Tag Archives: autumn

Gardening

WINTER PREPARATIONS IN THE GARDEN (Wally Richards)

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This week I noticed a distinct chill in the air, first thing in the morning, which could be described as a very light frost.

Others must have noticed it in their localities as orders started coming in for Vaporgard, the spray on frost protection.

Now if you think back to Marches in the past years, it is very early to start to get chilly and it is more into April and May that one starts to realise that winter is getting into gear.

March is the first month of autumn in New Zealand and we have just started autumn with some leaf colour changes.

In autumn, New Zealand enjoys some of the most settled weather of the whole year.

Soak up long, sunny days and golden leaves with hiking, cycling or kayaking. (used to be)

Looking overseas there are number of late cold events in places such as California where snow is certainly not common even in winter.

I wound not be surprised if we don’t have a really cold winter this year and an early start to it.

So time to get organised for winter chills in your garden and in your home.

Did you know that your bank is offering Green Loans to people for such things as insulation, double glazing, heat pumps and solar power systems?

I am in the process of installing an off the grid solar power system I purchased from China for my warehouse and my bank has happily lent the cost of installation under this new leaning critia..

So what to do to protect your garden against the coming cold and frosts?

First thing is soft sappy growth of plants caused by nitrogen fertilisers will suffer unless you harden the growth up by applying Wallys Fruit and Flower Power which is half potash, to firm up growth and half magnesium to help ensure foliage stays green in winter.

A small sprinkling once a month starting now will toughen and green up your plants for winter.

Deciduous plants such as roses and many fruit trees that will drop their leaves and rest over winter so there is no point of using Wallys Fruit and Flower Power till the spring when they start to move for the new season.

Wet weather in winter takes a toll on plants that don’t like wet feet and can often lead to their deaths.

Mulches that you used in summer around plants should now be removed as they prevent the soil from drying out and will cause root rots.

Great for summer water retention but deadly in winter. Even weed mat can cause a problem in a wet winter.

It is now time to start a monthly treatment of plants that do not like wet feet such as citrus trees by spraying the foliage with Wallys Perkfection, once a month for the next 3 to 6 months.

It fortifies the roots making them less susceptible to rotting in wet soil.

The above has taken care of your preferred ever green plants but what about the ones that are frost tender such as passion fruit, avocados, tamarillos, hibiscus, citrus etc?

Also glasshouse plants such as tomatoes, Capsicum and chili that you are wintering over?

It is time to spay the foliage with Wallys Vaporgard; ‘Spray on Frost Protection’.

It comes in two sizes 100 mils which makes 6.66 litres of spray which is often enough to do all the cold sensitive plants in many gardens once or 250 mils makes up 16.66 litres of spray.

Place the Vaporgard bottle into a jug of hot water so it pours better and then mix with warm water at 15 mils per litre.

You can add some Magic Botanic Liquid to the spray which your plants will appreciate.

Only spray on a sunny day in full sun light over the plants leaves so the film dries faster.

It gives down to minus 3 frost protection within 3 days of application for about 3 months.

So a spray now will be repeated about middle of June to take your plants out of winter.

If you don t use all the spray mixed up remove from sprayer and store in a bottle in a dark cupboard. It can be used again later. Then and most important; immediately rinse out sprayer with fresh water and tip out.

Then another lot of water which you will spray as a jet (adjust nozzle to make jet) to ensure that filters and nozzle don’t block when Vaporgard sets.

If you don’t do this straight away you will have problems cleaning it the next time you go to use. The above is good practise to do with any sprays you use in your sprayer.

In areas where frosts are very heavy then you can add Wallys Liquid Copper to the Vaporgard spray and that places an extra layer of particles over the foliage to give even better frost protection.

How does Vaporgard work? Besides putting a protective film over the leaves it acts as a sunscreen against UV.

VaporGard develops a polymerised skin over each spray-droplet which filters out UVA and UVB. This provides a sunscreen for chlorophyll which is normally under attack by UV light.

This results in a darker green colour of the foliage within a few days of application. This chlorophyll build-up makes the leaf a more efficient food factory producing more carbohydrates, especially glycols.

Glycol is anti-freeze so the plant has its own anti-freeze protection of the cells. The cells still free but are protected with the anti-freeze.

That is fine if you have a frost every few days but if there is several frosts night after night then the cells dont have enough time to heal before they are fozen again.

That being the case you need to use additional protection such as frost cloth for the second and third frosts.

Vaporgard will ensure that you don’t get caught out from that unexpected frost.

Once you have winter proofed your gardens then also change your watering patterns of your indoor plants which will suffer inside during winter if the mix is wet.

A little water as needed is best for winter indoor plants keeping the mix a little on the dry side.

Most important after watering that you remove any water from the saucer below the pot.

If at this time you find when you water the water quickly fills the saucer below then you have a problem called soil tension which prevents the water from wetting all the growing medium.

If the pots are not too big then plunge them into a tank of water and watch them bubble away.

When they stop bubbling lift and let drain before placing back on saucer. They will accept water better next time. If the containers are too big to plunge then mix some dishwashing liquid into warm water, lather up and water that over the growing medium. It will break surface tension.

Two interesting things were reported this week one about server climate events which we have recently seen.

