Gardening in North Otago November 1st 2018

Gardens will be now at the soggy blossom stage after a relatively wind free blooming, pink Kanzan blossom for once was not blown off before it's time allowing trees to create a pink glow about North Otago, and with the bonus of rain last it is such a treat not to be lugging hose's about yet. Soil is warm and moist and ready for planting, weeds are small for hoeing and easy pulling and weed spray is now working in the rough areas, so all is pretty straight forward for those who have time to enjoy the rhythm of spring.

Birds feeding young will be making a mess in gardens and on paths searching for worms, so annoying to have newly planted annuals scratched out daily. I have found strips of shade cloth weighed down with stones covering the front planting will keep the birds off until new plants have settled in and filled out to cover exposed worm filled soil.
Rhododendrons, deciduous azaleas and peony roses have taken over from camellias now displaying a dazzling range of colours, those early flowering rhododendrons can now have spent blooms removed before seeds sets, especially those newly planted, energy is needed for growth not making seeds. There is a point on the spent bloom where it snaps off without disturbing the new leaf growth coming through, once you find this point snapping off past blooms becomes easy.
Roses are budding up, but I see on some of mine green fly has arrived and a few new leaves have had to be removed where I spotted rust....already??? because I mulch thickly in our garden old leaves with rust and black spot spores would have escaped the clean up in early winter, most labels recommend a fortnightly spray with pesticide/ fungicide combined however I follow a once a month routine. It pays to spray on a dull day right now to prevent sun burning through droplets damaging new leaves.
Wisterias are at putting on a display as well now, once flowering is over energy will go into putting out many long leaders, if your wisteria has reached the distance and spread required all of these leaders need to be removed, flower spurs develop on old wood year after year, if new leaders are left they will strive to be aged wood and become heavy un-needed branches.
Lawns: Lush is the word for lawns and the whole country side, long may the moisture and sun continue. Un-sprayed grass clippings can be spread as mulch on gardens to keep weeds down and add humus to soil, only add thick enough to keep out light. Spread around trees and shrubs right out to the drip line to keep moisture in soil but spread it around rather than leaving in heaps.
Fruit: trees and fruit bushes should be well on their way to making fruit with busy honey bees about on fine days. Keeping moisture up when the season heats up is the next job, putting a mulch around all will help retain moisture already in the ground.
Vegetables: what fantastic weather for growing veg, once planted it's all about keeping the weeds down to give them room to grow. Pumpkin plants I put in last week are romping away as are the corn seedlings, planting corn in squares rather than rows will ensure pollination on the lower tassels and add support during strong winds. Potatoes are loving this weather so are worth planting if you have not already done so, tomatoes also will be soon needing staked, if you have no glass or tunnel house plant a couple of cherry tomato plants in pots and place in a sheltered, well lit spot, they will produce all season. Russian red bush tomato's also grow well out side in a warm spot. 

Cheers, Linda.

Gardening in North Otago October 24th 2018

The wonderful Labour weekend weather bought garden growth on beautifully with the last of the blossom trees in full bloom, prunus shimidsu sakura a lovely low, spreading prunus with large double very pale pink / white ballerina blossom and the up right prunus kanzan with bright pink blossom gracing many gardens in North Otago. 
Weed spraying, lawn seed sowing and mowing will be keeping Gardeners pretty busy and the ground is very warm now for weeds to grow before our eyes, still time to pull out or hoe and spray before they make seed and spread every where. 
Roses are doing well now that the nights have warmed up, keep the food and deep root watering up to them as they bud up, foliar feeding on fresh new leaves works well now along with slow release fertilizers which ensures they are feed each time they are watered. Green fly on bud tips can be washed off with a strong hose which will hopefully drown them.
Cut back Erica's and callunas that have finished flowering, this stops them from going woody, and taking all the spent flowers off will encourage them to produce fresh new green growth for summer. If you don't cut the old flowering growth off they will make their new growth out from the old flowering growth which means they become woody at the bottom.
Cut back aubrietia rockery plant to get another flowering and cut spent flowers off hellebore's so you get the full effect of their wonderful leaves
Ployathus: They have been wonderful over the Winter but now it's time to cut them back and shift to a shady spot. They can be planted out in a sunny spot again in late Winter.
Lawns: Keep feeding lawns when rain is about, powdered fertilizer's need to be  washed well in to stop burning lawns during hot sunny days.

