Gardner abroad May 20th 2013

Oamaru, Christchurch, Sydney, Abu Dhabi then London, that's was my long, long, long familiar journey to continue study of our Kiwi / Uk seedlings. The first of these named and registered seven years ago Matilda eve Christina. Showing promise this seedling was soon followed by another very stand out seedling from the same stock named and registered Barnes Robert. Then four years later on the 13th May 2012 seedling Eliza Belle was also named and registered thus completing and ensuring future development from this Kiwi / UK connection. My journey started on the afternoon of Sunday May 18th and ended 30+ hours later landing me here in Brighton, UK to take full, first hand advantage of the fresh spring growth....very surreal it is coming from a late Kiwi South island Autumn. On my way from the airport to begin studying the fore mentioned seedlings I passed English tree woods sporting new lush green growth, some still in blossom rising up from carpets of blue bells, clematis scrambling here and there, hanging baskets and window boxes bursting with colour from pansies, ivy and primula plus mass planted tulips in all their spring splendor made this all seem very premature for me after just having planted out so many tulip bulbs a day or two before I left Oamaru. My Daughter Lara, husband Sam and my three, year older Grandies gave me the biggest welcome with the promise of fun filled School holidays starting next week, Nana is well and truly now on board! If at home I would be continuing to cut all old leaves off the hellebore's and dahlias then giving each a dressing of manure enriched compost before adding a warming layer of pea straw to bed them down for winter. Summer & autumn flowering Plants and trees are shutting down to rest over the colder months and will be looking tired and messy, plants such as dahlia, perennial phlox, alstroemeria, Japanese anemone and salvia, along with annuals that flowered over summer and autumn. Don't wait around to see how much more flowering they will do, chop perennials back and remove annuals before they exhaust themselves making unwanted seed. I always leave one or two for seed collection but once that is done they are gone and the annuals replaced with plants for the new season colour after compost has been added. Rain is is a bonus in North Otago at this time of the year as plants, trees & lawns go into winter hibernation but we do not need too much rain as roots will soon stop taking in excess moisture leaving it to sit and make soil cold and sour. If much rain is experienced it will then allow a chance to see where water is pooling and better drainage can be put in place. If drainage is a problem in planting areas before replanting, soil can be dug out to well below the root level and a thick layer of sharp gravel or river stone can be placed there to act as a sump, then replace the soil on top and plant out. This is really effective when planting new trees in a suspected wet spot. Young trees do not have a enough root mass to deal with excess moisture but will cope once the tap root is well down and more large roots have develop. However there are trees, shrubs and plants that will never cope well with excess moisture so it pays to read labels carefully. Plants that can be planted in wet areas are hosta, astilbes, arum lilly, willow and many New Zealand native plants & trees can tolerate wet conditions. An internet search or tapping into Garden center staff knowledge will save wrong choices. keep an on any delicate plants leading up to frosty nights and have frost cloth at the ready. Frost cloth needs to be draped over a frame or raised sticks pushed firmly into the ground, the cloth should not be touching not touching plants to make it effective. Lawns Those who have had a good autumn lawn strike will probably have given the first cut, don't be too hard on new grass it is still very soft and roots will not be far down. An autumn sow needs to winter over to harden off, don't worry about the annual weeds that came up with the grass the first mowing and frosts will take care of most of them. Leave spraying until spring because you will not gain anything by doing it now and very new grass could be effected by harsh sprays Vegetables We have had a bumper vegetable growing season and some gardens will still be producing summer veg I am sure with freezers playing a big part in storing the excess crops. If tomatoes are still producing it will not be for much longer now, but vines can be taken out of the ground and hung in a frost protected place for tomatoes to ripen naturally on the vine. Hoe or work up soil in vegetable beds if they have become compacted to aerate before heavy winter rains arrive. This will encourage worms to the surface to condition the soil for spring and green crops, such as lupin or mustard could be sown and raked into vacant aerated ground to be dug in as humus once sprouted. If seedlings, such as turnips or carrots, have taken hold it's important to thin them out to give them room to develop under ground, if you don't it is likely you will end up with a good crop of green tops only. I put some butter crunch lettuce seed in a couple of weeks ago which I noticed had just germinated before I left, i am sure they will be ready for me to prick out and grow on when I am back. I find butter crunch copes with cold conditions very well especially in raised beds which stay slightly warmer than ground level gardens. I have also planted out a lot of NZ raised garlic cloves, I grew enough by planting in May last year to keep me going for months. Fruit Pick apples, pears, quince and other pip and stone fruits as they ripen, they should store well from now on, I notice the birds have had a good go at what is remaining on my fruit trees, white plastic shopping bags fluttering in the wind can be enough to make birds think twice before landing. May is the month to plant citrus trees, blueberry bushes I will take a break from moon planting info now until the new planting season in spring, which is what I am enjoying already. Cheers, Linda

