Gardening Waitaki June 23rd 2021

A damp dull week just passed and with Monday being the shortest day how short the days have been, extremely hard to gauge the time of day.I thought I would touch on the pruning of rose types this week. Rose types. Floribunda bush roses, which display clusters of blooms like iceberg need a few older branches taken right back each year to encourage new strong branching and newer branches taken back by two thirds. Hybrid tea bush roses: These are the roses that can grow exhibition blooms, they can be pruned back quite hard at outward facing buds. Standard bush roses: Roses grafted onto a tall standard trunk, prune the same as bush roses. Climbing roses: These roses flower at their best when the branches are trained horizontally along a fence or wall, they develop small branches along the length of the trained branch and give a brilliant show. After a number of years these long horizontal branches will need to be removed and replaced by a softer new branch. Be careful not to damage this soft wood, train gently out to take the place of the removed old wood. The new branch will bud up quickly sending out small outward growing branches to harden off in a couple of years. Next year prune these new outward growing branches back to the second outward facing bud from the bottom. Pillar roses; The best type to climb up and be trained over an arch or pergola. I cut the old growth back off these roses with a hedge trimmer. Fairy rose and flower carpet roses: If big and bushy I also cut back with a hedge trimmer but open them up by removing branches from the middle with secateurs. Rambling roses: Most ramblers flower in Late summer and should be cut back right after flowering, if pruned now formed buds will be removed. The bulk of new season's bare rooted deciduous trees are arriving into retail shops now. If you have room for only one or two trees in a new garden consider planting a fruit tree, getting not only the beautiful blossom display in spring but the bonus of fresh fruit. An apricot tree grows into a lovely specimen where space is available, 2m high by 4m wide needing a sunny spot to ripen fruit. Malus ( crab apple) would be a beautiful addition to a garden, most are a nice shape that blossom profusely in Spring and do not grow as large as flowering cherries. I have seen stunning examples around town this winter flaunting bright red fruit on bare branches. Nectarine and peach trees are a manageable size for a garden, very beautiful when in blossom but on the down side susceptible to leaf curl. However the wonderful leaf curl resistant peach Sweet Perfection raised by Duntroon couple, the late Dr Helen Brooks and Terry Fowler is a winner as is nectarine Mabel named for a Waikato gardener who discovered this natural hybrid of a blackboy peach in her garden. The fruit I am told is delicious and quite dramatic looking, purple skin with a pale yellow flesh and new leaf growth being purple makes this tree an interesting contrast to other trees. (nectarines are self-fertile). I am on the look out for one of these! With so many deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs on offer right now, make sure to read the labels to know how high and wide a shrub or tree will grow. Some, especially natives grow fast and when mature will throw considerable shade if planted along side the house, it pays to ask advice. Next week I will cover pruning. Compost heaps have cooled now but worms will still be working as long as there is adequate moisture. Heaps can be kept warmer by being covered. A good cover is straw which lets in rain and can be included in the compost once broken down. Veg: Now is the time to plant garlic, make sure the garlic you plant has been NZ grown not the imported type. Break large bulbs apart and plant the cloves, pointed end down. Don't mulch once planted because this tends to keep the soil too moist and garlic cloves may rot. Keep planting leaf veg here on the coast, I leave frost cloth cover over new plantings now as protection from frost and birds. Fruit: There are some really well grown citrus shrubs on offer in garden centres right now and I couldn't resist buying a Mayer lemon, it has the look of being taken straight from a tunnel house so I will need to protect it with frost cloth until winter is over. Current bushes : red currants produce most fruit on two and three year old wood, so prune out branches older than this and all weak and thin branches growing close to the ground. Black currents bear a small amount of fruit on one year old wood but two year old wood will become covered with fruit. New fresh branch growth has a shine to it that older wood does not and very old wood is very easy to identify by it's extreme dullness.