Auckland Landscape: Gardening Tips & Jobs - A Month by Month Guide

What To Do In The Garden In June

Mon, 30 May 2011 12:45:00 +1200

Gardening Tips and Jobs for June

A Month by Month Gardening Guide that covers vegetables, lawns, flowers, shrubs and general gardening.

Written by Heather Tait and Bridget Bryant

We are now well and truly getting ready for winter. The frosts have started in most places already, so this will lower soil temperatures and send many plants into dormancy. Try these tips for preparing the garden for the toughest couple of months of the year -

The General Garden - (this month this covers lawns and flower beds).

• Soil mulching - A layer of Living Earth’s More than Mulch around plants will suppress invasive weeds and keep their roots well covered during winter

• Areas of the garden that are not being used over winter can be dug over with Living Earth Compost, then mulched as above.

• Cover the worm farm with a thick layer of old carpet or similar – worms are very sensitive to cold weather.

• Frosted leaves on plants should not be removed until winter has passed. The reason is that you are only exposing the plant to more burning on fresh younger foliage and it could ultimately kill off the plant. Better to buy a piece of frost cloth from the Garden Centre.

• Get the tools sharpened – particularly those you’ll need when it’s time to prune: loppers, secateurs and pruning saws.

The Vegetable Garden

• Copper spray dormant fruit trees, roses and any citrus trees that are not bearing fruit. Copper is an excellent ‘clean-up’ fungicide for plants that susceptible to fungal leaf spots, or, in the case of citrus, verrucosis.

• Vegetables: It’s still not too late for a crop of broad beans, or build a tee-pee and sow sugar snap or snow peas. Living Earth’s Veggie Mix is good for growing these vegetables in.

• Planning’s good....Get hold of books, Google interesting garden designers and dream up your next garden project. If you’re going the veggie way this year, scout round for a disused window frame with glass intact and build a cold frame to get seeds underway in spring.

Collecting Greenwaste : Greenwaste from your garden can be deposited at our St Johns Site located at 88A Merton Road in St Johns. For more information phone 09 521 3412

We Cover Auckland

88a Merton Road, St Johns, Ph 09 521 3412, Fax 09 521 3912 or 0508 TO LANDSCAPE

Website : www.aucklandlandscapesupplies.co.nz

Source: What To Do In The Garden In June

What To Do In The Garden In May

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +1200

What to Do in the Garden in May

Written by Heather Tait and Bridget Bryant

Preparing for the Cold Ahead

Dig out all the weeds around your plants and compost them or put them in your greenwaste bin. (If you wish to know where to take your greenwaste, see below).

Have a ready supply of Garden Mix from Auckland Landscape Supplies beside you as you weed and spread it thickly over the bare soil, forking it in lightly. Over time this will lighten up the heavy structure of clay or, in sandier, more porous soils, Garden Mix adds heavier particles to aid water retention for plants to access.

Finally, a layer of Mulch, over the entire area is like adding a ‘blanket’ as it gets colder – your soil retains warmth, while weeds find it much more difficult to penetrate this layer.

Garden Diary

The Flower / Ornamental Garden

Get some bulbs into the ground, into pots or hanging baskets. Check heights of bulbs for containers – choose dwarf daffodils and tulips and low growers such as crocus and hyacinths. Wondering which way up to plant? Most growers now tell you on the back of their packets, but don’t worry – many of them still grow upwards even if their standing on their heads! Gently squeeze bulbs before planting, if you discover a soft or mushy one, discard it as it won’t develop blooms.

From now on you’ll likely be making cuts in growing wood, dishing out anything from a light trim to a short back and sides. Get all the necessary tools sharpened at the local Garden Centre or Mower Shop – they can give the most rain-ruined secateurs a brand new lease of life!

Helleborus hybridus, or the common winter rose, often has a thicket of tough green leaves at this time, grown to protect the plant from harsh summer sun. It’s time to remove them, exposing the crown and allowing the weaker winter sun to encourage numerous blooms to burst through. Trim back spent perennials to healthy growth around the crown, shape lavenders and hebes and lift dahlias that have died back.

Trim back spent perennials to healthy growth around the crown, shape lavenders and hebes and lift dahlias that have died back.

The General Garden

Moss on paths develops quickly in warm, wet weather. Spray or treat with moss-killer remedies now to control its growth.

Pull weeds, and bulk gardens with a good layer of Garden Mix or Compost.

Mulch Gardens, to create a warm blanket through winter and to suppress weeds.

Lawn care in May

This is the perfect time to apply Rolawn Maintenance Lawn food or Redvale Lawn Fertilizer. These can be applied as per the instructions provided (usually about a handful per square meter) This will boost the growth of grasses and suppress growth of brad-leafed weeds.

If weeds are a real problem you may need to use a more purpose built weedkiller (for this you will need to visit your local garden center)

Any lawn that is not growing well can be raked over and reseeded. However be careful to check that there is no drainage issues that need to be seen to first.

