag weather wise this week and that wonderful close moon putting on a show.
We have had our annual truck load of compost from the freezing works delivered this week and found a great supply of clean pea straw to bed the garden down with after each plant gets a dressing of compost.
Once deciduous trees have lost their leaves we can see over crowded trees or branches needing to be removed to let more light onto gardens allowing spring bulbs the sun needed for them to preform well. The overall look of an established garden can be changed by doing this.
I have planted out 150 red tulips and blue forget-me-not together, I had this same display last year and loved the effect. There are still some bulbs on offer but not for long, they need to be in the ground now as they are starting to shoot.
Time to take rose cuttings, Choose a straight stem and cut off about 12inches from the top just below a leaf node. Pull off the leaves along the stem and leave just two at the top. I soak in willow water for a couple of weeks then
Dig a spade into damp ground where i winter over cuttings, wiggle it about to form a narrow hole and bury about six inches of the cuttings into this wedge. Firm up the soil around the cuttings, name them, water them and watch them grow. Within a few weeks more leaves appear, which is a sign that it has taken. Leave them in this spot until spring, and then uproot them carefully and replant into pots to grow them on.
You can use this method for many other perennials too, like ceonothus, clematis, geraniums, potentilla, euonymous, hebes, weigela and even abutilon. Just make sure you pick a healthy straight stem. There are also rooting hormone powders and gels on offer to dip cuttings in before planting which encourage cuttings to take root.
My lawns have slowed down at last, lime and gypsum can be spread on lawns now, lime to sweeten and gypsum to soften hard compacted ground which has a lot of clay content. No more cracks in the lawn if gypsum is applied and watered in at this time of the year, for two or three years in a row.
Vegetables
Carrots, growing these without a problem or two is not always easy, the ground needs to still hold a little heat for them to germinate and continue to grow, if they stop and then start growing again the regrowth ends up as a hard core and the carrot stops growing down into the soil. Carrot fly is also a problem which also attacks celery,dill,fennel,parsley and parsnip.
The pest overwinters as pupae in the soil or in old host plant roots which have been left in the ground. The adult flies are long and black with yellow legs and iridescent wings. Females find plants by smell, normally in the evening, laying eggs in cracks in soil adjacent to plants. Avoid thinning in late afternoon and remove all thinning as the female is attracted by damaged plants, plant carrots in a different spot each year.
Companion plants for carrots are lettuce, onions and tomatoes. never plant dill or parsnips beside carrots.
Gardening by the moon
LAST QUARTER
Sunday, 13 May 2012
Garden:
In coastal areas, last chance to weed beds and prepare for winter, transplanting last seedlings or sowing the last compost crops
Cover compost heaps to avoid water logging over winter
Make sure all chooks, ducks, and small animals have adequate housing for winter
Drag out your cloches and cold frames to cover slad crops to keep them growing over winter
Prepare Garlic beds.
Remove any fruit trees that need taking out before it gets too wet
Begin preparing ground for planting fruit trees next month, check our fruit tree planting guide for strong tree growth
Make sure any necessary orchard fencing is finished before planting starts
Finalise winter planting plans and tree orders or you'll miss out on the trees you really want
Manure and fertilise fruit trees, spread, dolomite lime, manure and gypsum if soil needs more structure
Begin planting natives for shelter hedgerows
Finish planting spring bulbs
Begin wrenching any trees for shifting this winter after the first rain, wrenching one side only this month
Take plum rootstock cuttings, soak in willow water before pressing firmly into river sand.
I am off to the UK for six weeks from the 14th of May.......no more gardening for a while while I do Nana time with two little ones and a new baby.
Cheers, Linda.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Friday, May 4, 2012
Gardening in North Otago 4th May 2012
We sure have had an early taste of winter this week to remind us what is to come It had me looking about for warmer clothes.
Nature has it right, leaves fall to cover the ground protecting roots from the cold to come. I have been filling wool pack after wool pack with leaves which I will turn into mulch and return to the garden come spring.
Mulch:
Leaves, soft garden waste, grass clippings and a lot of water to encourage all to rot down. When the heap is full I cover with a layer of wet straw.
