Gardening in North Otago November December 1st 2016

Still cutting back spring flowering perennials and 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. Roses: Most of my roses have started flowering after what seems like a long wait, thank goodness for all the rain to get them off to a good start. 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. 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 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, 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. Remove seed pods once blooms have finished to stop plants putting energy into making seed. Low hanging tree branches: With the weight of the rain I could see which branches needed lifting on large deciduous trees, if left they will cast too much shade over surrounding plants. 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 helping to break up a pan and improve drainage.. 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 work going on in the soil by contaminating with chemicals. Vegetables: The rain this spring has been a treat to veg gardens as hosing dose not give the same results as a good rain, but of course with all lush growth weeds will take over if left unattended. Hoeing while small is still the best weeding methode I know. I am amazed that the white butterfly is STILL not a problem in our garden yet. My runner beans have been slow to start with being eaten, for this reason I opted to start them in pots to get them up off the ground and see they are away now. But, yes I know with the wet ground slugs & snails will still be a problem 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, force the other half on top with a door cut out for snails & slugs to slide in. 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 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 an electric tooth brush into the glass house and gently waft it among flowers to spread pollen. Cheers, Linda.

Gardening in North Otago November 15th 2016

I guess it is time to concentrate on the final stage of spring now, roses, peony roses, delphiniums, begonias and lots of other beautiful happenings soon help us forget bulbs and blossom. With the massive amount of rain and warmth we have had I can all most see and hear plants growing, eventually resulting in more cutting back....here we go again! Forget-me-not and bluebells cover a lot of garden space here during spring creating a wonderful sea of blue spilling through rhododendrons and azaleas but now both want to go to seed so must be cut back. Forget-me-not will transfer all seed heads onto clothing making cutting back a messy job but one worth doing, Once cut back they quickly produce new fresh green leaves as a ground cover until flowering again next spring. Roses: Time to start spraying roses for green fly and disease if you have not already started. A product like 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. I have learned over the years that it is a waste of time and money nursing plants that need warmer conditions and more rain than North Otago offers. Plants such as hibiscus, gardenia, banana palm, any plant that requires tropical seasonal rain is going to struggle if not in a hot house with the right humidity. After writing all that Bougainvillea is growing here on the coast and I have managed to keep mine going out here at Weston for many years. After some harsh winters it has looked very sad but I have it under an eve against a sunny Oamaru stone wall and most years it becomes a mass of vibrant magenta in summer through to Autumn. If you have a bougainvillea right now is the time to really get the water into it along with some all purpose fertiliser (not slow release) to simulate a rainy season. Once this has been done and your plant is established like mine do not water or feed it again, they do the best flowering when they are stressed. A newly planted bougainvillea will need watered now and then to get it established but NO food, if fed often they put out leaf not flowers. Read labels when buying to make sure that our conditions are right for the plants on offer at this time of the year. Keep the water up to Lillie's, they are making rapid growth now and the ground they are in must never dry out, stake them now before they become too heavy. After all the rain weeds are still easy to pull before they run to seed, but if spraying is required there are a number of organic weed sprays available now, these need to be spayed on the weeds when they are small and really hot and thirsty. As I have mentioned before the most economical control for annual weeds is good old common table salt, purchased in bulk or in kilo bags at agricultural outlets. Use it at the rate of 240 grams (about 12 heaped tablespoons) to a litre of warm or hot water to dissolve it, and then spray it on the foliage of the weeds, again in sunny dry conditions. If spraying only the foliage, at the above rates, there will be, little residual damage done to the soil. To make absolutely sure, give the area a good watering after the weeds have died. Perennial weeds will probably need further salt treatment. Lawns Lawn mowers will be mowing flat out everywhere with all this lush growth, now that my compost bins have been treated to many full catchers I will spay out the lawn weeds now which means the clippings will need to be spread in areas where plants will not be affected by the contamination. On lawns where there are just a few flat weeds I will spot spray. Double check the spay used is foe lawn weeds, I have seen disastrous results where normal weed spray has been used to spot spray lawns which has leached from the weed into the grass leaving bald patches everywhere. Vegetables: Keep mounding potatoes to keep them producing, all the rain we have received this month will have benifitted potatoes and all root vegetables so we should look forward to some good crops. Leafy veg tends to run to seed during hot days so no extra feeding to help them do this. Plant as many as you think you would use when ready to pick and hold back other small seedling plants from the same batch to plant at two week intervals. The small plants will hold if moisture is kept up but watered only when too dry (don't over water seedlings they do not have enough root growth to absorb and will rot, keeping them in a semi shaded place will hold them back until required for planting. Mulch pumpkin and squash plants, roots are fragile until the large leaves grow and create the root shade needed. All newly planted seedlings can be over watered to a point where roots cannot cope and they collapse, the soil should be dry on top between watering's and good drainage is essential . Glass house:With damp humid weather over watering in a glass or tunnel house may encourage Fungus Gnats, attracted to light and associated with microscopic fungi means they thrive in a damp environment. Females deposit eggs on the moist soil or decaying matter, these eggs hatch into larvae in about 3 days feeding on decaying organic matter and becoming fully developed larvae in 10 days. They then undergo a pupae stage which spans 3 days and around 4 days later adult fungus gnats emerge. Multiplying this quickly a glass house can become full of them, eventually effecting plant roots. Fungus Gnats are not a biting insect. Cheers, Linda

