Gardening in Waitaki 9th May 2023

How lovely the summer-like May days have been in the past week. A heap of work will be going on in gardens with compost going down, leaves racked and annual weeds being removed. If you have a good supply of compost, shovel it thickly around plants for worms to do the work of taking it down to spring hungry roots. If compost is not made at your place, bagged compost for small gardens and maybe a trailer or truck load from Pukeuri compost is an option. Contact: George 0272285108, pea straw on top really puts the garden to bed for winter. For orchards, establishing native blocks and rough garden areas the coarser mulch offered by the Waitaki resource recovery park is a perfect cover and weed suppressant. Contact: 03 4340999. Bearded Iris rhizomes and freesia bulbs will have pushed up, exposed to bake in autumn sun so compost and mulch should be kept off. Gardens tend to get carried away from time to time and outgrow the size allotted. I have planted large growing shrubs thinking at the time I could keep shaped to fit a space but Nature beat me every time, I got fed up with trying to keep them the right size, they were either dug out or dug up if manageable and given a ride in the wheelbarrow. New garden rooms can be created by shifting tall front plantings to the back which opens a space allowing room in the front to be edged and graveled or tiled for the placing of a seat or maybe a statue or large ornate pot. Don't hesitate in reducing the height and width of trees and shrubs if only to let more light on to lower growing plants, stopping leggy growth and encouraging optimum flowering. If shrubs have been wrenched to be shifted, height and width needs to be reduced to compensate for damaged roots. I continue to divide overgrown perennial clumps, some to fill gaps and some to pot up and grow on until strong roots develop before planting. Once plants have been sectioned and planted cover beds and around plants with compost which will encourage new root growth and help keep perennial beds warmer through the colder months. Lilies and Peony roses can be planted or shifted this month, be careful not to break the fleshy scales on Lily bulbs and new shoots on peony tubers. Fruit and Veg. Strawberries: Remove exhausted clumps, replace with a runner closest to the removed Mother plant. Raise the beds where drainage is suspect and add manure rich compost to beds. Raspberries: When fruiting is finished, cut the stems back by half, the new tip growth will bear fruit, cut two year old canes back to the ground. Apples: are still dripping from trees, best to pick for storing now before birds enjoy the lot. Leave pruning pip fruit until next month. Veg: Continue planting winter veg before soil gets too cold. Snow peas, Pak choi, Kale, broccoli, cauliflower and beetroot. Baby spinach and micro greens in a kitchen window container and picked often will supply needed greens over winter. This is the last month to sow carrot seed, onion sets ( in punnets already at bulb stage) achieve better results now than planting seeds. Cheers, Linda.