Gardening in North Otago December 10th 2014

With the Christmas lead up gardening will be on the back burner for most I am sure, including me,Ya! 

Heaps of watering had to be done this week even though we had a shower or two.

I had a couple of days in Darfield this week having Nana time with youngest Grandchild sweet Tahlia, to let her know I don't live in the computer!Then back to the garden again on Thursday with the hope of rain in my absence, Trimming with secateurs is not practical for me with such a large garden so the hedge trimmer has been out again, the grow back rate is pretty quick in summer. The newly trimmed box hedges are suffering from sun scorch, scorching of newly cut box in early summer sun is unavoidable but they soon grow through it and harden off.

If your catmint has been flowering for a while and it is looking a bit tired, trim the long growth back by half and in no time at all it will re-grow into a neater clump and continue to flower,the same applies to aubrietia.

Many winter damaged and dead branches need removed on trees here, I hire chain saw which is small on the end of a very long handle, just perfect for reaching up and removing dead branches and thinning out to let light onto gardens below. 

Anemones for winter flowering will be in shops now, Pop some in pots to have ready to put on show when all the summer & autumn pots finish flowering.

Large clumps of lilies can be divided up and shifted straight after flowering and planted into good compost but they must never dry out so keep an eye on them through the dryer months. I have had clumps of Christmas lilies completely disappear. It takes ages for lilies to grow from seed and little pup bulbs so they are worth looking after. 

Another recipe!! 

Comfrey liquid fertiliser. 

With its deep taproot, and large root system, comfrey pulls its nutrients from way down in the subsoil, where most other plants can't reach. Comfrey is high in just about every nutrient a plant needs, including the big 3, Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium and many trace elements. Its high carbon to nitrogen value means that it does not deplete nitrogen from the soil, as it decomposes. In fact, it becomes a good source of nitrogen. And it has more potassium than composted manure.

Comfrey leaves decompose down to a black liquid over a 6 week period. Pick and break up as many leaves as you can harvest, place in the bottom of a large container, weigh down with a rock and within 6 weeks the leaves will have decomposed into a thick  black liquid. Dilute to 1 part comfrey liquid to 15 parts water, dilute more when using on seedlings. ( let me know if you would like comfrey to start a patch)

 Lawns: If you don't like using sprays and have a few flat weeds in the lawn try spot spraying them with vinegar,

I use white vinegar and it works! great on pathways and drives and leaves no dangerous residue to leach into nearby plants . For best results apply in the heat of the day, however clover is a toughie, vinegar browns the leaf off and knocks it a bit but it soon recovers.

Another recipe!! 

Comfrey liquid fertiliser. 

With its deep taproot, and large root system, comfrey pulls its nutrients from way down in the subsoil, where most other plants can't reach. Comfrey is high in just about every nutrient a plant needs, including the big 3, Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium and many trace elements. Its high carbon to nitrogen value means that it does not deplete nitrogen from the soil, as it decomposes. In fact, it becomes a good source of nitrogen. And it has more potassium than composted manure.

Comfrey leaves decompose down to a black liquid over a 6 week period. Pick and break up as many leaves as you can harvest, place in the bottom of a large container, weigh down with a rock and within 6 weeks the leaves will have decomposed into a thick  black liquid. Dilute to 1 partcomfrey liquid to 15 parts water, dilute more when using on seedlings. 

Vegetables:

Sow late crops of cucumbers, courgettes, beans and basil, peas, rocket and corriander,

Keep mounding up potato rows to encourage bigger shores, corn also, having a shallow rooting system mounding helps to keep them upright in strong winds, planting in groups rather than a row also helps with wind support.

Nature will have its way if we turn a blind eye, weed seeds pop, fruit over ripens and the veg bolts. 

Fruit: Shorten back fruiting leaders on grape vines, If a leader has produced too many bunches remove some when shortening back leaders. Nitrate fertiliser will produce more leaves and leaders, like most fruiting plants a little pot ash to encourage fruiting is beneficial in spring.

Harvest garlic and onions, if ready. 

All of the above can wait until the New year, Christmas is time for thinking of others and for Gardeners to enjoy the produce bounty from a busy year past.

For you all I wish a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a safe and prosperous 2015,  from Linda, family & Scruff.

Cheers, Linda.

Gardening in North Otago December 2nd 2014

Still cleaning up after more hedge trimming here, things are looking a little too neat and tidy now but nature will do it's best to soften things up again in a couple of weeks.

Most of my roses have started flowering after what seems like a long wait so have been keeping the water up to them because it is still so dry. If you are at the stage of dead heading roses, don't just cut the flower off, cut at an outward facing bud on a lower section of the branch strong enough to support a new flower.

