IN THE GARDEN.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18968, 5 April 1927, Page 7

IN THE GARDEN.

WORK FOR THE WEEK, j ißt J. T. Sisciiiiu.l j ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. J • St. Martins.-Tou would have had better re- ; tails from your lachenahas if• jou had j potted them up in February ■«»*«* ot i the middle of last month. keep them ' in s frame until cold leather sets m, ! t . br ; n ~- t hem into the greenhouse, I placing them, if possible, near the-glass, i if th?t can bo done with safety. CoolI ne,a is an essential point in the euccossi -■••! ci-lturc of thcr.e bulbous plants, i Coddlin; is often the cause of failure. I Dun-din.— l do not tliink the weekly spri:i S- < 'mgi ' vor.ld hurt the setting ot Ue ! tomato flowers if thu voA vsa done , a : rhe mbrnir-.j of a line day. Yfou.d prei ier -lima-fulpliur to liver ot sulprtar. ! Drenching t llc -' oi; in , '" hicl ' , 4 ". c P' anla . I v»/ C growing with lib ot sit.pnate or ' iron dissolved in 13 gallon, ot -.yater ; ii said to be a' ;ood inventive. Have j -not tried catering the ground v.-eex.y • M-ifh Sib of blutstone dissolved in oO . . gallons o/ water, but the proportion; seems all right. Cla emporium is a , . parasite with its roots vithin the p.snt; | thi-s'mrk-s it diiikult to control. It is li-rd to get a better shaped tomato | than Sunrise when the seed is from a good flrain. ' Spent hops mixed v.-ith the soil would add humus. A good i manure for tomatoes is made lrom Uree--1 .parts 'superphosphates, two-part* nitnne o; potash, and one-pevt sulphate of ammonia. U,:e a six-inch potful ot this I ■ to eight petrol tins of soil next season, and v.-lien the fruit is sv.'cllmg use it as a liquid manure at the rate of ton ouiK-cs to -two ' gallons of ■ vafer. VEGETABLES. ■ Endive'.—Plants should be blanche 1 by tieing up the beads with 'raffia or string, or'by .putting a flower pot over thorn. ; The latter-is the better jnethed. Ail that needs to be done is to invert a flower pot over the entire plant and place some flat thing over the drainage hole. : A few plants only should he done at one time as endive does not., heap j weli after it is blanched. j • Onions.—Lots sown last month should be carefully cleaned, picking the we-ads in the rows by hand and nrtini'.ig the Dutch hoe through between tho rows. A slight dusting of scot now and again will be advantageous. Seakale.—Despite the dry season the beds which have been well attended to in the matter of feeding and watering are looking well. From n::w onwards al! decaying leaves should be remcired us" soon as possible so that the crowns may get the benefit of light and air. This especially applies to crowns which .are po : ng to he forced. ■ Cahba'ge.—A good time to set out the. pliUlts to stand all winter is at the, end of tho present month. In tho meantime the ground can be prepared. Where spring-sown oi>ioii3 were grown is a good place and will not require manure if the ground is in good heart. '-■".' FLOWERS. Roses "from..Cutting3.—lt is surprising thafcjovers of roses do not make use of .this simple means of propagation, for there are few flowers which can be more successfully raised from cuttings than roses, and few which do better .afterwards.. True, the standards cannot always be grown on ' t their own roots, but the dwarfs.autl ramblers all do well on their own. roots, except those .which', have a weak constitution/ Of course,.it. takes a year or two to get \ a' good-sized bush from, a cutting, :b'ut whew a ; few; are inserted each' season they are at oil times growing larger, and one can replace old and worn-out specimens with young, when-' 1 ever necessary. .A small corner of the . garden. will, accommodate enough young bushes to. keep up the. stock in the beds i ■and"'borders. ",...'. When the wocd, is ripening is the best time for putting in cuttings, and the 1 wofk .'is as simple as is'■ the case with cuttings of; ordinarybedding plants. Select fairly strong growths 'which have the appearance of being matured and pull them off -with a "heel" of the'old wood attached. From such a beel roots form quicker than-from, a cut higher up the stem and are more sure. The "heel" should'be trimmed a little hub not cut away, and the/growth shortened to about,twelve inches. The lower leaves can ' be. removed, but _ care should be taken not to injure a single bud. Each, of those buds will pro- j bally ultimately produce a growth, and as all- these growths from underground .will be rose: growths, and not briars, as.in the. case of budded:roses, it will be. seen, that-the. more buds there are : the Ivetfer will the hushes be later on! ■The cutting 3 can be put in with a dibber, but a-better way is-to take out a treheh-j leaving.ono side firm.and perpendicular. Along the bottom of the treiKsh scatter a fair amount.of sand ] and. place the cuttings from six to eightinches deep and six inches apart. Next 1 partly fill in the trench .with fine soil ! apd make it firm; ..finally fill ,in tho. rest of the soil and make j it firm about the cuttings. . If'more than one row is going to-be put in, eighteen inches should be allowed between the rows.' A point to remember is to avoid all weakly cuttings, as those rarely make good'plants. Should'any | flowers buds show before next New Year they' should be removed so that the I plants may become as robust as pes- , sible. , ] Gladioli.—Conns of the variety The] Bride - ought now to be potted up for j blooming later in'the greenhouse. The j best pots are those of six or seven inch size, putting.six or eight cirr.n in each. ! Bcgohiasf—The , fibrous-rooted sect.on makes a good show when grown in pots, and the plants are fine for winter flowering in the greenhouse. Any that have been used for bedding may be carefully lifted and potted, and J place.l in a temperature of about SO | degrees, where they will produce many J flowers for a long time. Preparing for spring.—With the passing of March, we say good-bye to our summer flowers, and this makes it imperative that the work of clearing beds and borders of their summer occupants should be prosecuted with all possible speed if the full delights of spring gardening are to be realised, the temptation to delay this operation until winter sets in with some severity is sometimes hard to withstand, espectellv when a few summer-flowering plans- continue to put forth their blooms with persistent bravery, despite adverse weather conditions. The temptation should he resisted. If one intends to grow bulbs and spring-flower-ing plants' in conjunction—and this i 3 Tar more preferable to the old system of planting* bulbs alone in beds —the ground * needs some preparation, and the sooner this is taken in hand the better.. The task of clearing the flower beds is almost as great as replanting them, and certainly requires as much - care. The: roots and tubers of several plants should be, saved, so that they can be-made use of another year. hifi these tubers carefully from the beds, preserving the soil about the roots, and the foliage intact, so. that they may receive as little check as possible. ! Gladioli can be laid in a trench until the foliage dies. Fuchsias need a dry quarter during winter, and they can be lifted and potted up and kept growing until about the shortest day, a f te r which-they can be gradually dried off. ; Dahlias can be treated in much the. same.way as.gladioli, but it is a mis- . take to be in a great hurry to cut-tnern down, even when blackened by. frost. For carpet work over such things as tulips, few plants are better, than arabia alp.ia; the variegated form has pretty' foliage, but is not such a free floiveror. - Six inches apart 1 should be allowed this plant. Primroses and polyanthuses do best when -given a liberal supply of leaf soil, and can be t>eb about seven inches asunder; tho

