Gardening in North Otago April 28th 2020

Autumn in Rockvale Garden

The splendor of Autumn is happening all around North Otago however most of us will have to be content with the autumn colours in our own area. Some will be  bursting  out of their bubbles a little more this week to start the new normal, but our own gardens will still be the safest place to get a productive workout for a while yet.

Compost is still being compiled here in our garden by layering  Autumn leaves, grass clippings, ready to use compost, soft garden waste and stable / poultry manure. Nitrogen, phosphate, and potash in a natural organic form, all the elements required for compost.
 

Leaf mulch /mould is also a wonderful addition of humus for gardens and a simple process during Autumn, leaves can be shredded with the lawn mower and spread along with lawn clippings as mulch around the garden, or leaves can be turned into leaf mould by heaping and containing in straw bale bins or similar. Layer leaves with grass clippings and soft garden waste, add water as layers fill bins then cover with polythene or old carpet when full. Smaller amounts of leaf mould can be made in plastic rubbish bags or wool packs, shredding leaves first for smaller amounts will quicken the process. 

New growth is not encouraged from now on as plants make seed and prepare for the dormant months, but here on the coast we like colour to continue in gardens by planting hardy annuals to brighten winter, these can be boosted with fertiliser now to give them a good start. Not being able to pop out and buy fertilisers right now is a problem but you may have pine needles, rotted sawdust or coffee grinds on hand to use as a boost for those acid loving rhododendron, azaleas, camellias and lemons.  A link to home made fertilizers  https://www.thespruce.com/make-your-own-fertilizer-1388159      

Continue to dead head dahlias until frost collapse them, when this happens cut back ensuring large thick steams are not left open to allow rain in to rot tubers. Dahlias can be dug out at the end of the season and stored away in a dry place to be planted out after frosts in late spring / early summer. A topping of pea straw is good protection for dahlias that over winter in well drained soil.

The rain during the cold snap may have spoiled roses, remove rotting blooms and resist dead heading or cutting back, roses need to start making seed hips to help harden wood before winter. However If growing in a warm sheltered spot one last dead heading will produce late blooms.

Vegetables / fruit /herbs
Time to dig up and divide Rhubarb crowns, mixing in heaps of compost before replanting and a good time for sowing Spinach, beetroot, broad beans and snap peas (if you have the seed.)

Strawberries should still be flowering and fruiting , keep water up and remove runners if too many, some can be left to make good roots if replacements are needed, 3 years is usually long enough for a fruiting plant. 

Don't be tempted to prune fruit trees yet, wait until winter when sap is down, pruning will encourage  new growth if we get unseasonal warm spells.

Herbs can be cut back and divided now, top growth should still be fresh enough to dry then rub to make mixed herbs. Tie and hang or Lay out on news paper in a warm dry place rosemary, sage, thyme, mint, oregano, marjoram,basil, nasturtium leaves and flowers, once completely dry and crispy rub, remove stalks and store in a glass jar. 

Cheers, Linda.

Rhubarb crown

seeds are a magic gift from nature

Gardening in North Otago April 22nd 2020

Erica's grouped

So much to be done in gardens now, thank goddess for our bikes so we can zoom off from time to time and run away from the work in our bubble.

Nature has it right, leaves fall to cover the ground protecting roots from the cold to come. We have been filling wool pack after wool pack with leaves which will be turned into mulch and compost returning to the garden come spring.

Erica's - As the days get colder erica's bud up to start flowering, if they were cut after flowering they should have gone through the Summer looking fresh and green and should now be well in bud. They are a wonderful ground cover and look good growing down walls. There are many different shades of pink, lavender and white, some are ground covers and some are upright. Erica's need full sun and good drainage to look their best. They are frost hardy and their colour intensifies the colder it is. They look great planted in drifts of 3 or 5 together to give great impact. Our garden would be very dull in the Winter months without Erica's.

Roses: I stop dead heading roses now, pull off the spent blooms and let the seeds form which will harden the wood needing to be pruned in July.  Remove all diseased leaves from bushes and on the ground around bushes before mulching to bed them down for winter.
Tidy up day lilies, by pulling off old leaves and cutting back those that will not pull off, divide over grown clumps by putting a sharp spade through the clump and transplanting pieces with a little blood and bone then mulch to retain moisture.
Seed collection should be full on now as plants age seeds are popping all over the place, nature is so generous with seed during autumn. Seeds I planted not so long ago are up and growing well with the ground still warm, I will nurse them along in a warm spot until spring. Potting them up before then should they put on a lot of growth before the cold slows them right down.
Vegetables:
With not being able to buy veg plants for a while let a few veg go to seed because I see seed is hard to come by as well. let seed brown off before picking to continue ripening in a paper bag. Peas, lettuce, cauliflower, silver beet, spinage,  rocket and beetroot all seed well. If you have grain on hand plant some as a green crop to add humus to soil when dug in.
Fruit
Gather late fruiting peaches, apples & pears and if storing check there are no even slightly damaged fruit as they will soon rot and affect the sound fruit.
A dressing of lime now (if you have some) will assist next seasons fruiting.
Feed citrus buses, manure, seaweed based fertilizer then mulch.
Clean up strawberry beds, removing runners,  potting up a few to encourage good roots for replacing plants older than 3 years. 

