Gardening in North Otago April 19th 2017

Then out came the sun! Easter arrived here with eight little ones and their parents, numbers swelled when the Rockvale Garden Easter egg hunt began on Sunday morn....there was collecting and carnage when Scruff the dog got over excited and disgraced himself by disposing of a bantam much to the horror of a few young spectators who ran for help. Needless to say Scruff was banished to a lonely afternoon in his kennel for creating such a lasting memory in three small minds.!!

Leaves, leaves, leaves so many on the ground and yet to fall, "groan" but to compensate we do have a beautiful gold, red and orange wonder land out here right now.
Most leaves turn into good compost but I do not compost oak or walnut leaves, they take too long to break down in my heaps,burning them then adding the ash will benefit compost.

Camellias are budding up now and some of mine need opening up to let in light needed for buds to develop well so I have been removing inward facing and cross over branches. feed camellias and rhododendrons with acid fertiliser, water in well and mulch, then forget about them until they reward you in spring.

Azaleas need food, as soon as they have finished flowering but if you did not feed them then feed them now along with Rhodos and camellias.

On the coast only, prune back perennial wall flowers now to encourage new growth for a good winter flowering, do the same to Marguerite daisies. 

Further inland take hard wood cuttings, pot up and protect over winter as a lot of Marguerite daisy bushes are lost due to continuous frost.

Break up clumps of viola like Maggie Mott and the clumping primula vulgaris, plant sections with root attached into pots or trays, they will grow and clump up from now on ready to be planted out in spring. Both of these make lovely edging plants.

I planted out different shades of ranunculus this week, They are so worth while and a good investment because they multiply well and give vibrant or soft mid height colour to an early spring garden. Renucula corms look very dried up and brittle in the packet when bought, soak them over night and they will become plump before planting. Plant at least five together in groups to get the best effect.

With lilies becoming available in shops this month established clumps may be lifted if necessary, but do not disturb them unless they are very crowded or unsuitably sited. Instead top dress them with a mixture of compost and blood and bone. (A cup full of blood and bone to each bucket of compost. be sure to keep lily bulbs moist while they are out of the ground, roots must never dry out. Almost all lilies need to be planted as deep as three times the height of the bulb.The only exception to this deep planting is the Madonna lily which is planted just below the surface and prefers to be shifted in mid summer straight after flowering. This is also one of the few lilies which also prefers limy soil.

Keep planting well grown evergreen shrubs, still time to get them settled in before winter.

Give evergreen hedges a last light trim during this month


Vegetable / fruit 
I have mentioned growing a green crop in vacant areas of the vegetable garden, barley, wheat, oats and mustard  will grow in no time, dig in while still soft and green. First timers might like to follow the green manure suggestion of using blue lupin as a nitrogen additive, other wise use mustard as a good soil conditioner in spring and summer, changing back to grains in the autumn.
Green vegetable seedlings will be targeted by birds right now so best to cover them with shade or wind cloth raised above the plants while small, birds will not be so interested when they plump out a bit.

Broad beans can be planted now, try a little potash in the soil just below the bean when planted, it is said to help prevent rust.

Walnuts are falling along with the leaves, most of the nuts on our tree fall in their green casing and if I don't pick them up they attract rats who nibble through the casing and the soft shell to get to the nut. Because of the fleshy casing they need to be spread out separated from each other in a dry place to allow the green casing to dry and shrivel away from the nut. If all lumped together in a box they will soon go mouldy.

Feed citrus well now, manure seaweed, rock phosphate, dolomite and mulch

Neem tree oil is an organic product for use on apples for woolly aphid (if you have woolly aphid you'll have to put neem onto the roots of the apple trees using a watering can as well as spraying the leaves because bugs over winter and live in the roots, re-infecting the tops),  use on pear trees for pear slug and on citrus for aphid and mealy bug if necessary. Codlin moth caterpillars will be cocooning in hidey holes, once fruit has been removed and leaves have dropped remove all growth around trees – anywhere pupae may be hidden. Trunks can be scrubbed with a stiff brush and wax eyes encouraged with bird feeders, they will soon hunt out cocoons and

spring will be the time for grub traps.

Gardening in North Otago April 12th 2017

Rain continues to fall as I write this and Easter almost upon us, we are expecting 8 little egg hunters home with their parents for the great Rockvale garden egg hunt if the weather is kind.

Compost will be working well with all this moisture and warmth, generally speaking stable and poultry manure contain practically all the elements required, particularly nitrogen, phosphate, and potash in a natural organic form. However not all plants require the same proportions, animal manure that is too fresh can cause rank growth with leguminous like peas, beans, lupins etc because of excess nitrogen but left to break down in a compost heap, then used in conjunction with a general fertiliser when planting will ensure plants get all they require in the growing season. 

