Gardening in Waitaki September 1st 2022

SEPTEMBER, the beginning of our new growing season and this past week has convinced me that spring has arrived with bulbs, blossoms and flowering rhododendrons in abundance around North Otago. Everyday something new is happening in gardens, sweet peas, ranunculus, anemones and tulips are through and putting on good growth each day. If you have wide perennial borders couch grass, biddy- bid, and chick-weed will be growing as fast as spring plants. Try to get rid of weeds now while flowering plants are still low and the ground still soft. This is the perfect time to get garden plots ready for spring planting once the threat of frost is behind us, don't be in a hurry to plant because it is still early enough and soft seedling plants will hold in punnets and pots until the time is right. Liquid feeding can start now on all perennials and bedding plants making growth, and now is the time to start applying slow release fertilizer to trees, shrubs and plants you feel need a boost. Potted plants that have wintered over will be looking forward to a revamp with a root reduction ( if needed), new potting mix and a tidy up. Last year's potting medium will now not contain food for this new growing season. Cut the old growth from the cat-mint once the new growth is noticed, this applies to all perennials that have wintered over with last year's growth left on for protection. It's time to think about garden colour for late spring and summer. Early spring takes care of itself with what is left in the ground from year to year, colour where you want it and what colour is needed where. Concentrate on the sunny areas in the garden because these will be the warmest to get bedding pants and perennials moving. There is a great choice of roses on offer right now for summer colour, they do not need to all grow together in a rose bed, use them as gap fillers in sunny borders. If you're new to roses I have listed the different modern rose types below. Miniature Roses A dwarf growing bush rose with all parts scaled down. Their height will be listed on the label - I find these not as long lived as the larger bush rose. If you have one that is not performing now, and has been growing for a few years, dig it out, change the soil and plant another. PATIO ROSES About knee high for a front border planting, about 80 cm apart when grouping. These can be grown in containers as long as the roots are cool and they are fed right through the growing season. FLORIBUNDA Flowers grow in clusters - bushes grow to about waist high on average, space these about 1mtr apart when grouping. Cut off flower clusters when spentand they will reward you with masses of colour right through the growing season. HYBRID TEA This is the rose to give you the large exhibition one steam bloom. They grow about chest high. These are the picking roses and need feeding well right through the growing season to give the best results. CLIMBING ROSES Flower on branches trained horizontally along a wall or fence. PILLAR ROSES These are the roses to grow up a pillar or over an arch. The secret to keeping roses free from disease starts now with removing all last years' diseased wood and leaves from the ground after pruning and burning. Keep the food up to roses, starting now while they are beginning to leaf and continue right through until the end of summer. Manure enriched compost around them now will feed and protect the roots. When the ground warms up a little sprinkle the man-made balanced rose fertiliser around them and water in. These fertilisers have been designed to promote just the right amount of leaf and flower growth but need warmer soil to activate so don't waste fertiliser by using too soon. From my experience a rose-planted bare rooted in the winter or early spring will do better than a potted rose planted during the warmer months.. Here I am heading on into summer already with my advice!! enjoy spring and all its splendor happening around us right now. Vegatables and fruit All green crops need to be dug in now, before flowering and becoming stringy. Keep planting seeds and seedlings during this absence of white butterflies! but cover seedlings to keep hungry birds off. Gooseberry bushes are early to flower and leaf so if thinning is needed do it now, cutting up the bottom branches will get bushes higher off the ground for picking from underneath. Keep an eye on early peach and nectarine budding, just on bud burst is the time to give a spray of sulfur or copper-based fungicides for leaf curl. Note: The Garden corner at the Waitaki Recycling Centre in Chelmer St here in Oamaru is being set up for an openong this weekend, we were going to open in October but we find that Gardeners are wanting to start planting now. Lots of nice fresh stock priced and ready to go. No vegetable plants yet, those being grown are still not ready.

My veg seedlings ready growing fast.