Gardening in North Otago August 5th 2014

Some amazingly warm days have been experienced in the last fortnight for a time still considered winter! much is beginning to awake in the garden and spring is defenatly in the air with swelling of buds, fragrance from winter sweet, witch hazel, Daphne, boronia and violets wafting to the music I am lucky enough to have playing around our garden. The birds are beginning to nest and I see the first blossom, jonquils and daffodils gracing fence lines in our garden and about the town.. I have shifted clumps of tall white phlox, they had become shaded and too protected by growing trees, these tall white phlox have a wonderful musk perfume which I look forward to wafting about the garden in the late afternoon. Tall phlox come in a number of shades, and die down over winter, they need all day sun in a open windy spot or they can be susceptible to powdery mildew.   

I have filled plastic 2 liter milk containers with worm tea from my worm farm, adding at the strength of black tea to a full watering can, to apply generously to new leaf, budding and flowering plants like pollyanthas, forget-me-nots, dianthus, sweet peas, pansy, viola. Any new plantings can be Helped along along by feeding now to get their roots going and keep them green and strong through any cold snaps yet to come.

Slow release fertiliser is a good idea now as well, sprinkle around established ornamental and newly planted trees and shrubs to be there now plants are needing food on awaking. This week I have pruned more of my hydrangeas, the wood has hardened and bud are plump, Prune only those stems that have flowered, cut at the second bud from the bottom, leave all other stems because these are the flowers for this year. Spread old stable manure around the drip line and a dressing of lime for pink flowers and aluminum sulphate for blue, White never changes, but are best planted in light shade. 

If the PH of your soil is high blue hydrangeas will always revert to pink no matter how often you add aluminum to the soil. Pot grown hydrangea's can be controlled successfully by tailoring soil to requirements, peat, pine needles and coffee grinds can be added to an acid planting mix for blue and lime can be added for pink blooms without the worry of anything leching in around the roots as it would when hydrangeas are planted in the ground. Pot grown hydrangeas need to be watered daily during summer.

Cuttings from the hardened geranium steams can be taken now, fresh grown geraniums give amazing colour to a warm sunny garden for all of the growing season and even into the winter, they are so easy to grow from cuttings. Take short cuttings, semi hard wood, (not a new green steam) and let them dry out a little before planting, this means you don't have to deal with them straight away. Plant them firmly into a soil and river sand mix, Potting mix is too light to get a tight seal around cuttings. I am forever taking cuttings off geraniums I like when I come across them in other gardens, and giving cuttings from mine. 

Trim dentata lavender now if you haven't already after it's winter flowering. Dentata is the tall growing one with the pale lavender bumblebee flower and serrated leaf.

They are budding up now, so will recover quickly from a cut back, leave trimming other lavenders until it is warmer but you can give all lavenders a dressing of lime.

Keep planting dahlias and gladioli from now until September and cut back leggy, straggly bush lavatera, they get very woody if left 

I can't stress enough about the importance of feeding roses now they are making a move to bud up, powdered rose food needs watered in around the drip line, slow release fertiliser will work each time it rains, manure around the drip line not up against the crown.

Vegetables 

It has been so good not to have to worry about bugs during the last few months when planting out leaf veg. 

Gardeners in cold frosty areas will be making a start now, add compost and a little lime in readiness for when you plant later this month.

It is seed potato time again, potatoes have a natural dormancy from the time they are harvested to when they begin to sprout, starting their next growth cycle. This can only be modified slightly by storage conditions. I set them out in a box on damp news paper, and leave in a dark place in the warmth of the house. Some leave them in a warm well lit place, what ever works for you I go with the theory that it is very dark down in the soil where they eventually end up. Seed potatoes are on offer now at our local Sunday market.

FIRST EARLY VARIETIES: Cliffs Kidney, Jersey Bennes, Maris Anchor, Rocket.

SECOND EARLY Ilam Hardy, Karaka, Red king.

MAIN CROP: Desiree,Agria  Mondial, Nadine, Pentland Dell, Red Rascal, Rua 

Cheers, Linda