The Vegetable Garden

Vege gardens present great opportunities for the winter kitchen. It’s not too late to put in brassicas (cabbage, cauli and broccoli) from your local garden centre, as well as beetroot (sow seed, it’s more economic) and spring onions.

Plant citrus trees now. All citrus prefer shelter and warmth, out of the frost zone; a good indication is to look at an existing tree on your property – try to grow others in its vicinity. (Note: lemons and grapefruit close to each other seem to result in very ‘pippy’ grapefruit). Good trees around now include kaffir limes, Tahitian limes, Encore mandarins and the highly decorative kumquats.

For more in-depth information about the vegetable garden, please have a look at Bridget’s Veggie Blog.

Collecting Greenwaste : Greenwaste from your garden can be deposited at our St Johns Site located at 88A Merton Road in St Johns. For more information phone 09 521 3412

Source: What To Do In The Garden In May

What to do in the Garden in April

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +1300

What to Do in the Garden in April
Written by Living Earth for Auckland Landscape Supplies Customers

The Veggie Bed

Time to renovate the veggie garden- take out spent crops and vines of tomatoes, beans, corn etc. Clean up all diseased foliage.
Dig over the soil adding compost as you go to aerate and bulk up the existing soil media.
If you’re intending to re-plant winter veggies soon, add some sheep pellets or balanced plant food.
Green Crops: If not, empty garden beds can be sown with a combination of mustard and lupin seed; both fix nitrogen in the soil. When these crops start to bud/flower cut the stems every 10cm and leave on the soil. After a month dig through your soil. This adds good ‘bulk’ to the gardens.
Plant now: Autumn crops of lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and herbs such as parsley and coriander. It’s the best time to get autumn spinach underway – now it’s not so hot, it won’t ‘bolt to seed’.
Sow now: Carrots, Broad Beans (cooler districts), Rainbow Chard (pretty stems in mid winter) and celeriac.
Slugs & Snails: They’re celebrating the arrival of rain – go get to them before they get to your new plants!

Do not: Turn your back on the zucchinis – remember the relentless meals of marrow we had to chomp through as kids?

The Rest of the Garden

Another cut-back: trim off spent flowers of summer perennials and trim back bushes to shape.
Work Living Earth Compost through the soil to condition it.
Potted Plants: Top up the exposed roots of potted plants to reduce stress. Liquid feed all pots with Living Earth Liquid Compost
Feeding: Fertilize citrus trees and acid-loving shrubs, such as camellias, daphnes and rhododendrons.
NZ Plants: Our native plants grow well at this time of the year. They like a helping of compost and a top-dress of the slow release fertilizer, Osmocote For Natives.
Fruit Trees: Clean up diseased pip and stone fruit, as well as fallen leaves. Burnets’ Gold Fruit & Citrus Fertilizer is great to feed all fruiting trees with. Harvest time for feijoas, figs and citrus.

Source: What to do in the Garden in April

March Gardening Tips and Jobs

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +1300

What to Do in the Garden in March

Written by Living Earth for Auckland Landscape Supplies Customers

It is now the beginning of lawn season, so whether you are sowing a new lawn, or renovating an old one, now is the time to do it.

The Lawn

This warm barmy weather presents an ideal time to renovate or re-sow your lawn. It means your new grass can be well established before the winter chill hits.

Premium Lawn Mix by Living Earth – our product is a premium blend of compost, sand, bark fines and fertilisers and is an ideal media for growing lawns.

Renovating an Existing Lawn: eradicate the weeds by hand-weeding or spraying with a selective weed killer such as Yates’ Turfix. Warm temperatures such as we currently have are good for activating combination fertiliser/weed killer turf products such as Osmocote Lawn Builder with Weed kill. Bare patches/ dips in the lawn can be filled with Premium Lawn Mix to a maximum depth of 30mm. Dampen the soil then broadcast the lawn seed, raking or lightly topdressing (scattered layer of lawn mix over the top of the existing lawn) with more Premium Lawn Mix afterward. Lightly irrigate in the dry days following.

Sowing a New Lawn:

Cultivate your soil and spray re-growth with a contact weed killer such as Round-up or Shortcut. (These herbicides do not remain active in the soil after spraying, thus allowing you to sow lawn seed in the days following. Note they are non-selective and will act on blades of grass as well as weeds). Top-dress your soil with Premium Lawn Mix to a depth of 30mm. Irrigate lightly then broadcast lawn seed, lightly topdressing with more Lawn Mix. Water gently in the dry days that follow.

ALS Lawn Mix and Northland Lawn Mix : These two mixes are made with two types of screened topsoil's mixed with 30% pumice river sand from the Waikato river. Now both the South Auckland topsoil (which is very volcanic soil from Mangere) and the Northland topsoil (which is peat based soil from Ruakaka) are screened soils meaning they are weedfree, they have not been cooked however, therefore they may not be weed proof due to dormant seeds sitting there waiting to be irregated. However if your budget can stretch we strongly recommend Premium Lawn Mix by Living Earth as it is nutrient rich something that the other topsoil options lack. You get what you pay for.

