Gardening in North Otago 26th March 2014

More rain this week, this is not what I call autumn! the grass is staying green and weeds are growing like they do in spring but if the hoe is kept on the go while weeds are small in this soft ground they wont get away on us like they do in spring. ( wishful thinking?) I am still cutting back heaps because everything is really tired now. Once I start chopping back at this time of the year there is no stopping me leaving destruction in my wake. Cut back, lift and divide summer flowering perennials. Plants that got the chop in my garden: Acanthus mollis (bears britches), tall phlox, day lilies, hellebore leaves, buddleia, honey suckle, abutilon, evergreen viburnum, alstromeria, Hebe's, iris and all leggy, gone to seed herbs. While working my way around I dealt to all my bearded iris's by cutting leaves back by two thirds and making sure the top of rhizomes were above ground to bake in the autumn sun. I have shifted a lot out from shade into sunny well drained locations. Iris's are well worth the trouble of growing and look wonderful planted together in their own bed enabling them to put on a grand display on their own. 6-8 weeks after blooming rhizomes can be divided leaving a chunk of rhizome and roots to every new division. I have also divided and re potted clumps of water iris. To re pot water iris line a plastic pot ( that will stand the top heaviness of the iris when tall) with sacking, or loose woven material place a generous amount of gravel on that then some soil, a little stable manure, or slow release fertiliser granules, plant iris then add another layer of gravel. The gravel on the bottom and top helps to prevent manure or fertiliser leaching from the pot while at the same time weighting the pot down when the iris becomes top heavy. Remove seed heads from ornamental grass if you have not already done so, they just pull away with a rake, grass clumps will look a lot tidier. Clumps can now be trimmed back if getting too big or divided by putting a spade through the middle and removing half. Sometimes I have to dig the whole grass out to do this, then put the spade through and pull apart while standing on one half of the clump. If thinking of adding Rose's, or more roses to your garden I suggest you look at rose variety books or go on line to make your choices before getting your order into Garden centers. New seasons roses will begin arriving in June and by ordering now you will be sure not to miss out. When putting in a new rose bed be sure to take note of heights & widths because they will be all growing together and you would not want some out growing and shading others. It takes 6 weeks from a rose dead heading to grow a new bloom, here on the coast we should have one more flush of blooms then bushes need to stay untouched to allow wood to harden before the big winter prune in mid July / early August. Vegetables. March is an important month for planting winter veg, prepare prior to planting with compost, general garden fertiliser and lime (only if needed to bring the Ph up), I add lime to my compost then know the garden is getting it when compost is added at this time of the year. Beetroot, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, spinach, and silverbeet seedlings and broad beans can be planted now but will need to be protected from the white butterfly. A framework or stakes to hold strawberry net stretched over plants would do the trick. In colder areas seeds of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and brussel sprouts are best sown in trays for planting out for planting out later. A green manure cover crop will germinate quickly right now to be dug in later for enriching the soil. Blue lupin, mustard or oats are good options. Parsley can be grown from seed sown now and perennial herbs such as, chives, mint, thyme, sage, and marjoram can be divided and replanted. Basil, a summer annual should be harvested before the cold weather. It can be dried or frozen. Prepare garlic beds, sow heartease (small wild pansy) for companion to garlic and onions. Fruit: Manure, mulch and compost around fruit trees while ground is warm. Late peaches should be ready to pick now. Feed citrus bushes with citrus fert, they just keep on producing flowers & fruit. Cheers, Linda

