Gardening in North Otago September 24 2014

The ever changing weather of spring certainly came into focus this week, with very chilly then warm nor wester days which meant hosing topped the list of things to do with so much lush new growth happening moisture needs to be kept up.

This week all our gravel paths have had a work over, they pack down hard over winter and need grubbing and raking to get them weed free and looking fresh again. We use crushed marble from the Dunback Quarry this includes a good amount fines in the mix which help the gravel settle nicely.

Also during the week I potted on lavender and hedge cuttings taken at the end of last summer. Hedges are not for everyone because of needing to be trimmed, I love a nice hedge separating areas in a garden and because a lot of plants are required to grow a hedge I like to try my hand at cuttings. I also planted fast growing gap fillers into containers which I plan to use in my long perennial boarders once Lillie's, peony roses and other spring and summer flowering plants have finished. I plant them now so good roots establish, then cut them back and let them regrow to take them right through until the beginning of next winter. Plants I use for this are mignonette, Anthriscus sylvestris ‘(Raven’s Wing), Marguerite daisy, geranium, cineraria  silver dust and fuchsia.

Now is the time to take tubular begonias out of dry storage, I see mine are starting to sprout a little. I have been cutting large tubas with a sharp knife into smaller individual pieces each with a noticeable shoot ready to plant into baskets and containers.
The showy red flamboyant begonias become nice big tubas in time and by cutting sections off them each year you will achieve a nice boarder of them in no time. It's best to lift them at the end of their growing season each year because like dahlias they can rot in really wet ground like it has been this year. All begonias love any fertiliser with a seaweed of fish content.

All of this month is the time to layer azaleas and rhododendrons and low growing magnolias, any shrubs that lay their branches close to the ground can put out roots by pinning a low growing slim branch down to the soil and firming in with compost and soil. Hopefully by the end of this growing season this branch will have developed strong roots, leave growing like this off the Mother plant for another year then cut free and pot up to grow on as a new bush.

Lawns,
New lawns sown now on the coast and as soon as we have a few nice sunny days in a row to warm the ground up the grass seed will strike, as I have mentioned before seed must be sown thickly in spring to beat the annual weeds.
Keep the mower blades up when cutting spring grass to allow it to thicken up and feed a little each time it rains and they will stay lush..


Vegetables:
Still no white butterfly's about (in my garden) keep planting out but with the winds deep watering is required. Keep mounding up potatoes as they push leaf through and cover at night should there be another cold snap which will blacken off new growth.
I have had peas in over winter and they are now producing full pods for our little Grandies. Like climbing beans, peas they need to be planted in an open sunny place and support has to g o in when they are planted so they are not disturbed once growing.
I have had some climbing beans in my plastic zip up for a couple of weeks but no sign of them yet, beans like the ground to be warm before they get going.
All the veg seeds I planted at the same time are up and doing well, tomato, lettuce, carrot,corn and silverbeet that I grow year round for my chooks and birds.

Cheers, Linda.