Gardening in North Otago 15th May 2013

I spent this week getting things in order for my departure to the UK on Sunday, I will be away being hands on Nana for 5 weeks but will continue to send brief gardening notes for you to read out if that works for you. The ground is nice and soft for weeding and planting right now, and yes even though we have had some good frosts the weeds are unfortunately still growing well, there are heaps of new small weeds popping up everywhere which can be dealt to with a hoe. I have cut back all the dahlias and dug out and divided some for planting in late spring where I need summer colour. I put labels with each clump so I will know what colours I will be working with. They have been put in cardboard boxes and placed in a dry shed then I filled the gaps with winter flowering annual wall flowers and poppy's. A couple of years ago I planted small clumps of the variegated iris, this iris is not grown for its insignificant blue flower but for it's interesting green and white striped leaves. I have mine mass planted under standard iceberg roses and they make a wonderful show. The clumps became large quickly but were struggling with Japaneses anemone growing through them, the only way I could remove the anemone's was to dig the iris clumps out, break them up and replant them minus the Japanese anemones. I am so pleased I went to the trouble of doing this because they are now taking center stage under the now finished roses and I now have heaps to plant out to add interest in other parts of the now uninteresting pre winter garden. Erica's are budding well, ready to burst into winter colour, the ground cover variety a wonderful ground covers for low maintenance gardens. Trim the spent flowers off erica's that flowered through the summer months to keep them compact. They will put out fresh new green growth through the winter and keep fertiliser away from erica's they do not like lime, dry soil, full sun is what the require. I shifted the last of the trays of plant cuttings I have growing into a light warm spot for them to continue growing well over winter. They will need dryer soil from now on so I will water them less often and always at the start of the day, then re-pot them in the Spring. Pot plants will need less watering from now on as well and moved away from cold glass as night temperatures drop. As sap drops in tree's any tree needing shifted can be wrenched from now on...wrench by digging around half the root mass out from the trunk with a sharp spade. Cut down through the roots on one side only, The root ball size will depend on the size of the tree to be shifted, As a rule of thumb, it should be about 7 times as big in diameter as the trunk of your tree or shrub at the base. The root-ball should be as deep as it is wide, however that can change slightly with your plant being a surface-rooter (e.g. Rhododendron), where the depth only needs to be about 2/3 of the diameter. Dig a narrow trench around the outside of one half of the root area then refill the trench with peat /compost or sifted soil to enable new feeder roots to grow while the undisturbed roots on the other side of the root area keep growing and feeding the tree. All wrenched plants need to be watered regularly to ensure good root growth before shifting time in three or four months. If you want to shift a very big plant and it has only big roots and not many fine roots at the edge of its root-ball, it would be better to wait a full year while it makes new feeder roots before attempting to shift it. Lawns: It's time to keep the mower blades just high enough to pick up the leaves and even up the odd uneven lawn areas, because the ground is getting colder the grass growth slows right down until eventually the lawn mower can be put away. Vegetables: Clear out finished summer veg or dig it in if not too woody any leafy veg ( not root veg ). Work in manure enriched compost with a little lime if soil has been extensively cropped over summer. Work up heavy / clay content soil add some gypsum and leave open for the winter frost to work on to be ready for planting out again in spring. Gardening by the moon First quarter 18th / 24th May WAXING MOON PHASE Strongest gravitational pull at this time coupled with increasing moonlight creates balanced root and leaf growth. Sow lawns & above ground plants and seeds. Plant annual crops such as lettuce, spinach, celery, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower & grain crops. Fertilise, graft fruit trees. Cheers, Linda