Gardening in North Otago July 9th 013

With the mild weather we had 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 getting a head start and spring bulbs are well on which may mean we are in for an early spring. Daphne’s are in flower now along with hellebore's, primroses and polyanthus. Primroses are so pretty and clump up well and in time can be broken up spread around to add colour to a winter garden. If you are at the stage to break up clumps remove quite a few leaves on transplanting, they will soon grow more along with new roots to support them. Polyanthus and primulas will benefit from an application of Dried Blood to increase plant vigour and flowering. Under glass sow seeds of antirrhinum (snapdragon), carnation, calendula (common marigold) sweet peas, verbena and viola for planting out in Spring. Dahlias, gladioli, and peonies are also coming into 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, planting can continue until September. As I mentioned last week, If young trees or shrubs need transplanting now is a good time to do it whilst they are at their most dormant stage. Remember to continue protecting plants like Margarete daisies and pelargoniums from frosts with Frost Cloth if in severe frost area. Turn over compost now if you have not already done so and add some moisture if the pile is dry. Cover with plastic or straw to hold any heat which will be accumulateing in the center. If you still have leaves to Rake up why not fill large black rubbish bags,add a little water and leave to rot. Leaf mulch is such natural benefit to soil which we tend to remove at leaf fall stage because it looks untidy.Rotting it down in this way you can then add it to the soil and it will not be noticed. pruning is still going on here in my garden, as well as roses I have made an early start on some of the more sheltered hydrangeas by cutting back canes that have flowered at the second bud from the bottom, leave all canes without a spent flower on top because these will support the new seasons flowers. In colder areas I would leave hydrangeas until they really start bursting bud, the spent flowers on top are protecting the new forming buds. This is a good time to reduce the width of gardens, I find with trimming grass edges with a line trimmer gardens tend to increase in width slightly each year, to the point where after a number of years I need to reduce width by filling in back to the original line with sifted soil, then resowing grass. Garden borders do not need to be wide to give a colourful display, wide borders mean digging and unnecessary work and expense filling them. If you have borders getting choked with clumps of bulbs leaving not a lot of room for other plantings put a sharp spade through the clumps now and remove half before the bulbs put on too much growth. Bulbs are always sort after by gardeners so you will have no trouble giving them away if you have no room for them yourself. At this time of the year I make a few trips to the Waireaka sale yards to the Waireaka Valley Lions Club sawdust and sheep manure stand, volunteers clean 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 on wet gardens as a weed suppressant, it helps to absorb excess moisture, but never on dry gardens. I use sheep manure on the compost heaps, the vegetable garden and around the roses when horse 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 seedling plants that are now on offer along with garlic cloves. Gardeners I have long known the advantages of growing comfrey but have lately 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 it can spread, it needs to be planted where it can send it's roots very deep down into the soil so it can 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 up the decomposing materials and enriches 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 prior to 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

