Gardening in North Otago July 16th 2019

Holiday fun with Nana.

A good weather week for Oamaru with a little much needed rain early on, with it being the School holidays I have been Nana on the job with 5 small people  looking for action. As I write this there are huts being built with tables, chairs and as much of my linen they can get their hands on.....then another meal for all to agree to is next!!!
Good hard frosts now so it's frost cloth on plants like bougainvillea, hibiscus, pelargonium and young daisy bushes, established Margarette daisy bushes will take a knock from the frosts but just leave them, if they do as that frosting on the outside will protect the new growth beneath. In land up the valley gardeners will need to take cuttings of daisy bushes, geranium and paligoniums and protect them until spring.
I have been pruning back hydrangea's now they have hardened, prune just before spring by cutting each flower stem off at the second bud from the bottom, leave the stalks that did not flower because these are your flowering stems for this year. Give pink hydrangeas a dressing of lime now to keep them pink and blue hydrangeas a dressing of sulphate of allium or the specially prepared blue hydrangea mix that can be bought from the garden centers.
This week I attacked a group of large leggy rhododendrons with leaves, buds and blooms on the top of long woody branches. I was only going to cut the woody non productive wood off because the bushes were beginning to flower, however once I started I ended up cutting them all right back to a healthy bulging nodule and then they got compost and straw, fingers crossed they will push out new bushy growth in the spring.
More rose pruning this week, I had to invest in some new secateurs as the pair I have been using did not cut clean and rips on a rose prune will not allow the cut to seal well which will then result in die back, this can sometimes claim the whole branch.
I feel very fortunate to have help from Gardener Stan once a week to spread compost and then pea straw on our sleeping garden. Although not all plants sleep, bulbs are pushing through, pansies, pollyanthus, violas, poppies and primulas are tough little plants that stand up to frosts.
Winter is the time you will find the best selection of deciduous and fruit trees in garden centres. It may be cold and miserable outside but it's the time to buy these trees for planting. They arrive as grafted stock from growers, if you have bought bare rooted trees identify where the graft section is, if low down it should stay above the dirt line, uncovered by dirt. If the tree has been bagged plant up to where planted in the bag and remember to include a stake at planting time to protect against root movement by wind.
Fruit:
A tip I have been told works to eradicate codling moth attacking apple trees. quarter fill a tin or plastic milk container with treacle and hang in the tree it is said to attract male grubs because the treacle is said to smell like the female codling moths pheromone attracting the male grubs into the container to reach a sticky end. A double bonus is that the treacle will attract grub eating birds. Tidy up fruit bushes now they are bare, black currants can be pruned now until late winter, they fruit best on younger wood so aim to remove older wood to retain a basic structure of 6 to 10 healthy shoots. For red and white currants cut out only diseased or very old branches in winter then prune new growth back to two buds in early summer, (pruning leaders to outward facing buds but if branches are bending cut to upward facing buds. )
Vegetable garden:
Time to start preparing the soil for spring planting. Cultivate vacant spaces, digging in green crops sown earlier. Add compost, and lime if you feel the ground is sour. Dig compost mixed with sawdust into wet, boggy soils.
Sow seeds of broccoli, cabbage, broad beans, cauliflower, peas, (butter crunch) lettuce, onions, radish, spinach, silver beet, swede and turnips.

Cheers, Linda.

Pruning black currant bushes