Gardening in North Otago July 9th 2014

Some good frost this week to harden wood off but with the mild weather we had been getting there are definite signs of spring around coastal gardens, once plants have moved into the first stages of budding they should continue to bud up during the sunny winter days, camellias and rhododendrons are getting a head start I am picking Christmas cheer rhodo here and spring bulbs are well on which may mean we are in for an early spring. Daphne bholua is in flower now also wafting lovely fragrance around this garden, this daphne will never let you down and has the bonus of winter flowering. Daphne bholua is a must for cold inland gardens having derived from Nepal's high altitude regions but unfortunately resents exposed coastal conditions.

Dahlias, gladioli, and peonies are in Garden centres this month and can be planted now in good draining soil, if you think there is a chance they would sit in wet soggy soil over winter they may rot. As I mentioned last week, If young trees or shrubs need transplanting now is a good time to do it whilst they are at their most dormant stage. Remember to continue protecting plants like Margarete daisies and pelegoniums and small seedlings from frosts with frost cloth if in severe frost area.  If like me you are still finding leaves to Rake up why not fill large black rubbish bags,add a little water then leave to rot. Leaf mulch is such natural benefit to soil, we tend to remove them all at leaf fall stage because they look untidy, rotting leaves down in this way when put back on the garden they will not be noticed, the worms will take leaf mulch down onto the soil. 

Pruning of trees is still going on here in my garden, as well as some older roses and sheltered hydrangeas cut back hydrangea canes that have flowered at the second bud from the bottom, leave all canes that did not flower because these will be the new seasons flowers. In colder areas I would leave hydrangeas until they really start bursting bud. 

This is a good time to reduce the width of gardens, I find trimming grass edges with a line trimmer gardens tend to increase in width slightly each year, to the point where after a number of years I need to reduce width by filling in back to the original line with sifted soil, then resowing grass. Garden borders do not need to be wide to give a colourful display, wide borders mean digging and unnecessary work and expense filling them.

If you have borders getting choked with clumps of bulbs leaving not a lot of room for other plantings put a sharp spade through the clumps now and remove half before the bulbs put on too much growth. 

At this time of the year I make a few trips to the Waireaka Valley Lions Club sawdust and sheep manure stand, volunteers clean out calving sheds and under shearing sheds to keep the stand topped up for keen gardeners. I use the sawdust on some garden pathways. Sawdust can also be used on wet gardens as a weed suppressant and help to absorb excess moisture, but never on dry gardens. I use sheep manure on the compost heaps, the vegetable garden and around the roses when horse manure is not at hand. 

Vegetables: In cold areas start raising vegetable seeds for spring planting in glass houses or under glass or plastic with ventilation spaces to circulate air and stop seeds going mouldy. 

On the coast plant seedling plants that are now on offer along with garlic cloves. Gardeners I have long known the advantages of growing comfrey,  I been reading up on it again, it is such a useful plant and if you can get your hands on some I suggest you plant some root sections in an area of your garden where it can spread (away from ornamential gardens) and send it's roots very deep down into the soil to tap into much needed nutrients. Comfrey is fast growing, high in potassium and can be cut back again and again. I have listed below some uses for comfrey around the garden. 1. Compost activator, add to your compost bin to heat up the decomposing materials and enriches the compost. 2. Put a handful of comfrey leaves into a bucket of rainwater and let them rot down for around 6 weeks to give you a rich liquid fertilizer for plants. 3. Lay comfrey leaves in a potato trench and leave for 3 days prior to planting seed potatoes to give them a potassium rich boost of fertiliser. 4. Use as a Comfrey leaf mulch around plants, by layering leaves around the stems of plants, potassium will slowly be released to the plants as the leaves break down – Great for tomatoes, beans and fruit bushes. 5. Use wilted leaves as a nutrient rich Chicken feed.

 Cheers, Linda