Gardening in North Otago 23rd May 2013

My journey started on the afternoon of Sunday May 18th and ended 30+ hours later landing me here in Brighton, UK to take full, first hand advantage of the fresh spring growth....very surreal it is coming from a late Kiwi South island Autumn. On my way from the airport I passed English tree woods sporting new lush green growth, some still in blossom rising up from carpets of blue bells, clematis scrambling here and there, hanging baskets and window boxes bursting with colour from pansies, ivy and primula plus mass planted tulips in all their spring splendor made this all seem very premature for me after just having planted out so many tulip bulbs a day or two before I left Oamaru. I received the biggest welcome from Daughter Lara, Son in law Sam and my three excited Grandies all now one year older since my visit last year. Nana is well and truly now on board with the promise of fun filled School holidays starting next week! If at home I would be continuing to cut all old leaves off the hellebore's and dahlias then giving each a dressing of manure enriched compost before adding a warming layer of pea straw to bed them down for winter. Summer & autumn flowering Plants and trees are shutting down to rest over the colder months and will be looking tired and messy, plants such as dahlia, perennial phlox, alstroemeria, Japanese anemone and salvia, along with annuals that flowered over summer and autumn. Don't wait around to see how much more flowering they will do, chop perennials back and remove annuals before they exhaust themselves making unwanted seed. I always leave one or two for seed collection but once that is done they are gone and the annuals replaced with plants for the new season colour after compost has been added. Rain is is a bonus in North Otago at this time of the year as plants, trees & lawns go into winter hibernation but we do not need too much rain as roots will soon stop taking in excess moisture leaving it to sit and make soil cold and sour. If much rain is experienced it will then allow a chance to see where water is pooling and better drainage can be put in place. If drainage is a problem in planting areas before replanting, soil can be dug out to well below the root level and a thick layer of sharp gravel or river stone can be placed there to act as a sump, then replace the soil on top and plant out. This is really effective when planting new trees in a suspected wet spot. Young trees do not have a enough root mass to deal with excess moisture but will cope once the tap root is well down and more large roots have develop. However there are trees, shrubs and plants that will never cope well with excess moisture so it pays to read labels carefully. Plants that can be planted in wet areas arehosta, astilbies, arum lilly, willow and many New Zealand native plants & trees can tolerate wet conditions. Aninternet search or tapping into Garden center staff knowledge will save wrong choices. keep an on any delicate plants leading up to frosty nights and have frost cloth at the ready. Frost cloth needs to be draped over a frame or raised sticks pushed firmly into the ground, the cloth should not be touching not touching plants to make it effective. Lawns Those who have had a good autumn lawn strike will probably have given the first cut, don't be too hard on new grass it is still very soft and roots will not be far down. An autumn sow needs to winter over to harden off, don't worry about the annual weeds that came up with the grass the first mowing and frosts will take care of most of them. Leave spraying until spring because you will not gain anything by doing it now and very new grass could be effected by harsh sprays Vegetables We have had a bumper vegetable growing season and some gardens will still be producing summer veg I am sure with freezers playing a big part in storing the excess crops. If tomatoes are still producing it will not be for much longer now, but vines can be taken out of the ground and hung in a frost protected place for tomatoes to ripen naturally on the vine. Hoe or work up soil in vegetable beds if they have become compacted to aerate before heavy winter rains arrive. This will encourage worms to the surface to condition the soil for spring and green crops, such as lupin or mustard could be sown and raked into vacant aerated ground to be dug in as humus once sprouted. If seedlings, such as turnips or carrots, have taken hold it's important to thin them out to give them room to develop under ground, if you don't it is likely you will end up with a good crop of green tops only. I put some butter crunch lettuce seed in a couple of weeks ago which I noticed had just germinated before I left, i am sure they will be ready for me to prick out and grow on when I am back. I find butter crunch copes with cold conditions very well especially in raised beds which stay slightly warmer than ground level gardens. I have also planted out a lot of NZ raised garlic cloves, I grew enough by planting in May last year to keep me going for months. Fruit Pick apples, pears, quince and other pip and stone fruits as they ripen, they should store well from now on, I notice the birds have had a good go at what is remaining on my fruit trees, white plastic shopping bags fluttering in the wind can be enough to make birds think twice before landing. May is the month to plant citrus trees, blueberry bushes I will take a break from moon planting info now until the new planting season in spring, which is what I am enjoying already. Cheers, Linda