Gardening in North Otago March 19th

More rain this week to make this a very green Autumn, looking back over my notes for this time it was about the same in 2011. The ground is so easy to weed and seeds are germinating fast with the warmth and moisture. The silver birches are always the first to drop a carpet of leaves on our drive so the leaf blower and rake are on the go again to fill the first of many wool packs. Still cutting back and tiding plants up before the compost and pea straw is applied, the rain spoiled most of my rose blooms but there are still buds to come to make a last showing before winter. Don't feed roses now, new soft growth needs to harden off from now on to take them through to the big winter prune. March is defiantly the best planting month, I have divided and potted up viola Maggie mott and small edging primulas, took cuttings of purple sage, geraniums, buxus (box hedge) and lavenders. Sowed the seeds of lupin, mignonette, sweet peas, pansy and winter marigolds. The seeds sown last week are already through and putting on fast growth! Prepare ground for as many spring bulbs as you have room for because this is bulb shifting and planting time! Break up really large clumps of daffodils, blue bells, snow drops and freesias and plant in pots or along fence lines and parts of the garden that need brightening up in spring....or pass them on to someone who is establishing a garden, bulbs are not often be turned down! Rake mulch off bearded iris rhizomes they need to be exposed to the sun for a baking now. Layer carnation stems (ie) pin the center of the stem down under the soil while still attached to the mother plant with the flower end still exposed ) roots should form along the buried stem. Once rooted cut from the mother plant and pot up to grow on before planting out. Carnations like a sweeter soil, sprinkle a little lime around clumps. Lawns. This is such a good year to sow autumn lawns and fill in gaps in lawns, the gaps in our BBQ area lawn have been created by new pup Scruff!! I fill them, he digs them.... I have been spraying the flat weeds in lawns and applying grass grub granules to be washed in by the rain. This month is the very best time to patch up lawns and sow new lawns. Vegetable Gardens will be producing in abundance now, so much will be ready to use in North Otago gardens, parsnips, beetroot, carrots, potatoes, and a new crop of peas filling out along with corn and pumpkins scrambling everywhere. I have the ground ready now for planting broad beans, onions, carrots and parsnip. With the white butterfly still about I will plant out a few leaf veg and cover with wind break to keep them off. Contact for this years pea straw in small bales off the paddock, phone 4326844 Cheers Linda

Gardening in North Otago March 11th 2014

What a strange beginning to Autumn!! drizzle and overcast sky's but leaves are beginning to turn, and the drizzle has given plants and grass a reprieve from the usual autumn baking sun. With nights cooling off and days shortening it will not be long before the major leaf drop and days filled with raking them up, so I can't really start getting the gardens ready for winter with compost then pea straw until all that is over. However, I can lift branches on large tree's and trim back climbers like wisteria, jasmine and honey suckle and keep trimming hedges / shrubs, then tidy up the mushy rose blooms left after all the drizzle. This rose dead heading will be my last for this growing season, roses will soon need to stop putting out new soft growth. Rose wood needs time to harden off before the big winter prune, which means leaving spent flower blooms on to allow seeds to grow. Keep dead heading dahlia's and geraniums to keep them flowering through until the first frost and continue to remove spent summer annuals so ground can be worked ready for winter flowering annuals like primulas, wall flowers, pollyantha;s, pansies & viola's. Fork in some compost and wet well before replanting beds. Be on the look out for useful self sown seedlings like fox glove, lupin, cineraria, hollyhock and primula melacoides, I am finding quite a few of them, they can be transplanted now to settle in before winter. Peony roses are on offer now, they are really worth planting with their big showy blooms taking over from the spring rhododendron displays, be careful when planting not to disturb the new shoots (eyes) forming. A peony root to be planted should contain at least 3 eyes that will eventually become stems. A root with only 1 or 2 eyes will still grow, but it will take longer to flower. Plant with the eyes facing upwards and the roots spread out. Soil: Peonies are very adaptable, but they do prefer a sunny, well-drained, slightly acidic soil and benefit from compost added when planting. Peonies can remain in the same spot for upwards of 70 years, taking the time to prepare the soil before planting is time well spent, they also like a good winter chill in order to set their flower buds. Peony roots should be planted relatively close to the soil surface; only about 2-3 inches deep. It may seem odd to leave roots so exposed, but they need this chilling to attain dormancy and set bud. Be sure you don’t accidentally bury your peonies deeper when you add mulch, keep mulch away from the base of peony plants. Lift gladioli now and store in a dry place, if left in the ground they may be attacked by pests. I have to empty my compost area in readiness for all the in coming leaves so have started using the compost which includes some of last autumns leaves, spring soft hedge cuttings and summer lawn clippings, a sprinkle of lime through the layers and a good amount of animal manure. With the heat and rains we have had it is fantastic, rich black and full of worms, what a treat my gardens are in for. Trees, shrubs,plants and bulbs take so much from the soil during each growing season, sooner than later gardens need more than Man the made fertilisers which work by feeding the plants and promoting growth and in doing so deplete the soil of humus. Compost / humus is a soil enhancer which the worms take down to where it's needed to get the best results from both ornamental and vegetable gardens. Lawns: Get new lawns sown now, the cooler nights and mornings are allowing the moisture to remain longer after watering and a strike will happen pretty fast as the ground is still nice and warm. Vegetables Good growth is still happening as long as the water is kept up, pumpkins and corn should be ready to harvest, dry off pumpkin and squash skins before storing them in a cool dry place. This is a good time for planting above ground annual crops that produce their seeds outside like lettuce, spinach, celery, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and grain green crops for digging in. Cheers, Linda http://nzstyleforever.blogspot.co.nz/