Gardening in North Otago November 15th 2016

I guess it is time to concentrate on the final stage of spring now, roses, peony roses, delphiniums, begonias and lots of other beautiful happenings soon help us forget bulbs and blossom. With the massive amount of rain and warmth we have had I can all most see and hear plants growing, eventually resulting in more cutting back....here we go again! Forget-me-not and bluebells cover a lot of garden space here during spring creating a wonderful sea of blue spilling through rhododendrons and azaleas but now both want to go to seed so must be cut back. Forget-me-not will transfer all seed heads onto clothing making cutting back a messy job but one worth doing, Once cut back they quickly produce new fresh green leaves as a ground cover until flowering again next spring. Roses: Time to start spraying roses for green fly and disease if you have not already started. A product like 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. I have learned over the years that it is a waste of time and money nursing plants that need warmer conditions and more rain than North Otago offers. Plants such as hibiscus, gardenia, banana palm, any plant that requires tropical seasonal rain is going to struggle if not in a hot house with the right humidity. After writing all that Bougainvillea is growing here on the coast and I have managed to keep mine going out here at Weston for many years. After some harsh winters it has looked very sad but I have it under an eve against a sunny Oamaru stone wall and most years it becomes a mass of vibrant magenta in summer through to Autumn. If you have a bougainvillea right now is the time to really get the water into it along with some all purpose fertiliser (not slow release) to simulate a rainy season. Once this has been done and your plant is established like mine do not water or feed it again, they do the best flowering when they are stressed. A newly planted bougainvillea will need watered now and then to get it established but NO food, if fed often they put out leaf not flowers. Read labels when buying to make sure that our conditions are right for the plants on offer at this time of the year. Keep the water up to Lillie's, they are making rapid growth now and the ground they are in must never dry out, stake them now before they become too heavy. After all the rain weeds are still easy to pull before they run to seed, but if spraying is required there are a number of organic weed sprays available now, these need to be spayed on the weeds when they are small and really hot and thirsty. As I have mentioned before the most economical control for annual weeds is good old common table salt, purchased in bulk or in kilo bags at agricultural outlets. Use it at the rate of 240 grams (about 12 heaped tablespoons) to a litre of warm or hot water to dissolve it, and then spray it on the foliage of the weeds, again in sunny dry conditions. If spraying only the foliage, at the above rates, there will be, little residual damage done to the soil. To make absolutely sure, give the area a good watering after the weeds have died. Perennial weeds will probably need further salt treatment. Lawns Lawn mowers will be mowing flat out everywhere with all this lush growth, now that my compost bins have been treated to many full catchers I will spay out the lawn weeds now which means the clippings will need to be spread in areas where plants will not be affected by the contamination. On lawns where there are just a few flat weeds I will spot spray. Double check the spay used is foe lawn weeds, I have seen disastrous results where normal weed spray has been used to spot spray lawns which has leached from the weed into the grass leaving bald patches everywhere. Vegetables: Keep mounding potatoes to keep them producing, all the rain we have received this month will have benifitted potatoes and all root vegetables so we should look forward to some good crops. Leafy veg tends to run to seed during hot days so no extra feeding to help them do this. Plant as many as you think you would use when ready to pick and hold back other small seedling plants from the same batch to plant at two week intervals. The small plants will hold if moisture is kept up but watered only when too dry (don't over water seedlings they do not have enough root growth to absorb and will rot, keeping them in a semi shaded place will hold them back until required for planting. Mulch pumpkin and squash plants, roots are fragile until the large leaves grow and create the root shade needed. All newly planted seedlings can be over watered to a point where roots cannot cope and they collapse, the soil should be dry on top between watering's and good drainage is essential . Glass house:With damp humid weather over watering in a glass or tunnel house may encourage Fungus Gnats, attracted to light and associated with microscopic fungi means they thrive in a damp environment. Females deposit eggs on the moist soil or decaying matter, these eggs hatch into larvae in about 3 days feeding on decaying organic matter and becoming fully developed larvae in 10 days. They then undergo a pupae stage which spans 3 days and around 4 days later adult fungus gnats emerge. Multiplying this quickly a glass house can become full of them, eventually effecting plant roots. Fungus Gnats are not a biting insect. Cheers, Linda

