· Having always fancied a moat (note to selves: first get a castle), the news that some British MP claimed expenses for moat maintenance (3000 pounds sterling) had us chuckling. A quick net search yielded up the information that other moat owners were a little surprised at the idea of maintenance on a regular basis. Apparently moats are static bodies of water on a clay base and aside from a major clean out once a century or so which would cost at least 10 times that price, they are left to the fish and swans to maintain a balance. Leeds Castle just out of London has a splendid moat which was simply magical when seen with white swans floating on mirror clear waters on a dead calm and misty winter’s day.

· Gardeners with more modest ornamental ponds here may wish to reduce the amount of leaf litter that can accumulate in them, especially at this time of the year. Allowing vegetation to rot down in the water can increase the nutrient levels, reduce the oxygen and kill the fish. It can also lead to a growth in algae as temperatures rise. A butterfly net (used to be available cheaply in toy stores when our children were younger) can be a handy tool for scooping small ponds. Loose netting over the top can be a temporary measure to reduce leaf litter.

· As feijoa harvests finish, get in and do a clean up and light prune. Rake back any rotting fruit to around the plant so that it can act as a compost. Take out dead wood, thin or spindly growth, keep it reasonably open and give a light hair cut all over. Feijoas are wonderfully obliging plants, never needing spraying and tolerant of complete neglect but they will reward such efforts with a better crop and larger fruit next year.

· If you still like to spray your lawns, despite our frequent questioning of the practice, autumn is a safer time to use hormone sprays than spring. There are special lawn sprays that target certain weeds or sulphate of ammonia can be used on broad leafs. An old carving knife can equally be used to cut off broad leafed weeds just below the surface. The reason we advocate autumn spraying is because even the slightest drift of hormone spray (and most lawn sprays are hormone sprays) can cause major damage to new growth on neighbouring deciduous plants in spring. Every year, somebody asks us why they have distorted leaves, particularly on magnolias and it is invariably hormone spray drift.

· The dreary late autumn weather we are enduring at this time does rather sap the motivation. If you have Sky, tune in to the Living Channel at 5.00pm on Saturdays to catch Small Town Gardens. This programme packs in a remarkable amount of information and the latest series is very good, even for those of us who don’t have small town gardens. We have seen some really heavy weight English designers talking us through the process.

· In between showers, get that autumn copper spray onto citrus trees and stay on top of the rash of autumn weed seeds which are germinating. Getting a mulch onto garden beds should suppress more weeds and will help to condition soils. If you are of a romantic disposition, you can think of it as laying a blanket around your plants.

· While anthropomorphising plants, this week’s quote comes from Victoria Glendinning: “Science, or para-science, tells us that geraniums bloom better if they are spoken to. But a kind word every now and then is really quite enough. Too much attention, like too much feeding, and weeding and hoeing, inhibits and embarrasses them.”

• The most important spray of the year for citrus trees is the autumn copper one. Without it, the fruit can be susceptible to rot even while hanging on the tree. Mandarins are the most vulnerable. While most of Taranaki can grow lemon trees, warmer coastal areas can equally grow mandarins, Tahitian limes, oranges, grapefruit and tangelos. To ensure good fruiting, look for grafted, named varieties (not seedlings) and pay accordingly. The key to self sufficiency in citrus (which we have, thanks to the previous generation of gardeners here) is to plant a range of different varieties. Our absolute stand-by is the orange Lue Gim Gong but we have no idea if this is still available commercially. If you see it, buy it. Washington Navel is another excellent choice for our conditions here, especially on trifoliata dwarfing rootstock.

• If you are fortunate enough to have an asparagus bed, make sure that it is cleaned up and weed free. Gently fork the surface over to stop it from getting too compacted but be careful not to damage the asparagus crowns which sit out of sight below the surface. Then cosset it under a blanket of mulch. Asparagus is a clumping perennial and it is a permanent fixture in the garden.

• Keep a watchful eye out for spring bulbs coming through and be vigilant with slug and snail control around these. Try circling the patches of foliage with a generous ring of bran if you want a more eco-friendly solution to poison. The bran does not kill them but after gorging themselves on it, the slugs and snails then tend to lie there in a comatose state waiting for the early birds to get them.

• A local garden centre was advertising the first of the lily bulbs last weekend so keep an eye out from here on for summer bulbs which will be coming into stock. Bulbs require some forward planning as opposed to impulse buying.

• If you have wrenched larger shrubs and trees for relocation, get onto moving them now even if deciduous ones have still to drop their leaves. Take as large a ball of roots as you can physically manage and prune back the top of the plant by about a third to reduce the shock. If you lack a digger or a suitable tractor with a bucket, the old fashioned approach is to lever the plant out onto a tarpaulin, piece of old carpet or similar and then drag it to the new location. This usually requires more than one person.

• The popular navel oranges have all descended from a chance mutation discovered at a Brazilian monastery around 1820. Because navel oranges do not ever set seed, they can not reproduce on their own. The world stock of navel oranges has, apparently, descended from cuttings and grafts of that original plant and are therefore all of the same original genetic stock. Propagation in the mega thousands has led to natural mutations and all the named selections. Navel oranges are delicious but have a shorter fruiting season and do not hold on the tree.

