Gardening in Waitaki June 1st 2021

Mud and more mud plus soggy leaves after the rain this week, lawns are holding a lot of moisture, needing as much sun and airing as possible to firm them up again, raking leaves off grass is a must, piles of wet leaf cover will be blocking much needed light and in shady areas grass may rot away. Soggy leaves are perfect for adding to compost.  Rain encourages  a lot of snails into the garden, my bantams were great slug and snail hunters but they could still be found in dark sheltered spots among pots or behind plants growing up against walls, flax and agapanthus are especially bad for harboring snails to multiply fast and be ready to destroy plants in spring. I have read that it is no good transporting snails to a vacant area away from your garden because they have homing instincts and travel long distances to return to their garden of choice. I cannot bring myself to stamp on them or drown them in a bucket so if you are like me you can gather up as many as you can find and put them in a closely closed plastic bag, and place in the freezer, this way they will go to sleep and not wake up, yes I know, "what is she on about"? working with Nature is what gardening is all about with me and snails belong in gardens until you remove them. Roses: The last of the summer roses will be looking a little sad and bushes could be in danger of contracting fungus Botrytis cinerea which thrives in wet weather and can wreak havoc among susceptible plants like roses, azaleas and bedding plants. We need more hard frosts to take care of fungus and bugs.   A spraying program to follow is Lime Sulphur first which will quickly kill off any fungal spores in the garden and knock down an impending infection, then wait several weeks before spraying Champion Copper and Conqueror Oil. Oil helps the copper stick to the plant, improving longevity of the copper spray along with providing a suffocating film to rid treated plants of scale, mealy bug and other over-wintering pests. I usually leave this second spray until the big winter prune in July.   New seasons, bare rooted roses will soon be arriving in Garden centers so if planning to buy and plant a few, prepare ground now by digging in old stable manure or bagged rose mix. If planting a rose in the same place a rose has been growing, you will need to remove most of the soil and replace it with soil from another part of the garden, disease is transferred very quickly from one rose to another. Roses planted in winter are less likely to suffer from planting stress.  Vegetables:  Muddy conditions keep us off soil so trenching manure/compost in will have to wait, well done if you dealt with this before all the rain. When the soil dries out a little here on the coast plant garlic, shallots, butter crunch lettuce plants, broad beans, and top weight carrot seeds.  Fruit:  Tamarillos, if lucky enough to have these in your garden they will soon be hanging like red jewels from almost bare branches, such a treat at this time of the year. Because the plants do not make hard wood they are frost tender but here on the coast in a sunny location they ripen. Tamarillos will grow from tip cuttings, a bush will last for a decade if protected during winter and prefer to be outside not in a glass house.Lemon “Meyer” are cold hardy and will fruit all year, if planting a new plant remove all flowers and small fruit for the first 3 years to get branch work established then it will produce for years. Plant a meyer lemon to get afternoon sun, feed with citrus food in early spring and early autumn.NZ Cranberry(Myrtus ugni) has a taste combination of strawberry, pineapple and apple my Grandchildren pick and eat them like sweets. This small, evergreen bush, is very fragrant when fruiting and can be hedged. Cheers, Linda.