Autumn Plans For City Gardeners

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 58, 9 March 1944, Page 3

Autumn Plans For City Gardeners

As soon as the ground is tractable

it should be prepared for winter crops of vegetables. Heavy soils will require special treatVEGETABLE ment, but in the CROPS meantime they can best be enriched and the texture improved by digging in large quantities of humus-forming material such as compost, seaweed, leaves, weeds and grass clippings. Even should fertilisers become more plentiful, they will never be able to supplant a plentiful supply of humus in the soil. It is useless, also, to plant in ground that has not been thoroughly dug, for apart from the difficulty of germinating seeds in a hard seed bed and getting seedlings away to a good start, such soil will become sour in the winter through faulty drainage and aei-ation. Spent crops likely to harbour pests and disease should be removed, this applying particularly to tomatoes and potatoes, which should be burned. Celery is a most valuable crop, and even if not grown to the perfection required for table use, can always be cooked. Rich soil is necessary. While it is still possible to plant or sow lettuce, the main crops at this time of the year will be cabbages, cauliflowers, spinach, silver beet, early varieties of carrots and beetroot, turnips and garden swedes. Herbs can be sown or planted, also kohl rabi, parsley, eschallots and endive.

There is no reason why the cultivation of grapes in Auckland gardens should not be more widespread. There is a GRAPES OUT- general mistaken OP-DOORS idea that grapes of good quality can be produced only in certain favoured areas in the vicinity of the city or in glasshouses. That the grape industry is centred in certain districts is purely incidental, and there is no reason why any garden in Epsom, Mount Albert or Takapuna cannot produce outdoor grapes of the size and quality of those grown at Te Kauwhata. The best site is a sunnv wall, and it is not too early to put in hand the preparation of the soil. The ground should be well trenched, mixing in old turf, mortar rubble and a little well-decayed manure. Although vines can be planted at almost any time of the year, the best periods are autumn and early spring. It is important to keep roots moist in the summer. Plants growing against a wall do not benefit fully from rain like those in the open garden, therefore they must be watered from time to time. A mulch of manure over the roots is beneficial, while attention must be paid to pruning and spraying. Best varieties for outdoor culture are Black Hamburg and Albany Surprise, or the white Golden Chasselas and Muscat of Alexandra.

March is a most important planting month for flowers. Foremost of operations is the planting of bulbs. Many of these are inexFLOWER sive, and the tonic effect GARDEN of their early appearance

in spring is worth theirinclusion in every garden. Varieties for present planting include anemone, babiana, crocus, hyacinth, ixia, iris, jonquil, daffodil, lachenalia, grape hyacinth, nerine, ranunculus, scilla, tulip and watsonia. Choosing suitable weather conditions, many seedlings can now be transferred to their permanent beds. The list includes Iceland poppies, stocks, cinerarias, calendulas, cyclamen, winter marigolds, primula, pansies. violas, antirrhinums, carnations, dianthus, daisies, larkspurs, and sweet peas. The seeds of the majority of these, also of the hardy annuals, can also be sown, and with nemesias, it will be found that best results are obtained if the seed is sown where the plants are to remain. A frequent cause of the loss of young seedlings is root rot, caused by over-manuring when transplanting. See that the soil is in good heart, with an abundance of decayed vegetable matter, and it should not be necessary to manure until the plants are established