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.