May Is Important Month In Garden

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 106, 6 May 1943, Page 3

May Is Important Month In Garden

HTHIS is one of the busiest periods with the vegetable garden,, and there should be wide activity while the soil is dry WINTER enough to work. VEGETABLES Cauliflowers now

developing should' have the outer leaves bent over the heart. The lower leaves from the Brussels ; srjrouts should be picked off as they turn yellow and any sprouts that are large enough should be picked to expedite the development of the remainder. Savoys and autumn and winter cabbages should be overhauled and all yellow leaves removed. The early planted spring cabbages should have a little soil drawn up to their stems and made firm, as loose plants will not survive the winter. It is essential that as much trenching as possible should be done for such crops as onions, peas, beans, celery and leeks, all of which respond to deep cultivation. The same onion bed can be used again next season if there was no disease among the crop, and the richer the bed is made the better. For heavy soil there is nothing better than good farmyard manure containing plenty of litter. Trench the beds at least two spits deep. Break the second spit up and mix the manure well with this, then leave the surface as rough as possible. Peas and beans should always be grown on the* same plot if possible. Trenches are often prepared separately for each row, but this is not the best method as during wet weather such trenches collect the water and become sour, to the detriment of the plants. It is far better to trench the whole plot, commencing at one end and wheeling tne top soil from the first trench to the other end for filling the last trench. All vacant ground that does not require trenching this season should be manured and dug, leaving the surface rough.

\VHEN further plantings of cabbage and cauliflowers are made a sunny position with good drainage should be selected. WHAT TO A first planting of PLANT NOW early potatoes may be made in frost-free districts. Continue the sowing of broad beans and peas. The early drawf varieties of peas, such as English Wonder, William Hurst, W. F. Massey and Greenfeast should be sown. If sown now white stone turnips will not run to seed, and will still be ready for use in the winter. Make sowings of such onions as Silverskin and Brown Spanish. They can be thinned later for use as spring onions or for replanting. Hollow Crown parsnips may be sown, also a row or two of early shorthorn carrots. Plant crowns of rhubarb, removing the woody material from old roots when replanting. Give this crop as much compost, rotted vegetation or stable manure as possible. *. * * * is a wide range of plants which can be put in at the present time, and will run quickly into flower. The list includes FLOAVER pansies, violas, primulas, GARDEN lupins, violets. calendulas, ranunculi, carnations, anemones, stocks and iceland poppies, all of which can be put in well-drained beds in a sunny position. Areas not immediately required can be manured, dug and left in the rough for a period before planting. A good dressing of lime on the surface will sweeten the soil, while the weather will soften up the large lumps. A good deal of maintenance work can be carried out. Dahlias should be cut back when the foliage has withered. Rockeries may be overhauled, removing spent annuals and pruning those requiring this attention. Remanure the soil and keep the weeds down. Weed killer may be applied to garden walks in mild weather, and these should be rolled often. Lawns on light land benefit by being rolled. Rose and fruit trees, ornamental trees and shrubs, spring bulbsiand herbaceous border plants may be put in. * * * * 'J'HE great thing in storing fruit is to find for them a store place where a fairly even temperature can be maintained, STORING PEARS where frosts will AND APPLES be kept out and the fruit will be in partial or complete dai'kness. The kitchen cupboard is much too warm and dry, and the washhouse too steamy. A cool cellar or shed is a good place. Bear in mind that extreme dryness or warmth almost certainly leads to premature shrivelling and pronounced loss of flavour and quality. Another point to remember is that fruit of any kind soon becomes tainted if stored near strongly-scented vegetables, or in a bad atmosphere, Where possible, set out the fruit on airy trays or slatted shelves. Alternatively the fruit can be packed two or three layers deep in wooden boxes, stacked one on top of the other. A big help, where conditions are not ideal, is to wrap each apple or pear separately in a piece of specially prepared tissue paper, if supplies can be procured.