Gardening in North Otago January 31st 2018

Whew! what a scorcher this week is, gardening was a challenge to say the least, keeping water up to the whole garden and myself was what took up most of my time, I felt hand watering was best because of evaporation.

Some seeds are popping before I get to collecting them, however with two little Grand Daughters helping I now have small paper bags holding seed from delphiniums, dianthus, poppies, foxglove, hollyhock, sweet peas, lupins plus many more to come. I planted a few trays of seeds last Friday and seedlings were up by Monday, with fast germination and growth seed trays are best kept outside in shaded light and mist watered only when the top layer of mix is dry, over watering will encourage collapse as roots are too few to take in excess moisture.

Have a look around plants that have dropped seed from spring flowering plants in your garden, I have found nice little seedlings of pansies, viola, marigolds, hellebore's, sweet William and aquilegias, which I have now potted to get strong root growth before planting out.  

Take seed heads off anything you do not want to spread, that goes for weeds as well, make sure you whack the seed heads off and dispose of even if you don't have the time to deal with removing whole plants at the time. 

Keep trimming hedges as they put on soft new growth and either compost the trimmings or scatter them around the garden, they are soft enough to break down at this time of the year.

Rhododendons, camellias and azaleas  would benefit  from a good soaking then a layer of mulch.

Roses would also find mulching helpful to retain moisture  during these hot months, plus a dressing of manure or blood and bone now would give a boost after the first long flowering. There is a good supply of well cooked, weed free mulch at the Resource Recovery park, a very reasonably priced option to be bagged or scooped onto a trailer.

Keep moisture up to compost heaps to get them cooking.

Lawns

its grass grub time again, I see evidence of them on some of my lawns! they are most active from February to May, for a couple of years there was no product to deal to them but now have seen some back on shelves. I did not see many of the brown night beetles around this year, let's hope the flood we had drowned most of them which will hopefully keep grass grub numbers down.

Vegetables: There is heaps of growing time ahead so keep sowing root veg seed and plants. carrots (harvest April / may) parsnips (harvest June)

board beans (harvest May / July) cabbage sow in seed tray, plant out in 4 weeks (harvest April May ) cauliflower sow in seed tray, plant out in 4 to 6 weeks (harvest May / July) leeks grow in seed tray plant out in 4 to 6 weeks (harvest May / June) lettuce I sow butter crunch now and stagger it right into winter

onions grow in seed trays, plant out in 4 to 6 weeks (harvest July - October)

silverbeet (harvest March / April

Cheers, Linda

Gardening in North Otago February 24th 2018

Such a lovely summer day today, Tuesday the 23rd  January with not a cloud in the sky and a gentle warm breeze following me around the garden as I worked keep cutting back. I am still filling the wheelbarrow time and time again with cut back early summer plants finished flowering . Cutting will promote a new lot of blooms, but remember to feed what you cut back because they need help to make the new growth required of them.

Roses are budding up again after the first flowering prune, it takes about six weeks from cut to new bud. I am still finding rust effected leaves to remove and destroy on some but see the organic fungicide has slowed down the spread. 

This summer is proving a challenge for rhododendrons, camellias, azalea's and hydrangeas, they all do best in moist soil so good soakings are needed to keep moisture up, mulch with un-sprayed grass clippings. Hot drying days have also really effected new growth on trees causing early leaf drop good soakings will also help with this.

Cut English lavenders back by 2/3rds and give a dressing of blood and bone, if they are too old and woody they will probably not put out new growth so take cuttings from what you cut back and grow a few new plants. Catmint and alyssum are also needing a cut back to encourage another flowering.

Seed collecting begins again and the sowing of seeds for colour during autumn and early winter, pansy, poppies, statice, calendula, primula, cineraria, alyssum and snapdragon will all get an early start if sown now into seed trays then placed in semi shade.

Lawns: All lawns will be stressed now,  weeds can be sprayed out with product at the suggested strength, If too heavy handed even the grass will be affected in this hot weather and please consider only spot spraying for the sake of the worms.

Fruit & Veg: It's proving to be a bumper year for both fruit and veg, sunny days with slightly cooler nights down here in the south and pollination good with warmth bringing bees and insects out. Corn, tomatoes and all in the pumpkin family are getting the growing conditions they love. Berries and currants were in abundance, apricots and early peaches are dropping from trees so I am sure there will be a lot of sauce and jam making going on.

Keep rotating root and leaf vegetables to get the best results, i.e where carrots have been growing, plant lettuce. I have just sown carrots and parsnips, picked all the board beans and replaced the spot with lettuce plants.  

Looking back through my notes the growing pattern of dull days over the last five years may have been broken, lets hope so. 

Cheers, Linda.

Gardening in North Otago 16th January 2018

I am loving this real summer weather, the light rain which fell late last week had me out doing some early morning lawn fertilizing and results were noticeable the next day. 

With all the growth I do tend to repeat myself with the cutting back all early summer perennials and shrubs before they make seed.  You can be especially hard now on hedges if height and width need reducing, grow back rate is fast to cover any unsightly scalping and 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 were created to be. Growth removed from top's and sides will regenerate but branches removed from the bottom will seldom regrow so remove.