Gardening in North Otago 9th November 2016

Blossom almost over for another year and on trees longer than usual with the absence of October winds. "But oh", the Rhododendrons and deciduous azalea's how lovely they are right now, in my view equal to any beautiful tropical flowers. One or two my roses started to flower this week, a little later than usual because I pruned late, the new growth is healthy and with the on and off again rain and continuing evening chill they should stay that way. I mentioned noticing aphids last week, yes they are colonizing on new buds but using the index finger and thumb removal method I am managing to keep it under control without resorting to spray just yet. Aphids winter over on the underside of last year's hellebore leaves, if you have not done so already remove them because fresh new leaves are popping up now. If you do not want hellebore seedlings germinating all through the garden cut out spent flowers now before seed is dropped. Peony roses are starting to flower, supports under them help to hold up the heavy flower heads. I have tall wire supports shaped like a u at the top that are pushed into the ground with the rounded top in place to let them flop over and stay in place. They need lots of water and benefit from liquid fertiliser. If you planted new crowns for this season it would pay to let only one flower develop on these to allow growth to go into the crowns, then cut the one blooming flower off before it makes seed pods. Clump form much faster if no blooms are produced for the first two years, Peony roses need full sun and do not like to be smothered by other plants. Lavenders are budding up with the absence,( so far) of spittle bugs, if these bugs do become a problem for you spraying will not work, the spittle surrounding them is a barrier to pesticide. A forceful hosing will dislodge them and hopefully drown a few. Some hybrid clematis are looking beautiful right now, Hybrid's are those especially large flowered varieties, not the invasive pink and white montana type. You have to be quick in training hybrids where you want them to go while the trailers are still soft, they too like a lot of feeding to take them to great heights. Manure, deep down with a little lime added when planting is beneficial. Don't worry if you have one with no buds just yet they all have different flowering times, If you planted one this year let it flower then cut it to the ground, this will make it send up more shoots and you will have a much bushier and stronger climber. Hybrids can also wilt and die for no reason if this happens cut it to the ground but don't be dig it out because I have known some to shoot away again the following year with no sign of wilt. I have been filling the gaps in the flower garden with old fashioned cottage flowers like cosmos, love in the mist, salvia blue bedder, Clary sage, and lavatera. These are all taller flowering annuals planted close together so they hold each other up. The more plants put in the less room for weeds to grow is the plan. All the plants mentioned will be flowering at Christmas, and then for ages after if dead headed regularly. Vegetables Still perfect Spring weather for growing all veg now the ground is so warm and moist. Board beans are doing well with no sign of rust, could it be the pinch of potash I put in when planting? Peas are romping up netting and beans are in ready to climb. Keep planting veg seeds and plants, a few at a time so you can have the continuous thing happening. No night beetles about yet, they should not be far away and ready to feast on new tree leaves, the damage they cause to established trees is not that noticeable but newly planted fruit and prunus trees can be striped of leaves. Leaves will re-grow and fruits will continue to make growth. Cheers, Linda.

