Gardening in North Otago May 4th 2021

At this time of the year days give us chilly mornings, coats, scarves and gloves then it becomes the weather for shorts and tee shirts again, so hard to know what to wear when leaving home early in the morning. Although we detect seasonal changes by the change in temperature, this is not the way plants know seasons are changing, they determine the time of year by the length of daylight, this is known as the photoperiod. I should start this at the beginning and mention that seasons come about because of the tilt of Earth's axis of rotation. If this tilt changes seasons as we know them can become exaggerated but plants continue to grow and change depending on the length of daylight. Bedding plants: I have Pansy, viola, primula, snapdragons and calendula popping up from seed sown a month ago in a protected place. They should continue making growth a while longer and once roots have filled punnets they will be hardened off and planted or potted on to be planted in spring. There is a great selection of well grown flower bedding plants in garden centers ready for planting now. Once planted the autumn sun will bring them into bud and here on the coast they should flower during late winter. Seeds: Seeds pods are dry ready for collecting and storing in paper bags and envelopes, Adding a sprinkle of rice will absorb any remaining moisture and help to keep seed dry and in good condition. Here on the coast flower seed will germinate and grow strong roots until conditions are right for them to bud and flower. In cold areas seed will store until spring and germinate when the ground warms and days lengthen. Wisterias: will need a cut back now, ours would grow along the upstairs balcony threatening to push through the sliding doors and take over a bedroom! I used the hedge trimmer to get rid of all the leafy wispy growth, cutting too hard back into thick wood will remove new buds. Some of that long winding growth can eventually grow into a thick branch so if training a young plant let only one length go either way along a structure. I needed to be given that advice when planting the now multi branched extremely heavy wisteria we left! Compost: I Will go on about compost again because we are running out of time to get heaps cooking. Balance all those leaves with layers of old compost/soil, straw, manure and grass clippings . Moisture is a must, if the mix is dry add water during the heat of the day so the chill will be off before night's cooling. Decomposing will continue on until temperatures drop dramatically. It is such a bonus to have compost / mulch on hand for hungry plants come spring when the ground is left sour from winter and in need of boosting. Lawns have slowed down at last, lime and gypsum can be spread on lawns now, lime to sweeten and gypsum to soften hard compacted ground which has a lot of clay content. No more cracks in the lawn if gypsum is applied and watered in for a few years in a row in autumn. Fruit: If you had bad leaf curl on your peach and nectarine trees this season now is the time to clean up and remove as many old leaves as possible from around the base of your trees, but don’t compost these as it will spread the infection. Controlling leaf curl isn’t easy but good orchard hygiene habits, repeated each year, will give you the best chance. If left untreated the problem will get worse year-after-year and reduce the tree’s ability to produce lots of fruit. Note for spring: Apply a light dressing of a quick acting fertiliser such as sulphate of ammonia to encourage new leaf growth. At the same time apply a seaweed fertiliser, such as Seasol and Comfrey spray, to help the plants’ immunity to leaf curl. Once you notice the symptoms of leaf curl on leaves it is too late to control the disease in those leaves but you can try and stop the fungus from spreading. A clean up spray of lime sulphur when branches are bare can be done. Then in early spring a spray of copper based fungicide applied when buds are about to burst. This will also treat fungal problems on other fruit trees – like black spot on apple trees. Mix the copper fungicide with a spreader/sticker, like Rain Gard, both of which you can get from a local garden centre. Tamarillos: These delicious, tangy fruits ripen in autumn and winter and can go from pale green to rich ripe red in about a week. They are ripe when either a deep, dark red or golden orange/yellow depending on variety. Pick fruit individually by cutting stems. Once picked they keep well and will become sweeter after a week or so. Citrus bushes would benefit from a rich layer of compost, well-rotted manure, dolomite, seaweed, straw – whatever you have spread as a mulching layer around roots. Vegetables: Save seed from beans and peas and also a few of your herb and companion flower plant seeds for next spring. Mold soil around the base of leeks to keep them pale and sweet, but keep it beneath the bottom leaf so it doesn't get inside the stems and make cleaning them difficult. An application of lime now is a real benefit to many of the leaf crops – cabbage, spinach, kale, broccoli and silver beet. In soon to be very cold areas an insulating layer will help to prevent soil you plan to plant out in early spring from becoming water-logged once rains come, use polythene, fertilizers bags, old carpet or underlay. Spring planting can be delayed for ages because of wet cold ground. Cheers, Linda.