Gardening in Waitaki 9th April 2025

More rain this week with a temperature drop — the first frost on the coast can't be far away. It’s that waiting time of year again — waiting for the deciduous trees and shrubs to put on their spectacular autumn show before leaf drop, waiting for plants to finish flowering so they can be back. Roses: Also waiting for the roses to set seed. It’s tempting to want to tidy roses up now, but resist the urge to deadhead. As untidy as they may look, it's best to leave them until the proper pruning time in July. When a spent bloom sets seed, the plant continues drawing sap upward to feed and develop the seeds. While this is happening, the bud shoots along the stem will remain dormant, as sap bypasses them branch wood is hardening. If you remove the seed heads now, the plant redirects sap into new growth which will be too soft to survive winter. For now, the best thing to do with roses is to remove and dispose of any diseased leaves from the plant and surrounding ground. Follow this with a spray of Guild or Super Shield to help prevent the overwintering of rust, black spot, and mildew. Now is a good time to move camellias, rhododendrons, and conifers, as long as they’re still a manageable size. If wanting to shift larger specimens, trenching now in preparation for shifting during winter would be the way to go. Trenching... dig down around one half of the root ball, cutting through feeding roots, then backfill with compost for new feeding roots to establish. The other untouched side of the rootball will keep sustaining the shrub or tree until the time to relocate it. Get the last weed spraying done if needed. Driveways, paved areas, and fence lines. Choose a warm, dry afternoon when the weeds are thirsty. Any new weed seeds that germinate will likely be taken care of by the frost, so that’s it for the weed spraying until spring. In the glasshouse, start increasing light by removing any shading and reduce watering now that growth is slowing down. Lawns: If damp conditions continue, now is the time to put down grass grub granules. The grubs are actively feeding on grass roots until May, then they go dormant and reappear as night beetles around November. There’s also still time to de-thatch lawns and resow any bare patches. The soil is still warm enough to get a good strike, but not for much longer, as nights are cooling quickly. I like to give struggling lawns a dressing of sifted compost — about half a bucket per square metre — and work it in gently with the back of a rake and mow without a catcher often to add humus. This improves both light and compacted soils. If your soil is especially compacted, add some gypsum to the compost for a better result. Vegetables & Fruit: There’s still time to sow a green crop once space becomes available in the veg garden. Dig in any vegetables that have gone to seed and any annual weeds before they seed — all great for building humus in the soil. Keep planting winter vegetables. Cover any pumpkins still growing if a frost is forecast . Apply cleanup sprays to all fruit trees and fruiting shrubs that have shown signs of leaf spot. Super Copper or Nature’s Way Fungus Spray works well. Citrus trees with leaf or fruit spot can also be treated with Super Copper. Cheers, Linda