Gardening in Waitaki July 10th 2024

Some good frost this week to harden wood but with the mild weather we have been getting there are definite signs of spring around coastal gardens, once plants have moved into the first stages of budding they should continue to bud up during the sunny winter days. Camellias and rhododendrons are budding well, Christmas cheer rhodo is flowering as it should now, and spring bulbs are well up. Daphne bholua is in flower now wafting a lovely fragrance around the garden, this daphne will never let you down and has the bonus of winter flowering. Having derived from Nepal's high altitude regions Daphne bholua is a must for cold inland gardens but unfortunately resents exposed coastal conditions. Dahlias, gladioli, and peonies are in Garden centres this month and can be planted now in good draining soil, if you think there is a chance they would sit in wet soggy soil over winter they may rot. If young trees or shrubs need transplanting now is a good time to do it whilst they are at their most dormant stage. If in a severe frost area continue protecting plants like Margarete daisies, pelargoniums and seedlings from frosts with frost cloth. If you are still finding leaves to rake up like me, why not fill large black rubbish bags, add a little water, and then leave to rot? Leaf mulch is such a natural benefit to soil, we tend to remove them all at the leaf fall stage because they look untidy, rotting leaves down in this way when put back in the garden they will not be noticed, and worms will take leaf mulch down onto the soil. Pruning of trees and woody shrubs would still be going on at this time in my former garden, as well as some older roses and sheltered hydrangeas would be getting cut back, hydrangea canes that have flowered can be cut at the second bud from the bottom, leaving all canes that did not flower because these will be the new season's flowers. In colder areas, I would leave hydrangeas until they start bursting buds. Garden borders do not need to be wide to give a colourful display, wide borders mean digging and unnecessary work and expense filling them. This is a good time to reduce the width of gardens, I find trimming grass edges with a line trimmer gardens tend to increase in width slightly each year, to the point where after several years I needed to reduce the width by filling the front in, back to the original line with sifted soil, then resow grass in spring. If you have borders getting choked with clumps of bulbs, leaving little room for other plantings, put a sharp spade through the clumps now and remove half before the bulbs put on too much growth. At this time of the year, I make a few trips to the Waireaka Valley Lions Club sawdust and sheep manure stand. Thanks to volunteers cleaning out calving sheds and under-shearing sheds to keep the stand topped up for keen gardeners. I use the sawdust on some garden pathways. Sawdust can also be used in wet gardens as a weed suppressant and help to absorb excess moisture, but never in dry gardens. I use sheep manure on the compost heaps, the vegetable garden, and around the roses when horse manure or pig manure is not at hand. Vegetables: In cold areas start raising vegetable seeds for spring planting in glass houses or under glass or plastic with ventilation spaces to circulate air and stop seeds going mouldy. On the coast plant seedlings that are now on offer in Garden centers along with garlic cloves. I planted a green crop with grain and veg seeds I had stored for probably too long, if they all germinate I will let them grow and then dig them in while still young and soft. Comfrey I have long known the advantages of growing comfrey, but have been reading up on it again, it is such a useful plant and if you can get your hands on some I suggest you plant some root sections in an area of your garden where you can allow it to spread and send its roots very deep down into the soil to tap into much-needed nutrients. Comfrey is fast-growing, high in potassium, and can be cut back again and again. I have listed below some uses for comfrey around the garden. 1. Compost activator, add to your compost bin to heat the decomposing materials and enrich the compost. 2. Put a handful of comfrey leaves into a bucket of rainwater and let them rot down for around 6 weeks to give you a rich liquid fertilizer for plants. 3. Lay comfrey leaves in a potato trench and leave for 3 days before planting seed potatoes to give them a potassium-rich boost of fertiliser. 4. Use as a Comfrey leaf mulch around plants, by layering leaves around the stems of plants, potassium will slowly be released to the plants as the leaves break down – Great for tomatoes, beans and fruit bushes. 5. Use wilted leaves as a nutrient-rich Chicken feed. Cheers, Linda