Gardening 27th July 2021

Almost August and some milder damp days have been experienced here in Waitaki during the last fortnight for a time still considered winter! Much is beginning to awake in the garden and spring is definitely in the air with swelling of buds, fragrance from winter sweet, witch hazel, Daphne, boronia and violets. Birds are beginning to nest and I see the first blossom, jonquils and daffodils about the town. Still time to shift perennials like tall phlox clumps if they have become shaded or out grown their spot. Tall phlox have a wonderful musk perfume which I always looked forward to wafting about the garden in the late afternoon.Tall phlox come in a number of shades, and die down over winter, they need all day sun in a open windy spot or they can be susceptible to powdery mildew, great fillers for perennial boarders. Hostas are starting to move as well, they will be still dormant enough for clumps to be reduced by digging up and slicing through with a sharp spade making sure not to knock the showing green tips. If you have planted bedding plants like polyanthus, forget-me-nots, dianthus, sweet peas, pansy, viola. Any new plantings can be Helped along along by liquid feeding with diluted worm tea or a commercial liquid food to get roots going and keep them green and strong through any cold snaps yet to come. Slow release fertiliser is a good idea this month as well, sprinkle around established ornamental and newly planted trees and shrubs to be there as plants are needing food on awaking. Hydrangea wood has hardened and should be producing plump buds, Prune only those stems that have flowered, cut at the second bud from the bottom, leave all other stems because these are the flowers for this year. Spread old stable manure around the drip line and a dressing of lime for pink flowers and aluminum sulphate for blue, White never changes, but are best planted in light shade. If the PH of your soil is high blue hydrangeas will always revert to pink no matter how often you add aluminum to the soil. Pot grown hydrangea's can be controlled successfully by tailoring soil to requirements, peat, pine needles and coffee grinds can be added to an acid planting mix for blue and lime can be added for pink blooms without the worry of leaching around the roots as it would when hydrangeas are planted in the ground. Pot grown hydrangeas need to be watered daily during summer. Cuttings from the hardened geranium steams can be taken now, fresh grown geraniums give amazing colour to a warm sunny garden for all of the growing season and even into the winter, they are so easy to grow from cuttings. Take short cuttings, semi hard wood, (not a new green steam) and let them dry out a little before planting, this means you don't have to deal with them straight away. Plant them firmly into a soil and river sand mix, Potting mix is too light to get a tight seal around cuttings. I am forever taking cuttings off geraniums I like when I come across them in other gardens. Trim dentata lavender now if you haven't already after it's winter flowering. Dentata is the tall growing one with the pale lavender bumblebee flower and serrated leaf. They are budding up now, so will recover quickly from a cut back, leave trimming other lavenders until it is warmer but you can give all lavenders a dressing of lime. Plant dahlias and gladioli from now until September and cut back leggy, straggly bush lavatera, they get very woody if left. I can't stress enough about the importance of feeding roses now they are making a move to break bud, powdered rose food needs watered in around the drip line, slow release fertiliser will work each time it rains, manure around the drip line not up against the crown will give them oomph for the first flowering. Vegetables It has been so good not to worry about bugs during the last few months when planting out leaf veg. Gardeners in cold frosty areas will be making a start now, add compost and a little lime in readiness for when you plant later this month. It is seed potato time again, potatoes have a natural dormancy from the time they are harvested to when they begin to sprout, starting their next growth cycle. This can only be modified slightly by storage conditions. I set them out in a box on damp news paper, and leave in a dark place in the warmth of the house. Some leave them in a warm well lit place, what ever works for you I go with the theory that it is very dark down in the soil where they eventually end up. Seed potatoes will be on offer now. FIRST EARLY VARIETIES: Cliffs Kidney, Jersey Bennes, Maris Anchor, Rocket. SECOND EARLY Ilam Hardy, Karaka, Red king. MAIN CROP: Desiree,Agria Mondial, Nadine, Pentland Dell, Red Rascal, Rua Cheers, Linda