Gardening in North Otago 28th September 2022

Dahlias for summer colour.

October’s a rewarding month in the garden, seeds sown will be popping up and seedlings planted making good growth. There is a lot now on offer in plant outlets and plenty to enjoy and do in the garden. During the many years I have been a Gardener gardening methods have gone through changes, digging soil and digging in compost was encouraged in the early days with ongoing weeding soil between plants. Then mulching bare soil between plants became the thing. Now Gardeners are encouraged to fill gardens with planting, allowing no gaps and keeping soil structure in tack by composting on top of soil to be taken down by hard working worms. This is the practice I have preferred for many years with good results, especially through the drying summer months. Close planting shades plant roots and mulching retains ground moisture, undisturbed soil is how nature meant it to be. Direct drilling on farm land allows soil structure to stay intact, the next step now would be to move away from mono plant crops by including mixed plant species in rows through or around cropping pastures. Predators of insect crop pests would be encouraged and chemical pest spraying reduced, then hopefully someday eliminated. Lavenders are out there for sale again, all flowering and looking good. These lavenders will have been encouraged to flower so what I do when I buy one is cut most of the flowers off to give the roots a good chance to establish. If flowers are left they want to make seed which takes a lot out of a new plant. Lavenders in the garden can be cut back if woody as new growth is pushing out now. Tip cuttings of fuchsia, hebe's, and chrysanthemum can be taken now, as long as stems snap off when bent they will be ready, if they don't then they are still too soft. Once snapped off, push into river sand to develop roots. Chrysanthemums will not flower until Autumn and most grow too tall. Chrysanthemums are not pruned, instead When a plant reaches 6 inches tall in spring, simply pinch off 1 inch of each shoot. throughout the growing season to encourage plants to branch out, become fuller and offer more blooms. Prune fuchsias back now and they will make new fresh growth, they flower on their new wood so can be taken well back. It is too early to trim box hedge, wait until spring growth has finished as you only want to trim once. It's time to think about Dahlias in the garden for summer color. If you have a sunny spot that needs a bit of brightening up, how about putting in a few dahlia tubers? They come in beautiful shades and varieties, Tall, medium and dwarf and are just starting to make a move now. If you want colour to continue in your garden when the Rhododendrons have finished, dahlias will do the trick. Tubas are on offer now in shops, choose some and plant in a sunny, free draining spot. Dahlia tubers will rot if planted in ground that stays wet. Peony roses & Hosta's are on the move, peony roses like all day sun, no overhead shading, this is the time to put in wire rings to hold stems as they grow. Hostas prefer shade and moist conditions. Slugs and snails LOVE eating hostas so while they are still not fully grown surround stems with sharp gravel or clippings of prickly plants. Still too cold to plant out most summer flowering annuals even though we are getting warmer days but they can be potted up and grown on in a sheltered place until the soil and nights are warm enough. Lawns are growing well now, keep the catcher up and have lawn fertiliser ready to apply during the next rain. Vegetable growing is on the go again as it's the perfect time to start growing food, salad greens, peas, carrots, brassicas grown in rotation will keep your supply up and save you money. I plant a few veg seedlings every second week so they will mature at different times. Potatoes are another easy to grow money saver. Prepared soil and dig straight, shallow trenches, 2 to 3 feet apart. Plant 12 inches apart, and cover with a good amount of soil. When new green leaves reach 10 to 12 inches tall, mound soil up against the leaf shoots, burying stems halfway. Mounding will help protect potatoes from the elements. To avoid blight water soil not the foliage. When watering, water the soil not the foliage to avoid blight. Be vigilant and stop unwanted insects and diseases from ruining your plants. Tunnel and glass houses should be ready to plant tomatoes, peppers and cucumber along with a scatter of marigold seed to flower and help with white fly. Cheers, Linda.

Early plantings in the glass house.

