Gardening in North Otago May 26th 2015

We were sure jolted out of our warm autumn comfort zone this week with the meanest polar blast across the country, out came all the winter gear, it took me a couple of days to become accustomed to the freezing winds but a positive is, all the remaining leaves have been blown off the trees here.

This is a good time to give thought to improving the look of your garden while trees are bare and gardens are clear of full growth.

Don't cling to plants, shrubs or trees that are past their best. If they look like they are past it they probably are. Remove them and replace the spot with something fresh and worth looking at.

If you are worried about removing large ugly shrubs, leaving a gap and lack of privacy you can always fill the gap with manuka screening attached to wooden uprights until the replacement shrubs grow to the required size.

It is also time to look at the shape of deciduous trees now that the leaves are gone, remove lower branches if you think the tree would look better with more trunk showing and check young trees are not sporting double trunks. Cross over branches should be removed and if there are two branches doing the same job remove the lower branch of the two and any weak spindly growth. Some trees like silver pear and crab apples can get get a mass of branches in the center going in every direction, they look so good once they have been thinned out.

If you need to remove large branches it is important to cut at the right place and leave the basal collar in tact, ( a slanted cut leaving a short portion of the branch at the base of the trunk) as this contains cells which will seal the wound from disease.

Turn pruned branches into mulch, slim straight branches are perfect to feed through a wood mulcher to create wood chip for the garden.

If, like me you are finding small native trees planted by the birds popping up around your garden, now is a good time to lift these and pot them up. They will be perfect in a couple of years to create a native area for birds. I have been potting them up for years so have them at all different stages. There is always a need for a native tree planting be it a private woodland where there is room in a large garden or a School or community project. I am nursing some of my more established natives to add to the planting at Cape Wanbrow. 

The ground is getting drier by the week with all the wind and still no rain, plants like hydrangeas, rhododendrons, azaleas and spring bulbs are looking for water.  I have been soaking gardens before the mulch goes on which will keep the ground warmer and retain moisture, it is also adding food and humus to the garden.

Leucodendrons are taking center stage now, they are wonderful for picking once fully hardened and will last for months picked and put in a vase, just the thing when there is not lot else to pick. Leucodendrons are easy to grow in the conditions they prefer, being full sun, good draining acid soil, newly planted leoucodendronsneed staking and protected from strong winds until established. They will grow on dry banks and rough area's as long as they do not have to compete with grass and weeds. Leucodendrons resent any type of  fertiliser and once planted and growing will die if shifted. There numerous types of leucodendrons to choose from for the right spot, upright /tall for the back ground, large and bushy to fill a gap, small front planters and low spreaders which look great spilling over walls. They all add wonderful colour to a dull winter garden.

Vegetables and  Fruit

Keep planting out seedling veg plants, board beans.

Winter is also the time for planting rhubarb and asparagus crowns so prepare the ground with rich composted now, get them planted and in no time they will be established.

Black current bushes should have as much of the old dark shoot removed leaving only the light coloured smooth vigorous young growth. I cut the fruit branches off when fruit is ripe and remove fruit while sitting at an outside table to eliminate all the bending. Red currents however will not fruit on new wood so older wood should be kept for 3 years just cut out the odd old branch yearly to encourage a few new replacements.

Give all current bushes a little potash now and a good two hand fulls of bonemeal or blood and bone in spring to ensure a good crop of fruit.

An update on Scruff the dog...he is not such a handful now, until that is when someone new arrives, then it is like he is on a trampoline!!!

He has let us know that the kennel outside is not for him now it's winter, began to sit outside paring in the widow looking miserable until he won Bob over. He now has a new big soft indoor bed on the heated floor, yes he has defiantly scored big time!

Cheers, Linda

Gardening in North Otago May 20th 2015

Having experienced only a couple of frosts yet here on the coast this lovely, mellow time of the year is such a treat for us Gardeners who are outside and busy.

A heap of work was done here in the garden this week, my ready compost is going down fast, as autumn leaves and annual weeds have been removed from gardens it gets shoveled on thickly over beds, but not quite ready for the pea straw cover yet as still a few more leaves to fall and collect.  Before the straw goes on a good watering will be needed if we still have had no rain.

Bearded Iris rhizomes and freesia bulbs need to be exposed to bake in the sun so compost and mulch are being kept off them.

I have been shifting bigger shrubs that were wrenched in March , this garden gets carried away from time to time and tries to out grow the size allotted to it!! shrubs I planted and thought at the time I could keep shaped to fit the space but after a while I get fed up with trying to keep them the right size, they are dug up and given a ride in the wheel barrow. Complete new garden rooms can be created by shifting tall front plantings to the back which opens a garden up allowing room in the front to be edged and graveled for the placing of seating or may be a statue or large ornate pot. Don't hesitate in reducing the height and width of trees and shrubs, it is essential if garden space is limited, if only to let more light on to lower growing plants to stop leggy growth and encourage optimum flowering.

This is a great time to make new perennial beds or re-organise existing beds, with perennial clumps increasing in size annually they soon over fill a space. Lift overgrown or stagnant clumps, break up and replant some of the youngest growths from the perimeter. Healthy vigorous plants can be reduced by putting a sharp spade in where you would like a reduction then lift the cut portion out without disturbing the plant remaining. I have been doing this with asters, phlox, aurbretia, small grass's, hosta's, and herbs like sage, thyme and lemon balm. Rockery plants can be divided now as well. Once plants have been sectioned and rearranged cover the bed and around plants with compost which will encourage new root growth and help keep the perennial bed warmer through the colder months to come.

