Gardening in North Otago August 14th 2018

It is a pleasure to walk about the garden each day now with early spring beginning. This week magnolias, rhododendrons, and camellias are taking center stage while blue bells, iris, crocus and tulips are up to join the already flowering snow drops, daffodils and jonquils and of cause the early plum blossom, what a treat to witness the new growing season beginning.   

Keep an eye out for flowering camellias and rhododendrons now in the garden centers, most are showing buds and flowers, this is the time to choose the right shades for your garden, they thrive in semi shade or afternoon shaded areas of the garden.

It's the perfect time to sow seeds under cover as I mentioned last week, the seeds I planted two weeks ago and have had under plastic are up already.Any seeds that say spring sowing on the back of the packet will pop up now. I use a tray of compost / soil with a layer of seed raising mix on the top.This way your seed raising mix goes further. Once planted cover the trays with plastic or glass, but use spacers to let air circulate between the plastic / glass  and tray.

lavenders can have a cut back now, I see them starting to put out new growth and really old woody bushes can be cut back hard to encourage new lower growth. If these lavenders did not do well last year it is probably time to replace them, newly planted lavenders just need light clip. (Early enough yet though), Feed them manure enriched compost and a little lime.
Softer shrubs that are encroaching on drive and walkways can be trimmed back , they will soon recover with new spring growth. Also reduce the height on some of taller shrubs like phebaliums, pittosporums, psudopanax and the like now if you need to. You can do this without spoiling the shape by cutting out the center branch down to where the other branches bush out, this removes the natural point at the top of the shrub and will sometimes reduce the height by 2 or more meters.  New leaders will sent up over time  but more growth will be put into the side branching which can be trimmed into shape if a problem. This being just the start of a new growing season plants are intent on just growing. (Leave doing this for another month further inland.)
A lot of climbers are in bud now ready to do their thing in Spring so when trimming watch you are not cutting off new buds. Hardenbergia ( happy wanderer) flowered in early winter so that is one that can be cut back. Jasmines have been knocked by frosts in my garden, I will leave them a bit longer until I am sure the frosts are over before trimming them. 
If you have still not feed your roses do it as soon as possible! they are moving fast now and need food kept up to them if you want them to stay healthy.
If you have no time to do anything else in the garden now feeding plants is a must for health and vigour to take them right through to the next autumn, it is well worth the effort and will minimize the spaying needed for unhealthy plants.
Slow release fertilisers are a safe bet for continual feeding over a long period, they are very clean and easy to apply and now days formulated to feed specific Now would be a good time to mention plants that resent being fed. Many South African plants and Australian natives such as proteas, leucodendrons, banksias, and all grevillia's do not need feeding. I have lost some of these because they had absorbed fertiliser from neighbouring plants.
There is still time to divide hostas, these dramatic shade loving perennials can really highlight a shaded spot with their fresh greens and variegated light shades. Simply lift established clumps at least 4 to 5 years old, use a sharp spade to slice them into a few good sizes pieces, then replant. They also look great in pots but get slug bate around them as soon as they start showing leaf or try some of the slug repellent methods that have been passed down by gardeners listed below.
Coffee Grounds: Used coffee grounds spread around susceptible plants may work.
Epsom Salts: Epsom salts sprinkled on the soil will supposedly deter slugs and also helps prevent Magnesium deficiency in your plants. Magnesium helps to deepen color, thickens petals and increases root structure.
Oat Bran: Scatter oat bran on the soil to deter slugs and snails.
Builders Sand: Try barriers of builders sand which has a sharp texture.
Nut Shells: Ground shells of  walnuts would work, if you can find a source or grind your own.
Rosemary: Sprigs of rosemary scattered around are said to repel slugs.
Pine Needles: Try a mulch of pine needles which works well around strawberry plants

Fruit & Vegatables
This is also the time to give fruiting shrubs & trees a dressing of pot ash to helps with fruiting. 
If you plan to grow vegetables this year get the garden ready now, dig in some weed free compost and let the soil settle again.
In area's you will not be planting out for a while why not sow a green crop to add humus to tired soils, mustard, lupine, barley or wheat.These will sprout in no time here on the coast but only when the ground is warm enough up further inland but If weeds are growing you should get a strike. If you do fill vacant areas with green crop dig in when lush, soft and green. Don't let it get to the flowering stalky stage, it takes too long to break down and is not worth the effort of digging in.
Deciduous fruit trees should be planted in August at the latest and everything in the way of small fruit. 
Now is a good time to shift citrus trees.

