Flowers blossom best when grown from seeds
GROW YOUR OWN FLOWERS FROM SEED
Growing flowers from seed tends to give you a much wider variety of options than what’s on offer as seedlings from the garden centre. The seeds of alyssum, calendulas, eschscholzia, cornflowers, sweet peas and snapdragons can all be sown outdoors as well as coreopsis, hollyhocks and mignonette in warmer areas.
Try sowing ageratums, arctotis, asters, delphiniums, livingstone daisies and lobelias in containers or seed trays and keep them under cover. You’ll need to allow six to eight weeks for most seedlings to reach a large enough size for transplanting. Sometimes it can be difficult to distribute flower seeds evenly over the dark surface of potting mix so a sprinkling of flour (pictured) can make it easier to see what you’re doing.
Gladioli corms can be planted from now up until December. Champion gladioli grower Spud Brogden plants the corms in midSeptember in his central North Island location in order to get flowers for Christmas. Plant a new batch every few weeks for months of colour. Allow 90-100 days from planting time to flowering. When it comes to growing gladioli, Spud says a common mistake is planting the corms too shallow. In welldrained soil they should be planted 12.5-15cm deep. If the soil is heavy, clay or has slow drainage, plant a little shallower. Deep planting is done mainly to prevent them falling over at flowering stage – there’s quite a lot of weight in those tall stems and leaves. A heavy hand with nitrogen results in great foliage but not-so-great flowers, so don’t overdo it. Spud recommends adding compost to the soil 2-3 months before planting. Fertilisers should be applied as a side-dressing on the soil surface rather than under the corms.
In northern areas where the soil has warmed up, plant dahlia tubers in late September – wait until October in colder places. Grow in full sun in well-drained friable soil. Dig in some balanced slow-release fertiliser and compost in the planting. Dahlias hate wet feet. Plant on a raised mound if there is any danger of waterlogging.
IN PRAISE OF CHICKEN WIRE
I don’t have chickens, but chicken wire is an essential item in my garden. Newly planted seed beds This column is adapted from the weekly e-zine, get growing, from New Zealand Gardener magazine. For gardening advice delivered to your inbox every Friday, sign up for Get Growing at: getgrowing.co.nz are protected from toileting cats and fossicking birds. Hooped pieces go over rows of newly transplanted seedlings. Shallow bowl-shaped pieces are laid underneath drifts of bulbs so that
I don’t lose any when it’s time to dig them up. The slippery back steps have a layer of chicken wire stapled to them so my gumboots can grip the surface. Little baskets of chicken wire disguised with sphagnum moss hold orchids and bromeliads in place on fences and tree trunks. It’s such a useful and versatile material.