Laying Rolawn (Roll out Turf):

The key to a good outcome when laying roll out turf is definitely in the preparation. Time spent at this stage will ensure you get a result you are happy with. The general idea is to get the following points right. (For more in depth explanation of this process please visit the DIY corner at our yards)

1. Ensure the area is weed free before you begin any further preparation.

2. Level the area, using a combination of raking and rolling the surface.

3. Top dress with at least 30mm of good quality Lawn Mix. We recommend Premium Lawn Mix by Living Earth.

4. Lay Turf as per the instructions found at our DIY corner in the yard.

5. Regular irrigation, up to twice a day to begin with.

The Vegetable Garden

You will probably still be harvesting many of your summer vegetables. For example tomatoes, beans, lettuces, cucumbers, corgettes and now is the time to harvest melons as well. Over March, April and May you will also finish harvesting your pumpkins and potatoes. It is really important that as each crop comes to an end you pull out the last of the crop vegetation for composting at home or through garden waste bags so that you can begin to the beds ready for your winter crops.

1. As you harvest vegetables and get rid of old vegetation remember to rejuvenate your garden bed by topping it up with a good garden mix or compost mix. We recommend Living Earth Garden Mix or Living Earth Black Gold. Your garden will have most of the nutrients sucked out of it after all of your summer vegetables have grown so this is vital.

2. While your garden beds are getting ready for winter, it is a good idea to sow your vegetable seeds into trays indoors or in a glass house so they are ready to plant out in the next few weeks. It is the perfect time to plant beetroot, broccoli, radishes, cauliflower, peas, and spring onions.

3. Remember to continue to protect your plants from pests but using egg shells to ring them, slug pellets or pesticide sprays.

4. If you want to grow feijoas, these are available in garden centre: Unless you select Feijoa ‘’Unique” which is self-fertile, you’ll need to purchase two different varieties for pollination. Try a combination of Feijoa ‘’Gemini” (early season) with Feijoa “Opal Star” (late season). Remember to encourage the thrushes and blackbirds into the garden in spring as they act as pollinators.

5. Trim herbs such as basil, parsley and coriander, so they’ll keep bushing up and won’t bolt to seed.

The General Garden

1. Trim, feed and mulch your hedges. Nothing looks better than sharply defined hedges in a garden and it means the flush of growth will harden off before winter. And yes, although it may be looking fantastic, do the lavender too!

2. Spray tenacious perennial weeds now – once the winter arrives many sprays are less effective.

Autumn is Nature’s best planting time – dig plenty of Living Earth Compost through your soil and get planting. Just remember to water new plants deeply at their roots every few days.

3. Plant new season’s bulbs of freesia, ranunculus, crocus and anemones. Other bulbs such as tulips, hyacinths and daffodils benefit from a spell (6 weeks) in the ‘fridge to get them into winter mode.

4. Add general fertiliser around the garden to obtain that extra flowering and encourage growth. But remember that many South African plants such as leucadendrons and proteas don’t cope with fertiliser and avoid them.

5. Many deciduous trees are colouring now. Note any that impress you and check with your local Garden Centre if they grow well in your area and whether they can obtain one for you.

6. Autumn is Nature’s best planting time – dig plenty of Garden Mix or Black Gold through your soil and get planting. Just remember to water new plants deeply at their roots every few days.

We Cover Auckland

88a Merton Road, St Johns, Ph 09 521 3412, Fax 09 521 3912 or 0508 TO LANDSCAPE

337 Lincoln Road, Henderson, Ph 838 6654, Fax 838 6659 or 0508 TO LANDSCAPE

Website : www.aucklandlandscapesupplies.co.nz

Source: March Gardening Tips and Jobs

Gardening Tips and Jobs for January

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +1300

Gardening Tips and Jobs for January

Gardening Tips and Jobs for January. A monthly gardening guide, with easy to follow subtiltes and bulleted easy to follow instructions. Written by Heather Tait and compiled by Bridget Bryant

Vegetables:

•   It’s been wet, so spray powdery mildew with Yates’ Nature’s Way Fungus Spray
•   Holidays at home with the children: they can have fun sowing, sunflowers, dwarf beans and radishes. Get them to taste all of the ripening garden produce, so they get a taste for it
•   Stake corn, as it’s growing quickly, as well as tomatoes and scarlet runner beans.
•   If you’re going away and worried about the watering, layer on a mulch of pea straw, but spread a bit of blood and bone first.
•   Tomato fruit worm is getting into the tomatoes before we do – use Yates’ Success
•   Black aphids are appearing on chives, spring onions and beans – if they are still there after all the rain, then spray with pyrethrum

Fruit

•    Citrus trees with yellowing along the veins of their leaves have a magnesium deficiency – feed with citrus fertilizer – water in well, or Sulphate of Iron.
•    Young fruit trees don’t necessarily set much fruit in the first year or two, so don’t fret – they just need to get their roots down
•    Passionfruit vines can come under attack from aphid and whitefly –pyrethrum is a natural effective spray.

