Garden Activities Are Numerous This Month

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 199, 23 August 1945, Page 3

Garden Activities Are Numerous This Month

OTIR the soil between the rows of k -' anemone and ranunculi. Pruning and planting of roses should be completed as speedily as possible. Burn all prunings and spray the bushes with lime-sulphur 1-100. Evergreen trees and shrubs can be planted out now with every prospect of success. Plant out early summer-flowering varieties such as . pansies, phlox Drummondi, stocks, viscarla, godetia, etc. Delphiniums can be lifted, divided and replanted.

Take chrysanthemum cuttings now, and plant in pots or a sheltered nursery bed, where they can develop. Lightly hoe over the beds of border carnations as soon as the soil is dry enough, and clean off all rusty foliage. Keep the sweet peas trained to their supports. Whenever soil and weather conditions permit, all vacant ground in the vegetable plot should be turned over in readiness for spring planting. Continue to sow peas and plant more potatoes. These should be sprouted before planting; faulty sets can then be thrown out. Clean and manure the asparagus bed and make preparations for any new beds that are intended for later planting.

Cabbage, cauliflower, parsnips and Brussels sprouts may be sown. Clean over last year's row of runner beans, give the roots a dressing of superphosphate and fork over the ground. Rhubarb can be planted now in wellworked, heavily-manured ground. Salad crops should receive attention and sowings made of lettuce, radish, beetrcot, etc. The peach and nectarine trees will soon be showing colour and to control leafcurl an application of summer strength Bordeaux can be given. The same mixture is useful as well for the citrus trees. Scions should be prepared for grafting as soon as the sap rises in the trees.

Young plum trees, perhaps three years planted, often develop a very vigorous growth, sending up long whip-like shoots and PLUMS NOT bearing no fruit. To FRUITING prune such trees by cutting back these vigorous growths is only to aggravate the trouble. The best method is not to prune for a season or two. In fact the plum does not require much pruning once the tree has been shaped. It will be found that the buds at the top of these long growths will break into fruit buds with the result that they will pull the growth over into an arched position and the lower buds will then develop into spurs and form fruit buds. Once the tree has reached the normal height and commenced to crop, a certain amount of thinning out surplus wood may be necessary.

Various scale insects are prevalent upon many of our best trees and shrubs, ' giving them an un-

sightly appearance SCALE INSECT by the black smut on the foliage that invariably denotes the presence of scale. Several of our native trees are badly affected in this way, notably puriri, olearias, karakas and pittosporums, as well as laurels, camellias, oleanders and, of course, the various varieties of citrus. All should be dressed with kerosene emulsion or one of the oil sprays sold for the purpose. In bad cases two or more applications may be necessary.

Those desirous of having lilies to flower this year should lose no time in getting the bulbs into the ground.

The soil should PLANTING LILIES be enriched

and deeply dug. The bulbs may be grown singly 18in to 24in apart, but a better effect is produced if they are grouped in clumps. The depth to plant is 4in to 6in. A layer of sand should be placed below each bulb, whilst if the soil is inclined to be heavy surround each bulb with sand. Once established, they need not be disturbed for sonv: years.

Pentstemons are a valuable addition to summer flowering plants and although really perennial, they are

best treated as PENTSTEMON annuals. When left CULTURE . in the ground they become large and straggly and are never so good after the first flowering period. They are easily grown and are seen to the best advantage in beds and groups in the mixed border. In the improved 1 strains the old purple shades have been almost eliminated and instead one gets richly coloured flowers from pure white, pink and rose to the brightest scarlet and crimson. They are easily propagated from cuttings but can be raised from seed; the seedlings give a good range of colours. Their gloxinia-like flowers are produced on tall spikes from 24 to 30 inches high.