Gardening in North Otago November 26th 2014

Last Thursday & Friday I just had to tackle the box hedges before the very full on weekend, hence my walking about like a half shut pocket knife for days after!! box is sooooo low to the ground and mine need to have all the new spring growth removed to keep them the size required. However the box hedging up our long walk had snuck up higher than required over the years so I needed to cut the height down by a third. This left an obvious scaring on the top with sun burning the tender exposed new growth, in a couple of weeks new leaves will remedy this and the hedge will look as if it has always been the height it is now. 

Last Sunday our garden was one of six local gardens full of garden enthusiasts enjoying the " Inspirational garden tour" to raise funds for cancer here in North Otago, the day was beautiful and the fundraiser a great success, a real credit to the many busy people who put their time in to make it happen.

I have divided clumps of violas because they have finished flowering now; I just dig up part of a large clump and basically pull it to bits planting into pots sections with roots, by the start of next winter the small pots will be filled with roots, new leaves and buds ready to be planted out.

The same for pollyanthus  & primulas, break up clumps; plant out only fresh new growth and throw away knotted old spent roots.

There is still time to divide agapanthus, large and dwarf varieties. they can get a bit clump bound which reduces their flowering.

Dig out the whole clump (if it is still manageable enough to do this), then pull off smaller root balls and plant out on their own using fresh compost to get the roots going again. Agapanthus are great gap fillers in new gardens, they can always be removed as you fill your garden with permanent plants.

If you have, or can get hold of some aged compost that has finished working and is ready to put on the garden you will be able to make compost tea.

Compost Tea is a nutritionally rich, well-balanced, organic plant food made by steeping aged compost in water. The water is then diluted and used as a root / or foliar feed. It is also noted for its ability to control various plant diseases (blights, molds, wilts, etc. when used as a foliar spray), to repel and control insect pests and their damage when used on a regular basis, and to encourage the growth of beneficial soil bacteria which results in healthier, more stress-tolerant plants. The basic recipe most often recommended is as follows:

1 large container with lid (plastic rubbish bin works well) enough aged, completed compost to fill an old pillow case 1/2-3/4 full. Fill the container with water, place the compost filled pillowcase (cheese cloth bag or pantyhose also work well), tie off the top and submerge in the container of water. Cover (to prevent odor and insect problems) and let steep for a MINIMUM of 2 weeks. This steeping time is crucial to the formation of beneficial bacteria and the required fermentation process. When finished, dip out the tea and dilute it (3 parts water to 1 part tea) and use weekly as root food for all plants. 

The following factors will determine the quality of the finished tea: Use well-aged, finished compost - Fresh compost can burn the plants or contain harmful pathogens and compost past its best will be nutritionally deficient. If using purchased compost it should contain a portion of aged animal manure which apparently remains active longer than compost made up only of plant matter. Dilute it a little more when using on young seedlings. The remaining tea can continue to steep until needed.

(It is important to note that COMPOST TEA AND MANURE TEA ARE NOT THE SAME THING. Manure tea can be made in the same way but is not generally recommended as foliar spray and is not as nutritionally well-balanced, I find roses do well when applied around roots.

Time to start spraying roses for green fly and disease if you have not already started. Shield takes care of both if you follow the instructions and spray at the suggested intervals. Keep the food up as they flower, it's hungry roses that are more susceptible to disease. Slow release rose fertiliser will feed each time you water.

 Weeds are starting to mature and make seeds, get them out before they do, most are easy to pull when they have grown a bit. I am still battling with convolvulus,so have resorted to pulling it off plants then searching for ground level regrowth to appear for me zap with round up which should travel right back along the root runners and kill them. I find it too risky spraying around the plants it is clambering over and a ground level zap on new growth is a much shorter distance for the spray to be effective. 

 Vegetables:

Keep mounding the potatoes to keep them producing more and more new potatoes for Christmas, consistent watering is important for potatoes now, this goes for all root vegetables. Leafy veg don't need any extra feeding at this time of the year it will just encourage them to bolt. Plant only as many seedling plants you think you would use when ready and hold back and keep in the shade other small seedling plants from the same batch until needed. 

Keep pumpkin and squash plants mulched, their roots are fragile until their large leaves grow to create the root shade needed. All new small plants can be over watered to the point where their roots cannot cope and they collapse, the soil should be dry on top between watering's and good drainage is essential .