Plants that will not tolerate phosphate garden fertiliser are Lleucodedrons, Proteas, Banksia and Erica's/ callunas just a good organic leaf mulch will keep them happy.

Normally at this time of the year new growth is not encouraged as all growth starts to wind down preparing  for the dormant months but here on the coast we like to continue to have colour in the garden with polyanthus, primulas, pansy and cyclamen, these plants get a boost when dried blood is used around them. Dried blood is high in nitrogen and an easy way to replenish tired soil before planting.

Primula and viola clumps can be broken up now and planted out to create boarders or fill gaps in front boarders.

Feed rhododendron, azaleas and camellias with fertiliser mixed especially for them which will boost them for budding and spring flowering.
Keep dead heading dahlias until frost collapse them, when this happens cut back ensuring large thick steams are not left open to allow rain in to rot tubers. If dahlia tubers are sitting in water too long after heavy rain they will rot. Dahlias can be dug out at the end of the season and stored away in a dry place to be planted out after frosts in late spring / early summer. A topping of pea straw is good protection for dahlias over winter.

Roses, the rain has spoiled autumn roses this year, remove rotting blooms and resist cutting back, roses need to start making seed and harden off before the cold months but If growing in a warm sheltered sunny spot one last dead heading will produce late blooms.


Vegetables / fruit
Time to dig up and divide Rhubarb crowns, mixing in heaps of compost before replanting.
A good time for sowing of Spinach and Snap Peas.
Harvest Pumpkins now remembering not to remove the stalk from the Pumpkin, this stops it from rotting.

So much fruit still dropping from trees I have been harvesting apples and quince this week and after all the rain it is a good time to repay your fruit trees by applying any or all of the following lime, manure, rock phosphate, liquid seaweed and vermiliquid around trees.

Prune tamarillo trees hard after last fruit comes off, staggered pruning will stagger next year's crop

Prepare strawberry beds once the ground dries, build up ground with compost/mulch, cut old leaves from plants and destroy, remove runners, pot up for new fruiting plants or fill in gaps.

Cheers, Linda.

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Gardening in North Otago April 5th 2017

Did I say autumn was the settled ripening time???  lets all visualize the wonderful mellow autumn days of the past to make it happen because so much needs to be done in gardens right now, weeding, hedge trimming, cutting back and clearing out summer growth, spraying, ( so many weeds after all the rain!!) mulching, building new compost heaps then there are all those leaves ....(Whew, no pressure) 

I have taken time this week to look around the garden to see what plants flowered well over summer and those that have not because of trees getting taller and wider and blocking out light. The plants I found suffering most were dahlia's, some have not flowered at all from lack of light and moisture and others are  hidden behind other plants. They will be dug up and transplanted into a sunnier spot, leaving the top growth on to die off back into the tubers. Other plants suffering the same are dwarf agapantha, roses, asters and dianthas, all of these need a lot of sunshine and light to preform well.

If looking to improve the look of established gardens a front boarder will do the trick, there are so many suitable plants that maybe  multiplying around your garden like lambs ear, with it's lovely silver textured leaf, variegated and dwarf iris, blue grass, dwarf agapantha, hosta's, helibours, purple sage, thyme, erigeron daisy and violas, plus heaps of other low growing evergreen plants that cuttings or divisions can be taken from right now to create borders. All these plants I have mentioned look great planted en masse in long rows to change the look of a garden.

The following flower seeds can still be sown now:

aquilegia, calendula (marigold) lupins, stocks, sweet peas, dianthus some will probably already be germinating around where these plants have been growing. I pot up most worthy plants that nature supplies in our garden to be planted out either before or after winter depending on the maturity of them.

Top dress lilies with blood and bone and compost, one cup of blood and bone to each bucket of compost. If you need to shift lilies never let them dry out, get them back in the ground straight away or store them in a wet  towel until ready to transplant.

If you have trees and shrubs that need to be moved, wrench them now, by digging around one half of their roots and leaving the other half untouched for a few months. Make a trench around the lifted roots and fill with soft compost, the cut roots will form new feeder roots into the compost which will make the eventual transplant cope better. Remember plants which have had their root system reduced should also have their top growth reduced.

Veg and fruit

Tomato's need all the daylight hours now to ripen, removed all shading leaves.

Sweet pepper plants that need more time to ripen can be dug up, put into a pot and placed under shelter to continue growing if any threat of frost.

 Sow a green crop, adding humus to vacant vegetable plots will improve the soil, Blue lupin, mustard, wheat, barley or oats are good for this purpose. Dug in just before the crop reaches flowering stage. 

In cooler areas citrus trees, especially when young should have a temporary roof for frost protection put in place soon.

My wine grapes are a disaster with mildew again this year, so no picking nor treading. Not to worry there is an abundance of nice wine already made and on offer out there!

As for Scruff our small Cairn Terrier who thinks he is an Alsatian....bored and soooo over the rain.

Cheers, Linda