Gardening in Waitaki September 21st 2022

Garden magic is now in full swing, Waitaki is looking so pretty right now with the help of some warmth and showers. The hum of bees is back and it's a joy to be planting out gardens again.   Seed sowing and planting to take us right through late spring and summer, happens now there is so much on offer, tubas, bulbs, bedding plants, shrubs and trees waiting to be chosen and planted.  When buying punnets of plants get them accustomed to changeable weather and cold nights before planting.  I absolutely love sweet peas, so I have had groups sitting over winter for an early flowering and today have planted more to scramble up behind lower plantings. Sweet peas are gross feeders so a trench filled with well rotted animal manure below the soil they are sown in is beneficial. Fuchsias: Here on the coast fuchsias can be cut back now that they are pushing out leaves, they flower on new growth so take them as far back as you need to for the height you would like them flowering. Fuchsias prefer afternoon shade, moist ground and food keep up to them during the growing season to get best results. Rose leaf tips may be targeted by greenfly during mild days, keep an eye out for hatchlings, usually right at the tip of new growth and squish them with a finger and thumb, I keep this up to eliminate the need to spray. As I mentioned last week, roses will be looking for food, old stable manure or the pig and sawdust mix at the Recycling centre  around the drip line (not up against branches) will keep them happy.  Lawns: Winter damage will be noticed in lawns now that grass is growing again, rake out damaged patches, rough up the soil then spread generous amounts of clean, sifted topsoil to sow grass seed on. If birds are a problem each patch can be covered with shade cloth until seed germinates.  Vegetables:  Here on the coast plant lettuce plants at two week intervals and any spare ground could be planted out in seed potatoes. I am now dealing with clodding, clay soil in my new raised gardens. During winter I planted them with a green crop which has since been dug in and managed to grow a few veg in amongst it. The soil is still heavy but I know that layering compost on top now for worms to take down will improve  it during spring and summer. Worms: I am often told that gardens are lacking in worms, especially those newly created like mine, I came across a way to encourage worms a few years ago that I now use. Half fill a fertiliser bag with fresh cow / horse manure and leave it sitting on top of grass or soil for a number of weeks, long enough for manure moisture to leach out into the ground. When the bag is lifted there should be a mass of garden worms there. Tiger worms from worm farms do not last long in gardens, they remain too close to the top of soil so are taken by birds.  Fruit: Strawberry plants are on the move towards flowering, they will be looking for compost mulch now to grow into. Bees are about to pollinate blossoms, too late now for any spraying, just let the bees do their work and look forward to bumper crops. Cheers, Linda.

Gardening in Waitaki September 14th 2022

Trimming lavender in spring.

Another unsettled week here in North Otago but I guess that is expected from spring weather, I am so looking forward to warm sun filled days with the hum of bees, then it is a joy to be in the garden again. Seedlings need to be protected during Spring cold snaps so if buying punnets of annuals get them accustomed to changeable weather and cold nights before planting them out and possibly losing them. Still too early for lobelia, begonias, petunias and marigold but not too early to sow seed of these under protection. This is the perfect time to plant seed for late spring and early summer, wildflower seeds, cosmos, cornflower, lavatera, nigella, poppys, statice, to name but a few. A patch of wildflowers look wonderful if you have room in your garden, or a neglected area nearby that could do with brightening up. Now is a good time for clearing weeds to create a wild garden, weeds are small and the ground is soft, completely remove any perennial weeds like couch grass, dock and convolvulus then loosen soil enough to sow seeds. Potted shrubs need to be inspected for root crowding, it takes only a year for some to exhaust the mix they are planted in. Remove from the pot if not too big and trim roots back by half with a sharp spade and replant into a fresh, heavy potting mix, then completely soak to the bottom of the pot to help the shrub settle back in with no air pockets. With Larger unmanageable pots and barrels I top up with mix after pushing a sharp object down through the roots to create large holes for potting mix to be washed down in around established roots. However if after a number of years a shub stops thriving it will be time to start again with something fresh. Lavenders:Will be showing new growth now so if yours need a trim do it now. Because they are so popular I thought I would go into detail. English lavenders eventually get leggy and past it, don't nurse them thinking they will come back because they will probably not, dig them out and replace with new plants. Munstead lavender is the small edging variety which will not spill over a path as other English lavenders. The bumble bee type, lavender major, are more manageable in boarders and the French lavender dentata is a tall hedging lavender with serrated leaves that flowers all year round.There are so many different varieties on the market now and none of them are very long lived if they do not like where they are growing. Full sun, with a dressing of lime from time to time, lavenders like it dry but need to get roots down deep to tap into lower soil moisture. Rose leaves are firming up now and buds are forming so they are looking for food to help with the long growing season ahead, getting moisture down and mulching to keep it there is really beneficial to keep them healthy and from dehydrating as we head into hot weather. Healthy happy roses do not attract pests which means very little spaying, if any. Lawns: The mowers are out again! keep catchers up while grass is lush and they will not dry out as they do when cut low. I managed to make use of the last rain shower by fertilising our lawn which should give it a boost to start the new mowing season off. Vegetables: Sow veg seeds into trays and protected from cold, cover seedling plants already planted from cold and birds. My board beans and peas are up and doing well and the seed potatoes I have ready to plant have sprouted well, I am sure there will be clever Gardeners out there who have potatoes growing in a sheltered spot almost ready for the pot but I wait until I see a rogue potato left behind from last year's digging to send up leaves to let me know the ground is ready. Fruit: All berry fruits are on the move so food, water and mulching are needed for a good production, the earlier this is done the better the crops. Cheers, Linda.

