Gardening in Waitaki February 21st 2024

How good has this growing season been, warmth and a lovely heavy shower during the week. Gardens will be starting to tire now so dead heading and cutting back will smarten things up and enable plants and shrubs to push out new growth and colour before the first frosts. While cutting back seeds can be collected and left to dry in paper bags and seedlings that have popped up among plants can be removed and potted if in the wrong place. Fill in gaps with the lovely annuals on offer in garden centres. Roses: Keep the rose dead heading up to encourage the last blooms of summer, it is 6 weeks from a prune to another bud which will take us into April, after that flowering it is best to not deadhead, leave blooms to make seed which will help to harden wood for the winter ahead. Pruning and feeding will only encourage unwanted new soft growth so no feeding from now on Compost heaps and bins will be cooking well now, water will be needed to help break things down enough for a ready compost, I add manure and lime at this time. Cut back border and rockery perennials as they finish flowering then top dress with compost and some blood & bone to give all a boost. To get superior blooms on gerberas, dahlias, delphiniums and chrysanthemums dead head and give fortnightly feeds of liquid fertiliser, remove excess buds from large flowering chrysanthemums they will be putting on a show soon. I would dearly love to shift shrubs but I know they would suffer being shifted at this time of the year even if the water was kept up to them. Best to wait until the end of Autumn when the sap has gone down. However if you have no option and have to shift trees and shrubs before winter it would not be as traumatic if they were first wrenched to cushion them from the shock. Wrenching is when one half of the roots are dug around and lifted, then compost is added under them for new feeder roots to grow into. It is important to keep the water up once roots have been cut or disturbed. A tree or shrub will survive by being fed from the remaining untouched roots while at the same time the other half is making new roots into the compost in readiness for a shift later. Holes can be dug now while soil is soft in readiness for a winter planting. Lawns. After those baking hot days and a lot of mowing lawn growth starts to slow down from now, catchers will still be filling for a while yet but don't feel you need to cut lower than usual because growth has slowed, a scalped lawn dries out faster and encourages weeds. The flat weeds I come across I pop out with the blade of secateurs before they seed and spread. Veg & Fruit Keep the water up to corn and pumpkins to ensure a juicy crop, they both need a long ripening season. Dig out old spent strawberry plants that have finished cropping and discard. Plants that are being kept for another season should have runners cut off now to preserve the strength of the main clumps. Transplant only the strong runners closest to the Mother plant and keep the water up to them until they make roots. Grapes are filling out now so keep water up to them and net covering will soon be needed to keep birds off. Late peaches, nectorenes, apricots, quince will be in abundance and birds will be feasting if not picked. Lawns. After those baking hot days and a lot of mowing lawn growth starts to slow down from now, catchers will still be filling for a while yet but don't feel you need to cut lower than usual because growth has slowed, a scalped lawn dries out faster and encourages weeds. The flat weeds I come across I pop out with the blade of secateurs before they seed and spread.