PRACTICAL GARDENING

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 242, 12 October 1929, Page 6 (Supplement)

PRACTICAL GARDENING

Correspondents will greatly oblige toy ODserving tne rollowlne ruies in sending questions for publication in these columns:— I—Letters1 —Letters should be In not later than Tuesday to be answered tne same week—addressed to Garden Editor. "Star" Office. Auckland. 2.—Write on one side of the paper, and make all communications as concise as possible. 3—Flowers, etc., sent for naming, must be sent separately, and, If possible, packed In a tin or wooden box—cardboard boxes are very liable to be broken In transit and the contents damaged. i —The full name and address of the sender must always be sent, but a nom de plume or initial may be given for publication.

BUSTY (Bay of Islands) writes: (1) I have just- sown some cucumbers. The last two years my plants have come away healthy till the fruit develops, aiid then a rust appears and in a few days the whole plant is gone. (2) Dwarf beans, after showing a healthy growth, for a week or two, turn yellow and are done. — (1) If is cucumber rust, and spraying with lime sulphur, 1-123, is necessary. The spraying should be commenced as soon as, the plants have made the first rough.leaf, and continued as the plants grow, say a spraying every 'ten days or so. The first spraying will be ■" very light,-but the point is to prevent the rust from stiirting. The under sides of ' the foliage must be sprayed, as it is there the rust is active. (2) The trouble is similar to the cucumbers. Use a similar spray.

MAC (Mount Albert) asks: (1) please let me know what to do with a wistaria. It was planted four years ago. Jt flowered the first' year, but bus not flowered since, although it has grown a lot. (2) I have a fruiting palm which has not moved an inch since it was planted four years ago.— (1) The wistaria will flower once it has covered the limits of support it is growing over, and the growths have to hang down, thereby checking the growth. It can be forced into flowering by pruning back the lateral growths to within two eyes , of the main stem. This pruning is done during the winter. Summer pruning is alsb necessary, the lateral growths being pinched so as to prevent the making ' of long thin growths and to throw -the energies of the plant into forming flower buds. The treatment is very similar to that given vines. (2) The palm is making leaves, but it will be years before it makes a stem any visible length. BEAN (Taihape) asks: (1) When to spray and what to use for broad bean rust? Should spraying be done whether .blight appears or not? (2) Some weeks ago you gave an article on cabbage. Does this apply to cauliflowers? I usually get plenty of leaf and small heads?—(l) Use lime sulphur solution, 1-125, The spraying should be begun as soon as the plants are a few inches high. • Once the rust has appeared in a garden or district it can be anticipated to appear the following oeason. The sprayings should be done as the plants grow, say every three weeks. . Your plants are fairly large now, and a spraying from now on may check the disease, but I am afraid you will not entirely control it. As soon as the plants commence to flower pinch out the top. This will shorteu the crop, but will make it mature more quickly, and by that means you may save some of the crop. (2) Manuring- for cabbages is suitable for cauliflowers. In. your case I think the trouble is a light loose soil. When you plant the nest lot do not dig the ground, only hoe the surface. When the plants have commenced to grow give a little nitrate of soda. The new manure, nitrophospa, has given good results with cabbages and cauliflowers, but it needs using in very small doses, and must not touch the foliage.

STRAWBERRY (Reinuera) writes: (1) Lust season my strawberry bed became blighted, many of the plants dying, and the fruit failed. I manured with super, but with no result. I luive not had time to make a new bed. Would spraying, the old bed, which is a mass of bloom, be of any good now? (2) What grasses would you advise to sow down a slope planted with fruit trees and hitherto kept in cultivation? (3) When should cuttings of tree tomato be taken? Nearly all my young plants are dying off. What can be the cause? —(1) I am afraid I can hold out little hopes for the success of the strawberry bed. Spraying would help keep down disease, but it should have been done before this, and to spray now it is in full bloom would spoil a lot of flower. Old strawberry beds are a nuisance and not worth troubling about. Use lime-sulphur 1-125 as a spray. (2) It all depends what you intend to do with the grass. If it is just to walk 'on use lawn grass, but if you wish to feed cattle on it use a pasture mixture. There is no special grass particularly suitable for the purpose. Cocksfoot and prairie grass are often used for the purpose and are mown occasionally. It is a mistake to grass.an orchard; the grass encourages or protects pests and rob* the trees of food and moisture. (3) Tree tomatoes are best raised from seed. Seed sown now will produce good trees by autumn. I cannot say the "cause of your young trees dying. The ■tree tomato'is very susceptible to wet, cold ; ;. and disease.

