Gardening in North Otago September 3rd 2013

SEPTEMBER,the season of new beginnings and this past week has convinced me that spring has arrived in Weston after a mild winter, lovely sunny days and blue sky's this week. Everyday something new is happening in our garden, sweet peas, ranunculus, anemones and tulips are well up and putting on good growth. I am now watching what is pushing through the pea straw and clearing a space to let them through and needed light in. Weeds are off to a flying start as well, I have been spraying over the last two weeks and notice the first lot has worked, there are organic weed sprays on the market that work best when weeds are new and small so now is the time, get them before they flower and make seed. With very wide perennial boarders insisting on growing couch, biddy- bid, and chick-weed, I try to get rid of them now while the flowering plants are still low and with the ground still soft weed pulling is easy. While doing this weeding I can see what needs attention like delphiniums needing stakes in to give support while growing, removing mulch from around iris rhizomes and peony rose crowns and removing self sown plants and natives before they settle in. All plants, shrubs and trees will respond to feeding now, the sap is well up and buds are swelling and bursting open. We have a number of deciduous magnolia trees and they are taking center stage right now with beautiful blooms pushing through their huge furry buds and camellia's and rhododendrons are bursting into colour here. Liquid feed all perennials and bedding plants making growth and use a good general fertiliser for trees and shrubs to help them along now. Azaleas and tulips are the exception, azaleas like fed after flowering and tulips store enough food in the bulb for their requirements. if you load them up with more they will grow more leaf than needed and hide the blooms. (No feeding for Australian or South African shrubs such as leucodendron, protea, waratah and grevillea.) cut the old growth from the cat-mint if you have not already done so, I leave old growth on over the colder months to protect the new growth, once the new leaves are seen to be making good growth the old can be removed. It's also time to dress your garden for late spring and summer, think colour and where you want it and what colour is needed where. At this time of the year concentrate on the sunny areas in the garden being the warmest to get bedding pants and perennials moving. Roses: there are still roses on offer, they do not need always need to grow together in a rose bed, use them as gap fillers in boarders. To give those new to roses an idea of what to look for I will list the different types below. There is a rose for every sunny situation and a few that will tolerate light shade. PATIO ROSES: About knee high for front boarder planting, about 80 cm apart when grouping, these can also be grown in containers as long as the roots are kept cool ( tin foil around the inside of the pot before filling will help with this) feed right through the growing season. FLORIABUNDA: Flowers grow in clusters - bushes grow to about waist high on average, space these about 1mtr apart when grouping. Cut off spent flower clusters and they will reward you with masses of colour right through the growing season. HYBRID TEA: This is the rose to give you the large exhibition one steam bloom. They grow about chest high. These are the picking rose and need feeding well right through the growing season to give the best results. Miniture: A dwarf growing bush rose with all parts scaled down, height will be listed on the label - I find these not as long lived as the larger bush rose. If you have one that is not performing and has been growing for a few years, dig it out, change the soil and plant another. The secret to keeping roses free from disease is to remove all last years' diseased wood and leaves from the ground around them and burn. Keep the food up to rose bushes starting now while they are beginning to leaf and continue right through until the end of summer. Manure enriched compost around them now will feed and protect the roots but keep it off where the rose has been grafted. Blood & bone, vormacast or the liquid form is also good right now. When the ground warms up a little sprinkle a man made balanced rose fertiliser around them, these fertilisers have been designed to promote just the right amount of leaf and flower growth, and need the warmer soil to activate. Don't waste them by using them too soon. I have learned through selling and growing roses which are the good doers- But in saying that there are growers of roses that raise better healthier roses than others. From my experience a rose-planted bare rooted in the winter or early spring will do better for me than a rose planted going into the summer. But I understand the new gardener likes to see the bloom's before buying and now days a large range of roses are on offer in the late Spring, bagged, in bud and flower ready to plant. They take a little more care to become settled. Vegatables: green crops need to be dug in now, before they flower and get stringy. Keep planting seeds and seedlings and enjoy the absence of white butterfly! Fruit: Buds are swelling to blossom burst as sap rises, what's needed now are sunny days and bee's. I worked on my gooseberry bushes last year and again this week,Thinning branches before the leaves arrive, cutting up the bottom branches to get the bushes higher off the ground making it so much easier to pick the fruit from underneath and not have to fight your way through a tangled mess of prickly branches. Cheers, Linda.