Gardening in North Otago January 24th 2017

Such a lovely summer day today, Tuesday the 24th January with blue sky and a gentle warm breeze, as summer should be. The heavy rain we received last weekend was welcome to keep gardens and lawns looking green although we could have done without the plummet in temperature. I do tend to repeat myself with the cutting back all early summer perennials and shrubs before they make seed because this is mostly what is happening here in our garden, along with hedge trimming. You can be especially hard now on hedges if height and width need reducing, grow back rate is fast to cover any unsightly scalping. Height can be taken out of shelter shrubs like pittosporum, laurels and conifers should they be getting taller than required. Remove the center leader to a point where lower branches will cover the cut, this will stop these shrubs from becoming the trees they will eventuate into and reduce woody growth at ground level. Growth removed from top's and sides will regrow but branches removed from the bottom will seldom regrow. It's been a wonderful summer for rhododendrons, camellias and azaleas, some here have out grown the space allotted so width and height has been reduced now before budding becomes too advanced. I am collecting rose petals on sunny days for potpourri, laying them out on a table until dry then storing in a large paper carrier bag which needs to be shaken about often to keep petals separated. Seed collecting is well under way now, a few warm days in a row ripen pods that have been slow to mature. I like to store pods that are ready into small paper bags / envelopes where they can pop in their own time. Continue to mulch with un-sprayed grass clippings to keep moisture in the soil, they break down into humus quickly with summer rain. Tree foliage is benefiting from the moist summer soil, this time last year hot drying winds had really effected the new growth on our trees. Lawn should be doing really well this year and with a dressing of lawn food on a rainy day they will remain green and lush. Weeds can be sprayed out during dry days, there are a few different lawn weed sprays on offer, even one that weeds and feeds at the same time. Use a product at the suggested strength and consider spot spraying for the sake of worms. Fruit & Veg: It's proving to be a bumper year for both fruit and veg, warm moist soil and the slightly cooler nights down here in the south...perfect! My corn and pumpkins have really taken off now after a slowish start, and gardeners are telling me their tomato plants are producing and ripening really well so pollination has been good on sunny days. Plums are plentiful for plum sauce and we still have a few black currents ripening for the last pie. Keep rotating root and leaf vegetables to get the best results, i.e Where carrots have been growing, plant lettuce. I have just sown carrot seed, and will plant lettuce where board beans grew. French, butter and runner beans should be flowering well now and new potatoes should be producing good numbers, I leave them in the ground until ready to use even when the tops have died back. I feel there is still time to put in a late crop as Autumn here is long and warm. 3 late crop varieties are Heather - a purple skinned variety (the purple disappears with cooking) firm large tubers and a high yield. A general purpose variety, keeps well. Rua - an older type producing high yields of large oval flat tubers. A good keeper. Van Rosa – A newer variety with great taste. Cheers Linda