GARDENING IN THE WAIMARINO

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 1, Issue 26, 29 November 1983, Page 8

GARDENING IN THE WAIMARINO

Vegetables If you have the space further sowings of peias, carrots, cabbage, cauli and sprouting broccoli should be made. Brussel sprouts should be planted now and they need a firm bed. Radishes mature in 28 to 36 days so are a suitable crop to plant in among other veges. , Dwarf beans both green and butter can be sown now that frosts are unlikely and, more important, that the soil is quite warrn. Keep the vegetable plot hoed up and a general fertiliser side dressing will be beneficial to all plants except carrots and parsnips. If you think they need a boost' water with a weak solution of Maxicrop. White butterfly should not be a problem before mid-December but watch for clubroot disease in the brassica family (cabbage, cauli etc). A tip for good lettuces, dig a trench 30cm ( lft) deep and % fill with fresh lawn clippings, sprinkle on a few handfuls of lime and top with 10 to I5cm soil, water plants in with Maxicrop.

Flower Garden Most of the seedlings planted earlier this month will be in flower by Christmas. Keep them weed free and give them a fortnightly watering with a weak solution of Maxicrop or similar liquid fertiliser. Pinching out the first flower heads as they appear will cause the plants to branch out. This is particularly necessary with Nemesia, which incidentally, along with the Marigold family from the large crackerjacks to the small targates are remarkably easy to raise from seed. Shrubs and Fruit Those of you who heeded the warning in the 30 August edition of the Bulletin about the wind will not need to worry too much about wind damage. However, check to see that shrubs and small trees have not been loosened and that ties have not cut into limbs or become grown over. Now is the time to pay attention to mulching around shrubs etc ... old lawn clippings, sawdust (not

treated timber) or leaf mould is ideal, You will have to be prepared to repel the grass grub beatle attack. These voracious brown beetles, and to a lesser extent the bronze beatle, swarm usually in the last week of November to second or third week in December and often sound like a swarm of bees in the twilight. Keep up your spray programme using fruit tree spray or Garden Master or your own favourite spray to counter these pests. Chrysanthemums Most of these should be between 30 and 50cm ( 1 2" to 20") high now. Good staking and tying is essential and you may decide to "stop"the plants again depending on the number of flower heads required. Spray varieties do not need a second stop nor do they require. disbudding. You will find Yates 'Garden Master' a good all roungBk spray to combat insect an^P the more common fungus diseases. Use at 2 to 3 weekly intervals.

Trevor

Francis

Raetihi Garden Cluh