Gardening in North Otago 23rd October 2012

Rain & wind, It seems to be the norm now for strong winds and unchangeable weather around Labour weekend when the pink Kanzan blossom will as usual turn into pink snow in many gardens. The heavy spring rain is so needed to soak well down in the dry North Otago ground, with warmth from now on summer growing is looking pretty good. If you are wanting to transplant Rhododendrons, Camellias and Azaleas, do it immediately after flowering before they put on their new season growth, and if your spring flowering shrubs are in need of a trim prune them back once they have finished flowering. Geraniums and pelargoniums are available now and should be planted in sunny positions. Fuchsias are also on offer, they benefit from afternoon shade. If you are concerned about a hot dry Summer having a disastrous effect on your garden? Plenty of Mulch breaking down in your soil will help retain water as well as improve the structure of your soil While suppressing weed growth. Mulch like straw, grass clippings and weed free compost is also excellent for breaking down clay or poor draining soil. Newly planted roses are making lots of new growth so this is the month to feed them with slow release Fertiliser which will add nutrients to roots when ever water is applied. Potted plants also need slow release fertiliser and re-pot any plants that have been in the same container for more than three or four years. As long as they are not too root-bound they can go back into the same pot, but should have most of the old potting mix removed and some fresh mix packed around the roots. cymbidium orchids, Divide and re-pot now if crowded. Water lilies are available this month and need to be planted in a basket lined with sphagnum moss or old carpet underlay, add garden soil, slow release fertiliser tabs or manure then the lily and lastly a thick layer of shingle placed on top to help weigh the basket down in the water and stop the fertiliser / manure from leaching out which will create green slime growth in the pond as the water warms up. Also as I mentioned not long ago fish start breeding now as water warms, they will blow eggs into oxygen weed. If big fish are shifted to another pond in early summer eggs will be able to escape being eaten and hatch into tiny grey fish. These tiny fish will eventually become gold fish. The big fish can be returned to the pond when new fish have grown past a meal size. I have put a 1/4 of a small bail of un-sprayed pea straw into one end of of my big pond to stop the water from stagnating. I noticed on the really warm days before the last cold snap the water was showing a tinge of green, the straw will help with that. Fruit and veg: Watch your fruit trees and Grapes for fungal diseases, spray with a fungicide if needed. Last chance to get your Coddling Moth traps in place. The cold snaps have been good for keeping the white butterfly's and Aphids away but aphids will no doubt soon start to become a problem so keep an eye out for infestation and if necessary wash off with a forceful hose or spray with an organic pesticide if they persist. Gardening by the Moon October 2012 27th Good Day for Planting Above ground Crops, Extra Good For Vine Crops, Where Climate Is Suitable. 28th-29th A Barren Period. 30th-31st Good Days For Planting Beets, Carrots, Onions, Turnips And Other Hardy Root Crops, Where Climate Is Suitable. Good Days For Transplanting. Our garden here at Weston is very pretty right now and open each day for viewing. Cheers, Linda

Gardening in North Otago 16th October 2012

I have been busy getting my garden presentable for all the Spring tours that have started, but have still been planting out and weeding madly. The ground is just right for planting out and not having to keep the water up to established plants because of the rain we have had. Remember to keep dead heading and feeding flowering pansies and polyanthus as long as there is a chill in the air they will keep on flowering until it gets warmer. If you feel they have done all they are going to do dig out, cut old leaves back and plant in a cool shady place where they can be left until next year. Begonias are shooting now ,they love any fish fertilisers start feeding them when they show through the ground to get them strong. Coastal gardens will be quite away ahead of inland gardens, inland gardens will be still getting reasonable frosts with the chill we on the coast are still feeling. Late frosts on roses new growth can be a problem but don' t be too concerned because rose leaves recover very fast and will have new buds to open in six weeks time. Don't let rose foliage go into the night wet, water