Flower Garden
•    Deadhead and water regularly the summer flowerers – roses, hydrangeas and summer flowering perennials
•    A summer spray around the garden with Success will stop the caterpillar damage spreading – leaf-rollers on camellias, munching of leaves and flowers on dahlias etc.
•    Thickly mulch new plantings and the water hungry, such as ferns and hostas.
•    Summer pruning is okay for once-flowering roses and wisterias

Lawns

•    Try not to mow too low (scalp the lawn). If you do, the lawn dries more quickly and allows stronger weed species to establish.
•    Sowing new lawn is not recommended, but if you have to use a thin layer of our Living Earth Lawn Mix and topdress with seed, irrigating twice daily if it fails to rain.
•    Don’t fertilize lawns now – leave it until March.

Source: Gardening Tips and Jobs for January

Gardening Tips and Jobs for December

Mon, 06 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +1300

Gardening Tips and Jobs for December

Your gardening tips and jobs for December. A monthly gardening and landscaping guide. Easy to understand subtitles and bulleted instructions to follow. Written by Heather Tait, Compiled by Bridget Bryant

The Vegetable Garden

•   Plant Leeks, by drilling holes with a pencil and just drop them in
•   Water new veggie seedling each day ay the root area
•   Liquid feed around all vegetables and particularly those cropping now
•   You can plant ALL summer crops now, particularly cucumbers, zuccini and capsicum.
•   Big leafy lettuces are now best planted with morning sun only as they scorch.
•   Make sure you’ve got stakes up to 1.8m in for the climbing beans, tomatoes and corn.

Tip: If you are trying crops that you don't eat a lot of, do a little bit of research now about recipes you can try or ways that you can store (long term) your vegetables for a later date. This will mean that you can get the satisfaction of trying new crops, and you can stock up the cupboard or freezer at the same time.

The Flower Garden

• Good summer annuals in the heat are petunias, zinnias, verbenas and cosmos.
• The best annual in the shade is impatiens, although nicotiana (tobacco plants) will tolerate light shade
Tip: Plant now for autumn displays – heleniums, echinaceas and salvias.

The General Garden

• These temperatures get great results from weedkillers.
• Preparing for Mulching: weed around plants – water deeply (otherwise you just lock dry soil), then spread mulch to a layer of up to 100mm.
Tip: Don’t cut back hedges or overhanging trees now – the bright sun will burn foliage.

Lawn Care

• Dig out big perennial weeds by hand or put a tsp of sulphate of ammonia in the middle of them
• Water new lawns deeply once a day.
Tip: Mow often, but set the mower high – if you scalp your lawn it will burn.

Source: Gardening Tips and Jobs for December

November Gardening Tips and Jobs

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +1300

What to do in the Garden in November

Written by Heather Tait and edited by Bridget Bryant

The Lawn

•   Combination Lawn Weedkiller/Fertilizer products work really well on lawns right now, but follow the watering instructions strictly.
•   At the very least, make sure you fertilize the lawn – this encourages strong growth and sets the grass up to cope with summer drought.
•   Onehunga Weed (prickle-weed) needs spraying out now before it flowers and sets seed.

The Veggie Garden

•   Sow corn, melons, beans and swede ( if you’re a Southlander) this month.
•   Continue to ‘mound up’ spuds as it’s the soil around the stems that encourages heavy crops of potatoes.
•   Stake Tomatoes at planting, over very soon thereafter with a support at least 1.8m high. It may not look like it, but those plants will head skywards very quickly.
•   Blue flowers on lavenders, rosemarys and and catmint are great around vegetable gardens to get the bees visiting.
•   Plant capsicum, chillies and zucchinis, but put a plastic cloche over them at night if your overnight temperatures are still down around 10 degrees.

The Rest of the Garden

•   Mulching: Now’s good. After the rain clear off any weeds and spread our Black Mulch around your plants. You’ll love the new look and feel as though the whole garden has had a ‘makeover’!
•   Sun-lovers can be planted now: plant daisies, lavenders, phlox and hebes now while the ground is still moist and they’ll do their stuff over the long hot summer we’re all hoping for.
•   Deadhead camellias, rhododendrons and the spent blooms of the first roses, cleaning up beneath the bushes as well.
•   It’s the perfect time to trim topiary and hedges – any later in summer and the exposed foliage will burn.
•   Pretty Pots: Plant annuals such as petunias, impatiens and zinnias in pots – reds look wonderfully festive heading into Christmas. Water on Living Earth Liquid Compost after planting and every fortnight for best results.

