Gardening in North Otago April 1st 2020

Seed germinated 

ready to prick out at this size

Potted up into punnets

April like no other we have ever know, when Gardening will be a productive home activity for all ages. Lets get our gardens producing like never before here in North Otago..
Main ingredient is weed free dirt, added assistant, self raising mix, seeds / seedlings. That's it for raising seeds in fruit trays, ( large white type that arrive at a Supermarket ) as well as the small see through type with holes bottom and top, egg cartons, Ice cream container bottoms (hole punched) for drainage.

Method: half fill containers with dirt then a layer of seed raising mix to plant and cover seeds in. Leave in a well lit spot for germination which at this time of the year is around a fortnight. Water only lightly if dry on top until small seedlings make an appearance. Leave until leaves are fully shaped then prick out and pot up into punnets or small pots before stems stretch from the mix towards the light.Potting up, I use a mix of compost and potting mix for seedlings to make roots in. When seedlings have filled each small punnet compartment, veg and annual flowers will be ready to plant in the garden, perennials will need potted into pots to grow on. An over abundance of seedlings or produced veg are great to share.

Thank goodness Autumn is such a beautiful time, a lovely distraction which has to be good for the soul. However when those brilliant leaves fall we need to deal to them so rakes will be on the go now. Thick carpets of leaves on gardens may be more harm than good because they can create a rain shield making a garden even drier. A thin layer is fine but rake piles off and use on the compost or dispose of but keep some back to make leaf mulch, if gardens need humus leaf mulch is an answer.

Leaf mulch: fill a plastic rubbish bag inside an empty rubbish container. Fill with leaves,

( running over them with a lawn mower will speed things up), compact leaves firmly shaking from time to time to remove air from sides. Take full bag from rubbish container and tie closed leaving a hole to insert a hose, poke holes all over the bag for worms to find a way in. Soak leaves with inserted hose then leave in an open area on bare ground for 6 months before using. If it smells like the forest floor after rain it is ready to add to gardens.

Feed rhododendron, azaleas, & camellias with fertiliser mixed especially for them and water in to boost them for spring flowering

Lily bulbs will become available this month and can be planted from now until June.

Vegetables:
Time to dig up and divide Rhubarb crowns, mixing in heaps of compost before replanting and a good time for sowing of winter veg. Fill the top of a shallow pot with Spring Onions and pull them as they’re needed. Harvest Pumpkins and corn this month  remembering not to remove the stalk from the Pumpkin, this stops it from rotting.

Fruit: Still harvesting apples, quince and late peaches plus gathering walnuts during April but Easter egg group gatherings will not be as they have been in the past, still Children should be able to hunt around the garden at home so will not miss out on Easter bunny.

Gardening in North Otago March 17th 2020

Leaves have started to drop.

Gardening has not been cancelled, on a positive note weeding, raking and planting is full on so be safe if staying home at this difficult time is the right situation for you to spend time with nature, rewards are real.
Leaves are turning and some beginning to fall, Silver birch in our garden is always the first along with our wonderfully prolific flowering bougainvillea dropping a crimson carpet.
Cutting back has stepped up here in readiness for a layer of compost, then pea straw as a final cover when most of the leaves have been removed later on.

Now is a good time to re pot pots and baskets that have been flowering and filling containers with roots. At this time of the year everything planted will settle in well and put on growth before the colder months slow growth down. It is best to pull all out to see how root bound a pot or basket is then usually a spade is needed to chop through 2 thirds of the root ball. Soak potted shrubs with roots reduced in a bucket of water until bubbles stop before replanting into new mix. 

I water plants in at this time of the ear with comfrey tea. Brew a fertiliser with more potash and nitrogen than commercial feeds and comfrey leaves are plentiful right now for picking and making plant tea. Comfrey as a Fertilizer has three major nutrients plus high levels of calcium applied as a liquid soil drench or as a foliar spray.Making comfrey tea:  A generous bundle of comfrey leaves, A bucket of water. Place chopped comfrey leaves at the bottom of a bucket. Weigh down with a brick, fill bucket with water, and cover for three weeks before diluting, one part 'tea' to 10 parts water. If you would like a root of comfrey let the Ladies at the Garden corner at our Resource Recovery park know.

