Wage war against bugs on your Roses, Citrus and Fruit trees and Some favourites to plant for winter colour

Keep any gardening questions coming to their Facebook page called Palmers or their web site www.palmers.co.nz and I will answer in detail all of your queries.  Eden Living is still running in full swing as I work alongside NZ's largest garden retailer.

Wherever you are in the country you have a Palmers near by and everything I talk about here is available at a store near you. 

Sometimes you just have to take control!  Beautiful fruit trees in my garden are going to need some TLC and it is a good time to check out your own.  I had a friend call over and prep for pruning my out of reach and badly shaped peaches, nectarines and pear tree while I made dinner and planned the attack against the hedges with the trimmer to give more air flow and sun back into my neglected yard.  Being a recent resident here I am loving to see the quick transformation and wish I had taken before pictures!    Air flow is so important to keep down fungal infection and my poor orange tree has black soot all over it so the work we achieved over the weekend with the botanical hair cuts will make a big difference before I attempt to fight the scale on the trees.  Making a choice about synthetic or organic solution is a personal thing and is a valuable question to ask your retailer what is best for you.

  

Need help for your Citrus?  This week I have some solutions to common troubles with your citrus trees.

Yellow and pale leaves on Citrus - Apply blood and bone and a good wad of seaweed at the drip line as mulch.  Your citrus is lacking in nutrients and most likely Nitrogen

Leaves yellow from edges but green at the base - Low magnesium, give Epsom salts

Leaves are pale yellow and speckled with tiny red mites - Citrus red mite, provide adequate water and blast leaves with strong blast of water from the hose to knock them off.  Natural control - try a garlic spray of 3 x garlic cloves crushed and stirred into 2 cups of water with 2 tsp tsp of oil to adhere spray to leaves.  Stir in 3 T liquid eco soap leave for 48hrs then strain through cheese cloth and decant into spray bottle.  This is a useful mix as a fungicide and insecticide.  Chemical control - try Mavrik or Guardall.

Black soot on leaves - Sooty mould, Natural control - treat tree with garlic spray above to kill the scale.  Plant onions underneath and yarrow to bring in ladybirds, alyssum, coriander and cosmos all to attract the good guys in.  Chemical control - Confidor

Next week I will cover treatment for Peaches, Nectarine, Apple, Plum.

In my vege garden I have been enjoying packing in lots of edibles into my raised gardens.  The weekend was fun planting out my new 800 x 1800mm raised garden.  I was inspired by a great photo I saw with beans growing up an old ladder nestled in a vege bed, check out palmers facebook page to see a great pick of mosaic block gardens and the ingenious ladder bean frame.  My son and I took it a step further with setting up a similar stage with an old wooden ladder but also grabbed some potted colour and filled planters with them then settled the pots on the steps of the ladder while we wait until spring to plant cucumber, climbing beans and peas.  The garden space below is now chocker with lettuce, broad beans and perpetual spinach.  What a great way to fill a small space.

When the winter weather bring in the winter flu bugs these are some of the plants I love to clap eyes on

Vireya Rhododendron

My Vireya Rhodoendron.  Positioned in a lovely sunny spot, the colourful salmon flowers nod their head at the winter wet and have given a pretty outlook in my garden.  I have a client who has one that would be at least 10ft tall and bloomed a spectacular blast of rich yellow and orange right before her first born arrived just weeks ago.  What a welcome to motherhood! 

 Hardenbergia Violacea is a punch of purple in late winter.  This climber is smothered in rich purple blue pea shaped flowers and is a welcome sight that spring is not far away!

Flame Vine (Pyrostegia venusta) puts on a fiery show through the coldest months.  Prolific in flower upon an evergreen carpet of glossy green leaves is a hot tropic look to wake you up in winter!

Melia in winter in full 'bead'

Melia Tree.  This feature tree is my favourite.  Summer is full of leaf and delicately scented small white flowers with purple margins and in winter when the branches are bare the tree is covered in small marble sized round golden/yellow 'beads'. 

Flame Vine (Pyrostegia venusta)

Hardenbergia Violacea

What are your favourite winter shrubs, climbers and trees?  Let me know what you love to see.

Happy gardening everyone!

Maria Quayle-Guppy