Source: November Gardening Tips and Jobs

October Gardening Tips and Jobs

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +1300

What to Do in the Garden in October

Written by Living Earth for Auckland Landscape Supplies Customers

The Veggie Bed

• Seeds to sow now for crops in summer: sweet corn, chillies, beans, eggplants, cucumber, zucchini, coriander and parsley.

• Plant out lettuces, pumpkins, spring onions and put in some cabbages and radishes for summer coleslaws. (Cabbage seedlings available now are varieties that can grow in warmer temperatures without ‘bolting’). Wait a few more weeks until you plant your tomatoes, a good time is labour weekend.

• Tips for planting Seedlings: make sure the soil is moist and friable, add plenty of Living Earth Compost or Garden Mix, and then water your punnets of seedlings. Gently ease the seedling out of the punnets holding them by the foliage as you do so – avoiding touching or knocking the root-ball, as this can lead to ‘shock’ that causes the plant to wilt and die off. Plant into the soil and firm around the base. Water on liquid plant food immediately, then every couple of weeks until established.

• Build simple tee-pees for beans and tomatoes with inexpensive cane stakes and garden string, so your plants will have a frame to climb up.

For more comprehensive monthly vegetable garden tips and ideas please refer to Bridget's Vege Patch on this website under articles.

The Rest of the Garden

• Planting: Summer planting requires a bit of preparation to ensure success, as new additions to the garden stress more easily when the hot temperatures arrive. Try the following steps:

Add Living Earth Garden Mix to bulk up and add nutrients to the soil.
If the soil is dry fill the planting hole to the top with water and wait until it has drained away.
Soak the roots of the new plant in a bucket of water until the bubbles cease rising.
Firm the plant into the soil and water it well.
Add a thick layer of Living Earth More than Mulch around the plant.

Good to plant now

Summer bulbs: dahlias, gladioli, peonies, hippeastrums and begonias
Also, lots of interesting perennials such as the Peruvian Lily, alstroemeria, salvias and the new lavenders known as the ‘Leigh’ series.
Shrubs such as roses, hebes, fuchsias and viburnums can all go in now.

• Plant Care: Squash early aphids on roses and vegetables, prune passionfruit, trim hedging if the new growth has ‘hardened off’. Feed all fruiting trees once the blossom is gone and hang Codling Moth traps in pip-fruit trees.

• Fertilising: Now is a great time to feed everything in the garden (except proteas, leucadendrons and grevilleas). Feed NZ native and Australian plants with a fertiliser that has a low phosphorous content.

The Lawn

• Make sure new lawns are being sufficiently irrigated.
• Get rid of as many broadleaf weeds in the lawn as you can, then fertilise the grass. This will encourage it to ‘take over’ the space left.
• With larger bare patches, it’s not too late (or too warm) to sow a bit more lawn seed for good coverage. Our Lawn Mix is an ideal ‘filler’ and growing medium in which to do this.
• Mow often – it’s a season of regular rain, so lawns are growing well.

We Cover Auckland

88a Merton Road, St Johns, Ph 09 521 3412, Fax 09 521 3912 or 0508 TO LANDSCAPE

337 Lincoln Road, Henderson, Ph 838 6654, Fax 838 6659 or 0508 TO LANDSCAPE

Website : www.aucklandlandscapesupplies.co.nz

________________________________________________________________________________

Source: October Gardening Tips and Jobs

September Gardening Tips and Jobs

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +1200

What to Do in the Garden in September

Written by Living Earth for Auckland Landscape Supplies Customers

The Veggie Bed

• Spring has arrived and the range of veggies you can grow just got a whole lot wider with the warm spring weather: there are plenty of colourful lettuces that look really good in the veggie plot, plus rocket or mesclun mix, varieties that you can pick as you go. Or sow some Chinese snow peas – they cost a fortune to buy at the supermarket and fresh from the garden, the taste is unbelievable.
• Soil for the veggie bed: we make our Living Earth Organic Veggie Mix especially for you to grow safe, healthy veggies at home. It contains our fantastic Living Earth Compost and every batch we make has been rigorously tested, so we know you’re getting the best brew in which to grow your food. Veggie Mix has a fantastic texture, organic fertilisers and is 100% weed free.
• Don’t forget the spuds – they’ll need a few weeks to sprout before you plant, (just store them in a dry place ‘til the ‘eyes’ are a couple of cm long). And you can plant yams, parsnips and pumpkins now too.
• School holidays start later this month – Grab a few hours with the children and get some seeds going, so they can have their own garden experience. Any leftover Living Earth Lawn Mix is an ideal seed-raising mix, with its fertiliser and free-draining texture. Successful seeds for kids include carrots, peas, and radishes (most children won’t eat radishes, but they give a quick result through the holiday fortnight and honestly, they’re excellent sliced through coleslaw). Do not forget giant sunflowers, or if you’re limited by space order Sunflower ‘Teddy Bear’ or ‘Incredible Dwarf’

The Rest of the Garden

• Soil Conditioning: It’s important to get the soil right for both established plants and new additions you’ll be adding to the garden. A good soil has excellent structure and nutrients and you can add this by digging in plenty of our 100% weed free Living Earth Compost. Come summer, it will aid water retention too.
• We are often asked: What do I add to existing beds of garden that are a couple of years old? More Living Earth Compost of course – treat it like conditioning ordinary garden soils.
• Planting: Once your soil’s ready there are plenty of trees, shrubs and annuals available now. Just remember that from now on, plants in small containers and planter bags dry out very quickly, so soak every plant in a bucket of water until the bubbles stop rising. That way you can be sure the roots are nice and moist before they go into the ground.

