Sweet fruit of moonlight cactus
Today Blueskin Garden Club
Cancer Society fundraising stalls at Waitati — home baking, daffodils, mixedflower bunches and raffles.
Monday, September 5 North Otago Garden Club;
Fenwick Primary School Community Hall, Hull St, Oamaru; 7.30pm. Speaker: Alison Albiston, vegetables. Subs now due. New members welcome. Contact Lynda: 03 4340464.
Wednesday, September 7 The Otago Rose Society’s
monthly meeting at St Peter’s Church hall, Hillside Rd, 7.30pm. Guest speaker, Kerry Dee, from Wal’s Plant Land, Mosgiel. Sales table, raffles, supper.
Friday September 9 / Saturday September 10 Waikouaiti Spring Show and Fete
to be held at East Otago Events Centre. Flower show starts Friday, with added attraction of community fete on Saturday 10th. For inquiries, phone Stuart: 021 235 4184.
Friday, September 16 The Outram Garden Club
Spring Flower Show at the West Taieri Rugby Club, 102 Formby Street, Outram, from 1.30pm5.30pm. Admission is $2. (Children free.) Afternoon tea from 2pm for $4. Entry fee for Exhibitors: $2 per person for unlimited entries. Exhibits may be entered on the previous evening Thursday between 7pm and 8pm. Club open from 8am on the morning of the show. All entries must be completed by 10.15am on the morning of the show; judging commences at 10.30am. Masks to be worn. Raffles, plant and cake stalls. Inquiries: flower show convener, 027 4861226, or garden club secretary, 021 1623617.
Saturday September 17 / Sunday September 18 Dunedin Horticultural Society's Spring Show
at St Kilda Bowling Club, Royal Crescent, St Kilda. Saturday 2pm to 5pm, Sunday 10am to 4pm. Daffodils, spring flowers, floral art, bonsai, sales table, raffles and more. Adults $5. Members and children free. Inquiries to Susan Bagley 027 2287472
Sunday, September 25 Garden Gate Plant Sale
at Rockvale Gardens, Weston, 10am2pm. Twentyfive stalls offering perennials, rare and specialty plants, irises, heirloom tomatoes, natives, succulents, houseplants, herbs, vege plants, vintage crop posters and more. Fine food available on site courtesy of Yellow Pickle. Inquiries to
027 2354920.
Saturday, October 29 Teviot Valley Garden Tour
2022, inquiries to Barbara, 021 1106787, or BarWayWith@xtra.co.nz. $20 tickets on sale from September 2.
WHEN you wander through the cactus and succulent house of the winter garden, you might be surprised to see a long trailing cactus bearing red fruits.
The baseballsized fruit is distinctive with its red skin and scaly spikes. When opened, it reveals a firm white flesh with black seeds. You may believe you have spotted a dragon fruit, one of the lovely exotic fruits you can buy in the supermarket.
However, in this case what you have seen is an apple cactus or midnight lady, scientifically called Harrisia pomanensis. The real dragon fruit is another species of cactus, Selenicereus undatus.
Harrisia and Selenicereus are both types of climbing and nightblooming cactus but native to different regions.
Harrisia is primarily native to South America, whereas
Selenicereus comes from Mexico and Central America.
Just as their common names suggest, the moonlight or midnight lady cactus bloom with gorgeous, sweetsmelling flowers during the evening — for one night only. These night flowers are often white and very fragrant, essential to attract nighttime flying pollinators such as moths and bats.
The winter garden is home to a healthy specimen of Harrisia pomanensis. Although we cannot witness the beauty of the flowers that bloom at night, during the day we can enjoy the eyecatching fruits.
Garden Life is produced by Dunedin Botanic Garden. For further information contact Ben Xie.
Green manure crops can continue to be dug in and the ground prepared for seed sowing by breaking down the surface with a fork and raking it level.
Dig green manure into the top 15cm of soil only, as the organisms that convert green manure to humus are more numerous there.
Green manure crops, such as mustard and oats, which make rapid growth at this time of the year, can be sown in garden areas not needed until late summer or autumn. Mustard is closely related to the brassica family (Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbage), so if those crops are to be sown in the space, choose oats or barley for the green manure.
Do no digging if the soil is wet.
This is especially important with heavy clay soils, as they become concretelike when they dry out after being dug when waterlogged.
Any swedes, carrots, parsnips and leeks still in the ground can be lifted and heeled in a corner of the garden to clear the way for sowing new seed during the next few weeks.
Parsnips freeze well: peel, cut them into servingsized pieces and freeze without blanching.
Parsnips require a longer growing season than other root crops. Anytime from now until the first week in October will give seedlings the good start they need.
Poorly drained soil can be improved by pouring about 1cm of sand in the bottom of the seed drills. Cover the seed with more sand. Avoid sowing parsnips in recently manured ground or they will develop forked roots. Ground which last had cabbage, cauliflower or Brussels sprouts grown in it is suitable. Add garden lime (30g/sq m) and a dusting of superphosphate before sowing.
French beans, sweet corn and salad plants can be sown under cloches or old windows. Place the covers in position for at least three weeks to warm the soil before sowing tender crops. This method can also be used to sow cabbages, cauliflowers, lettuce and silverbeet earlier than in open ground.
Peas should be sown in small quantities. Little and often gives pea crops over a longer period and avoids the problem of them all being ready at once and going to waste.
Silverbeet from autumn sowings will respond to a weekly application of liquid manure and a fortnightly pinch of sulphate of ammonia sprinkled around the roots and hoed in.
Flowers
In warmer districts, hardy annuals can be sown where they are to flower. As with all seeds, the trick is to have the soil well prepared before sowing. Once seedlings appear, thin them out to prevent overcrowding.
Hardy, prolific and reliable flowers include alyssum, calendula, coreopsis, candytuft, cornflower, clarkia, godetia, Californian poppy (Eschscholtzia), larkspur, linaria, linum, nightscented stock (Matthiola bicornis), mignonette, love in a mist (nigella), pansy and viscaria.
Nasturtiums flower all summer in full sun or partial shade. They do well in poor soil but are frost tender so should not be planted out until the danger of frost has passed. Modern varieties such as Black Velvet, Empress of India, Peach Melba, Whirlybird types and the semidouble Salmon Baby are more compact than older trailing types and do not take off across the garden.
Perennials to raise from seed from now until the end of October include granny bonnet (aquilegia), dianthus, dahlia, delphinium, gaillardia, geum, gypsophila, hollyhock, lupin, penstemon, polyanthus, pyrethrum and viola. These will all flower within 12 months and some will bloom in their first season. Start them in trays of seedraising mix, then plant them in the open garden when they have made some growth. They can be transplanted in their permanent spots in autumn.
Fruit
Peach tree leaf curl attacks peach, nectarine and almond trees. Active and damaging in late spring and summer, it should be treated now. Diseasecausing fungus spores overwinter in the buds and bud scales of the host plant. They spread rapidly once the leaves appear, distorting them with a wrinkled, red appearance.
An early spring fungicidal spray can control attacks. Use lime sulphur (1:30 spray to water) or a Bordeaux mixture applied at the end of this month, just before the buds begin to open. Or spray with copper oxychloride (25g powder to five litres water) before the buds open. Do not use sprays on hot, sunny days as they may cause scorching.