Tag Archives: Abbie Jury

In the Garden: October 22, 2010

· While Labour Weekend is the traditional time to get the The Great Summer Veg Plant Out done, the lingering cool temperatures, wind and rain have mitigated against it this year. The soils have not had much of a chance to warm up yet. Don’t rush it especially if you are in a cooler, inland area. A week or two is neither here nor there.

· Priority for planting out when conditions are suitable are the crops which require a long growing season which include aubergines, capsicums, cucumbers, both rock and water melons, kumara, tomatoes and corn. If you have starter plants of these in small pots under cover, be careful about planting them straight out in the open in either blazing sun (unlikely) or torrential ran. You may need to give them some protection while they get established. Cut off soft drink bottles can work as can plastic bags held up by sticks if you don’t have a cloche. A single sheet of newspaper will protect them from the bright sun. You can avoid this by hardening them off gradually over several days by exposing them to a few hours of direct sun only.

· If you are not planting out the little plants yet, make sure that they don’t get set back by being held in pots that are too small or by forgetting to water them. They rarely recover well from such set-backs.

· Clematis are rocketing away and most need something to climb up. If you leave them any longer, you will cause a lot of damage trying to get them to grow in the right direction. A bamboo tepee is a quick and easy solution.

Greeblies in the cordyline

Greeblies in the cordyline

· The caterpillars that chew holes in our native cordylines (cabbage trees) are at their most active. These are the progeny of a native moth (which is why NZ cordylines overseas look so clean and smart). On small plants, running your hands up the base of the tufts of leaves can effect a good kill. On larger plants, if you want clean foliage, you will have to spray with an insecticide. If you look, you may be surprised at what other greeblies your cordyline is hiding, including slugs and snails.

· Esteemed colleague, George Fuller, tells us that it is not a rust that causes orange blotching on renga renga lilies (arthropodium) but in fact a nematode (or wire worm). These critters can build up in a patch over time so if it worries you, it may be necessary to resort to using a systemic insecticide. A systemic insecticide is one that the plant absorbs as opposed to contact insecticides which only kill with a direct hit. The nematode is actually in the plant and it is the same one that attacks chrysanthemums and black currants, answering to the name of afelenchoides ritzemabosi.

· As evergreen azaleas finish flowering, it is time to trim them. These are a forgiving plant which means you can trim back to bare wood and they will shoot again but do not delay if you plan on cutting hard because you want the plant to be flushing with spring growth to help its recovery.

· It is safe to plant both green beans and runner beans now. These are very worthwhile crops for the home gardener, giving good yields and planting successional crops of green beans two weeks apart will extend the harvest season.

Plant Collector – Hippeastrum aulicum

 

Hippeastrum aulicum

Hippeastrum aulicum

At this time of the year the big red flowers of Hippeastrum aulicum look like Jacobean lilies. We use it as a woodland plant because our past experience is that narcissi fly can devastate hippeastrums planted in the sun but the flies don’t go into the shaded areas to lay their eggs in the crowns of the bulbs. It takes a while for the bulbs to get large enough to flower but they are happy to be planted and left alone, gently increasing year by year so, after several decades, we have large clumps of them which oblige with gorgeous blooms in spring, standing 60 to 70cm high on strong stems. With us, they are completely evergreen though they may drop their foliage in harsher conditions.

A colourful woodland plant - H. aulicum

A colourful woodland plant – H. aulicum

Just for a change, the hippeastrum family doesn’t come from South Africa which is home to the majority of bulbs that we grow successfully here. Instead they hail from South America and this particular one is native to Brazil and Paraguay. H. aulicum is a species and not widely available though the curious H.papilio is sometimes offered for sale (expect to pay about $30 for a single, flowering sized bulb) and there are many hybrids which are brightly coloured, big flowered things for growing in containers. I am not so keen on the hybrids, papilio is less obliging as a garden plant but aulicum is both exotic to look at and a consistent performer.

In the Garden this Week – October 15, 2010

• I headed overseas for three weeks and came home to find that I had successfully missed two weeks of hideous weather and the season had changed completely in the third week. The pressure is on in the garden. Most plants are putting on their main growth spurt for the year and that includes the weeds. If you can eliminate the first round of germinating weeds this season, you can do a lot to break the cycle.