Gardening in North Otago 4th June 2013

Well, the camping started well with sun and a row up the river Thames from our campsite at Reading, situated just past Henley where the setting up for the famous Henley Royal ( rowing) regatta was taking place. But then it all turned to custard with heavy rain all that night and more for the cast for the days to follow..... tents, rain, mud and small Children, not a good combination anywhere in the World, so pack up we did. The drive back to Brighton on the M4 for an Oamaru country Gardener was nothing short of horrendous with four bumper-to-bumper lanes, driving rain, fog, and three bored Children. I am sure you can conjure up a picture of this in your mind! but all good in the end the sun is now shining and we are three days into the School holidays here in the UK! A few days on and the days have been lovely in this seaside City, hoards of people swarm in off the trains for the Brighton experience, I like to spend time in the parks where gardens are planted full to bursting with spring flowering perennials and their fragrance, even the occasional early peony rose fat red-tipped buds ready to explode open. Roses are poised in the early bud stage waiting for longer periods of sunshine to become the promised summer blooms. If I were back in my garden at home, this being the beginning of June The pea straw would still be going on helping to keep the moisture in the ground for Spring growth. Keep tidying up perennials that need to rest now and divide overgrown plants and plant-rooted cuttings from the outer edges of perennial clumps, if you think the mother plant is past its best, dispose of it. Keep planting lilium bulbs. These are best placed in raised beds. Don’t let the roots dry out at all. Make early plantings of gladioli in well-drained sites for November flowering. Roses will have finished flowering now, as soon as the leaves fall I spray Lime Sulphur first, then wait several weeks before spraying Champion Copper and Conqueror Oil ( I usually leave this spraying until after I have pruned in July) to eliminate powdery mildew, lichen, and moss. Clean up dead leaves under rose bushes to prevent pest and disease spread. New season bare-rooted roses should be arriving in Garden centers soon, prepare ground ready now by digging in old stable manure or bagged rose mix. If planting a rose in the same place a rose has been growing, you will need to remove most of the soil that the rose was growing in and replace it with soil from another part of the garden, disease is transferred very quickly from one rose to another. Roses planted at this time of the year are less likely to suffer from planting stress. Re-pot container-grown buxus every second year or if they look pot-bound. Trim the outer roots and replace any loose soil with a new potting mix. Buxus make a huge amount of root growth every year and do not seem to suffer from the removal of half of these roots from the outside of the root ball. Plant polyanthus, pansies, and snapdragons for a bright patch of colour, a few polys in a pot are all that's needed to brighten up any doorway. Once wisterias have lost all leaves, prune off all long and unruly canes because if you don't they will entwine themselves around established branches and keep growing thicker each year. Lawns; Growth should have slowed right down now and lawns will be at the tufty stage, our lawn mowers are usually on the go until the last of the leaves have been picked up. Vegetable On the coast Sow broad beans, garlic, shallots, and rhubarb. In colder areas, nothing much can be planted.  Cheers, Linda

