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