Gardening in Waitaki May 17th 2023

Having experienced only a couple of frosts yet here on the coast this lovely, mellow time of the year is such a treat for us Gardeners who are outside and busy. Ready compost will be going on as autumn leaves and annual weeds are removed from gardens as Gardeners work to put gardens to bed for winter. Compost can be shoveled thickly over beds, but there will still be a lot of leaf drop to come before pea straw or forest floor covering can be spread. If you are planning to add a straw or other weed suppressant and the soil is dry a good watering beforehand will be needed if rain hasn't done it for you. Cleaning up garden areas that have been flowering all summer will leave gaps so why not visit garden centres to choose annuals on offer, plant and get them into bud while there is still enough warmth in the sun and soil to get roots going. They should continue to get enough winter sun to carry on and bloom here on the coast. Suggestions are, Viola, snapdragon, pansy, polyantha's, stock, calendula, wall flowers, sweet William and good old primula malacoides. Seeds of all mentioned above can be sown now and they will pop up very quickly to be pricked out, potted on into punnets and held over with frost cloth protection until spring ready for your garden, pots or hanging baskets. Dahlias: If your dahlias have been affected by frost , leave them to die back into tubers for a good while before cutting back. Removing the old leaves from hellebores as they are budding up for a winter display, a fortnightly liquid feed can be given now if you feel they need boosting. The underside of hellebore leaves are a chosen place for aphids to winter over. Further in land it would be advisable to leave some top growth on to give frost protection to clumps. Time is running out for the last hedge trim before winter really sets in, just a light tidy up trim leave hard cut backs until the end of spring when new growth has finished. Planting shrubs: If you want to plant evergreen shrubs other than conifers do it now or wait until the frosts are over. They will just sit once hard frosts start, it is only deciduous trees / shrubs and conifers that will cope with the really cold nights ahead. Lilies: I will mention this again, this is the main time to shift or divide overgrown clumps of lilies. Be careful not to break the fleshy scales and to retain all the basal roots. Don't pull the old stems away from the bulb as it leaves a hole where water can enter and cause rot, just cut old stems short and bend, never allow Lily bulbs to dry out while out of the ground. I plant lilies on a little river sand and cover with compost which has had blood and bone added. Gardening professionals suggest gardeners apply potash to their plants as winter starts, Potassium hardens up plant growth and helps prevent damage from winter chills, it also encourages fruiting. Vegetables and fruit Get garlic plots ready for planting out around the shortest day, garlic enjoy a rich fertile loam soil or a silty loam soil. Avoid planting in poor draining soil because cloves can rot if sitting in wet ground too long. Continue planting strawberry plants, raising the beds where drainage is suspect and adding manure rich compost to the beds. Start pruning pip fruit trees any time after the leaves have fallen, remove dead or damaged wood, crossing or inward turning branches, excess leaders or sucker growth developing on the main trunks. Shorten back vigorous leaders by about a 1/3 to promote branching rather than growing too tall for you to reach the fruit. Prune long side branches back to a weak twig to discourage further spread. Cheers, Linda

Putting the garden to bed.