PRICKING OUT SEEDLINGS

In choosing a box for the seedlings, see thatf there are either wide cracks between the- boards or holes, in order that the water may drain away. Then place in the bottom a layer of decayed leaves, sift some soil (this must be prepared according to the requirements of the plants, though, generally good potting soil will do), and put the lumps on top of the leaves. Next add unsifted soil and ram down very firmly. Finally, add a layer of finely sifted soil, being careful not to fill-the box, but to leave room for watering. This soil must also be made firm, and a smooth surface obtained. Before inserting the seedlings, lightly sprinkle it with water. ■ ■ ■

The most useful dibber for pricking out can be made from a bamboo stick. Three inches is a< convenient length, and .the thickness should vary according to the size of the plant. . ' , Gently lift the seedlings so as not to .injure the roots, digging them up with a .garden label or knife, and not pulling them out. It is better to transplant very small seedlings .with a notched stick, which may be easily made from a split bamboo, making the notch narrower or; wider according to. the size of the plant. Seedlings with very short stalks may be lifted by dipping, the point of a label in water, and holding it close to the plant, which, having previously removed it from the soil, will adhere to the label, and can then be transferred. Place the seedling in the hole made by the dibber, and press the soil firmly round'.

Finally, label all Boxes of seedlings to avoid confusion, not forgetting to put a little white paint on the label before writing, as the name will not then either rub off or wash off.

BIRD SCARE IN THE GARDEN. Get a spring bell —one that has been used in the house—drive a stake'in the crvound then get a ball of string and tie it to the bell. Take the string to any place where you are passing mostly, and every time give the string a pull sufficient to make the bell ring. If your house is close to the garden the string may be put to your window; then, in the early morning, as soon as you awake, pull the string to make the bell ring, and the blackbirds will soon be on the wing.

CARNATIONS AND ROSES. Carnations need attention at this season. Frequently stirring the surface soil around the plants and an occasional application of lime- mixed with a little soot keeps the soil sweet, and wire worms, and other insects in check. A little lime dusted over the foliage is also beneficial and checks fungoid germs. The flower steins should be carefully tied up to neat stakes. Aphis, or green fly is more prevalent than usual on rose . bushes. However, this can be easily remedied by spraying, with Gishurst's compound, using 2oz to the gallon of water, and applying when the water is quite hot, without any injury to the foliage and youngest shoots. Two and three dressings are necessary to kill successive broods. Blac.k leaf 40 extract of nicotine is also an effective spray. Green fly is enormously productive and does considerable injury to the shoots if not checked. Slugs are everywhere in abunddance, working havoc among some of the seedlings and herbaceous plants, notably perennial delphiniums. Liming and other means of killing these pests must be adopted. There are several recipes for slug killing, "but liine dusted" over the soil and plants of a mild evening, when the slugs are at work, is the most effectitve remedy.

