Really heavy frosts this week, this time last year we had deep snow turning North Otago into a winter wonderland.The moisture of a snow melt would be a blessing this year I feel.

It has been another week of pruning and composting here around this large, never ending garden! all that's needed now is rain to take the compost down to the roots of the plants. It may look as if growth has stopped but here on the coast with the warmer ground there is plenty of feeding going on. The bulbs are starting to make an appearance and will benefit from a dressing of compost along with hellebore (winter roses) which are looking wonderful right now as are pansy's, pollyanthas, and violas which are starting to brighten up the gardens, all these plants respond really well to dried blood sprinkled around them.
Dried blood is also a good tonic for yellowing camellias and rhododendrons, mix it with camellia and rhododendron fertiliser and apply now and they will reward you well come spring.
The garden shops are full of colourful sesanqua camellias in flower, different varieties of flowering hellebore's and cyclamen to brighten up indoors and porches.
These plants will have been grown under protection to get them looking so good so don't be too quick to plant out in the garden, let them harden off gradually first.

Because we have had it quite mild here on the coast but harsh frosts now the foliage of tender plants like geranium and pelagonium plants would be best covered with frost cloth.

Roses:
Mulch, mulch and more mulch. Apply a thick layer of mulch around the base of your roses,( but not covering) the crown. This protects the root zone and enables the plant to concentrate on root movement and getting ready for the growing season.
Un-sprayed Pea or barley straw and well cooked compost are all ideal for mulching. I notice the mulch cooking and steaming away at the resource recovery park each time I am there with my recycling. This compost will be clean of weed seeds and is a very reasonably priced option to use for mulching the garden. Old stable manure can be applied around roses during the winter months before applying mulch, then in early spring apply rose fertiliser and water in well to ensure a consistent food supply for the roots when roses start growing from the top again.
Rose fertiliser has an excellent level of potassium, which is the nutrient responsible for promoting large, vibrant, healthy blooms. For established roses apply 200 g (1 cup) per square metre and water in well. An application just before the end of winter is a good idea, if buds are swelling roses are using food. Apply again in mid December for an autumn flush of blooms.

Vegetable garden:
To have Christmas new potatoes you need to start thinking about them from now on, all varieties are available in shops now. There are early and late varieties so ask about the variety you choose, a potato is not just a potato any more! Lay your seed potatoes out on a tray in a dark dry place and get them sprouting and ready to plant out when the frosts have past.

I have been tidying up my herb garden, cutting down all old woody stems which were left from last summers growth leaving the garden clear to apply compost and a dressing of lime. All herbs like sweetened with lime.

There will never be a better time to choose and plant ornamental and fruiting trees than right now! Each tree will have an informative label to tell you exactly what you will be buying with instructions on how and where to plant. All fruit trees need to grow in an open sunny position.

Keep sowing vegetable seeds in trays for planting out later, plant Cauliflowers and Cabbage seedlings and sow early Peas. In warmer areas you can also plant Lettuce, Silver beet and Broccoli seedlings and Onions
Asparagus crowns are now available and can be planted out in a well composted and fertilised bed. (but NO animal manure)

Gardening by the moon
NEW MOON
Sunday, 29 July 2012
Garden:
Clean out green house and propagation facilities
Sow seed for early tomatoes, in glass houses or for cloches. If cloche-grown then they’ll need to be dwarf varirties.
Plant peas into trays for transplanting when 3 -10cm high
Sow broad beans into seed trays and transplant as soon as the tops emerge above soil
Sow dwarf beans and courgettes into seed trays in warm green house
Make a late sowing of sweet peas
Sow early potatoes
Plant into seed trays petunia, larkspur, calendula, aquilegia, foxglove, hollyhock, honesty, love-in-a-mist, poppy, scabiosa, cornflower, stock, sweet william.
Prepare cloches to warm up the soil in preparation for planting out early beans and courgettes also possibly early cabbages, beetroot, lettuces, cucumbers, and for direct sowing rocket, mizuna, kale and mustard lettuce for spring salad greens; to be cut and harvested as mesclun crops.
As vege beds become dry enough to work begin digging in compost crops.
Feed strawberries and rhubarb at this time

Orchard:
Last chance to check all winter plantings to make sure all trees are staked well, that their bark is not rubbing on tree stakes, and that all ties from last year are not strangling the trees.
If you’re having problems with pollination of fruit trees, and lack of bees is not the problem, it may help to record all your flowering times on a chart for a season or two. Set this up now if needed
Cheers, Linda.