And remember, our Garden Mix is a fantastic complete planting mix for all this season’s gardening....

• Climbers: It’s a great time to establish climbers against an existing wall, or a climbing frame. Choose from big flowered hybrid clematis or our NZ beauty, Clematis paniculata, or there’s the showy pandorea or the Chinese star jasmine, Trachelospernum jasminoides. If you’re into growing food, climbing edibles include passionfruit, grapes, cocktail size kiwifruit, as well as berry fruits such as loganberry and boysenberry.
• Plant a hedge: Low hedges such as buxus, corokia or lavender can go in now, as can taller pittosporum, Eugenia (lillypilly) and griselinia. (Griselinia needs some trichopel in the planting soil to ward off its enemy, the pathogen Phytophthora). After planting, all of these varieties would benefit from a light trim, to get them even and start them growing together as a hedge.

The Flower Garden

• Much has been written lately about the need for more natural gardens. Increased numbers of flowers attract beneficial insects that will keep the numbers of garden nasties at bay. It’s true that, on balance the more flowering interest you can provide over the spring through to autumn, the better chance you have of attracting the pollinators and the predator insects. So choose a wide range of flowering plants this year (add some salvias and lavenders for late season blooms) and be selective about deadheading – if a cluster of garden friendlies is showing interest long after the flowers have gone to seed, leave the spent blooms on a few more weeks...

The Lawn

• As the soil temperature rises, grass begins to grow quickly. Use our Living Earth Lawn Mix or Ultrasoil to fill in dips in the lawn and layer our Lawn Mix to a depth of around 30mm if you are sowing new turf. It’s a free-draining mix, a blend of compost, fine bark and sand and we’ve added fertiliser, so the germinating seed will establish quickly.
• Irrigation is a must when sowing lawns – daily until at least 10 days after germination, then regularly through spring and summer.
• It’s still good time to spray or dig out tenacious broadleaf weeds, so that new grass can fill these spaces. It’s also time to get rid of Onehunga Weed, the prickly little plant that is the scourge of children running barefoot across the grass in summer.

We Cover Auckland

88a Merton Road, St Johns, Ph 09 521 3412, Fax 09 521 3912 or 0508 TO LANDSCAPE

337 Lincoln Road, Henderson, Ph 838 6654, Fax 838 6659 or 0508 TO LANDSCAPE

Website : www.aucklandlandscapesupplies.co.nz

________________________________________________________________________________

Source: September Gardening Tips and Jobs

August Gardening Tips and Jobs

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +1200

What to Do in the Garden in August

Written by Living Earth for Auckland Landscape Supplies Customers

Warmer weather means spring’s around the corner.

Daytime temperatures are creeping up, so here are some garden tasks that can be undertaken now:

• Garden Beds generally: Condition existing soils with Living Earth Black Gold – layer it on, then dig it through the soil. Heavy clay benefits from more aeration and clays natural minerals work with the compost to provide a nutritious growing environment. Working compost through free-draining sandy soils helps add structure and particles that water and fertilisers can hold on to, for the benefit of the plant’s roots. Living Earth Organic Veggie Mix.

• The Veggie Bed: Work existing soils as above or simply shovel on Living Earth Organic Veggie Mix.($12.95 per 40 litre Bag) Either way you add organic weed-free matter to your soil, thus giving you the best growing environment to produce healthy food for the family.

• Vegetable seedlings available now include silver beet and spinach, mixed coloured lettuces and beetroot. Stir fry greens are also in the veggie stands, offered in mixed packs, so you get a few different varieties.

• Liquid feed all newly planted seedlings with Living Earth Reward Liquid Compost. Available for $9.99 per litre bottle (makes 100 Litres)

• Under a cold frame or in a sheltered area sow vegetable and flower seeds for the coming season. A bag of Living Earth Veggie Mix ($12.95 per 40 litre bag) is one of the best and most cost effective soils to sow them into – it’s been designed for successful seed germination.

• Planting trees and shrubs: a nice wide hole at least half as deep again as the root-ball. Make sure that any bare-root plants are well soaked in a bucket of water, before planting. Place some friable soil into the hole, settle the plant in to it and fill around the roots firming as you go. An excellent topsoil alternative to bulk up the soil is Living Earth Black Gold (see this months Special) that can be added straight into the hole. Remember to stake all plants that are exposed to the wind.