BREAKING UP GRASS LAND. When breaking up. grass land for turning into a garden it is a mistake to remove the turf, for there is a lot 'of available plant food in the first few inches of a grass paddock. Many people strip off the turf and carry it off the ground, and either burn it or practically throw it away. It can be a nuisance for the first month if it is not properly handled. Chunks of Half-rotted turf are continuously being turned up with the spade or fork, and when hoeing every few strokes the hoe is choked with a mat of half-dead fibrous roots. The beat method to do the work is to bastard trench the ground. This is done by digging out a trench a spade deep and about three feet wide. The loose soil left in the bottom of the trench should be shovelled out. > The soil taken out of this trench should be wheeled to the place where the trenching will finish. The bottom of the trench should then be dug as deeply as possible, but the soil is left where it is and not taken out. This digging of the second spit should be thorough, even if it is poor clayey soil. A few trenchings of this

description and it would be found that this subsoil would become as good as the' top soil. Having dug up the bottom of the trench, mark off a- new strip three feet wide, skim off the turf about, three-] inches deep and place it bottom upwards on the soil in the trench. Now dig out this second trench, putting the soil on top of the turf, shovel out the soil, break up the lower spit, skim off another strip of turf, and so on. It is important that the trench be kept straight, and for this reason each trench should be. marked out with a line. If the trenches are of irregular widths, the surface will be uneven and will eventually settle unevenly. Work of this description is rather laborious, and is therefore best if the garden is laid out so that it is practically continuous. Things 'that should never be buried are docks, bindweed and such like perennial weeds.

LETTUCE.

THE GREENHOUSE.

Lettuce require a light, rich soil, but, almost any kind or soil can be made to produce good lettuce. The ground should be well prepared and if possible plenty of stable manure added. . Where there is no stable manure procurable ,add a good dressing of bonedust or blood and bone at the time of planting or sowing. Once the plants have started to grow a pinch or -so to each plant of nitrate of soda will push the plants on. During dry weather watering is a great advantage. Mulching with some old leaves or manure will somewhat overcome the watering where watering is out of. the question. The seed of cos lettuce should be sown in spring and practicallyall the year round. ■ During bad weather in winter and early spring a few seeds sown in a box will keep up a succession, as during the greater part of the year lettuce transplant quite well. About October a sowing should be made in the open ground with the idea of the plants maturing, without transplanting. From the time the seedlings are two inches high they must be drawn freely for "cutting lettuce," or for planting out elsewhere. This thinning must proceed until , a sufficient crop remains to finish off on the ground.. A crowded, lettuce crop is an encumbrance to the ground, and one of the evils of the best system, that of sowing where the crop is to finish, is the tendency of the cultivator to be timid in the thinning, which should be done with a bold hand good time. The cabbage lettuce is the usual sort grown, and has its advantages in so far as it is more useful for salads, but for crispness and flavour the cos or upright variety is the best, and why it is not more grown it is difficult to say. The cos variety takes rather longer to mature and run to eeed more quickly in the hot weather, but for early summer' or autumn use they are excellent. The older sorts require the leaves tying up to cause the heart.; to blanch, but there are varieties that can be grown without tying. At the same time it does not take many minutes to tie up a few lettuce, and even the "self closing" varieties, as they are termed, are improved by a tie round the outside leaves, about a week before -they are wanted for use.

CULINARY PEAS. Ground for peas should be deeply dug and liberally manured. To provide a continuous supply several successive sowings should be made from July to November. Rows of early dwarf varieties need not be very far apart, but taller growing sorts must be. allowed plenty of room. A. good guide is to allow the same distance apart as the peas grow in height. The row should preferably run north and south. When sowing peas a flat-bot-tonied drill about 4in deep should be made. The seed should be evenly distributed over the bottom. Fine soil should be used for covering the soil about 2in deep. This will s of course, leave the surface of the covering soil a little lower than ■ the level of the adjoining ground and space for earthing up the plants later on. Birds are very fond of the young peas, and to prevent damage it is the wisest plan to fix some means of protection as soon as.the peas are sown. When the plants are a few inches above the ground some means of support should be given, and a little earth should be drawn up on each side of the row, and sticks of suitable length'with plenty of twiggy branches, placed at each-side of the plant, so that they can cling to them and support themselves.