Gardening in Waitaki September 6th 2022

Well it arrived, the last sting of winter....(we hope) snow flurries, cold and frosts here in North Otago yesterday, causing Gardeners, bugs and plants to retreat back into winter mode. Cherry blossoms should be unfolding now, so on warmer days bee's will be back to work. With spring stopping and starting this year it has allowed  more time to shift and reduce the size of perennial plants. I am sure every gardener enjoys trying new plants and colour combinations. Now is the perfect time to sow seeds for summer flowering, I have mine under glass and some hardening off under frost cloth as germination has happened in stop, start mode this year but I see some are up and in need of thinning and regular watering. I thin them out by transplanting some like Pansy and dianthus which have shallow roots into deeper seed trays and those with longer deeper roots like lupin, hellebore and Oriental poppy into their own individual small root pots. It is best to have a well developed root ball attached before planting out. Baskets and pots can thought about now, plan with the thought of using only shallow rooted plants for baskets like pansy, lobelia, small type petunias, nemesia, and trailers like Virginia stock and dwarf sweet pea. Add slow release fertiliser and water Chrystal's to keep plants going through the growing season. To get the best results the roots of what you want to plant will determine the size and depth of a pot, give plants the depth needed for growing. Look around the garden for plants to make an edge to give a border a formal look. A border of low plants will also stop birds scratching uncovered soil for worms to feed their young. A large clump of lambs ear, catmint, dianthus,  scabiosa, aubretia, viola Maggie mott to name only a few clumps that may be growing in your garden.  Hydrangeas and fuchsias Once this cold snap is over hydrangeas and fuchsias can be pruned, they both flower on new growth. Hydrangeas are pruned by cutting stems that flowered last season down to the second bud from the bottom and leaving the new stems unpruned to carry flowers for this year.  Fuschias can be cut right back, commercial  growers do this to encourage new fresh growth so cut back all that scraggly old wood, but have the frost cloth ready in case we have another cold blast. Dahlia tubers can be planted now that soil is not so wet,  tubers left in the ground over winter will start to come into leaf when the temperature is right for them, some may have rotted in wet ground. . Roses are starting to bud, we still have time to plant new roses and feed all established roses, plus we don't have to chase aphids ( green fly) yet but they will be about soon to settle on the top new growth, easily visible for you to dispose of by removing with your finger and thumb.  Lawns: Prepare ground for sowing new lawns, here on the coast ground will soon be warm enough to get a strike, seed must be sown thickly in spring to beat the annual weeds. Once spring mowing starts keep the mower blades up to allow grass to thicken up and feed lawns just before or during rain and they will stay lush. Fruit: Now that sap is up, prune unwanted growth from established fruit trees using clean tools, large wounds can be sealed with beeswax, smaller wounds will heal and not push out new growths as they tend to when pruned during winter. Vegetables: Here on the coast sow lettuce seed and plant lettuce plants out at two week intervals. My board beans are well up, I was once told to plant each bean with a little potash to help with rust problems, they still get a little rust but I think that's probably due to them getting too dry between waterings. Strong winds will be with us soon so now is the time to put in stakes to secure them. Prepare ground for planting seed potatoes in soil with organic matter added like compost ( not manure) this will push out too much green top. Plant sprouted seed potatoes in furrows (rows of small trenches) about 15 cm deep and 80cm apart. Place seed potatoes 25cm apart with the sprouts pointing up and cover carefully with soil. As the shoots pop up through the soil mound the soil around the shoots until the potato stems start to flower. Strawberries are starting to move towards budding, they need to be fed, watered and mulched, aged animal manure and straw, pine needles or un sprayed grass clippings will do the trick. Cheers, Linda.