by Wally Richards

GARDENING CHRISTMAS PRESENTS

With Xmas quickly approaching one’s mind turns to sorting out what gifts and tokens we will give to family and friends.

Most readers of these columns are gardeners or budding gardeners so we tend to look for gifts that would bring us pleasure and hopefully the same for the recipient.

For a long time I have firmly believed that it is the thought and effort that goes into a gift that makes it most memorable. For instance if you pop down to your local garden centre and pick out a nice container, plus a feature plant such as a bush rose and a of punnet of cascading lobelia or similar plus a bag of compost; you have the makings of a gift that you have thought about and made a nice effort to achieve.

When you get your goodies home you simply place some of the compost into the container to the right height for planting the specimen plant, ensuring that there will be a gap of about 2-3cm between the top of the mix and the rim of the container (which allows ease of watering).

You can add some Unlocking your Soil, blood & bone and sheep manure pellets to the compost for enrichment.

After removing the specimen plant from its pot or bag check to see if the roots have spiraled around the bottom of the old container. More roots mean the longer it has been growing in the old pot.

If there is a mass of roots then with a pair of secateurs cut a 2-cm slash into the bottom roots at the four cardinal points. This allows for quicker root establishment. If the plant has been for a long time in the old pot it will have a massive root system and be what we call pot bound.

If this is the case then you take a crosscut saw and cut off the bottom one quarter of the roots which will remove all those spiral roots.

This method is applied to all perennial potted plants every 2-3 years and allows the plant to be repotted back into its original container, with some fresh compost at the base, to replace the area where the roots have been cut off.

Back to our Xmas present: sit the plant on the bottom mix and fill the space between the plant’s mix and the side of the container with more compost. It is in this area of back fill that you will plant your lobelia seedlings.

The reason that I have not suggested to use potting mix or shrub and tub mix is because they are inferior to using a good friable compost.

Potting mixes are great for indoor plants where the extra expense is justified, they are also good for seed raising and cutting propagation.

For container plants outdoors you want a growing medium that has some guts and a friable compost has animal manure with bark fines or similar.

Potting mix is only bark fines or peat moss with some slow release fertiliser added, it dries out too quickly, can be difficult to re-water and lacks goodness that healthy plants need, outdoors.

Once you have your Xmas gift all potted up, place it in a sheltered spot where it only has early morning sun or late afternoon sun. Water to keep moist but do not over water.

You can grow a number of plants as above for friends and family to show your appreciation of them at the festive time.

A lady gardener I was talking to some time ago told me that she purchased a small tree for her young grandson as a gift a few years back. He was told that it was his tree and he helped in the planting of it in her garden. Every time he comes to visits he runs down to see how his tree is and tells everyone that it is his tree.

What a great idea for a young person and this could be extended by giving and planting a fruit tree so not only does the child get to watch the progress of their tree, but they will, in years to come, enjoy the fruits as well.

We need to get our children and grandchildren involved in nature and gardening plus this is a simple and interesting way to do so.

Gardening Gift Vouchers are a very acceptable gift for novice and seasoned gardeners alike.

Gift vouchers give the receiver two lots of pleasure, the initial receiving of the voucher and then the pleasure of shopping for a garden product or specimen.

As the gardening gift vouchers come in several nominations you can slip a $5 or $10 voucher in with a Xmas card as a neat inexpensive gift.

At Xmas times, my books such as Gardening With Wallys Richards has proved very popular with gardeners that received a copy as a gift. Copies are available through Mail order from www.0800466464.co.nz

My other book still in print called Wallys Glasshouse Gardening for NZ is ideal for those with or contemplating a glasshouse. I autograph the books and can place a suitable personal message.

How about sharing the secret with a family member or friend on why your gardeners and plants are so great? Just give them a bottle of Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) so they too can have such gardening success as you have.

Another good one for children who would like to give a gift to their young friends is to take them down to your garden centre and let them pick out a few ‘Color Spots’ (flowering annuals in pots or bags) — these can be potted into inexpensive larger plastic pots and gift wrapped for their friends.

The key to giving any gift, is the thought that goes behind the gift. The one thing that really annoys me is people that give a Xmas present without any thought.

You have ample time to think about what to give family and friends this Xmas, think of what they need and want then work to fill those aspects.

One final suggestion: why not drop off a bag of Dog or Cat Biscuits to your local SPCA to assist with their looking after all those unwanted pets at this time of the year.

There is great pleasure in giving.

Happy Xmas shopping.

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