I notice the days are drawing out a little as it is a while now since the shortest day, yes, true not wishful thinking.
What fantastically warm days we have been experiencing this week with temperatures some times higher than the North Island. The warm days really get those spring bulbs pushing through.
This week I have spent another good percentage of my time raking out old leaves, will autumn ever be a distant memory? It is important to get leaves out of every nook and cranny during winter because bugs are looking for places like this to winter over. Once leaves have been removed from the base of roses, hydrangea's and other deciduous plants I am applying manure enriched compost, (not covering the base trunks) to be there in readiness for spring feeding.
I continue to re-sawdust rough pathways which is freshening these areas up and allowing me to find a lot of self sown plants in the old saw dust topping. Every seedling has a future in my garden.

At this time of the year I like to write about the benefits of raised gardens as there is not a lot happening except pruning and cleaning up.

Time to spend gardening is limited for young families today but I am sure most would love to grow their own fresh produce.
Raised gardens are the saviors of gardeners with limited time or poor soil. The basic idea of a raised garden is instead of battling against poor soil conditions, why not build up new soil above ground where you have complete control.

Advantages of a Raised Bed Garden

Raised gardens warm quickly in spring, allowing you to work the soil and plant earlier.
Being raised they drain better.
No compaction of soil, because they are not walked upon.
It's easy to tailor the soil to suit the plants in a raised bed.
Contained raised beds are not difficult to construct using wood or (here in North Otago) Oamaru stone seconds as a surround. If you need time to think about a permanent position for a raised beds you could make some using straw bales as surrounds for a year. Once in place to the size required fill them with soil and compost and plant out.
A sunny location is a must for growing vegetables and herbs.
Access around all sides with a wheel barrow is recommended for ease of maintenance, keep the garden around four feet wide, this way you can access the middle.
Access to water is essential,with drainage being greater raised gardens need good soakings.

A raised bed of six inches above the soil is enough to grow leaf vegetables and herbs and at least ten inches for root veg but I don't see the sense in not raising it to a height that will reduce the amount of digging and bending you do.

keep an eye on what is on offer for planting now, this is the very best time for choice when buying deciduous tree's and shrubs and I see an abundance of fresh new bedding and vegetable plants on offer now.

Gardening by the moon
LAST QUARTER
Saturday, 21 July 2012
Garden:
Check out new and inspirational books! Time to do lots of dreaming about your garden goals for the year to come and get your creative juices flowing.
Sharpen garden stakes, trim pea stakes, prepare labels, check all cloche and cover materials as well as all netting hoops and bird covers. Make sure you have enough seedling trays to get you through Spring.
Make up hot beds if you will be needing them for peppers, eggplants, tomatoes and other early crops next month.. 20cm of horse manure (insulated underneath with hay) and some sand on top will decompose slowly and get your seedlings off to a good start. Some insulating hay around the
seedling trays will also help.

Orchard:
Plant fruit tress
Prune fruit trees
Manure and prune fruit trees, remember all of our fruit trees could probably do with available calcium and phoshate . There are good all round fertilisers on offer for fruit trees. If you have had issues in the past with lots of flowers and not much fruit and you know you have the bees and the pollinator trees the correct mineral balance will ensure fruit set.
Prune tie and de-sucker, manure and mulch,, berry fruits, blueberry, cranberry, blackberry, loganberry, raspberry, currants, etc( if not already done)
Prune tamarillos that have finished cropping.

The week before last there was a mention in the moon section regarding HIGH BRIX potatoes,
this would have been a ponder for most!! I normally leave that scientific information out of my notes...stick to the basics is my policy!
I take the planting by the moon notes from those who know more about it than I and leave out what is not relevant to the home gardener but failed to exclude this ....High Brix is reference to a measure of the carbohydrate level in plant juices and plant density, a High Brix measure claims to produce heaver crops.


Cheers, Linda.

