December already, damp November almost gone, what a long time suffering damp, cloud covered days which has restricted flowering and fruit ripening. It's sun and warmth we and gardens need in spring.
Hedge trimming will be under way about North Otago now that new growth has been pushing out for a while. I can't wait until hedges soften a little after a severe trimming, which usually only takes a couple of weeks.
Roses will be well into flowering and the thing to look out for after all the dampness is powdery mildew, a fungus that affects plant leaves, buds and stems, coating them with a white or grey powder like substance. A preventive spray applied at the very first hint of powdery mildew is as follows. 1 tablespoon of baking soada, 1/2 teaspoon of liquid soap and 1 gallon of water mixed together. This is not a cure if the fungus has taken hold but worth spraying on all rose bushes to prevent it happening after such a long period of damp, dull weather.
Begonias are really pushing through now and I see that I have lost a few that I left in the ground from last year. The food begonias most appreciate is any fish based fertiliser, as a folia spray or watered in around roots.
Hydrangeas are producing flower heads now so they will have loved all the rain, it is important to keep the water and food up to them, old stable manure, blood and bone, dry, liquid or slow release fertiliser will keep them happy and flowering well. Remember it's lime for pink and Epsom salts or aluminum sulphate to keep them blue.
Fuchsias are making a lot of growth now as well, they flower on new growth so appreciate a good cut back in early spring and then again when finished flowering.Tip cuttings can be taken from fuchsias when stems have firmed, if you spot some you like in a friends garden ask for some cuttings. I break a cutting off at a heel or a nodule section, remove some of the top growth and push into firm wet river sand.Tip cuttings from Hebe's will also root with no trouble in river sand . Abutilon (Chinese lantern: If you are looking for something non invasive to make a show of colour against a wall why not try Abutilon, they come in three strong colours, yellow, orange, burgundy and white. I planted yellow, burgundy and white together in a large container with nice lime green grass's below them, Being a rather spindly plant I intertwined them and they now look like one bush. If trained against a wall leave some longer branches and shorten back others to get a good cover of flowers. Peony roses: What a pity damp weather has spoiled these wonderful plants this spring, they are the first to droop in wet conditions. Remove seed pods once blooms have finished to stop plants putting energy into making seed.
Low hanging tree branches: The weight of the last rain will have shown which branches need lifting on large deciduous trees, if left they will cast too much shade over surrounding plants. Lower branches can be removed and the upper branches will hide the cuts. Any branch growing downwards with a canopy branch directly above it can be cut back or removed altogether. Lawns will be lush but soddon and all that rain will have washed out nutrients so feeding would be a good idea during a shower once they firm up. Lawns get really stressed once the heat of the day intensifies, if your lawns are inclined to crack when dry they have probably been planted on clay soil. Apply gypsum ( soluble lime) and water in, after a couple of years of doing this your lawns will have a spring in them. Gypsum works it's way through the clay and makes it become more like soil. If lawn weeds are a problem spot spray before cutting or remove flat weeds with a knife when noticed. I spot spray with lawn weed spray because I don't want to upset the balance and the work going on in the soil by drenching with chemicals. Vegetables: Well the broad beans and peas collapsed in the heavy rain, leaf veg are gritty with soil splash, and the soil is too sticky to weed so not much happening there until the sun shines! Corn and all in the pumpkin family will not make a move which is a shame because they need to get off to an early start for a long ripening season. Runner and french beans have been slow to start and with the wet snails and slugs will be out in force. May be best to plant beans into trays to be transplanted when big enough to start climbing up the frame and deter the slugs and snails by making beer traps out of empty plastic fiz bottles. Cut the bottles with the lid in place through the middle, bury the lidded half in the ground then fill with beer, cut a door opening in the other half for snails and slugs to slide in, then force this half with door opening on top of the other beer filled half. The bottom of the bottle will be the roof to keep the rain out.
Low hanging tree branches: The weight of the last rain will have shown which branches need lifting on large deciduous trees, if left they will cast too much shade over surrounding plants. Lower branches can be removed and the upper branches will hide the cuts. Any branch growing downwards with a canopy branch directly above it can be cut back or removed altogether. Lawns will be lush but soddon and all that rain will have washed out nutrients so feeding would be a good idea during a shower once they firm up. Lawns get really stressed once the heat of the day intensifies, if your lawns are inclined to crack when dry they have probably been planted on clay soil. Apply gypsum ( soluble lime) and water in, after a couple of years of doing this your lawns will have a spring in them. Gypsum works it's way through the clay and makes it become more like soil. If lawn weeds are a problem spot spray before cutting or remove flat weeds with a knife when noticed. I spot spray with lawn weed spray because I don't want to upset the balance and the work going on in the soil by drenching with chemicals. Vegetables: Well the broad beans and peas collapsed in the heavy rain, leaf veg are gritty with soil splash, and the soil is too sticky to weed so not much happening there until the sun shines! Corn and all in the pumpkin family will not make a move which is a shame because they need to get off to an early start for a long ripening season. Runner and french beans have been slow to start and with the wet snails and slugs will be out in force. May be best to plant beans into trays to be transplanted when big enough to start climbing up the frame and deter the slugs and snails by making beer traps out of empty plastic fiz bottles. Cut the bottles with the lid in place through the middle, bury the lidded half in the ground then fill with beer, cut a door opening in the other half for snails and slugs to slide in, then force this half with door opening on top of the other beer filled half. The bottom of the bottle will be the roof to keep the rain out.
Tomatoes will be getting taller but fruiting will be slow with lack of sun, the removal of over half the leaves on a plant will benefit your plants by allowing more nutrients to the fruit along with letting more sun in to encourage flowering and them more visible for pollination, try it and see if you get a better crop. If you are noticing a lack of bee's to pollinate tomato flowers gardeners have been known to take a hair dryer into the glass house, turn on half speed then gently waft it among flowers to spread pollen.
Fruit: Not much happening there in the last two weeks, no sun, no growth. Everything made a good start from blossom and I have picked a couple of bowls of gooseberries but that's about it. Strawberries will start to rot with being damp too long, removing heavy leaf cover will let light and sun in to help them along, A few warm days will soon put things right.
Cheers, Linda.
No comments:
Post a Comment