Begonias are really pushing through now and I see that I have lost a few that I left in the ground from last year. The food begonias most appreciate is any fish based fertiliser, as a folia spray or watered in around roots. 

Hydrangeas are producing flower heads now so it is important to keep the water and food up to them, old stable manure, blood and bone, dry, liquid or slow release fertiliser will keep them happy and flowering well. Remember it's lime for pink and Epsom salts or aluminum sulphate to keep them blue. Fuchsias are making a lot of growth now as well, if you missed cutting any back do it now, they will flower later but will soon catch up. Fuchsias are on sale right now and are wonderful in pots for a shady spot, they will soon become bushy and to fill a pot. Tip cuttings can be taken from fuchsias now, if you spot some you like in a friends garden ask for some cuttings. I break a cutting off at a heel or a nodule section, remove some of the top growth and push into firm wet river sand.Tip cuttings from Hebe's will also root with no trouble in river sand . Abutilon (Chinese lantern: If you are looking for something non invasive to make a show of colour against a wall why not try Abutilon (Chinese lantern, they come in three strong colours, yellow, orange, burgundy and white. I planted yellow, burgundy and white together in a large container with nice lime green grass's below them, abutilon being a rather spindly plant I intertwined them and they now look like one bush. If trained against a wall leave some longer branches and shorten back others to get a good cover of flowers. Peony roses: What a wonderful addition to the flower garden peony roses are, they look fantastic this year and I am seeing more in peoples gardens. Peony rose's come in brilliant shades and the very large blooms will fill many vases I am sure. Remove seed pods once blooms have finished to stop plants putting energy into making seed. 

Low hanging tree branches: With the weight of the last rain I could see which branches need lifting on large deciduous trees, if left they will cast too much shade over surrounding plants. Lower branches can be removed and the upper branches will hide the cuts. Any branch growing downwards with a canopy branch directly above it can be cut back or removed altogether. 

Lawns: keep lawn food on hand for the next good rain, lawns get really stressed from now on as the heat of the day intensifies, if your lawns are inclined to crack when dry they have probably been planted on clay soil. Apply gypsum ( soluble lime) and water in, after a couple of years of doing this your lawns will have a spring in them. Gypsum works it's way through the clay and makes it become more like soil. 

If lawn weeds are a problem spray before cutting or remove flat weeds with a knife when noticed. I spot spray with lawn weed spray because I don't want to upset the balance and the work going on in the soil by contaminating with chemicals. 

Vegetables: Dry weather puts a lot of stress on not only plants but also the soil, stressed plants attract pests so I have been keeping the water up but hosing will not give the same results as a good rain. I am amazed that the white butterfly is STILL not a problem in our garden yet, due I am sure to the very cold snaps we have been experiencing, long may it last. 

My runner beans have been slow to start but are away now and snails and slugs not a problem here this year because of drying winds. If you do have a problem with snails & slugs when beans first pop through the ground plant beans into trays to be transplanted when big enough to start climbing up the frame. But, yes I know with the water being kept up slugs & snails will be waiting so why not  make beer traps out of empty plastic fiz bottles by cutting the bottles with the lid in place through the middle, bury the lidded half in the ground then fill with beer, cut a door opening in the other half for snails & slugs to slide in, then force this half with door opening on top of the other beer filled half. The bottom of the bottle will be the roof to keep the rain out. 

Tomatoes will be getting taller and starting to fruit now, the removal of over half the leaves on a plant will benefit your plants by allowing more nutrients to the fruit along with more sun to encourage flowering and allowing flowers to become more visible for pollination, try it and see if you get a better crop. If you are noticing a lack of bee's to pollinate tomato flowers gardeners have been known to take a hair dryer into the glass house, turn on half speed then gently waft it among flowers to spread pollen.

The cooler nights tend to upset tomato plants, leaves become bluish and tend to curl causing plants to become susceptible to blight. One method of keeping them in good health I have been reading up on is the use of copper wire. 

Basic premise: The presence of copper (wire) would help the tomato plants be more resistant to "blight" related diseases during the course of the growing season. Material: 12" length of 18 gage (wall picture hanging wire). the main vine should be at least 1/4" in diameter and transplant shock over. Insert or force one end of the wire through the center of the main vine about 1" above ground level. Kink the protruding wire end so that it doesn't slip out of the vine. Force the remainder of the wire (9-10") into the root zone in the ground. That's all there is to it. The person who wrote the above also wrote that he used this method on half his crop and controlled the other half with sprays. Result, the copper prevention was as successful as his spraying programme. Any new idea is worth trying to avoid spraying what we eat!

 Cheers, Linda.