Gardening in Waitaki April 15th 2025

Easter  break soon and North Otago will be glowing in Autumn splendor " A second spring when every leaf is a flower "   (Albert Camus If the weather holds, it will be a joy to be outside in the garden for many, I am sure. Because I have spent a good deal of my time doing that during the year, Easter break has become a time when I catch up with family. But then it was back on the job again, leaf rake and blower in hand!! Right now I am dealing with a new garden of someone else's planting after another shift, so I am doing a lot of viewing and thinking. Compost bins will be filling fast with leaves and grass clippings, adding manure and ready compost, then wetting between layers will get things decomposing while there is still warmth. Soil that is expected to produce year after year to ensure adequate growth needs a helping hand, just as farmland does. While composts and manures must be accorded their place in soil management, they are inadequate to ensure proper mineral nutrition of plants but can be supplemented by fertilisers during the growing season. Generally speaking, stable and poultry manure contain practically all the elements required, particularly Nitrogen, phosphate, and potash in a natural organic form, but manure too fresh can cause rank growth, so all the more reason to break it down with composting. As I mentioned last week, plants that will not tolerate phosphate fertiliser are Leucadendrons, Proteas, Banksia, and Erica. Dried Blood is high in nitrogen and is an easy way to replenish the nitrogen content in the soil. Plants like Polyanthus, Primulas, and Cyclamen love it and will flourish when you add dried blood to their diet. 100% Pure and Natural. Trim seeding flower heads from hebes to stop them becoming leggy with foliage only on top and bare woody branches below. During a dry autumn spell, gardens respond well to a deep, gentle soaking, especially around maples and rhododendrons but with rain being forecast, it may be a job you don't need to do. Lily bulbs will become available this month and can be planted from now until June as can all other spring bulbs apart from tulips, they are best planted during May. Vegetables  Time to dig up and divide Rhubarb crowns, mixing in heaps of compost before replanting , and a good time for sowing spinach, Snap Peas and spring onions. Fill the top of a shallow pot with Spring onions and pull them as they’re needed. Harvest Pumpkins now and remember not to remove the stalk from the Pumpkin, this stops it from rotting.   fruit: I would be harvesting apples and quince and gathering walnuts in my past large garden this week and would surely come across the odd not-found Easter egg among plants after the big Easter egg hunt in the garden. Cheers, Linda.