The heat this summer is hard on the shallow rooted  rhododendrons, camellias and azaleas and pushing spent flower heads to make seed. Removing as many as can be reached will benefit growth, 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 mature pods  into small paper bags / envelopes where they can pop in their own time. 

Continue to mulch with light scatterings of  un-sprayed grass clippings to keep moisture in the soil, they break down into humus quickly with summer rain. Tree foliage benefits from moist summer soil, this time last year hot drying winds had really effected the new growth on our trees. 

Lawns are scorching badly as they experience day after day of intense heat, they will eventually come back, early morning soakings and feeding during rain helps.

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,  corn and pumpkins have really taken off here now after a slowish start, and gardeners are telling me their tomato and cucumber plants are producing and ripening really well so pollination has been good. 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. French, butter and runner beans should be flowering and producing well now and new potatoes will be loving the warmth. I leave them in the ground until ready to use even when the tops have died back. I have dug a wonderful crop of garlic planted from local Kakanui stock around the shortest day now ready to tie and hang, I still find it surprising when I lift such large bulbs produced from single cloves.

The moon calendar for the 25th January ( The first quarter) suggests sowing green manure such as mustard in vacant areas, dig in before flowering stage, also the best time to plant seedlings especially crops with seeds inside and dwarf beans for autumn harvest.

Cheers Linda 

Gardening in North Otago 9th January 2018

Gardening in North Otago 9th January 2018

Happy New Gardening year to all, I trust all produce from last years efforts is still  being enjoyed during  this holiday period and at last a real summer with some long sunny spells for the campers.

Roses,  All roses should have had a summer pruning after their first flowering, cut a spent flower stem down to an out facing bud on a thick part of stem. If it is just the flower removed the remaining stem will die back to only the first bud, that part of the stem will be too weak to support new blooms.  last year dull days and mildew were a problem for roses but this year it is rust that attacked a few of mine after the first flowering. I pull all the affected leaves off and destroy them as I dead headed, this left bushes quite bare but it takes no time at all for new leaves and buds to grow back after a feed and consistent watering to keep the rust at bay. Deep watering around the roots is the thing for roses during these hot months. 

 Cut back summer flowering perennials and shrubs to encourage continuous flowering, I have just cut back my daisy bushes, delphiniums, lavaterias, dianthus, lupinsand most of the herbs because they were all going to seed. Feed with slow release or a liquid fertiliser and they will all come back fresh and most will flower again. I have cut some chrysanthemums back for the second time, they flower in  autumn on shorter steams by doing this. Plant some tip growth from chrysanthemums into river sand and they should root well to become next years gap fillers. Put stakes in now to support all Chrysanthemums. Foliar feeding is very important to encourage fresh new growth after cutting back anything at this dry time of the year. Fill gaps in the flower garden with annuals. Front planting full sun: impatiens, small type petunias, begonia, small marigolds, lobelia, alyssum Mid plantings: nicotina, coriopsis, tall petunias, tall marigolds, bedding dahlia, salvia, nemesia. Tall plantings: cosmos, lavatera, sun flowers, Canterbury bells, love in the mist. Semi shade ( with good light) plantings: impatiens, bedding begonias, lobelia and foxgloves.

 I am still lifting lower new branches on the large spreading trees to let more light in for plants growing under them. Oaks, flowering cherries, ash, Alms and maples put on a lot of new growth each year and most want to grow to the ground to shade their roots if left. Remove cross over branches and any branches you feel are not required, dappled light is much nicer than dense shade. 

My ponds get topped up regularly at this time of the year, due to evaporation, shallow ponds tend to green up a bit as the water warms. I added half a bale of straw to one end of the large pond, weighed down with a rock to keep slime from growing, with the topping up and the straw doing it's job the water stays clear for the fish and the lillies. 

Lawns: When the next heavy rain arrives feed lawns and they will bounce back then spot spray weeds as new weed seeds will have germinated. 

Fruit and veg:  My gooseberries, strawberries, raspberry's and currents ripened fast during the busy Christmas rush so the birds nabbed a lot and little fingers helped me with mumbles of " This is boring Nana", but making the black current pies, fruit trifle and gooseberry sponge puddings  was a different story ...too many cooks in the kitchen!  Prune back all older black current branches that fruited now then give a good clean out of old wood during winter. Pruning summer fruiting raspberries: Fruit is produced on one year old canes. In Autumn cut all brown canes that bore fruit down to soil level, new seasons canes are green. Leave 6-8 strong new canes and remove the rest. Space new canes 10cm (4in) apart to allow light and air. Gooseberry new growth can be tip pruned then left for a winter pruning and shaping pruning

Renovate strawberry patches for higher yields next year: Stimulate next years growth by removing old leaves with hedge clippers after fruiting with out damaging crowns, most plants remain highly productive for only 3 or 4 fruiting years, thin out old weak plants, leave 5 - 6 of the vigorous per square foot of row.  After plants first growing season there are two critical times when good soil moisture is important, from bloom through to harvest and from late December through to the end of Autumn. 

Tomatoes need water kept up and some leaves removed to let more light in, too many leaves take up nitrogen that should be used by the fruit. Corn and pumpkins are making good growth and the potatoes I thought were all top and no potatoes proved me wrong by being just the opposite. Keep planting all veg , we have the best growing and ripening time ahead.

Cheers, Linda