and spray them early in the day. When the nights start warming up any dampness on rose leaves will encourage mildew. Keep the food up to your roses now, they are making their buds and it's hungry roses that get diseased. Nitrophosca is good right now on any summer flowering plants and shrubs for a quick result, use every fortnight to keep the food supply up. It is about this time of the year that I think about keeping the weeds away from the beds I change from a spring annual show to a summer show. In these beds I cannot use bark covering because I am changing them every season, I use mushroom compost. The trick is to get rid of the surface weeds and past flowering annuals, water the bed well, then put a thick layer of the mushroom compost on top of the wet soil. it must be a thick layer! do not dig it in! leave it on top and plant your new seasons plants into it. The mushroom compost has been heated to such a heat that it will contain no weed seeds to germinate and grow up among your newly planted plants. I use this as weed suppression method around my roses as well. I have been spot spraying convolvulus, couch and clover, fresh new weed growth is coming through the ground now so its the right time to zap them on a non windy day. If roses get even a sniff of hormone spray it will deform the foliage and the rose bush will eventually die so don't risk spraying on a windy day. Camellias can be trimmed and shaped when finished flowering, take out branches from the middle if your bush is dense and bushy. This lets the light in to help form next years buds.There should be enough gaps for a bird to fly through. Some are still flowering so enjoy the flowers a while longer. I have noticed some of my front shrub plantings are too big now, hiding good planting areas behind each over grown shrub. It takes only a few years for gardens to close in with out us really noticing and what a difference can be made by opening up and creating distance for a new and interesting planting. One area opened in my garden is deep enough to allow me to mass plant with blue bells and include a new maple tree and it was only two scrappy over grown shrubs removed which has made this difference. I planted a lot of sun flower seeds into trays a few weeks ago which are now large enough to plant out, now I know summer is just around the corner when i think of the show I will have of those huge sunny flower heads following the sun around the garden. Also up and almost ready to plant out are cosmos, larkspur, nasturtium and marigolds. I have deep boarders to fill. If you are keen to attract monarch butterflies on the coast, plant swan plants now but protect from late frosts until established. Vegetables Keep an eye on potatoes that are through the ground, mine got a little blackened last week... frost cloth may be needed still depending on where you live. Seeds are popping up in no time now so get them in ready for salad time. Pumpkin, squash, corn and courgette seeds can go in now, if you prefer to buy plants be sure to harden them off outside in a protected place for a while before planting them out. Planting by the moon First Quarter Sow and plant foliage and fruiting crops Sow and plant flowering plants Do grafting Take cuttings Apply liquid fertilisers Cheers, Linda

Gardening in North Otago 9th October 2012

Soggy blossom, spring gave us another cold snap this week and a good rain here in North Otago which is always beneficial in the long run.....but why so cold?? The later flowering blossoms are taking center stage now like prunus Kanzan and prunus shimidsu sakura. Enjoy because they will not be on show again until this time next year. Now that it's planting out time and there is a lot on offer it's probably a good time to talk about plants for the right place. starting with dry areas of the garden, under hungry trees or areas that drain too readily. You will be wasting your time and money planting shallow rooted plants like rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias, hydrangeas or hellebore's in these areas. It's best to group plant with plants that will work their roots down to look for moisture like: Euphorbias in all their varieties, colours and sizes. Agapanthus: Large and small varieties they are great on a slope Buddleias: To fill back ground gaps, lovely sliver blue foliage and blue to cerise/ purple flowers, must be cut back well after flowering to keep bushy and at the height you require them to be. Grass's: grouped together as they are in nature do well in the dry and add movement to the garden as they waft in the wind. Geraniums: They need water until their roots get down and also need cut back after