Gardening in North Otago June 23rd June 2013

I am at the packing stage of my UK Nana visit now, I leave tomorrow Tuesday 19th to make my way back to lovely Oamaru with no traffic jams, queuing or mountains rubbish laying about the streets due to the rubbish collectors strike here in Brighton. I had a short break in Bromley with a day in busy London and a day spent at Kew Palace Gardens. What a treat this was, so much history with a day not long enough to see all. The Palace, the Royal kitchens, the famous Kew glass houses full of exotic plants from all around the World and many other attractions. One I was excited about viewing was a collection of Henry Moore sculptures which were placed perfectly around the vast gardens. Some trees dating back 300 years are expertly maintained, these and many ,many more wonderful attractions connected with the garden are being viewed by hordes of Garden lovers daily. But Oamaru, home and routine again are where my thoughts drift now. I heard about all the rain in North Otago and the prediction of snow by the time I am home, so I am expecting a chilly return but if I am able to get onto things there will be a lot of work to be done in our garden I am sure. As I have written not so long ago It is a good time of the year to really look at the garden, with deciduous trees and shrubs bare inspection of trees and shrubs sprouting new growth beneath their graft area can be taken off. All large deciduous trees such as flowering cherries, magnolia, silver birch, ashes, oaks any large well grown specimen tree bought today will have been grafted onto strong growing root stock different to the top graft. From time to time the root stock will push growth out and up and because it is strong growing it will always overtake the grafted wanted specimen. This must be cut out, I have seen a few mature trees left to grow this way and the result is not good, a prunus displaying beautiful pink blossom on one side and insipid root stock white blossom on the other side spoils a tree that should have grown beautifully into its shape.Thinning out of branches can be done now, if branches are crossing over each other or there are far too many in the centre of a tree don't just shorten a branch back because it will regrow from that point, take it right out and let some light in. Prunus and Malus (crab apple trees) are bad for producing over crowding branches which tend to rub together and encourage disease if not removed. Always make sure your pruning equipment is cleaned from one tree to the next, methylated spirits is good for doing this to avoid spreading silver leaf which is killer of prunus trees. Digging up and shifting things around like rhododendrons, azalea's and magnolias can be done now, anything that I think has been struggling in the spot it has been planted in. This is also the time to remove trees and shrubs that have long out grown their youthful beauty, replace with a younger version of the original or something different. you can change the whole look of a tired garden by doing this. I find lots of rogue trees and shrubs that the birds have introduced to our garden popping up everywhere while weeding, some which have grown in amongst shrubs like rhododendrons and camellias have become quite established before I noticed them and stubborn to remove. It is best to remove them completely if you can because they just keep growing stronger each year and undermine the roots of the needed plants. On the coast there are so many things that have self seeded can be planted to grow on at this time of the year like hellebore, lupins, poppies, pansy, viola, forget- me- not and primula. If you have pollyantha's that you left in the ground from last year they will have multiplied, and will be easy to break apart and plant out separately. Polly's love dried blood it greens them up after transplanting. If you do get some dried blood sprinkle a little around camellia's and Daphne's if they do not look like they are thriving. Plant sweet-pea's now to flower very early spring. Winter lawns that have been performing poorly in spite of feeding and watering may be improved with a winter liming. Aim to achieve a PH of around 6 (mildly acid) which will encourage strong grass growth. Vegetables: In the vegetable garden where green leafy vegetables and onions will be growing next summer give a dressing of 250 grams per square metre of dolomite lime. If you follow a regular rotation this will ensure that most of the garden receives lime once in three years, permanent crops like rhubarb should be limed every three years as well. in gardens fed with compost rather than chemical fertilisers the PH tends to rise gradually eventually making regular liming unnecessary. The hellebore's (Winter roses) are starting to send up flowers, I removed all the old leaves from mine which really shows the pretty flowers off. There are a lot of hellebore seedlings growing around the main plants, I leave the very small first year ones but dig out and transplant seedlings from year before. These second year seedlings will take another few years to flower and look best in mass plantings. Hellebore's like to be planted in damp soil and semi shade, they do wonderfully well planted around rhododendrons, camellias and azaleas. Fruit People have been asking me about the pruning of fruit trees, it is confusing to explain unless showing someone so I thought I would give an explanation which I hope will be easy to follow starting with the most planted fruit tree. How To Prune Apple Trees First, fruit is produced from shoots which are in their second (or later) year. One of the aims of pruning is to produce a balance (roughly half and half) between side shoots produced this year and side shoots produced last year. This will provide a crop of apples in the current year and sufficient shoots for next year's crop. Second, when you prune during winter (while the tree is dormant), this will invigorate the tree, causing it to grow more during the following season. If you prune during summer this will cause the tree to grow less during that growing season. Spring pruning has an effect somewhere between winter and summer pruning. The first pruning should occur immediately after planting (normally June / July) - make sure you know if you have a one or two year old tree. The examples below show pruning starting at a one year old tree. PRUNE A ONE YEAR OLD TREE A one year old tree should be pruned immediately after planting - cut off the top half of the trunk with a sharp pair of secateurs. Before cutting, make sure that the bottom half contains at least four buds or formed branches. If not, make the cut higher, above the fourth bud. PRUNE A TWO YEAR OLD TREE Prune from June / August. The light grey coloured parts of the tree show growth in the previous year, this should not be pruned. The black coloured side shoots should all be pruned by a third - see the thick black lines. When pruning, cut just above an outward facing bud - this bud will then produce a side shoot in the spring which will grow away from the centre of the tree. PRUNE A THREE YEAR OLD TREE Prune from June / August. Pruning is similar to the two-year old tree - the light grey coloured parts of the tree show growth in the previous year, this should not be pruned. The black coloured side shoots should all be pruned by a third. Always prune to just above an outward facing bud. PRUNE A FOUR YEAR OLD TREE Prune from June until August Pruning is the similar to the three-year old tree - the light grey coloured parts of the tree show growth in the previous year, this should not be pruned unless it is diseased. The black coloured side shoots should all be pruned by a third. Always prune to just above an outward facing bud. A FIVE YEAR OLD TREE can be considered mature and the basic shape will have been established. Pruning should consist of keeping the centre of the tree relatively clear of growth, removing all weak or diseased growth and keeping the tree within the space available. Remember that apples will grow on wood produced the previous year, so always leave a good proportion (say 50%) of the previous year's growth. I hope this is straight forward and helpful. I will write about stone fruit pruning next week. Cheers, Linda