Gardening in North Otago 5th March 2014

March, Autumn begins: "Ahhh the warm ripening season I love, long shadows, low sun in Cornflower blue sky's above". ( At this mellow time of the year the poet in me emerges!!) Although the begging of this week was as cold as mid winter, wind rain & winter woollies before they should be! and because most of this week was so cold I had to keep on the move, the hedge trimmer was out again because some shrubs in our garden have out grown their space. I thought this might be a good time to mention the pruning and shaping of shrubs. Shrubs that have flowered on previous years growth like rhododendrons, camellias, azaleas, ceonothus, forsythia, coleonema (breath of heaven) only if they need to be trimmed and shaped to reduce their height and width. they should always have this done while there is still enough growing season left for them to make new growth and harden off before the frosts begin. In colder areas like Kurow the trimming of all flowering shrubs should be done as soon as flowering has ended, with the exception of hydrangeas the old growth can be left on these through the winter to protect the new shoots, pruning can be done in mid to late Spring. I have also thinned out crowded camellia bushes, there should be enough open spaces for a bird to fly through which will let enough light in to encourage the best buds for next spring. Shrubs that flower on current years growth like daisy bushes, rosemary, fuchsia are best left with top growth on them now until spring they will then make rapid new growth, you will only risk loosing them if you cut them back hard now. I am still cutting back plants that looked stunning last season but are now just tied and straggly like bush lavatera, mignonette, lavender tops, geraniums and every acanthus mollis plant in my garden (oyster plant) needs to be cut right back to the ground now so they will all leaf up again and look good through winter. Seed collecting is still on the go here, there are so many ripe and ready now, I plant a few now but save most to sow in spring. I consider this month your last chance to cut back natives like pittosporums and hebe's as they need to have new growth harden off before winter to avoid frosting. If you intend to shape some be quick or leave them until after winter. If hebe's are covered in flower heads gone to seed they need the spent flower heads trimmed off, if this is not done they will get lanky, woody and look untidy. Once they have been trimmed plant a few tip cuttings by removing the bottom leaves and cutting the top leaves back by half before planting into the ground or trays of crusher dust. I came across a good idea for getting cuttings started using large clear plastic tubs, I bought a couple of these tubs for camping last year which I will put to use this way as mini tunnel houses. Line the bottom with lengths of stick to alleviate cuttings / seed trays for draining when watered, cuttings should not dry out, a mist spray is what I use. Place the tub lids on top of spacers to let air in and weight down with something smallish but heavy like a brick to stop the lid blowing off. Semi shade would be a good place for these tubs to sit at this time of the year. When the cold weather begins shift them into a sunny warm position. When cuttings have rooted pot into individual pots and pinch cuttings back at least twice to get nice bushy plants. The rule of thumb is hedging plants such as photinia, viburnum and tecreium can be cut any time during the growing season, but again be careful not to leave it too late in colder areas. Autumn is said to be the best time to plant conifers, there are such a lot of different types on offer now and I consider these shrubs & trees contribute to the bones of a garden. Tall narrow conifers planted in groups give larger gardens a vertical push and formality. Read labels carefully they will give you the height and width for the first ten years, after that they do keep growing and can be removed if they start to look untidy, but most ornamental conifers look wonderful for many years. Lawns. Once we are well into Autumn it will be the best time to sow a new lawn,because perennial weeds will have slowed down, the ground still holds warmth and the nights are still not cold so grass seed should be up in no time. I have been spot spraying the flat weeds in my lawns and applied grass grub granules during the rain we had before the last cold snap. Vegetables: What a great year for produce this is, I have so much ready to use, parsnips, beetroot, carrots, potatoes, corn and pumpkins scrambling all over the place. Keep planting in rotation, leaf veg where root veg have been, the warm soil will keep germinating and producing until the first frost. When potatoes are dug they need to be kept in the dark or they will go green. I take what I need from a dig and leave the rest in the ground until needed. When the time comes for you to store them there are products which will inhibit sprouting, but many gardeners avoid chemicals near food so I will share a natural alternative with you. Layer the stored potatoes with dried sprigs of rosemary, sage and lavender, the essential oils given off by these herbs not only inhibit sprouting, they will also help to keep the tubers free from bacterial soft rots. Fruit: Apples, quince, plums, walnuts and late peaches all ready at once! the birds must be overjoyed by their feasting and the rats / mice will be feasting on the walnuts and sun flower seeds, such abundance! Cheers, Linda