Cheers, Linda.

Gardening in North Otago August 7th 2018

North Otago is becoming more spring like every week with camellias blooming everywhere, magnolia buds are beginning to burst and spring bulbs thinking it is mild enough to bloom. I feel we still have some cold days and nights to come before we can leap fully into spring which is what is needed for gardens to perform well coming into a new growing season.

Spring is the one time that gardens bursts forth with an abundance of hidden splendor without us having to do a lot of pre planning, nature pretty much takes care of things once they are in place. But I am thinking about early summer right now and what I would like happening in our garden which means seeds need to be sown for the cottage annuals like cosmos, cornflowers, love in the mist, snapdragon and alyssum. all can be sown under glass in a warm area but more tender annuals can wait until it is a little warmer unless you have a heated glass house.  

A few more hydrangeas have been pruned here as nice fat buds are swelling on the stems, cuttings can be taken and bedded in from the hardened stems that  flowered lat season.  A shaded moist area is best for bedding these down and hopefully roots will grow to feed the buds. Some times I get good results by covering the cuttings with a box keeping the light out to hold buds back to encourage roots.

Almost finished pruning roses here, only the flower carpet and fairy roses to go, both these varieties bush up with small non hard wood branching and if large, bushes can be trimmed with a hedge trimmer. If newly planted and small prune back to hard wood at an outward facing bud. Feeding and spraying roses is next, copper oxychloride and winter oil, they can be mixed and applied together as the oil helps the copper to stick and copper helps protect new growth from frosts that occur in late spring. Best not to be applied to fresh new growth when burning may occur,

Vegetable  gardens continue to enjoy the mild weather with the odd frost helping to break down soil. Birds are nesting so cover leaf veg with shade or frost cloth to keep them off. Time for sowing seeds to germinate in a warm well lit place to be ready for pricking out into punnets to be planted out in a warm spring garden. 

Fruit Trees are still available in Garden Centres, if you would like an apple tree but feel your garden is too small why not look at apple ballerina, a very slim non branching variety of apple with Medium, red skin, Crisp and juicy, nice eating and cooking apples, similar in flavour to ‘Jonathan. Ballerina  grows to 3-4m tall by 30cm wide perfect for adding height, blossom and fruit to a small garden.
Grape pruning needs to finish soon before sap rises, to prune a fruiting leader remove all new long growth on the vine other than the fruiting leader, on the leaders prune each new growth back to the second bud. These fruiting buds should be around a hand space apart to ensure adequate sized fruit, this means removing some of the new bud growth along the top of the leader and all of the new bud growth growing underneath. Some of these new budding top growths will throw two lots of bud branch, remove the least stronger one leaving only one lot of double buds to produce fruit.

Keep an eye on peach bud burst which will most likely be early this year, a copper spray right at bud burst will help with leaf curl.
 
Cheers, Linda.

Gardening in North Otago July 31st 2018

The start of another new month that will probably bring more hard frosts even though the temperatures are still mild.

Roots are beginning to move this months looking for nutrients, plants like lilac, clematis, carnations, dianthus, can have a dressing of lime, all herbs as well, it takes time to be taken down where needed by worms. 

Lime can also go on compost heaps to sweeten, I am also adding manure to add nitrogen to leaf mulch which is rotting down in readiness for late spring garden mulch, manure will also encourage worms up towards new layers of organic matter.

Roses: are beginning to bud which is an indication they are looking for food,  apply rose fertiliser and watered in. Watering is not so important for slow release fertilisers they are designed to feed each time water is applied. My roses will also get a dose of worm tea when I get around to it.

Wisteria is next to be pruned, All the long slim leaders growing out in all directions can be removed. Once your wisteria has reached the length required with a chosen leader, or maybe two going in opposite directions all other leaders can be removed. If allowed to grow, a wispy new leader can eventually become as thick as a tree branch, and too many of theses become a tangled mess and very heavy if being trained along a balcony.Don't prune any other part off a wisteria at this time of the year because you will remove the flower buds forming right now. Reduce the size of large established wisterias once flowering has finished. 