Large holding bays can be made with bales of straw as the side walls against an existing wall as the back of the bay. You may have to bang in
stakes to hold the straw bales if you go up 3 high.
Erica's - Autumn is when they bud up to start flowering as the days get colder, if they were cut after flowering they should have gone through the Summer looking fresh and green and should now be well in bud. They are a wonderful ground cover and look good growing down walls. There are many different shades of pink, lavender and white, some are ground covers and some are upright. Erica's need full sun and good drainage to look their best. They are frost hardy and their colour intensifies the colder it is. They look great planted in drifts of 3 or 5 together to give great impact. My garden would be very dull in the Winter months without Erica's.
Roses: I stop dead heading roses now, pull off the spent blooms and let the seeds form which will harden the wood needing to be pruned in July. Then I remove all diseased leaves from the bushes and on the ground around bushes before compost & manure and pea straw is added to bed them down for winter.
Tidy up daylillies, by pulling off old leaves and cutting back those that will not pull off, divide over grown clumps by putting a sharp spade through the clump and transplanting pieces with a little blood & bone then mulch to retain moisture.
The seeds I planted not so long ago are up and growing well with the ground still so nice and warm, I will nurse them along in a warm spot until spring. Potting them up before then should they put on a lot of growth before the cold slows them right down.
Vegetables:
Keep planting salad plants and a main sowing of cabbage, cauliflower, onions, shallots, broad beans, and other hardy vegetables.
Fruit
Gather late fruiting peaches, apples & pears and use quickly because any even slightly damaged fruit will soon rot and affect the sound fruit.
A dressing of lime now will assist next seasons fruiting.
Gardening by the moon
FIRST QUARTER
Sunday, 29 April 2012
Garden:
Last chance to plant compost/carbon crops and have them grow strongly over winter
Clean up your strawberry bed, removing runners and placing them into trenches in the garden or seed raising trays to root for planting a new bed etc, now is the time to get your strawberry orders if you haven't done so yet
Plant winter salad greens, rocket , Winter Mesclun Mix, land cress, Winter lettuce, etc under microclima or cloches or cold frames
Transplant flowers for early spring flowering, heartsease, snap dragons, calendula larskpur, love in a mist, hollyhock
Foliar feed all brassicas, celery, beetroot, salad greens that need it while the soil is still warm and active
Orchard:
Feed citrus well now, manure, seaweed, and mulch. Citrus trees will only produce well year after year high brix fruit if you feed well and keep the roots moist but not water logged, and cool!
Spray neem oil on apples for codlin and woolly aphid (if you have woolly aphid you'll have to put neem onto the roots of the apples using a watering can as well as spraying the leaves because bugs over winter and live in the roots, re-infecting the tops), same for pear slug and citrus aphid and mealy bug if necessary. These pests will only be a problem if you do not have the mineral balance right in soil.
Cheers Linda.
Nature has it right, leaves fall to cover the ground protecting roots from the cold to come. I have been filling wool pack after wool pack with leaves which I will turn into mulch and return to the garden come spring.
Mulch:
Leaves, soft garden waste, grass clippings and a lot of water to encourage all to rot down. When the heap is full I cover with a layer of wet straw.
Large holding bays can be made with bales of straw as the side walls against an existing wall as the back of the bay. You may have to bang in
stakes to hold the straw bales if you go up 3 high.
Erica's - Autumn is when they bud up to start flowering as the days get colder, if they were cut after flowering they should have gone through the Summer looking fresh and green and should now be well in bud. They are a wonderful ground cover and look good growing down walls. There are many different shades of pink, lavender and white, some are ground covers and some are upright. Erica's need full sun and good drainage to look their best. They are frost hardy and their colour intensifies the colder it is. They look great planted in drifts of 3 or 5 together to give great impact. My garden would be very dull in the Winter months without Erica's.
Roses: I stop dead heading roses now, pull off the spent blooms and let the seeds form which will harden the wood needing to be pruned in July. Then I remove all diseased leaves from the bushes and on the ground around bushes before compost & manure and pea straw is added to bed them down for winter.
Tidy up daylillies, by pulling off old leaves and cutting back those that will not pull off, divide over grown clumps by putting a sharp spade through the clump and transplanting pieces with a little blood & bone then mulch to retain moisture.