• When you have done a weeding round, pile on the mulch to nourish the soil, suppress the next series of weed seeds which will be wanting to germinate and stop the garden from drying out over summer. We favour a thick layer of compost which we make ourselves (but you need to make sure your compost is free of weed seeds). Leaf litter, bark or woodchip, calf shed shavings, old silage, barley straw, pine needles or pea straw are other options.

• Get woody trees and shrubs planted as soon as possible. That includes any new hedging and fruit trees. They need time to settle in and make some fresh root growth before the heat and dry of summer. This is even more important if you live close to the coast where soils are usually lighter or in South Taranaki which dries out faster than the north.

• The cold snap earlier this week was a good reminder as to why it does not pay to rush planting out summer vegetables like tomatoes, capsicums and corn. Labour Weekend is the traditional time but it may pay to wait a little longer until it is clear that we are consistently warmer. These plants don’t like cold changes.

• Get peas sown now. You are running out of time for this season. Planted now, you may have your timing right for fresh peas for Christmas dinner.

• You should be planting out main crop potatoes and in warmer areas, kumara runners can go in soon. Kumara need a long growing season.

• If you have your vegetable garden dug over and prepared for planting, go in with the rake every few days. You will keep cultivating the soil to a fine tilth and hoeing off successive waves of germinating seeds.

• If you persist with the opinion that our native plants are boring, take a look at the island bed on Courtenay Street outside the fire station. It stopped me dead in my tracks from right across the road and I had to go and have a closer look. It is as good a combination of plants as you will ever see. The fact that they are natives is almost irrelevant to the fact that it is just an exceptionally pleasing and interesting small public planting.

Not all wheelbarrows are equal

1) Contractor’s barrows tend to be larger, more solidly built, heavier and more expensive than garden barrows. Better quality barrows can cost from $200 but these two barrows have been used on an almost daily basis here over 10 years. Some women may find the handles too thick to use comfortably and the barrow too heavy.

2) Metal or plastic tray? Metal trays can last the distance if you look after them and don’t leave them out in the rain or full of debris. Because I am guilty on all counts, I strongly prefer a plastic tray with galvanised steel frame, neither of which will rust, but this is considerably more expensive. This garden barrow is pretty much top of the range, costing around $180 but I like its wider shape and its stability and I have two of them.

3) Cheap barrows are usually in the $38 to $60 range and commonly have a light metal construction which is prone to rust if you don’t look after them. They also have a tendency to tip back if you don’t load them properly. However, with some care, the much cheaper price may be sufficient to offset those disadvantages.

4) Most wheelbarrows are sold in flat packs. Make sure you try out an assembled one in the store before you buy so that you know that you will find it comfortable to use and that it has acceptable stability. If you assemble the barrow at home and find that the wheel is loose with no means of adjustment, return it to the store. A wobbly wheel is a major weakness from the start. If you ever come across barrows with small or narrow wheels, shun them. You need a robust wheel to support the weight of a load.

5) If you store your barrow leaning against an outside wall, make sure that rain can not get down the handles because it will pond in the pipes and quickly rust from the inside out.

6) I have never tried the new tub style of barrow and can’t see that they have any advantage over the traditional barrow which has been around in more or less the same form for 800 years in Europe and up to 2000 years in China where they were invented to carry military supplies. However, should any readers swear by this new design, I would be happy to hear. Otherwise, I suggest you borrow one to try before you spend between $75 and $150 on buying one.

Tried and True: Ligularia reniformis

  • img_6451* Impressive in size and lush appearance.
    * Evergreen.
    * Looks tropical but can withstand light frost and cool winters.
    * Widely available for sale.

 In this country, as in Australia, we all know this plant as the tractor seat ligularia, which says quite a bit about our rural origins. I guess the leaves could be said to resemble a traditional tractor seat in shape and when growing strongly, getting pretty close in size. We have almost made this plant our own in New Zealand and have certainly pushed the boundaries of where it is grown – it is technically sub tropical and from East Asia. In warm areas, it gets considerably larger but even in cooler areas with a bit of frost, it makes an impressive clump a metre across and a metre high over time. It will need more protected conditions where frosts are more frequent but it is happy in high shade and on woodland margins. Typical of any perennial, it likes rich, well cultivated soil with plenty of humus and good moisture levels. While not immune to the munching ways of slugs and snails, it is nowhere near as tasty as hostas and we have never worried about pests or diseases on our plants. It is grown for its foliage and if you have the space for a large and impressive plant with large and impressive leaves (think giant water lily pads), it is a good addition and easy to contrast with a whole range of other plants. Reniformis is widely available in garden centres.