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With Bougainvillea going ballistic at present and many still in flower, it’s a real
dilemma as to when to prune, but by taking out the long canes that are not flowering
anyhow, you can reduce the vigour and the spread of these valuable summer flowering hedge
plants.
I’ve found the two metre telescopic pruners (Fiskars® at Bunnings) ideal for this
because otherwise you’d need a full leather suit to reach into the bush and make the
right cuts on these thorny critters.
Summer flowering hedges need feeding and right now is the ideal time. Feed with a
water-soluble fertilizer that is high in potassium and top dress with organic pellets or
blood and bone or bone meal if you must, but do not use the blood products by themselves
as they contain no potassium whatsoever and not much of any nutrient other than a paltry
5% nitrogen. That 60% FM (filling matter) on the "Blood ‘n Bone’ label
means sand or 13 year old sewerage effluent, that could well be laced with some pretty
heavy metal, such as cadmium! I would use it on anything I intended to eat, but then we
don’t eat hedges do we?
As soon as the temperature starts to soar in summer there is a lot of talk about deep
watering your garden. Well my experience is that it’s a load of rubbish and should
not be encouraged. This is an urban myth we can do without. Water costs less than 90 cents
a tonne (one kilolitre), so it’s never been a question of being too expensive either.
In this region we have predominantly clay sub-soil, even clay based topsoil in some
areas and water on such soil moves down the soil profile very reluctantly. The natural
water dispersal is lateral on clay and only downwards on sandy loams. Water a problem spot
in your garden for ten minutes, then dig a 50cm trench and check it!
You can however improve soil drainage and water penetration by adding 300 grams per
square metre of gypsum to your topsoil and water it in. No need to dig it in. Literally
within hours you will note an improvement using this cheap white powder that is neutral in
its pH and so does not affect the nutrient uptake of plants in its area of application.
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