Cheers Linda.  

Flower seed pods.

Gardening in North Otago April 14th 2020

Easter has come and gone in a very different way than any Easters past, I made Easter buns virtually with our Grandchildren who did not seem to miss out on the Easter eggs on Sunday morn.

It was great to get some rain even though the cold came with it, now that Queenstown has snow it is cooling here on the coast which means we will need to think about putting protection in place for those tender plants and seedlings.

Compost is still being compiled here with leaves, grass clippings, and soft garden waste. With the addition of stable and poultry manure you will be adding all the elements required, particularly nitrogen, phosphate, and potash in a natural organic form. 
Normally at this time of the year new growth is not encouraged as all growth starts to wind down preparing  for the dormant months but here on the coast we like to continue to have colour in the garden with polyanthus, primulas, pansy and cyclamen, these plants get a boost when dried blood is used around them. Dried blood is high in nitrogen and an easy way to replenish tired soil before planting.

Primula and viola clumps can be broken up now and either potted or planted out to create boarders or fill gaps in front boarders. I have broken up clumps of viola Maggie Mott, a perennial lavender viola, potted up each small section will form roots and create it's own clump. They are great for edging and flower for a long time.

If you have some on hand, feed rhododendron, azaleas and camellias with fertiliser mixed especially for them which will boost them for budding and spring flowering. If mixed fert is not on hand but you do have the following about apply pine needles, sawdust, coffee grinds,  here is  a link to information on making home made fertilizer.  https://www.thespruce.com/make-your-own-fertilizer-1388159  

Dahlias, Keep dead heading dahlias until frost collapse them, when this happens cut back ensuring large thick steams are not left open to allow rain in to rot tubers. If dahlia tubers are sitting in water too long after heavy rain they will rot. Dahlias can be dug out at the end of the season and stored away in a dry place to be planted out after frosts in late spring / early summer. A topping of pea straw is good protection for dahlias over winter.

Roses, the rain and cold snap may have spoiled roses, remove rotting blooms and resist cutting back, roses need to start making seed and harden off before the cold months but If growing in a warm sheltered sunny spot one last dead heading will produce late blooms.


Vegetables / fruit
Time to dig up and divide Rhubarb crowns, mixing in heaps of compost before replanting.
A good time for sowing of Spinach, beetroot, broad beans and snap peas (if you have the seed.)  

fruit and nuts will still be dropping from trees, after the rain  is a good time to repay your fruit trees by applying any or all of the following lime, manure, rock phosphate, liquid seaweed and vermiliquid around the drip line of trees. Prune tamarillo trees hard after last fruit comes off, staggered pruning will stagger next year's crop

Prepare strawberry beds, build ground up with compost/mulch, cut old leaves from plants and destroy, remove runners, pot up for new fruiting plants or fill in gaps. If your strawberry plants are older than 3 years replace.

Cheers, Linda.

     

Gardening in North Otago April 7th 2020

Another Autumn week underway during this changed time when our properties have become our World. I have always appreciated land around me to tame and work as gardening never fails to give results, we can all tame nature in small areas or let her have her way to accommodate the creatures who need a wilderness.

Our drive way is a carpet of gold as the silver birch discard to bud up for the new and the wind is quick to deposit them where not wanted if not raked and put where you want them. Right now my last years, well broken down leaf mulch is going on our gardens to add humus, it is lighter than compost but has a good amount of decomposed matter included to keep it in place for the worms to take down into the soil. As I have already outlined recently autumn leaves are dropped by the tree to benefit it's roots but now days we tend to be too tidy in removing them all. Leaf mulch is very easy to make even in small quantities, a full black rubbish bag layered with leaves and lawn clippings watered will break down over time to a perfect organic garden mulch. I have open bins for the amount we rake which are covered with polythene once layered and watered. Also a lot of our leaves are layered with  garden waste and manure to turn into compost which will heat from now on until the very cold of winter then sit and start working again when the ground warms up in Spring. So lots can be achieved while in stay at home time, weeding, trimming hedges, cutting back summer growth, mulching, raking leaves and building compost heaps..... (Whew, no pressure)

Take the time while walking around your section for exercise to look at the garden and see what plants have been flowering well over summer and which plants have not because of trees getting taller and wider and blocking light. The plants I found most suffering were dahlia's, some bushes have not flowered at all from lack of light and moisture they will be dug them up and transplanted into a sunnier spot and watered well, leaving the top growth on to die off back into the tubers. Other plants that have suffered the same are dwarf agapantha, roses, asters and dianthas, all of these need a lot of sunshine and light to preform well. 

