Gardening in Waitaki July 7th 2021

Some moisture this week to replenish gardens after heavy frosts in a row had drawn moisture from soil and plants, this is proving to be a real winter so far. Rose pruning through the day then removing thorns from fingers at night will be happening with some Gardeners this month, some thorns are stubborn to remove requiring a dab of magnesium sulphate paste held in place with a plaster, this helps to draw the thorn closer to the surface of the skin. Roses go on to flower without pruning but being deciduous they respond well to a good prune in winter, doing this will give you new shoots to replace the old, keep the plant young with more flowers per season on shapely bushy plants. Roses are very forgiving if you get it a bit wrong so don't worry! It is handy to have a good set of tools to make pruning easier (leather gloves, secateurs, loppers, and a pruning saw. New seasons rhododendrons, camellias, azaleas and daphne's will be on offer soon with fat healthy buds to tempt the gardener, moist soft ground is perfect for getting these settled in the ground. Early sasanqua camellias are flowering now, these camellias are fast growing and probably the most sun tolerant of all camellias. They are extremely tolerant of shaping, clipping or espaliering and are ideal as hedges, screens or growing in containers. Transplanting young trees and shrubs if needed now is a good time to do this whilst they are at their most dormant stage, plant with a firm stake if height is involved. Keep protecting tender plants from frosts and winter chill, wind chill can be just as damaging as frost on tender plants. If a special plant is young and going through the first winter rather than hoping it will survive, protection from wind chill and frost will take that worry away. Compost: Add some lime now to sweeten, then moisture if you have not already done so. Compost heaps will have lost heat now but bacteria, molds, and mites all survive and need energy to do their jobs so keeping a compost bin warm is important if you live in an area that has harsh winter temperatures and strong winds. Pile straw or hay bales or packed leaf bags around your bin This will ensure that all of the beneficial happenings in the compost will stay warmer and continue to work at breaking the layers down. Prunning: It is better to not prune at all than to prune for the sake of it, work out exactly what you want as a result of pruning and have an understanding of how the shrub or tree grows before cutting it. Does it flower or fruit on new or old wood? Does it grow new shoots in one go at the start of a season or do shoots steadily grow over a season? Does a fruit tree need maturity to create spurs that produce fruit or do they produce at the tips of the branches? Does a plant heal well or is it a bleeder like cherries and plums, if so when does it produce least sap for pruning? if in any doubt don't prune. Timing of pruning: The pruning of shrubs, trees and plants that flower in the first part of the year do so on wood formed between last year's spring and autumn. The safest time to prune these is immediately after flowering. If pruned in winter or early spring you will have an abundance of new growth but no flowers. This applies to all trees, shrubs and climbers. The exact opposite applies to plants that flower in the second half of the year, they form flower buds on new growth so you can be as hard as you like with these before spring to encourage new flowering. The result of pruning means when growth starts again there is less demand on the amount of food stored in the roots, therefore more food being delivered to the unpruned parts of the plant. Vegetables On the coast plant seedling veg plants that are now on offer in full sun, if your veg garden loses sun in winter use this time to spread manure/compost and a sprinkle of lime to sweeten then let the worms take it into the soil.

Whether it is a thick 6 to 12″ layer of straw, or a heavy coat of leaves or pine needles, placing a layer of organic insulation on top of your compost pile helps it to retain heat and moisture.