Ian Wishart did some investigating and here is the out come:

CLIMATE OF FEAR: NIWA’s Missing Storm Data & Its Impact On Extreme Climate Claims

Whatever; one thing for sure the climate during my life time has changed and not for the better, but then again it has been changing from the day planet Earth came into being so whats new.

You will likely see this in the news soon….

Silicon Valley Bank Collapsed yesterday; A bid to reassure investors goes awry. The failure of Silicon Valley Bank was caused by a run on the bank.

The company was not, at least until clients started rushing for the exits, insolvent or even close to insolvent. Other banks are in trouble now also.

Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
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New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Part II of the Act covers a broad range of Civil and Political Rights. As part of the right to life and the security of the person, the Act guarantees everyone:

1The right not to be deprived of life except in accordance with fundamental justice (Section 8)

2The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment (Section 9)

3The right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation without consent (Section 10)

4The right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment (Section 11)

 Furthermore, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 guarantees everyone: Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion.
This includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief,
INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO ADOPT AND HOLD OPINIONS WITHOUT INTERFERENCE (Section 1)



Gardening

What to do with those fallen leaves (Wally Richards)

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A reader from Southland emailed me this week and asked if I could write an article about what to do with autumn leaves.

For some home owners, autumn leaf fall is a curse, just another chore to rake them up and clear the gutters.

For gardeners, leaf fall is a blessing and they gladly collect the leaves to make leaf mould.Leaf mould is excellent for improving soil, also as a lawn conditioner and mulch over gardens.

It can be used in seed raising mixes and potting mixes.Leaf mould is easy to make, its free with a little effort on your part and its a good substitute for peat moss in your gardens.

If you live in an area where there are hedgehogs and you would like to help them through the winter then leave any leaf fall thats under hedges and other out of the way areas.

The hedgehogs may use the places as hibernating sites over winter.

Also if you have bare vegetable or flower gardens either leave the leaves as a cover over the area or place a good layer over the gardens yourself.

Sprinkle garden Lime over the leaves then spray them with Thatch Busta which will help break down the mat of leaves, getting the gardens ready for spring.

This cover of the leaves will prevent a lot of weeds from growing in the bare gardens.

Now to make your own leaf mould with what is left or what you can collect from else where.

There are two ways to do this and one is much faster than the other.

The fast way is to lay some leaves over a flat area of lawn an inch or two thick and the with your rotary mower adjusted to the lowest setting run over the leaves with your catcher on.

Repeat this with another layer of leaves and so on.

When your catcher is ready to empty, open a black plastic rubbish bag and put a few handfuls of leaves and any grass clippings into the bottom of the bag.

Sprinkle over the leaves a handful of garden lime and then spray with Thatch Busta at 10 ml per litre. (If you don’t have Thatch Busta but have Mycorrcin, then use it at 15mls per litre.)

Now add a few more handfuls of mashed up leaves and repeat the lime and spraying.

Press down when bag is full to compress the material and then you can add a lot more.

Finally when the bag is full enough to still be able to tie off, tie the top then with a small nail or thin blade screw driver punch lots of small holes all over the bag.

Toss the bag into a sunny out of the way area and leave for a month or so.

After a few weeks pick up the bag, give it a shake and put it back with a different side facing upwards.

Repeat this about every month or so.The bag will appear to have more space in it as the material coverts to leaf mould.

Within about 6 months you should have a lovely crumbly product that smells good.

The sprinkling of lime is important as the leaves that fall are acidic and you want them sweet so the bacteria will work breaking them down to mould.

The Thatch Busta or Mycorrcin is also very important as they supply the food that increases the microbe populations which speeds up the process.

The alternative method is to place the leaves into a rubbish bag without using a rotary mower to break them up.

Otherwise the lime and spray are used between layers and tied off as above.

This way will take at least twice as long to get your leaves into good leaf mould (say about a year)

Without the lime and Thatch Busta/Mycorrcin then about two years.

If you are not able to clear the leaves and are going to leave them where they fall, then the best thing to do after they have finish falling is to sprinkle some garden lime over them

and spray with Thatch Busta.

Repeat the Thatch Busta spray every month or so to speed up break down.

If you haven’t planted your spring bulbs yet then you should get cracking now.

If you are planting a bed of bulbs then sprinkle the area with Wallys Unlocking the Soil, blood & bone and Wallys BioPhos.

Rake the  products into the bed then plant your bulbs.Remember to place the tallest growing spring flowers at the back or if a bed in the open place tall growing ones in the centre.

The shortest growing will be in the front.Rather than having a bare bed for a while till the spring bulbs emerge, plant some alyssum and lobelia seedlings.

They will make a nice ground cover over the winter and a lovely back drop for your flowering bulbs.Don’t forget to protect tender plants from frost.

Spray with Vaporgard and if there happens to be two or more frosts in a row, night after night then cover plants with frost cloth or sack/newspaper)

Winter time plants hate wet feet but they may still need an occasional drink during periods of no rain.

Container plants not in the open will occasionally need a drink also; best to wait till they start to droop from lack of moisture then give them a small drink.

Plants like citrus trees in open ground that detest wet feet should be sprayed with Wallys Perfection to prevent root rots in winter.

Remove all mulches as they prevent drying of wet soil which causes root rots and diseases during winter.

Leaving mulches on the soil often leads to loses of plants that cant handle wet feet.

If you are one that likes a bit of news on other matters then email me.

Problems ring me at
Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at  www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz

Photo: ichimi @ pixabay.com