flowering. Lupins: Are wonderful in big groups but need water until they become established, after the first flowering they will self seed to make their groups larger. All these plants once established will not need watering once established. Damp Shade loving plants to consider: Hydrangea, such a lovely bush in so many modern shades now. Hosta's, with their interesting leaves Heuchera: Not all shade loving plants have to be "boring"old green. Heuchera plants comes in a delightful variety of colors. Plant these as borders around the base of trees or even along the edge of walkways! Acanthus mollis: This is my favourite bold grouping plant, I have it planted in so many problem spots and area's I need to make a statement. Aluminum plant: (Ground cover) can be too invasive for a small area but in an area that drives you potty because what you have planted just sits long enough to be taken over by weeds this plant is fantastic with it's variegated leaves lighting up the darkest of area's and covering the ground in no time. Hellobores: (Winter rose) A must for every shade garden Bedding plants: All bedding plants need attention once planted, water and foliage feeding. I have found planting annuals in sifted soil gives them a good start. I had been sifting soil for resowing patches in the lawn and decided to use the sifted soil as a top layer to the soil before planting annuals and seeds to get the same good results I am getting with the grass seed germinating. Sifted soil is so fine and packs round new roots firmly so they don't dry out, and is soft and fine allowing roots to grow quickly. It is after all nature given for growing, here before we had so many choices! Hydrangea's are popular again, they are leafing up now and will need fed ready for their long flowering season, aged animal manure is a good food source for them, they are shallow rooted so need watered often. To keep pink use a little lime around the drip line and for blue you use alliumn sulphate or epsom salts, These must be watered in and not just left on top of the roots. .Ponds: I know talked about ponds not long ago but with the warmer weather weather quickening up pond growth it's time to watch for slime developing which is harmful to fish when getting caught in their gills. If you haven't cleaned out your pond do it now, I have removed the duck weed that sat on top of my ponds during the Winter, over the Winter months it turns a rusty red colour with the cold and stops growing but at this time of the year it takes off again and multiplies so fast it can cover a pond in a matter of day's. I used to curse it but now I wait for it to grow and scoop it out to put on the garden as a Summer mulch. If you have fish & water lilies you must remove duck weed now to let the sun in. Water lilies are starting to make leaf now and need sun to bud up. I will tackle the oxygen weed next, that is also very good as a mulch on the garden, I will removed half of it before the fish start to breed in the the warmer water and blow their eggs into it. When I first added fish to my ponds I just put in some oxygen weed from a pond full of fish and the baby fish eggs all hatched in the oxygen weed, and with no other older fish in the pond to eat the eggs or hatching's they had no predators so all survived. A good way of clearing a pond after Winter is to flood it, most of the rubbish will float off. Don't stir up the bottom as long as the water is clear on top then the pond is working. If a pond fills with green slime in the warmer weather it means that there is too much nitrogen in the water, maybe fertiliser drifted in when the lawn or garden was being feed. Or if you feed the water lilies with Manure some may have leached out into the water. . If you have a large pond put in a bale of old straw and just leave it to rot down. If your pond is small break some squares from a bale and weight them down to the bottom. This works wonders on murky pond water and will get the pond working and clear in no time. Vegetable garden: Keep molding up potatoes as they show leaf, this keeps them cooler allowing more time for them to grow a bigger crop. FIRST EARLY VARIETIES: Cliffs Kidney, Jersey Bennes, Maris Anchor, Rocket. SECOND EARLY Ilam Hardy, Karaka, Red king. MAIN CROP: Desiree, Mondial, Nadine, Pentland Dell, Red Rascal, Rua I have sown mixed lettuce seeds in a tray and plan to transplant them into the garden as I need them, lettuce seedlings will hold in a tray for a long time in a shady spot and only really start growing when they are planted, fed and watered. Gardening by the moon New moon 16th October New Moon Prepare new beds ready for the first quarter Cheers Linda.

