Gardening in North Otago August 3rd 12012

The start of another new month!! and what a great rain North Otago received at the beginning of last week, and so good to have had warning it was to happen. I was able to lime the lawns and plants like lilac, clematis, carnations, dianthus,and all the herbs.
I was lucky enough to be offered access to a mountain of donkey manure last weekend and with the help of my Man and owner of the donkey's on the end of a shovel we filled a trailer, I got it onto the compost heaps just before the down pour, Ya!

Gardens that missed a good conditioning in autumn would still benefit from a layer of Compost spread on top. It can be dug in this month once the temperatures begin to rise. Before then the worms will work their way up towards this new layer of organic matter bringing the compost down into the soil for you!

Roses: I noticed while pruning that some roses were beginning to bud up so I took advantage of the rain and applied rose fertiliser, all powdered fertilisers need to be watered in. Not so important for slow release fertilisers they are designed to feed each time water is applied.
My roses will also get a dose of liquid donkey manure when I get around to it.

The wisteria is next to be pruned, All the long slim leaders growing out in all directions will be removed.
Once your wisteria has reached the length you require with a chosen leader, or maybe two going in opposite directions all other leaders can be removed. If allowed to grow, a wispy new leader will eventually become as thick as a tree branch, and too many of theses become a tangled mess and very heavy if being trained along a balcony.Don't prune any other part off a wisteria at this time of the year because you will remove the flower buds forming right now. Reduce the size of large established wisterias once flowering has finished.


Clumps of hellebore's are looking fantastic in our garden right now and with the sun we have had . Once pollinated the center of the flower changes to form seed pods, when this has taken place the stems become firmer and will last in water when picked. Hellebore's seed down very readily growing masses of baby plants beneath the mother plants. These seedlings can be transplanted or potted up in the second year when they have developed two strong leaves, but will not flower until around the forth year.


I notice Marguerite daisies and my bouganvillea have been badly damaged by frost, I will leave the damaged growth on top to protect the growth
below and cut back to hard wood when frosts have finished. I hung frost cloth in front of the bouganvilla to protect what is left which got saturated during the rain, I guess the next drying wind will sort that and I hope not to need it much longer.
Only this month to go and we will can roll head first into spring leaving these cold months behind us.

Plants that really appreciate the cold are erica's and calluna's they come into their own during winter displaying stunning shades of pink and white. Some ground cover erica can spread up to a meter and stay looking fresh for a good number of years. As a front planting in a boarder garden they form a carpet to stop that bird scratching problem, suppress weeds and are so pretty when other plants are resting. They like a dry, sunny situation, require no feeding just a hair cut when finished flowering. I noticed a good choice of flowering ericas on offer in Garden centers this week.



Vegetables & Fruit

On the warmer North Otago mid-winter days, especially after the rain seem perfect for planting at a time when we usually don't. There are edibles that can go into the ground when it is cold and damp. But remember none of these will survive in boggy soils so good drainage is essential with early plantings.
Garlic and Shallots are available to plant - dig compost through your soil or fill a container and plant separated cloves of garlic approximately twice the depth of the clove. Take care not to damage cloves when separating out the bulb. You could get up to 20 cloves per bulb!

Strawberries are easy to plant in all kinds of containers or straight into sunny / raised garden beds along with slow release fertiliser. I have enlarged my strawberry bed to twice the size, leaving last years plants to fruit again in one half and have planted the other half out in new runners.Strawberries also seem to do very well in a hanging strawberry bag with an abundance of slow release food, but it would pay to wrap it with bird netting once the fruit starts turning red.

I got really stuck into my gooseberry bushes this week, cleaned the middle out of cross over branches and took off the branches skirting the ground which lifted the bushes up enough for picking underneath, many of these lower branches had grown roots into the ground so I have potted these sections up, they will develop into good size bushes in a couple of growing seasons.


Gardening by the Moon in August

NEW MOON
Saturday, 18 August 2012
Garden:
Time to transplant early veggies under cloches, e.g. courgettes and beans
Do loads of weeding and compost making with all over wintered compost crops lupins vetch etc and prepare beds for major planting next month

Foliar feed 3 days before full moon

Sow seed into trays , dwarf beans, marigold Sweet Hyssop, nasturtium, sweet pea, lettuce, coriander, parsley, rocket, peas . Place in a warm green house ready to prick out when first leaves appear

Orchard:
Slug and snail control essential around newly grafted trees
Mulch all fruit trees – you can use the scythed grass from the orchard to do this at this time of the year
Cheers, Linda