Clumps of hellebore's should be looking fantastic right now, once pollinated the center of the flower changes to form seed pods, when this has taken place the stems become firmer and will last in water when picked. Hellebore's seed down very readily growing masses of baby plants beneath the mother plants. These seedlings can be transplanted or potted up in the second year when they have developed two strong leaves, but will not flower until around the forth year. 

I notice Marguerite daisies and my bouganvillea have been damaged by frost, I will leave the damaged growth on top to protect the growth. In case August proves to be our coldest month I hung frost cloth in front of the bouganvilla.
Only this month to go and we will can roll head first into spring leaving these really cold months behind us. Plants that do appreciate cold days and nights are erica's and calluna's they come into their own during winter, displaying stunning shades of pink and white. Some ground cover erica can spread up to a meter and stay looking fresh for a good number of years. As a front planting in a boarder garden they form a carpet to stop that bird scratching problem and suppress weeds, they are so pretty when other plants are resting. Erica's require a dry, sunny situation, no feeding just a hair cut when finished flowering. I noticed a good choice of flowering ericas on offer in Garden centers this week.
Lawns that are regularly fertilized can become more too acid so a dressing of lime now will work down over the next few months, encourage worms and sweeten them a little.
Vegetables & Fruit
On milder North Otago mid-winter days, especially after rain it seem perfect for planting at a time when we usually don't. There are edibles that can go into the ground when it is cold and damp. But remember none of these will survive in boggy soils so good drainage is essential with early plantings. Garlic and Shallots are available to plant - dig compost through your soil or fill a container and plant separated cloves of garlic approximately twice the depth of the clove. Take care not to damage cloves when separating out the bulb. You could get up to 20 cloves per bulb!
Strawberries are easy to plant in all kinds of containers or straight into sunny / raised garden beds along with slow release fertiliser.  Strawberries also seem to do very well in a hanging strawberry bag with an abundance of slow release food, but it would pay to have some bird netting on hand once the fruit starts turning red.
Gooseberry bushes can be attacked this month, clean the middle out of cross over branches and take off branches skirting the ground which lifts the bushes up higher for picking underneath, some of these lower branches can grow roots into the ground, I have potted these sections up to develop into good size bushes in a couple of growing seasons.

Cheers, Linda.

Gardening in North Otago 24th July 2018

Moving into August temperatures are still not freezing here in coastal North Otago and the ground is still soft and damp after rain this week assisting bulbs popping through heading for an early spring display. If temperatures drop now buds will be held but the cold will have a noticeable effect on soft new growth as we are seeing on early flowering camellias which have been affected by frost. However prunus autumnalis is in full flower and the fragrance from winter sweet, witch hazel, Daphne,boronia and violets wafting about gardens makes the spring explosion seem closer. This is time to create and dress the garden by planting out, shifting and feeding, liquid feeding annuals and perennials that have been nursed through winter, Folia feeding helps new leaf growth, budding and flowering plants from now on, roots are starting to take in nutrients to plump up buds.

While raking out the last autumns leaves that had blown under shrubs I come across branches from shrubs laid down in soil forming roots, viburnum, choysia, camellia and hydrangeas. Most shrubs growing low to the ground can sometimes drop a branch into the soil and form roots, leave until the roots become enough to sustain the branch that can eventually be cut from it's Mother plant to be potted and grown on.  This can also be purposely done at the beginning of spring by pegging branches down into the soil, roots should develop at the covered point, making a small wound on the buried stem will help to stimulate root development.

Peony roses: Cut the old growth from peony roses now and destroy, disease can winter over on last years stems, be careful not to knock the new pink shoots emerging from the tubers. Cut the old growth from dahlias now as well, if thick and tubular bend the cut stalk over to prevent rain water building up inside which will lead to rot in a tuber.

Iris: Remove soil / mulch from bearded iris rhizomes, they are starting to move now and need to be partially exposed to give the best flowering, a dressing of lime / potash will boost iris flowering avoid nitrogen which will encourage too much leaf growth. 

