- Keen veg growers will be starting to think about winter vegetables. If you use small plants, you have plenty of time but if you start from seed (which is of course much cheaper), you can be looking to sow most winter seeds (particularly brassicas) from now on. You have missed the boat on Brussels sprouts from seed. Winter vegetables grow through summer and autumn but you don’t want to get plants in too early or they can bolt to seed before you are ready to eat them. You can still sow a late crop of carrots.
- Many of the summer flowering clematis can be cut back hard if they have finished their flowering flush or are succumbing to mildew badly. Water them, feed them and they will romp away and start flowering again in about six weeks time.
- Rhododendrons, camellias and most flowering shrubs and trees (excluding roses, michelias and vireyas) have done most of their growing for the season so you are too late for heavy pruning this time around. Leave them for another six months unless they are fruit trees or flowering cherries. Otherwise you will be cutting off all the spring flowers.
- From the school of do as we say, not do as we do, the best time to prune raspberries is when the crop has just finished. Take out all this year’s fruiting canes. Next year’s fruit will come on the new growth.
- Try not to neglect container plants. They really need watering daily at this time and pots of annuals or perennials will benefit from a liquid feed. Hanging baskets are usually grossly overplanted so will need your TLC twice a day with water as well as a weekly liquid feed.
- Keep removing the laterals from tomato plants and grape vines and get a copper spray on the tomato plants to prevent blight.
Fame and Philadelphia
Life is full of amusing little interludes. After my facetious letter to Elton John was published, I was copied in to an email from Don in Colorado. He wrote: “Every so often I receive a Google News Alert linking me to a gardening news article that makes me want to stick my finger down my throat or laugh ’til I drop. Today’s article, by Abbie Jury, in the Taranaki Daily News of New Plymouth, New Zealand is one of these. If anyone would like to send this gardening writer a Dear Abbie, she is: Abbie Jury Phone/fax +64 6 754 6671 jury@jury.co.nz”
Being sharp eyed, I instantly noticed that Don was a d*hlia aficionado (the reason for the asterisk will become clear soon) and each time this genus was mentioned, Google would notify him. My words in that letter to Elton were: “Big, blowsy d*hlias are so vulgar and OTT, really, without even the bonus of fragrance.” While fearing that my email inbox would quickly become overloaded by international d*hlia enthusiasts, I naturally emailed Don by return to clarify whether my column had in fact made him laugh or made him want to vomit. Sadly, he did not reply and there were no incoming emails. Just a few postings on his site.
Tom took it all rather seriously and commented that he was “Surprised we didn’t hear about her Royal Dalton tea service with the hand painted periwinkles.” . I bit my tongue and resisted the temptation to correct his spelling of Royal Doulton. There were a few other neutral entries but it took Elaine from Christchurch to clarify the situation. “Thanks for the article Don. I am assuming that Abbie Jury is a family member of a well known and respected hybridiser of Rhododendrons, Camelias (sic) and Magnolias from the Taranaki area. Elton, is Elton John who recently performed in that area. The Kereru referred to is a native wood pigeon, and the morepork is a tiny native owl. All tongue in cheek I would say.”
Thank goodness for that. But my moment of fame on the internet seemed all too brief and insignificant. Now it is just back the garden pages of the newspaper, as long as I do not mention d*hlias in anything other than a glowing reference.
We had some interesting visitors from Philadelphia this week. We have been having our usual summer conversations on achieving more summer glory in our garden. For us, it is the next big gardening challenge. New Zealanders generally excel at spring gardening. It only takes about ten years to achieve a reasonably mature and pretty spring garden in our climate and we tend to do it with trees, shrubs and spring bulbs. When you think about it, the majority of trees, shrubs and bulbs flower in spring. Summers tend to be rather green. In fact we have more colour and flower in mid winter with the camellias, early magnolias and rhodos than we have in mid summer.
