Pruning shrubs and stomping on earwigs

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 314, 21 November 1989, Page 12

Pruning shrubs and stomping on earwigs

How welcome the rain after the drying winds of the last week or so, the ground so parched even a good hosing did little to help, the surface of the ground drying out again within hours.

One could almost watch the marigolds shrivel. It is the little seedlings nd the shallow rooting plants which suffer the most, as the first two or three inches of ground dries out very rapidly. This is where a good mulch applied in the spring while the ground is still damp is of immense value in preventing such a rapid loss of moisture. It is useless to apply a mulch while the ground is so dry. In fact it would act in reverse, the mulch withholding, any moisture received to itself and depriving the ehrth beneath. When the ground has had a really good soaking, preferably with prelonged steady rain, an application of mulch material will help the retention of moisture. November is still quite a busy month in the g arden apart from the lawns which need regular mowing at this time if they are not to resemble a paddock. Trimmirtg Shrubs which have finished floWering can be trimmed back and the dead flower heads removed. Pieris varieties will show the benefit of this treatment, the removal of the spent flowers encouraging rapid new growth which in Pieris 'Wakehurst', 'Temple Bells' and other hybrids will emerge a clear scarlet red which is like a flower in itself. Trim back Photinia

'Red Robin' to encourage the growth to thicken and to see the bright red new growth emerge. All Leptospernum (the manukas) should be trimmed back

quite firmly after flowering and Boronia will also benefit from a trim to encoufage thick new growth. Pruning Ornamental cherries

and Crab apples do not require too much in the way of hard pruning but the removal of dead twiggy growth and any spindly growth with little or no foliage be-

ing trimmed back to the nearest healthy leaf growth will encourage new flowering shoots to form. Shoots appearing lower down the trunk should be re-

moved. If these have grown too thick to cut cleanly with a sharp pair of secateurs use a pruning saw and seal the wound with a pruning paste to prevent the entry of disease. If you haven't the proper pruning paste a good smear of vaseline makes a fair substitute. The last of the daffodils It is always sad to see the last of the daffodils and tulips. All we are left with now is the dying foliage. This should be left to die down naturally as it is in this process that it feeds the bulb for next year's growth. Gathering the foliage together and bending it over towards the ground and secure it with a rubber band will prevent it looking so untidy, and overplanting with something like Nemesia will help to camouflage. We always plant out bulbs in groups and over the weekend carefully lifted each group with a spade so that there was a good covering of soil over the roots, then transferred them into spaces between a row of young camellias at the end of the garden. Watered well in after replanting, the foliage soon stood up again and can now be left to die down naturally when the bulbs will be ready for lifting and storage. When the warm sun appears after the rain *so do all the little greebies. Watch for aphids on the tender new shoots and around the flower buds of the roses. En masse they can do a great deal of damage in a very short time. I always keep a can of 'House and Garden' aerosol spray handy and a good burst of spray on any infested shoots soon fixes it. Make sure the spray reaches the under side of the leaves as well as the surface. Although lethal to sucking insects this type of spray will not combat the fungus diseases like black spot and to keep bushes healthy a fortnightly spraying programme with a properly formulated rose spray will give very beneficial results.

C'mon veges The vege garden should be coming along very nicely now although I have heard from some gardeners who planted seed earlier in the spring that there has not been a very good strike in some cases. No doubt the cold wet conditions at that time rotted out the seed in the ground so that it will be necessary to resow. Further plantings of lettuce, radish, maincrop peas and runner beans can be made now to give a continued supply later on. I note the white butterfly is out in force around the brassicas (cabbage, cauli etc) so keep the derris dust handy. Liquid derris is very good and lasts longer but it is rather expensive. Again make sure you dust under the leaves as well as on top. How are your dahlias coming along? Those firm green shoots should be making an appearance now. A dressing of blood and bone during the growing period will help to ensure good strong plants and lovely blooms for the dahlia show in February next year. Watch out for earwigs, they love your dahlias and will embed themselves in the flower heads and chew the petals. Liquid derris, a pyrethrum spray, or carbaryl will help to control these pests or if any or all of these preparations fail you can always try an earwig trap. My brother and I used to make these traps to protect Mother's dahlias by pushing a stout stick into the ground, fillipg a small flower pot with dried grass or hay and placing the upturned flower pot on top of the stick. The idea being that the earwigs climbed the stick into the flowerpot and got trapped in the grass wedged in the pot. The did too, and we had lots of fun, horrors that we were, shaking out the earwigs in to the concrete path and stamping on them. How far this method protected the dahlias is debatable but we killed hundreds of earwigs.