The seeds I planted not so long ago are up and growing well with the ground still so nice and warm, I will nurse them along in a warm spot until spring. Potting them up before then should they put on a lot of growth before the cold slows them right down.
Vegetables:
Keep planting salad plants and a main sowing of cabbage, cauliflower, onions, shallots, broad beans, and other hardy vegetables.
Fruit
Gather late fruiting peaches, apples & pears and use quickly because any even slightly damaged fruit will soon rot and affect the sound fruit.
A dressing of lime now will assist next seasons fruiting.
Gardening by the moon
FIRST QUARTER
Sunday, 29 April 2012
Garden:
Last chance to plant compost/carbon crops and have them grow strongly over winter
Clean up your strawberry bed, removing runners and placing them into trenches in the garden or seed raising trays to root for planting a new bed etc, now is the time to get your strawberry orders if you haven't done so yet
Plant winter salad greens, rocket , Winter Mesclun Mix, land cress, Winter lettuce, etc under microclima or cloches or cold frames
Transplant flowers for early spring flowering, heartsease, snap dragons, calendula larskpur, love in a mist, hollyhock
Foliar feed all brassicas, celery, beetroot, salad greens that need it while the soil is still warm and active
Orchard:
Feed citrus well now, manure, seaweed, and mulch. Citrus trees will only produce well year after year high brix fruit if you feed well and keep the roots moist but not water logged, and cool!
Spray neem oil on apples for codlin and woolly aphid (if you have woolly aphid you'll have to put neem onto the roots of the apples using a watering can as well as spraying the leaves because bugs over winter and live in the roots, re-infecting the tops), same for pear slug and citrus aphid and mealy bug if necessary. These pests will only be a problem if you do not have the mineral balance right in soil.
Cheers Linda.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Gardening in North Otago 28th April 2012
We sure have had an early taste of winter this week to remind us what is to come It had me looking about for warmer clothes.
Nature has it right, leaves fall to cover the ground protecting roots from the cold to come. I have been filling wool pack after wool pack with leaves which I will turn into mulch and return to the garden come spring.
Mulch:
Leaves, soft garden waste, grass clippings and a lot of water to encourage all to rot down. When the heap is full I cover with a layer of wet straw.
Large holding bays can be made with bales of straw as the side walls against an existing wall as the back of the bay. You may have to bang in
stakes to hold the straw bales if you go up 3 high.
Erica's - Autumn is when they bud up to start flowering as the days get colder, if they were cut after flowering they should have gone through the Summer looking fresh and green and should now be well in bud. They are a wonderful ground cover and look good growing down walls. There are many different shades of pink, lavender and white, some are ground covers and some are upright. Erica's need full sun and good drainage to look their best. They are frost hardy and their colour intensifies the colder it is. They look great planted in drifts of 3 or 5 together to give great impact. My garden would be very dull in the Winter months without Erica's.
Roses: I stop dead heading roses now, pull off the spent blooms and let the seeds form which will harden the wood needing to be pruned in July. Then I remove all diseased leaves from the bushes and on the ground around bushes before compost & manure and pea straw is added to bed them down for winter.
Tidy up daylillies, by pulling off old leaves and cutting back those that will not pull off, divide over grown clumps by putting a sharp spade through the clump and transplanting pieces with a little blood & bone then mulch to retain moisture.
The seeds I planted not so long ago are up and growing well with the ground still so nice and warm, I will nurse them along in a warm spot until spring. Potting them up before then should they put on a lot of growth before the cold slows them right down.
Vegetables:
Keep planting salad plants and a main sowing of cabbage, cauliflower, onions, shallots, broad beans, and other hardy vegetables.
Fruit
Gather late fruiting peaches, apples & pears and use quickly because any even slightly damaged fruit will soon rot and affect the sound fruit.
A dressing of lime now will assist next seasons fruiting.
