Gardening in North Otago October 21st 2014

As predicted lawns and driveways are pink with blossom blown off trees, very pretty but a shame it dose not last longer. My main tulip display was disappointing this spring so I plan to dig them up with tops still attached and will leave them die back before storing them in a dry place to be planted out again next May. Blue saliva will be planted in their place for a summer show because a mass of blue seems to visually cool a hot summer garden.
I am in Nelson for the week I am writing this after having run around like a headless chook watering and getting things done before I left and hoping we could get some rain while I was away!! 
When I return I will set to changing beds from spring to a summer show with annuals, a good weeding, compost added, a thick layer not dig it in, I leave it on top to suppress any weed seeds wanting to germinate. Then I will plant out all the seedlings I have been nursing for the past couple of months.
Dead head and feed flowering pansies and polyanthus because 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 are past it dig them out, cut them back and plant in a cool shady place where they can be left until you can plant them out again at the end of next winter.
Begonias should be showing small leaves now, I start now feeding them with fish based fertiliser. Flamboyant begonias make a wonderful show as a boarder or in pots and hanging baskets and they flower on and on through the summer.
Coastal gardens will be ahead of gardens further inland, these gardens will still be getting reasonable frosts and late frosts on the new growth of 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. When the nights start warming up any dampness on rose leaves will encourage mildew, water and spray them early in the day. Also keep the food up to your roses, they are making their buds and it's hungry roses that get diseased. Slow release fertilisers are good right now on any summer flowering plants and shrubs to keep the food supply up.
Spot spray convolvulus, couch and clover while fresh new growth, 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, and soon those huge sunny flower heads will be following the sun around the garden.
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. 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. Sprinkle a little lime on compost heaps now, I do this in spring and Autumn. 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