Gardening in North Otago 26th June 2013

Home again after so many hours in the sky....how did passengers with small Children manage before the movies and games were offered?? I arrived last Thursday to snow, wind & rain but the flooding was reseeding and roads were open so all good and here I am back into the garden with the UK spring splendor a fading memory. It's been nice week after all the rain especially today Tuesday, such a lovely sunny day after the frost here on the coast. Once I got the jet lag under control I was back into the garden gear & boots to acclimatize myself to these winter days. Thanks to Bob and my helper Sally the ankle deep drifts of leaves I left behind had been dealt to and with all the rain the compost heaps are working to break them all down. I got cracking and cleaned out the hen house so the manure could be added to the compost heaps. Hen manure is great at this time of the year because it is a strong manure and will aid the heating process, it needs to break down over winter before it can be put on the garden. After the flooding we have had a chance to see areas in the garden not draining well, if you have plants that are water logged dig them up and improve where they are growing by digging the hole deep down to the clay which is probably forming a pan and holding the water. Break up the clay as much as you can then put a layer of gypsum on top of the broken clay, then add at least three shovels of gravel to create a sump for water to drain into. By doing this the plant of your choice can stay in that spot without the risk of drowning. All the leaves have been cut from all my hellebore's because on the underside of the leaves they were infested with greenfly wintering over, which means they were just waiting to pounce onto my roses come Spring. The flowers have already poped and look lovely on their own without the leaves, new fresh leaves to follow nearer spring. Keep tiding up and dividing perennials and large clumps like agapantha and summer flowering bulbs that just keep multiplying. A good sharp spade is what you will need for this job, just slice through, pull apart and plant else where, give away or dispose of. Make early plantings gladioli for November flowering and sweet-pea planted now will flower in early spring. Roses: Clean up dead leaves under rose bushes to prevent the spread of pest and disease, I am about to do a lime sulphur spray before I prune then about six weeks later after pruning I will do a Champion Copper and Conqueror Oil spray to eliminate powdery mildew, lichen and moss. Re-pot container grown buxus every second year or if they look pot bound.Trim the outer roots and replace any loose soil with new potting mix. They make a huge amount of roots every year and not all are needed. Plant polyanthus for a bright patch of colour a few poly's in a pot is all that's needed to brighten up any doorway. Once wisterias have lost all their leaves prune off all long and unruly canes because if you don't they will entwine themselves around established branches and keep growing thicker each year. Veg: On the coast Sow broard beans, garlic, shallots and rubarb. Colder areas nothing much can be planted. Fruit: This week I will go through the pruning required for pear trees. Generally, it is not recommended to heavily prune pear trees but if this is required the best time to do major pruning on pear trees is during winter. The more you prune, the greater the chance that fire blight will develop (the leaves and branches will look as if they have been burned by fire), this delays fruit production. If only a light trim is required this is best done late in the summer. The least amount of regrowth will be stimulated by pruning after the trees have finished growing for the year and have hardened their wood. If you live in an area where there's a chance for winter damage, wait to prune until late winter. Pear trees bloom and bear fruit on the sharp, short spurs that grow between its branches. Thin the spurs regularly. Older spurs should be removed occasionally to be replaced by more vigorous young ones. If you end up with too many small fruits set in one year, thin them out to let the remaining fruit grow larger. Envision how you want your pear trees to look and set a three-year plan to get your them into the shape and size you want., First year: remove limbs that are diseased, damaged, upright, crossing and crowded. Suckers need to be removed as soon as you notice them to avoid them turning into woody, weak wood. Second year: thin out the tree some more and bring down some of the height. Third year: thin out the trees some more and cut down to the desired height. (Burn all trimmings) You can avoid ending up with too much fruit that goes to waste by thinning the fruit on the branches after it has set. Leave at least 5 inches between the fruit, this will reduce your harvest and increase the health of the remaining fruit. There a many new varieties of both pear and apple trees that have been cultivated to be very resistant to fire blight. FIRE BLIGHT:This is one disease that can severely damage and, or kill your fruit trees.The leaves and twigs of the trees get the disease from insects who enter the flowers during springtime. The insects get it by gathering pollen from nearby cedar trees. The best way to prevent the disease is by choosing a resistant variety, it also helps to keep the tree moist, especially during blossom time and when the fruit is ripening. Using mulch around the base of the tree will help hold in moisture and may also prevent too-early flowering. If your tree has already been hit by fire blight, you will need to prune out the affected shoots at least several inches below the damaged area. Be sure to sterilize your clippers in a chlorine solution between cuts and destroy the cuttings by burying or burning them. If your tree is badly damaged, it may need to be replaced. Gardening by the moon Waning Gibbous Third quarter planting, or from the full moon to half-full. Plant biennials, perennials, bulb and root crops. Crops which are planted one season the produce yields the following year, trees, and shrubs. 3rd Qtr. Veg garden examples: Onions, potatoes, rhubarb, grapes, winter wheat, and berries. Cheers, Linda.

