Set the garden up for Winter

Hi

The night of the SUPER MOON

Last week it was frosts but this week it was the super moon and good ole fashioned rain which I am so pleased that we have had. It was getting kinda dry out there.  Now I wasn't out there, the night of the supermoon planting my garlic . But I did wondered how many of my clients were out, under that stunning full moon, popping in a few cloves. Hopefully fully clothed as it was way too cold not to be. Full moons have a reputation! LOL  Those few frosts must have really helped all the trees colour as the weeping maples that I have in the garden look stunning!!  Our Awanui cherries in the garden centre have looked pretty colourful in warm glow of orange  through the middle of all the Camellias and Citrus that we have here.

The puppies are three weeks old today and just looking gorgeous, They have just opened their eyes and are starting to make little noises, I imagine that in another week or two it will be all rough and tumble in their little pen and I observe that Mum is taking more and more time out. I must admit I feel a bit sorry for her but when they are hungry, well they give her a bit of a hard time. She is a great mother though and I reckon that they have just about trebled in size.

Whip out the Copper and Oil for a good winter clean up Click here

Force your roses into retirement for the winter so that they have a good rest. It's too easy to keep them going as they will do in the Waikato climate. Hopefully you stopped deadheading and doing any trimming some weeks ago, so now they should look messy and with yellowing leaves. Its time to be forcing those leaves off your roses with a good spray of either lime sulphur or copper oxychloride and spraying oil. Now Lime sulphur is pretty harsh and will do a good job of it but remember it stinks and will stain things like your house, so use carefully, Its also important to note that Lime sulphur is incompatible with other sprays so allow a couple of weeks to elapse if you want to follow up with oil and copper. Some people just use oil and copper and I would suggest doing several sprays through the winter and prior to and after pruning.
There is lots of that skanky white scale around on those stems at the moment and a good dose of scale will actually kill the branch so its important toi get onto this  and I believe a good winter sparying will help make for a spray free spring. Now while you have that either of these sprays in your tank it's a good idea to target all your deciduous fruit trees. This will help clean up any lichen fungal spores and woolly aphids, scale and the like. Now Neem oil is the way to go for those that dont want to use a mineral oil. Chris tells me that whilst its been accepted practice to mix these products separately but togather they have a greater effect used individually.

 
Get the garden set up for winter
I just love the look of  large trees in all their Autumn colours and then with neatly clipped hedges in front of them.  We must be on to it this year  as all the hedges are clipped tickety boo  and that's all the hedges from the big ones to all the smaller  Buxus. Now while Im onto the Buxus I'm going to spray them all with copper oxychloride to help prevent the Buxus fungus that has become more prevalent over the last few years. Now Anthony our garden designer has also done some research on this fungus and apparently Prince Charlie at Highgrove in the UK has changed his hedge cut from a flat top to a  more angled top to allow more air movement through the hedge. We have angled the tops to all our hedges as every bit helps to maintain them in good condition. It's also really important to remove as many leaves and clean up as thoroughly as possible, though I must admit with buxus this is pretty difficult. 

Get a little nutty this winter
Hazelnuts and almonds, I am mentioning these here as I have some 'Almond all in one' available at the moment, I guess the name says it all - a self fertile Almond that is highly recommended for home orchards. Produces heavy crops of soft-shell nuts with a sweet flavour. Suitable for Northern districts as requires less winter chill than other varieties.  Now the other nuts that are really easy to grow and actually fruit well are Hazelnuts just make sure that you get two, and the correct two, as they do need pollinators

In the Kitchen
Now my mum called in the other day with a new rhubarb pie for us to try, she tells me that there is banana in there too!! Spoilt Huh we'll have it for dessert tonight!!

Pete invited us for dinner the other night and he made this most awesome Feijoa crumble and it just has to be so good for you. Without sounding like a health freak there was no added sugar and a delicious nut topping. I was most impressed as I have a bit of a sweet tooth and like my puds!

Strawberries It does seem odd to be planting these smack bang in the middle of winter but to get the best crop in the spring, its way better if the plant is well and truly established.  Camarosa is a very large sweet fruiting variety. Pre order now and we will let you know when they are in. Choose either 10 or 25 plants

Asparagus will be in soon again so if you have a hankering to put in a dedicated asparagus bed now is the time to be getting in and ordering them. They should be in stock soon.

Lily of the Valley I forgot to mention last week  and we have the classic white one in as well as the pink one. Solidago or golden rod I have been asked for lately so I grabbed some of these as well.