BEANS AND PEAS. Beans are naturally very tender subjects, and if unfavourable weather conditions prevail after sowing they frequently come up weak and straggling and many blanks require to be made up by resowing with-fresh seed. Little is gained by sowing these or other tender crops too early, as seed sown a little later, when conditions are more favourable, will invariably bear quite as early and produce better crops. Next to peas, beans are always in demand, and by judicious sowing of the .dwarf and runner varieties crops can be gathered almost throughout the whole summer months. In dwarf beans the Canadian Wonder is one of the most popular varieties, being a strong, vigorous grower and an abundant cropper. By making a sowing every three weeks, only in sufficient quantities to meet household requirements, a succession of crops can be maintained. Wax, or butter, beans are a valuable addition to the dwarf varieties, being stringless and ready for cooking when gathered. For dwarf varieties draw wide drills from ljin to 2in deep,, though for the earliest sowing liin covering is preferable. For tall runner or climbing varieties the ground requires deep cultivation, and either stable manure or decayed vegetable matter well incorporated with the soil. If sown in rows, they should, be .-arranged 3ft 6in to 4ft between the rows, the seed being covered with 2£in of sil. Scarlet runners are excellent subjects for sowing to form a breakwind for the protection of other crops or to form screens for shutting out unsightly objects.

MELONS AND CUCUMBERS. Early sown pumpkin, marrow and cucumbers if sown under boxes some .weeks ago, should now be sufficiently advanced for thinning out. Where several plants have been raised at each heap, the plants should be reduced to three or at most four of the strongest, which should be ample to cover the space allotted them. Rock, water, and pie melons may now be sown, though even yet it is better to afford some protection. To raise and grow melons successfully they must have warmed in the soil, and more failures result from too early sowing than any other cause. 'If raised too early,'unless the plants ate thoroughly protected, they receive siieh/ja check from the cold winds and variable temperature that they rarely recover sufficiently to make healthy growth, and soon become victims of the green; aphis. If melons are sown when the soil is .warm and the temperature more uniform the seeds germinate more" quickly and under reasonable conditions make healthy growth from the start. In raising the plants, however, the safest plan is to place a shallow box or tin without any bottom over where the seed is sown, and cover over with glass until the plants are well above ground and sufficiently advanced and hardened to stand without protection. To grow melons successfully the jvhole of the ground should be deeply and well worked so a nice loose surface is formed whefe the seed is to be sown. Sufficient seed should be sown ■ to raise three or four plants for each plot, the distance between the plots being regulated by the variety sown. With rock melons six feet apart is sufficient.

SOILS FOR WATER AND ROCK MELONS. Rock melons succeed best grown in good loamy soil that has been manured for a previous crop, and the soil made firm before sowing. Water melons require more space to spread, and may be sown in plots from nine to twelve feet apart, according to the varieties grown. In preparing the ground for water and pie melons, holes should be dug at least three feet in diameter, and the full depth of the spade. Place in some well decomposed manure and fork up the bottom, so that the manure is mixed and refill with good soil. After the plots are prepared make a nice fine surface and sow the seed. A common practice for sowing is to form a raised mound, Sowing, however on a level surface is preferable, as the plants are less exposed to the wind and are not c 0 easily affected by drought. Water melons succeed best when grown in soil of a sandy or gritty nature, and in a warm sunny aspect. Pie melons require space of at least 12 feet between plots when sown.

Seeds of the Chinese primula or the sfellata strain may now be sown to commence flowering in autumn. Those who have not much command of artificial •heat in the winter will find it easier to get flowering .plants by making this early sowing Prepare 'seed paiTe and sow the seeds with equal care for they are very small. The seed sometimes take a long: time to terminate but to prevent the first that appear from damping they should be picked out of the seed pots or pans with a pointed stick, and dibbled into another pan., The old seed pan should be put back in heat, Vk'ith as little, disturbance to the soil as possible, and another batch of seedlings will be obtainable later on. Those who prefer it can put the eeedlinjrs into thumb pots as soon as taken from the seed pans.