HIGH COUNTRY GARDENER

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 10, Issue 454, 22 September 1992, Page 14

HIGH COUNTRY GARDENER

by

Bea

Barnes

At last we have been able to spend a few hours in the g arden, picking the fine periods and dodging the showers so I suppose we must be grateful for small mercies. One really wonders where to begin to repair the ravages of winter. Our poor plants have really suffered this year having spent half the time with their feet in water. Rank weeds which have hugged the ground all winter have held the excess moisture in the soil which has the effect of souring the ground and the constant rain has leached a lot of the essential elements from the soil. One of the easiest ways to sweeten sour ground is to apply a

dressing of garden lime and if your vege plot has been dug over but nct limed you can still do this using about 200 grams of lime per square metre. Leave for about two to three weeks before giving it its final dig over before planting and remember to leave part of your plot un-limed for things like tomatoes and carrots which are intolerant of lime. In a general garden situation when plants which prefer an acid soil are distributed throughout the garden, lime is best avoided altogether and a dressing of superphosphate or a balanced general fertiliser applied. Some of the rhodo's, camellias and azaleas are looking quite sorry for

themselves with sickly yellow looking foliage and the inability to hold their buds. The surrounding soil needs to be completely free of weeds and' opened up to the sun and air. Take care not to disturb surface feeding roots when clearing the ground and give a good handful of acid plant food spread around the drip line of each plant. Is your daphne suffering from streaks or a marbled effect on the foliage? Growers have found that a light dressing of Dolomite lime spread around the drip line will be of help, but use only Dolomite lime not ordinary garden lime and don't be too heavy handed. I have noticed in our

garden that the magnolia I although flowering pro- I fusely has much smaller I flowers this year as has I the forsythia 'Golden I Bells'. I can only put this I down to the constant wet I conditions they have had I to suffer this winter and I hopefully a few good I feeds and a mulching dur- I ing the heat of the sum- I mer (if we get one) will I put matters to rights. After flowering it will I probably be of help to I cut the branches back a I little and in the case of I the forsythia to remove I two or three of the canes I right back to base. The roses I think have I suffered more than any- I thing and, if they haven't I been pruned earlier, this I should not be left any I longer. It is really too I late now for any hard I pruning but perhaps re- I duce the main stems by I about a third. Get rid of twiggy I unhealthy growth and of I course cut out any die I back. If the bush has four I or five strong canes one I of these could be cut back I to base to encourage the plant to put forward new strong growth. Pick a dry period to spray them with a balanced spray formulated for roses to deal with any fungal spores or insect larvae which may have wintered over in the nooks and crannies. Loosen the surface of the soil over the whole bed taking care again not I to disturb the feeder roots. A good dressing of rose food will help to put back the necessary elements in the soil and later a dressing of horse manure will do a lot to enrich the soil. The fruit trees could do with a spray of copper oxchloride at bud burst and before flowering to get rid of any over-win-tering problems and a further spray of Carbaryl four weeks after petal fall will help to keep the codling moth at bay.