Gardening in North Otago December 7th 2016

Right now I am sure people will have more to think about than gardening apart from hoping the potatoes and veg will be ready for Christmas dinner! we can stop keeping our eye on the ball but unfortunately weeds and lawns don't stop growing. Still not a lot of watering needed here as rain is persistant and mulch is holding moisture in the soil on those very hot days. I have had the hedge trimmer on the go again and yes the plants and shrubs do shudder when I come their way! If it needs it, it gets it! Trimming with secateurs is not practical with such a large garden and at this time of the year you can not do too much damage, the grow back rate is pretty quick. Overcast afternoons have been perfect for trimming buxus, it will still show signs of scorching after a day in the hot sun, but will soon grow through it. My buddleia's ( The butterfly mbush) got a good cut back, they are a great fill in bush. When newly planted I cut them back by half after flowering and the mature buddleias right to the ground. Buddleias push up new growth very quickly and look attractive with new blue green foliage. Shades of blue /purple, pink and white make this an ideal plant for a back border and can be grown from a cutting. Catmint can have it's first trim now, I know it is still showing heaps of colour but trim the long growth back by half and in no time at all it will re-grow into a neater clump and continue to flower. The same applies to aubrietia, it will stay in a neater clump after spent flowers have been cut back. Most gardeners pull out forget-me-not when it has finished flowering, I cut it right back to almost nothing and it returns in nice green clumps stronger than ever and becomes a perennial which will flower for years every spring. As a woodland plant you can't go past forget-me-not, a pretty sea of blue among the rhododendrons. Branches were lifted on large trees this week with a small chain saw on a long handle, just perfect for reaching up to remove long branches and thinning out to let light onto gardens below. . Anemones for winter flowering can be planted in the next two weeks, they will get lost planted in my gardens now and I would forget where I planted them so will pop some into pots to make roots then transplant later when summer gardens are cleared. Lilies are flowering now, large clumps can be divided up and shifted straight after flowering and planted into good compost but they must never dry out so keep an eye on them through the dryer months. I have had clumps of Christmas lilies completely disappear and have not noticed until I miss them flowering at this time of the year. It takes ages for lilies to grow from little pup bulbs and seed so they are worth looking after. Lawns: If you don't like using sprays and you have a few flat weeds in the lawn try spot spraying them with vinegar, I was told about this recently and it works! I used white vinegar, also great for pathways and drives leaving no dangerous residue to leach into nearby plants. Clover browns off a little, I am still watching to see how much it knocks it, Apply the vinegar in full sun. Vegetables Keep mounding up potato rows to encourage bigger shores, corn likes to be mounded up also when it gets to about knee high. They have a shallow rooting system and the mounding helps to keep them upright in strong winds. All leaf and root veg will be thriving this month, I am filling gaps with new seedlings as I use. One thing is for sure you can put off doing what is needed but nature can not be put off when it comes to weeds and ripening of fruit and veg, if time is limited chopping the flowers off weeds before they run to seed will reduce the spread until you can tackle them. Fruit: It is time to shorten back fruiting leaders on grape vines, the growth is needed for the forming grapes. If a leader has produced too many bunches remove some. I was told years ago that offal or a dead animal is what a domestic grape vine likes to have buried down around it's roots, too much nitrate fertiliser will produce too many leaves and leaders. Most fruiting plants like a little pot ash to encourage fruiting during spring. Pip and stone fruit should grow in abundace this season, usually a tree will shead small forming fruits if too many to grow and ripen well, but I have found this reduction needs to be done by the gardener as well. Now is the time to check number of fruit to branch ratio. Cheers, Linda