Cheers, Linda

Gardening in North Otago November 18th 2014

Stop wind! North Otago has had enough. I am so tied of dragging hoses about but water must be kept up because growth is still soft and in need of a lot of moisture to develop and harden off enough to cope with the elements. So on I go as I am sure all other Gardeners are, dragging hoses from garden to garden....but I may be the only one who has a small dog named Scruff attached to the end of each hose pulling the other way!

I have been weeding and cutting back heaps of stuff that has finished flowering, alyssum, ground cover phlox, aubrietia, aquilegias and forgetmenot. if you cut them back now they will green up again and look good over summer, same goes for Erica's, cut all the brown spent flower stems back and they will green up again in no time.
After spreading compost, I started filling every gap with flower seedlings like cosmos, petunias, static, blue salvia, natushims, lavatera and lobelia not leaving any room for weeds to grow, hence the need to water often.

All trees have leafed up now, don't be afraid to cut out over crowding branches to let light in to plantings underneath. If there are two branches filling the same spot take the lower one out. Maples and Oak trees tend to grow thick canopies so I have been thinning mine out. I remove heaps but when I stand back and look it is not noticeable and now there is dappled light coming through, however the winds have made this happen without help from me!

This year my dahlias are slower to leaf up than past years, once in bud they can be pinched out like chrysanthemums to encourage bushiness' but they will still get tall so put stakes in now before they get up too far and begin to bend and fall.

If your daffodils did not flower so well this spring, It's a good time to break up large clumps while you can still see where they have been, flowering can be restricted when the clumps get over crowded. Plant out in small groups in about 20cm of compost...plant, feed with blood and bone and mulch so they don't dry out over summer.

There are autumn flowering bulbs in now, like belladonnas, crocuses, nerines, plant in full sun where they will not be disturbed.

Water lilies can be added to ponds now that the water is warmer, if buying one it should be in leaf, as I mentioned not long ago plant into a plastic pot using thick news paper first then some manure and garden soil. Manure first with soil on top, plant the lily in soil then top with a thick layer of stones or gravel. It is important not to let any fertiliser or manure leach out into the pond water because it will encourage the water to go green with slime which is harmful to fish when caught in their gills.
If your pond is stagnating it means that it is not working ... try putting in some old unsprayed straw or hay, weigh it down with a rock so it does not float around on the surface of the water. At first the pond water will not look too healthy but soon you will be amazed at how fast it will clear and stay clear once things start working naturally. To work naturally the bottom of the pond can and should be a little muddy, but the top should be clear, you can easily tell when it is.
Put some oxygen weed in from a pond already filled with fish, fish blow their eggs into the weed so there is sure to be eggs now that water is warmer, these will hatch out in your pond with no big fish around to eat them.You will not have to feed fish in the warmer months, they will get plenty of bugs from now on.

Lawns:  mowers need to be lifted a notch now, try mowing without the catcher now and then, and rake the clippings out over the lawn to add humus to the lawn. Lawns need fed regularly through the growing and cutting seasons but never without moisture to follow to avoid grass burning. Have some fertiliser on hand for the next rain or feed each area when watering. I sprayed the daisies and weeds two weeks ago, and slowly the gaps where the weeds died are filling in with grass.
Being so dry makes it almost impossible for grass seed to germinate. Really good soakings will be needed but with the ground drying out as it is with wind it may be a wasted effort right now. However a patchy strike can be over sown in Autumn with new grass thick and well growing before winter.

Fruit: Check your fruit trees now for over crowded bunches, thin bunches out by snipping small fruits off with sharp scissors. Give each fruiting tree and bush a good root soak now and then in this dry weather.

Vegetables:
The winds ruined my broad beans so I picked and froze the beans then pulled plants out and threw them to the sheep. I now have a space against a wall to plant peas once the ground has been built up again with compost and had a good soaking.
Keep planting all vegetables but not too many of the same at one time.

Cheers, Linda.

Gardening in North Otago November 4th 2014

November already, Spring almost over and weather still unsettled with those amazing stormy sky's and still a night chill to keep the garden fresh.

I am so enjoying the rhododendrons, azalea's, and peony roses putting on their show and the expectation of something new happening every day in the garden. My roses are late this year because I pruned them hard in late August instead July, they still have no green fly or black spot attacking them so hoping  if I  keep the water and food up to them things will stay that way. Once the leaves harden up I will spray with fish emulsion and a fungicide/pesticide combined spray only if needed. Always best to spray on a dull day when there are less bees around and never spray or wet leaves at dusk, rose leaves should be dry going into warm nights to prevent mildew growing. 

