Gardening in Waitaki April 23rd 2024

Autumn and nature have it right, leaves fall to cover the ground protecting roots from the cold to come but in home gardens, there will be a lot of raking going on. In my past large garden, I would be filling wool pack after wool pack with leaves which would be turned into mulch and compost to be returned to the garden come spring. Erica's - Give amazing winter colour to a garden, if they were cut after their last flowering they should have gone through the Summer looking fresh and green. Now as the days get shorter and colder Erica's buds start to flower. There are many different types in shades of, pink, lavender, and white, and as well as ground covers some are upright growing. Erica's need full sun and good drainage and look great planted in groups. Roses: I stop deadheading roses now, pull off the spent blooms, and let the seeds form which will harden the wood needing to be pruned in July. Remove all diseased leaves from bushes and on the ground around bushes before mulching to bed them down for winter. Tidy up daylilies, by pulling off old leaves and cutting back those that will not pull off, divide overgrown clumps by putting a sharp spade through the clump and transplanting pieces with a little blood and bone then mulch to retain moisture. Seed collection should be full on now as plants age seeds are popping all over the place, nature is so generous with seeds during autumn. Seeds I planted not so long ago are up and growing well, I will nurse them along in a warm spot until spring. Potting them up before then should they put on a lot of growth before the cold slows them right down. Lawns:My lawn was fertilised during the last heavy rain and is now green, boosted and ready for what winter will throw at it. Vegetables: With not being able to buy veg plants for a while let a few veg go to seed because I see seed is hard to come by as well. let seed brown off before picking to continue ripening in a paper bag. Peas, lettuce, cauliflower, silver beet, spinach, rocket, and beetroot all seed well. If you have grain on hand plant some as a green crop to add humus to the soil when dug in. Fruit Gather late fruiting peaches, apples & pears and if storing check there are no even slightly damaged fruit as they will soon rot and affect the sound fruit. A dressing of lime now will assist next season's fruiting. Feed citrus bushes, manure, seaweed-based fertilizer then mulch. Clean up strawberry beds, removing runners, and potting up a few from closest to the Mother plant to encourage good roots for replacing plants older than 3 years. Cheers, Linda.