Gardening in North Otago May 1st 2013

A mixed bag of weather this week with a nor wester and rain always near. Raking and then more raking of leaves and hedge trimmings this week but each full wool pack is getting to the end of them and the compost heaps are filling well. Once deciduous trees have lost their leaves we can see over crowded trees or branches needing to be removed to let more light onto gardens allowing spring bulbs the sun needed for them to preform well. The overall look of an established garden can be changed by having a clean out, don't be sentimental about a tree out grown it's spot or in the wrong place If it was not planted by you or just arrived in your garden odds are that the birds planted it! Clear those rouge trees out or transplant them to a spot where they are able to grow full size with out becoming a nuisance. This week I have been re potting some pots that been full of summer colour but were now looking very tired, some I have filled with succulents because I noticed that a lot of my succulents have flowered and become stalky which means that it is time to forgo the Mother plant and plant out her Babies. Each rosette on the end of a stalk can be broken off with a little part of the stem and pushed into river sand or potting mix. Each one will develop roots and become a Mother plant. These Baby succulents look great in pots over the Winter months, You can fill all of the vacant space or push in around the edges and plant Hyacinths or any dwarf Spring bulbs in the center. The succulents give your pots some interest before the bulbs come up. There are so many different succulents, in shades of red, orange, silver, fresh green. If you have exhausted clumps in the garden break them up, toss out the dodgy ones and replant the fresher. May is the last Month to plant Tulips to have them doing their thing when they should, Tulips seem to take a long time to come into flower, unlike a lot of other Spring bulbs already starting to make an appearance. Two plants you can dig a trench for and fill with manure are sweetpeas and clematis, to reach the desired height they need a lot of rich food and a sweet soil so some lime for these as well. I have sweet peas well through after planting them six weeks, they should start flowering in late August. Time to take rose cuttings, Choose a straight stem and cut off about 12 inches from the top just below a leaf node. Pull off the leaves along the stem and leave just two at the top. I soak in willow water for a couple of weeks then Dig a spade into damp ground, make a slit in the soil and bury cuttings about six inches down into this wedge. Firm the soil around the cuttings, name them, water them and watch them grow. Within a few weeks leaves will appear, which is a sign that they taken. Leave them in this spot until spring, and then uproot them carefully into pots to grow them on. You can use this method for many shrubs, like ceonothus, geraniums, potentilla, euonymous, hebes, weigela and even abutilon. Just make sure you pick a healthy straight stem. Rooting hormone powders and gels to dip cuttings in before planting will help cuttings to take root. Erica's - Autumn is when they bud up to start flowering in Winter, if they were cut back after flowering they should have gone through the Summer looking fresh and green and should now be well in bud. Ericas and callunas are wonderful ground covers and look good growing down retaining walls. There are many different shades of pink, lavender and white, some are ground covers and some are upright growing. There are large growing varieties to miniatures, so much choice and they are being offered for sale right now in garden centers. Erica's need full sun and good drainage to look their best. They are frost hardy and their colour intensifies the colder it is and look great planted in drifts of 3 or 5 together to give maximum impact. Our garden would be very dull in the Winter months without Erica's. Lawns have slowed down at last, lime and gypsum as well as a dressing of fine compost can be spread on lawns now, lime to sweeten, compost to add humus and gypsum to soften hard compacted ground which has a lot of clay content. After two or three years in a row of applying gypsum at this time of the year there will be no more cracks appearing when lawns during dry spells. Vegetables Carrots, growing these without a problem or two is not always easy, the ground needs to still hold a little heat for them to germinate and continue to grow, if they stop and then start growing again the regrowth ends up as a hard core and the carrot stops growing down into the soil. Carrot fly is also a problem which also attacks celery,dill,fennel,parsley and parsnip. The pest overwinters as pupae in the soil or in old host plant roots which have been left in the ground. The adult flies are long and black with yellow legs and iridescent wings. Females find plants by smell, mostly in the evenings they lay eggs in soil cracks adjacent to plants. Avoid thinning in late afternoon and remove all thinning's as the female is attracted smell and damaged plants, plant carrots in a different spot each year and Companion panting can help side track the carrot fly. Gardeners have found early crops sown in September or October usually mature before the fly is on the wing, but it is always handy I feel to have a carrot or two in the garden when needed. Companion plants for carrots are lettuce, onions and tomatoes ( in summer). never plant dill or parsnips beside carrots. I have just started digging parsnips I planted in late December and they have done really well, even though they are not known to be successful grown in dry summer ground, now that the ground is getting cooler I think they will sit in the soil for as long as I need them without going to seed, which will be great for winter cooking. Gardening by the moon May 2nd / 9th Last quarter During the fourth quarter, from half-full to new moon, cultivate, pull weeds, destroy pests, and turn sod. Cheers, Linda