Spring is the best time for transplanting seedlings that have popped up from existing plants in the garden, like hellebore seedlings. ( Winter rose) last years hellebore seedlings should be nice strong, small plants now, I have been potting some up in root trainer pots, then once the little pots are full of roots I will plant out seedlings in groups under deciduous trees, and around rhododendrons, camellias, hydrangeas and fuchsias, they all like the same shady conditions. 

Trim spent flowers from perennials and daisy bushes as they finish the first flush of flowering, this will keep them bushy and continuously in flower, if you let flower heads go to seed the bush or plants will become woody. 

Daffodils and tulips have finished and look messy at this stage but don't be tempted to cut them back because the bulbs need green tops to die back naturally. twist them and push them out off site under shrubbery if you can until they have lost vigor before pulling them from the bulb.

Box hedge: I am waiting for the new growth to firm up a little before trimming the buxus hedging, If trimmed too soon it will be a wasted effort because while foliage is very soft they are still putting out growth. When you feel spring new growth is done choose an overcast day to trim, this allowing the under growth a little time to recover before being subjected to our harsh sun, however sunburn on new buxus growth is unavoidable and thankfully hedges will soon grow through the burning. However this week I have had the hedge trimmer on the go! some hedges like viburnum and lonicera have almost finished putting out spring growth so if a hedge has reached the height and width required trim back to the last cut, all soft trimmings can go on the garden or into the compost.

Planting on a slope: Spring is probably the best time to plant out a slope or bank, the ground is moist and plant roots are growing fast which means they will get a good hold before the heat of summer and while small the dreaded winds should not get a hold of them and whip them out of the ground. Prepare the bank  first by spraying out all weeds and grass compeating for moisture. If it is possible terracing a steep slope with rocks or sleepers would be beneficial to hold moisture around plant roots. If this cannot be done try not to disturbed soil / clay in areas that are not being planted. If the soil is disturbed and broken up it will wash away with rain and watering. 

Planting: Dig a hole that is deep into the bank and shallow at the front, (an angle hole) this will create a hollow reserve for water. Use stones around each plant, this will help to prevent wind blowing soil away from the roots. Choose plants that grow in dry conditions, like South African  Greviller, leucodendron, Proteas, ask the Garden center assistant which plants survive well in a pot without a lot of watering, the plants they can leave for a while and they still look good when dried out. I mass plant lupines to fill the gaps on a bank until all the other plants get bigger, they give a spectacular show in the second year of planting and have the added advantage of fixing nitrogen into the soil.

Grass, Grass. Grass...So much mowing! If you have not sprayed lawn weeds out yet you can sprinkle your clippings around the garden, it is wonderful humus, but don't leave thick piles, spread it out so it can break down fast. Now the ground is warm your garden can take as much fresh green growth that you can throw at it. Leave the catcher off from time to time and rake cuttings evenly over the lawn. I am waiting for results from all the grass seed sown in bare patches left after moss removal to germinate. Moss grows  because off pour drainage or mowing grass too short either results in soil compacting. Keeping the ground firm (don't dig) just rough the top soil up before raking the seed in, covering well so the birds don't notice then keep the moisture up until seed germinates.

Vegetables/fruit

My no dig veg garden was turned into a strawberry patch last spring and this year the year old strawberry plants are doing well having been feed with pig manure and blood n bone then mulched with fresh grass clippings to keep the weeds out until I find the time to gather pine needles. All berry fruit need consistent watering to produce plump fruit.
A little potash around the drip line watered in will help with fruiting, with grapes advice given in the past was to bury road kill under a grapevine, I have made my grapes a burial ground for any of my bantams that come to a sad end. 

Making a no dig garden: Find a sunny spot on bare ground,( not concrete) surround with sleepers, logs, Oamaru stone or boards high enough to hold layers of manure, soil /compost and straw. Soak the ground before you start to get dampness deep down if working on bare dirt, spread a layer of manure straight on the damp ground, (this will bring the worms up). Then spread a thick layer of compost, old leaf mulch and dried grass clippings, (wet down.) add a layer of soil, clay soil is fine, water well after each layer leaving no dry spots. Next add a layer of straw, (wet down) then add more layers of compost and old leaf mulch and dried grass clippings, (wet down) then top more soil, (wet down), a little lime and an all purpose fertiliser can be added as you build the layers. Lastly add a top layer of straw which suppresses the weeds and is a great deterrent to slugs. When you think the garden is high enough start planting and you should be eating your own produce with in six weeks at this time of the year.

Cheers, Linda.