October already and day light saving giving us more time at the end of each day to enjoy. This month is where chasing weeds becomes a full time job - Hoeing and hand pulling weeds is still the best option in planted areas. If you are clearing a garden to plant out for a summer show I suggest clear all annual weeds, pull out, or dig well under. Couch needs to be taken right out, get each long runner under the ground and any little pieces that may have been chopped with the spade, they grow and spread very fast if left.( I spot spray Couch with round up now in badly effected areas) Once all obvious weeds are gone cover the area with organic compost, thick enough to keep the light from allowing any seeds left behind from weeds to germinate, don't dig it in and risk bringing weed seeds up to the light. just plant straight into the compost. Organic compost, mushroom compost, any medium that has been heated to the point of destroying any seeds that it once contained. NOW plant,plant, plant! as many annuals and perennials as you can into the prepared area. They will grow really fast from now on and beat any weed seeds that first have to germinate. I have spent a good deal of time this week pricking out and potting up plants I have raised from seed which I am now starting to harden off a little in readiness for planting as soon as I know the frosts are no more. The garden centers are full of lovely annuals so here on the coast plant out pots and protected gardens for a head start to summer and remember to feed once a week with liquid fertiliser. Further inland it will be a while yet before you will be planting out tender annual plants but use this time to work up the soil letting the sun in to dry it and warm it up before the compost goes on ready for planting out. I have been noticing a few cherry blossom trees with root stock branches being left to grow. By this I mean any branches that develop below the graft (where the branches begin at the top of the trunk); these should be cut off while still small. If they are allowed to develop into branches they will take over the whole tree because they will grow faster than the grafted stock. all flowering cherry trees are grafted onto a strong root stock of a very ordinary white blossom tree so if you have a tree with lovely pink or white blossom and you notice some blossom looks different then most likely it will be a branch growing from below the graft, cut it right out. Leave bulbs that have finished flowering alone, they now need to take up food through their leaves to fill the bulb with enough nutrients to secure a good flowering next year. Uncover the crowns of peony roses now if you have had them protected with pea straw, they need maximum light to grow straight and strong. The lawns are doing well now, lots of growth and mowing, it is the perfect time to sow a new lawn now or fill bare patches in existing lawns, spring sowing's result in a lot of weed growth but they are usually annual weeds and the first mowing takes care of them. Sow your seed thickly to get a good strike. Once seed is sown on firmly prepared ground lightly rake over and keep the moisture up until you get a strike. At this time of the year a green haze should appear in no time, do not mow too early, the ground needs to be firm and the new growth thick before the first mow. keep the blade on the lawn mower high for the first couple of mows, each mow will help the new grass to thicken and the roots will get stronger as they cope with supplying food to new growth. Spraying out lawn weeds can be done now, to be kind to worms i spot spray rather than cover the whole lawn in poison. Never a non lawn weed spray to spot spray on lawns, it will Leach well past the weed and kill the surrounding grass leaving ugly dead patches all over the lawn. Vegetable & Fruit The vegetable garden is doing well now even though we are having a few cold snaps, the good thing about that is that there are still, no white butterflies around my garden yet!! I will be ready with the fish emulation when I do see them. This is a good spray to confuse them; To them I guess veg looks like veg but smells like protein. Think about companion planting in the veg garden and the glass house. I use the very small marigold called tagetes, in a glass house it has a strong marigold fragrance to keep the white fly away and planted with garlic outside in the veg garden is the old method of keeping the green fly away. It is very easy to grow from seeds saved each year, will not grow tall to throw shade and it is very pretty. Keep planting all the vegetable plants on offer, like beetroot, lettuce, potatoes, peas, spring cabbage, broccoli, and carrot seeds, I have a heap of lettuce come up in a seed tray that I keep in a cool place, I plant out a few of the small plants every second week so they will mature at different times, Strawberries are flowering ready to fruit now so feed them well with liquid manure to help them along. Raspberries and currants are moving into leaf as well now and gooseberries are already forming fruit so they would all enjoy a feeding right now. Gardening by the moon LAST QUARTER Monday, 8 October 2012 Garden: Sow root crops Harvest produce Manage weeds Sow grass (it will establish strong roots in this period) . Cheers, Linda