• Well, we did warn about the imminent probability of cold weather but Wednesday’s decided drop in temperatures had Mark out with a cloche to cover his crop of late beans. We will hover between autumn and winter for a while longer but do not delay on getting into the autumn clean-up while you can.
• If you are planning to cut the foliage off your helleborus orientalis (the common ones) then do it now because the triggers to encourage them into fresh growth and flowers are all on. If you leave it any longer, you have to carefully cut around all the fresh growth which takes a great deal longer. If the foliage is not infested with aphids, you can leave it lying as mulch though it takes a while to rot down.
• Lift and divide polyanthus. These are gentle performers in the garden but with a modicum of TLC, they will flower for months. If you had one plant and it seems to have morphed into a clump of 10 smaller rosettes of leaves, that is a sign that it will respond well to being lifted and thinned. Till the soil before you replant individual divisions and if you add some compost, the polys will be even more responsive.
• Garlic and broad beans are the main crops to be planted in the vegetable garden over winter. Besides some fiddle-faddle with winter lettuce, spinach, silver beet and brassicas on an ongoing basis, many gardens will have some bare areas left. Clean up now. Get rid of diseased tomato plants. These can be composted if you add lawn clippings and do a hot mix. Otherwise burn them or put them out with the rubbish to avoid spreading fungal diseases. Dig potatoes. If you leave them in the ground, bugs and slugs tend to eat holes in them. Break down old sweet corn plants and either compost them or leave them to rot on the top of the ground. Hoe and rake off weeds. Sow green crops in any bare areas.
• As you do the autumn clean up in the ornamental garden, continue the dig and divide routine on clumping perennials.
• If you are keen to try some cuttings, taking fuchsia and vireya rhododendron cuttings is a bit of an insurance policy against winter deaths. You can try some early rose cuttings but if there are any leaves left, remove them.
• Mark is sure that Taranaki ducks do go to the safe haven of the lakes at Pukekura. He is of the view that a panic response to the sound of a gunshot is learned behaviour, not genetically programmed (in ducks at least). He recalls looking at a crowded lake in Pukekura one morning in duck shooting season and provocatively popping a paper bag. The entire lake erupted with an instant and mass evacuation of ducks which was a bit of a surprise to him, matched only by the very dirty looks he received from the parents with their little kiddies feeding out bread.

* It is great to see the NPDC hort staff offering practical workshops on technical gardening skills. First up tomorrow (Saturday) and again on Monday is a free demonstration on pruning stone fruit trees. For absolute novices, they are the fruit which have large seeds called stones (rather than small pips) – in other words plums, peaches and apricots. Whoever is taking it will know what they are doing and if you are have fruit trees at home, here is an ideal opportunity to learn more. Just turn up tomorrow or Monday at 11am at the orchard in Brois St.

* It is autumn clean-up time with a vengeance in the ornamental garden. Try not to keep putting it off because when winter really bites and the ground gets cold, it can be much harder to motivate yourself. Cut back leggy perennials, rake up (or rake out and disperse) large patches of fallen leaves which can get blown into one area, cut back plants which flop onto the lawn or path at this time of the year and generally get right through the garden, even if you do much of it with the ever useful leaf rake.

* Look out for spring bulbs, many of which are just pushing through the surface. Stomping on them does not do them any good and can break off the one flowering shoot on some varieties.

* Mark disappearing plants which you want to lift and divide. Some plants are what are known as deciduous perennials – in other words they go underground entirely in winter. It can be very difficult to remember their exact location later.

* Don’t delay any longer on sowing lawns and if you are in a cold spot you may already have missed the boat. You want enough warmth to germinate the seeds and get the growth started before the cold of winter.

* If you followed our advice a couple of weeks ago about making the first cuts to wrench a larger plant that you wish to move, you can follow up now with the second cuts to the other two sides of the roots.

* Veg gardeners have pretty well harvested everything harvestable, bar late potatoes and have long ago sown and planted their winter veg. It is now planning time for spring. While some advocate fertilising and mulching the bare ground now as part of preparation, we don’t see any logic to doing this until there are plants in the ground to benefit. We subscribe to the sow it down in a green crop brigade. You can however be preparing the garlic patch which will be planted soon. Sow broad beans and in mild areas you can get a crop of carrots in for the spring. Rocket and micro greens can be sown in favoured spots, under a cloche, in a glasshouse and in seed trays for a quick out of season green harvest.

* The quote this week comes from British story teller and author Sam Llewelyn: In gardens, beauty is a by-product. The main business is sex and death.

• The autumn rains made a brief appearance and then disappeared again so we are indeed dry here. But this is Taranaki, not Australia, so you can be positive that the rains will return with a vengeance and sooner rather than later. Saturday is the likely date at time of writing.
• There is considerably less evaporation at this time of the year with cooler temperatures so you should not be worrying too much about the dry spell. Container plants will need watering every few days but you should not be needing to water the garden or lawn. But if you are planting any trees and shrubs, you need to ensure that the roots are completely saturated before planting. Hosing down after planting will not do the trick.
• If you have bought dry spring bulbs from the garden centre, get them planted as soon as you can. If they are looking very dehydrated, you can soak the bulbs overnight in water. You have missed the boat on lifting and dividing bulbs already in the ground. They will be on the move.
• Pruning and shaping should be in full swing in the ornamental garden although if you are working on winter or spring flowering shrubs, you do not want to be cutting all the flower buds off. Think in terms of thinning and shaping rather than hacking back and trimming all over. Do not leave clipping hedges any longer past this weekend.
• Rhubarb can be lifted, divided and replanted. Think of it as a very hungry perennial (commonly referred to as a gross feeder). Rhubarb responds well to rich soils, well dug over and fed with humus. It also wants plenty of moisture and full sun. The rule of thumb is that a third of the rhubarb patch should be renovated each year.
• Strawberries need replanting on a two year cycle. If you have some growing, it is likely that they will have put out runners. These are what you lift and cut off, replanting into fresh ground with well cultivated soils.
• From the irrepressible Pollyanna School of Positive Thought comes the unattributed quote: “Don’t grumble that roses have thorns, be thankful that thorns have roses.”