Roses: Pruning continues and with roses making a move to bud up roots will be now taking in food, powdered rose food needs watered in around the drip line, slow release fertiliser will work each time it rains, keep manure away from the crown.
Old wood can be cut out of  wigelia and spirea bushes, you can tell which branches they are because the wood looks old and spent compared to the new fresh wood, prickly berberis can be trimmed top and sides, budleias should be cut well down to encourage soft silver branching and catmint can now have all old growth clipped off. 

Bare rooted Trees and Roses are available in Garden Centres, If you think your garden is too small for trees, I have seen dwarf Peach and Nectarine Trees on offer, if you need a smaller tree growing to a width and height of 1.5 metres to add height in a part of your garden why not have one that blossoms beautifully and then gives you fruit and planting trees in grow bags into the ground will contain width and height and still grow, flower and fruit well.

Vegetables: Work the ground now in readiness for spring planting, annual weeds can be dug in and trenching in manure/compost now will be taken down by busy worms to benefit spring roots. If your veg garden has wintered and is ready for planting there are good selections of veg seedlings on offer but once planted will need to be hidden from hungry birds, frost cloth will do this until plants become bigger. 

Fruit: Prune newly planted fruit trees, this is probably the hardest cut you’ll make, but the most important. Cut a new tree at about hip height, do this whether your wanting a vase shape or a single leader. If the main branches start here they’ll be reachable when fully grown. 

Lets hope we don't get too many dull overcast days by the time fruit trees blossom, we need those wonderful bee's to come out and set to work pollinating.

Cheers, Linda.

Gardening in North Otago 17th July 2018

What a cold damp start on Monday to the second week of the School holidays, my Grand Daughters here have been busy cutting out, paper, paper, paper and the sewing machine has been out.....the big reward for keeping themselves busy is the Saturday matinee of Mamma Mia  

Still no encouragement weather wise for Gardeners to get into the garden right now even though there is plenty to do, however I am sure some here on the coast are out on the sunny days pruning roses.  Just in case you need reminding on how to tackle pruning.... make a slanted cut just above a strong outward facing bud.
Standard roses should be pruned to about 25cm above the main stem and bush roses can be cut back about two-thirds, leaving 3-4 buds on each branch. Climbers can go back leaving 5-6 strong canes. Secateurs must be sharp to avoid damage by ripping branches which leads to die back.  

With low cloud and rain about keeping frosts away the ground and plants are benefiting from the softness for new root development but it also benefits slugs, snails and other annoying insects so it is important to rake out all garden litter, dry leaves, twigs and past plant foliage and stalks. It's time to tidy up died back dahlias, peony rose leaves, cat mint any plant which has gone through the winter die back, leave no coverage to pests.

All shallow rooted shrubs like camellia, rhododendron, hydrangea, azalea, lavender, Hebe, fuchsia and some perennials such as ajuga reptans, sedum and euphorbia will be doing well in the damp conditions and I see fat buds forming on rhododendrons, Debbie camellia buds are ready to burst into flower.

I will be leaving the pea straw off gardens with hosta's and perennials until weeds start growing again to avoid creating a place for pests to winter over.

Polyanthus and primulas want to push through and flower they benefit from an application of dried blood to increase plant vigour.

Remember to continue protecting plants like Margarete daisies, pelargoniums and bougainvillea because there will be more hard frost right though to the end of August. 

Under glass sow seeds of antirrhinum (snap dragon), carnation, calendula (common marigold), verbena and viola they should pop up and be ready to plant out in spring, sweet peas can go straight into the ground with a good amount of compost/manure well down for roots to grow deep into.
Dahlias, gladioli, and peonies are coming on the market this month and can be planted from now on 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
If young trees or shrubs need transplanting now is a good time at their most dormant stage and the ground is soft.

Fruit: I notice a lot of yellow and blue green lichen on trunks and branches of my fruit and other trees which I must admit looks as if it could be affecting the health of the trees but no, there is no need to remove lichen. It is not a parasite or other pathogen. This unusual organism cooperates to be self-sustaining throughout the harshest world environments and is beneficial to insects and wildlife for food and shelter. Once leaf cover is back it will not be so noticeable.