Gardening by the moon
FIRST QUARTER
Sunday, 29 April 2012
Garden:
Last chance to plant compost/carbon crops and have them grow strongly over winter
Clean up your strawberry bed, removing runners and placing them into trenches in the garden or seed raising trays to root for planting a new bed etc, now is the time to get your strawberry orders if you haven't done so yet
Plant winter salad greens, rocket , Winter Mesclun Mix, land cress, Winter lettuce, etc under microclima or cloches or cold frames
Transplant flowers for early spring flowering, heartsease, snap dragons, calendula larskpur, love in a mist, hollyhock
Foliar feed all brassicas, celery, beetroot, salad greens that need it while the soil is still warm and active
Orchard:
Feed citrus well now, manure, seaweed, and mulch. Citrus trees will only produce well year after year high brix fruit if you feed well and keep the roots moist but not water logged, and cool!
Spray neem oil on apples for codlin and woolly aphid (if you have woolly aphid you'll have to put neem onto the roots of the apples using a watering can as well as spraying the leaves because bugs over winter and live in the roots, re-infecting the tops), same for pear slug and citrus aphid and mealy bug if necessary. These pests will only be a problem if you do not have the mineral balance right in soil.
Cheers Linda.
Nature has it right, leaves fall to cover the ground protecting roots from the cold to come. I have been filling wool pack after wool pack with leaves which I will turn into mulch and return to the garden come spring.
Mulch:
Leaves, soft garden waste, grass clippings and a lot of water to encourage all to rot down. When the heap is full I cover with a layer of wet straw.
Large holding bays can be made with bales of straw as the side walls against an existing wall as the back of the bay. You may have to bang in
stakes to hold the straw bales if you go up 3 high.
Erica's - Autumn is when they bud up to start flowering as the days get colder, if they were cut after flowering they should have gone through the Summer looking fresh and green and should now be well in bud. They are a wonderful ground cover and look good growing down walls. There are many different shades of pink, lavender and white, some are ground covers and some are upright. Erica's need full sun and good drainage to look their best. They are frost hardy and their colour intensifies the colder it is. They look great planted in drifts of 3 or 5 together to give great impact. My garden would be very dull in the Winter months without Erica's.
Roses: I stop dead heading roses now, pull off the spent blooms and let the seeds form which will harden the wood needing to be pruned in July. Then I remove all diseased leaves from the bushes and on the ground around bushes before compost & manure and pea straw is added to bed them down for winter.
Tidy up daylillies, by pulling off old leaves and cutting back those that will not pull off, divide over grown clumps by putting a sharp spade through the clump and transplanting pieces with a little blood & bone then mulch to retain moisture.
The seeds I planted not so long ago are up and growing well with the ground still so nice and warm, I will nurse them along in a warm spot until spring. Potting them up before then should they put on a lot of growth before the cold slows them right down.
Vegetables:
Keep planting salad plants and a main sowing of cabbage, cauliflower, onions, shallots, broad beans, and other hardy vegetables.
Fruit
Gather late fruiting peaches, apples & pears and use quickly because any even slightly damaged fruit will soon rot and affect the sound fruit.
A dressing of lime now will assist next seasons fruiting.
Gardening by the moon
FIRST QUARTER
Sunday, 29 April 2012
Garden:
Last chance to plant compost/carbon crops and have them grow strongly over winter
Clean up your strawberry bed, removing runners and placing them into trenches in the garden or seed raising trays to root for planting a new bed etc, now is the time to get your strawberry orders if you haven't done so yet
Plant winter salad greens, rocket , Winter Mesclun Mix, land cress, Winter lettuce, etc under microclima or cloches or cold frames
Transplant flowers for early spring flowering, heartsease, snap dragons, calendula larskpur, love in a mist, hollyhock
Foliar feed all brassicas, celery, beetroot, salad greens that need it while the soil is still warm and active
Orchard:
Feed citrus well now, manure, seaweed, and mulch. Citrus trees will only produce well year after year high brix fruit if you feed well and keep the roots moist but not water logged, and cool!
Spray neem oil on apples for codlin and woolly aphid (if you have woolly aphid you'll have to put neem onto the roots of the apples using a watering can as well as spraying the leaves because bugs over winter and live in the roots, re-infecting the tops), same for pear slug and citrus aphid and mealy bug if necessary. These pests will only be a problem if you do not have the mineral balance right in soil.
Cheers Linda.
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