same distance can be given double daisies. Of late years, the'strain, or the daisy has improved wonderfully, some of the flowers being a huge siko. Another good spring - flowering subject is the forget-me-not, and can be planted from ten inches to a foot apart. 'Wallflower is a lover of lime, and the grouud for it should be given a liberal dressing. It should be planted in a sunny position, but not .in one that is windswept. THE SCHOOL GARDEN. (By "Glaoius.") Potatoes may be dug any time now. Records of yields of twenty pounds or upwards from any.four consecutive sets - should-be forwarded to the Agricultural Instructor in order that he may visit the .school, ■"verifying results and allot points. Forms will. bo. forwarded later for records of fruit and forest trees raised and distributed or ready for distribution, the .forms to be forwarded to the Education Department from the Education Office. There should be no delays in sowing seeds for green manuring. If left much longer these will make but little orowth during the winter and no , wealth of foliage till late into spring. Tt is a waste of time and energy, to di"- the material under when but half grown. Practically the full benefits are gained from pknts coming into flower. ' The propagation of roses lrom cuttings may be begun now and continued into June. As part of the practical gardening operations for this year, all pupils are required to prepare and plant cuttings of either deciduous or evergreen trees. Rose cuttings planted now may have their leaves removed. May is the better month for evergreens. A row or two should be plant-ed-in the general experimental plot for | observational purposes. A bundle might be planted lengthwise and cover- , or three inches deep: another planted root end up, but covered over about two inches deep to find out it j gravity has any particular effect m the downward How of sap and development of the callus or ring of tissue that-forms at the base of cuttings be-fore-roots develop. Another interesting, experiment is to put a number ot deciduous cuttings in a box or two lined with one or two thicknesses or sack; also a sack covering the whole to be kept continually damp till spring. The cuttings can'be examinee from time te time and the growth ot the callus of different plants compared. The well eallused ones make rapid growth when planted out in spring. Some ring barking may be tried on evergreens, branches only, as ringing the stem completely destroys the tree generally within a year. With deciduous trees or branches, some may be ringed '. in autumn and others in sprinff. and the difference in results j noted.