Keep dead heading roses in the hope of more blooms to make a last vibrant show before they will be left to harden for winter. Rust is always a problem on roses in Autumn, try to eradicate affected leaves from the bushes as well as those on the ground and burn them to reduce this problem for next year. Don't feed roses now, soft growth needs to make a start at hardening.

Lawns. 
As days become cooler and heavy dew's are happening again grass will start to recover from dryness and if lawns have no spring in them there will probably be a high content of clay restricting roots. Gypsum applied before a good shower of rain will help and if applied at intervals over a couple of years there will be a spring in your lawn.

Fruit:Late peaches, quince and apples trees are dripping with fruit, If you need to store a small amount apples, the refrigerator is a good option. Place them in the crisper drawer in a plastic bag with holes or cover the apples with a damp paper towel.Keep boxes of apples in a cool, dark place and they should stay stay crisp. Make sure there are no bruised or damaged apples among stored boxes.

Vegetable  Gardens will be growing new crops for the cooler seasons, leaf veg should not bolt so readily now and will not mind days getting shorter and cooler and root veg seeds will germinate well while the ground is still warm. My second sowing of peas are up, corn is picked and the pumpkins have out grown their space and just keep going. Onions can be lifted once leaves have bent over, don't bend or damage leaves before they are ready to bend naturally if you want them to store and keep well.  Once dug lay them out in a warm place to fully ripen then store in a cool place.

Cheers Linda.

Gardening in North Otago 10th March 2020

Autumn watering important for maples

Entering into the ripening season things are dry here in North Otago, watering should be number 1 on the gardening list to keep plants, shrubs and trees from  becoming dehydrated. Acer, (Japanese maples ) can be lost by becoming too dry during autumn.

I have been seed collecting and sowing to get young seedlings well on before the ground cools. Summer annual seeds need to be saved in a dry place until time to sow in spring but seeds from hardy spring flowering plants can be sown now, pansy, viola, pollyantha, delphinium,  antirrhinum ( snapdragon), wallflower,  Cyclamen, stock, sweet-pea, primrose and calendula.
Cuttings: Now until the end of Autumn is the perfect time to take stem cuttings from shrubs and woody plants. Take semi hard wood cuttings, not too hard and not too floppy these will still contain the necessary energy too push out roots to continue growing. Cuttings can be left in water containing willow leaves and branches over night which will stimulate cuttings as hormone rooting powder does. I use wet sharp river sand or crusher dust with a little compost added for cuttings to push roots into. Cuttings taken now will need to be taken through the winter before being potted so protection from the cold will be needed when days and nights cool. If you do not have a glass or tunnel house a cold frame is good protection. A raised frame covered with heavy plastic will do the trick and when it is very cold a layer or 2 of frost cloth can be added. 
Rose cuttings taken now will give good results, take a cutting on a slant from a stem that has flowered approx 15 cm long from a mid section with at least 3 growth nodes, 2 of these should be buried when cuttings are planted.  Pop cuttings into water as soon as cut, willow water as above if you can. Plant cuttings close together in a pot of wet river sand with good drainage. Roses are grafted these days but some rose enthusiasts consider cutting grown roses to be the stronger growing. 
Planting a new garden: March is defiantly a great planting month If planting a new garden. Garden outlets are well stocked with shrubs, trees, plants and bulbs The warm ground is perfect now for new plantings to make some growth, harden and settle in for the first winter.
Bulbs: I notice spring bulbs beginning to move up through the ground and those still below the dirt I sometimes dig up by mistake, even trillium bulbs are showing pointed new growth so be careful while working around them.
Lawns give you an abundance of garden mulch if weed spray free, spread clippings evenly over moistened gardens to hold moisture in. Spread too thickly it will form a shield to suppress moisture.
Veg: Pumpkins ripening, corn cobs ready, beans in abundance and while we plant out our next leaf crops the white butterflies are in full force laying eggs on them as a food for their caterpillars. I cover newly planted veg seedlings with shade cloth which seems to restrict the view and still let enough light in for continued growth, I also have lengths of white grape netting, this being a slightly heavy net works best stretched across a frame not allowing any gaps to let those determined butterflies in.

Fruit: Home Gardeners will be harvesting stone and pip fruit as well as grapes which should have reached high sugar levels with the heat we have been experiencing. Once picked grapes do not continue to ripen so it pays to do the sweet test before picking a sour bunch. 