Vegetables: Seedlings on offer now can be planted, gradually introduce punnets to cold night temperatures before planting out.

Cheers, Linda.

Gardening in North Otago 10th July 2018

Still no gardening for me while in recovery mode,coming from Dunedin and home a few days I was fortunate to then fall into the very capable hands of our wonderful Oamaru Hospital and equally wonderful caring Staff and now as this unusually mild mid winter weather will be getting bacteria working in my compost heaps I am concentrating on the same process for my inner well being.

Gardens will be stirring as they would in early spring during mild weather North Otago has been experiencing, very confusing for trees, shrubs, plants and bulbs as resting time is disturber but they will no doubt duck for cover again as we Gardeners will when temperatures plummet again.

How special each new bloom is in a bare winter garden, mulch works well now on all bare ground and tucked around winter flowering blooms helping to keep ground warmer and smothering annual weed seeds wanting to germinate.  The clean much on offer by our local Pukeuri ( Alliance  Group)  meat works is ideal for this, dry ground will need a wetting if rain hasn't done this before applying the mulch.Contact for this mulch is Gregg 0272293215

Primulas and violas should be well clumped up now after an autumn cut back and because they multiply well  these plants make fantastic borders. First dig out a clump and pull apart, each section with roots will become a new plant to clump up. Trim ragged perennials like cat mint back to the new growth you should be able to see coming through then dig around or muich to encourage the new roots.

If you have leggy Rhododendrons this would be a good time to cut back the height to healthy new growth lower down, this will encourage the bush to thicken up through the middle.Flower buds will be removed and It is not a quick fix as will probably take a number of years for a bush to push out enough new growth to compensate for what was removed but worth the wait.

Boost bedding plants with fish based fertiliser or a little dried blood to encourage buds during sunny winter days. 

Vegetables:

This mild winter weather has been kind to producing vegetable gardens here on the coast, soups will be brimming with the addition of silver beet, broccoli, cauliflower flower, carrots, kale, leeks and all those lovely pumpkins stored before the frosts arrived.  When areas of the veg garden become vacant work some compost in and let frost and worms work on soil in readiness for an early spring plant out. In cold areas start garlic off in containers and plant out later when the ground warms up.

Fruit: If your strawberry patch is manured and ready plant new strawberry runner plants in now while the ground is soft and moist. 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 ) this is the best time of the year to prune fruit trees however early to Late Spring is best for Peach trees they 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. 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, you will want to cut away any overly vigorous stems, which are usually high in the trees. 

Cheers, Linda 

Gardening in North Otago June 27th 2018

This is proving to be a cold winter at times, I was forced to spend last week in Hospital looking out at the Dunedin gloom on those dull days. So as you will imagine my outside working hard days are over for about 6 weeks, Dam it.

There is much work to be done gardens at this time, compost and pea straw spreading, trees to be dealt to with a chain saw. Because it is too late in the year to trim soft trees and shrubs huge over grown ivy and out of control evergreen climbers can be tidied up. Ivy is like wisteria  if you are too kind to it, some of those twining soft leaders it puts out will grow into a thick woody tree trunk if left.
This is a great time of the year to really look at the garden while it is bare and sleeping, any new growth beneath the graft area on a tree can be removed. 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 looks some what bazaar.
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 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. But never prune like this on a dull damp day, this could spread silver leaf pick a bright sunny day.


Digging up and shifting things around like rhododendrons, azalea's and magnolias. Anything that you think has been struggling in the spot it was planted. This is the time to remove trees and shrubs that have long out grown their youthful beauty and replace with a younger version of the original or something different. You can change the whole look of a tired garden by doing this. If a huge gap is going to be left with the removal of a tree or shrub, fill the gap with a section of manuka screening placed behind the smaller replacement plant, it will give the plant protection and privacy and once the plant has reached the desired height and width the screening can be removed. 
Lots of rogue trees and shrubs birds would have have introduced will have popped up everywhere, some which have grown in among shrubs like rhododendrons and camellias some become quite established before they are noticed then are 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 plant.

On the coast there are so many things that have self seeded and 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 and primulas 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 l 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.
Lawns:
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. 

-- Cheers, Linda