Mark and I have been talking for some time of wanting to make a summer trip to England to see the splendor of their perennial borders. We had assumed the Brits still lead the world in the practice of herbaceous borders. Apparently not. An esteemed colleague emailed and told us to forget going to the UK to see summer gardens. Philadelphia is the place to go, he urged. This may have something to do with the fact that he is leading a tour of summer gardens there next year and he would like us to join him. And it certainly had something to do with the Philly duo that were visiting him and subsequently came here.
hese visitors came bearing a gift of a splendid garden guide to the notable gardens of the Philadelphia region. The front cover shows a colourful mixed border including a cordyline, coloured flaxes and canna lilies, photographed in early summer I would guess. One of the visitors gardens at Chanticleer which takes pride in its tropical plantings of bananas, coleus, cannas and the like. Tropical? In Philadelphia? It gets so cold the ground freezes solid. Yes, he explained. The garden is not open all year and as soon it closes at the end of October, they lift the plants. Some get forced into dormancy and kept in cool, dry conditions (even the visitor toilets and facilities are utilized for plant storage). Others are brought into the glasshouses. Yes, they lift much of the garden every year (it is a mere 35 acres). Not even camellias will survive the big freezes. When the ground is frozen, it prevents any uptake of moisture and evergreen plants get dessicated by the dryness. In early spring, they replant each year in preparation for opening on April 1. Mark and I were stunned at the prospect. It certainly is not gardening as we know it.
It does explain to some extent how they achieve such splendid effects with herbaceous material (all those leafy, clumping plants which will give flowers from spring through to autumn). These types of plants like to go in to freshly cultivated soil and they need dividing and refurbishing often. Presumably the freeze kills weed seeds and soil afflictions too. It should be said, however, that the challenge of very hot and dry summers following on quickly from their springtime is another gardening hurdle we do not have to contemplate.
Lacking a small army of skilled gardeners, a suitable budget (no grandfather who owned a pharmaceutical empire here, alas) and large visitor numbers, we can not contemplate a style which is dependent on lifting much of a garden every season. Nor do we have long periods of dormancy to accommodate this activity. We did not enter into any discussion with these Philly visitors on the sustainability of this approach to gardening. In time, history may consign it to folklore – the latest example of gardening practice which can trace its roots back to Versailles in its heydays when a legion of lowly paid staff could change the entire colour scheme of the vast bedding plant displays overnight so the French king and queen could contemplate a different view if they looked out their bedroom window when they rose.
So it is still a matter for much discussion here as to how we can achieve a sustainable summer garden full of flowers. You can only go so far with utility but reliable hydrangeas and agapanthus. The lilies are coming in to flower and are wonderful but there are few other summer flowering bulbs. Clematis continue to put on a splendid display. The roses limp on but are past their peak. Our few d*hlias continue to perform well. If we want a summer garden, the bottom line is that we are going to have to turn to greater use of clumping herbaceous perennials.
Gardening would be dull if all one did was to maintain what is already in place. The challenge of achieving a sustainable summer garden will continue here for some years to come.
January 11, 2008 Weekly Garden Guide
- The gentle rain this week is likely to cause an explosion of fresh weeds. Nothing beats vigilance on this battle frontline.
- Do not delay on dividing autumn flowering bulbs such as nerines, colchicums and cyclamen hederafolium because they will be starting to go into growth. Nerines are best with their necks above ground and cyclamen are planted to a shallow depth only.
- It is the last chance to get deciduous cuttings in. Hydrangeas and some viburnums root easily for the home gardener. So do grape cuttings and willows.
- Deadheading and tidying up renga renga lilies makes them look a great deal more presentable now that they have finished their season of glory. Tidying around the bases may also reduce some of the snail infestation that can afflict them.
- Keep trimming back wild and wayward wisteria shoots.
- If you have not pruned your flowering cherry trees yet, then schedule it in. Now is the time to remove dead wood and witches broom. The latter is a fungal ailment, recognisable by much denser leaf growth and it needs to be cut out. These branches will not flower and can take over the tree. Cherry trees are not long lived in our climate. We are too damp and they suffer from root problems. If you have one in major decline which needs removing, do not plant another cherry tree in its place or it too is likely to suffer from root disease. This is probably the single best reason why avenues of matched cherry trees are not a good idea in Taranaki.
