THE GARDEN

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 303, 5 October 1935, Page 3

THE GARDEN

WORK FOR THE WEEK THE GREENHOUSE. (Written for the “Guardian” by J. A. McPherson, N.D.H., N.Z.) The tender annuals such as marigolds, zinnias, and salvias are just about ready for pricking off into plant trays. Give them good drainage and keep in a warm atmosphere until the roots have a good hold of the new soil. Seeds of the castor oil plant (Recinus) and variegated maize (Zea) if sown now will provide plants for setting out in warm dry places towards the end of November. They are good subjects for sub-tropical bedding, and make good dot-plants through formal beds of zinnias.

Clumps of cannas if potted up into large pots or tins will be found most useful for early summer display under glass: _ ' When cyclamen have finished blooming they may be removed to a vool frame and gradually dried off. This does not mean that the plants have to be baked day after day in strong sunshine, for such treatment would perish the eyes. Shade the roof of the greenhouse to protect calceolarias and begonias. Hydrangeas in pots or tins should be given a daily syringe overhead, preferably in the evening after the sun lias gone down. Seeds of Primula obconica and Psinensis must be sown this month in order to provide plants for flowering next winter.

The Flower Garden. Fairly high north-west winds have made seed-sowing out-oi-doors practically an impossibility, for the surface soil is now in too dry a state. If, however, a good shower should come, no time should be lost in dealing with the broadcast sowing or such seeds as Shirley poppies, linum, larkspur, lupins, godetias, clarkias, etc. It is better to give the seed a slight covering to hold it down into the soil till germination takes place. A few branches of scrub will protect .broadcast-sown annuals from birds until the plants are strong enough to look after themselves. It is still too early to think or bedding out geraniums. Frosts are still likely to occur and nothing is gained by early planting. Where it is intended to plant them up against the wall of a house, the plants may be set out with safety for late frosts very rarely reach under the eaves of houses.

Other hardy bedding plants may be set out with perfect safety. See that the soil is well firmed round the roots and if at all dry, water each plant into position.

When sowing sweet peas the ground should he well watered the day previous, and the seeds soaked over-night. This brings the plants into bloom a good ten days before those raised under dry conditions. Readers with very large and well established rose bushes should endeavour to reduce some of the wood by rubbing out excessive growth. This will have the effect of giving larger blooms for show purposes. Watch for mildew on roses and spray early with colloidal sulphur, one ounce to four gallons water. Keep planting hatches of gladioli right up till the middle of November, and so prolong the display of bloom well into the autumn. On sandy soils place the corms four or five inches below the surface, but keep them a little higher should the soil be heavy. This is not the time to either plant or sow wallflower, forget-me-nots, and sweet william. All three will he dealt with at the correct time.

During dry weather mulch lilies and give paeonies plenty of water. Polyanthus seeds can bo sown in boxes in a cool frame this month, and the seedlings pricked off and still kept in very cool conditions. In late summer the seedlings may be lined out oil a piece of rich hut partly shaded ground, and they will be ready for planting out into their permanent positions in late autumn. If left in the hot and dry soils of many gardens these plants find difficulty in surviving the summer and the raising of seedlings each year is the surest way of keeping up a supply. Lilies for ponds may be secured this month, planted in baskets or boxes of heavy soil and sunk into their places. Narcissi that are finished blooming and occupy ground required for summer bedding can be lifted and heeledin in some corner of the reserve garden till the foliage dies down naturally. Though nemesia cannot be called a good summer bedding plant, it plays a very important part in all gardens during late spring and early summer. It loves a light soil and plenty! of moisture, but on the Canterbury Plains this is not always available. If planted by itself, then one must have other plants to take its place from January onwards. Personally lam very fond of nemesia and find it ideal as a “catch crop” in the flower garden. As soon as geraniums, petunias, antirrhiniiuus, dahlias, and other main bedding plants ha’e been set out, inter-plant them with plenty of nemesia. The nemesia makes a splendid carpet plant till early January, and having bloomed well, may then be pulled out to permit of the more permanent plants developing to their full size. What applies to nemesia applies equally well to the white sweet alyssum, a charming plant for temporary carpeting of the beds in early summer.

