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