There will never be a better time in nature to PLANT, PLANT, PLANT all Flower plants & seeds.
Vegetables: plant out pumpkin, squash and corn plants. Pumpkins need a large prepared area to ramble with lots of compost and old stable manure dug in. Leaves will always let you know when they need water.
If you have a glass or tunnel house why not plant some peppers, they can grow high so staking will be needed. Tomato plants will be romping away, those planted early will have been affected by the last cold snap, bottom leaves can curl and take on a blueish look but they should grow through that and grow normally. It helps to plant bee attracting flowers as tomato flowers develop

Raspberry Kane's and strawberries are doing a lot of growing now as well, They both flower and fruit up really quickly as long as they get all day sun they will ripen fast. These berries and new seasons peas are perfect for encouraging Children into the garden they all learn the results are well worth the wait.

Rhubarb: Keep manure enriched compost up to Rhubarb, if the soil gets hard and dry around rhubarb it will grow stringy dry uneatable steams.

Keep picking herbs to stop them going to seed, dry what you don't use and store away until the months when they are not available. 
Drying herbs :Pick in the full heat of the day, lay out on news paper in a dry airy place until crisp, (all moisture must be gone). Then rub together into sprinkle sized bits and store in brown paper bags or glass jars.
Elder flowers are blooming now so elderflower cordial will be happening again https://thisnzlife.co.nz/recipe-elderflower-cordial/

Cheers, Linda.

Gardening in North Otago October 16th 2018

Wind and cold rain last week to dampen gardens after being blown to bits! but that is October and expected, so far growing conditions are ok but more rain needed to keep it that way.

Everyday something new and beautiful greats me in our garden, this week fragrant lilac, iris, clematis, peony roses plumping, English abutilon and Kōwhai to please the birds and so enjoying the beauty of rhododendrons and azaleas. If you need to shift rhododendrons, azalea's or camellia's do it immediately after flowering, before they put on new season growth, and if your spring flowering shrubs are in need of a trim prune them back once they have finished flowering. If large they will need a third of the top removed.

Geraniums and pelargoniums are available now and should be planted a sunny position. 

Fuchsias:  are also on offer, they benefit from afternoon shade to thrive.

Mulch: If concerned about the predicted hot dry Summer having a disastrous effect on your garden. plenty of mulch breaking down into your soil will help retain moisture as well as improve the soil structure while suppressing weed growth. Straw, grass clippings, soft hedge clippings or weed free compost are excellent cover to keep exposed soil from baking while plants are establishing. Continual mulching plus gypsum breaking down clay in poor draining soil will eventually convert  sad soil into good growing soil.

Roses: here are budding well, liquid fertilizer now on new growth will keep them in top condition along with slow release fertiliser which will add nutrients to roots each time water is applied.

Potted shrubs and plants also need slow release fertiliser, re-pot any plants that have been in the same container for more than three or four years. As long as they are not too root-bound they can go back into the same pot, once most of the old potting mix is removed and half the feeding roots have been removed, fresh mix and water crystals are then packed around the roots. I have just done this to ornamental potted buxus, buxus make more roots than they need, they soon start taking up water and food again then send out healthy new growth.

cymbidium orchids can be divided and re-potted now if crowded.

Water lilies are available this month and can be planted in a basket lined with sphagnum moss or a double layer of chux dish cloths will do it, then add garden soil, slow release fertiliser or manure right in the middle pf the container then lily and more soil to cover, and lastly a thick layer of shingle placed on top to help weigh the basket down in the water and stop the fertiliser / manure leaching out which will create green slime growth in the pond..

Fruit and veg:

Full on veg growth now and no white butterfly about as yet!  mounding potatoes, planting beans, peas, beetroot, salad greens, tomatoes and corn and pumpkin seeds. I am determined to keep the water up to ensure that time planting was not wasted, I have been known to plant then get busy and return to a limp display past restoring then have to start all over again NOT THIS YEAR I plan to harvest green, crunchy and plentiful. 

Fruit: 

Rhubarb is romping away, so good when picked before stalks become become stringy, I pick, cook and freeze for breakfast fruit on cereal, pies, pickle, jam and deserts.

Fruit trees and Grapes: watch for fungal diseases, if affected spray with an organic fungicide while growth is new. If you have had trouble in the past with codling moth on apples, pears, walnuts, quinces, crab apples and stone fruit such as plums and peaches. Get traps in place now before fruit forms. The females lay their eggs on the foliage near young fruit and when the grub hatches it crawls to the fruit and eats its way inside. Eradication of codling moth, quarter fill a tin or plastic milk container with treacle and hang in the tree to attract male grubs, the treacle is said to smell like the female codling moths pheromone which will attract the male grub into the container to reach a sticky end. A double bonus is that the treacle will attract grub eating birds. A female moth can lay up to 300 eggs during her short life. Some trees never attract the moth, but if one does you can be sure others will be chosen close by.