- Take advantage of the rain this week (which soaked in to dry ground nicely) to keep your vegetable garden moist over the next month. It is easier to keep moisture levels up than to get water to penetrate bone dry ground.
- If you have not yet summer pruned your apple trees, then do it now. Shorten the non fruiting branches back to half a dozen leaves which will encourage the formation of flower buds.
- You have until the end of this month to continue planting corn and peas for late harvest. You can continue planting green beans into February.
Seasonal Fare
Author: Susan Johnston
Publisher: Wakefield Press ($45.00)
I suspect the author sees herself as the Australian Mrs Beeton of the new millennium. It is a curious book, full of recipes that I am unlikely to use but nevertheless an interesting read. It certainly has its roots in the slow food, wild food, Farmers’ Market and organics schools of thought but not vegetarian. Not at all.
It is a recipe book – there are 200 recipes organised by seasons – but also a lifestyle book. The Australian whanau home for Christmas were a bit stunned by the recipe for cockatoo – it does not feature on Aussie dinner plates and step one must be to get a licence to shoot them. Nor will we be killing the resident quail in our garden to eat them, let alone any pheasants or guinea fowl that pass by. It is possibly the first book I have seen to give a recipe for Bird in Bird. Henry VIII’s version started with a swan and went down in concentric layers to a lark. Mrs Johnston’s version which I suspect she made once only in 1993, was a turkey stuffed with a guinea fowl stuffed with a partridge which contained a snipe – all except the snipe were boned out in case you are wondering. A snipe, we are told, has a good gamey taste of rotten liver. Charming.
The author has a walnut farm so there are a reasonable number of recipes for walnuts though I can’t imagine peeling the fresh nuts (she does say it takes an unbelievably long time and is rather tedious) to make the pasta with green walnut sauce. Chemistry daughter was horrified at the recipe for Nocino (walnut liqueur) which instructs one to go the chemist and procure 90% alcohol. She told me I must point out that pharmaceutical alcohol is made in a laboratory and, as far as she understands, is not deemed as fit for human consumption. Use vodka, not pure alcohol.
But there is a charm to this book, based on the principles of using local, seasonal produce and many of the recipes are easily managed. It has both an international and an historical flavour (she is a classics graduate who has travelled and lived overseas). It is a personal journey and if you relate to the author, you may love the book and the recipes though you will likely find the inadequate index irritating.
The illustrations are charming contemporary lithographs which add to the olde worlde slow food ambience and the publishers are to be commended on the nicely bound, hard back presentation which is often sadly lacking in books published in this country these days.
January 4, 2008 Weekly Garden Guide
It has been a great season for roses with low humidity and rainfall. I summer prune roses constantly, both deadheading and cutting back long stems to a leaf bud. Roses put on a phenomenal amount of growth and if you keep pruning them, they stay bushier and will respond with new shoots which counteracts the defoliated look of leggy black spot infested bushes as the season progresses for those of us who don’t spray our roses.
- Roses carry some pretty nasty fungi and bacteria. Take wounds from roses more seriously than other minor afflictions lest you find yourself hospitalised with cellulitis (not to be confused with the late Princess Diana’s puckered cellulite). It does happen – ask any hospital nurse.
- Don’t scalp the summer lawn. Set the level higher on the lawnmower. Leaving more length will keep your lawn greener and healthier. Using a sprinkler to water the lawn is probably as unacceptable as driving an SUV these days and if you are still indulging in this practice, it may be time to question how necessary it is.
- You can still plant pumpkins, runner beans and tomatoes for a late crop but do not delay.
- Seed sown vegetables such as carrots need watering daily in the early stages to prevent burning off at the base in the sun. They need a little assistance to get well established.
- Keep up the successional sowings of corn and green beans and you can still plant main crop potatoes. Keep a few of the early maturing varieties back to plant in autumn for a winter crop of new potatoes.
- If you buy plants from garden centres at this time of the year, take note as to whether they are being held in the full sun. Often annuals and seedlings are displayed on a shady side of the building and you are going to have to harden them off before planting them out in the full sun or they will fry. Hardening off involves giving them an hour or two only in full sun to start off with.
- Keep watering container plants daily.
Tikorangi The Jury Garden 