Gardner abroad from North Otago May 27th 2013

The uk warmed up for a couple of days and being Bank holiday the streets of Brighton were swarming with people off the trains and making for the beach. There are many festivals in May and our Son in law Sam being a Chief is working every given moment feeding the crowds with is famous "Posh lamb burgers" on the water front and hoping his restaurant Sam's of Brighton is filling up at the same time. The gardener Nana from Oamaru NZ is going camping for a night out in the English country side, goodbye concrete, shops and people mass for a couple of days....Ya! Hello blue bells, lilac, japonica, fresh green tree's and new perennial growth and ohhh the spring fragrance waiting for me. At home this is a good time to give thought to improving the look of your garden while trees are bare and gardens are clear of full growth. Don't cling to plants, shrubs or trees that are past their best. If they look like they are past it they are. As I say often, remove them and replace the spot with something fresh and worth looking at. If it's shrubbery you need to remove and are worried about leaving a gap and lack of privacy you can always fill the gap with manuka screening until the replacement grows to the required size. I think manuka screen looks very non intrusive and creates a wind break and shelter for new plantings. It is also time to look at the shape of trees now that the leaves are gone, remove lower branches if you think the tree would look better with more trunk showing and check young trees are not sporting double trunks. Cross over branches should be removed and if there are two branches doing the same job remove the lower branch of the two and any weak spindly growth. Some trees like silver pear and crab apples can get a mass of branches in the center going in every direction, they look so good once they have been thinned out. If you need to remove large branches it is important to cut at the right place and leave the basal collar in tact, ( a slanted cut leaving a short portion of the branch at the base of the trunk) as this contains cells which will seal the wound from disease. Slim straight branches are perfect to feed through a wood mulcher , once turned into wood chip mulch they can be put back onto the garden. you are finding small native trees popping up around your garden which you know were not planted by you, you can be sure the birds have planted the seeds. I have them every where, now is a good time to shift these if you have room for them, or pot them up and give them to someone planting a native area. I am sure the mulch is still going on gardens there at home this helps to keep the ground warmer and moisture in as well as adding food and humus to the garden. Leucodendrons are taking center stage now, they are wonderful for picking once fully hardened and will last for months picked and put in a vase, just the thing when there is not lot else to pick. Leucodendrons are easy to grow in the conditions they prefer, being full sun, good draining acid soil and staked and protected from strong winds until established. They will grow on dry banks and rough area's as long as they do not have to compete with grass and weeds. Leucodendrons resent any type of fertiliser and once planted and growing will die if shifted. There are leucodendrons which grow very large, low spreaders which look great spilling over walls, low bushy types and they all add wonderful colour to a dull winter garden. Vegetables & Fruit Keep planting out seedling veg plants, board beans. Winter is also the time for planting rhubarb and asparagus crowns so prepare the ground with rich composted now, get them planted and established and in no time you can make rhubarb crumble and asparagus rolls. Black current bushes should have as much of the old dark shoot removed leaving only the light coloured smooth vigorous young growth .Red currents will not fruit on new wood so older wood should be kept for 3 years just cut out the odd old branch yearly to encourage a few new replacements Give all current bushes a good two hand fulls of bonemeal or blood and bone in spring to ensure a good crop of fruit. Cheers, Linda