I have been removing the old leaves from my hellebores and notice they are budding up for a winter display, a fortnightly liquid feed can be given now if you feel they need boosting after all this dry weather. Further in land it would be advisable to leave some top growth on to give frost protection to clumps.

Lilies, this is the main time to shift or divide old over grown clumps of lilies. Be careful not to break the fleshy scales and to retain all the basal roots. Don't pull the old steams away from the bulb as it leaves a hole where water can enter and cause rot, just cut old stems short and bend, never allow Lilly bulbs to dry out while out of the ground. I plant lilies on a little river sand and cover with compost which has had blood and bone added.

Vegetables and fruit .
Continue planting strawberry plants, raising the beds where drainage is suspect and adding manure rich compost to the beds.
Garlic, such a used component in today's cooking very beneficial to health, I go through so much of it so need to grow enough for use as well as replanting. It is said to plant garlic on the shortest day but any time from late May until August is ok. Select large single cloves (plant point up) 5cm deep and 20cm apart in warm, well-drained sites where soil has been recently limed.
Having been such a good ripening season apples are dripping from trees, it is best to pick apples for storing when not too ripe and store in a cool dark place
Start pruning pip fruit trees any time after the leaves have fallen, remove dead or damaged wood, crossing or inward turning branches, excess leaders or sucker growth developing on the main trunks. Shorten back vigorous leaders by about a 1/3 to promote branching. Prune long side branches back to a weak twig to discourage further spread.

Cheers, Linda

Gardening in North Otago May 6th 2015

The year is marching on! and May is the official beginning of winter for NZ.
For me June is the start of winter because Autumn means leaves and more beautiful leaves which is what we are dealing with right now. In nature leaves are soil food, they fall to the ground creating humus but leaves falling around a garden and on lawns are usually raked up, this is why it is so important to add compost to gardens and lawns to put humus back.
I am adding to my compost daily layering with leaves, grass clippings, soft garden and hedge clippings, manure and established compost. Cold weather has a marked slowing down effect on compost organisms and any insulation wrapped around a bin will help them keep working, I do this on my heaps with a thick layer of straw. I do go on about compost don't I?

The cut back is still going on in my gardens and the compost / mulch is going on to provide food for the plants when they need it which also helps to keep the soil a little warmer for plant roots over winter. Once every plant, shrub and tree has been mulched and watered and leaves raked off gardens the pea straw will go on.

After rain I am finding a lot of snails in the garden, they will find a dark sheltered spot among pots or behind plants growing up against a wall, flax and agapanthus are especially bad for harboring snails to multiply fast and be ready to destroy plants in spring. I have read that it is no good transporting snails to a vacant area away from your garden because they have homing instincts and travel long distances to return to THEIR garden of choice. I cannot bring myself to stamp on them or drown them in a bucket so if you are like me you can gather up as many as you can find and put them in a plastic bag, close it tight and put in the freezer, this way they will go to sleep and not wake up, yes I know "what is she on about"? working with Nature is what gardening is all about with me and snails belong in gardens until you remove them.

Keep planting tulips until the end of this month, plant them deep because they like it cool, if you have a special tulips you would like to multiply plant them against a south facing wall and forget about them they will grow and multiply there for years. Also keep planting and dividing Lilly's now as well and keep them damp, there should be a good range of lillys in the garden centres,

Plan new plantings of deciduous trees and shrubs remembering to allow room for them to grow both up and outwards. Deciduous trees and shrubs will come into retail at the end of June / July. If your ground tends to get wet and sticky in winter it would be a good idea to dig the area up now while the soil is easy to work with. Dig out the soil add peat or compost and blood and bone to it then fill back in again until you are ready to plant. If you know which deciduous trees and shrubs you require order them now from the garden centre and you will not miss out.

Hydrangeas are deepening into rich shades as gardens head towards winter, l like to leave this colour for as long as it takes for them to look faded and untidy, this also gives stems time to harden off and once hardened off they can be shifted if needed. Really large bushes can be dug up and root cut or pulled into several individual bushes. In cold districts don't prune back until spring, leave the tops on to protect the new growth.

A start can be made on pruning very strong rambler roses by cutting out any dead stems and cutting back all side stems on canes to with in 2-3 buds from the main steam. Shorten back vigorous leaders by about 1/3 to promote branching. If the bush is out of control like some of mine reduce the size with a hedge trimmer then cut some canes right out from ground level.

Veg:
If worms are rare in your garden, this usually indicates that the organic content of the soil is very low, worms seem to always find manure but it needs to be spread as a layer low down under a soil bed for them to come up to it. This would be a daunting task to undertake in established gardens, although worth digging into trenched rows as veg is used, defiantly the way to go when establishing a new veg area where soil is dry and has clay content, the introduction of worms will make all the difference.
Fruit:
Continue planting strawberries, raising the beds where drainage is suspect, this year I plan to build up with compost then cover the bed with polythene as commercial growers do, plant out with new runner plants pushed into slits cut in the polythene. This way the ground stays warm and fruit will not be competing with weeds.

Cheers, Linda.