If wanting to improve the look of established gardens a front boarder will do the trick, there are so many plants multiplying around my garden like lambs ear, with it's lovely silver textured leaf that will break up and transplant easily to form a front boarder to give a garden a whole new look. Other plants that will allow you to do this are, the variegated iris, blue grass, dwarf agapantha, hosta, Helibours, purple sage, thyme, erigeron daisy, lavender and succulents. Plus heaps of other low growing evergreen plants that rooted sections can be taken from right now and potted up to create borders. Purple sage, thyme, all of these plants I have mentioned look great planted en masse in long rows to change the look of a garden.

The following annual seeds can still be sown now, aquilegia,calendula (marigold) perennial lupins, stocks, sweet peas, dianthusand are most probably now germinating around where these plants have been growing. I pot up most worthy plants that nature supplies in our garden to be planted out either before or after winter depending on the maturity of them.

Top dress lilies with blood and bone and compost, a cup full of blood and bone to each bucket of compost. If you need to shift lilies never let them dry out, get them back in the ground straight away or store them in a wet sack or towel until ready to transplant.

Veg and fruit

Pumpkins and squash should be bought in before the frosts starts, always picking them with the short length of stem attached.

Tomato's need all the daylight hours now to ripen so I have removed all shading leaves, tomato plants threatened by frost can be dug out and hung in a shed for the last of the tomatoes to ripen.

Sweet pepper plants that need more time to ripen can be dug up and put into a pot and placed under shelter to continue growing.

In cooler areas citrus trees, especially when young should given a temporary roof for frost protection put in place. 

Cheers, Linda

Lavender boarder 

Gardening in North Otago April

Rockvale Gardens taking on an Autumn look

Clocks are back this weekend and Autumn in North Otago is delivering golden balmy days after the lovely rain. I feel extremely blessed to be living in NZ confined  here in our home and garden with so much space to loose ourselves in. However each and every one of us keeping safe are bought back to reality with the daily news updating on so much sadness around the World. ):

The garden defiantly is a healing place to spend time in and now it is Autumn gardens are slowing down getting ready to rest but there is still end of season growing happening in the warm soil. 

I have been taking tip cuttings of many plants before the days get cold, so many plants can be produced from rooted cuttings. Snip 10 cm long tips from the shrubs you are wanting to more of, remove lower leaves and halve soft top growth before pushing them into river sand / crusher dust to make roots. Roots will develop over winter. Leafy tip cuttings from all hedge type shrubs can be taken now along with tip growth from lavender, daisy bushes, hebes, lavatera, salvias and geraniums, give anything you want more of a go now before frosts halt growth in plants.  Autumn is also the time for collecting / sowing seeds and harvesting herbs to hang and dry.  All this while leaves carpet the ground in abundance for to raking, we have started bagging piles for the compost heaps which I have had the sprinkler on between leaves and green layers to help create heat while the sun is still strong.

Roses are showing lovely shades for the last flowering, no more dead heading or feeding as they need to make seed heads now to help harden wood. 

Leucodendrons develop rich colour as days and nights become colder,  picked bracts will last in a vase for weeks, even months. Picking the bracts is a must to keep both leoucodendrons and proteas from becoming top heavy and blowing over. They resent any form of  phosphates. potassium and nitrates fertiliser a little blood and bone in spring will keep them looking good.

On the coast prune back perennial wall flowers and buddleias now to encourage new growth for winter, do the same to Marguerite daisies. Further inland take hard wood cuttings from daisies, pot up and protect over winter. 

Bulbs are making an appearance through the ground to remind us that Spring will arrive and hopefully bringing normality to our World with it. 

Vegetable garden:  We have to make do with what we have on hand now that seeds and retail plants are limited, hunt out seeds left over from your last sowing's and get them germinating now, they will be up in no time then they can be pricked out into punnets then into the garden for a winter veg supply. Pumpkin leaves will soon let you know when pumpkins are ready, bring them in if any threat of frost. Leave the plump stem attached to the stalk on and store in a dry place. 

Fruit: Still a lot being picked from trees and vines, I like to think when storing autumn bounty we are capturing the summer sun stored with in to be enjoyed during those cold dark months to come.

Cheers, Linda.

Leucodendron's make wonderful cut flowers.