Gardening in North Otago 15th October 2013

What a stormy month so far, strong winds, heavy black sky's, rain, hail, frost, thunder and lightening, blossom blown off and trees blown down. Spring is certainly living up to it's unpredictability this year. Because of the weather my main tulip display was flattened so I dug them up with tops still attached and have left them die back before storing them in a dry place to be planted out again next May. I have weeded and composted the gardens they were planted in ready for the planting of blue salvia in a couple of weeks. This is the time of the year that I am busy getting my garden presentable for all the Spring tours that have started. With the ground warming and the heavy rain we have had it is just right for planting and it is about this time of the year that I think about getting the weeds away in my flower beds before they make seed, I then change beds from a spring show to a summer show with annuals. In these beds I cannot use bark or straw covering because I am changing them every season, I use clean weed free compost. The trick is to get rid of the surface weeds and past flowering annuals, water the bed well, then put a thick layer of the compost on top of the wet soil, it must be a thick layer! do not dig it in! leave it on top to suppress any weed seeds wanting to germinate, plant your new seasons plants into it. Remember to keep dead heading and feeding flowering pansies and polyanthus as long as there is a chill in the air they will keep on flowering until it gets too warm for them. If you feel they have done all they are going to do dig them out, cut back and plant in a cool shady place where they can be left and planted out again next year. I see shoots on my flamboyant Begonias now and some tubers have become big enough to cut into several shooting sections to become plants on their own. Flamboyant begonias make a wonderful show as a boarder or in pots and hanging baskets and they flower on and on through the summer. once they send up leaves I start feeding them fish fertilisers to keep them going strong. Coastal gardens will be ahead of gardens further inland, these gardens will still be getting reasonable frosts. Late frosts on the new growth on roses can be a problem but don' t be too concerned because rose leaves recover very fast and will have new buds to open in six weeks time. If watering don't let rose foliage go into the night wet, the rain of course can not be helped, water and spray them early in the day. When the nights start warming up any dampness on rose leaves will encourage mildew. Also keep the food up to your roses now, they are making their buds and it's hungry roses that get diseased. Nitrophosca is good right now on any summer flowering plants and shrubs for a quick result, use every fortnight to keep the food supply up. I have been spot spraying convolvulus, couch and clover, fresh new weed growth is coming through the ground now so its the right time to zap them on a non windy day. If roses get even a sniff of hormone spray it will deform the foliage and the rose bush will eventually die so don't risk spraying on a windy day. I have noticed some of my front shrub plantings are too big now, hiding good planting areas behind each over grown shrub. It takes only a few years for gardens to close in with out us really noticing and what a difference can be made by opening up and creating distance for a new and interesting planting. One area opened in my garden is deep enough to allow me to mass plant with blue bells and include a new maple tree and it was only two scrappy over grown shrubs removed which has made this difference. I planted a lot of sun flower seeds into trays a few weeks ago which are now large enough to plant out, now I know summer is just around the corner when i think of the show I will have of those huge sunny flower heads following the sun around the garden. Also up and almost ready to plant out are cosmos, larkspur, nasturtium and marigolds, although I must say they got a tickle up from the frosts and hail this week, maybe I will hold them a little longer before planting out. If you are keen to attract monarch butterflies on the coast, plant swan plants now but protect from late frosts until established. Vegetables Keep an eye on potatoes that are through the ground, mound the soil up around them and frost cloth may be needed at night just to be sure if your garden is low lying. Seeds are popping up in no time now so get them in ready for salad time. Because of the cold snap I have started some seeds in the airing cupboard, if you do this you must take them out as soon as they make an appearance or they will grow leggy looking for light. Pumpkin, squash, corn and courgette seeds can go in now, if you prefer to buy plants be sure to harden them off outside in a protected place for a while before planting them out. If your vegetable garden has been disappointing in the past with plants not growing as well as you would like you could do a Ph test and if the PH of your soil needs to be raised you can then add lime to do this. I sprinkle a little lime on my compost heaps in spring and Autumn and when the compost is ready to put on the garden I feel I have added lime then. But if you have done a test and you need to raise the PH Sprinkle the lime over the soil surface and rake it into the top couple of inches, letting it naturally work down to the root zone. Do not dig it deeply into the soil, it will leach down soon enough. Dolomite lime is less likely to drastically change the PH but if your soil is in need of sweetening our local lime (calcium carbonate) will do the trick. Usually application rates are 2 to 3 pounds per 100 square feet of garden area, every second year to raise the pH from 5.5 to 6.5. There are some veg that like a more acid soil so don't go adding lime unless your soil needs sweetening. Brasica plants,cabbage, brussel sprouts and the like enjoy a sweet soil so you would be safe adding lime every second year where you plan to plant them. Cheers, Linda