• Prune roses and hydrangeas. Take out any skinny or dead wood and thin out the centre of both shrubs. Good air circulation through the bushes prevents the spread of disease. For bush or shrub roses cut back by up to one half of the size of the bush, making the cut just above an outward facing new growth shoot on the branch. Hydrangeas are cut back to a pair of leaf buds, unless there’s a sharp point of tight leaves still at the end of the stem – leave this on as it’s the first new bloom in spring. Fork Living Earth Black Gold (see this months special) through the soil around both shrubs. It’s all they need at the moment and it gives them great friable soil for their roots to move through

• Renovate your existing lawn by digging out or selectively spraying existing broadleaf weeds. It’s important to get rid of them before you over-sow the grass, otherwise they’ll compete for space and ruin the look. If you’ve used a herbicide to kill weeds, check the withholding period before sowing new grass. Fill bare patches and slight dips with our Lawn Mix. Later in August, when overnight temperatures are at 7plus then you can sow grass seed.

Collecting Greenwaste : Greenwaste from your garden can be deposited at our St Johns Site located at 88A Merton Road in St Johns. For more information phone 09 521 3412

We Cover Auckland

88a Merton Road, St Johns, Ph 09 521 3412, Fax 09 521 3912 or 0508 TO LANDSCAPE

337 Lincoln Road, Henderson, Ph 838 6654, Fax 838 6659 or 0508 TO LANDSCAPE

Website : www.aucklandlandscapesupplies.co.nz

Source: August Gardening Tips and Jobs

July Gardening Tips and Jobs

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +1200

What to Do in the Garden in July

Written by Living Earth and Auckland Landscape Supplies

The Winter Garden

Jobs that are achievable and, come spring will make a difference to your garden:

Here’s some things that will keep you occupied but warm this winter – jobs that are achievable and, come spring will make a difference to your garden:

The Flower Garden

Liquid feed flowering winter annuals to keep them performing; add a teaspoon of dried blood and bone around primula and polyanthus to increase flower production. Check out our special on Living Earth Liquid Compost this month on the homepage.

When planting rhododendrons and daphnes into heavier soils dig in Living Earth Black Gold to lighten the texture, then add a dose of Trichopel in the planting hole to deter the dreaded phytophthora from attacking the new roots.

Divide up clumps of dormant perennials such as hostas and delphiniums to increase your plant numbers.

The Lawn

Dig out any unwanted weeds which are surfacing in your lawn. Remember to get the bulbs and whole root structure where possible.

While you are using "Moss Away" on your decks, roof and paths you can also use it to rid your lawn of any moss, mold or fungus that is growing. You just dilute further to a ratio of 20 to 1.

Your lawn probably doesn' t need much mowing at the moment, but when the weather does dry out enough, remember not to mow too low. You may think that you are going to have to mow less often if you mow short, but you are more likely to damage your precious lawn. Aim to leave about 3-4 cm of growth at this time of the year.

The Vegetable Garden

Strawberry plants, garlic and shallots are all available at the local Garden Centre and, now that this latest weather has chilled the soil, planting conditions are perfect! Or grow them in containers in our fabulous big value Living Earth Organic Veggie Mix, available from Auckland Landscape Supplies.

Vegetable seedlings that can still be planted out now include cabbages, broccoli and silver beet, including the very attractive ‘Rainbow Chard’ with the brightly coloured stems. Go for our Organic Veggie Mix again!

The General Garden

Soil conditioning – if your soil is too wet to stand on and dig, just layer Living Earth Black Gold over it and around plants. The compost will start interacting with your soil anyway and support microbial life to help suppress diseases, bring earthworms and enhance soil texture.

Treat areas that are affected by moss, mould and lichen with a product such as our Moss Away. This will ensure that you have no dangerous slips during the wet months and this product will continue to work throughout the rest of the year to reduce slippery stuff and inhibit further growth.

Dig out pest plants – onion weeds, various oxalis species and any other over-zealous unwanted bulbs. Try to get the bulbous root system to prevent plants multiplying. (It’s amazing how therapeutic it is, filling a bucket with these blighters and knowing there’s now room in the garden for more desirable things....)

School Holiday Project

Food for the Birds: This is a great project to do with the kids these school holidays, make a bird pudding – melt dripping, a dash of honey and mix in some seed mix from the supermarket. When set, place it in one of those netting bags that mandarins come in. Hang it high on a bare branch and enjoy the visitors to your garden.

Now sit back in the warmth indoors with gardening books and mags – NZ Gardener has just been named Supreme Magazine of the year – and plan a spring garden to your heart’s content.

