Some good frost this week to harden wood off but the mild weather we were getting there are on the coast encouraged spring bulbs and budding.

Once plants move into the first stages of budding they should continue on during the sunny winter days. Shrubs like camellias and rhododendrons have plump buds, winter sweet and Daphne bholua have budded and have been in flower for a couple of weeks wafting lovely fragrance around my garden. Daphne bholua is a must for cold inland gardens having derived from Nepal's high altitude regions but unfortunately resents exposed coastal conditions.

Dahlias, gladioli, and peonies are in Garden centres this month, they can be planted now in good draining soil to avoid rotting.
As I mentioned last week, If young trees or shrubs need transplanting now is a good time to do it whilst they are at their most dormant stage. Remember to continue protecting plants like Margarete daisies and pelegoniums and small seedlings with frost cloth if in severe frost area.  If like me you are still finding zillions of leaves that missed the autumn rake up why not fill large black rubbish bags with them,add a little water then leave to rot. Leaf mulch is such natural benefit to soil, we tend to remove them all at leaf fall stage because they look untidy, rotting leaves down to black leaf mulch means they will not be noticed when put back on the garden for the worms to take down into the soil. 

Pruning of trees is still going on here, as well as some older roses and sheltered hydrangeas. Cut back hydrangea canes that have flowered at the second bud from the bottom, leave all canes that did not flower because these will be the new seasons flowers. In colder areas I would leave hydrangeas until they start bursting bud. 

This is a good time to reduce the width of gardens, I find trimming grass edges with a line trimmer tends to increase in width slightly each year, to the point where after a number of years I need to reduce width by filling in with sifted soil back to the original line and resowing with grass seed. Garden borders do not need to be wide to give a colourful display, wide borders mean digging and unnecessary work and expense filling them.

If you have borders getting choked with clumps of bulbs leaving not a lot of room for other plantings put a sharp spade through the clumps now and remove half before the bulbs put on too much new growth. 

At this time of the year I make a few trips to the Waireaka Valley Lions Club sawdust and sheep manure stand, volunteers clean out calving sheds and under shearing sheds to keep the stand topped up for keen gardeners. The sawdust is used on some garden pathways and can also be used on wet gardens as a weed suppressant while helping to absorb excess moisture. I use sheep manure on the compost heaps, the vegetable garden and around the roses when horse manure is not at hand. 

Vegetables: In cold areas start raising vegetable seeds for spring planting in glass houses or under glass or plastic with ventilation spaces to circulate air and stop seeds going mouldy. 

On the coast plant seedling plants that are now on offer along with garlic cloves. 

My comfrey tea has been steeping for some weeks and is ready to strain and bottle. Gardeners have long known the advantages growing comfrey,  sending it's roots very deep down into the soil to tap into much needed nutrients. Comfrey is fast growing, high in potassium and can be cut back again and again. Put a handful of comfrey leaves into a bucket of rainwater and let them rot down for around 6 weeks to give you a rich liquid fertilizer for plants. 

Uses for comfrey around the garden. 

1. Compost activator, add to your compost bin to heat up the decomposing materials and enriches compost. 

2. Lay comfrey leaves in a potato trench and leave for 3 days prior to planting seed potatoes to give them a potassium rich boost. 

3. Use as a Comfrey leaf mulch around plants, by layering leaves around the stems of plants, potassium will slowly be released to the plants as the leaves break down – Great for tomatoes, beans and fruit bushes.

4. Use wilted leaves as a nutrient rich Chicken feed.

I was given comfrey by a kind Gardener roots and would be happy to give a starting section of root as this comfrey is not often offered for sale.

Cheers, Linda

linda.lsw@gmail.com

Early flowering sasanqua camellia