Gardening in North Otago 2nd July 2013

Where were the frosts this week? milder dull, overcast days closeing in on us around 4.30pm do not inspire gardeners to work outside making it I think the perfect garden planning time to be a step ahead before spring planting. Rose pruning continues here in my garden.The time by which rose pruning should be completed varies by several weeks from the warmest to coldest gardens now that rose wood has hardened off. Pruning should be done and dusted by the time buds break. Bush roses: concentrate on clearing the center of the bush, remove all inward facing branches at an outward facing bud, prune height back by two thirds always at an outward facing bud and remove any really old and damaged branches. Brush old gnarly rose centers with a wire brush to stimulate and encourage new budding. Florabuda bush roses like iceberg need a few older branches taken right back each year to encourage new strong branching and newer branches taken back by two thirds. Hybrid tea roses: These are the roses that can grow exhibition blooms, these rose bushes can be pruned back quite hard to an outward facing bud. Standard bush roses: Same as bush roses. Climbing roses: These roses flower at their best when the branches are trained horizontally along a fence or wall, they develop small branches along the length of the trained branch and give a brilliant show. After a number of years these long horizontal branches will need to be removed and replace by a softer new branch, being careful not to damage this soft wood, train gently out to take the place of the removed old wood. The new branch will bud up quickly sending out small outward growing branches and harden off in a couple of years. Prune the outward growing branches growing along established horizontal branch's back to the second from the bottom at an outward facing bud. It's the new bud growth from this pruning that will develop into flowers. Pillar roses; These are the best type to climb up and be trained over an arch or pergola. I cut the old growth back off these with a hedge trimmer. Fairy rose & flower carpet roses: These, I also cut back with a hedge trimmer but open them up by removing branches from the middle with secateurs. The bulk of new seasons bare rooted deciduous trees are arriving into retail shops now, continue planting while the soil is soft and moist, but avoid times when the ground is frozen or excessively wet. Young deciduous trees and shrubs can also be moved at this time, trim damaged roots and cut back any that are inconveniently long. Evergreen trees and shrubs are on offer as well, choose now but don't be in a hurry to plant them at this coldest time of the year because you will not gain any new growth until spring. Keep in their bags or pots outside in a sheltered place to harden off. They can sit like this through winter. Make sure to read the labels and know how high and wide a shrub and tree will grow, some, like natives grow fast and when mature will throw considerable shade. When planting along side the house ask advice. Compost heaps are working much more slowly now than in the summer and autumn but the worms will be still working as long as there is adequate moisture. Heaps can be kept warmer by being covered, I use straw which lets the rain in. Boost bedding plants with fish based fertiliser or a little dried blood.to encourage buds during sunny winter days. Veg: This mild winter weather has been kind to producing vegetable gardens, I have peas in flower, I planted them at the start of winter as a trial and so far so good. Once I have used all the carrots, parsnip and silver beet I will dig the raised gardens over and work in some compost in readiness for spring planting. In cold areas start garlic off in containers and plant out later when the ground warms up If your strawberry patch is manured and ready plant new strawberry runner plants in now while the ground is soft and moist. Fruit: Finish planting deciduous fruit trees and bushes in a sunny site, avoid frosty hollows for early starters such as plums and pears. Frosty sites are no disadvantage for soft fruits as winter chills will stimulate fruit buds. Continue to shelter citrus in frosty gardens, they should be offering a lot of fruit to pick now ( marmalade sounds good ) The best time of the year to prune fruit trees. Early to Late Spring for Peaches Peach trees should be pruned yearly to maintain an open center, prune off the damaged wood in the early spring. This will allow the wounds to close faster as growth begins. In the early spring you should also be able to see how many flower buds have survived the cold weather. Be sure to thin the fruit on the trees to about 6 inches between fruits. Early Spring for Plums Plum trees should be pruned to maintain an open center. If the prune off the damaged wood in the early spring. This will allow the wounds to close faster as growth begins. Don't let your plum tree branch too close to the ground. The best fruit often grows at the top of the trees. Keep the tops of trees low, so they are easily accessible. Winter for Apples and pears The best time to prune your apple and pear tree is when it is dormant, during the late Autumn and winter. During the dormant season, you will want to cut away any overly vigorous stems, which are usually high in the trees. Cheers, Linda