Collecting Greenwaste : Greenwaste from your garden can be deposited at our St Johns Site located at 88A Merton Road in St Johns. For more information phone 09 521 3412

We Cover Auckland

88a Merton Road, St Johns, Ph 09 521 3412, Fax 09 521 3912 or 0508 TO LANDSCAPE

337 Lincoln Road, Henderson, Ph 838 6654, Fax 838 6659 or 0508 TO LANDSCAPE

Website : www.aucklandlandscapesupplies.co.nz

Source: July Gardening Tips and Jobs

What to do in the Garden in June

Tue, 18 May 2010 00:00:00 +1200

What to Do in the Garden in June

Written by Living Earth for Auckland Landscape Supplies Customers

Getting Ready For Winter

The frosts have started in most places already, so this will lower soil temperatures and send many plants into dormancy. Try these tips for preparing the garden for the toughest couple of months of the year -

• Soil mulching - A layer of Living Earth’s More than Mulch around plants will suppress invasive weeds and keep their roots well covered during winter

• Areas of the garden that are not being used over winter can be dug over with Living Earth Compost, then mulched as above.

• Cover the worm farm with a thick layer of old carpet or similar – worms are very sensitive to cold weather.

• Get the tools sharpened – particularly those you’ll need when it’s time to prune: loppers, secateurs and pruning saws.

• Vegetables: It’s still not too late for a crop of broad beans, or build a tee-pee and sow sugar snap or snow peas. Living Earth’s Veggie Mix is good for growing these vegetables in.

Collecting Greenwaste : Greenwaste from your garden can be deposited at our St Johns Site located at 88A Merton Road in St Johns. For more information phone 09 521 3412

We Cover Auckland

88a Merton Road, St Johns, Ph 09 521 3412, Fax 09 521 3912 or 0508 TO LANDSCAPE

337 Lincoln Road, Henderson, Ph 838 6654, Fax 838 6659 or 0508 TO LANDSCAPE

Website : www.aucklandlandscapesupplies.co.nz

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Source: What to do in the Garden in June

What to do in the Garden in May

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +1300

What to Do in the Garden in May

Written by Living Earth for Auckland Landscape Supplies Customers

Preparing for the Cold Ahead

Set your soil up for winter.....Continued warm weather and, at last, some reasonable rain have prolonged the growth of garden plants (and weeds). But the final end to summer vegetable and flower gardens is upon us and this presents a great opportunity to ‘manicure’ garden beds and do some important soil nourishment. It’s a good time to work the soil before it becomes too heavy and cold. Dig out all the weeds around your plants and compost them or put them in your greenwaste bin. (If you wish to know where to take your greenwaste, see below). Have a ready supply of Living Earth Compost beside you as you weed and spread it thickly over the bare soil, forking it in lightly. Over time this will lighten up the heavy structure of clay or, in sandier, more porous soils, compost adds heavier particles to aid water retention for plants to access. Finally, a layer of Living Earth More than Mulch, over the entire area is like adding a ‘blanket’ as it gets colder – your soil retains warmth, while weeds find it much more difficult to penetrate this layer.

Garden Diary

• Get some bulbs into the ground, into pots or hanging baskets. Check heights of bulbs for containers – choose dwarf daffodils and tulips and low growers such as crocus and hyacinths. Wondering which way up to plant? Most growers now tell you on the back of their packets, but don’t worry – many of them still grow upwards even if their standing on their heads! Gently squeeze bulbs before planting, if you discover a soft or mushy one, discard it as it won’t develop blooms. • From now on you’ll likely be making cuts in growing wood, dishing out anything from a light trim to a short back and sides. Get all the necessary tools sharpened at the local Garden Centre or Mower Shop – they can give the most rain-ruined secateurs a brand new lease of life! • Helleborus hybridus, or the common winter rose, often has a thicket of tough green leaves at this time, grown to protect the plant from harsh summer sun. It’s time to remove them, exposing the crown and allowing the weaker winter sun to encourage numerous blooms to burst through. • Moss on paths develops quickly in warm, wet weather. Spray or treat with moss-killer remedies now to control its growth. • Vege gardens present great opportunities for the winter kitchen. It’s not too late to put in brassicas (cabbage, cauli and broccoli) from your local garden centre, as well as beetroot (sow seed, it’s more economic) and spring onions. • Plant citrus trees now. All citrus prefer shelter and warmth, out of the frost zone; a good indication is to look at an existing tree on your property – try to grow others in its vicinity. (Note: lemons and grapefruit close to each other seem to result in very ‘pippy’ grapefruit). Good trees around now include kaffir limes, Tahitian limes, Encore mandarins and the highly decorative kumquats. • Trim back spent perennials to healthy growth around the crown, shape lavenders and hebes and lift dahlias that have died back.

Collecting Greenwaste : Greenwaste from your garden can be deposited at our St Johns Site located at 88A Merton Road in St Johns. For more information phone 09 521 3412

We Cover Auckland

88a Merton Road, St Johns, Ph 09 521 3412, Fax 09 521 3912 or 0508 TO LANDSCAPE

337 Lincoln Road, Henderson, Ph 838 6654, Fax 838 6659 or 0508 TO LANDSCAPE

Website : www.aucklandlandscapesupplies.co.nz

Source: What to do in the Garden in May