Autumn attention to fruit trees, 1. deep watering at the end of fruiting, 2 to 3 inch soaking, ( not just enough to wet the surface.) 2. Keep the base of trunks clear of grass and leaves. 3. No fertiliser in Autumn, trees need to harden for winter 4. Wait until spring before all major pruning.

Cheers, Linda.

Picking grapes for wine 

Gardening in North Otago March 3rd 2020

Heading into Autumn with days shortening and heavy dew's to benefit gardens and lawns.
My garden is tired and now so cutting back is the only way to smarten things up and get plants and shrubs to push new growth and colour out. Petunias and begonias are loving the warmth and will keep flowering if dead headed often. I have many new seedlings to plant out once gardens are trimmed back and cleared of annual weeds, I cut back what is there flowering and add the annuals that will take over once those flowering now are pulled out. Stock, statice, snapdragon, wall flower, and Iceland poppies are my fillers. I am still collecting and storing seed on dry days, have managed to collect a great stock of lavatera and delphiniumn seed, the lavatera I will save until spring but the delphinium has been sown and once up will sit making strong roots until planted out in spring.

Roses: Keep the rose dead heading up to encourage the last blooms of summer, it is 6 weeks from a prune to another bud which will take us into April, after that flowering it is best to not dead head, leave blooms to make seed which will help to harden wood for the winter ahead. Pruning and feeding then will encourage new soft growth so no feeding from now on either. 

Compost: I got a bit desperate for potting mix while potting up so have been adding compost to the peat mix, my ready heaps are being emptied to make room for all the leaves to come. The other heaps are breaking down well with the heat and rain, I need to add manure and a little lime now while they are cooking. 

March is defiantly a great planting month with the soil warm and the nights and mornings cooler, newly planted trees and shrubs settle in well. There are a lot of well grown trees, shrubs and plants on offer right now in Garden centers ready and waiting to be planted. Gardner's further inland will need to read the labels to establish frost ratings before buying, if in doubt wait until spring. 

Spring bulbs : Keep planting and dividing large clumps, please bring any surplus bulbs into the Garden corner at the Recycling center to share with others.  Clumps tend to double in size with out you noticing and in no time a garden bed can become choked, looking attractive only in spring but dull for the rest of the year. I have often been asked the reason for spring bulbs not flowering after the first couple of years from planting, the problem can be over crowding, lack of adequate light as trees become larger and throw more shade during summer, but the most common problem is bulbs may not have not been planted deep enough. Spring bulbs need to be planted 4 to 6 inches deep, that's 4 to 6 inches on top of the bulb, if not planted deeply eventually when they do come into leaf and experience a dry patch during this time they wont take up enough moisture to come into bud..

Herbs: This will be the last month to cut fresh herb growth for drying and using through out winter. If herbs were cut back before making seed fresh new growth should be ready to cut. I cut rosemary, lemon balm, bergamot, bay, basil, borage, chives, dill, lemongrass, mint, oregano, sage, savory, tarragon and thyme which are bunched and hung or layed out on news paper in a dry well aired place to become dry and crunchy before rubbing and storing in glass jars. These herbs can be frozen as well.
Lawns. 

After those baking hot days and a lot of mowing lawn growth starts slowing down from now on although, catchers will still be filling up for a while yet but don't feel you need to cut lower than usual because growth has slowed, a scalped lawn dries out faster and encourages weeds. This is still the best time to sow new lawns while weed growth is slowing, the flat weeds I pop out with the blade of secateurs before they seed and spread.  

Fruit: Late peaches, nectarines ,quince and apples are ripe now and there so many ways to use fresh apples, black sauce ( just like the bought one) have just made some, https://www.instructables.com/id/Chilli-Worcestershire-Sauce/ stewed apple, apple jelly, apple and quince jelly, apple pies, apple sponge, apple shortcake. Or just pick them, peel them and freeze them or the birds will get them.

Vegetable  Gardens will be growing new crops for the cooler seasons, leaf veg should not bolt so readily now and will not mind the days getting shorter and cooling and root veg seeds will germinate well while the ground is still warm. Second sowing of peas will be up, corn is picked and the pumpkins have out grown their space and just keep going, pumpkins can be picked before the first frost. Onions can be lifted once leaves have bent over, don't bend or damage leaves before they are ready to bend naturally if you want them to store and keep well.  Once dug lay them out in a warm place to fully ripen then store in a cool place. Root veg seed should germinate quickly in warm/moist autumn soil.

Cheers Linda