Gardening in North Otago 12.December 2012

We are very close to Christmas now and gardening will be on the back burner soon for most I am sure, including me,Ya! Not much watering had to be done this week after the rain, but the heat of the sun when out soon has those hoses out again. I have had the hedge trimmer on the go again and yes the plants and shrubs did shudder to their roots when I come their way! If it needs it, it gets it! Trimming with secateurs is not practical with such a large garden and at this time of the year you can not do too much damage, the grow back rate is pretty quick. I am still lucky enough to have the help of a busy Pete who loves trimming hedges, the box hedges have had a good go over this week with Pete doing the back breaking trimming and I the clean up. The overcast afternoons have been perfect for them to recover without the sun scorching them too soon. Scorching of newly cut box hedging in the hot summer sun is unavoidable but they soon grow through scorching and harden off. My buddleia's also got a good cut back, they are a great fill in bush. I cut them back by half, when they have finished flowering when young and right to the ground once at the stage of getting out of hand. Buddlea push up new growth very quickly and look attractive with their blue green foliage even without the flowers. Shades of blue /purple, pink & white make this an attractive plant for a back border. and can be grown from a cutting. Catmint can be trimmed back now, I know it is still showing heaps of colour but trim the long growth back by half and in no time at all it will re-grow into a neater clump and continue to flower. The same applies to aubrietia, it will stay in a neater clump after a trim back. Most gardeners pull out forget-me-not when it has finished flowering, I cut it right back to almost nothing and it returns in nice green clumps stronger than ever and becomes a perennial which will flower for years every spring. As a woodland plant you can't go past forget-me-not as a pretty sea of blue in the spring. Many more branches were lifted on large trees this week, I hire chain saw which is small on the end of a very long handle, just perfect for reaching up and removing long branches and thinning out to let light onto gardens below. . Anemones for winter flowering can be planted in the next two weeks, you will need to put a stick in where they are planted at this time of the year it's so easy to forget the spot and dig them up.Pop some in pots to replace all the Summer & autumn pots when finished flowering. Lilies are flowering now, large clumps can be divided up and shifted straight after flowering and planted into good compost but they must never dry out so keep an eye on them through the dryer months. I have had clumps of Christmas lilies completely disappear and have not noticed until I miss them flowering at this time of the year. It takes ages for lilies to grow from little pup bulbs and seed so they are worth looking after. Lawns: If you don't like using sprays and you have a few flat weeds in the lawn try spot spraying them with vinegar, Most people would have vinegar in the kitchen. I was told about this recently and it works! I used white vinegar. It is also great for pathways and drives and leaves no dangerous residue to leach into nearby plants.. I am pretty sure it dose not kill clover, browns it off a little, but I am still watching to see how much it knocks it. The vinegar needs to be applied in dry sunny weather. Keep mounding up potato rows to encourage bigger shores, corn likes to be mounded up also when it gets to about knee high. They have a shallow rooting system and the mounding helps to keep them upright in strong winds. I have been faced with a great crop of weeds in the vegetable garden, like most other gardeners I am sure. How fast they appear and grow, one thing is for sure you can put off doing what you should but you cannot put off what nature wants to do when it comes to weeds, and ripening of fruit and veg, Nature will have it's way and if you are too late to respond the weed seeds pop, the fruit over ripens and the veg bolts. Fruit: It is time to shorten back fruiting leaders on grape vines, the growth is needed for the grapes that have started to form. If a leader has produced too many bunches remove some with shortening back. I was told years ago that offal or a dead animal is what a domestic grape vine likes to have buried down around it's roots, too much nitrate fertiliser will produce leaves and leaders. like most fruiting plants a little pot ash to encourage fruiting is beneficial in spring. NEW MOON From Thursday, 13 December 2012 Veg Garden: Water carefully, using fingers to make sure that the ground is getting wet where you need the moisture. Harvest garlic and onions, if ready Weed and prepare beds, aerate surface of all un-mulched beds with hoe, Sow late crops of cucumbers, courgettes, beans and basil Sow peas, rocket and corriander in shade plan and sow seed for Autumn crops like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, silverbeet, spinach, celery, carrots, beetroot, brussels sprouts, kale swedes, turnips and radish. Continue regular foliar feeds of gross feeders with liquid comfrey or liquid manure, and foliar feeding with fish, seaweed or growth foliar transplant leeks into garden for Autumn, Winter use Flower garden Sow seed for late Autumn / Winter / early spring flowering - snap dragon, calendula, marigold, sweet William, hollyhock, granny's bonnet (aquelegia) Orchard: Pinch growing tips out on your fig trees to encourage growth to go into fruit Net and harvest ripening fruit Watch moisture levels carefully - especially young trees Cheers, Linda.