Concept Garden design: I have been designing gardens for many years and have just caught up on my design concept plans, if you have an area you need help with I would be happy to help. Rockvale gardens (facebook)

Pop out to Weston

 and walk about our pretty spring garden on Airedale road "Rockvale Gardens"Bring a picnic seating is plenty, toilet available / donation entry.

Cheers, Linda.   

Gardening in North Otago 10th October 2018

How pretty Oamaru is looking even after the strong wind on Tuesday night and growth is staying fresh with heavy dews. Rhododendrons and Tulips are taking center stage now along with the beautiful bright pink blossom of prunus Kanzan. Tulips are best left after flowering until all green has been absorbed by the bulb, if like me you have a main display of them and need to get other plants in once flowered, dig them up with all still attached to the bulb and bed them, bundled into a spot in the garden where not noticed until the die back is finished. Then store them away where rats can not get at them. Dead head all spring bulbs as they finish flowering, leaving them to make seed will weaken bulbs but leaves are left on to die back into bulbs.

Dressing the garden: At this time of year that I am busy getting my garden presentable for Spring tours which started last week, the ground is damp and warm and just right for planting the abundance of plants on offer plus planting seeds to be ready for summer flowering and eating. The seeds I planted in late winter are ready to be planted out or potted on, I see them out the corner of my eye beginning to climb out off trays as I rush past, I have even been known comment SOON to them while keeping the water up when I really should be potting up!! 

Compost will start heating up and working well with the addition of new grass clippings, mine are open heaps layered with soft hedge clippings, grass clippings, manure, soil,and seedless weeds. The sprinkler is needed on them from time to time to get warm moisture working right through the middle to create the heat needed.

Pansies and polyanthus will keep flowering if dead headed, pansies and violas can be cut right back and fed with liquid fertiliser to come into bud again and flower on, flowering will not be as strong as it has been but as long as there is a chill in the air they will keep on flowering until it gets too warm for them. Polyanthus soon let you know when it is too hot for them, if you feel they have done all they are going to do dig them out, cut back and plant in a cool shady place where they can be left and planted out again next year.

Coastal gardens will be ahead of gardens further inland, late frosts on new rose growth can be a problem but don' t be too concerned because rose leaves recover very fast and will have new buds to open in six weeks time. To avoid mildew problems don't let rose foliage go into the night wet in mild weather, also keep the food up to your roses while they are making their buds, it's hungry roses that get diseased. Fortnightly folia feeding and slow release fertiliser is good right now on any flowering plants and shrubs. 

I notice  that dreaded convolvulus, couch and clover thriving once again as it pops through the ground, spot spraying where it will not affect other plants is the only way I can get on top of it, but if roses get even a sniff of hormone spray it will deform the foliage into wispy yellow leaves and the rose bush will eventually die so don't risk spraying on a windy day. 

Front shrub plantings in gardens can become too big, when planted small we tend to forget about them until they completely hide the space behind which could be come an interesting corner. What a difference can be made by opening up and creating distance for a new and interesting planting. One area opened in my garden was deep enough to allow me to mass plant with blue bells and include a new maple tree, it was two scrappy over grown shrubs blocking the planting space behind. 

Sun flower seeds can go in now, they do best being planted straight into the ground but I have little bantams who scratch out the seed and eat hence pregrowing them in trays. Sun flowers are a quick result for Children to plant and watch grow taller than themselves. If you have room plant cosmos, larkspur, nasturtium and marigolds, delphiniums, and alyssum. I would love to attract monarch butterflies to the garden but can never get the swan plants to stay alive through the winter, planting them now will allow them to get bushy in the hope of attracting or introducing them into the garden.

Vegetables

Potatoes are loving the warm ground, mine are up and ready for mounding.....hopefully this weekend! 