Gardening in North Otago 10th July 2012

Brrrrrrr still hard frosts but really the lovely warmish days are worth the cold start here on the North Otago coast and the bugs that thought they could just cruise into spring will be getting a hurry up now. The most urgent requirement right now is rain! the ground is parched and my trees and shrubs are suffering especially camellias, rhododendrons and azalea's which will no doubt show signs of this in spring by displaying leaf tip brown off, this always shows up in the following season. All shallow rooted shrubs like camellia, rhododendron, hydrangea, azalea, lavender, Hebe, fuchsia and some perennials such as Ajuga Reptans and sedum need to be deep root watered when the ground is as dry as this winter. I notice my iris's are looking very thirsty as well so I have been using a watering can to apply fish emulsion fertiliser before each plant gets a root soak and a compost mulch for those that have not yet been mulched.
Some Daphne’s are in flower now and hellebore's, primroses and polyanthus are just starting to brighten little corners of our garden.
Primroses are so pretty they clump up well and in time can be broken up spread around to add colour to a winter garden. If you are at the stage of breaking up clumps, remove quite a few leaves on transplanting and keep the water up to them until they take hold, they will soon grow new roots to support them. Polyanthus and primulas will benefit from an application of Dried Blood to increase plant vigour and flowering
Under glass sow seeds of antirrhinum (snap dragon), carnation, calendula (common marigold), sweet peas, verbena and viola they should pop up and be ready to plant out in spring. for planting out in Spring.
Dahlias, gladioli, and peonies are also coming in this month and can be planted from now on in good draining soil, if you think there is a chance they would sit in wet soggy soil over winter they may rot, planting can continue until September
.If young trees or shrubs need transplanting now is a good time to do it whilst they are at their most dormant stage.
Remember to continue protecting plants like Margarete daisies and pelargoniums from frosts with Frost Cloth as a cover above them, not touching. I have Margarete daisies that frost on the top each year, I just leave the frosted tops on to protect the new growth beneath. This would not work further inland. It would be best to protect or nurse cuttings to be planted out when the frosts are over.

Rose pruning is still going on here in my garden, just in case you need reminding on how to tackle pruning.... make a slanted cut just above a strong outward facing bud.
Standard roses should be pruned to about 25cm above the main stem and bush roses can be cut back about two-thirds, leaving 3-4 buds on each branch. Climbers can go back leaving 5-6 strong canes. Secateurs must be sharp to avoid damage by ripping branches which leads to die back.

Turn over compost now if you have not already done so and add some moisture if the pile is dry.
If you still have leaves to Rake up why not fill large black rubbish bags,add a little water and leave to rot. Leaf mulch is such a natural benefit to soil which we tend to remove at leaf fall stage because it looks untidy.Rotting it down this way you can then add it to the soil and it will not be noticed

At this time of the year I make a few trips to the Waireaka sale yards to the Waireaka Valley Lions Club sawdust and sheep manure stand, volunteers clean out calving sheds and under shearing sheds to keep the stand topped up for keen gardeners. I use the calving shed sawdust on garden pathways and the sheep manure on the compost heaps, on the vegetable garden and around the roses when horse manure is not at hand. Sawdust can be used on wet gardens as a weed suppressant and it helps to absorb excess moisture, but never on dry gardens, it will dry out soil already not retaining moisture.
Vegetables
In land start raising vegetable seeds for spring planting in glass houses or under glass or plastic with ventilation spaces to circulate air and stop seeds going mouldy.
On the coast plant seedling plants that are now on offer along with garlic cloves.

Start sprouting seed potatoes, early varieties like Jersey benne, Cliffs kidney, Rocket, Ilam hardy, Maris Anchor should be sprouting now for an early planting.

Comfrey, it is such a useful plant and if you can get your hands on some I suggest you plant some root sections in an area of your garden where it can spread. Comfrey needs to be planted where it can send it's roots very deep down into the soil to tap into much needed nutrients. It is fast growing, high in potassium and can be cut back again and again. I have listed below some uses for comfrey around the garden.
Compost activator, add to your compost bin to heat up the decomposing materials and enriches the compost.
Put a handful of comfrey leaves into a bucket of rainwater and let them rot down for around 6 weeks to give you a rich liquid fertilizer for plants.
Lay comfrey leaves in a potato trench and leave for 3 days prior to planting the tubers to give them a potassium rich boost of fertiliser.
Use as a Comfrey leaf mulch around plants, by layering leaves around the stems of plants. Potassium will slowly be released to the plants as the leaves break down – Great for tomatoes, beans and fruit bushes.
Use wilted leaves as a nutrient rich Chicken feed

Gardening by the moon
FULL MOON
Saturday 14 July 2012
Garden:
Collect your seeds ready for planting into seed trays next new moon
Plant broad beans and peas into trays ready to transplant when tops are up.
Now might be the time to book yourself into a Bio Intensive Gardening Workshop? This workshop will equip you with the best information and practical experience I know of to get you growing in a way that works. It will teach you how to get the best results and in the most efficient way possible.

