Gardening in North Otago 4th June 2013

Well, the camping started well with sun and a row up the river Thames from our campsite at Reading, situated just past Henley where the setting up for the famous Henley Royal ( rowing) regatta was taking place. But then it all turned to custard with heavy rain all that night and more for the cast for the days to follow..... tents, rain, mud and small Children, not a good combination anywhere in the World, so pack up we did. The drive back to Brighton on the M4 for an Oamaru country Gardener was nothing short of horrendous with four bumper-to-bumper lanes, driving rain, fog, and three bored Children. I am sure you can conjure up a picture of this in your mind! but all good in the end the sun is now shining and we are three days into the School holidays here in the UK! A few days on and the days have been lovely in this seaside City, hoards of people swarm in off the trains for the Brighton experience, I like to spend time in the parks where gardens are planted full to bursting with spring flowering perennials and their fragrance, even the occasional early peony rose fat red-tipped buds ready to explode open. Roses are poised in the early bud stage waiting for longer periods of sunshine to become the promised summer blooms. If I were back in my garden at home, this being the beginning of June The pea straw would still be going on helping to keep the moisture in the ground for Spring growth. Keep tidying up perennials that need to rest now and divide overgrown plants and plant-rooted cuttings from the outer edges of perennial clumps, if you think the mother plant is past its best, dispose of it. Keep planting lilium bulbs. These are best placed in raised beds. Don’t let the roots dry out at all. Make early plantings of gladioli in well-drained sites for November flowering. Roses will have finished flowering now, as soon as the leaves fall I spray Lime Sulphur first, then wait several weeks before spraying Champion Copper and Conqueror Oil ( I usually leave this spraying until after I have pruned in July) to eliminate powdery mildew, lichen, and moss. Clean up dead leaves under rose bushes to prevent pest and disease spread. New season bare-rooted roses should be arriving in Garden centers soon, prepare ground ready now by digging in old stable manure or bagged rose mix. If planting a rose in the same place a rose has been growing, you will need to remove most of the soil that the rose was growing in and replace it with soil from another part of the garden, disease is transferred very quickly from one rose to another. Roses planted at this time of the year are less likely to suffer from planting stress. Re-pot container-grown buxus every second year or if they look pot-bound. Trim the outer roots and replace any loose soil with a new potting mix. Buxus make a huge amount of root growth every year and do not seem to suffer from the removal of half of these roots from the outside of the root ball. Plant polyanthus, pansies, and snapdragons for a bright patch of colour, a few polys in a pot are all that's needed to brighten up any doorway. Once wisterias have lost all leaves, prune off all long and unruly canes because if you don't they will entwine themselves around established branches and keep growing thicker each year. Lawns; Growth should have slowed right down now and lawns will be at the tufty stage, our lawn mowers are usually on the go until the last of the leaves have been picked up. Vegetable On the coast Sow broad beans, garlic, shallots, and rhubarb. In colder areas, nothing much can be planted.  Cheers, Linda