Gardening in North Otago June 23rd June 2013

I am at the packing stage of my UK Nana visit now, I leave tomorrow Tuesday 19th to make my way back to lovely Oamaru with no traffic jams, queuing or mountains rubbish laying about the streets due to the rubbish collectors strike here in Brighton. I had a short break in Bromley with a day in busy London and a day spent at Kew Palace Gardens. What a treat this was, so much history with a day not long enough to see all. The Palace, the Royal kitchens, the famous Kew glass houses full of exotic plants from all around the World and many other attractions. One I was excited about viewing was a collection of Henry Moore sculptures which were placed perfectly around the vast gardens. Some trees dating back 300 years are expertly maintained, these and many ,many more wonderful attractions connected with the garden are being viewed by hordes of Garden lovers daily. But Oamaru, home and routine again are where my thoughts drift now. I heard about all the rain in North Otago and the prediction of snow by the time I am home, so I am expecting a chilly return but if I am able to get onto things there will be a lot of work to be done in our garden I am sure. As I have written not so long ago It is a good time of the year to really look at the garden, with deciduous trees and shrubs bare inspection of trees and shrubs sprouting new growth beneath their graft area can be taken off. All large deciduous trees such as flowering cherries, magnolia, silver birch, ashes, oaks any large well grown specimen tree bought today will have been grafted onto strong growing root stock different to the top graft. From time to time the root stock will push growth out and up and because it is strong growing it will always overtake the grafted wanted specimen. This must be cut out, I have seen a few mature trees left to grow this way and the result is not good, a prunus displaying beautiful pink blossom on one side and insipid root stock white blossom on the other side spoils a tree that should have grown beautifully into its shape.Thinning out of branches can be done now, if branches are crossing over each other or there are far too many in the centre of a tree don't just shorten a branch back because it will regrow from that point, take it right out and let some light in. Prunus and Malus (crab apple trees) are bad for producing over crowding branches which tend to rub together and encourage disease if not removed. Always make sure your pruning equipment is cleaned from one tree to the next, methylated spirits is good for doing this to avoid spreading silver leaf which is killer of prunus trees. Digging up and shifting things around like rhododendrons, azalea's and magnolias can be done now, anything that I think has been struggling in the spot it has been planted in. This is also the time to remove trees and shrubs that have long out grown their youthful beauty, replace with a younger version of the original or something different. you can change the whole look of a tired garden by doing this. I find lots of rogue trees and shrubs that the birds have introduced to our garden popping up everywhere while weeding, some which have grown in amongst shrubs like rhododendrons and camellias have become quite established before I noticed them and stubborn to remove. It is best to remove them completely if you can because they just keep growing stronger each year and undermine the roots of the needed plants. On the coast there are so many things that have self seeded can be planted to grow on at this time of the year like hellebore, lupins, poppies, pansy, viola, forget- me- not and primula. If you have pollyantha's that you left in the ground from last year they will have multiplied, and will be easy to break apart and plant out separately. Polly's love dried blood it greens them up after transplanting. If you do get some dried blood sprinkle a little around camellia's and Daphne's if they do not look like they are thriving. Plant sweet-pea's now to flower very early spring. Winter lawns that have been performing poorly in spite of feeding and watering may be improved with a winter liming. Aim to achieve a PH of around 6 (mildly acid) which will encourage strong grass growth. Vegetables: In the vegetable garden where green leafy vegetables and onions will be growing next summer give a dressing of 250 grams per square metre of dolomite lime. If you follow a regular rotation this will ensure that most of the garden receives lime once in three years, permanent crops like rhubarb should be limed every three years as well. in gardens fed with compost rather than chemical fertilisers the PH tends to rise gradually eventually making regular liming unnecessary. The hellebore's (Winter roses) are starting to send up flowers, I removed all the old leaves from mine which really shows the pretty flowers off. There are a lot of hellebore seedlings growing around the main plants, I leave the very small first year ones but dig out and transplant seedlings from year before. These second year seedlings will take another few years to flower and look best in mass plantings. Hellebore's like to be planted in damp soil and semi shade, they do wonderfully well planted around rhododendrons, camellias and azaleas. Fruit People have been asking me about the pruning of fruit trees, it is confusing to explain unless showing someone so I thought I would give an explanation which I hope will be easy to follow starting with the most planted fruit tree. How To Prune Apple Trees First, fruit is produced from shoots which are in their second (or later) year. One of the aims of pruning is to produce a balance (roughly half and half) between side shoots produced this year and side shoots produced last year. This will provide a crop of apples in the current year and sufficient shoots for next year's crop. Second, when you prune during winter (while the tree is dormant), this will invigorate the tree, causing it to grow more during the following season. If you prune during summer this will cause the tree to grow less during that growing season. Spring pruning has an effect somewhere between winter and summer pruning. The first pruning should occur immediately after planting (normally June / July) - make sure you know if you have a one or two year old tree. The examples below show pruning starting at a one year old tree. PRUNE A ONE YEAR OLD TREE A one year old tree should be pruned immediately after planting - cut off the top half of the trunk with a sharp pair of secateurs. Before cutting, make sure that the bottom half contains at least four buds or formed branches. If not, make the cut higher, above the fourth bud. PRUNE A TWO YEAR OLD TREE Prune from June / August. The light grey coloured parts of the tree show growth in the previous year, this should not be pruned. The black coloured side shoots should all be pruned by a third - see the thick black lines. When pruning, cut just above an outward facing bud - this bud will then produce a side shoot in the spring which will grow away from the centre of the tree. PRUNE A THREE YEAR OLD TREE Prune from June / August. Pruning is similar to the two-year old tree - the light grey coloured parts of the tree show growth in the previous year, this should not be pruned. The black coloured side shoots should all be pruned by a third. Always prune to just above an outward facing bud. PRUNE A FOUR YEAR OLD TREE Prune from June until August Pruning is the similar to the three-year old tree - the light grey coloured parts of the tree show growth in the previous year, this should not be pruned unless it is diseased. The black coloured side shoots should all be pruned by a third. Always prune to just above an outward facing bud. A FIVE YEAR OLD TREE can be considered mature and the basic shape will have been established. Pruning should consist of keeping the centre of the tree relatively clear of growth, removing all weak or diseased growth and keeping the tree within the space available. Remember that apples will grow on wood produced the previous year, so always leave a good proportion (say 50%) of the previous year's growth. I hope this is straight forward and helpful. I will write about stone fruit pruning next week. Cheers, Linda

