Gardening in North Otago October 11th 2016

Such beauty all around, there are new bantam hatchlings here to add to the Spring happenings, the poor little chickens are traumatized daily by Scruff the dog letting them know a thing or two outside the cage!! Still busy weeding to keep our garden right for the spring tours, the ground is just right for planting with moisture holding below the surface and the suns warmth on the ground. Remember to keep dead heading and feeding flowering pansies and polyanthus as long as there is a chill in the air they will keep flowering until it gets warmer, If you feel they have done all they are going to do dig out, cut old leaves back and plant in a cool shady place where they can be left until planting out next year. Coastal gardens will be quite away ahead of gardens inland where they will still be getting reasonable frosts from time to time. Late frosts on roses new growth can be a problem but don' t be too concerned if new growth has been frosted, rose leaves recover very fast and will have new buds to open in six weeks time. When the nights start warming up any dampness left by hosing on rose leaves will encourage mildew but keep food up to your roses while they are making buds, it's hungry roses that get diseased. For a quick result slow release fertiliser is good right now on any summer flowering plants and shrubs. I have been spot spraying convolvulus, couch and clover, fresh new weed growth is coming through the mulch now so 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. Camellias can be trimmed and shaped when finished flowering, take out branches from the middle, enough to let a bird fly through, this lets the light in to help form next years buds. I have noticed some of my front shrub plantings are too big now, hiding good planting areas behind, 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 our 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. The sun flower seeds planted into trays a few weeks ago have now been planted out, because they are still small snails and slugs will be attracted to them so I have surrounded them with prickly berberis cuttings as a deterrent. Also up and almost ready to plant out are cosmos, larkspur, nasturtium and marigolds which will help fill deep boarders. 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, frost cloth may still be needed depending on where you live. 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 but if you prefer to buy plants be sure to harden them off outside in a protected place for a while before planting them out. Glass houses will be ready for the many varieties of tomato plants on offer. If you have no glass or tunnel house tomatoes are happy growing in containers or planter bags on a sunny deck or patio, with staking and training as you would in a glass house. Smaller varieties are easiest to manage e.g. Red Robin, Russian red or Totem in containers and the cherry tomato tumbling Tom in large hanging baskets. Plant all in a tomato mix, water as needed and liquid feed fortnightly. Why not try basil plants growing among tomatoes to repel white fly, the general consensus is that basil - both plants and extracts made from the leaves can be an effective natural deterrent for white fly, mosquitoes, tomato horn-worm, aphids and house fly as well as being a wonderful culinary enhancement with tomatoes. Our graphic designer Daughter has produced a 2017 calendar related to our garden (Rockvale Garden) giving North Otago garden advice for each month of the year. On offer at Paper plus, could be a little something under the tree at Christmas for a Gardner. Cheers, Linda