The Vegetable Garden

Spinach. The value of spinach as a food, especially where growing children are concerned, is now well known, and even the smallest garden should keep a supply available throughout the year. . The true spinach exists in two distinct. types, one used for spring and early summer supply!, and the other for winter supply. Besides these there is the New Zealand spinach and a dwarf typo of silver beot known as perpetual spinach. The spinach for spring and early summer use should be of the round seeded type, and above all it must be grown quickly to produce the best results. This calls for deeply worked

and wcll-maqured soil that will produce matured plants within five or six. weeks of sowing. A good plan is to soak the seeds overnight then sow in drills an inch deep with a spacing of one foot between each drill. As the plants grow, thin out to six inches apart. At no time must the plants suffer from lack of water, a condition that will quickly send them to seed. Hasten the crop along by feeding it with liquid animal manures or nitrate of soda at the rate of one ounce to two gallons of water.

In private gardens it is not necessary to lift the plants, roots and all, when supplies are required, just go over the rows and cut off the largest leaves from each plant. By this method a much larger return can he obtained.

Until the end of November continue to sow the smooth-seeded type at intervals of 10 days, hut after that date ground conditions become very dry,, and •one must sow a drought-resisting type well illustrated in the plant we call New Zealand spinach. This plant will grow on very dry areas once it is given a start, and on account of its trailing habit and quick growth must be given much more room between both the plants themselves and the rows. Two feet will be found none too great a distance. For autumn use, the perpetual spinach will he found most valuable to use in conjunction with the above type. Two sowings can be made, one toward the end of this month and one toward the end of November. The crop is gathered by using the largest leaves as required. Good soil must be given this type, and the plants should be thinned out to 12 inches apart, with a, spacing of 18 inches between the rows, [f left unthinned the plants will quickly run to seed. From February till the middle of March sowings can be made of the prickly seeded type to provide a crop during winter and early spring. The large dark green leaves of this type are most welcome' in very early spring. From the above it will be seen that spinach can be obtained throughout the full 12 months .of the year if care is taken to sow the right types. Mustard or tendergreen spinach, a recent introduction, is a. rapid and vigorous grower, with narrow spoonghaped, dark green leaves. It lias a flavour peculiarly its own, combining the qualities of both mustard and Spinach. It is ready for the table, in from three to four weeks, from sowing the seed, and will stand a long period without running to seed. It is cooked as greens, and resists the aphis. In districts'* where the spinach crop does not do too well a good substitute can be obtained at times by using the top leaves of broad bean plants and the young leaves of soft-fleshed turnips.

Current Work. A start canjiow he made to sow both dwarf French "and scarlet runner beans. Old roots of the latter that have been left in the ground will now be starting into- growth and can be assisted by the forking in of some superphosphate along the row, at the rate of one ounce to the running yard. All types of French beans must have good rich soil free from the overhang of trees, in full sunshine, and tlie plants kept growing steadily on. If, unfortunately, a frost should cut a young crop back it is best to re-sow, for no, amount of nursing will bring the frosted plants back to a satisfactory standard. Riant up all second early potatoes and sort over the sets for the planting of the main crop. Early potatoes showing through the ground; should be kept well earthed up, and some temporary covering kept handy to throw over them should a frosty night occur. Sow marrows, pumpkins, ridge cucumbers and squashes under glass. Once the plants have a. film hold of their little pots or containers, gradually harden them off. A fairly extensive sowing of the main types of root crops can be undertaken tins month. Plant out batches of cabbage, lettuce, cauliflower, and put in the main rows of Jerusalem artichokes. Prick off celery into boxes of deep soil and keep them growing under the cover of frames.

Earth up early peas and continue with further sowings.