Seeds are popping up in no time as well, Pumpkin, squash, corn and courgette seeds can go in now, if you prefer to buy plants be sure to harden them off outside in a protected place for a while before planting them out. If your vegetable garden has been disappointing in the past with plants not growing as well as you would like you could do a Ph test and if the PH of your soil needs to be raised you can then add lime. I sprinkle lime on my compost heaps in spring and Autumn which then goes on the garden with the added bonus of lime loving worms. If you have done a test and you need to raise the PH sprinkle lime over the soil surface and rake it into the top couple of inches, letting it naturally work down to the root zone. Do not dig it deeply into the soil, it will leach down soon enough. Dolomite lime is less likely to drastically change the PH but if your soil is in need of sweetening our local lime (calcium carbonate) will do the trick. Usually application rates are 2 to 3 pounds per 100 square feet of garden area, every second year to raise the pH from 5.5 to 6.5. There are some veg that like a more acid soil so don't go adding lime unless your soil needs sweetening.

Fruit: Apple and crab apple blossom is bursting and with the sunny days bringing the bees out we should get good crops, black currents, strawberries and raspberries are looking to crop well also. Keep the water up to all until we get some decent rain.

Rockvale Garden here at Weston is full of spring splendor right now and is open daily for visitors. (bring a picnic)

Cheers, Linda

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Gardening in North Otago October 3rd 2018

Spring continues  here in North Otago with all the later blossom out now, so pretty are the bright pink upright prunus KanZan and the white with a hint of pink spreading prunus shimidsu sakura usually joined by a sea of light blue forget-me-not or deep blue match heads. Rhododendrons and azaleas are in full bloom or pushing out fat buds, I so LOVE spring.

Spring bulbs: As they start to finish, don't be tempted to cut leaves off just yet as the bulbs top up on food for next year from leaves as they die back. If you have really big clumps of bulbs choking your garden space there will always  be someone willing to bring a spade to halve big clumps to add more bulbs to their own garden.

Erica'

s that flowered over winter can be trimmed when flowers brown so new growth does not start above the spent flowers. Once trimmed new fresh green growth will complement all flowering plants near by. Erica's are such a wonderful ground cover displaying beautiful colour during winter months, one low growing erica will eventually cover a mitre of ground and last for many years.

Keep an eye on tall growing chrysanthemums they start making growth now, cut back the first new growth before they make hard wood. They do not flower until the Autumn, by removing the first new growth they should regrow shorter and be a little more manageable.

Prune fuchsias back now if you have not already done so because they flower on new seasons wood they can be taken well back.
Lillies are really pushing up now so it is a perfect time to get supports in being careful not to damage bulbs. Lillie bulbs need to be planted moist but well draining soil. Mulching will stop soil drying out.  

Too early yet to trim hedges, wait until the new growth finishes and firms up a little or you will be trimming them twice, this applies to box hedging as well. The perfect time to trim spring growth on box is during overcast days, the hot sun burns new undergrowth, dull days give them time to recover although there will still be some burning which will soon be hidden by new leaves.

Lawns: mowers are humming again on lush  lawns, use un-sprayed clippings around your garden as mulch, not great piles but evenly scattered around will keep the weeds down and help to retain moisture. Sifting soil will begin again here this week for resowing  lawn bare patches and to add body to gardens, pots, baskets and seed trays. With all the mulches used today gardens can become light and fluffy to the point of holding moisture, soil is nature given for growing and when sifted it is the perfect medium for new roots, spread it on top and it will wash in beneath dry mulch with each watering.

Vegetables: 
Herbs: We can forget the dried herbs in cooking now as all herbs are putting on nice fresh growth. Sage, mint, thyme, rosemary, bay, marjoram, oregano, basil and even nasturtium can be harvested often during the growing season and what is not used can be dried over summer ready to rub and store for next winter. For the most flavor, cut herbs in mid-morning, right after the morning dew has dried.

Tomatoes: For those with glass or tunnel houses, prepare the soil well by digging in good organic compost having been heated to the point of all fungus disease being eradicated.  Summer nights here in North Otago can be cool so a glass or tunnel house is the a must if wanting to be a serious tomato grower. However a glass house is a perfect incubator for fungus disease during nights and dull days when moisture is not taken up quickly by plants, never let tomato plant leaves go into the night wet. There are a lot of tomato varieties to choose from. Children love the cherry tomatoes, (a good lunch box filler ) cherry tomatoes can be grown in a large pot on a well lit porch and will keep producing all Summer.
Vegetable seeds can be sown directly into the garden now but don't sow too thickly mix seeds with fine soil when sowing to avoid a lot of thinning. If planting seedlings from punnets cover with shade cloth so birds cannot see them, birds are feeding young now and they really like to strip small seedlings from gardens.

Cheers, Linda.