Gardner abroad from North Otago May 27th 2013

The uk warmed up for a couple of days and being Bank holiday the streets of Brighton were swarming with people off the trains and making for the beach. There are many festivals in May and our Son in law Sam being a Chief is working every given moment feeding the crowds with is famous "Posh lamb burgers" on the water front and hoping his restaurant Sam's of Brighton is filling up at the same time. The gardener Nana from Oamaru NZ is going camping for a night out in the English country side, goodbye concrete, shops and people mass for a couple of days....Ya! Hello blue bells, lilac, japonica, fresh green tree's and new perennial growth and ohhh the spring fragrance waiting for me. At home this is a good time to give thought to improving the look of your garden while trees are bare and gardens are clear of full growth. Don't cling to plants, shrubs or trees that are past their best. If they look like they are past it they are. As I say often, remove them and replace the spot with something fresh and worth looking at. If it's shrubbery you need to remove and are worried about leaving a gap and lack of privacy you can always fill the gap with manuka screening until the replacement grows to the required size. I think manuka screen looks very non intrusive and creates a wind break and shelter for new plantings. It is also time to look at the shape of trees now that the leaves are gone, remove lower branches if you think the tree would look better with more trunk showing and check young trees are not sporting double trunks. Cross over branches should be removed and if there are two branches doing the same job remove the lower branch of the two and any weak spindly growth. Some trees like silver pear and crab apples can get a mass of branches in the center going in every direction, they look so good once they have been thinned out. If you need to remove large branches it is important to cut at the right place and leave the basal collar in tact, ( a slanted cut leaving a short portion of the branch at the base of the trunk) as this contains cells which will seal the wound from disease. Slim straight branches are perfect to feed through a wood mulcher , once turned into wood chip mulch they can be put back onto the garden. you are finding small native trees popping up around your garden which you know were not planted by you, you can be sure the birds have planted the seeds. I have them every where, now is a good time to shift these if you have room for them, or pot them up and give them to someone planting a native area. I am sure the mulch is still going on gardens there at home this helps to keep the ground warmer and moisture in as well as adding food and humus to the garden. Leucodendrons are taking center stage now, they are wonderful for picking once fully hardened and will last for months picked and put in a vase, just the thing when there is not lot else to pick. Leucodendrons are easy to grow in the conditions they prefer, being full sun, good draining acid soil and staked and protected from strong winds until established. They will grow on dry banks and rough area's as long as they do not have to compete with grass and weeds. Leucodendrons resent any type of fertiliser and once planted and growing will die if shifted. There are leucodendrons which grow very large, low spreaders which look great spilling over walls, low bushy types and they all add wonderful colour to a dull winter garden. Vegetables & Fruit Keep planting out seedling veg plants, board beans. Winter is also the time for planting rhubarb and asparagus crowns so prepare the ground with rich composted now, get them planted and established and in no time you can make rhubarb crumble and asparagus rolls. Black current bushes should have as much of the old dark shoot removed leaving only the light coloured smooth vigorous young growth .Red currents will not fruit on new wood so older wood should be kept for 3 years just cut out the odd old branch yearly to encourage a few new replacements Give all current bushes a good two hand fulls of bonemeal or blood and bone in spring to ensure a good crop of fruit. Cheers, Linda