Gardening in North Otago 23rd May 2013

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 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. I received the biggest welcome from Daughter Lara, Son in law Sam and my three excited Grandies all now one year older since my visit last year. Nana is well and truly now on board with the promise of fun filled School holidays starting next week! 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 arehosta, astilbies, arum lilly, willow and many New Zealand native plants & trees can tolerate wet conditions. Aninternet 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