Orchard:
Look closely at the shape of your fruit trees and plan how pruning can improve them if needed.
http://www.koanga.org.nz

Cheers, Linda

Home again after seven weeks in the UK summer, helping a busy Daughter with our newest little Granddaughter Eliza belle. Lucky me.

Wow, how dry it is here in North Otago and such hard frosts we are getting. The brilliant days that follow give us here on the coast at least half a day to work in the garden after the thaw. No such luck further inland with frozen ground, the perfect time for garden planning to be a step ahead before spring.

The frosts are hardening rose wood in readiness for the big prune, the time when rose pruning should be completed varies by several weeks from the warmest to coldest gardens. It should be done and dusted by the time buds break. I have not been about yet to see if the new seasons bare rooted roses are in, if they are on offer it pays to read up about the different varieties and choose what is best for the sunny spot reserved for them in your garden. All newly planted roses still need pruned at an outward facing bud, growers just cut the top off when roses are lifted from a field.

If pruning old established rose bushes have a wire brush with you to work on the old gnarled wood which happens in the center of a bush after many years of pruning. Working vigorously with a wire brush will help to stimulate the still active wood below and it may push out new buds, it is worth the effort.
Prune out any inward facing branches at an outward facing bud or swelling to open the bush up then prune back all remaining branches at an out ward facing bud two or three buds from the bottom of the branch depending on the strength of the branch. Remove all weak spindly little branches, they will never produce flowers. Mulch with manure enriched compost but remember to keep it back from the trunk wood of rose bushes as it can cause rot when the ground is wet for long periods.
Now is the time to spray with lime sulphur which is Ideal as a winter clean up spray for roses and deciduous trees to control hard to kill pests and diseases.Controls fungal diseases, scale and mites.Also controls moss and lichen.
I spray with lime sulphur before pruning which will defoliate the roses then follow that up after pruning with a copper spray & winter oil.

The bulk of new seasons bare rooted deciduous trees are arriving into retail shops now, continue planting but avoid times when the ground is frozen or excessively wet. Young deciduous trees and shrubs can also be moved at this time, trim damaged roots and cut back any that are inconveniently long.

Evergreen trees and shrubs are on offer as well, but don't be in a hurry to plant them. Keep in bags outside in a sheltered place to harden off, they can sit like this and be planted out at the end of winter. Choose now and plant later to give them a good start.
Make sure to read the labels to know how high and wide a shrub and tree will grow, some, like natives grow fast and when mature will throw considerable shade. When planting along side the house ask advice.

Boost bedding plants with fish based fertiliser or a little dried blood to encourage buds during these sunny winter days.

Fruit & Veg.
Finish planting deciduous fruit trees and bushes in a sunny site, avoid frosty hollows for early starters such as plums and pears.
Frosty sites are no disadvantage for soft fruits as winter chills will stimulate fruit buds.

Continue to shelter citrus in frosty gardens, they should be offering a lot of fruit to pick now, marmalade in the making?
Citrus scale – white flecks on the trunk and branches, treat in winter with low toxic Lime Sulphur, try to avoid the leaves if you can as Lime Sulphur burns and should not be applied to evergreen plants as it will damage the foliage, and It should not be applied to apricot trees because they are sulphur sensitive but other deciduous fruit trees will benefit from a lime sulphur spray.The burning action assists in the final removal of foliage, burns disease spores and insect pests harboring over in nooks and crannies waiting for spring. Spray trees first then prune at a later date. You can greatly reduce both disease and pest problems now, and have better results in the spring/summer period with less spraying to do.

In cold areas start garlic off in containers and plant out later when the ground warms up.

Planting by the moon

FIRST QUARTER
Saturday, 7 July 2012
Garden:
Clean out tunnel houses, green houses and potting benches ready for spring planting - slugs and snails live under rubbish and things lying around
Repot and revitalise pot plants
Prepare beds for early potatoes, peas and broad beans(in the north). Aim to grow high brix early potatoes, have them around early September.

Orchard:
Once all planting and pruning, manuring and mulching is over in the orchard, it’s holiday time, you’ll get a small break before the vege garden is full on!



Cheers, Linda