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Daltons answers your gardening questions. Plus, your chance to win!
Send us your gardening question and be in the draw to win! Each month Daltons will answer one of your questions, which we’ll feature here. Email your question to the address below (make sure you mention which area of the country you live in – it might be important to the answer – and if possible include a photo) and be in the draw to win a prize pack.
Last month’s winner was: Jeannette of Petone. See her question and answer, below.
September 2015
This month’s prize: 1 x Daltons Premium Strawberry Pack
Strawberries are nature’s candy and are super easy to grow and care for. If you’d like juicy homegrown strawberries on the menu this Christmas, then now is the time to plant them.
We have a Daltons Premium Strawberry Pack to give away, full of everything you need to grow your own delicious strawberries.
Each pack is valued over $80 and contains 1 x Daltons Incredible Edibles Strawberry Mix, 1 x Daltons Incredible Edibles Strawberry Fertiliser, 1 x Daltons Organic Bio-Fungicide Powder, 1 x Besgrow Coir Briquette PLUS a pair of comfortable, versatile Red Back gardening gloves from Omni Products www.omniproducts.co.nz.
To be in to win, EMAIL YOUR GARDENING QUESTION and glove size to: sweetliving@daltons.co.nz and put Daltons Premium Strawberry Pack in the subject heading. Entries must be received by end of day Friday 25 September 2015.
Q. We are moving to a new home in the Waiarapa in early September. Would it be too late to plant fruit trees and roses, or should we wait to next year?
Jeannette, Petone
A. September is nearing the end of your traditional fruit tree and rose planting season. However, it is still not too late for these plants. It’s important to make your selection very quickly at your local nursery or garden centre as both the roses and young pip and stone fruit trees will commence growing very soon.
Choosing top quality plants is essential; however at this time of the year you have to be very careful to avoid purchasing leftover plants or second-quality plants. If that is the case, then it would be better to wait until next growing season (June, July and August) rather than plant inferior plants.
As with all plants, site selection and soil preparation will be critical to the success of your new trees and roses. Before planting, add in plenty of Daltons Compost and mix well with existing soil. This aerates and improves the organic matter, nutrient content and microbial activity of the soil.
i live in southwestern pennsylvania. this year as well as last year i planted fordhook bush lima beans .I only got about 8 pints for canning out of about 90 foot of row, the plants kept growing more and more branches all summer long. i did not add any fertalizer to them. the green and wax beans did very well.what should i do. they kept getting more blossoms all summer
Hi Edward
Unfortunately I’m not familiar with your area, climate or soil – we are based in New Zealand. However, you might need to incorporate a fertiliser that is higher in potassium in order to get more flowers. A tomato fertiliser is ideal to use.