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- Most plants that you’d grow in a water feature are pretty dormant at
present and it’s the ideal time to drain some of the water and re-pot your
waterlilies and other plants that you may have growing in water. If yours
have rooted into the soil at the bottom of your pond then remove any fish
and lift and divide your most rampant plants. The fish are removed so the
disturbed muddy water does not affect them.
- Once you have divided your water plants, since they nearly all grow from
stoloniferous roots, you need to make some fertilizer balls. Get some
potters clay or you probably have pretty thick red clay at 30cm in your own
garden and make a 10cm saucer of clay, then fill this with about a
tablespoon of blood and bone or blood meal and some slow release pellets or
prills. Then fold the clay over and make a ball. The ball is then thrust
into the root zone of the water plants you divided. Their roots access the
nutrient, without contaminating the water and your fish or water snail
habitat.
- If you still haven’t pruned your roses and there’s no drama in store
if you haven’t, make sure you keep the old leaves picked up rather than
accumulate underneath your bushes. These old leaves are the perfect
over-wintering hosts for black spot and other fungal diseases and will
return in spring to plague your roses, demanding attention.
- Some of our most floriferous native vines, such as the Pandorea pandorana
and P. jasminoides and their many cultivars are starting to flower right now
from long thin growths, but by tip pruning the canes back about 30cm you
will get a better crop of flowers over a longer period lower down the vine.
- If you wondered what the brilliant orange flowering vine is that’s out
in full bloom all over the place at present, it’s Pyrostegia venusta (syn.
P. ignea) also known as “Brazilian Flame Vine” or “Tanga Poo”. If
you are thinking of planting one make sure you have a substantial support,
because they grow quite large.
- With the low temperatures of late, compost brewing slows down unless you
are an avid maker and have maintained the critical mass required. If not you
can crib a bit by wrapping your compost in black poly film. That raises the
temperature, enough to keep the action going, but of course it only works if
your compost is getting the sun as well.
- More Agapanthus than you can shake a stick at? Well right now is your best
chance to divide or move them. The soil currently has about as much moisture
in it as it’s likely to get at any time this year. They have a tenacious
hold on terra firma, so select small clumps and use a pair of garden forks
back to back to lever them up. The more adventurous may resort to a rope
around a towbar and pull them out, but make sure it’s a strong rope and no
spectators standing nearby.
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