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.