Gardening in North Otago 1st August 2019

Ballerina apple trees

North Otago is becoming more spring like every week with camellias blooming everywhere, magnolia buds beginning to burst and spring bulbs thinking it is mild enough to bloom. Going by my past notes we still have proper winter weather ahead this month before we can leap fully into spring and soil along with plants need this to perform during the growing seasons. However, Spring is the one time that gardens bursts forth with an abundance of hidden splendor without us having to do a lot of pre planning, nature pretty much takes care of things once they are in place, so at this time I like to create and dress the garden by planting out, shifting and feeding. Liquid feeding annuals and perennials that have been nursed through winter, roots are starting to take in nutrients to plump up buds.  

Seeds can be sown for the cottage annuals like cosmos, cornflowers, love in the mist, snapdragon and alyssum, all can be sown under glass in a warm area but more tender annuals can wait until it is a little warmer unless you have a heated glass house. Perennials and annuals already putting out growth need to be protected from any sudden freezing and pots and hanging baskets will be waiting for attention. It does not take long for roots to fill a pot and exhaust what planting mix is left, best to remove the shrub or plant to investigate. If completely root bound take a sharp spade or knife and cut half the root ball away, fill pots with new mix, replant and water in.

A few more hydrangeas have been pruned here as nice fat buds are swelling on the stems, cuttings can be taken and bedded in river sand from the hardened stems that flowered last season.  

Almost finished pruning roses here, only the flower carpet and fairy roses to go, both these varieties bush up with small non hard wood branching, if they are large, trim with a hedge trimmer, if newly planted prune back to hard wood at an outward facing bud. Feeding and spraying roses is next, copper oxychloride and winter oil, can be mixed and applied together, the oil helps the copper to stick and copper helps protect new growth from frosts that occur in late spring. Best not to be applied to fresh new growth as burning may occur.

Bulbs that shot up during warmer winter days will continue to head for an early spring display, if temperatures drop now buds will be held and the cold will have a noticeable effect on soft new growth. However prunus autumnalis are in full flower and the fragrance from winter sweet, witch hazel, Daphne,boronia and violets wafting through gardens make spring seem closer so onward in readiness for the spring explosion. 

Vegetable  gardens are enjoying the mild weather with the odd frost helping to break down soil. Birds are nesting so cover leaf veg with shade or frost cloth to keep them off. Time for sowing seeds to germinate in a warm well lit place to be ready for pricking out into punnets then planted out in a warm spring garden. 

Fruit Trees are still available in Garden Centres, if you would like an apple tree but feel your garden is too small why not look at apple ballerina, a very slim non branching variety of apple with Medium, red skin, Crisp, juicy, nice eating and cooking apples, Ballerina  grows to 3-4m tall by 30cm wide perfect for adding height, blossom and fruit to a small garden.

Grape pruning needs to finish soon before sap rises, to prune a fruiting leader remove all new long growth on the vine other than the fruiting leader, on the leaders prune each new growth back to the second bud. These fruiting buds should be around a hand space apart to ensure adequate sized fruit, this means removing some of the new bud growth along the top of the leader and all of the new bud growth growing underneath. Some of these new budding top growths will throw two lots of bud branch, remove the least stronger one leaving only one lot of double buds to produce fruit.

Keep an eye on peach bud burst which will most likely be early this year, a copper spray right at bud burst will help with leaf curl.

 
Cheers, Linda.

Seedlings ready to pot on.