Gardening in North Otago November 2nd 2016

Gardens will be now at the soggy blossom stage after a relatively wind free blooming, pink Kanzan blossom for once was not blown off before it's time allowing trees to create a pink glow about North Otago. Such a treat not to be lugging hose's about yet, the ground is warm and moist and ready for planting, weeds are small for hoeing and easy pulling and weed spray is now working in the rough areas, so all is pretty straight forward for those who have the TIME to enjoy the rhythm of spring. Birds feeding young will be making a mess in gardens and on paths searching for worms, so annoying to have newly planted annuals scratched out daily. I have found strips of shade cloth weighed down with stones covering the front planting will keep the birds off until new plants have settled in and filled out to cover exposed worm filled soil. Rhododendrons, deciduous azaleas and peony roses have taken over from camellias now displaying a dazzling range of colours, those early flowering rhododendrons can now have spent blooms removed before seeds sets, especially those newly planted, energy is needed for growth not making seeds. There is a point on the spent bloom where it snaps off without disturbing the new leaf growth coming through, once you find this point snapping off past blooms becomes easy. My roses are budding up, but I see green fly has arrived and a few new leaves have had to be removed where I spotted rust....already??? because I mulch thickly in our garden old leaves with rust spores would have escaped the clean up in early winter, a fortnightly spray with pesticide/ fungicide combined will be the answer. It pays to spray on a dull day so the sun will not burn through droplets and damage new leaves. No problem when the leaves have toughened up to spray in the sun. Wisterias are at putting on a display as well now, once flowering is over energy will go into putting out many long leaders, if your wisteria has reached the distance and spread required all of these leaders need to be removed, flower spurs develop on old wood year after year, if new leaders are left they will strive to be aged wood and become heavy un-needed branches. Birds feeding young will be making a mess in gardens and on paths searching for worms, Lawns: Lush is the word for lawns and the whole country side, long may the moisture and sun continue. If un-sprayed soft, sweet grass clippings as mulch on gardens will keep the weeds down and add humus to soil if added only thick enough to keep out light. Get it around trees and shrubs to keep moisture in soil right out to the drip line, spread it around rather than leave it in heaps. Fruit: Trees and fruit bushes should be well on their way to making fruit, we have had an abundance of bumble bees as well as busy honey bees this spring. Keeping moisture up to them when the season heats up is the next job, putting a mulch around all will help retain moisture already in the ground. A edging to hold mulch when winds arrive will be needed for my fruit trees and a cover of gravel on top will mean I will not have to water often. Vegetables: What fantastic weather for growing veg, once planted it's all about keeping the weeds down to give them room to grow. Pumpkin plants I put in last week are romping away as are the corn seedlings. I plant corn in a square patch rather than a row for them to grow and hold each other up. Potatoes are loving this weather so are worth planting if you have not already done so, tomatoes also will be soon needing staked, if you have no green / tunnel house plant a couple of cherry tomato plants in pots and place in a sheltered, well lit spot, they will produce all season. Russian red bush tomato's also grow well out side in a warm spot.